BFET Chapter 18

Jiangbei

The next day.

After You Xue finished extracting the initial construction results of the new marker anchor points, the trio continued their extraction mission towards the source of pollution according to the original plan.

In light of the Corpse Reef that exhibited evolutionary characteristics.

Xie Yi led Shen Shu to conduct targeted surveys and cleanups of Mutated Entities within the Mid-Section Zone, but until the final completion of the Zhou Shan Enclosed Zone extraction, they did not discover a second Mutated Entity with similar evolutionary characteristics.

“According to the extraction results of all marker anchors, the pollution concentration index in the Peripheral Zone of the Zhou Shan Enclosed Zone remains stable. The pollution source point to the Mid-Section Zone has slightly increased, but the overall trend is stable in the later stages, not reaching the pollution expansion standard.”

You Xue, looking at the data on the holographic screen, said, “The pollution concentration index in the area where the Evolutionary Corpse Reef is located is confirmed to be a brief upward abnormality caused by the Mutated Entity’s evolution. The new marker anchor index after the second construction already shows a slight decline.”

Occasional upward changes in the pollution concentration index of a dangerous Enclosed Zone are normal. As long as the change trend is below the pollution expansion standard line, it can be considered normal.

“Okay, organize the extraction result report first. Send it to the general team when we pass the signal point of the high tower later.” After saying that, Xie Yi forwarded a picture to her, “Send this picture together.”

You Xue nodded, “Okay.”

Shen Shu, who was driving, interjected and asked, “Where are we going next? Jiangbei?”

Xie Yi: “Bu Kou.”

“Not going to Jiangbei first?” Shen Shu asked.

“Distance-wise, Bu Kou is closer.” Xie Yi rarely explained, “And Bu Kou is a small Solidified Enclosed Zone, it won’t take long.”

Xie Yi’s “won’t take long” was indeed not long.

Compared to spending nearly a month in the Zhou Shan Zone, Bu Kou only took about a week.

Old high walls gradually appeared in the trio’s field of vision, along with the faded and mottled words “Jiangbei Safety Zone” on the wall, though still clearly visible.

The Enclosed Zones of the past were not as stable as they are now.

At that time, the Mutated Entities had very strong attacking and predatory desires. In addition, although the Safety Zones were established at that time, there were no substantial measures to actively defend against Mutated Entity intrusions. Relying only on awakened and evolved humans, even if the Safety Zones were built underground, they were often destroyed.

It can be said that the Safety Zones at that time could not be called safe.

It was not until the birth of the Tianmu Gigawhale eighteen years later that Safety Zones truly gained their meaning. By imitating the pollution source magnetic field of high-level Mutated Entities and using transmitters to reflect and form a repulsion net, the perception of Mutated Entities was blurred.

However, because the Gigawhale had just been born at that time, it was not perfect.

In the first few years, although it protected many people to a certain extent, there were still many places that were attacked by Mutated Entities.

Many Safety Zones were destroyed, Jiangbei being one of them.

Xie Yi parked the car outside the outer wall.

As soon as he got out of the car, a black shadow sprang out of the grass next to him, rushing straight towards him.

He instantly drew the Abyss and slashed horizontally directly at it. Immediately, the thing was cut in two.

“What is that?” You Xue, who was about to open the door to get out of the car, was startled.

Shen Shu walked around from the other side, and a black thing rolled to his feet, with a head like a rat.

Not far from the head, there was a long and flat thing, with short limbs on both sides, also black, which seemed to be the body.

“It turns out to be a low-level Insect Rat.” You Xue glanced at it in disgust, “So ugly.”

“I think it looks quite unique.” Shen Shu commented, “Captain’s swordsmanship is good, very precise.”

You Xue: “?”

Xie Yi turned on the car’s mimicry mode, closed the door, and glanced at him silently, “Let’s go.”

The weather was gloomy, and the air was filled with moisture.

Xie Yi walked in front, Shen Shu followed behind him, his eyes stayed on Xie Yi for a while, and then he looked into the distance over him.

Low houses, broken walls, ruins, abandoned cars, a messy street, the unclear end in the distance shrouded in fog.

Jiangbei.

According to that information, Xie Yi lived in Jiangbei before Kui City.

Jiangbei, which has fallen from a Safety Zone to an Enclosed Zone, is an A-level danger zone, with a area similar to that of small and medium-sized Safety Zones now.

Unlike other A-level dangerous Enclosed Zones, the Peripheral Zone of Jiangbei is very narrow, only about three or four streets, and further in is the Mid-Section Zone boundary.

And the most important point is that in Jiangbei, because of the frequent activities of high-level Mutated Entities in the Central Zone, the central line often changes.

As long as you enter the depths of the Mid-Section Zone, you may encounter high-level ones at any time.

“These things are really annoying.” You Xue, who was operating the Spider Detector, stepped on a Crystal Scorpion that was trying to climb on her, while cursing.

