Lu Yuan and Liu Yuan arrived at Xiling City around noon.
The entrance to the city was controlled by a squad of mercenaries wearing camouflage combat uniforms and armbands with lightning bolt symbols.
Liu Yuan drove up and a soldier carrying an assault rifle came up, saluted, and took out a QR code saying: "Entry fee, 2,500 for one car."
Lu Yuan in the back seat took out his phone and scanned the code. Just then the soldier took a look at Lu Yuan's car and hesitated before saying: "You two, although your car has been modified, I have to say the odds are against you going into the city at this time."
The sunglass-wearing Liu Yuan smiled and said: "No problem, our boss has money to burn, plus we're just going in to take a look around, nothing else in mind."
The mercenary nodded, and after the payment went through, he let Lu Yuan's car pass.
At the exit next to them, a long line of big trucks was queueing up to exit the city, loaded with food, medical supplies, bank safes and all kinds of valuables.
The convoys coming in from surrounding cities were looting the last valuables from this city of death.
Lu Yuan's off-road vehicle was the only small and medium sized car among the incoming and outgoing vehicles.
Seeing the long line of trucks queued up to exit the city ahead of them, Liu Yuan glanced at Lu Yuan in the rearview mirror and said: "Boss, it looks like you were right, this city did suffer a Spiritual Qi Storm."
Lu Yuan said nothing. He had a rough idea where Zhang Baobao's special ability came from.
The Spiritual Qi Storm was a unique phenomenon in this World of Spiritual Qi Resurgence. Whenever a Spiritual Qi Storm arose, the violent spiritual qi fluctuations would kill all fragile life forms in the surrounding area.
The Spiritual Qi Storm could also lead to many bizarre changes, such as the formation of Spiritual Qi Pollution Source Areas where the storm occurred, the resurrection of departed life forms, or the emergence of varying numbers of mutated life forms, among other things.
With his professional instincts as a doctor, Lu Yuan was able to determine at first glance that the girl was someone who had died once already.
Even if the dead returned to life, they would still carry the aura of death.
As for the old man who came to see him that morning pulling a cart, he had probably already left Xiling City before the Spiritual Qi Storm arose, thus escaping disaster.
The woman lying on the cart that the old man was pulling, on the other hand, had probably died on the way to see the doctor.
Lu Yuan pondered the sequence of events while Liu Yuan also wondered about it.
A complicated expression crossed her face. She said: "It seems that old man still had some conscience, at least he knew to take Baobao's mom around to see doctors..."
Lu Yuan looked troubled. Meaningfully he said: "Whether he has a conscience or not, we can ask Baobao when we have a chance."
Speaking of which, Liu Yuan grew worried thinking of Baobao's mother. She asked: "Boss, Baobao's mom is dead and gone. Can you really bring her back?"
Lu Yuan rubbed his temples and said: "It's not like I can manually generate a Spiritual Qi Storm. How could I have the power to resurrect the dead?"
"But I only need to resurrect Baobao's mother in her heart."
"Boss, you are so multi-talented!"
...
After driving around Xiling City for a bit, everywhere they saw people from finance consortiums and guilds from surrounding cities moving goods, as well as charity workers helping clear the bodies of the deceased.
This trip Lu Yuan simply wanted to verify his guesses and determine the source of Baobao's special abilities.
An hour later, the two drove their vehicle out of the city, following the long convoy of trucks like a dragon.
Back in 27 Region, Liu Yuan parked the car at the foot of a mountain.
Before their eyes, the high mountain was shrouded in mist and clouds. This was a Level 2 Spiritual Qi Pollution Source Area, also the team building location specified by Lu Yuan this time.
Level 2 meant that heterologous beasts with ability coefficients exceeding 1.0 but under 2.0 would appear.
By now, Lu Yuan had left footprints in practically every pollution source area in 27 Region.
Just as Liu Yuan was about to undo her seatbelt and get out of the car, Lu Yuan said: "Wait here, I'll be back in half an hour."
Liu Yuan was startled. She looked at Lu Yuan and asked: "Boss, would you please explain what you mean by 'team building'?"
Lu Yuan said lightly: "It's team building. Guarding team transportation is very important, you know?"
Liu Yuan: "..."
Seeing Liu Yuan's miffed expression, Lu Yuan reached out and rapped her head, consoling her: "Alright, come help me if I'm not back in an hour."
Liu Yuan rolled her eyes. "You said that last time too, but you were out in ten minutes. Boss, you're so fast!"
Lu Yuan's face darkened instantly. He scraped hard down the bridge of Liu Yuan's pert little nose and growled: "Such impertinence! Watch me dock your pay!"
Liu Yuan made a face at Lu Yuan: "Bleh!"
Seeing Liu Yuan's cute expression, Lu Yuan grinned. Waving his hand, he headed towards the Spiritual Qi Pollution Source Area up the mountain.
The Spiritual Qi Pollution Source Areas, also known as Spiritual Qi Pollution Zones, were areas humans could not survive due to the intense fluctuations in spiritual qi.
Each Spiritual Qi Pollution Source Area was home to large numbers of heterologous beasts. Over the years, Lu Yuan had left footprints in practically every pollution zone in 27 Region.
As Lu Yuan crossed the caution stone tablet at the foot of the mountain, he clearly sensed the surrounding air currents become violently turbulent. But even more violent than the air currents was the commotion coming from the dense mountain jungle.
No sooner had Lu Yuan set foot into the lush jungle than the entire tranquil mountain forest erupted!
Swish swish—
The first to react were the bizarre large birds with bat wings and sparrow bodies roosting on the branches. It was as if they had been frightened by something the instant Lu Yuan arrived. Flapping their wings frantically, they took off towards the mountaintop as if their lives depended on it!
"Caw—"
"Caw caw!!"
Piercing bird cries echoed over the jungle. The entire flock commenced a mass migration.
Next, Lu Yuan felt slight tremors through the ground beneath his feet.
"Roar—"
"Woof woof!"
"Awooo!"
All kinds of beastly roars arose one after another without cease!
Whether it was the mutated giant tigers or wolves, or the packs of heterologous dogs roaming the jungle, their originally ferocious, bloodthirsty cries now contained a hint of urgency and fear!
Boom!!
Not only did the birds in the sky commence migration, even the heterologous beasts in the jungle began fleeing helter-skelter.
The beasts all fled in different directions, but they shared one common trait—they were all sprinting away from Lu Yuan!
In the blink of an eye, within one minute, Lu Yuan stood dumbfounded as he sensed that within a three kilometer radius, the only breathing creature left was himself.
It was well known that beasts had very keen senses of danger.
The heterologous beasts mutated in the Spiritual Qi Pollution Source Areas even more so.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
