An hour later.
The [Steel Regeneration] stopped. As the metal in his body had been depleted, Qi Yuan's injuries had not fully recovered. However, it did not affect his battle prowess.
The Blazing Angel also took the opportunity to control a group of corrupted beasts to scout ahead. In order to satisfy Qi Yuan's needs, the Blazing Angel even caught a huge bug beast.
Just as the two of them were about to leave, Qi Yuan felt as though he had forgotten something.
Looking around, the surface of the lake was as calm as a mirror. There were a few bug beast corpses lying around.
The black liquid in the corpses of the corrupted beasts had already flowed out. Only a layer of skin and bones were left.
There seemed to be nothing left!
Qi Yuan sat on the bug beast and was about to leave when a soft sound was heard.
"Kacha!
Kacha kacha! "
The sound was very soft. However, in this quiet night, it was unusually clear. It was as though something was breaking out of its shell.
It was the egg of the strange Insect Beast!
Qi Yuan was shocked. He activated his [Area Detection] and soon, he saw an egg filled with cracks in the stomach of a bug beast.
"Kacha!
Kacha! "
The cracks on the eggshell continued to spread. Soon, Qi Yuan saw a pink tentacle breaking out of the eggshell.
'What the hell is this?'
The force field that covered the core of the bug beast egg had disappeared with the cracking of the eggshell. Qi Yuan could clearly see the baby bug beast inside.
It had no limbs and he could not even tell its head from its torso. He could only see a few wet pink tentacles entangled together and wriggling.
It looked like an octopus in the sea, but it was not.
Just as Qi Yuan was wondering what this tentacle monster was, the Blazing Angel finally remembered this little fellow that she had almost forgotten.
The Blazing Angel stuck out her tongue. Her body suddenly blurred and she passed through the bug beast's corpse. She merged with the tentacle monster that had just hatched.
When the Blazing Angel appeared in front of Qi Yuan again, the tentacle monster in the bug beast's corpse had disappeared. The black floral dress that the Blazing Angel was wearing was also gone. Instead, it was replaced by a red and black lolita dress.
Seeing the Blazing Angel in a new set of clothes, Qi Yuan was obviously stunned.
A piece of clothing was hatched from an egg that was suspected to be an elite Zerg?
Soon, Qi Yuan realized that the Lolita on the Blazing Angel was not a real piece of clothing, just like how the Blazing Angel was not a human girl on the outside.
Furthermore, this piece of clothing seemed to be able to act as a Blazing Angel's body!
When the Blazing Angel was wearing this red and black Lolita dress, Qi Yuan could clearly feel a fatal threat. This meant that the Blazing Angel could unleash a strength that could crush him if she wore this Lolita dress.
"How much strength can you unleash now?" Qi Yuan asked.
Blazing Angel happily stretched out her two hands, waving her ten white and tender fingers in front of Qi Yuan.
"I can unleash my full strength!"
Qi Yuan also laughed. Although a seventy percent Blazing Angel was still very powerful, a complete Blazing Angel was clearly more reliable.
With the Blazing Angel's characteristics, if it encountered another Rank 4 Elite Zerg Beast, it could try to fight it head-on!
If it could defeat a Rank 4 Elite Zerg Beast and enslave it, even if it could only enslave one, it would be much more powerful than enslaving ten Rank 3 Zerg Beasts!
"Let's go to the next place."
Qi Yuan rode on the Zerg Beast. The Blazing Angel looked left and right, then sat on the Zerg Beast's head. She then controlled the group of Corrupted Beasts to move forward.
After the darkness descended, the number of active Zerg Beasts decreased significantly. There were many Corrupted Beasts wandering around, but their strength was average. Along the way, they did not see a single Heart Eater. Even if they encountered some Corrupted Beasts, there was no battle.
The Blazing Angel's existence, in addition to Qi Yuan's Trickster, was enough to make these Corrupted Beasts, whose brains were filled with mucus, retreat.
Other than these Corrupted Beasts that did not have any intelligence to speak of, Qi Yuan also discovered an intelligent Corrupted Beast from afar. It had unexpectedly sharp senses. As soon as it appeared in his field of vision, it immediately turned and fled, not giving Qi Yuan any chance to attack.
Controlling Corrupted Beasts without intelligence was much easier than enslaving Zerg Beasts. Along the way, all the Zerg Beasts they encountered became the Blazing Angel's food, while the Corrupted Beasts became part of the team. When Qi Yuan arrived at the fourth checkpoint, the Blazing Angel had already controlled over seventy Corrupted Beasts. However, there were not many Rank 3 Corrupted Beasts. Most of them were Rank 1 and Rank 2 Corrupted Beasts, and there were also a few human Corrupted Beasts in ragged clothes.
The huge team of Corrupted Beasts stopped beside a ruin. Compared to the old city that was relatively well-preserved, the ruin in front of them was completely dilapidated. They could barely tell that there were old buildings here through the rusty metal exposed to the air.
