Chapter Seventy-One: A Collapsing World

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"Li... Little Monk?"

Ye Bai opened his eyes, dazed, and saw a gray figure sitting cross-legged in the corner.

"Hm?" On the other side, Yao Ling, who was still inspecting the damaged pulse gun, seemed to hear Ye Bai's voice. She turned around and indeed saw Ye Bai's head lift ever so slightly.

"Little Monk, Ye Bai is awake, Ye Bai is awake!"

Yao Ling rushed over, wanting to wake up Cao Xiaosen. She feared Ye Bai wouldn't make it through, not wanting to lose a newly found companion. Though everyone in her family treated each other with courtesy and warmth, Yao Ling always felt something was missing each day.

Cao Xiaosen's eyelids fluttered a few times before he fully opened his eyes, exhaustion flooding his gaze, as if he hadn't slept in days.

In truth, Cao Xiaosen's body had been continuously overdrawn; ever since he lured the intelligent entity, his mental strength had been dwindling. At the end, he forced himself to resist the intelligent entity for a few seconds to buy Ye Bai time, during which he felt his body on the verge of tearing apart. After the entity collapsed, he finally succumbed and fell unconscious.

When he woke again, Cao Xiaosen was relentlessly chased by corpse bats. After finally escaping, he tangled with two entry-level aberrations, his body now covered in scratches. Though Yao Ling had cleansed the aberration toxins, too much blood had been lost; his ability to remain conscious was thanks to his resilient willpower.

Hearing Yao Ling's voice, Cao Xiaosen opened his eyes to glance at Ye Bai, smiled softly, then closed them once more.

Yao Ling propped Ye Bai up against the wall. Not noticing Cao Xiaosen had opened his eyes, she thought he hadn't heard and was about to call him again, but Ye Bai pulled her back, shaking his head.

It was Ye Bai's first time seeing Cao Xiaosen's eyes so lifeless and dull. In a flash, he understood that, while he was unconscious, Cao Xiaosen must have expended immense effort to lead him and Yao Ling to safety, likely traversing paths of life and death.

Ye Bai held Yao Ling's hand and asked, "What happened while I was unconscious?"

Yao Ling gathered the scraps of paper on the floor to make Ye Bai more comfortable, crouched beside him, and softly recounted all that had transpired during his coma.

When Yao Ling described the corpse bats surging from the negative first to the negative second floor, Ye Bai was shocked. The bats' undead nature was far more terrifying than the sand-mummies of the ruins. Hearing of their escape through the underground passage, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

However, during his breakthrough, Yao Ling had to stabilize herself, leaving Little Monk alone to face two entry-level aberrations. Ye Bai immediately understood why Little Monk's lips were so pale, eyes so weary—so much had happened in so short a time that even an iron man would be worn down.

Ye Bai gazed at Cao Xiaosen for a while and then asked, "Ling'er, I only just broke through to entry-level, how did I break through again in such a short time?"

He couldn't move because, during the breakthrough, the violent surge of elemental power had injured his muscles—a sequela of forcing a breakthrough. Still, with wood element energy inside him, he would recover in about a night.

"It was the seed. I had Little Monk feed you the seed. The situation was urgent, and to wake you up quickly, we had no choice. I happened to read that the intelligent entity's seed can help someone break through. I thought you could wake using the elemental power during your breakthrough," Yao Ling explained.

"So we're in Radiation Zone C now," Ye Bai said, opening his smart-brain to look at the map. Sure enough, they had entered C Zone—not at the border with D, but nearing its central area.

This gave Ye Bai a headache; C Zone was not a place they should be meddling in. Any random aberration here was entry-level. Even though he had reached entry-level mid-tier, D Zone had entities like the intelligent one that nearly wiped them out—C Zone would be far worse.

Ye Bai stared at the map, but found no clue. A map was only a map; it couldn't tell him what lay outside. He rubbed his brow, closed his eyes, and began channeling the wood element within to restore his body.

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Yao Ling saw Ye Bai close his eyes as well, so she curled up in another corner and gently drifted to sleep.

Midnight was when aberrations were most active. Roars echoed intermittently, waking Yao Ling several times before she finally fell asleep again. Ye Bai, however, did not sleep at all, spending the night channeling wood element to heal his body, and acting as a lookout.

By the time Yao Ling woke again, it was seven in the morning. Ye Bai and Cao Xiaosen had packed up and only then woke her.

Early risers Ye Bai and Cao Xiaosen discussed routes back to D Zone for quite some time, but found no clear plan. The main issue was their ignorance of the outside situation; they had no idea which direction to take.

Setting foot once more in the radiation zone, Ye Bai felt a sense of rebirth. He took a deep breath. "No matter what, we have to get out alive."

Cao Xiaosen and Yao Ling followed, emerging from the basement. "Right, no matter what, we survive."

