The convoy continued to advance to its destination. Sitting in the vehicle, Lin Xinghai was deep in thought. What Roger had said alerted him.
“The apocalypse is much more dangerous than I thought! It’s necessary to take some risks for future survival.” He couldn’t help but mutter.
His initial game plan was straightforward: level up bit by bit. If an opportunity popped up to grab some of that Blood Essence, that would be cool. If not, he wanted to just play the waiting game and not risk it.
However, he had to speed up the collection of Blood Essence in the current state.
Lin Xinghai was filled with anticipation. The convoy rolled on for another 20 minutes before bumping into another horde of zombies. Only this time, the zombie count was a bit skimpy – just five in total.
The five zombies did not pose much of a threat at all and were quickly dealt with. Before Roger could call his name, Lin Xinghai jumped out of the car and went to collect the energy crystals.
Roger looked at this scene in shock, but he just shook his head and said nothing.
After all, he had no say in personal kinks.
After playing the “just watching to learn” card before, Lin Xinghai couldn’t just observe idly. He held the vibro-dagger and braced himself to give dissecting a shot.
Honestly, dissecting a corpse felt pretty weird. However, having seen it done a few times before and being mentally prepared, Lin Xinghai didn’t feel like he was going to lose his lunch or throw up.
The vibro-dagger was really sharp. Even when the vibro mode was not activated, the dagger could easily cut through the flesh and skull at the back of the zombie’s head.
In no time, digging just about an inch into the back of the head, Lin Xinghai came across this crystal, roughly the size of a quail egg. That had to be the energy crystal.
Energy crystal was crystal clear and as beautiful as a diamond.
Lin Xinghai was also curious as to why there were such beautiful things inside the zombie bodies.
He used the dagger to pick it out. After holding it in his hand, it still felt as warm as jade.
“Ding! Energy has been detected. Since the host cannot absorb it, do you want to convert it into Blood Essence?”
“What…” Looking at the system prompt that popped up, Lin Xinghai wanted to choose: Yes!
But in the end, with a heavy heart and some reluctance, he chose not to. This energy crystal was supposed to be turned in, and he wasn’t sure what changes might occur in the crystal after absorbing its energy.
If the changes weren’t noticeable, he could probably fudge it. But if they were too obvious, it would be hard to explain away.
“I can’t let the system blow its cover. I’ll just have to play it by ear.” Lin Xinghai mused, while slyly absorbing the zombie’s Blood Essence.
He glanced over, noticing that the energy crystals from the other zombies had already been extracted. After all, there weren’t many dead zombies. With each person dissecting one, the process was super quick.
“Hai, you’re doing a good job.” At this time, a mercenary passed by and saw that Lin Xinghai had taken out the energy crystal. He couldn’t help but praise.
Another mercenary also gave him a thumbs up.
Seeing everyone’s compliments, Lin Xinghai smiled, but he complained in his heart.
“How do you guys extract the energy crystals so fast? When am I supposed to find a chance to collect the Blood Essence?” He grumbled to himself. Meanwhile, he walked over to the nearest two zombies, bent down pretending to examine their wounds, and discreetly absorbed their energy.
That was the best he could do, especially since everyone else had already hopped in the carriage.
Lin Xinghai had to return quickly. Otherwise, under the gaze of many eyes, his actions would easily arouse suspicion.
On the next leg of their trip, it seemed like every 15 to 20 minutes, they’d bump into another group of zombies.
The number of zombies varied. Sometimes there were only a few, and sometimes there were more than 20 zombies.
During this process, Lin Xinghai’s Blood Essence rose steadily.
When the convoy drove for more than two hours and was about to arrive at Heaven’s Peak City, the Blood Essence points he collected had reached 63 points.
“We’re getting there! There’ll definitely be more zombies in the city. After a few more encounters, I should have enough energy for a breakthrough.” Lin Xinghai thought, silently thrilled at how smoothly things were going.
Suddenly, the alarm sounded again.
Lin Xinghai was thrilled. To him, the alarm signaled that Blood Essence was coming to his door again.
But soon, he noticed something off; this alarm sounded different than before. It was blaring more rapidly and more loudly.
Just by looking at the display, he could tell it wasn’t the zombie detector going off this time. The alert seemed to be coming from… the weather detector?
And more importantly, he actually saw the fear in the eyes of the mercenaries.
“Escape! Hurry!” Roger yelled immediately.
At the same time, Fang Tianhe’s rushed order to evacuate came over the intercom.
Screech!
The 50-ton armored vehicle actually drifted 180 degrees.
If it weren’t for the excellent suspension and balance systems, the vehicle would’ve probably flipped over with that drift.
But, no denying, that was the quickest U-turn ever. And the moment after the U-turn, a deafening roar of the engine erupted, sounding just like a wild beast.
The unparalleled feeling of being pushed back into his seat made Lin Xinghai feel like he wasn’t in a 50-ton armored vehicle, but rather a nimble sports car.
In three seconds, the speed of the armored vehicle soared from 60 kilometers per hour to 120 kilometers per hour.
And, that’s not all.
The armored vehicle continued to pick up speed. As Lin Xinghai looked out the observation window, he noticed the metal panels on the side of the vehicle slide open, revealing… rocket thrusters?
Boom!
A pale blue flame blasted out. With a sudden jolt, the vehicle surged forward at an unimaginable speed.
At this moment, the armored vehicle seemed to be flying. Lin Xinghai could not predict how terrifying the speed would be at this time.
“We made it out.” Roger said, letting out a breath of relief and slumping into his seat. The rest of the team wasn’t faring much better.
At this time, Lin Xinghai looked back through the observation window and found that a tornado with a diameter of 1 kilometer appeared in the place they had just passed.
It was like a pillar supporting the sky, standing between the sky and the ground.
Lin Xinghai could see that everything on the ground, whether it was dirt or rock, was being swept up by the raging tornado, shooting straight into the sky.
In the blink of an eye, the land spanning a kilometer in diameter vanished, replaced by a dark, gaping pit.
Moreover, as the tornado moved, the pit kept expanding, slowly taking on the appearance of a massive canyon.
*Gulp!*
Lin Xinghai couldn’t help but swallow. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, it would be hard for him to believe the scene before him.
“This right here is the Hell Tornado, the scariest thing you’ll see during the catastrophe.”
“The scariest thing about this tornado is the lack of warning signs before it appears.”
“It forms in just a brief 10 seconds, spanning anywhere from 500 meters to 3 kilometers. Most creatures can’t escape in such a short span of time.” Roger finally caught his breath and remarked.
“Isn’t the catastrophe over? Why are there still such tornadoes?” Lin Xinghai asked, feeling a surge of lingering fear. He believed that such mighty forces of nature were simply beyond human resistance.
“The catastrophe is over, but various natural disasters still occur occasionally. However, their chances of happening are quite low now; we might not even encounter one in a month.”
“Today’s really been unlucky. I hope everything goes smoothly from here on out.” Roger remarked, his brow furrowing in concern. That wasn’t a good sign.