147: Chapter 147 Leading to the Fifth Floor

The fog layer at the end of the wasteland slowly split open.

A giant stone staircase emerged from the void.

It extended all the way up from the ground, its end submerged into the gray-white sky.

Each stone step was the width of a house, with broken bronze pillars inserted along the edges.

A bronze barrier lay horizontally at the bottom of the stone staircase.

The surface of the barrier was covered with ancient patterns, and several circular grooves were arranged in the center.

The size of each groove was exactly the same as the Molten Crystal Core.

Lin Ye stared at the barrier.

He dampened the fire.

He set up the aluminum pot and reheated the remaining meat soup.

He cut off two pieces of rock mutton jerky and threw them in to soften.

Zhao Mengmeng opened her eyes, following the scent of meat.

"Time to eat or time to fight?"

"Eat first."

Zhao Mengmeng rolled over and sat up, saw the giant stone staircase in the distance, and shook her head.

"Is this the entrance to the fifth layer?"

"It should be."

"Are the grooves for the crystal cores?"

"Yeah."

Zhao Mengmeng touched the Molten Crystal Core in her bosom, confirming it was still there.

The two quickly finished the hot meat soup.

Lin Ye did not waste the soup base.

He scraped the edge of the aluminum pot clean, rinsed it with a small amount of hot water, and drank it all.

Zhao Mengmeng watched him turn the pot upside down to dry.

"With your level of cleaning up, even a mouse would shed two tears if it came here."

"If a mouse comes, it'll have to pay for its meal."

After eating, the two began to pack up the camp.

Lin Ye first hung the repaired Fire Axe back to his waist.

The bone blade was inserted into the outer sheath.

The Dark Weaver was checked again.

Zhao Mengmeng rolled up the sleeping bag tightly, cocked the crossbow, and redistributed the remaining wooden arrows to the most convenient positions.

Rock mutton jerky, bear oil bone tubes, salt brick fragments, and spare animal tendons were all stuffed back into the backpack.

Lin Ye squatted by the fire pit.

He first picked out the thoroughly burned charcoal and wrapped it with animal skin.

He also bundled up the unburned dry moss roots.

Finally, he used the Entrenching Tool to scatter the embers.

The ashes were buried under the moss layer.

The stones of the fire pit were kicked askew.

Very soon, there were no traces of the camp left in the rocky hollow.

Zhao Mengmeng looked at Blake, who was frozen stiff in the distance: "You're not leaving even a spark?"

"Not giving any."

"That's ruthless."

"He wanted to kill me; if I left him fire, my dad on Blue Star would whip me."

Zhao Mengmeng laughed: "Uncle Lin taught you well."

The Great Xia Live Stream was thrilled.

[Hahaha, even the charcoal is packed up, no chance for the foreign internet to freeload!]

[Brother Eye: My fire, I wouldn't even lend it to a dog!]

[That's right, Blake's intention to steal the camp was written all over his face just now.]

[Don't be a saint; they didn't show mercy when they wanted to harm others earlier.]

In the distance of the wasteland, Ivan was the first to stand up.

He saw the stone staircase and also saw Lin Ye collecting the fire.

The Russian big man grinned and said nothing.

He did not ask Great Xia for anything.

Having smashed his way up on his own, he knew that no one here owed anyone anything.

Martin stood up, dragging his injured leg.

His crystal core hung on his chest, emitting unstable heat waves.

Seeing Lin Ye and Zhao Mengmeng packed and ready, he gritted his teeth.

He hated that Great Xia was ahead.

He was also afraid that Great Xia would continue to be ahead.

But he understood even better that he would lose half his life just walking to the stone staircase now.

Blake stood up last.

He saw that not even a spark was left in the rocky hollow.

"Lin Ye."

The stiff Great Xia language came out.

Zhao Mengmeng turned around, leveling her crossbow: "Why are you calling for your daddy?"

Blake's cheek muscles twitched violently, staring fixedly at Lin Ye's backpack: "Fire, leave a little."

Lin Ye did not stop.

Blake raised his voice: "The next layer is more dangerous, you need allies!"

Lin Ye stopped and turned to glance at him.

"You don't deserve it."

Dropping those three words, Lin Ye turned around and continued walking.

The wasteland fell silent.

Zhao Mengmeng suppressed the corners of her mouth that were curling up wildly.

Blake's face turned from white to red.

His left hand clenched tightly, and dark red blood squeezed out from the animal skin at his severed wrist.

He stared fixedly at Lin Ye's back, his toes stepping forward half a step.

His gaze swept across Zhao Mengmeng's crossbow bolt, across the Fire Axe blade at Lin Ye's waist that was glistening with cold light again, and across the few strands of Nano-wire at the entrance of the rocky hollow that hadn't been packed up yet.

He froze in place.

The Great Xia Live Stream was instantly flooded with messages.

[Awesome! So satisfying!]

["You don't deserve it," Brother Eye slapped his face swollen directly!]

[Wanted to kill people earlier, wants allies now, the USA's abacus beads are flying onto my face.]

