Chapter 79 - 77: The Plan
This was a gamble.
But Lin Ye trusted his judgment.
Besides, even if his judgment was wrong and he didn’t find that group, he wouldn’t lose anything.
An hour later.
Lin Ye’s figure came to a stop in the shadow of a relatively intact cluster of buildings.
He glanced back at Zhang Yuqing, whose breathing had become somewhat ragged.
The continuous high-intensity running and sneaking, coupled with the harassment from mutated beasts along the way, had taken a heavy toll on her.
"You rest here."
Lin Ye pointed to a recessed area, wedged between two broken walls with only a narrow entrance.
"It’s relatively safe here. The mutated beasts’ patrol routes most likely don’t pass through."
"But if your luck is absolutely terrible, there’s nothing I can do."
His tone was calm, devoid of any comfort, merely stating a fact.
Zhang Yuqing nodded, leaning against the wall as she sat down, her chest heaving violently.
She looked at Lin Ye and couldn’t help but ask, "Where are you going?"
"Scouting, looking for a water source, and hunting any lone mutated beasts along the way."
"There’s not much water left from what we collected at the plaza. We need to restock, and we should also prepare more food, just in case."
"I’ll go with you!"
Zhang Yuqing immediately stood up.
She didn’t want to be a burden.
But Lin Ye just shook his head, rejecting her offer.
"I’m completely unfamiliar with this area. It’s easier to stay hidden if I move alone."
"Two people make for a bigger target, and we’d make more noise, making us easier to expose."
His reasoning was flawless.
Zhang Yuqing opened her mouth, but ultimately swallowed her words and sat back down in silence.
She knew Lin Ye was right.
Lin Ye said no more. He turned, and his presence instantly seemed to vanish.
His figure moved like a ghost, not along the streets, but weaving through the rubble and shadows of the buildings.
Climbing, leaping, sliding.
Every movement was precise and efficient, without a single wasted sound.
This was no longer a matter of skill, but an instinct that ran in his blood.
’If stealth and scouting had skill levels, I bet mine would be at least LV5,’ Lin Ye thought.
Over ten minutes later.
The faint sound of flowing water reached Lin Ye’s ears.
Lin Ye followed the sound, pushed aside a curtain of withered yellow vines, and the view before him suddenly opened up.
A clear stream gushed from a crack in a collapsed underground pipe, winding its way into the depths of the ruins.
Against the backdrop of the decaying city, the stream seemed particularly vibrant with life.
Lin Ye crouched down and scooped up a handful of water.
The water was icy cold and had a hint of sweetness, countless times better than the filtered, rust-flavored water from the plaza fountain.
It would be drinkable with only simple treatment, perhaps not even needing to be filtered.
The water problem was solved.
A weight lifted from his heart.
Just as he was about to explore upstream along the creek, the muffled sound of conversation faintly drifted toward him on the wind.
Lin Ye froze instantly.
He dropped into a crouch, lowering his center of gravity as much as possible, his breathing becoming nearly inaudible.
Using the dense mutated plants for cover, Lin Ye crept forward silently.
Through the gaps in the overlapping leaves and branches, he saw his targets.
Not far ahead, beneath a huge section of a broken wall, seven or eight figures were sprawled out haphazardly.
They looked exhausted, their faces a mixture of post-disaster relief and a hint of anxiety.
And beside them, three sets of silver-gray T-3 Hovering Exoskeleton Armor were carefully placed together, heavily guarded.
’Found them!’
Lin Ye’s gaze sharpened.
Just then, the complaints from the group carried over clearly.
"Fuck, I’m dead tired!"
"Who told you to crank the power up so high? You should’ve landed right after luring the monsters. What was the point of flying around for those extra few minutes, trying to show off?!"
An irritable voice rang out, clearly belonging to the group’s leader.
He kicked one of the men lying beside him.
"And you lot! You don’t even have to carry the gear, and all you know how to do is lie around and slack off, huh?"
"Get up! Get the hell out there and find me something to eat! I’m starving!"
Someone immediately chimed in.
"Yeah, Boss, my stomach’s been growling for ages. It’s hard to even find a rat in this godforsaken place."
"Go find some food, quick! Otherwise, where are we gonna get the energy for tonight?"
Lin Ye smiled.
The curve of his lips was cold and cruel.
’Hungry?’
’Good that you’re hungry.’
Lin Ye didn’t alert them. He retreated in silence, like a tide receding into the shadows, leaving no trace.
He took a wide detour, repeatedly checking to make sure he wasn’t being followed, before returning to where Zhang Yuqing was hiding.
Seeing Lin Ye return safe and sound, the heart that had been in Zhang Yuqing’s throat finally settled.
And when Lin Ye saw that she was still alive, he too breathed a sigh of relief.
A living teammate was always more useful than a corpse.
Lin Ye handed her the waterskin, now filled with clear stream water.
Zhang Yuqing took it and, forgetting her composure, chugged several large gulps.
The sweet, cool water soothed her parched throat and restored a good deal of her energy.
After a short rest, Lin Ye led Zhang Yuqing to begin a new round of hunting.
This time, their division of labor was much clearer.
Zhang Yuqing became the perfect bait.
Her task was to make just enough noise to attract the mutated beasts wandering through the ruins, then lead them to an ambush point Lin Ye had already chosen.
After the first few trial runs, their teamwork gradually revealed a surprising synergy.
Zhang Yuqing always managed the distance perfectly, ensuring her own safety while keeping the mutated beasts in hot pursuit.
And Lin Ye, like the most patient of reapers, would deliver the fatal blow the moment his prey stepped into the trap.
Over the course of the afternoon, the two of them operated like a highly efficient slaughterhouse assembly line, clearing out dozens of mutated beasts.
Zhang Yuqing’s combat experience also grew rapidly under this high-pressure teamwork.
This continued until the light of the setting sun dyed the silhouette of the ruined city a broken, dark gold.
Only then did the two of them drag their weary bodies back to their initial temporary resting spot.
Lin Ye once again started a small campfire.
He propped the dozen or so spider legs he had prepared during the day over the fire, slowly heating them.
Before long, that potent and peculiar charred aroma began to fill the air again.
After a grueling afternoon of battle, the exhausted and famished Zhang Yuqing felt the allure of this aroma was more than ten times stronger than it had been at noon.
Her stomach rumbled traitorously. Her eyes were glued to the spider legs sizzling and dripping with fat as they roasted, her mouth watering uncontrollably.
It had been a whole day.
She hadn’t had a single grain of rice, surviving only on that little bit of water.
Now, she felt like she could eat a horse.
However, when Lin Ye took the perfectly roasted spider legs off the fire, he still showed no intention of sharing them with her.
He simply re-wrapped the roasted meat in leaves.
Zhang Yuqing was completely bewildered.
She looked at Lin Ye, her eyes filled with confusion and a hint of grievance.
’Why?’
’Isn’t it time to eat yet?’
"We can always kill more mutated beasts."
"But that gear... if we miss this chance, we’ll never get it."
Lin Ye’s calm voice rang out, as if he had seen right through her thoughts.
He sat down under Zhang Yuqing’s increasingly confused gaze.
He looked at the dancing flames, and then at the baffled Zhang Yuqing, and began to speak slowly.
"Now, listen to my plan."