34: Chapter 34 Hidden Resource Points

Lin Yan stood in the silt at the bottom of the sedimentation tank, preparing to rummage through other drops, when his gaze was suddenly drawn to a crack behind the corpse.

On the innermost wall at the bottom of the sedimentation tank, there was a narrow fissure obscured by broken pipes, just wide enough for an adult to squeeze through sideways.

There were dark red claw marks on the concrete fragments at the edge of the fissure, and a foul stench, several times stronger than that of the Sewage Treatment Plant, wafted from deep within the fissure, mixed with the smell of rust and decaying bones.

Lin Yan squeezed inside.

Behind the fissure was a naturally formed cave, which had been converted into a lair by the Licker. The cave was small, about twenty square meters, and the height was barely enough for him to stand upright.

The ground was bare rock, covered with a layer of slippery, dark red mucus. Some fine crystal fragments were embedded in the walls of the cave, emitting a faint fluorescence in the darkness, barely illuminating this dead and silent space.

Then he saw clearly what was in the cave.

Bones, bones everywhere.

Against the wall, white bones were piled into a small hill. There were complete human skeletons mixed with scattered limb bones, at least dozens of them. Skulls were scattered everywhere, some still attached to dried skin and flesh, their empty eye sockets facing the cave entrance. The ribs of the chest cavities had been snapped, and there were marks of gnawing by sharp teeth on the spines.

What was even more terrifying was that these bones had not decayed naturally; they had been licked clean. There was no residual soft tissue on the bone surfaces; they were as white as if they had been repeatedly polished with sandpaper, gleaming with a cold white luster under the faint light of the crystals.

Besides humans, there were also zombie skeletons. Hundreds of skeletons, one size smaller than the Licker, lay in the corners of the cave, their ribs and spines also covered with gnawing marks; this was evidence of the Lickers cannibalizing their own kind.

Deeper inside, several monster skeletons, whose names he could not name, were piled together; some bones had already shattered into dust, mixed into the crevices of the rock layer.

On the ground in the deepest part of the cave, a few worn-out blankets and clothes dragged in from outside were laid out, pressing down into a shallow depression. That was where the Licker rested, and around the depression were scattered several pieces of broken equipment soaked in blood stains.

Lin Yan scanned the cave and his gaze landed on the ground in the very center. A pale golden rune stone was embedded in a crack in the rock layer, its rune patterns mostly covered by thick dark red mucus; if it weren't for close observation, it would be impossible to discover.

The mucus had dried and formed a hard shell, but the light of the rune still shone through the cracks in the hard shell, brightening and dimming, like the breathing of something in deep sleep.

[Hidden Resource Point Discovered: Licker Lair]

[Grade: Elite]

Lin Yan reached out and pressed his hand on the rune stone, and warm energy flowed in through his fingertips. The light of the rune stone bloomed instantly, illuminating the entire cave as if it were daylight. The white bones cast hideous shadows in the strong light, and the human skulls revealed more details under the light.

Accompanied by a slight mechanical sound, a metal box half a person's height slowly rose from the rock layer next to the rune stone. The surface of the box was covered with a layer of dark green rust, but the rune patterns on the edges were still intact, emitting faint spatial fluctuations.

Lin Yan flipped open the box lid.

Five hundred low-rank dimensional crystals were stacked in a small pile. Five bottles of advanced health potion, the bottles crystal clear. A dark gray armor, its surface covered with dense scale-like patterns, with a circle of pale golden runes on the edges.

[Equipment Obtained: Licker Armor · Level 10]

[Quality: Green Excellent]

[Effect: Maximum HP +1200, Physical Defense +60, Magic Defense +60, Speed +50]

[Wearing Condition: Level ≥ 10]

Lin Yan put everything into his carapace belt, and that cold, unique mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

[hextech system detects that the host has discovered a high-value hidden resource point, triggering an additional hextech selection opportunity × 1]

[This additional selection comes with a 20% high-quality probability bonus]

[Generating hextech options...]

Three light screens glowing with brilliant golden light appeared out of thin air before Lin Yan's eyes.

[Current hextech Quality: Gold Tier]

[Available hextech:]

Option 1: Armor Breaker — Attacks ignore 30% of physical defense.

Option 2: Heart of the Rogue — Leave combat for 5 seconds, recover 10% of maximum HP per second.

Option 3: Attribute Stacking — Gain three Attribute Forger, with a higher chance of obtaining Gold Tier and Prism Tier Attribute Forger. Each Attribute Forger will randomly draw three attributes, and the host can choose one from each to keep.

Lin Yan's eyes lit up; another Attribute Forger, he directly chose the third hextech.

[Successfully selected Gold Tier hextech: Attribute Stacking!]

[Generating Attribute Forger...]

[Attribute Forger (Silver Quality): Please choose one from the following three attributes.]

