Chapter 299 - 286: Miasma
The heavy rain outside had stopped at some point.
The next morning, after a simple breakfast, the group headed for the A City Reservoir.
The journey was surprisingly peaceful. Nearing the A City Reservoir, they found that even the fissures in the ground had become scarce, as if the massive earthquake from before hadn’t affected this area at all.
It was strange.
The group parked their vehicle in a forest two kilometers from the original reservoir dam.
After leaving two team members behind to stand guard, Ye Junhan led the others up a small, nearby hill. The distance was a vast expanse of white. The entire area was shrouded in miasma, severely obstructing their vision.
Zhou Shan pulled up a video file on this so-called death zone, downloaded a few days prior, from his personal terminal. After comparing it with their current view, he said, "Captain, the area covered by the miasma... it seems to have shrunk?"
Qi Xiang leaned over for a look but couldn’t tell the difference. Seeing Zhou Shan’s certainty, however, she asked in shock, "You can tell that just by looking?" ’It looks exactly the same to me,’ she thought.
Zhou Shan enlarged the light screen, pointing to several spots on it. "Look here... and here..."
Qi Xiang followed his finger. ’Huh... it really has shrunk a bit.’
Stroking her chin, she said, "Could it be because it rained so heavily all last night? Perhaps the rainwater diluted the miasma a bit?"
"That’s a possibility," Zhou Shan admitted, though he wasn’t certain either.
Upon hearing this, Ye Junhan instinctively glanced over at Gu Xi.
Gu Xi kept her eyes downcast, fiddling with a tiny green sprout at her fingertip without saying a word.
"There’s only one way to find out," Liu Hao said from the side, retrieving a spare drone from the vehicle. "No idea if this thing will still work."
"Let’s try it," Lin Yuan said, crouching nearby to watch him fiddle with the drone. He stroked his chin. "It’s a shame Yang Liu isn’t here. He’d said before that he wanted to test things out here if he ever got the chance."
This place was said to be a death zone that not even drones could cross. The moment they entered the miasma-shrouded area, they would inexplicably crash.
Yang Liu, a drone fanatic, was fascinated by this legend, but unfortunately, he never got the chance to come and test it for himself.
Ye Junhan, standing nearby, turned his head to look at Gu Xi.
Gu Xi sensed its condition and shook her head. "Wait a bit longer."
After a moment’s thought, she took a large burlap sack out of her dimensional space.
It was the kind commonly used at wholesale markets before the apocalypse.
Lin Yuan opened it to find that in addition to gas masks and protective suits, it also contained—to his surprise—an assortment of drone components.
This was a godsend.
They hadn’t brought many supplies in their vehicle. All told, they could assemble two drones at most, with no spare parts to speak of.
Now, with these components, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Lin Yuan brought the components over to Liu Hao. While drone operation was a basic skill for every member of the Special Service Team, Liu Hao was the most proficient after Yang Liu.
After all, he was a Metal Element user and had often helped Yang Liu tinker with these gadgets, even occasionally modifying small components himself.
Liu Hao quickly assembled a drone, connected it to the manual controller, and began a test flight.
The drone’s rotors began to spin. It then lifted into the air, flying slowly toward the vast, white expanse in the distance.
Gu Xi’s gaze followed the drone the entire time. Ye Junhan glanced at her before turning his attention to the control screen.
The display was a sea of white, showing only the faint silhouettes of some mutant plants.
Ye Junhan frowned slightly. Liu Hao tried to lower the drone’s altitude, but the screen quickly filled with static. Looking up, Ye Junhan saw the drone appear to lose control and plummet straight to the ground.
"Captain." Liu Hao closed the control panel and looked up at Ye Junhan. "The interference is too strong. The drone can’t reach the target location."
"Get ready. We move out in half an hour," Ye Junhan said, his gaze fixed on the distance.
The group returned to the side of their off-road vehicle. Zhang Wen glanced at the antique Triangular Military Knife at Qi Xiang’s waist, hesitated for a moment, then offered her his own dagger. "You should use this."
Qi Xiang refused without a second thought. "Nope, I’m using this one."