[That line from Mengmeng, "Why are you calling for your daddy?", the Sichuan-Chongqing War God has logged on!]

[Face-slapping should be this direct, don't give him space to talk nonsense!]

Lin Ye retracted the three warning lines.

The anchor point returned to the Dark Weaver's slot.

He took Zhao Mengmeng and left the rocky hollow, walking toward the bottom of the stone staircase.

The glowing moss underfoot gradually became sparse.

The closer they got to the stone staircase, the harder the ground became, and black rock was exposed.

The bronze barrier was over ten meters high, blocking the lower end of the stone staircase.

There were six grooves at the bottom of the barrier.

The patterns on the edges of two of the grooves were finer, and their positions were more central.

The light screen in Lin Ye's Left Eye did not pop up with an explanation.

Zhao Mengmeng looked at the barrier: "Which two should we put in?"

Lin Ye's Left Eye instantly opened.

The barrier patterns turned into flowing light pulses on his retina.

Of the six grooves, the center-left and center-right flashed with pale gold circuits.

The four on the edges were covered with gray, mottled patterns.

He closed his eye.

He raised his finger and pointed to the center-left.

"This one is mine."

He moved his finger horizontally to the right.

"That one is yours."

Zhao Mengmeng took out her Molten Crystal Core.

That crystal core was pure in color, with golden-red light flowing stably inside.

Lin Ye also took out his crystal core.

The moment they approached the barrier, the bronze patterns began to vibrate at a high frequency.

Zhao Mengmeng weighed the crystal core: "This door is quite picky."

"Don't praise it, the price might go up."

Lin Ye pressed the crystal core into the groove.

Zhao Mengmeng simultaneously put the other one into the right side.

The moment the crystal core was embedded, there was no explosion.

There was also no heat wave.

The bronze barrier dissolved silently.

Starting from around the two crystal cores, the heavy metal turned into fine light dust on both sides.

At the same time, the pure energy inside the crystal core fed back.

A pale golden shimmer crawled up the backs of their hands along the groove circuits.

A warm sensation seeped into their skin through their palms.

The laceration on the web between Lin Ye's thumb and index finger stopped bleeding, and the stinging pain subsided.

Zhao Mengmeng moved her shoulders, and the muscle soreness from the toxic rain splashes significantly eased.

She looked at the back of her hand: "Does this thing also repair the body?"

"It's the feedback from a pure crystal core."

"Then you really have a metaphysical knack for picking things."

"It looked pleasing to the eye."

"Your 'pleasing to the eye' is a bit expensive."

The bronze barrier opened.

The first step of the giant stone staircase lay before them.

The surface of the stone steps was covered with a thin layer of white frost, extending upward into the depths of the fog layer.

In the distance, Blake, Ivan, and Martin arrived at the barrier.

They saw with their own eyes that Lin Ye and the other's crystal cores opened the passage, feeding back a pale golden shimmer.

Blake's eyeballs were covered in bloodshot veins.

He strode to an outer groove and slapped the crystal core, which was dense with gray spots, into the hole with his left hand.

The bronze patterns lit up.

A murky crimson.

Pfft!

A blast of scorching waste gas sprayed violently from the gap.

Blake couldn't dodge in time, and the skin on his palm that had just scabbed over was ripped off on the spot.

He groaned in pain, his arm jerking back as if electrocuted.

A pungent, burnt smell wafted out.

Zhao Mengmeng looked back and sneered: "Yo, the USA even provides a scalding service when opening the door."

Blake was sweating from the pain, staring fixedly at Lin Ye.

The passage had indeed opened.

But he didn't receive any feedback, only burnt wounds.

Ivan pressed his crystal core into another groove on the side.

Gray-red hot gas erupted, burning a hole through his glove.

Ivan cursed a Russian swear word, holding on despite the pain.

Martin used a short blade to push the crystal core into the groove, and when the waste gas sprayed out, it burned through his wrist cuff.

He bit his lips white, not making a sound.

The three people's grooves lit up one after another.

A few extremely narrow gaps melted out on the edges of the bronze barrier.

The path they opened was significantly narrower, and the edges of the stone steps were covered with gray-red burn marks.

Lin Ye didn't look at them again.

Zhao Mengmeng checked her backpack, confirming it was tied tightly.

She stood before the first step, looking up into the depths of the fog layer.

"What will the fifth layer be?"

"I don't know."

"I hope it doesn't boil us again."

"It might change the cooking method."

"Shut up."

Lin Ye gripped the repaired Fire Axe and stepped onto the first step.

The stone step was very stable.

The pale golden shimmer spread from under his feet, dispersing the white frost on the surface.

Zhao Mengmeng followed closely behind.

The animal skin armor on their shoulders and backs had been dried, their backpacks were secure, and their weapons were in hand.

Behind them, Blake held his scalded left hand, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.

Ivan shouldered his broken bone pick.

Martin dragged his injured leg, supporting himself on the edge of the stone step.

But the ones who first stepped onto the road to the unknown fifth layer were still the people from Great Xia.

Lin Ye took Zhao Mengmeng and walked upward without looking back.