145: Chapter 145 Rest in the Tranquil Wasteland

The black stone gate pushed open, and cold white light washed over the tips of Lin Ye's boots.

Zhao Mengmeng leveled her crossbow, her gaze sweeping across the space behind the gate.

No pillars of fire. No gears. No black water. Behind the gate was actually a vast wasteland.

The ground was covered in thick, glowing moss, its blue-green shimmer undulating in the wind, with large swaths of black rock and low hills scattered in the distance.

The air was cold, but there was no acrid, foul smell. The tower walls had disappeared.

Above, there was no dome in sight, only layers of grey-white void mist flowing slowly.

"Brother Lin, is this Third Floor trying to treat us like barbecue skewers?" Zhao Mengmeng muttered in a low voice.

Before Lin Ye's right eye, a pale blue light screen popped up.

[ Fourth Floor: Silent Wasteland ]

[ Type: Safe Rest Area ]

[ Duration of Stay: 12 Hours ]

Lin Ye stared at the light screen for two seconds.

He didn't take a step. He closed his right eye. His Left Eye opened instantly.

A rich green spread out from the moss, rocks, and the edges of the mist layers. His vision was perfectly clean.

There were no dormant red dots, nor any crisscrossing threads of lethal intent.

Lin Ye closed his eyes. The stinging pain caused by overdrawing his mental energy burrowed into his brain along his nerves.

"Put away the crossbow."

Zhao Mengmeng's index finger remained on the trigger: "Are you sure there's really nothing lying in ambush?"

"At least not on the surface."

Zhao Mengmeng released the trigger, and the crossbow was finally lowered:

"I hope this damn tower doesn't try that trick of giving candy before the knife."

The two stepped onto the moss.

The sensation under their feet was resilient and solid; there were no connected mechanisms, nor were there any deep pits.

Zhao Mengmeng walked a dozen steps, stopped, and looked back.

The inner side of the black stone gate still glowed with scorching red light, and the gurgling sound of churning magma could still be faintly heard.

Ahead, however, was a quiet wasteland that stretched as far as the eye could see. This immense contrast was unnerving.

The Great Xia Live Stream barrage was scrolling rapidly.

[ A Safe Area! There really is a Safe Area! ]

[ The Third Floor ground people up like minced meat, and now the Fourth Floor suddenly offers a bed? I'm a bit panicked! ]

[ Just took a tour of the foreign internet; USA netizens are mourning over their limbless contestants. Come over to our side to see what a vacation-style survival looks like! ]

[ Don't rush, Brother Eye will definitely still set up wires; his vigilance is heavier than my mom checking up on me. ]

Lin Ye chose a leeward rocky hollow.

The hollow was naturally enclosed by three black rocks, with a low mossy slope on the outside to block the wind.

The terrain was slightly elevated, allowing a clear view of the gate. There were no cracks or hanging debris on the rock wall behind them.

Lin Ye put down his backpack and walked around the hollow. He raised his right arm, and the Dark Weaver clicked softly.

Three anchor points flew out silently.

The first Nano-wire crossed the entrance of the hollow at a height of thirty centimeters, hidden in the light and shadow of the moss.

The second was pulled between the scattered rocks on the side, 1.2 meters off the ground.

The third wrapped around the bottom of the rear rock wall.

Lin Ye did not cut the main line to create a cutting array. These three wires were only for early warning.

He glanced at the near-empty anchor slot on his bracer and adjusted the transmitter to low-tension mode.

Zhao Mengmeng unslung her backpack in the leeward spot:

"With your anti-theft wire skills, if anyone dares to rob your house back home, they'd be left at the doorstep, ashes and all."

Lin Ye lowered his head to adjust the wire ends: "Let's survive long enough to go back first."

He peeled back the surface layer of the glowing moss. Beneath it was a layer of grey-white dry stems with a fluffy texture.

He cut off a small piece with his bone blade, and Lin Ye scanned it with his right eye's light screen.

[ Glowing Moss Stems and Leaves ]

Non-toxic.

He pulled out these dry stems and gathered them into a small pile. Zhao Mengmeng picked up a few flat black rocks nearby and quickly built the edge of a fire pit.

Having survived the previous death traps, she was now extremely fast at this kind of miscellaneous work.

The flint sparked. The moss stems were quickly ignited.

Lin Ye added a few scraps of Violent Bear nest material and some shaved scraps of tendon. The fire roared to life.

The warm firelight illuminated their faces, which were covered in bloodstains and scorch marks.

Zhao Mengmeng crouched by the fire, her fingers, which had been tightly clutching the hem of her clothes, finally relaxed.

"Now this is what you call the land of the living."

Lin Ye set up the battered aluminum pot.

