Chapter 23: Sensory Enhancement
With only two minutes left on the time limit,
Four carriages were still waiting at the assembly point in the town.
A large number of frenzied townspeople had chased them here, with a small portion naturally noticing Yi Chen approaching from the lakeside and turning to pursue him.
At this moment,
The rear compartment of one of the carriages suddenly opened,
A rock-pillar-like arm stretched out, belonging to Dagbert from the [Northern Territories], with whom they had previously collaborated.
The blonde Edmund was also sitting nearby, waving to Yi Chen.
"Isn't this William? Come quickly, we're just short one person here."
At this crucial moment related to the completion of the assessment, there was naturally no need to refuse.
Quickly moving forward,
When Yi Chen reached out his hand and made contact with Dagbert's palm... an force beyond imagination was transmitted,
Without even making a jumping motion, his entire body had already been pulled into the carriage.
Edmund, sitting to the side, simultaneously closed the door.
Since this carriage was now full, the driver didn't wait any longer.
Snap!
The reins lashed against the horse's back, quickly driving away from this small town permeated with the smell of fish.
Inside the carriage compartment, besides the four of them,
There were two unfamiliar faces, both in an injured state... one had bandages wrapped around the waist, while the other's right arm had a large amount of flesh stripped away, and was currently spraying medication on the wound.
In comparison, Edmund's team had sustained minor injuries.
Dagbert had a small circle of bandages wrapped around his left upper arm,
Yuliana was leaning against the carriage to rest, with one hand on her lower right abdomen, seemingly bearing a slight injury,
The blonde Edmund only had a small adhesive bandage-like patch on his cheek.
In contrast,
Yi Chen, who was unscathed, naturally became the focus of everyone's attention.
Edmund leaned in close, curiously asking:
"Mr. William, I'm a bit curious~
The three of us basically fought our way to the assembly point along the town center, with two stops for observation along the way, but we didn't see any trace of you at all.
Did you come from the lakeside?"
"Mm."
"How did you manage that? With the town in chaos, the most dangerous place would be the lake breeding the pathogen... basically no assessment candidates would approach there at the last moment."
"I just happened to perceive a [gap], that's all."
"Is that so? That's impressive."
"By the way, how long will it take to reach the organization from here?"
Seeing the usually taciturn Yi Chen actively inquiring, Edmund hurriedly explained:
"Generally, places chosen as assessment points aren't too far from the organization... This facilitates monitoring of the test site and avoids unexpected situations.
We should reach the organization's headquarters - Zion City - in three hours at most."
"Mm."
Yi Chen didn't ask further,
Taking advantage of this time to close his eyes and rest, recovering from the lingering mental trauma.
At the same time,
He could also pay attention to Little Grape's condition.
Through this underwater lake operation, although Little Grape had some selfish motives, it was still generally trustworthy overall.
Creak creak~
The plant roots moved inside his body, trying to make contact with the incubating Little Grape to check its condition.
Just as they were about to touch, all the plant roots dispersed again.
『Never mind, better not disturb it...』
Hands tucked into his pockets,
He leaned against the wooden slats of the carriage, preparing to have a good sleep,
But found that something lingered in his mind, preventing him from falling asleep,
Every time he closed his eyes, he would think of that abyssal laboratory and the untouchable unknown entity.
Since he couldn't sleep,
The habitual thinking of an engineering student began to try to ponder the root cause of the Green Lake Town incident.
『The real mastermind behind the scenes should be the unknown entity I happened to see.
The giant eye at the bottom of the lake was just one of its experimental products.
Releasing this eye along with some parasite samples into Green Lake Town... rather than calling it a pathological invasion of the town, it's more like using the town as a [breeding ground].
Once high-quality infected individuals are produced, they might be taken to the abyss.
It's terrifying...
What kind of beings are actually controlling this world?』
Recalling the epic music from the sea and the golden frame that appeared above the unknown entity's head,
Yi Chen actually revealed a slight smile, eager to explore the secrets of this world.
...
About two hours passed
Suddenly, a strong jolting sensation came.
At the same time,
The carriage compartment gradually began to tilt upwards, clearly going up a slope.
"Finally going up the mountain? Oh my~ We'll be there soon, I'm really looking forward to it."
The blonde Edmund stretched lazily, then took it upon himself to open the rear door of the compartment... the driver didn't say anything about this behavior.
Once they were on the mountain, there was no risk of infection.
At least that was the case for now.
The moment the compartment door was fully opened.
『Holy crap!』
The effects of acrophobia instantly swept through Yi Chen's brain, instinctively widening his eyes... Fortunately, he wasn't sitting near the outer edge, otherwise he would definitely have been startled.
Currently,
The carriage was driving up an extremely steep edge of a mountain road.
On the right side was a cliff, visually estimated to be over 200 meters high,
The most terrifying part was that
The width of the mountain road was only about 10 centimeters wider than the carriage,
The rolling wheels were almost grinding against the very edge of the road, at risk of sliding off at any moment... Any ordinary person would feel an instinctive fear, a fear of death.
However.
The other assessment candidates didn't show much change in expression, completely trusting the driver's skills.
When the carriage rounded a bend between the cliffs,
Several hundred meters away,
Looking up at the top of the cliff,
A black city stood there.
The city was built along the cliff, with even 1/3 of its area extending beyond the cliff edge.
Dense fog shrouded the sky above the city, with some areas even covered by dark membranes, effectively blocking external prying eyes.
『This is [Zion].』
For some reason,
When Yi Chen gazed at this city, his body spontaneously produced a cold yet comfortable feeling, as if he had found a safe refuge in a world full of festering sores.
Just then,
A sudden commotion came from within his body.
The skin on Yi Chen's shoulder quickly bulged, with black silk-like threads drilling through and emerging,
Gently and painlessly tearing open the skin,
A black fleshy ball, identical to the original one, drilled out,
The neural connections between the two were also re-established normally.
Little Grape's voice followed:
『Are we almost at the organization already? That was fast.』
『Little Grape, you're better already? I thought it would take you a few days.』
『It was just a delicate little meal, a few hours were enough to digest it... It was barely a good thing, bringing me some improvement.
Let me share the experience with you.』
As Little Grape shared its newly upgraded visual characteristics,
In Yi Chen's field of vision,
A circular dotted line symbolizing [Lock-on] appeared.
As long as any living target appeared in his field of vision,
This dotted circle would automatically fall on the target,
Currently,
The blonde Edmund happened to be in Yi Chen's field of vision,
The circular dotted line, like an auto-aim, immediately encircled the target's head.
After a second,
The dotted line gradually became solid, indicating that the lock-on was complete.
Little Grape's voice came:
『Alright, the target is locked! Just move your related thoughts a bit, and the mental radiation will directly affect it.』
『What!?』
Yi Chen hurriedly shifted his gaze and blinked.
The [Lock-on] naturally disengaged.
The blonde Edmund seemed to sense Yi Chen stealing glances at him, but didn't mind at all.
(End of Chapter)
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