Chapter 54 : Chapter 54
Chapter 54
Late at night, rain poured from the heavens.
The dense rain struck the island like needles. A steady curtain of rain sounded outside, occasionally mixed with the sharp crack of branches snapping and the collisions of rocks being swept along by the rushing water.
Ji Qing stood by the door of the shelter, watching the movement on the distant hillside.
Thanks to the existence of his Gravity Control ability, the three of them had traveled much more easily than the other students. Whenever they encountered rough and uneven paths, gravity could carry both the luggage and his teammates up with ease.
Because of that, the three of them had been able to go farther.
Since they had also been in the first batch to land on the island, they did not need to worry for the time being about other students occupying the shelter by force or trying to seize it. Liu Mu stayed inside the building, taking inventory of the contents of their backpacks.
The school did provide exploration equipment, but it also allowed students to bring their own gear.
The team meeting on Saturday had given him a chance to investigate the preferences of the other two and purchase suitable camping equipment. Because the competition period was short, they had only brought three sleeping bags, along with a few items that would make movement easier and some reserve food.
Calmly, Liu Mu placed the samples they had collected along the way into the portable Infection Index detector.
【Infection Index: 36%】
Before long, the detector displayed the result.
At the sight of it, Liu Mu let out a long breath. “It’s all right. It’s not very high.”
The Infection Index in towns where humans normally lived usually fell within the range of 14% to 29%, while outside the cities it generally ranged from 26% to 32%. In a Danger Zone, it would rise beyond 30%.
Some Danger Zones could even reach as high as 86%.
At that point, any human entering such a Danger Zone would risk infection unless they were an S-rank ability user. Even then, the Federation would only seal off the Danger Zone rather than attempt to conquer it.
To the Federation, the loss of any S-rank ability user was an irreversible disaster.
Sitting nearby, You Xingluo rested his chin in his hand and sighed. “Looks like there aren’t many Aberrants here.”
Liu Mu gave a soft hum of agreement.
The situation was much better than the worst-case scenario he had imagined. As long as the Infection Index remained within this range, it proved that although there was danger on the island, it was limited.
Murmuring to himself, Liu Mu said, “Maybe my worries were wrong...”
But that island Lord of unknown origin was still a hidden danger. He could only hope they would not encounter a second one.
Liu Mu carefully put the detector back into his backpack.
This kind of miniature detector was extremely expensive. A civilian like Liu Mu could not possibly have owned one on his own, so the detector had been bought by Shao Huayu.
Since Shao Huayu did not intend to bring it, Liu Mu had taken it for use.
At that thought, Liu Mu’s movements suddenly paused. Although there were times when he found the stubborn conservatism of the great families and the arrogance of their descendants deeply irritating, he had never felt that way toward Shao Huayu in particular.
Liu Mu was an orphan.
His good fortune lay in the fact that his parents had abandoned him in Central City.
Council members and powerful figures in Central City often brought their children to visit orphanages, and Shao Huayu’s parents were no exception. That was how Liu Mu had come to know Shao Huayu.
Even now, Liu Mu still felt conflicted about it.
He knew his parents might have done it for his own good, but if it had not been for his status as an A-rank ability user and for Shao Huayu, he would never have made it this far.
Had his parents really thought it through carefully? Liu Mu said nothing.
To distract himself, he turned and asked Ji Qing, “Are we staying here overnight?”
“It looks that way.”
Ji Qing leaned against the doorway, calmly observing the movement around the shelter. The torrential rain showed no sign of letting up, and the sky was so dim it looked like the dead of night.
Night had already fallen.
These conditions were extremely unsuitable for traveling, so Ji Qing planned for them to camp in the shelter tonight. There were buildings deeper within the island as well, but those buildings had gone without maintenance for a long time.
Ji Qing opened his terminal and glanced at their current location.
If nothing unexpected had happened, this shelter was the farthest one from the harbor built by the people of Xicheng. So Ji Qing said calmly, “You can start preparing dinner.”
“Let’s eat the things that aren’t convenient to carry first.”
After saying that, Ji Qing pointed outside the shelter. “I’m going to set a few traps nearby.”
Liu Mu nodded. “All right.”
You Xingluo waved cheerfully. “Go ahead~”
Ji Qing looked at You Xingluo helplessly at that, while You Xingluo blinked back at him innocently. In a gentle tone, Ji Qing asked, “How does it feel, coming to a Danger Zone for the first time?”
A smile immediately spread across You Xingluo’s face. “It’s pretty good.”
Much more interesting than he had imagined.
Ji Qing said nothing more after hearing that and waved before leaving. Reflected in his green eyes were the rolling hills of the island, and a sense of awe toward nature rose within him.
Even in regions where humans could not survive, vegetation still endured tenaciously.
Ji Qing also found it more interesting than he had expected.
Unfortunately, he could not say that openly. If a valedictorian from a civilian background claimed it was his first time entering a Danger Zone, it would be difficult to explain where all the money on him had come from.
As Ji Qing familiarized himself with the surrounding terrain, he used the tools he had brought to set traps.
He had no intention of arranging rotating night watches tonight. Their current surroundings were still relatively safe, and tomorrow’s route would be long, so for now it was better to conserve their energy.
Only...
