PSW - Chapter 143
Chapter 143
From Pujie, the routes to Yongdu and Changping were completely different. Although Yu Yinan had made a suggestion, she still prioritized Zheng Yi and planned to go to Changping first to find that mysterious organization.
"Let's go to Yongdu first." But when Yu Yinan stated her thoughts, Zheng Yi gave an answer completely opposite to what Yu Yinan had envisioned.
"Don't you want to confirm the safety of those two siblings? If we go to Changping, it might take a lot of time. By the time we get to Yongdu, it might be the high-temperature period." Zheng Yi's tone was calm, even carrying a hint of lighthearted teasing. "Aren't you afraid they'll be dead?"
And so, the destination was decided: first Yongdu, then Changping.
"When we passed through Lingxu before, it seemed like there was no one here, and we didn't find much." Yu Yinan turned the steering wheel, rounding a street corner, and looked at the somewhat desolate buildings on both sides, sighing softly.
Really, there wasn't a single trace of biological activity, only the remnants of the extreme cold period that had yet to completely and thoroughly fade.
Traveling at full speed, they rested briefly for one night and arrived near Yongdu at noon the next day.
Compared to the lifeless cities they had passed through, like Lingxu, the difference in this place was visible to the naked eye even before they entered Yongdu.
The highway was blocked by a barricade, and on the road were traces of blood and flesh that seemed to have seeped into the ground, their age unknown. Zheng Yi raised her hand, turning water into ice, and swept the barricade away. Yu Yinan then drove directly into Yongdu's territory.
The car had barely left the highway when willow branches shot into the air, lashing toward the vehicle as if trying to stop them. There were four willow trees near this highway? These were clearly not plants from before the apocalypse; they must have been transplanted later, solely to guard this highway passage.
Before the sky full of willow branches could even get close to the car, the air seemed to shimmer for an instant. High-pressure water blades swiftly sliced through all the branches, and the green twigs instantly fell to the ground. Zheng Yi didn't even glance at the four mutated willow trees by the roadside. After a moment of thought, she spread out her mental energy. "Ignore them. Keep driving."
She didn't know what the situation in Yongdu was, but since they could command mutated plants to guard this entrance, there were probably other arrangements elsewhere. Their strength… likely wasn't too bad. If so, had they developed well?
Zheng Yi didn't deliver a killing blow to these plants. Even though they frantically extended their offending branches to stop them, she merely cut them all off and didn't pursue the matter further.
The car turned left and officially entered the urban area. Yu Yinan keenly noticed that there were an exceptional number of ruined buildings here. One shop was even split down the middle, with a particularly obvious crack extending across the road, bisecting the entire street.
Doesn't this Yongdu have a single mental-type ability user? Zheng Yi thought idly as she continued to spread her mental energy. It's for the best. After all, I don't know if they're friend or foe. It would be impolite to kill someone with a backlash rashly.
This movement… is it underground?
Zheng Yi's expression hardened. "Brake. Get out."
The screech of tires filled the air as Yu Yinan slammed on the brakes without hesitation. Her hands hadn't even left the steering wheel when Zheng Yi pushed the door open and jumped out. A massive sheet of ice instantly formed with the modified car at its center, covering and spreading across the road. Almost at the exact moment the ice sheet formed, a loud bang was accompanied by a powerful impact and tremor less than three meters from the car.
Spiderweb-like cracks radiated out from a central point on the road's surface!
Yu Yinan paid no mind to the sudden impact, her thoughts focused only on Zheng Yi's words. She decisively pulled out the key and got out of the car. The moment she was clear, Zheng Yi stored the modified vehicle away.
"Boom!"
Dirt, chunks of concrete, asphalt fragments, and ice shards were blasted into the sky! Amidst the rising cloud of dust, a pair of sharp, dark-red antennae with a slight metallic sheen rose high. The dust slowly dissipated, gradually revealing a body as black and hard as armor, reflecting the light, and multiple giant legs, curved back like sharp, spear-like hooks! At the joint of each body segment was a faint golden ring!
Is that… a centipede? A mutated centipede.
The moment it burst through the road, an indescribable stench spread out with the dispersing dust. When it faced Zheng Yi, its antennae twitched. Instinct made it shrink back, made it feel uneasy, but for some reason, after a clear hesitation, even though it showed reluctance, its body still shot forward, lunging toward them.
With her mental power, Zheng Yi could sense a faint connection between this mutated centipede and a distant entity. She had no interest in severing the connection, but the sight of such a behemoth pouncing at them was hardly "elegant." The mutated centipede's venomous fangs hissed. The moment it charged, a massive torrent of water appeared out of thin air, transforming into a giant ice pillar just before striking. It slammed into the creature's body like a sledgehammer, sending it flying into the ruins across the street!
A continuous hissing sound could be heard as its many legs scrambled. Despite being knocked away once, it quickly emerged from the ruins and charged toward Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan again, its multiple legs working in unison.
"If you don't stop, I won't be so polite anymore," Zheng Yi said with a light sigh, facing the behemoth charging at her again.
