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墨書 Inktalez
Eva discovered that this blue little bug had energy levels different from those previously recorded. Its intelligence was very low, only capable of attacking the nearest living being within its line of sight. Its energy would not render a person unconscious; instead, it corroded a person's life force. However, this corrosion would only occur when it attacked someone, and that person would not be able to infect others. The life force referred to as Force was affected by this attack, and Eva was hit, though only slightly. The Force neutralized the energy. After using its energy once, the blue bug needed to eat—specifically meat, even bones—so no corpses were found at the monitoring station. After feasting, it regained its energy.
Cui Ming interjected, "Even if this bug can eat a lot, it couldn't possibly take down fourteen corpses by itself."
"Exactly," Zhao Wei replied as he parked the vehicle and pulled out a map. There was a line drawn on it. "This is the map provided by the Alliance, indicating that we must absolutely avoid searching beyond this dried-up Ancient Riverbed. It also states that the bugs cannot be found outside this line."
Ah, it's Zhir's territory. It seems someone from the Force Alliance has communicated with Zhir and marked off a restricted area. Cui Ming observed, "That area is quite large; if we walk straight across like camels, we won't reach the end in three days."
Zhao Wei nodded. "We've stationed Fungus Men on both sides as guards; they are essentially our suicide squad, effectively surrounding the bugs in this quadrilateral desert. Practitioners from Nordo City are already stationed with the suicide squad. I, Evelyn, Eva, and Mi Xiaobo are guarding the Forest line, just waiting for reinforcements from the Alliance to conduct a large-scale search."
"With just these few people guarding four lines, they'll wear themselves out."
"Who says otherwise? I switched shifts yesterday and need to go relieve Evelyn first thing tomorrow morning. We run non-stop for twenty hours every day searching, worried that a Void Creature might slip past our defenses."
Cui Ming said, "I'll accompany you tomorrow."
"That's brotherly of you." Zhao Wei clapped Cui Ming on the back with delight. "Just so we're clear, you're sticking with me—not just tagging along." He said all this to find some free labor.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean helping me share some of the workload," Zhao Wei explained. "The day after tomorrow in the afternoon, the Ye Family and Yorkian will arrive. This is a major mobilization by the Alliance; every practitioner will be contacted as much as possible—there could be around a hundred people coming."
Cui Ming chuckled, "This is quite an event! Speaking of which, if this bug has a leader with intelligence and sees your setup, it will definitely try to escape."
"Don't jinx it! We hope it has no commander and waits obediently for our reinforcements," Zhao Wei replied. "There aren't many people on three lines; everyone is patrolling alone. If one of us gets caught one-on-one by it, who knows how powerful that Void Creature really is?"
The next day, at the agreed time and place on the outskirts of the city, Cui Ming got into Zhao Wei's car. Although Zhao Wei's vehicle was electric, it looked incredibly imposing. It had no windows, just a steel frame convertible with a high base, resembling an off-road vehicle. The back of the car even carried an extra battery, providing ample horsepower.
What do practitioners need glass for? After all, they have Force protection. What if it rains? With Zhao Wei's powerful Force, they could simply create a roof for the car.
Kama Town was still quite far from Dawn City. It wasn't until the next morning that they finally arrived in Kama Town. Kama Town remained largely unchanged; heading towards the desert, they reached a small village several dozen kilometers away. The residences in the village were uniformly built, consisting of two types: one was family villa-style housing for immigrants who had married and had children, allowing them to live in independent villas. Their children directly enjoyed citizenship benefits from Dawn City, and these villas lined both sides of the village road, looking very beautiful. The other type was high-rise buildings meant for single residents, with each unit measuring sixty-two square meters. To accommodate new immigrants, construction projects were still underway.
Continuing their drive towards the Forest, once they arrived there, there were no more roads; ordinary people needed to switch to camels. The workers at the Forest had already returned to the village, and it was currently managed by the police from Kama Town. Upon reaching the Forest, they were prepared with supply backpacks for climbing. After registering, Zhao Wei and Cui Ming each took a backpack and walked towards the Scientific Monitoring Station.
The scientific monitoring station was quite small, covering only about a thousand square meters, but it was fully equipped—except for the lack of personnel. They chose this location also because there was water underground; the monitoring station had a well. After arriving, Cui Ming went to fetch water to wash his face while Zhao Wei radioed in: "I'm back; it's time to switch shifts."
Evelyn responded: "I'll be there in half an hour."
Evelyn arrived at the monitoring station on time and greeted Cui Ming warmly before introducing the situation. Last night, Evelyn had killed a Void Creature—a bug that looked exactly like another one—with no further developments. After briefly summarizing her findings, she hurriedly took her leave as she needed to return to pick up the main force of the Force Alliance arriving tomorrow afternoon.
Zhao Wei and Cui Ming began their regional work. First, Zhao Wei sat on a dune watching Cui Ming run around. An hour later, Cui Ming sat on a dune watching Zhao Wei run around; there was no helping it—his physique was weak. Cui Ming was now quite familiar with the desert, feeling as if it were his second home.
Their team referred to themselves as the "Vanguard," aiming to delve deep into this triangular area and establish a point while waiting for reinforcements to arrive so they could systematically search through this square territory piece by piece.
During their break time, Cui Ming asked Zhao Wei beside him: "Is it possible they are hiding beneath the sand?"
"That's unlikely; Void Creatures are not desert dwellers. While it's possible they might temporarily hide deep under the sand, they can't remain hidden for long."
