Shen Ge carefully compared the two maps from before and after the apocalypse, then raised his hand and pointed at a pit marker on the post-apocalyptic map. “Is this the outbreak point of the weird disaster?”
Although Fang Mingyue couldn’t figure out why Shen Ge was asking this, she still answered honestly, “Yes. I remember that back then, every part of the city was on alert. Any sign of trouble would be reported to the anti-weird department for handling. But no one expected that a high-tier weird would suddenly emerge from beneath the city center. Its destructive power was incredibly strong. Even when the military sent tanks and aircraft, there was nothing they could do against it. And this pit… was left by a missile.”
“At the time, the evacuation was extremely tense. The higher-ups argued endlessly over whether to use missiles, but everyone knew that if this high-tier weird was allowed to keep causing destruction, the entire city would fall into crisis. In the end, they had no choice but to carry out a targeted strike. Those surrounding pits were left from that battle.”
“To this day, no one knows why a high-tier weird suddenly appeared underground. According to investigations by researchers from the anti-weird department, that weird was not a creature that lived underground, so it couldn’t have been something like a bug that mutated. It was more like… it had been lurking underground for a long time.”
“After Dajing fell, the exploration team also tried to search that area for resources, but it became extremely dangerous due to the influence of the weird.”
“I don’t know what method you have to obtain the resources in the mall, but if it requires entering that area, I think it’s better not to take the risk.”
Although Fang Mingyue spoke in a rather “roundabout” way, Shen Ge still picked out a lot of information from her words. Combined with the corresponding information on the map, that fifth-tier weird that suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared was very likely the chief culprit behind the Dajing weird disaster.
As for why the “Reality” Fang Mingyue personally led a team to investigate but found nothing, Shen Ge had two guesses in mind—
First, someone from the weirdo organization had planted a spy beside Fang Mingyue, so when she investigated certain key information, she was misled or blinded, preventing her from truly coming into contact with the fifth-tier weird.
Second, the weirdo organization took action to transfer or hide that fifth-tier weird, so when Fang Mingyue led her team there, they came up empty.
And compared with “transferring,” Shen Ge was more willing to believe that the weirdo organization used some kind of ability to “hide” that fifth-tier weird. Otherwise, casually transferring a fifth-tier weird would be equivalent to mastering nuclear launch control—if they didn’t like something, they could just send a high-tier weird over.
Although in “Reality,” the anti-weird organizations of various countries had made rapid advances in their anti-weird capabilities, the number of high-tier weirds they had resolved was pitifully small, and all had come at great cost.
If the weirdo organization had mastered this “transfer” ability, then even if they couldn’t unify the world, they could at least dominate a region with no one able to oppose them.
Therefore, Shen Ge’s trip to the sealed zone this time was to confirm two things. First, whether there was an underground laboratory beneath that bombed-out area. Second, to find clues related to that fifth-tier weird, and after returning to “Reality,” find a way to deal with this hidden landmine planted by the weirdo organization.
Of course, the most important thing was to take the opportunity to raid the underground research room and bring all the weirdo research data and weird energy equipment back to “Reality.”
Shen Ge thought briefly, then said to Fang Mingyue, “Arrange a combat vehicle for me. I’ll go take a look over there… As for resources, don’t worry. I have a way. Give me one day.”
“I’ll bring a team and go with you!” Fang Mingyue said.
Shen Ge shook his head. Using the excuse that Fang Mingyue should continue completing the task Deng Yuqi had assigned, he told her that the problem at Base 1 was very important. If he could recover resources, then naturally the problem at Base 2 could be solved. But if he failed, proceeding according to the original plan here could at least stabilize both sides and buy him more time.
In the end, Fang Mingyue was still persuaded by Shen Ge. And as the exploration team’s “benefactor,” Shen Ge had already wrecked two of the exploration team’s combat vehicles.
One had to know that this kind of combat vehicle could attack and defend, and was the most important military resource of an apocalypse shelter. The entire shelter only had a few dozen in total, yet Shen Ge had wrecked two of them. But when Deng Yuqi heard that Shen Ge was voluntarily going to the sealed zone to look for resources, she didn’t hesitate to assign him another one.
Shen Ge drove to the sealed zone. The commercial street that had once been bustling with traffic had become incomparably desolate. The shop signs swayed in the wind, their lettering already blurred beyond recognition. The goods in the display windows had been eroded by time, and where there had once been a dazzling array, now only dust and cobwebs remained.
