25: Chapter 25 Rest and Digestion

When Chen Mo returned to the Farmhouse, the sky was almost light.

He parked the van in the yard, killed the engine, and sat in the driver's seat for a long time without moving.

His body was covered in wounds.

That final move from Old Li, the shockwave from the explosion, had sent him tumbling over ten meters across the ground.

His clothes were torn, his flesh was mangled, and blood had stained the seat red.

He pushed open the car door, stumbled into the Basement, dug out the medical kit, and began to treat his wounds.

Disinfecting, applying medicine, bandaging.

By the time he finished the process, the sky was fully bright.

Chen Mo leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and panting heavily.

The Pupil of the Sequence circulated slowly within his body, and those golden lines were flowing with increasing speed.

Helping him heal his wounds.

This was a new ability after reaching E-Class; the energy from the sequence fragment could accelerate his body's recovery.

It just required time.

He closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

When he woke up, it was already afternoon.

Sunlight shone in through the Basement ventilation shaft, casting a small patch of light on the ground.

Chen Mo sat up and moved his body; his wounds still hurt, but they were much better than before.

He stood up and began to take stock of his gains this time.

A Core Highway map, hand-drawn, marked with many places he had never been to.

The most conspicuous one was a location called the "Reversal Tunnel," at the intersection of Highway 17 and Highway 23.

A stack of heavy truck modification blueprints, detailing how to convert a regular truck into the model of Old Li's.

Bulletproof armor, reinforced chassis, spare fuel tanks, weapon racks—it had everything.

Fifteen sequence fragments, which, added to the previous ones, made a total of 152.

And Old Li's truck.

That vehicle was now parked on the road outside the Farmhouse, and the skull emblem on the hood was still there.

But it had nothing to do with Chen Mo anymore.

He walked out of the Basement and came to the side of the truck.

He opened the car door; inside were Old Li's things—some sundries, a few changes of clothes, and a locked iron box.

Chen Mo pried open the iron box with a crowbar.

Inside was a notebook, a thick one, filled with writing.

Old Li's diary.

Chen Mo opened the first page.

"Day 1 of the grave calendar: I don't know what happened, but I know I must survive."

He flipped forward.

"Day 10 of the grave calendar: Many people have died, but I am still here."

"Day 30 of the grave calendar: We found a safe place with food, water, and weapons; perhaps we can survive."

"Day 100 of the grave calendar: People are starting to go crazy. They say they hear voices and see hallucinations. I don't know if it's true, but I haven't heard a thing."

"Day 200 of the grave calendar: Infighting has begun. Zhang Lie has been transformed; I must kill him."

"Day 300 of the grave calendar: I ate the first Transformed One. The feeling was disgusting, but I survived."

Chen Mo's hand paused.

Then he continued flipping through it.

What was recorded later were Old Li's experiences over the years, the places he had been, the Ghost Shadows he had killed, and the people he had met.

And the Transformed Ones he had eaten; every single one was recorded with a name and date.

The last few pages were about Chen Mo.

"Day 1200 of the grave calendar: Met a young man named Chen Mo. He has the Pupil of the Sequence and is the person mentioned in that prophecy. Perhaps he can help me obtain the core of the sequence."

"Day 1201 of the grave calendar: He passed through the Memory Corridor and promoted to E-Class, faster than I expected."

"Day 1202 of the grave calendar: He killed that Transformed One. Is he starting to suspect me?"

"Day 1203 of the grave calendar: It is time to close the net."

The rest was blank.

Chen Mo closed the diary and threw it into the car.

Old Li had been plotting against him the whole way.

But in the end, it was he who survived.

Old Li was dead.

That was the ending.

He turned and walked toward his pickup truck.

Time to get to work.

For the next three days, Chen Mo spent his time modifying the pickup truck.

Following the steps on the blueprints, he installed a bull bar on the pickup truck and switched to thicker tires.

He installed a weapon rack in the truck bed and replaced the fuel tank with a larger one that could hold 100 liters of fuel.

The final step was to add light armor to the car body.

He used the Materials from Old Li's truck to cut, weld, and secure armor plates one by one onto the key parts of the pickup truck: the doors, the hood, and the exterior of the fuel tank.

Three days later, the pickup truck had completely changed its appearance.

The original silver-gray body now had several black armor plates, looking like a military vehicle fresh off the battlefield.

Chen Mo sat in the driver's seat and gripped the steering wheel.

The feel was the same, but with an added sense of weight.

【Modification Complete】

【Current Vehicle: Modified pickup truck (Light Armor Version)】

【Durability: 87% → 200%】

【Defense Increased by 300%】

【New Feature: Weapon Rack (Can secure 3 rifles)】

Chen Mo looked at those stats.

Defense increased threefold.

Now, even if hit head-on by an E-Class Ghost Shadow, there wouldn't be any major problems.

He pushed open the car door, got out, and secured the three rifles onto the weapon rack.

Then he returned to the Basement, spread the Core Highway map on the table, and studied it carefully.

Most of the places Old Li had marked, he had never heard of, but there was one place he recognized—

The church at the end of Highway 13.

On the map, that location was marked with a large 'X', and next to it were written a few words:

"Clue to the core of the sequence · Reversal Tunnel"

Chen Mo stared at that line of text.

Reversal Tunnel.

Old Li said that as long as one entered that tunnel, one could find the clue to the core of the sequence.

But where was that tunnel?

He followed the lines on the map.

At the intersection of Highway 17 and Highway 23, there was a mark that said "Entrance."

It was about two hundred kilometers away.

Chen Mo put away the map and began to prepare supplies.

Fuel: filled to the brim.

Compressed rations: enough for a week.

Water: enough for a week.

Ammunition: two hundred rounds.

Medical kits: two.

And that "Shadow Guard" core; he had never had the chance to refine it.

He would take it this time and look for an opportunity on the road to get some Ghost Shadow blood.

Everything was ready.

Chen Mo stood in the yard, looking at the modified pickup truck.

The sun had set, and the Ghost Night was coming again soon.

But he didn't intend to wait until dawn.

For him, the darkness was no longer a threat.

Darkness Affinity: All attributes increased by 20% at night.

Now, he was stronger at night than during the day.

Chen Mo sat in the driver's seat, started the engine, and stepped on the gas.

The pickup truck rushed out of the yard and drove onto the road.

Ahead, the night was thick.

He turned on the headlights; the beams pierced the darkness, illuminating the endlessly extending road.

The Pupil of the Sequence circulated within his body, and those golden lines were brighter than before, as if they were cheering.

Reversal Tunnel.

He was coming.