124: Chapter 124 Dream Chaser's First Battle: Harvesting Zombies

The engine of the "dream chaser" hummed steadily as it sped along the dark red highway. At 75 km/h, it was nearly twice as fast as the old pickup truck, and the charred wilderness outside the windows blurred by.

Scattered on both sides of the highway were various abandoned vehicles—rusted sedan chassis stuck in the gravel, their windows long gone, with half a faded seat cushion remaining in the driver's seat; overturned truck beds stood open, piled with blackened fabric and broken wooden crates, like traces left behind by the humans of this world when they fled in a hurry; there were even several modified off-road vehicles, their bodies welded with crude iron spikes, yet they still could not escape the fate of being besieged by zombies, their doors covered in deep, bone-reaching claw marks, with a rusted metal badge engraved with blurry text lying next to the seats.

"These hunks of iron must have carried people before, right? What a pity." Zhao Hu lay beside the operating lever of the mechanical power claw, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the cold metal rod, while his eyes darted toward the zombie horde in the distance, his tone full of anticipation. "But it doesn't matter, we'll avenge them. These zombies are good stuff—killing them earns dream coins, and burning them in the incinerator can be used as fuel, killing two birds with one stone!"

He didn't summon [Roar], just stared at the buttons on the operating lever and confirmed them repeatedly, his breathing even a bit faster than usual, his eyes filled with the excitement of a boy playing an arcade game.

Lin Wan stood at the edge of the truck bed, her gaze sweeping over the abandoned vehicles, the tricolor bud in her palm swaying gently. She raised her hand to check the time and said softly, "It's almost ten minutes, I'm activating the Purification Halo."

Before the words faded, pale pink, emerald green, and icy blue halos blossomed from the bud, intertwining into a ring and spreading out, covering the entire "dream chaser." The stench of rot and burnt odor in the air instantly faded a lot. "I will maintain the frequency of the Purification Halo; this way, it can prevent viruses and make everyone more comfortable."

Li Mubai sat in the passenger seat, the faint shimmer of [Star Orbit Deduction] deliberately suppressed, only linking with the Dream Spirit [Star Rail] hovering on his shoulder through starlight so faint it was almost invisible.

His gaze locked onto the front, and as the distance shortened, the scene on the highway became clearer—patches of zombies like a gray tide were blocking the center of the highway, at least a hundred of them. Some were wearing tattered work clothes, others still had remnants of driving suits, their limbs waddling in twisted ways, emitting "ho ho" low Roars from their throats. Occasionally, a few zombies would pounce on the abandoned vehicles by the roadside, scratching the rusty car bodies with rotting claws, making a harsh "creaking" sound.

"500 meters left, prepare for battle!" Li Mubai announced in a deep voice, his gaze sweeping over the weapon devices in the truck bed. "Zhang Hao, pay attention to driving the 'dream chaser'; while avoiding zombie attacks and ensuring the safety of the vehicle, guide the zombies into a cluster. Chen Rui, operate the flamethrower to clear the bunched-up zombies. Zhao Hu, use the mechanical claws to assist in the attack; mainly operate the mechanical claws to grab dead and individual zombies and throw them into the incinerator to save up more fuel. Lin Wan, remember to purify every ten minutes, and keep an eye on the Soul device and corpse oil storage; replenish the fuel tanks in time. I will continue to scan the surrounding environment to prevent surprise attacks from mutants."

"Received!" everyone responded in unison, each taking their positions.

Chen Rui climbed to the roof of the car and crouched beside the flamethrower, holding the operating handles with both hands. The crimson metal shell of the flamethrower emitted a cold light. He pressed the test button, and a half-meter-long light red tongue of fire spewed from the muzzle, the scorching heat wave making the surrounding air slightly distort. "The firepower is strong enough, no problem clearing the field!"

Zhao Hu sat in the operator's chair in the truck bed, holding the dual levers of the mechanical power claw with both hands, and took a deep breath. He slowly pushed the left lever, and the left mechanical claw suddenly opened, its three metal claw blades gleaming with cold light; then he pulled the right lever, and the mechanical claw reached forward, precisely grabbing a fist-sized stone by the roadside, and with a gentle squeeze—the stone was instantly crushed into slag. "Awesome! With this force, grabbing zombies is like grabbing little chickens; the more I catch, the more dream coins I can exchange!"