Yu Yinan could clearly smell the giant centipede and see its massive, segmented joints. While she wasn't particularly terrified of insects, she certainly couldn't "appreciate" them. It was taking extreme restraint for her not to unleash her ability and burn such a huge mutated centipede to ashes. It was too disgusting, utterly disgusting! Why would anyone keep a mutated centipede as a pet to command?
However, the person behind it clearly didn't take Zheng Yi's warning seriously. The mutated centipede charged even faster. Even the four willow trees they had left behind uprooted themselves and rushed over, launching another wave of verdant branches in a surprise attack from the rear!
"Bang!" A blaze of fire dyed half the road red. A huge, burning blade slashed down vertically, incinerating all the impertinent, trespassing willow branches, leaving only a trail of lingering flames on the road.
Yu Yinan stood before this wall of fire, smiling as she watched the pursuing mutated plants, their roots not yet settled in the soil.
Zheng Yi paid no attention to the willow branches behind her. She simply raised her hand slightly, and a massive, three-meter-long water blade condensed above. Her black eyes, devoid of emotion, stared at the giant centipede. There was no ripple, no trace, not even the sound of slicing through the air. The high-pressure water blade seemed extremely light and slow, like a mere phantom in the air, as it slowly passed through the giant centipede's body…
No, it was more like the giant centipede had charged forward and deliberately slammed into the blade, meeting the high-pressure water blade head-on with its own extremely tough and hard body. It viciously passed through the water blade, its front legs lunging high, as if to pierce Zheng Yi with its venomous fangs.
However, its body froze at that very moment. Its countless legs were still trying to crawl forward, but in the next instant, its massive body involuntarily twisted as if to curl up. It was then that a faint line appeared down the center of its huge head. This line extended from its forehead to its tail, bisecting its pair of antennae, its pair of venomous fangs, and its multiple pairs of legs, splitting the entire centipede equally in two.
A foul-smelling, thick fluid slowly dripped from the cut onto the road, making a harsh sizzling sound and releasing an even more pungent, nauseating odor as it corroded the surface.
A massive torrent of water enveloped the entire creature, washing it back into the ruins. This time, however, it would not be crawling out again.
The crystalline core, washed clean by the water, landed gently in Zheng Yi's hand. She squeezed the crystal core lightly, glanced at the four willow trees that were too intimidated by Yu Yinan's flames to make another move, and then started walking in the direction she had sensed earlier.
Was that really necessary?
Yu Yinan stared at the willow trees for a moment. Seeing that Zheng Yi had no intention of attacking them, she waved her hand to extinguish the flames and hurried to catch up. "I don't think they're friendly. Even the most exclusive base should offer a chance to communicate after we've shown our strength. But…"
Before Yu Yinan could finish, she heard a dense, rustling sound. No, "rustling" wasn't enough to describe it…
What was that?
A dark cloud?
From all directions, black insects, some flying, some crawling, rapidly closed in on them. They looked exceptionally glossy and slick in the sunlight, even reflecting it!
Flat bodies, a deep brown color bordering on black, a scalp-numbing sound of flapping wings, six bristly legs, and a pair of long, thread-like antennae. But more terrifying than any of these descriptions was the fact that every single one of them was the size of a fist!
Before Zheng Yi killed the centipede, Yu Yinan had been wondering what such a large mutated centipede could possibly eat. Mutated beasts, unlike zombies, needed to feed. Now, she had her answer: cockroaches.
A swarm of mutated cockroaches, even more terrifying than a giant centipede!
This swarm of cockroaches didn't even distinguish between friend and foe. Whether it was the centipede's corpse or the four pursuing willow trees, they devoured all comers, sparing nothing.
"Really…" Zheng Yi tossed a few Stamina Recovery Pills to Yu Yinan, her voice devoid of emotion as she uttered the remaining words: "…they don't know what's good for them."
A long blade of scorching flame took shape. Yu Yinan faced the tidal wave of cockroaches and slashed down fiercely, weaving a thick cordon of fire. But the cockroaches were simply too numerous. Even as some were caught in the flames, burning and struggling on their backs, more would swarm forward, trampling over the bodies of those before them.
On Zheng Yi's side, her tyrannical mental power almost solidified, crushing down on them! Any cockroach facing her that came within a five-meter radius simply exploded. Countless splatters of fluid and severed limbs flew through the air, and even the oothecae inside some of the cockroaches were pulverized. A wall of ice blocked it all.
The dense pile of corpses grew rapidly, and in no time, a small mountain had formed on the other side of the ice wall.
Yu Yinan swore this was absolutely the most disgusting and unbearable battle she had ever fought! She had found the centipede's stench extremely unpleasant, but compared to this army of cockroaches, the centipede's smell was practically refreshing. She had wanted to kill these disgusting things even before the apocalypse, let alone this enlarged, evolved version!
What was worse, as the cockroaches burned, their oothecae made a continuous "crackling" sound in the roaring flames. Just imagining it, Yu Yinan could picture the feeling of them bursting.
Yongdu, you really deserve to die!
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