Ji Qing suddenly stopped walking. He lightened his footsteps and hid behind a broken wall outside the shelter. He noticed a strange blue slime clinging to the ground and the gravel ahead of the wall.
Those traces had not been there when they arrived.
After carefully examining the surrounding environment, Ji Qing walked toward the slime. Squatting down, he studied the strange substance closely and found that it resembled the mucus of soft-shelled creatures like snails.
Ji Qing picked up a leaf and touched one corner of it to the slime. The leaf visibly rotted away at a speed the naked eye could follow.
Looks like it’s toxic too, Ji Qing thought.
Using his terminal, he took a photo of the ground stained with the slime and sent it to the two inside the shelter. Ji Qing said, 【I found some strange traces. I’m going to take a quick look around the area. I’ll be back soon.】
He added, 【The traps have already been set. Liu Mu, check whether the micro-cameras are operating properly on your side.】
After receiving Liu Mu’s precise reply, Ji Qing immediately felt at ease. He thought to himself: Bringing Liu Mu into the team back then really was the right decision.
Liu Mu was thoroughly familiar with investigating Danger Zones.
What Ji Qing could think of, Liu Mu could also think of. What Ji Qing could not think of, Liu Mu could still think of. As the team’s logistical support, Liu Mu worked extremely well with the others.
Unfortunately, it is raining heavily now... Ji Qing thought with some regret.
Otherwise, they could have tried having Liu Mu use his ability to read the traces. The storm had washed away the surrounding evidence too severely, making it inconvenient for Liu Mu to use his ability.
The slime itself carried toxins, so it did not satisfy the hard condition of “touchability.”
On Saturday, Ji Qing had asked Liu Mu in detail about the rules governing the use of his ability. Liu Mu’s explanation had been that the target ideally had to be something tangible, and its outward appearance and internal state could not have undergone drastic changes.
The more recent the memory, the higher the success rate of the reading.
At the time, a strange trace of tension had risen in Ji Qing’s heart. Although Liu Mu was standing on his side right now, that did not mean he stood on Li Yuan’s side.
Guarding against it was not difficult, but carelessness was what he feared.
Ji Qing continued to investigate in the direction the slime trailed off.
The huge raindrops around him suddenly froze in place, drifting weightlessly through the air. Once Ji Qing moved past a given spot, they violently crashed to the ground again.
Along the way, the slime traces became increasingly obvious.
The trail left behind by this mysterious Aberrant resembled that of a giant snail dragging a long smear of mucus as it crawled forward slowly. Ji Qing heard the sound of rushing water. It was coming from a nearby river channel.
Ji Qing silently warned himself: This is far enough.
Even if he found nothing, he could not keep going any farther. Two teammates were waiting behind him, and as the team’s most important combat force, he was not suited to going too far alone.
But luck favored Ji Qing.
By the river, Ji Qing found the Aberrant inside a rocky cave. It had soft purple-blue skin like a starfish, yet it had drawn itself weakly into a narrow opening like a hermit crab.
A faint trace of spiritual energy spread out from it.
Ji Qing could sense its pain and struggle, like a lost traveler dying in the desert. Standing at the entrance of the cave, Ji Qing was filled with a sense of strangeness.
This was not what he had imagined.
So Ji Qing abandoned the idea of using his ability to conceal his actions. He walked toward the Aberrant that was suffering and struggling, and it quickly noticed his presence.
The smell of human flesh stimulated it into crawling forward.
The cave walls were immediately streaked with poisonous slime. It sprayed a large amount of venom toward Ji Qing, but under the protection of gravity, the attack was utterly powerless.
After several rounds, the weakened starfish grew even weaker. It crawled toward Ji Qing, its soft body heaving forward in arches, yet its speed grew slower and slower...
It died because of its own weakness.
Its purple-blue skin gradually turned pale, and its soft body stiffened... This starfish Aberrant of unknown origin died right before Ji Qing’s eyes, on an island far from the sea.
It was a very strange feeling.
Ji Qing felt a dull heaviness in his chest, almost like sadness. He thought: Maybe I’m projecting my own experiences onto this starfish.
Ji Qing suddenly turned and looked back at the river outside the cave. Under the force of the storm, the current had become extraordinarily violent. But no matter how fierce it was, river water was still not seawater.
The low-intelligence starfish did not know that the river’s end was the ocean.
“But why did it appear here?” A trace of confusion crossed Ji Qing’s brows. Starfish were marine animals that lived in nearshore waters. It should not have appeared in the forest on the island.
Was it because of aberration? Or was there something inside the island that had drawn it here?
Ji Qing’s mind spun with wild guesses.
But every answer to those questions vanished into the unknown with the starfish’s death. Silently, Ji Qing took a photo of the starfish and marked the current coordinates on the virtual map.
He planned to report the matter to the school.
The competition score on his terminal changed the instant after he uploaded the photo. Ji Qing once again felt that strange unease. After all, in theory, he had done nothing at all.
The starfish had died because its own weakness had dragged it down.
Ji Qing crouched down and observed the starfish that had appeared for no reason and died just as inexplicably, then finally let out a deep sigh. Lowering his gaze, he said, “Forget it. I should head back first.”
They still had plenty of time left on the island, and he still had time to solve this mystery.
The answer had to be hidden somewhere in the depths of the island.