Lin Wan stood by the Soul device, looking at the "0" storage capacity displayed on the screen, then glanced at the fuel gauge on the side of the incinerator, which showed "99%," and the corpse oil storage, which showed "0" units. "The Soul device is in normal standby, the incinerator is preheated, just waiting for the 'raw materials'!"

Zhang Hao gripped the steering wheel and slowly reduced the speed. The front of the "dream chaser" was aimed at the zombie horde, the mechanical claws on both sides of the car body were slightly raised, and the muzzle of the flamethrower on the roof flickered with fire, like a beast ready to strike. "300 meters... 200 meters... 100 meters!"

"Fire!" Li Mubai ordered.

Chen Rui immediately pressed the firing button of the flamethrower, and a tongue of fire several meters long surged from the muzzle, like a crimson Dragon, instantly engulfing the densest group of zombies in front. The flames licked the rotting skin of the zombies, making a "sizzling" sound, and black smoke accompanied by a burnt stench filled the air. Several zombies were instantly swallowed by the flames, falling down with stiff movements, their bodies gradually carbonizing in the fire.

[Killed Ordinary Zombie * 5, obtained 5 dream coins] The pale blue light screen flashed before everyone's eyes.

"Well done! There's another patch on the left, don't waste it!" Zhao Hu shouted, pushing the mechanical claw operating lever. The left mechanical claw suddenly reached forward, precisely grabbing a zombie trying to pounce from the side—that zombie's arm had long since rotted, and after being caught by the mechanical claw, it was still crazily twisting its body, roaring in its throat.

Zhao Hu flipped his wrist, and the mechanical claw turned with the zombie toward the incinerator in the center of the truck bed, releasing it right at the top feed port—the zombie fell into the incinerator with a "thud," the temperature indicator on the side of the furnace instantly jumped from "preheating" to "high temperature," and a "crackle" burning sound came from inside. In less than half a minute, the corpse oil tank at the bottom of the incinerator began to rise slowly, and the "corpse oil storage" on the gauge gradually jumped from "0" to "0.1." [Killed Ordinary Zombie * 1, obtained 1 dream coin] The light screen appeared again, and Zhao Hu grinned: "Another 1 coin in the account, plus a bit more fuel, hahaha!"

"The zombies on the right are coming!" Lin Wan reminded, while the bud in her palm lit up again, and the second wave of the Purification Halo spread out, dispelling the newly drifted burnt stench.

Chen Rui quickly adjusted the angle of the flamethrower, and the tongue of fire swept across the right side, forcing back the pouncing zombie horde.

[Killed Ordinary Zombie * 4, obtained 4 dream coins] The light screen popped up simultaneously.

Zhao Hu took the opportunity to operate the right mechanical claw, grabbing two zombies at once and sending them steadily into the incinerator.

[Killed Ordinary Zombie * 2, obtained 2 dream coins] The prompt flashed, and he shouted excitedly: "Catching two at once, efficiency doubled! This mechanical claw is simply a coin-earning Divine Artifact!" The operations became more and more proficient; the opening, closing, turning, and feeding of the mechanical claws were all done in one go, no longer as stiff as at the beginning.

Zhang Hao drove the "dream chaser" forward slowly, adjusting the direction from time to time so that the flamethrower and mechanical claws could cover more zombies. He swept his gaze over the radar of the Soul detection device projected individually before his eyes—the radar screen was flashing with dense white light points, each representing the Soul of a zombie. As the zombies were swallowed by flames or sent into the incinerator by the mechanical claws, those white light points would be captured by the radar, and then a pale white stream of Qi would escape from the zombie corpses, as if drawn by an invisible force, slowly floating toward the funnel of the Soul absorption device, following the funnel into the cube-shaped Soul storage device. The numbers on the cube screen kept jumping: 10 → 25 → 40 → 60...

"Soul storage is 68, corpse oil is 6.8, and 68 dream coins have been accumulated!" Lin Wan reported the data in real-time, and the third Purification Halo lit up quietly. "Everyone, watch your breathing, don't inhale too much waste gas."