[Constitution Shard: +1 Constitution]

[Strength Shard: +1 Strength]

[Agility Shard: +1 Agility]

"Constitution."

The second one was also a Silver Attribute Forger.

Expand —

[Luck Shard: +1 Luck]

[Strength Shard: +1 Strength]

[Agility Shard: +1 Agility]

"Strength."

[Attribute Forger (Gold Quality): Please choose one from the following three attributes.]

[Constitution Shard: +5 Constitution]

[Strength Shard: +5 Strength]

[Agility Shard: +5 Agility]

"Constitution."

[Congratulations on triggering hextech Bond, Dice Enthusiast × 2]

[Normal monsters have a chance to drop an [Attribute Forger] when killed]

Lin Yan was ecstatic; a bond! Choosing hextech could actually trigger a bond, meaning there was another direction for choosing hextech in the future.

He suppressed his inner excitement, checked his current panel, turned around, and left the lair.

[Current Level: 12]

[Current Attributes: Constitution 20, Strength 26, Agility 20, Spirit 1, Luck 10]

[Current HP: 21535 / 32935]

[Current Mana: 100 / 100]

[Physical Attack: 460]

[Magic Attack: 10]

[Physical Defense: 245]

[Magic Defense: 205]

[Speed: 350] (40% bonus)

[Talent: F-Rank Weak Constitution]

[Skills: Hardened Skin (Fixed reduction of 92 physical damage), Blood Burning Strike, Titan Strength (Increases physical attack by 160), Rend]

[Equipment: iron scale legguards · Level 5, ant bone bracers · Level 5, Carapace Belt · Level 5, Licker Armor · Level 10, Fire Scale Boots · Level 5, blood rage ring · Level 10, lickers claw · Level 10]

[Current EXP: 200 / 15000]

[Free Attribute Points: 39]

[Items: Superior health potion × 5, advanced health potion × 5, intermediate health potion × 10, intermediate mana potion × 2, burrowers grasp · Level 5, bone tumor breastplate · Level 5, low-rank dimensional crystal × 5200, various materials, various food]

[hextech: Attribute! (+2 Constitution), Attribute Stacking! (+6 Constitution, +1 Strength)]

[hextech Bond: Dice Enthusiast × 2]

[Kill Count: 420 / 500]

At the bottom of the sedimentation tank, Sister Chen was squatting at the edge looking down, holding a fire axe, her face full of nervousness. Seeing Lin Yan crawl out from the fissure, she visibly let out a sigh of relief: "What did you go in there for? There was no movement for a long time, I thought you had been dragged away by something."

"Licker's lair." Lin Yan jumped up.

"Brother." Su Hao spoke, his voice dry, "Just how much more are you hiding?"

"Not hiding anything." He said, his tone as flat as if he were saying the weather was nice today, "My speed wasn't enough before, but it's enough now."

"My speed wasn't enough before, but it's enough now." Zhao Ming repeated this sentence, the corner of his mouth twitching, "Are you telling me that your speed was added just now?"

Lin Yan glanced at him without denying it.

Zhao Ming fell silent; he was no fool, he heard the meaning behind those words. This person's strength was not fixed; he could adjust it at any time during battle.

What did this mean? It meant that the strength, defense, and speed he had displayed before were only a part of his true strength. Up until now, he might not have used his full strength at all.

This thought made a layer of cold sweat break out on Zhao Ming's back.

"Let's go, the people are rescued, the mission is complete." Lin Yan turned and walked towards the outside of the factory area, his boots making faint sounds on the gravel ground.

Zhao Ming supported the man with the severed arm and followed behind. After walking a few steps, he turned back to look at the two Licker corpses at the bottom of the sedimentation tank. He shook his head, shifted his shield onto his shoulder, and quickened his pace to catch up.

Shen Bing walked in the middle of the team, her gaze fixed on Lin Yan's back. The young man's pace was steady, his breathing even, and the claw marks on his bone tumor breastplate shimmered with faint white marks under the light. She remembered how he stood in the center of the pump room with his arms spread out as bait, remembered the unquestionable tone in his voice when he shouted "Shen Bing, now" and "Zhao Ming!", and remembered the dull "thud" when he punched through the Licker's chest.

She had seen many strong people; there were many capable fighters in Winter City, and a few with powerful abilities as well. But someone like Lin Yan, she had never seen before—not because his strength was outrageously strong, but because his strength was a system.

Strength, defense, speed, judgment, adaptability—every link was tightly interlocked, with no shortcomings and no blind spots. What was even more terrifying was that he could even fill his own shortcomings during battle.

Shen Bing's mind was still replaying that scene: Lin Yan standing on the roof, bathed in sunlight, looking down at the Licker at his feet, and then the moment he smashed it down with one punch. The sense of oppression brought by that height difference, that absolute dominant power from above—she would never forget it for the rest of her life.