166: Departure to the world above ground! Suddenly, I heard

At nine o'clock the next day, Ran Quan was already up. After eating and putting on his protective suit and breathing mask, he had already arrived at the passage, waiting for it to open.

The passage switch was unmanned, and there was a long path leading to the passage. After passing through the passage, there was also a long path, and this passage had three layers of doors, requiring three passages to reach The Ground.

Each layer opened in stages, not simultaneously.

Furthermore, there were surveillance cameras here, and Scavenger units were always on standby nearby. After all, ever since monsters crossed the passage and came underground, this aspect had been given extreme importance.

The key was that the casualties caused by the monsters that time were minor; the other problems they brought were the major ones! For example, some viruses...mutants...or some special radiation sources...

Clang!

As soon as nine o'clock arrived, there was a perfectly punctual sound.

The passage door slowly opened.

The first door could accommodate dozens of people passing through at the same time.

Ran Quan looked around; he was still the only one here.

It seemed that very few people went to The Ground...

Of course, it might also be related to him being in District 11...and each district had varying numbers of passages, and District 11 had more than just this one passage.

Ran Quan walked in, walking for about five minutes, and then he saw the door to the next passage, which was tightly closed at that moment. Just then, after five minutes, this door also opened.

The next door was the same.

The passage of the doors was constantly narrowing, from wide to narrow.

As for why, Ran Quan didn't know.

These three doors were probably like a folding ramp going upwards.

The last passage opened, and light shone in from outside.

This was the first time Ran Quan saw the situation of The Ground World.

Dust filled the sky, the air was hazy, and the light was blocked by the dust. Although it wasn't dark, there was no feeling of bright sunshine.

Before coming out, Ran Quan had inserted a purifier into the slot of his breathing mask.

Hoo~ inhale~ hoo~

Ran Quan breathed through the breathing mask and felt the air was very refreshing, even more refreshing than when he was underground. After all, underground, oxygen was also converted by huge purification devices, but when distributed throughout, it seemed less "premium."

Ran Quan, breathing through the mask, if he were underground, it would be equivalent to secondary purification, resulting in more "refined" purified air.

And now, on The Ground, although it was also a single purification, it was "dedicated supply," so it was better than "wholesale."

So it felt a bit more refreshing to breathe, but only a bit, as this breathing mask was a five-year-old product.

The situation on The Ground was also getting worse and worse year by year.

What Ran Quan saw was a scene of ruins and dilapidated, long-abandoned buildings...

"I need to go further..." Ran Quan walked forward. The areas close to the passage had essentially been thoroughly explored long ago.

It was unlikely to find any supplies or materials...or anything valuable, especially some technological products from the previous era.

"Hoo~ inhale~ hoo~" Ran Quan's breathing was a bit heavy. The outdoor environment made him feel a very pure sense of "harshness." Unlike the "difficulty of survival" underground, this was purely hardcore survival difficulty.

Even wearing a protective suit, he felt a bit uncomfortable. He wondered if it was due to radiation?

"Wait a moment..." Ran Quan glanced at the protective suit on his body. The protective suit was full-body and tight-fitting, so it didn't appear bulky and didn't hinder movement.

But... here came the problem... how was he going to open his Mantis Blades?

Ran Quan was stumped... if his protective suit broke... could he endure the radiation?

Ran Quan had unfortunately witnessed the miserable state of people affected by the wasteland radiation on The Ground... it was terrible... extremely terrible...

The radiation concentration varied in each place. If directly exposed, in as little as fifteen minutes, you could be gone.

And even if it wasn't fifteen minutes, perhaps ten minutes, though you wouldn't be gone, it would leave you with permanent sequelae.

If the concentration was high enough in a place, a few minutes could be fatal.

"Let's look around..." Ran Quan walked into the distance. Although he couldn't use his Mantis Blades, with his current physique, he should... be able to handle most situations... mutated beasts shouldn't be that easy to encounter.

Ran Quan thought, since he was already here, there was nothing he could do. He hadn't thought this through...

"Sigh~" Ran Quan also had a headache, but he didn't want to turn back directly, so he could only bite the bullet and keep going.

Luckily, he walked for more than ten minutes without encountering any mutated beasts. He rummaged around on the way but didn't find anything useful.

"Sigh~ The probability of this is too low! It's like picking up scraps..." Ran Quan felt like he hadn't made any preparations... There was nothing he could do; his "knowledge" was limited. Born a "commoner," he truly didn't know what was needed to go to The Ground wasteland.

Ran Quan suddenly remembered a point: "If I can, why not go directly from The Ground to the 10th District or the 9th District?"

Many "desperate" people would do this, walking directly from The Ground to another district's passage, then entering, thus "crossing districts" directly.

But such a danger was not small, after all, even the passages between the two closest districts were very far apart, and you also had to face various dangers on The Ground, as well as the danger of "getting lost."

.........

Just as Ran Quan went to The Ground, Tang Ziheng suddenly received a message in the system space.

[The host of the Apocalypse World has died.]

"???" Tang Ziheng was startled awake from his near-death state.

"Holy crap! What kind of operation is this?!" Tang Ziheng quickly opened the Apocalypse World to check.

In Tang Ziheng's impression, the Apocalypse World was a world similar to Diablo... a game world. He remembered the system host was someone named Xu Duantong, right?

Wasn't he developing very well? He had already brought tens of millions in source points.

Why did he suddenly die?

Tang Ziheng checked the "death replay."

After Tang Ziheng finished watching, he looked bewildered... How to put it, Xu Duantong had indeed developed very well, his level had reached over sixty, and all his equipment was level sixty dark gold gear.

With various talents and skills, logically... he should have been living very comfortably.

Then he would develop little by little, and it wouldn't be a problem to dominate the entire Apocalypse World or even lead the world to "ascension" eventually.

However, for some unknown reason, a demon god descended, and it descended right where Xu Duantong was.

Then Xu Duantong fought a bitter battle.

He managed to take half of the demon god's health, but he also died.

Although this world was a game world, there was no such thing as resurrection.

So he just died like that.

"What a pity~" Tang Ziheng sighed, shaking his head slightly. It was like his cultivated "tool world" was gone.

Although all the source points he earned were still there, this meant he had one less level 2 world in his hand.

And at this moment, the system appeared:

["Employee" detected dead! To reduce the "boss's" losses, the system will enter a brand new version, deducting 1e source points!]

"???" Tang Ziheng was utterly confused. Good grief, you can update, but why deduct my source points!