The three set off toward D Zone under the morning sun. Nights in the radiation zone were terrifying, noon was unbearably hot, and only in these few hours of morning was it comfortable.

Sunlight crept from their backs to their shoulders, finally resting atop their heads. Yao Ling occasionally wiped sweat from her face, while Ye Bai and Cao Xiaosen ignored it—letting sweat be absorbed by their skin or evaporated by the heat. From Yao Ling's perspective, their faces were covered in white crystal fragments.

"Stop." Suddenly, Ye Bai in front halted, raising his arm to signal Yao Ling and Cao Xiaosen. "Something's wrong. There's something underground. Fall back, quickly."

No sooner had Ye Bai spoken than he stepped back rapidly. Just as he vacated his spot, a pale, bloodless hand emerged from the ground.

After breaking through to entry-level mid-tier, Ye Bai's perception of his surroundings had sharpened. Among the three, if not for Ye Bai's breakthrough, Cao Xiaosen would have been the most sensitive.

Ye Bai drew his blade and severed the protruding hand; a white glow flickered along the blade. The characters "Jinghong" appeared on the blade near the hilt.

He had no time to examine the Jinghong Blade; countless hands reached up from the ground, followed by heads, torsos, and legs crawling out.

"Aberrations? Doesn't seem like it." Ye Bai looked at the monsters before him—their heads so rotten the skull was visible, bodies mere skeletons with scant flesh. "What kind of monsters are these?" he muttered before charging forward.

Cao Xiaosen and Yao Ling reacted, forming a triangle with Ye Bai as they rushed in.

Ye Bai wasn't sure if it was his breakthrough or the blade's change, but wielding it felt far more natural.

With a crack, Ye Bai's blade lopped off a monster's head, yet the headless body still rushed at him, its mouth on the ground opening and closing.

"What the hell is this—undead spirits?" Fatty, back when he played games, had encountered such monsters; only destroying their soul flame could truly kill them. But here, even after Ye Bai crushed their heads, their bodies kept attacking.

Cao Xiaosen and Yao Ling blocked monsters from other directions. Yao Ling, lacking strength, was pushed back by the monsters, while Cao Xiaosen and Ye Bai faced the same problem: the monsters wouldn't die.

More monsters crawled from underground, and since they couldn't be killed, Ye Bai shouted to Yao Ling and Cao Xiaosen, "Retreat! Move back! These things can't be killed!"

Ye Bai took the lead, running deeper into C Zone, with monsters in pursuit. After who knew how long, Yao Ling called out, "They're gone."

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Only then did the three stop, but a new question arose—where were they now?

Barely had they caught their breath when a colossal beast charged from not far away. It resembled a barbarian tiger, but was far larger—surely fully grown.

The beast, mutated by radiation and the dark age environment, had lost all its fur; its entire body was jet black. Black, hard bristles grew from its former pores. The "king" character atop its head had vanished, but its ferocious face exuded the aura of a dark monarch.

"You two go ahead. We can't outrun the barbarian tiger. Someone has to stay behind and cover the retreat. I've just broken through to entry-level mid-tier—let's see how strong this monster really is."

Ye Bai's words brimmed with battle intent. Yao Ling urged him to be careful, then fled with Cao Xiaosen.

Ye Bai drew the Jinghong Blade again; elemental power surged, turning the blade crimson.

"Hm? Why is the elemental power used so little this time?" Ye Bai sensed the blade redirecting surplus elemental power back into his body. White glow wrapped around the red energy, making the edge exceptionally sharp.

"Roar—"

The barbarian tiger raised its paw to swat the pesky insect blocking its way. It couldn't fathom why these small creatures usually fled at first sight, yet this one dared to confront it.

Ye Bai sidestepped, raising his blade to strike at the descending paw. The white glow met the black claw, sending sparks flying. The glow-infused energy then sliced into the paw.

"Clang—"

The blade bounced off the beast's bone; the energy only managed to cut through its skin and flesh, but no blood flowed—just brown pus, like other aberrations.

Low-level aberrations had more toxic fluid in their bodies, which spilled as black sludge upon death. Higher-level aberrations integrated fluid into their cells, gradually purging impurities, so only pus was seen when wounded or slain.

After one strike, Ye Bai didn't hesitate—he turned and fled.

"Mu'er, scan the terrain for a canyon or any depressions in the area."

The watch on Ye Bai's wrist spun rapidly, emitting invisible detection waves. Soon, Mu'er identified five spots that met the criteria.

"Select the optimal route."

Two legs could never outrun four. Not long after he started running, Ye Bai could already hear the beast's breathing, even with one injured paw. If it were at full strength, Ye Bai couldn't imagine how fast it would be.

Just then, Mu'er finished scanning, and Ye Bai led the beast toward the canyon.