From time to time, a gust of wind blew past, and old billboards let out creaking moans, as if lamenting the prosperity of days gone by.
Abandoned vehicles along the whole street were crashed into one another. Those disgusting parasitized people shambled aimlessly through the streets like zombies.
Soon, they were attracted by the combat vehicle Shen Ge was driving and gathered toward the middle of the road, only to be directly sent flying by the vehicle or crushed into a bloody pulp.
Shen Ge parked the combat vehicle in front of a huge, bottomless pit, then activated the three special ability states of “Silence + Formlessness + No Trace” and got out of the vehicle.
Once the three special abilities were activated, the weirds and parasitized people attracted by the sound of the combat vehicle immediately lost their target. They either tore and devoured each other, or once again returned to their previous aimless wandering.
Shen Ge stood beside the pit, opened his weird eye, and looked down. Although the weird eye could directly see through the weird energy black mist, it could only see the ruins left at the bottom by the missile. He found no trace of any high-tier weird.
“System, scan the surroundings.”
【Scanning and marking now—】
A few seconds later, the red dots marked by the system updated on the 【Map】. Aside from the dense clusters of low-tier weird red dots, there were actually two high-tier weird markers underground.
“Two?” Shen Ge was very surprised by this scan result. According to the characteristics among weirds, unless there was a level suppression like with the previous seventh-tier weird, it was very difficult for same-tier weirds to “coexist,” because the weird energy on their own kind was far more delicious than human flesh.
Shen Ge remembered that according to the pre-apocalypse map, there had also been a large shopping mall beside the pit. However, at this point it had all been reduced to ruins.
“That underground research institute should be similar to the situations in Sakura and Bangguk—hidden beneath a busy shopping mall, using the delivery trucks supplying the mall as cover to transport experimental materials underground.”
Shen Ge reasoned that even ignoring the weirds wandering around the ruins, entering the mall ruins in this kind of environment and searching all the way down for the entrance to the underground research institute would be extremely difficult. Not to mention that many entrances and exits were blocked by dense crowds of parasitized people.
Even if Shen Ge could cut down swaths with one blade after another, swinging again and again, his hand wouldn’t get tired but his eyes would dry out. So he decided to use the simplest method—
“Collapse!”
Shen Ge spread out the Formless Weird Domain and immediately released weird energy downward to “probe the bottom.” After reaching sixth tier, the weird energy consumption to maintain the weird domain and probe three to five hundred meters down was nothing to him.
Two hundred.
Three hundred.
Shen Ge calculated the approximate depth of the underground research institutes in Sakura and Bangguk, and figured the depth should be about right. In the end, between the “three special ability states” and the “dual weird domains,” he chose the latter—pairing the Formless and Non-Emergence weird domains, wrapping himself in a formless barrier, and then using “Collapse” to send himself underground.
A few seconds later, Shen Ge appeared in a pitch-black space.
Shen Ge took a flashlight out of his backpack and turned it on. He could feel the emptiness of this place, but heard no movement at all. In addition, with the protection of the formless barrier, he didn’t rush to switch to the “three special abilities” to hide himself.
Shen Ge swept the flashlight around and found himself in a dark, oppressive parking garage. But calling it a parking garage wasn’t quite right either, because only the layout looked like a parking garage. There wasn’t a single car in sight around him. It was completely empty.
Da.
Da.
After Shen Ge appeared in this area through “Collapse,” faint strange noises emerged from the darkness in the distance. But when he swept the flashlight over, there was nothing there.
Fortunately, Shen Ge was already used to this kind of situation. With his current abilities, not to mention a bunch of weirds popping out, even if a fifth-tier weird came right up to his face after he came down, it wouldn’t pose any danger to him.
Strictly speaking, Shen Ge was not afraid of fighting weirds now. What he feared was a weird playing hide-and-seek with him and trapping him underground so he couldn’t get out.
Shen Ge thought briefly and decided to chase in the direction the strange noise had come from. Whether he found the weird or found the source of the sound, either might be a clue to leaving this place.
Shen Ge followed the source of the sound for several minutes. Judging by his steps, he had walked at least several hundred meters. But strangely, not only did he not reach the end, judging roughly by the volume of the sound, the distance seemed not to have changed at all from where he had first set out.
Shen Ge patted his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Clearly, things were once again developing in the direction he least wanted to see. He was once again, again, and yet again trapped in a weird space.
Still, calling it a weird space wasn’t quite right either, because the dream world Shen Ge was currently in was the “weird space.” This place was at most a “waiting room” within a large overlapping space.