She drew the military knife from her waist and gave it a casual flourish.
Zhang Wen’s heart ached watching her. ’That’s a first-batch Abnormal Martial weapon! An antique in the Abnormal Martial World, a priceless treasure to all Abnormal Martial enthusiasts! How can she just ruin it like that?’
"You should put that knife away. It’d be a real shame if you broke it," Zhang Wen tried to reason with her, staring at the military knife in her hand with a heartbroken expression. "You don’t understand... the first-batch Abnormal Martial weapons are incredibly significant..."
Qi Xiang gave him an elegant eye-roll. "It’s just a knife, isn’t it? Practicality matters, not significance."
’When it’s a matter of life and death, who gives a damn about a knife’s ’significance’?’
’As long as it’s effective, that’s all that matters.’
Zhang Wen looked like he wanted to say something, but held his tongue.
"If she doesn’t want it, I do." Passing by, Zhao Li took the dagger from Zhang Wen’s hand, then turned and offered his own to Qin Shi. "Here."
Qin Shi glanced at him but said nothing as she took it.
Zhang Wen: "?"
The group checked their weapons and equipment, ready to depart.
Just then, "SQUEAK!" The Mutated Rat King, which had been perched on the vehicle’s roof, suddenly cried out.
Gu Xi looked up to see the little creature rubbing its ear before pulling a small, black bottle of some unknown material out of it.
Controlled by some unknown force, the small bottle floated over to Gu Xi.
Gu Xi opened it and glanced inside. It contained several black pills.
"SQUEAK SQUEAK..." The Mutated Rat King hopped in front of her, gesturing emphatically.
"What’s it trying to say?" Zhang Wen sidled over and circled the small creature.
Gu Xi paid the cunning little rat no mind, simply pouring the pills back into the bottle. She then dusted off her hands and said, "Let’s go."
The Mutated Rat King was dumbfounded. "..." ’Hey! If you’re not going to use my stuff, then give it back! What’s the big idea, just pocketing my things like they’re yours?’
Once everyone was geared up, Gu Xi thought for a moment and then, right in front of the whole group, stored the off-road vehicle in her dimensional space.
’We might not come back this way, so it’s more convenient to bring the vehicle along,’ she reasoned.
Ye Junhan’s gaze swept slowly over the group. Once he confirmed that everyone was ready, he nodded to Gu Xi.
Gu Xi lifted her foot and stepped into the Miasma Forest.
As Gu Xi drew near, the mutant plants in the forest ahead began to stir without any wind. The grasses, vines, branches, and leaves all started to tremble, emitting a soft RUSTLING sound.
The miasma that had permeated the forest also began to recede along with the plants’ movements, parting like a tide to automatically avoid Gu Xi.
Soon, a clear path, like a vacuum-sealed corridor, formed in her wake.
"A Wood Element ability can be used like *that*?" Behind her, Liu Hao and the others were completely stunned. They had known Miss Gu’s Wood Element ability was formidable, but they never imagined it was powerful to this degree!
It was a real eye-opener.
"Is this a new skill for you Wood Element users?" Lin Yuan asked Qin Yi, who was beside him.
Qin Yi turned her head and gave him a very strange look.
Lin Yuan: "?"
"Keep up," Ye Junhan said suddenly.
Qi Xiang was the first to hurry after her, followed by Zhang Wen, Zhao Li, and the Qin sisters. Lin Yuan, Liu Hao, and the others came next, with Ye Junhan bringing up the rear to cover their backs.
With Gu Xi at the front and him at the back, they protected the group as they moved slowly deeper into the forest.
Soon, they were enveloped by a dense, white miasma. Outside the corridor Gu Xi had created, visibility to either side was less than a meter.
Everything was quiet. Apart from the RUSTLING of the nearby plants, there wasn’t another sound to be heard.
And yet, the forest was clearly teeming with dangerous mutated animals. The threatening auras were so palpable that even Qi Xiang, whose combat power was basically zero, could sense them.
Everyone tightened their grip on their weapons, their vigilance raised to its absolute peak.