Chapter 1 Dense Fog <TOC> Chapter 3 Eye in the Sky
Translator: SumTLMan
His chest felt as if it had been filled with iron sand as the pain came in waves. The shoes were caked with mud, making each step a struggle. Gritting his teeth, Li Mu stumbled through the undergrowth as he fled.
Despite his escape into the Exile Realm, it was too late due to the time difference.
Li Mu was already panicked and disoriented, running towards the area with the highest radiation intensity. It wasn’t until he saw a reed swamp in front of him that he was filled with joy.
The howls of the wolves behind him could no longer be heard, either because the pack had been slaughtered or because he had fled far enough. Li Mu crawled into a reed swamp that was taller than an adult man, the sharp leaves cutting into his face and leaving bloodstains.
Deeper into the reed swamp, he finally relaxed, slowing down to ease the pain in his aching muscles and calm his breathing. His strength had reached its limit, and running any further would have killed him.
After a while, Li Mu plucked a reed and peeled off its outer layer, chewing on the juicy inner part. The water in the reed had lower radiation levels.
His throat was already feeling scorched as he didn’t have time to care about it.
Li Mu looked at his radiation meter; the radiation levels in the environment were higher than in the wasteland, but still within the red zone.
He didn’t know how the invisible Descender hunted for prey, but if it relied on smell and sight, the surrounding reeds should block its tracking.
He looked at the 0.3 source essence on his retina, which he had obtained after killing the swamp wolf. Unfortunately, 0.3 essence couldn’t buy anything in the system store.
Li Mu suddenly realized something and, holding a reed in his hand, returned to the Exile Realm. Sure enough, the reed he was carrying returned to the Exile Realm with him.
Carefully searching the reed swamp, he finally caught two litters of water rabbits and black crane chicks. Bringing these little creatures into the Exile Realm, the long-awaited prompt finally popped up on his retina.
【Speed-Run Achievement: Starting Out, the number of animals in the Exile Realm exceeds ten, reward: Sun Spring, 15 essence points】
【Sun Spring: Rare rating, one of the many springs created by the impact of the last falling sun on the earth, with incredible effects】
As the only player, Li Mu was able to easily achieve speed-run achievements without any competition. Li Mu suppressed his excitement, as the rewards for speed-run achievements were usually valuable items that were difficult to get from the prize pool.
However, he had never heard of the item “Sun Spring.”
Li Mu, being a seasoned player, immediately placed the Sun Spring in front of the water pool at the foot of the cliff. The golden spring water turned into a stream and flowed down from the mountains, converging into a depression in the mountains, turning into a small pool.
After drinking a handful of spring water, the sweet spring water flowed down his throat, and Li Mu felt comfortable all over.
Due to living in a radioactive environment for many years and undergoing rigorous military training, Li Mu’s body had accumulated many hidden injuries. After drinking the Sun Spring water, these hidden injuries started to get better.
A strange warm feeling enveloped him, as if he was lying in warm sunlight.
After drinking his fill of water, Li Mu bought another group of civilians.
【Civilians: humans kept as pets, their lives are in the hands of higher beings.】
Li Mu frowned, the description of the civilians has been changed.
A moment later, a farmer who was leading a cow and plowing appeared in the Exile Realm. The five people were a family, two elderly people with white hair, a young couple with a child with braided hair. They carried a backpack and were filled with jars.
The young man was carrying a sow on his shoulder, and the child was holding several chicks in his arms.
When they saw Li Mu, they immediately prostrated themselves, trembling on the ground.
“Wang Liu of the civilians, from Hong County in the state, I pay my respects to the holy lord.”
Li Mu was somewhat surprised. In the original game, civilians were unintelligent NPCs that would randomly refresh various professions. But now the Wang family was clearly self-aware and intelligent. He didn’t know if they had been implanted with virtual memories.
And what was the title of “holy lord”? In the previous game, players should have been called “Realm Lords.”
“Get up, you can reclaim the land on the open space and live in the Exile Realm.”
Civilians with a farmer identity will carry seeds of various crops, and you can just let them reclaim land by marking out a place.
Li Mu allotted them a piece of land, and as soon as a canal was refreshed in the store, he immediately bought it for daily use and irrigation, and ordered them to take care of the young rabbits and black cranes.
He suspected that the Exile Realm had become a real world, and perhaps it could no longer be planned at will as in the game, and would not collapse. To achieve long-term development, an ecological balance must be established.
After completing the purchase, since the refreshed resources in the store were not immediately useful, Li Mu kept the remaining source essence for later use.
The store only refreshes its merchandise after a purchase has been made. In the early stage, most of the items refreshed were things that could also be obtained in the outside world. Only by drawing 68 source essence at once would it be possible to draw a precious item.
He watered some clear Sun Spring water with a watering can, and Li Mu left the Exile Realm, prepared to observe what else was suitable to bring into the Exile Realm.
Suddenly, he perked up his ears, and the muffled sound of a gun was barely audible through the thick reeds and entered his ears.
There is someone nearby!
