113: Chapter 113 The Weathered Scroll

It was called a lantern, but it was actually a colossal, singular eye.

The silt churned as a behemoth over five meters tall slowly rose from the seabed rift.

Strange, eerie patterns flowed across its dark red, humanoid body.

Just by standing there, the surrounding seawater warped slightly due to the terrifying energy radiation.

[Waifang Clan · Twin Sea Beast (Excellent Grade Peak)]

"Captain..." Lin Weiyu clenched her small fists, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

It was too strong.

The pressure belonging to an Excellent Grade Peak creature was like an invisible mountain on the seabed, crushing down on their chests.

Xia Zhi silently drew her longsword, beginning to gather her strength.

Sa Wanwan and Lin Qingxue also quickly assumed their battle stances.

Yet, standing at the very front, Li Taiping didn't even blink.

Fighting a high-level monster and worrying about martial ethics?

That's something only villains would do; if you can gang up, never fight one-on-one, and if you can use an ultimate, never rely on basic attacks!

Strike first!

Li Taiping's thoughts stirred.

Boom!

A dull, thunderous sound seemed to echo through the deep sea.

Cold, streamlined metal appeared out of thin air, like living liquid metal, instantly covering Li Taiping's entire body.

Clack! Clack!

The crisp sound of mechanical interlocking was exceptionally piercing in the enclosed deep sea.

Deep blue energy patterns lit up one after another on the surface of the mech, like a god opening its eyes.

The values on Li Taiping's combat power panel began to jump frantically.

Late stage... Peak... Breakthrough!

It surged all the way, settling directly at Excellent Grade Peak!

Hum—!

The turbo thrusters on the back of the mech roared to life.

The violent thrust instantly cleared the surrounding seawater, forming a brief vacuum zone.

Spatial energy flowed across the surface of the mech.

Li Taiping transformed into an afterimage that was impossible to track with the naked eye, instantly crossing dozens of meters of deep-sea water.

"So fast!" Lin Qingxue's pupils dilated in shock.

Her dynamic vision, which she prided herself on, couldn't even catch Li Taiping's afterimage; she only saw a long trail of white waves torn through the seawater.

That twin sea beast, over five meters tall, hadn't even had time to turn its massive, scarlet, singular eye.

Clang!

A sharp, clear sword ring resonated across the seabed.

The telescopic greatsword, carrying extreme sword intent and terrifying, unstoppable kinetic energy, slashed down fiercely!

There were no flashy light effects, only pure, extreme physical cutting.

Rip—

A teeth-grinding tearing sound rang out.

The indestructible dark red skin of the Excellent Grade Peak sea beast instantly split open smoothly.

Its massive, single-eyed head flew into the sky, tumbling in the seawater.

In that scarlet, singular eye, there still lingered bewilderment and unwillingness that hadn't had time to fade; its prideful vitality was not even a joke in the face of this dimensionality-reduction strike.

One-shot!

A clean and decisive violent crushing.

The four women had only just finished setting up their battle formation when the fight was already over.

"This... it's already over?"

Lin Weiyu's mouth opened slightly, her semi-dragon claws frozen in mid-air, and she took the opportunity to scratch her head.

Xia Zhi silently released the hilt of her sword, her tense body gradually relaxing; she looked at the domineering back of the mech in front of her, a trace of fanaticism flashing in her eyes.

This absolute crushing of power was simply the art of violence.

Sa Wanwan sighed with a complex look in her eyes; this man was truly suffocatingly strong.

However, Li Taiping, who had killed the powerful enemy with a single sword strike, deactivated his mech armor at this moment.

He felt no joy of victory; instead, his brows were tightly knit together.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

The sea beast's massive, headless body disintegrated in the seawater, turning into scattered dark red light that dissipated.

According to the conventions of the world of Survivor, a monster of this level should drop something upon death.

But, the spot was empty.

Not even a single hair was left behind.

"How come it didn't even drop a wooden treasure chest?"

Xia Zhi swam over, keenly noticing the anomaly.

Lin Weiyu also crowded over, her face full of disbelief:

"An Excellent Grade Peak monster, and it's actually a pauper? That's not scientific!"

Li Taiping stared gloomily at the place where the monster had disappeared.

It was indeed quite strange; in this world, even the trashiest little monster would drop some basic materials upon death.

Although they didn't lack these spoils in most cases, it was just a matter of picking them up effortlessly.

But now, nothing dropped.