There were already many Crystal Scorpion corpses lying around her, and further away there were many Insect Rats that had been “dissected” with a single knife.

Shen Shu, who was some distance away from her, was very interested in these things.

“Stop talking nonsense.” Xie Yi turned around and urged, “If you don’t hurry up, it will only be more annoying when it gets dark.”

“I know, I know!” You Xue stared at the progress displayed on her Smart Terminal, “Aren’t I speeding up!”

After nightfall, these low-level Insect Rats and Crystal Scorpion-like Mutated Entities will become more frequent, not to mention the other nocturnal low-level Mutated Entities that come out.

Although they are not difficult to deal with, they are very troublesome for marker anchor information extraction work.

Rushing to complete the remaining marker anchor information extraction in the Peripheral Zone, Xie Yi and his team entered the Mid-Section Zone after it was completely dark.

After entering the Mid-Section Zone for a while, the low-level Mutated Entities that had been popping up from time to time completely disappeared.

Everything was quiet.

“Why can’t I connect to the marker anchor here.” You Xue frowned and operated on the Smart Terminal for a long time, the Spider Detector spinning around her feet as if it had lost its direction.

“Try connecting to the signal of the marker anchor core.” Xie Yi turned his head over, “Jiangbei’s magnetic field is prone to disorder at night, which will affect the transmission signal of the marker anchor to a certain extent.”

“But I just tried the core signal, and there was no response. I’ll try again.” Saying that, You Xue clicked a few times on the Smart Terminal and pulled out the holographic screen.

After about two or three minutes, she shouted again: “Connected!”

Just as Xie Yi and You Xue were talking, Shen Shu, who had been distracted by the side, suddenly looked up at their right rear, frowning rarely.

Xie Yi turned his head and saw this scene.

He followed Shen Shu’s line of sight and looked for two seconds without finding anything. Just as he was about to turn his head to ask, a group of black things suddenly appeared in the front where there was nothing just now, as if out of thin air.

They were flying towards them.

“Captain.” Shen Shu’s voice rang from the side, “If we don’t leave, I’m afraid we won’t be able to leave. There are also some here.”

What?

Xie Yi immediately turned his head to look at him when he heard the words.

He saw behind Shen Shu, also a group of black things were flying towards them.

“Shen Shu, what are you talking about?” You Xue, who had just finished clicking the information extraction confirmation, turned her head when she heard the two people’s confusing words, and gasped in an instant, “What, what, what is this?”

“Withdraw!”

Xie Yi and Shen Shu turned around at the same time, You Xue followed closely behind a step slower.

“The pollution concentration around is rising!” You Xue couldn’t help but look back, only to see a group of black things behind her, like dark clouds pressing down on the city, approaching them quickly.

You Xue had even begun to hear their dense low buzzing sound.

Relying on legs alone could not outrun these flying things.

Taking advantage of the turning space, Xie Yi glanced back.

The distance that was quite far just now was now close at hand.

And this very close distance also allowed Xie Yi to see the appearance of these things clearly.

Shaped like leaves, with pincer-like mouths, they are the Offspring Insect Tide of the Fire Tree Silver Flower!

How could this thing appear in Jiangbei?

Xie Yi’s heart sank.

At that moment, the Offspring Insect Tide suddenly rushed towards them.

The three of them subconsciously dispersed, and the swarming Insect Tide instantly submerged their figures.

The Offspring Insect Tide flying around kept approaching with low buzzing sounds. Xie Yi could only retreat constantly. Although many of the Offspring Insects that stuck to him were killed, it was only a drop in the bucket.

Small flying insects-like Mutated Entities are the most troublesome, and the Offspring Insect Tide of the Fire Tree Silver Flower is even more difficult to deal with. If they cannot be resolved at once, they will be endless.

There was no way, he had to draw away some of them first.

Xie Yi glanced at the directions where Shen Shu and You Xue were submerged, and then turned and retreated in another direction. As he moved, the Insect Tide behind him also swarmed over in a dark mass.

Xie Yi had not left for long.

You Xue, who was still fleeing in a hurry, suddenly found that the bugs chasing her had decreased a lot.

She paused, and quickly realized that it was because Xie Yi and Shen Shu had taken away most of them. She subconsciously looked around, and all she could see were scattered small groups of insects still chasing her, and the shadowy low houses and ruins.

And in a position that You Xue could not imagine.

Only three streets away from her, behind several crowded residential buildings, Shen Shu was standing on a collapsed abandoned house, his expression indifferent.

There seemed to be an invisible wall around him, isolating the surrounding Insect Tide.

Suddenly, the invisible wall twisted for a moment, and a ripple-like thing spread out. The next moment, these insects were seen all falling down with a crash.

Countless insects fell to the ground, still twitching, and soon piled up into several small mountain-like shapes.

Shen Shu stood there, looking down, as if looking at dead objects.