Just at this moment, Li Mubai suddenly spoke: "Watch out ahead! There are new mutants!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw three mutants with overly developed leg muscles leaping toward them. They had already jumped to a position 10 meters in front of the "dream chaser." Chen Rui just wanted to adjust the flamethrower, but Zhao Hu had already operated the left mechanical claw to reach out, hooking it gently, and caught all three mutants, tightening the mechanical claw. A sound of bones breaking rang out, and the mud-like mutants were sent directly into the incinerator.

[Killed Jumping Mutant * 3, obtained 30 dream coins] The light screen popped up, and the corpse oil level jumped to 9.2. "Small matter! With this mechanical claw now, I can operate it even with my eyes closed! Catch one more, and get one more gain!"

The battle lasted for nearly half an hour, and Lin Wan activated the Purification Halo five times in a row. There were fewer and fewer zombies on the highway. The flames of the flamethrower occasionally paused, and Lin Wan would take the opportunity to check the fuel tank—the corpse oil produced by the incinerator had been transported to the fuel tank of the flamethrower through pipes, and the originally consumed gasoline was replenished by corpse oil, with the fuel gauge consistently maintained above 70%. "The corpse oil works! No need to worry about the flamethrower not having enough fuel!"

Zhao Hu's operation of the mechanical claws became increasingly proficient, even able to catch three zombies at once and precisely throw them into the incinerator. After each operation, the [Killed Ordinary Zombie * 3, obtained 3 dream coins] light screen would pop up on time.

The gauge of the corpse oil tank rose steadily to 11, and the accumulated dream coins also exceeded 120. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, but showed no signs of fatigue—without having to use [Giant Strength Berserk], just relying on operating the mechanical claws, the physical exertion was minimal, and he could steadily earn dream coins, making him more and more energetic as he played. "At this speed, after clearing a few more zombie zones, we can add a new weapon to the 'dream chaser'!"

Lin Wan looked at the "120" on the Soul device screen: "The Soul storage has reached 120, the corpse oil can already stably supply the consumption of the flamethrower, engine, and incinerator, and we have saved quite a few dream coins. It's about time to leave this zombie zone; let's save our energy to continue guarding against possible mutants and other teams."

Li Mubai observed the surroundings, and only scattered zombies remained, with no traces of mutants, so he said: "Let's retreat. The weapon operation is familiar enough; quit while you're ahead."

Zhang Hao nodded, pressed the horn, and the roaring sound of the "dream chaser" rang out, slowly driving along the highway covered with zombie corpses. During this time, Zhao Hu was still operating the mechanical claws to grab zombie corpses and throw them into the incinerator. Outside the car windows, those zombie corpses charred by flames gradually receded, and the abandoned vehicles on both sides of the highway still stood silently, as if witnessing this first formal battle of the "dream chaser."

Zhao Hu leaned against the operator's chair and rubbed his wrists, but the corners of his mouth were raised in a smile: "This mechanical claw is too awesome! Next time we meet a mutant, I'll just grab it and throw it into the incinerator; it earns more dream coins and produces more fuel, simply perfect!"

Chen Rui came down from the roof of the car and patted the shell of the flamethrower: "The firepower is fierce enough, but you have to pay attention to the angle, don't burn our own people."

Lin Wan activated the Purification Halo one last time, looking at the white light points floating in the pale white stream of Qi slowly flowing in the Soul device, and said softly: "Are these light points Souls? I didn't expect to see such an idealistic existence through a technological creation. These Souls are temporarily controlled in the Soul storage device; I don't know how to truly save them. It seems the real difficulty of the hidden task lies here."

Li Mubai looked at the highway stretching ahead, the [Star Rail] on his shoulder flickering slightly, temporarily stopping the activation of his Talent: "This battle has familiarized us with the weapons, so we can be more composed if we encounter zombie hordes later. The key is that it saved physical strength without exposing our Talent, leaving us an ace up our sleeve when we encounter other teams."

Zhang Hao gripped the steering wheel, the engine of the "dream chaser" accelerated again, speeding toward the unknown road ahead. The incinerator in the truck bed stood quietly, the corpse oil gauge stopped at 12.7; on the screen of the Soul device, 137 Soul light points flickered slowly; the flamethrower on the roof and the mechanical claws on both sides were like sleeping beasts, waiting for the next "coin earning + Soul harvesting" battle. On this Doomsday Highway full of unknowns, the "dream chaser" proved its strength with weapons, and also made the team's path of "speed and Redemption" go more steadily.