Cui Ming replied: "Let's assume that the leader of these bugs is intelligent; he would definitely know we are planning to gang up on him and would want to escape. How would he do that? If I were him, I would use the bugs as scouts. Last night Evelyn discovered one bug; I find that somewhat suspicious."
"Suspicious? Even if what you say is true, if Evelyn killed that scout bug, would the leader really show up?"
"Is the leader really that weak?" Cui Ming asked. "If he found out that Evelyn is human, wouldn't he try to ambush her? Or perhaps he thinks Evelyn isn't his preferred type."
"......" Zhao Wei drank water and ate, too lazy to pay attention to this person. This person was just overly sensitive, doubting everything. Last night at dinner, he even suspected she was trying to get him drunk. Seriously? She had a 5:1 advantage. Baijiu against beer, and he still didn't get drunk. It wasn't until the end of the night that she found out he hadn't touched a drop. How did he manage that? She couldn't be bothered to think about it.
Cui Ming muttered to himself, "Mi Xiaobo is a violent woman. No problem, I can't beat her but I can withstand her. Evelyn is very sharp; Eva... Eva is the weak point. Where is Eva? Let's go check it out."
Zhao Wei pulled out a map. "There's a weathered mushroom rock over here. If we follow it, we'll reach Eva's territory."
"Aren't you going?"
"Should I go?"
Cui Ming said, "I think you're taking Evelyn's place; the leader of this area won't move. He really is wise. If there's going to be a breakthrough, it will definitely be in Eva's direction."
Zhao Wei stood up and pulled Cui Ming up as well, saying, "You're wrong; you'll see."
Cui Ming straightened his clothes, wishing they could avoid physical confrontation; maintaining his appearance wasn't easy.
The weathered mushroom rock was actually a type of stone that had been eroded at the middle and lower parts due to the desert environment, forming a mushroom shape. The mushroom rock was quite beautiful and could be considered a wonder of the desert. Zhao Wei was carefree and ignored the beautiful scenery, while Cui Ming, having seen many mushroom rocks before, simply walked past.
Cui Ming carried a high-power walkie-talkie while Zhao Wei exuded an air of authority that made Cui stop. He then picked up the walkie-talkie and called out, "Eva's voice came through: 'I'm near the Ancient Riverbed.'"
"So far?" The Ancient Riverbed no longer existed; it had long been covered by wind and sand. However, due to underground water, shrubs grew like a riverbed. This Ancient Riverbed also served as a reference point for restricted areas; another fifty kilometers beyond it was the forbidden zone drawn by the Alliance.
Eva's voice was faint: "I followed my instincts." Her painful sting. Embracing darkness with a hint of dark energy flavor. Her secondary specialization was in the Magic System; since it was secondary, dark energy didn't harm her but she couldn't control it either. She could only infuse dark energy into weapons or Force rather than wielding it like a primary dark magic user whose Force was Dark Magic. Because there was some connection, Eva always felt something.
As Zhao Wei moved toward where Eva was near the Ancient Riverbed, he said, "I brought a handsome guy to see you."
"Oh? Looks like there's meat for dinner tonight," Eva's laughter came through.
"You old flame."
"Cui Ming?" Eva exclaimed, surprised. "Looks like our standard of living is about to take a leap tonight. I've wanted to eat him for a long time."
Cui Ming took the walkie-talkie and mimicked Feng's tone, saying, "Eva, my brilliance is more than a hundred times that guy's..."
"Damn, what a scoundrel." Eva's mood immediately soured. "I'm going to rest first; end the call."
Cui Ming felt great. See, this was his charm at work. Oh no, his thoughts were starting to resemble Feng's a bit too much. He needed to maintain an attitude of not being swayed by personal sorrow or joy from external things. This was a lesson from the leader of the childhood theft gang. The leader said that not showing emotions was not necessarily a sign of mastery; it merely indicated one was a cunning villain who still felt joy and anger inside. A true big bad guy does not let personal feelings dictate their reactions; only such a person qualifies to be called a big bad guy.
Is "big bad guy" a derogatory term? Not necessarily. First of all, being a big bad guy implies possessing abilities or power that ordinary people do not have; only with such conditions can one qualify as a big bad guy. For instance, traitors and those who wreak havoc on the world are not something ordinary folks can aspire to be, even if they wanted to. Secondly, "bad guy" is relative; for the Thieves Guild, the police are the bad guys, while for the general public, the Thieves Guild is the bad guy.
However, when he saw Eva, she rushed forward with a hug that filled Cui Ming with satisfaction. Look at Eva; even in the desert, she had lipstick on and light makeup. With a smile, she patted Cui Ming's face and said, "It's been almost three years since we last met, and you haven't made any progress at all. Your outfit has a bit of a masculine flair, but your substance hasn't improved one bit." The word "substance" had its own depth when used by Eva.
"Hey, don't try to seduce my little brother," Zhao Wei said as he pushed Eva away.
"Haha, if I wanted to seduce him, he'd definitely fall for it. Don't believe me? Zhao Wei, why don't you go out for a stroll alone tonight and leave us two here?"
Cui Ming sighed. "Ladies, we're here to work."
"Sisters?" The two women shot Cui Ming incredulous looks. He flipped his hand and pulled out his ID card. "Come on, let's compare."
Eva gritted her teeth and huffed. "Let's get down to business first. I felt something was off this morning." (To be continued.)
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