Li Mu’s heart tightened, hesitated for a moment, and still quietly went in the direction of the sound to find out what was happening. Although those who appeared in the swamp were by no means kind, the map was completely blank about the deep part of the swamp, and he was completely lost in it.
Even if something unexpected happened, he could quietly hide back in the Exile Realm, but in this vast swamp, it was unclear when he would see another human again.
Li Mu cautiously crept forward, walking about two hundred steps and reaching the other side of the reed swamp. Crouching in the mud, he carefully observed the outside through the gaps in the reeds.
Marauders, about twenty marauders. They wore armor made of iron plates and animal claws drawn with white paint on the armor. They held various weapons in their hands, most of them shaved their heads, and a few had Mohawks or braids. The dirty ones were almost unrecognizable, with rotten teeth and yellow eyes filled with ferocity.
These people were like locusts in the swamp, appearing in groups and looting and destroying everything in their path.
They were currently guarding a group of captive prisoners, driving them off the hovercraft. These prisoners have been tortured and abused, their eyes dull, their bodies emaciated, they have lost their human form, only a few of the newly captured lucky ones still had some spirit, but not much.
A large group of prisoners occupied most of the space on two hovercrafts.
“Kneel down, all of you obediently kneel down for me!”
The leader of the marauders roared. He wanted to be cleaner than the others, his golden beard was neatly trimmed, and the armor on his body was not a low-quality handiwork, but the standard equipment of law enforcement officers. GP-7, carbon fiber integrated molding, and critical parts also used reinforced ceramic to defend against bullets.
At least Li Mu’s NII-203 couldn’t threaten him from twenty meters away.
The civilians trapped in the middle knelt on the ground one after another, a few people were just slightly slower in reaction and were hit by the gunstock, bleeding from the mouth and about to die soon.
A marauder carried a bucket and scooped out a sticky light yellow liquid from it, pouring it on the bodies of the sacrifices. All the marauders acted as if they were facing a great enemy, afraid of getting a little sticky liquid on them. The civilians felt something was wrong and became restless, but were immediately forced to kneel on the ground by the gun muzzles.
After confirming that each sacrifice was covered with the liquid, he rubbed his waist and flattered the leader.
“Boss, the sacrifices are ready.”
The leader nodded, took out a signal gun from his pocket and fired a purple signal bullet into the sky.
“The radiation concentration in the swamp has now decreased to a low enough level. I hope these sacrifices will satisfy Bushegaro.”
The bright signal bullet penetrated the smoke and slowly fell, easily visible from miles away.
“These marauders are offering sacrifices to the Descender!”
Li Mu finally figured out what they were doing, and the sudden appearance of the Descender in the swamp was not without reason.
Although he had long heard rumors and seen many video materials, he had never actually seen the Descender.
A daunting sense of oppression, something is coming!
Li Mu’s hair stood on end, and even his stomach cramped due to the huge pressure. This frightening feeling was the Descender that had killed all the swamp wolves.
Whoosh!
The reeds in the reed swamp fell to the ground in clusters, creating a path. Something almost swept past Li Mu five or six meters away, bringing with it a strong smell of rot.
“Ah!”
A scream of horror, in the call, the outermost middle-aged woman was suddenly bitten off half her body, and blood spurted out like a fountain.
Almost all the other offerings were frightened by the strange situation in front of them and terror-stricken, wanting to escape. A young man ran the fastest, but he was tackled after running only a few steps. An invisible giant mouth chewed his body, first his hands, then half of his body, and soon he completely disappeared into the swamp.
This invisible Descender is like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, recklessly devouring its prey with abandon.
The marauders on the outer circle watched the horror scene, some of them shivering and shaking like leaves, and some were even scared enough to pee.
The personnel joining the marauders were very frequent, and some newly joined Goldbeard people still saw the Descender hunting for the first time.
Soon, all the offerings were eaten up, leaving only a stinking blood pool on the ground. The hidden Descender appeared in the dim daylight.
It looks like a snake with human hands, with a short, chubby body. A swollen, glass-like single eye is in the center of the forehead, surrounded by countless pink tentacles like human eyelashes. Below the single eye is a big mouth with fine, sharp teeth, with withered ears and gills folded on the neck.
The entire body of the Descender is covered with pale, translucent, bloated and wrinkled scales. A layer of slime covers the scales. The body is more than ten meters long. A row of six hands of different lengths. The arms are slender and weak, with blue fins. The tail is a fish-like tail fin, showing a bright red color.
Its scales have a certain effect of hiding, and its huge body is hidden and visible.
“These offerings are not enough, Goldbeard, the people are too thin, so two can only be counted as one.”
Its voice is like a croak from a person with advanced laryngeal cancer, making listeners feel uncomfortable.
Goldbeard did not hesitate or argue, but directly took out his gun and shot down the man who peed on the ground.
“Now this should be enough, venerable Bushegaro.”
The marauders dragged ten people plus one more into the swamp, and all were still swallowed by Bushegaro.
Feeling satiated while licking the meat scraps from the corners of his mouth, Bushegaro’s narrow esophagus began to vomit as the wriggling esophagus spit out a bone shining with blue light onto the ground.
“This is your reward, Goldbeard.”