147: Chapter 147 The Road to Redemption in [The Ultimate Journey to the West]: Trucks, Yellow Sand, Delicious Food, and Dictionaries

The surface of the dark red highway was scorched hot by magma, and the air was filled with the stench of charred rotting flesh and the pungent smell of sulfur.

In the distance, the collapsing dark clouds, like wriggling ink blobs, were rapidly approaching at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. Meanwhile, the large zombie zone in the center of the highway was being turned upside down by a monster truck covered in dragon-shaped patterns—that was the combat form that the [hundred-refined dragon steed] had specifically transformed into to adapt to the dense zombie horde.

A severed limb of a roaring zombie hung from the giant bumper at the front of the vehicle, and the metal chassis, two meters off the ground, thundered as it was struck by gravel kicked up by the massive tires.

Bai Feifei's eyes in the driver's seat were as sharp as an eagle's; the fringe on her forehead fluttered gently in the air conditioning, and her B-rank [Talent] [Speed Moment] had been active for a full twenty minutes.

In her perception, everything around her had slowed down by ten times: the ferocious faces of the zombies lunging at her, the trajectory of the yellow sand kicked up by Sha Luoluo, and even the dust falling in the air were as clear as slow-motion replays.

"3D projection scanning initiated, coverage radius 20 meters, target identification: 137 ordinary zombies, 8 variants, including 3 claw-types, 2 hardened-types, and 3 speed-types." The prompt of the [Dream Spirit] [hundred-refined dragon steed] sounded in the cockpit.

Since upgrading the [3D projection scanning function] for her [Dream Spirit] at the supply station, all road conditions along the way had been scanned and monitored in real-time.

A light blue grid was projected onto the steering wheel in front of Bai Feifei, displaying all obstacles within a 20-meter range of the [hundred-refined dragon steed]. Every zombie's body movements were projected in 1:1 real-time, with all variants marked with eye-catching red warning boxes.

Bai Feifei's fingertips danced rapidly on the steering wheel, her left hand simultaneously pressing the red lever on the side of the control console—this was the signal she had agreed upon with Sha Luoluo on the roof.

"Three speed-type variants at 11 o'clock, front left, expected to form an encirclement in 3 seconds; claw-type variant lurking at 7 o'clock, rear right, preparing for an ambush on the tires." Her voice traveled through the helmet communicator, clearly reaching the ears of every teammate, "The truck will perform a 180-degree drift, Sha Luoluo prepare to cover with quicksand, Tang Youyou pay attention to purifying the [Soul]s on the front left."

Before she finished speaking, Bai Feifei slammed the steering wheel and floored the accelerator.

The monster truck's rear wheels locked instantly, dragging two black tracks of blue smoke on the ground, and the vehicle body began to spin like a spinning top.

The zombie limb hanging from the bumper was flung off, hitting an ordinary zombie lunging forward, while the three speed-type variants rushing from the left, just about to leap into mid-air, were knocked off balance by the airflow generated by the spinning vehicle.

"Well timed!" Sha Luoluo on the roof had long been ready.

He slammed his left hand onto the [sandstorm gourd] on his back, and the mouth of the gourd instantly spewed out a yellow sand tornado. Under the centrifugal force of the truck's rotation, it acted like an unfolding fan-shaped barrier, instantly covering the entire drift area.

"My [Domain], Sea of Quicksand—full area expansion!" There was uncontrollable excitement hidden in his deliberately lowered voice, his black trench coat flapping in the yellow sand.

He reached out with his right hand, and three yellow sand hands, as tall as a person, instantly condensed in the sand sea, accurately grabbing the three unbalanced speed-type variants.

"Crack—" The crisp sound of bones breaking came through the yellow sand.

Sha Luoluo's mouth curled into a smug smile, but he still kept a straight face, pretending to be profound: "Under the authority of the 'Desert Tyrant,' any speed is futile."

He clenched his right hand into a fist, and the sand hands tightened synchronously. The bodies of the three variants were instantly squeezed into twisted lumps of flesh, and three white [Soul] light spots drifted out from the yellow sand like liberated fireflies.

Just then, the road surface on the rear right suddenly bulged, and a claw-type variant covered in dark brown hard armor burst out of the ground, its sharp bone claws lunging directly at the truck's rear tires.

Bai Feifei had been prepared. In her [Speed Moment] perception, the movements of this variant were as slow as a snail crawling.

She lightly tapped the brake with her toe and simultaneously pressed the blue button on the control console—the truck chassis instantly popped out four hydraulic pins, which accurately pierced the variant's skull.

With a "squelch," the moment the hydraulic pins pierced the hard armor, Bai Feifei had already released the brake. The truck completed the drift using the inertia of the rotation, and the rear tires crushed the variant's body.

"Cleanup complete, threat on the rear right eliminated." Her voice remained calm, but her gaze swept over Zhu Lingling in the passenger seat, "Lingling, how is your status?"

Zhu Lingling in the passenger seat had hollow eyes, as if she were completely unaware of the fierce battle around her.

