The fortification was exactly the same as those they had seen previously.
However, Luo Yuan signaled everyone to stop once they entered. Though in reality, they would not dare enter without Luo Yuan instructing them to do so.
Cobwebs were everywhere inside, especially in the nooks and crannies. There were even several dozens of pupa-shaped objects wrapped entirely in spider webs, some of them taking the shape of obvious human forms.
Luo Yuan tried stepping on the cobweb on the ground, realizing that they were extremely sticky. An average person would never be able to get out of it despite being just his legs stuck. He figured he would not be able to escape if his body happened to be stuck on the web too.
Entering hastily might cost him his life so he quickly adjourned to the foyer. The giant lizard was then summoned.
The lizard was much smarter after its evolution; one of its skills included ‘Observation’, that reflected a higher level intelligence. With periodical training, it could now understand most of two-worded commands.
Like ‘Spit fire’.
The lizard shook its head a little and opened its mouth, spitting an impactful stream of fire against the foyer.
“Boom!”
It sounded like the fortification it was hit by a bomb, as it quaked a little. The fire even reached as far as over 2 meters out of the embrasure.
The giant lizard was not actually a fire element mutated beast like Lao Huang. In comparison, it could not spit fire as well as the latter. What it managed to spit was the flammable gas from its body, so when a large amount of such gas was released into a comparatively sealed space, the effect was much more devastating than it would be in the wild – something Luo Yuan did not expect.
The flame then ignited the explosives stored upstairs and detonated a second explosion. Luckily there were not many explosives, so the explosion was not as destructive. Should rocket missiles be among the explosives, the fortification would probably be crumbled to dust by now.
Even so, it had already frightened Luo Yuan.
“Waaaaaaaaah!” Countless of shrill cries like ones from babies’ was heard, as a few mutated spiders covered in flames escaped through the door, meeting their deaths when the giant lizard stomped on them. The one it missed was sliced into two by Luo Yuan as well.
A minute later, the noise came to a halt. A pit about 2 meters deep appeared in the foyer, still smoking from heat.
The initial white cobwebs were all burnt, piles of mutated beasts’ and humans’ skeleton were scattered around.
The place was burnt black; a few work tables and the door was still burning. The smell of burnt protein came from the inside. About a dozen spiders that did not escape laid on the floor burnt; their bodies almost cooked but their strong vitality kept them struggling from perishing straight away.
Luo Yuan wanted to end them all but had a change of thought.
Cao Ling was still in a critical state. These spiders could be a great source of life energy and would save him some effort.
Not only the first floor, but the whole fortification was completely burnt. Luo Yuan checked the whole building to find that the lizard had outdone itself with an impressive burn, blazing all the resources. But at least the things inside the basement was safe, as there was a metal door.
Luo Yuan chopped the door to the basement open, to be greeted by a fully-stocked arsenal.
Boxes after boxes of cannon shells lay stacked in the arsenal. Just from standing outside, Luo Yuan could already see about a hundred boxes of them. He estimated that there would be more than 300 boxes if he could count what was inside too. There were also plenty of rifle bullets – about a dozen boxes of them, another several dozen boxes of various grenades, and several hundred of rocket missiles. On the other side of the arsenal were 7 cannons, 5 heavy sniper rifles and a dozen other rifles. The amount of weapons was sufficient for them to hold out through a small-scale war.
The others had already arrived carrying Cao Ling and Wang Shishi, and were dumbfounded when they saw the arsenal.
Ordinary people would have never had the chance to admire such weapons in a well-stocked arsenal. Although they had been to a similar arsenal, all the weapons there had already been moved away, save the rocket missiles and unlike this one that was filled to the brim with weapons and explosives.
“Fuck, how many things have those people at the campsite taken?” cursed Lin Xiaoji.
Huo Dong could no longer keep himself together. He went to the rack and picked up the heavy sniper rifle then played with another rifle while saying excitedly, “Not much, I reckon. This place seems to have just been restocked, otherwise, the arsenal wouldn’t be this full. I’ve no idea what caused everyone to retreat.”
