68: Chapter 68 Reveals an A-Rank Mental Skill!

"You keep it and wear it," Chen Chen said casually.

Shen Wanxing happily hung the pendant around her neck; the silver evening gown paired with the glowing cross was the epitome of pure desire.

Chen Chen was very satisfied.

An A-grade mental-type skill book!

This thing was an out-of-print item on the wasteland that was simply priceless and unavailable.

He immediately checked the skill attributes.

[A-Grade Skill Book: Soul Pierce]

[Effect: Highly compresses mental energy, transforming it into an invisible blade for long-range single-target attacks. Ignores conventional physical defenses and deals a devastating blow directly to the target's consciousness sea.]

[Restriction: Learning requires a mental attribute of 50 points or higher.]

Chen Chen's current mental attribute was exactly 55 points.

It was practically tailor-made for him.

Without hesitation, he chose to learn it immediately.

The skill book in his hand turned into a beam of golden light and drilled into the center of his forehead.

A cool, stinging sensation came from deep within his brain.

Chen Chen closed his eyes, sensing the condensed power that had appeared within his consciousness sea.

He tried to mobilize his mental energy.

He locked onto an overturned armored vehicle a hundred meters away.

With a thought.

"Hum—"

There wasn't a ripple in the air.

But a perfectly smooth, circular hole suddenly appeared on the armored vehicle's thick bulletproof glass.

It was as if it had been instantly vaporized by some invisible laser.

The piercing power was terrifying!

With this move, in the future, when encountering those thick-skinned, heavy-armored monsters, he could just use one Soul Pierce to blow their heads off, saving time and effort.

He swept all the remaining tactical supplies into the silver-grade storage ring.

Just as he was about to get in the car.

Jiang Yanxue poked her head out from the carriage.

"Boss, Seven Blades and the others have arrived. They are waiting at the bridgehead."

Chen Chen nodded: "Have them come over to count the supplies left behind by the Holy See; take whatever is usable. Then reorganize the convoy and prepare to cross the bridge."

He climbed into the car and returned to the driver's seat.

Shen Wanbing handed him a wet wipe.

Chen Chen took it and wiped the blood off his hands.

"How is the Radar scanning situation?" he asked.

Shen Wanbing frowned, her face pale.

"The situation is very wrong."

She projected and enlarged the Radar panel.

"After you killed The Shepherd, the energy level of that 'Crimson Hive' four hundred kilometers ahead suddenly experienced a cliff-like surge."

"What's even more troublesome is..."

Shen Wanbing took a deep breath.

"The military's 'Iron Wall' convoy is less than fifty kilometers away from the nest. They seem to have found a shortcut without toxic gas."

Chen Chen paused.

"Fifty kilometers? At the speed of an armored vehicle, they can make it in half an hour."

"That's right," Shen Wanbing nodded, "If they destroy the core of the nest first, that golden blueprint blind box won't be ours."

Chen Chen threw the used wet wipe into the trash can.

He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel twice.

"What is the maximum speed of the A-grade magnetic levitation engine?"

"Theoretically, it's 220 kilometers," Shen Wanbing said after glancing at the data.

"Switch all backup energy to the power system." Chen Chen pushed the control stick to the bottom.

"Sit tight."

The Ghost Fortress let out a deafening sonic boom.

The eighteen-ton steel beast pulled a visible Mach ring directly on the bridge deck, charging into the swamp filled with toxic green gas in an almost insane manner.

Ahead lay a desolate area churning with dense green toxic fog.

Visibility was less than ten meters.

The air was full of a pungent, acrid smell, and even the rocks on the ground were slowly dissolving.

Thirty kilometers behind, Seven Blades was rushing over with six off-road vehicles.

Chen Chen picked up the communicator and pressed the talk button.

"Seven Blades. Stop outside the swamp."

Seven Blades' rapid panting came through the walkie-talkie.

"Boss, we can still keep up! The cars are equipped with anti-poison filters..."

"Your pile of junk can't withstand the high-concentration acid corrosion."

Chen Chen interrupted him directly, "Take your people and clear out the scattered zombie hordes on the periphery of the swamp. Collect all the basic supplies that drop for me. Wait for me to return."

"Yes! Boss!"

Seven Blades answered crisply.

Chen Chen cut off the communication and threw the walkie-talkie back onto the center console.

Taking this group of people in would just be babysitting.

He wanted subordinates who could create value, not dead weight.

He pushed the control stick to the limit.

Blue arcs of electricity suddenly exploded beneath the chassis.

The eighteen-ton Ghost Fortress plunged headlong into the churning green toxic fog.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss—"

The sound of violent corrosion instantly filled his eardrums.

The extremely high-concentration acidic toxic fog wrapped around the vehicle like a living thing, desperately trying to drill inside.

At that very moment, a pale blue, translucent light film covering the A-grade armor lit up.

Silver-grade high-frequency energy shield!

The toxic fog hit the shield and was immediately isolated half a meter away.

No matter how the outside world boiled and corroded, the light film didn't even ripple.

Inside the car.

The advanced air circulation system ran quietly, keeping the temperature at 24 degrees.

He could even smell the fragrance of the black tea Shen Wanxing had just brewed.

Qin Hongye lay at the second-floor firing port, looking through the glass at the blue light film outside that perfectly isolated the deadly toxic gas, and swallowed hard.

Half an hour ago, she was still outside eating sand, potentially being torn apart by monsters at any moment.

Now, she was staying in this floating steel fortress, as comfortable as if she were in a vacation villa before the apocalypse.

This contrast was too stark.

"Focus. Don't get distracted."

Chen Chen's voice came to the second floor through the communication channel.

Qin Hongye shuddered and quickly pressed her right eye back against the scope of the Gauss sniper rifle.

"Understood!"

Thirty kilometers deep into the swamp.

On the system panel, the highest aggro marker belonging to the [Lord of Flesh] suddenly flashed with a glaring red light.

The calm swamp mud began to riot.

Countless amphibious deformities with disgusting cysts and tentacles crawled out from the mud, launching suicidal charges toward the Ghost Fortress like madmen.

They couldn't break the shield's defense at all and were all crushed under the vehicle.

But there were too many of them, and they dragged the vehicle's speed down by thirty yards.

"Straight ahead! High-energy reaction!"

Shen Wanbing pressed her necklace, speaking extremely fast.

Just as she finished speaking, the toxic mud ahead churned violently.

A giant poison frog the size of a heavy truck broke out of the mud.

Its body was covered in venomous pustules, and its eyes were completely white.

Tier 3 Venom Giant Frog!

It opened its bloody maw, and a high-pressure corrosive water jet smashed down toward the Ghost Fortress.

"Bang!"

The water jet smashed against the energy shield.

The pale blue light film finally shook.

The system prompted that the shield energy had dropped by 1%.

Chen Chen stepped on the accelerator, his speed increasing instead of decreasing.

"Qin Hongye, fire."

Second floor.

Qin Hongye's breathing had completely stopped.

The A-grade Eagle Eye talent magnified every pustule on the giant frog onto her retina.

Locked.

Pulled the trigger.

"Shhh—"

The Gauss projectile tore through the air.

The poison frog couldn't react in time; the projectile accurately hit the largest bulge on its lower jaw.

That position was the charging gland for its venom spray.

The pustule burst, and the venom backfired.

The giant frog let out a deafening scream.

Just at the moment the projectile hit.

A system prompt sounded in Chen Chen's mind.

[Triggered purple trait 'Fatal Lock / Weak Point Strike'!]

A scarlet cross mark lit up out of thin air on the giant frog's mangled lower jaw.

Weakness!