He poured in the snow water from the last bone tube, added chopped Rock Sheep jerky, Snow-Armored Badger meat strips, and a few pieces of bear fat, and finally pinched in a small pinch of coarse salt.

The meat soup in the pot began to boil. The bear fat melted, creating golden, shimmering oil droplets; the jerky absorbed the water and expanded, its coarse fibers loosening.

The aroma of the meat was carried by the cold wind throughout the hollow.

Zhao Mengmeng smelled it, and her lips, which had been frozen blue, moved: "This smell is incredible; I can forgive the Third Floor for half a minute."

Lin Ye handed over a makeshift spoon made from a bone fragment: "Eat quickly; we need to get on the road once we're full."

Zhao Mengmeng didn't stand on ceremony and shoved a large piece of Rock Sheep meat, soaked in broth, directly into her mouth.

The Great Xia Live Stream barrage style shifted abruptly.

[ Ahhh! Hot food! Eating meat soup inside a meat grinder! ]

[ Watching them drink this soup, as a grown man, I almost teared up. ]

[ When they first entered the tower, the foreign internet laughed at us Great Xia people for carrying jerky, but now? Do you understand the gold content of Great Xia's emergency rations! ]

Lin Ye finished half a bowl of soup and pushed the battered pot toward Zhao Mengmeng.

He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out the Molten Fire Crystal Core.

Dark golden light swirled inside the crystal core; resting against his palm, it emitted a steady, gentle warmth.

There was none of the frantic rage of the Third Floor's lava.

Lin Ye held the crystal core and pushed it flat toward the edge of the fire. The flickering flames suddenly stilled. Heat currents converged toward the crystal core at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The firelight didn't grow larger, but the surrounding temperature surged significantly.

Zhao Mengmeng stopped chewing: "Is it absorbing the fire?"

"It's heat gathering." Lin Ye took the crystal core back, "Perhaps it's some kind of key."

His Left Eye opened and closed instantly.

The golden light on the surface of this crystal core was bright and thick, with almost no grey spots.

The rules stated that each person could only take one crystal core from the stone platform, but the one he took was the cleanest, most core one.

He had taken the most core one, a fact no one else could perceive.

A grinding sound came from the black stone gate in the distance again. Scorching hot waves rushed out through the widening gap.

Ivan stumbled out. The large man from Russia had half his back burned to a crisp, and only half a wooden handle remained of the heavy pickaxe in his hand.

In his hand, he clutched a cloudy crystal core covered in grey-black spots.

He stepped into the wasteland and, seeing the moss covering the ground, his tense back slumped.

Martin followed closely behind. The man from the United Kingdom dragged his ruined, injured leg. The beast tendon had long been soaked through with blood, and a long trail of dark red bloodstains marked the moss where his boots had passed.

He also held a crystal core full of impurities in his hand.

The last to come out was Blake. The burly man from the USA who had lost his right hand.

The stump of his wrist was tightly wrapped in scorched animal hide. His left arm was covered in large blisters. His initial ferocity was gone.

But when his gaze swept across the open ground and locked onto the hollow.

The roaring fire, the sizzling hot meat soup, the dried animal hides spread out, and the thick jerky partially exposed.

Blake's eye sockets immediately became bloodshot, and his breathing grew heavy. The excruciating pain of his severed limb and intense hunger stimulated his nerves, his left arm clenched tight.

He stepped forward, approaching the hollow.

Zhao Mengmeng raised her hand and leveled the crossbow. Lin Ye didn't even lift his eyelids.

He held the Molten Fire Crystal Core with two fingers and casually placed it by the edge of the fire pit.

Heat currents suddenly converged toward the crystal core, and the firelight rose, illuminating the entire hollow.

Blake's footsteps faltered. By the firelight, he clearly saw that extremely subtle reflection of the Nano-wire above the moss at the entrance of the hollow.

That reflection caused a sharp pain in his brain. The feeling of despair from being hung on the edge of high-speed gears, the image of Hans's chest being cut open and spraying blood, all came flooding back.

As he was now, he didn't even have a wooden stick. Risk his life for a mouthful of soup?

The muscles in Blake's right cheek spasmed and twitched. He stared greedily at the pot of meat soup for a full five seconds, finally lowered his head and swallowed his bloody saliva, took two steps back, and walked toward a patch of exposed black rock in the distance.

Ivan glanced at Lin Ye in the firelight, dragged the half-handle of his pickaxe, and went to sit behind another rock to tend to his wounds.

Martin didn't say a word, staying far away from everyone, tearing off a piece of his clothing to clean his rotting flesh.

Zhao Mengmeng sneered: "The Losers' Convention has begun."

Lin Ye picked up the bone blade and shaved a piece off the remaining jerky.

"Eat."