Could it be that this twin sea beast didn't count as a wild monster determined by the System?

"Keep moving." Li Taiping pondered for a moment, not voicing his speculation.

The five of them maintained a guarded formation, passing through the collapsed ancient Roman-style stonehenge.

The architectural ruins along the way became increasingly dense; the metal pipes, full of cyberpunk style, were mottled with rust, exuding a desolate air forgotten by time.

They snuck into a dilapidated shop along the street.

The shop's walls had long since collapsed for the most part, and it was piled high with thick seabed silt.

"Captain, there's something in the corner!"

Lin Weiyu had sharp eyes; she swam over and used her dragon claws to push away a thick layer of silt.

Beneath the silt, there was actually a faint energy field flickering.

Inside the energy field, several ancient artifacts lay quietly.

Li Taiping swam over, his gaze sweeping across them.

One of them was a roll of parchment that looked very ancient.

He carefully reached out and pinched the edge of the parchment roll.

The System prompt sounded at the right moment.

[good grade Item Upgrade Scroll]

[Item Description: After use, it can upgrade a normal grade item to good grade.]

For them now, this thing was dispensable, but they wouldn't mind having more.

However, the moment Li Taiping truly applied force with his fingertips, preparing to pick it up—

Crackle.

A faint, extremely subtle cracking sound.

The parchment roll, as if its skeletal structure had been drained of time, instantly collapsed, its originally tough material crumbling.

In the shocked gazes of everyone, it turned into a handful of grey-white ash, instantly dissolving into the cold seawater, disappearing without a trace.

"This?" Lin Qingxue was stunned, rubbing her eyes, thinking she was hallucinating.

"Why did it shatter?" Xia Zhi also frowned.

Li Taiping didn't believe it.

His gaze immediately locked onto another parchment roll nearby that radiated a stronger fluctuation.

[Excellent Grade Item Upgrade Scroll]

This time, he didn't reach out to take it directly; instead, he stared at the item and silently recited in his heart: "Collect!"

According to common sense, as long as it was an item recognized by the System and had no owner, it could be directly collected into the System backpack.

However, the cold System prompt sounded exceptionally piercing at this moment.

[Ding! Item has weathered; internal rules are damaged, cannot be collected.]

As soon as the voice fell.

Right under Li Taiping's nose, that [Excellent Grade Item Upgrade Scroll] shattered like a sand sculpture hit by a gale, instantly breaking into a pile of fine gravel and completely merging into the silt.

The entire shop ruin was silent.

Li Taiping gasped, his eyes full of shock and suspicion.

System items can also expire and become ineffective?!

How is this possible!

In the cognition of all Survivor, System items were the embodiment of rules; as long as the System did not perish, the items would always be effective.

But now, the System explicitly stated "Item has weathered" and "internal rules are damaged."

What did this mean?

It meant that the "code" and "rules" carried by these items had been worn away by the erosion of endless years!

Upon encountering external energy disturbances, they would completely vanish into dust.

A terrifying thought grew wildly in Li Taiping's mind, spreading like weeds.

The ruins here were older than the world of Survivor!

So old that even the rules bestowed by the System could not withstand the erosion of time.

Could it be...

That the so-called System items, Talents, and monsters were all just "low-end replicas" copied from this ancient civilization?

This absurd yet incredibly reasonable thought made Li Taiping's heart beat wildly.

If the System was just a clumsy imitator.

Then, whose grave was the true world of Survivor built upon?!

Were they, the Survivor, playing a game, or were they scavenging on the remains of some indescribable ancient civilization?

Boom—!!

It didn't give Li Taiping any time to think carefully.

In the deepest part of the ruins, behind that cracked crystal stele.

An Excellent Grade aura, even more violent and terrifying than that twin sea beast, erupted like an undersea volcano that had been suppressed for millions of years!

The surrounding undercurrents surged instantly, forming visible underwater tornadoes.

The surrounding dilapidated buildings groaned under the impact of the water pressure, unable to bear it.

A deeper murderous intent locked tightly onto the five people in the shop.

"Get rid of those useless thoughts!"

Li Taiping pointed his sword directly into the darkness, forcibly suppressing the stormy waves in his heart.

No matter what shocking secrets this world was hiding.

Only by surviving could they have the qualification to explore the truth.

"Let's go! Let's go see what kind of monster is hiding inside!"

Li Taiping took the lead, swimming towards the depths of the ruins against the violent undercurrent, with the four women following closely behind.