The rest of the men went over to play with the firearms as well, seeing that Huo Dong was already there. Their faces wore the same eerie expression. The need for weapons had already hit an unhealthy level for people in this era. The ability to end anyone’s life with a gun, was a great temptation.
“Luo Yuan, it’ll be too late if we drag on.” Huang Jiahui reminded, looking at Cao Ling who was getting paler on the floor.
She already seemed deathlike after so much delays and would probably die soon if no one came to her aid.
“Stop playing, we’ll have time for that later.” Luo Yuan quickly said, “Everyone, leave now. Pick a room and clean it up. I’ll treat Cao Ling at once.”
Explosives were everywhere. A small spark could ignite a massive explosion; it was far too dangerous to linger around much longer.
Luo Yuan carried Cao Ling from the basement to a room on the second floor. Putting her down gently, he carried the biggest spider from the first floor back to the room, after breaking off all its limbs.
Everyone took a few steps back as the mutated spider looked terrifying, a black colored human face grew on its back, as if it was carved there. The features on its face were distinct and life-like, even the sharp teeth in its mouth could be seen clearly. The human face had its eyes shut and seemed to be in agony.
They thought it was a camouflage as it was not a rare occurrence by nature, but when Luo Yuan stabbed his machete into the spider’s body, the face opened its mouth and revealed criss-crossed teeth, with a shrill cry like that of a baby’s, resounding in the room.
Bloodshot eyes opened following the cry, the gaze filled with vengeance and agony. Everyone had goosebumps, feeling like all hell has frozen over.
Luo Yuan grunted loudly, a hint of Will lacing his voice. The group shuddered and came back to their senses, horrified when they realized what happened.
Luo Yuan witnessed the same thing in the foyer earlier. This spider was the largest among the others. While its body only about a meter, it was a Blue level mutated beast.
Its powers were special too, conjuring illusions like the Ghost Locust previously. Too bad it met a ruthless giant lizard and died without putting up a fight, due to the lizard’s flame.
There were no mission indication though. Blue level mutated beasts could not make the system react anymore now. With his speedy increase in capabilities, leveling up would be much harder in the future.
A noticeable heat could be felt from the machete’s handle as the blade stabbed into the spider’s body. The energy was far stronger than the Light Blue level tree before this; the effect more prominent as well. Luo Yuan too, felt like his spirits were lifted, with all exhaustion devoid from his body.
He dared not stall and thrusted the handle into Cao Ling’s hand.
Initially, her body did not react at all. A few minutes later, her ghastly pale face slowly regained some life and turned rosy pink.
Her body then started to seem flushed; her breath quickened, and her wet hair was steaming hot.
The energy from a Blue level mutated beast’s life was too overpowering for a normal person. Although the spider was close to the brink of death, it was still too much for Cao Ling.
Huang Jiahui touched her head but retracted her hand quickly. Cao Ling’s forehead was burning at shocking 40 – 50 degrees Celsius. She asked worriedly, “Will she be okay like that?”
Luo Yuan shook his head. He did not know if problems would rear its ugly head if this went on. Theoretically, she was absorbing some life energy, so she should be alright. To be safe, he stopped the energy supply.
Cao Ling’s temperature gradually returned to normal as her breath stabilized after the energy supply was cut off. Other than still looking a little pasty, she seemed much better than before.
Looking at the spider now, it was completely dead after it had its life sucked out. What made Luo Yuan notice the spider was the wound which he recognized was from his machete.
A copious amount of reddish yellow pus appeared around the wound, the crust near the wound seemed to have eroded as well, losing its initial shine.
Luo Yuan was curious. He knocked the crust with the back of his machete, and the supposedly hard crust was now so delicate, a forming a hole with his slightly forceful knock.
He continued knocking, widening the hole to reveal rotten flesh inside. He stirred the insides with a wooden stick, and realized that all the flesh had lost its firmness, as it turned into pus-mixed blood easily, with only just a few stirs.
He suddenly thought of a term, “DNA damage”.
It was Luo Yuan’s first time. The huge tree before this could replenish its own energy with its roots, so its life was not completely sucked away even though it had already been a few days. Only its leaves wilted when they left, and there was no sign of DNA damage.
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