30: Section 30

Seeing Neil in a state of constant tension nearby, Jing Yuan said jokingly, "Neil, don't be so nervous. The more nervous you are, the easier it is for a Phage Beast to sense your presence."

"Re... really?"

Jing Yuan continued in a joking tone, "Do you know what happens to people caught by a Phage Beast?"

Across from them, a young man who looked just as timid as Neil raised his hand and said, "I know this. Their life source essence will be absorbed, and they'll turn into flesh soil."

"Correct." Jing Yuan nodded. "So, Phage Beasts actually sense our location through life source essence. The more afraid you are, the stronger the scent of your life source essence becomes, and the Phage Beast will sense your position."

Except for Jing Yuan's three roommates, the other newcomers were also listening intently.

"If a Phage Beast is right in front of us and you're afraid while I'm not, the Phage Beast will eat you first!"

When Jing Yuan said this, the few who were already scared became even more terrified.

"Don't listen to his nonsense. It's true that Phage Beasts absorb life source essence, but saying they can smell it is just ridiculous. What does life source essence even smell like?" An old veteran of the Wasteland Hunters didn't believe it and began to mock Jing Yuan. He even sniffed the teammate next to him and laughed, "The smell of sweat on him is stronger than any life source essence!"

"You're the one who smells like sweat!" the Team Member next to him retorted indignantly.

Jeff listened to them joking around but said with a serious expression, "I don't know if Phage Beasts locate us by the scent of life source essence. But that kid is right about two things."

"Which two things?"

"First, although Phage Beasts have eyes, they don't seem to need them to find people. So it's possible they rely on scent. Second, according to our statistics over the years, cowards are more likely to be turned into flesh soil by Phage Beasts."

Jing Yuan looked at Jeff with a puzzled expression, unsure if he was joking or being serious.

He was basing his speculation on the plot of the original work he had seen in his past life.

Charles had mentioned that emotions cause life source essence to emit a scent.

And so-called emotions aren't just limited to love and desire!

Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire are all emotions.

If love attracts Phage Beasts, then wouldn't anger, fear, and hatred do the same?

Jeff's words prompted the newcomers to think, especially the last sentence: "Cowards are more likely to be turned into flesh soil by Phage Beasts."

So everyone began to adjust their mindset to avoid fear.

Soon, the convoy drove into a field of city ruins.

Looking at the dilapidated ruins through the car window, one could still faintly feel the prosperity from before the apocalypse.

Suddenly, the vehicles came to a stop.

The sudden stop without warning made everyone's heart tighten.

Jing Yuan heard a voice coming from the communication frequency in the driver's cab: "All teams take note, an abnormal situation has appeared ahead."

Then Mark spoke over the comms: "Team One, go ahead to investigate. Machine Gunners on all other vehicles, stand by. If you encounter danger, fire immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

The teams responded, and a group of Wasteland Hunters got out of the lead vehicle. Holding their rifles, they cautiously approached the anomaly.

"Listen, is that a human voice?" A Team Member walking in front suddenly stopped and spoke to his teammate.

"No way! How could there be people on The Surface!"

"Yeah! It's been over twenty years since any trace of humans has been found on The Surface."

The three continued to approach when a weak voice suddenly came from the ruins ahead.

"Save me!"

"Save me!"

Looking from a distance, there was actually a human hand in the ruins, while the rest of the person's body was completely buried.

The leading Wasteland Hunter Team Member immediately reported: "Captain, we've found a survivor on The Surface!"

"What?" Mark was also shocked to hear this. Since he joined the Wasteland Hunters, he had never seen a survivor on The Surface.

Mark was only shocked for a moment before saying cautiously, "Stay where you are and wait for me to get there!"

"Let's go!" Mark glanced at Ran Bing and Mo Cheng behind him. The three of them got out of the car together and approached the forward squad.

In the car Jing Yuan was in, Jeff was also shocked by the words on the comms: "What? A survivor?"