Her hands were suspended outside the half-open car window, her fingertips lightly touching those drifting white [Soul] light spots.

Just when the truck drifted a moment ago, a cluster of [Soul] light spots liberated by Sha Luoluo happened to drift to her hand. As soon as her fingertips touched the light spot, that white light spot melted into gold instantly like snow under the sun, slowly rising into the sky.

And the black [soul virus] stripped from the light spot actually condensed automatically in her palm, turning into a mini cupcake topped with sesame seeds.

Zhu Lingling's movements carried a kind of mechanical instinct; she raised her hand and passed the cupcake to the mouth of the [Dream Spirit] [Gluttonous Piggy] in her arms.

This round, pink little pig grunted and happily swallowed the cake, its little belly immediately bulging.

Just then, a pale golden light suddenly lit up from Zhu Lingling's body. Her body trembled slightly, and a faint glimmer flashed in her originally hollow eyes—the icon of her B-rank [Talent] [Delicious Creation] shattered in her consciousness and recombined into an A-rank [Talent] mark [Delicious Great Master].

"Talent... evolved?" Zhu Lingling whispered subconsciously, her voice as light as a whisper.

She looked down at the [Gluttonous Piggy] in her arms and found that the pig's abdomen had become transparent, with the cake crumbs she had just swallowed piled inside, along with clusters of inhaled white [Soul] light spots, like stars packed in a glass jar.

The Piggy seemed to have noticed the change too; it poked its head out, "grunted" twice at the [Soul] light spots outside the window, and its small mouth suddenly opened wide, like a mini black hole, inhaling a dozen white light spots nearby into its belly in one breath.

Zhu Lingling's hands tried to reach into the Piggy's transparent belly. As soon as her fingertips touched those white light spots, she clearly "perceived" the [Soul] structure within—the pure [Soul] energy and the black [soul virus] separated like oil and water.

With a thought, those black [soul virus]es instantly transformed into pieces of crispy Chocolate cookies, neatly stacked in the Piggy's "storage space"; while the purified [Soul] energy turned into golden light spots, drifting out the window along her fingertips, like golden fireworks scattered, slowly rising toward the sky.

"So... [Soul]s can also be made into 'food'." Zhu Lingling smiled broadly with joy.

The rules of the new [Dream Task] made [Soul]s visible. Through observing a large number of [Soul]s along the way, her [Talent] finally achieved a qualitative leap—no longer limited to material things, even intangible [Soul]s could become delicious ingredients for her to "cook."

Under the canvas cover in the back seat of the truck, Tang Youyou seemed unaware of the fierce battle ahead.

She sat cross-legged on the floor covered with a soft cushion, a thick book reflecting red light spread out on her knees, with the characters "Xinhua Dictionary" written on the cover.

She was wearing a plain cotton and linen dress, holding a page between her fingertips, her gaze focused on the text. Only when a large number of [Soul] light spots rose would she softly utter a word: "Purify."

As her voice fell, a half-meter-square golden "Purify" character condensed out of thin air, like a hot-stamped seal, slowly pressing down onto the dense [Soul] light spots below.

The moment those white light spots that had just drifted out of the zombie bodies were touched by the golden character, they were like dyed cotton wool, instantly turning from white to pure gold, rising into the sky at a constant speed. The whole process was quiet and peaceful, without a trace of panic.

The [Dream Spirit] [Mimicking Parrot] standing on her shoulder tilted its head, its small black eyes fixed on those golden light spots floating away, occasionally mimicking Tang Youyou's tone and shouting: "Purify! Purify!"

Each time it shouted, its wings would flap, throwing out a few specks of golden glimmer. After these glimmers landed, they would turn into golden "Purify" characters the size of a fingernail, like swarms of fireflies, accurately chasing those white light spots leaking from the sand cracks, completing the [Redemption] of these [Soul]s.

"Big Sister Youyou, the [Soul] on the front left is very special!" Sha Luoluo's voice came from the roof.

Tang Youyou looked up at the sea of sand on the front left—a cluster of black light spots was drifting there, nearly three times larger than the light spots of ordinary variants, clearly a special variant.

She gently closed the book, took a deep breath, and this time, instead of a single character, she clearly recited a sentence: "Cleanse the filth, return to the true origin—Purify!"

The golden "Purify" character condensed this time was a full two meters square, with flowing golden light flashing at the edges of the characters. It slowly pressed down onto that special cluster of [Soul] light spots. The black light spots were like ice and snow encountering a raging fire, rapidly melting into gold.

When the golden light spots rose into the sky, fine beads of sweat seeped from Tang Youyou's forehead. She raised her hand to wipe the sweat, reopened the book, and said softly: "The [Soul]s of these variants, especially this special one, are a bit troublesome to [Redemption]."

"I'm here, Big Sister Youyou!" Sha Luoluo's voice came with a smile.

He manipulated the yellow sand to firmly trap a hardened-type variant that had just struggled out of the sea of sand. The sand hands gripped the variant's body like iron pliers, "I'll 'squeeze' their [Soul]s out, you just focus on purifying!"