Shen Ge was already very experienced in dealing with this kind of twisted overlapping space. He spread out his weird domain and tried to find the maintainer of this twisted space. But the moment his weird domain spread out… it disappeared.
“?
What the hell?
Shen Ge was shocked. This was the first time his weird domain had failed. He tried activating his special abilities again, but there was no change on his body at all.
“No, it’s not that the weird domain and special abilities failed. It’s that the weird energy sustaining the abilities was absorbed by this strange space.” Shen Ge released several bursts of weird energy in succession to test, and found that his weird energy was being “neutralized” by the weird energy black mist filling the air.
And judging from how quickly it devoured his weird energy, even if the maintainer of this twisted space wasn’t rated higher than him, it should be at the same rating.
“Sixth-tier weird?”
So I “dug” too deep and went straight through “Collapse” into that weird’s belly?
Shen Ge was currently rated sixth tier. His weird energy was already strong enough that extending a weird domain several hundred meters underground was easy. So if he had directly penetrated a weird’s weird energy protection and “Collapsed” into the weird’s belly, that wasn’t too strange.
It was just that this weird could “nullify” Shen Ge’s weird domain and special abilities. This was something Shen Ge had never heard of since he began facing weirds.
Could it be… this was another special-ability weird?
“System, detect the surroundings.” Shen Ge awakened the system and said.
【Scanning now—】
【Reporting to host, this place is affected by an extremely strong shielding attribute. It is impossible to scan the surroundings through weird energy. Please find the weird releasing the shielding effect and kill and devour it.】
【Crisis mission triggered: “Mysterious Weird with Shielding Ability”—A sixth-tier weird about to undergo seventh-tier mutation is hidden in this area. Once it completes its mutation, you will be unable to leave this place. Host, please find the hidden weird within 24 hours and kill it to prevent it from completing its seventh-tier mutation.】
【Rewards: System points x5000, special ability enhancement point x1, random E-grade recovery item x1, F-grade recovery items x3, random weird energy equipment x1.】
“Oh?” Shen Ge wasn’t surprised that a crisis mission was triggered. Being in a dream world that had already reached an ending meant danger was everywhere. What surprised him was that the system was being so “generous.”
Setting aside the system points and recovery items that every crisis mission gave, this time it was actually giving a special ability enhancement point, and even a piece of weird energy equipment?
Behind the system’s “heavy bleeding” was also the implication of how difficult the mission was. The last time it rewarded a special ability enhancement point was when Shen Ge was dealing with Misfortune.
“Tsk, looks like this weird, even if it isn’t a special-ability weird, isn’t far off… And it’s also a high-tier weird about to complete seventh-tier mutation.”
“System, why don’t you just say something like ‘nine deaths and still alive, certain death with no chance of survival’? Otherwise I always feel uneasy.”
Facing Shen Ge’s teasing, the system gave no reply at all. Although the system could carry out some simple communication, it wasn’t as intelligent as Little Seven. So Shen Ge could only continue moving alone into the darkness, searching for the hidden “shielding weird.”
“Special abilities are unusable, and the weird domain can’t be spread out…” Shen Ge decisively pulled out the Weird-Destroying Revolver and fired several shots into the darkness ahead where the sound was coming from. Bang, bang, bang.
Still, saying the special abilities and weird domain were unusable wasn’t quite right either, because Shen Ge was only affected by the weird energy black mist filling the air, which “neutralized” his weird energy and caused his abilities to fail. It wasn’t that he couldn’t use the abilities at all.
If Shen Ge released all his weird energy and fought the hidden weird to see whose weird energy pool was deeper, and if he could luckily win and exhaust the other side’s weird energy, then he could use his abilities.
But this attempt was too risky. One misstep and the result would be losing a mental apple. And the number of mental apples in Shen Ge’s hands was limited. Since he hadn’t encountered danger yet, there was no need to waste one.
Bang!
Bang, bang!
Bang, bang, bang!
Shen Ge fired several shots in succession. The gunshots echoed through the empty space, like an echo from shouting loudly in a valley, and gradually a layered reverberation appeared.
At first it was only a few shots, but after the reverberation kept appearing, it turned into noise like a machine gun, making people feel irritated.
And this noise not only made Shen Ge feel somewhat irritated, it also seemed to enrage the weird hidden in the darkness. Suddenly, from all directions in the surrounding darkness came wave after wave of the “gurgle gurgle” swallowing sounds unique to weirds, reverberating just like the gunshots, until they became as deafening as thunder!