Hearing Jeff's words, Jing Yuan immediately thought of the Ground People led by Bai Yuekui. Could they be meeting here?

According to the original plot, Mark's encounter with Bai Yuekui should have happened during the mission at the abandoned spaceship, not now.

Filled with curiosity, Jing Yuan unfastened his seatbelt and got out of the car.

The other newcomers wanted to get out too, but Jeff barked at them to stay.

"How come he gets to go down?" a newcomer grumbled indignantly.

Jeff replied, "He has killed a Phage Beast. Have you? When you can kill Phage Beasts as easily as he does, I'll let you run around on The Surface too."

After that, the other person fell silent.

After getting out of the car, Jing Yuan ran quickly toward the front. His vehicle was at the very back, so there was still some distance to Mark.

Before Mark could reach the scene, one of the Team Members at the front couldn't bear it any longer after hearing the cries for help.

"Save me!" The voice was very weak, as if the person was about to draw their last breath.

The man at the very front, out of the kindness of his heart, did not follow Mark's order to stay put and stepped forward to pull the person buried in the ruins out.

The Team Member put away his gun and grabbed the hand in the ruins.

Jing Yuan happened to see this scene and shouted urgently, "Stop! That's a Phage Beast! Run!"

Chapter 31: Fighting the Phage Beast

Initially, Jing Yuan also thought they had encountered Ground People and hoped it was Bai Yuekui's group.

However, after getting out of the car and scanning with his Mental Power, he discovered a life aura ahead, but it clearly wasn't human.

So he rushed over, but in the end, he was still too late.

The Team Member only realized something was wrong when he grabbed the hand, but unfortunately, it was already too late.

Once grabbed by the "human hand," the Team Member couldn't break free. Then, an incredibly long arm rose from the ruins behind the "human hand."

At this point, he finally knew this thing wasn't a person; it was a Phage Beast!

But it was too late.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jing Yuan was the first to react, firing his pistol from a distance.

Every one of Jing Yuan's bullets hit that arm, but unfortunately, it was useless.

Crash!

The rubble began to tumble as a Phage Beast covered in lumps emerged from the ruins.

That arm turned out to be nothing more than the Phage Beast's tail.

"It's a new form of Phage Beast!"

Mark immediately drew his pistol and began firing, while simultaneously arranging the combat via the comms: "Ran Bing, Flying Snow, snipe the Phage Beast's tail! Save him first!"

"Yes, sir!"

Ran Bing immediately took aim with the sniper rifle in her hands. Flying Snow also got out of the car and set up her heavy sniper rifle.

However, the Phage Beast's tail moved extremely fast, making it impossible to aim.

"It's too fast!"

If Ran Bing, who was close, couldn't aim, then Flying Snow, who was further away, had even less of a chance.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Through her scope, Ran Bing saw someone firing at the Phage Beast's tail, and every single bullet accurately hit the target.

They were hitting, but doing no damage—the firepower was insufficient, and the kinetic energy wasn't enough!

Ran Bing turned her head and saw it was Jing Yuan firing!

He was shooting with just a pistol, yet he could aim so accurately from such a distance.

Jing Yuan also realized that small-caliber bullets couldn't harm the Phage Beast, so he threw a small black flying dagger.

The black flying dagger turned into an afterimage and flew straight toward the Phage Beast.

The Phage Beast's tail dodged nimbly, but Jing Yuan's flying dagger wasn't an ordinary one; it was controlled by telekinesis and could still turn flexibly.

The flying dagger flew rapidly and stabbed heavily into the Phage Beast's tail.

However, the dagger stopped at the Phage Beast's skin, remaining stuck in its tail.

Jing Yuan hadn't expected the kinetic energy of the telekinesis-controlled small flying dagger to be so weak that it could only pierce the skin.

Now, he had no choice but to use the half-meter-long large flying dagger.

Although Mark and the others were right there, he couldn't worry about that much if he wanted to save the man.

But it was already too late.