The checkpoint was right in the middle of these ruins. Qi Yuan could not only sense its existence, he could even faintly see the light emitted by the checkpoint beam.
Looking at the checkpoint right in front of him, Qi Yuan did not rashly enter. With the nature of the Talent Tree, it definitely would not let him obtain any Talent Points so easily.
The more peaceful a checkpoint was, the more fatal the danger hidden behind it.
The strange forest was like this, and the lake with the fish monster was also like this.
It was clearly only a Rank 2 checkpoint, but it had the danger of crushing a Rank 3. This kind of difficulty setting completely exceeded the limits of a Rank 2 ability user. Even if he had the strength of a Peak Rank 3 ability user, entering alone would only be a suicide mission.
What kind of danger was hidden in these seemingly peaceful ruins?
If it was the same as the lake before, and there was another Rank 4 hidden inside …
Qi Yuan sighed and shook his head. If the average difficulty of a Rank 2 checkpoint was a Rank 4 enemy, then a Rank 3 checkpoint would probably have to face a Rank 5 enemy. This kind of checkpoint difficulty that crossed two ranks, if the purpose was to make himself stronger, then it was simply inconceivable!
Qi Yuan took out the Bug Beast Detector and tested it, but found that he was surrounded by dots of light. Those were the Corrupted Beasts that surrounded him.
And in the ruins, it was indeed pitch-black, as if it was an empty city, without any life.
Empty city?
It did not exist!
There must be some kind of danger hidden in the ruins that the Bug Beast Detector could not detect.
Qi Yuan tried to use the area detection to observe for a while, but also did not find any hidden enemies.
However, Qi Yuan did not lower his guard. Compared to those known dangers, the unknown dangers were the real dangers.
Under Qi Yuan's signal, the Blazing Angel controlled a group of Corrupted Beasts to enter the ruins.
The area of the ruins was not small. Although it was not as big as the old city, it was still several times bigger than the lake from before.
Between the broken walls, it was difficult to see the end at a glance.
The Corrupted Beasts wandered aimlessly in the ruins, and soon walked out of the range of the Bug Beast Detector, out of Qi Yuan's sight.
The ruins were calm as usual, and there were no unusual movements. However, Qi Yuan felt a little strange. These ruins were too peaceful. In the wilderness of the new era, there were dangers everywhere. The more peaceful a place was, the more fatal the hidden dangers would be.
At this moment, a trace of doubt appeared in the eyes of the Blazing Angel controlling the Corrupted Beasts.
"What happened inside?
Did they encounter danger or were they attacked? "Qi Yuan asked.
The Blazing Angel shook his head and said softly, "They did not encounter any enemies.
However, there is something wrong with their condition. They seem to be getting weaker and weaker. "
An invisible enemy?
Qi Yuan frowned slightly.
If it was an enemy on the surface, it would be easy to deal with. With the Blazing Angel's current strength, he should be able to face them head-on. However, this kind of invisible enemy made it difficult for him to do anything.
"Tell them to come back!" Qi Yuan said.
The Blazing Angel nodded. Just as she was about to summon the Corrupted Beasts wandering in the ruins, she suddenly sensed that the weakest Corrupted Beast had suddenly disappeared.
There was no enemy, and it did not encounter any danger. It had just disappeared.
Before the Blazing Angel could react, the second Corrupted Beast had suddenly disappeared.
Next was the third.
The Blazing Angel told him what she had discovered. Qi Yuan's eyes narrowed.
"Tell them to speed up and return immediately!"
The Blazing Angel nodded and began to order the Corrupted Beasts inside to return quickly. In less than half a minute after the first Corrupted Beast disappeared, four Corrupted Beasts had already disappeared.
If this continued, in less than a minute, none of the twenty or so Corrupted Beasts that had entered the ruins would be left.
Perhaps because of their weakness, the Corrupted Beasts that stepped into the ruins slowed down a lot. After the Blazing Angel gave the order to return quickly, several of the twenty or so Corrupted Beasts that were wandering in the ruins mysteriously disappeared. More than ten seconds later, a withered Corrupted Beast appeared in Qi Yuan's line of sight.
It was originally a Rank 3 Corrupted Beast, but now it was like a candle in the wind, about to fall at any time.
If it was not for the support of the data center, Qi Yuan would not have recognized this Corrupted Beast. When it first stepped into the ruins, its body was at least several times larger than it was now.
It had only stepped into the ruins for a few minutes, so how did it become so withered, as if it had been squeezed dry?
The Corrupted Beast's return seemed to have triggered some kind of danger. The Corrupted Beast's weakening speed began to increase.
What was hidden in the ruins? Why would it not let the Corrupted Beasts go?
Looking at the Corrupted Beasts that were getting weaker and weaker, Qi Yuan seemed to hear their inner cries of despair.
No more!
There really was no more!
Not even a drop!
Under Qi Yuan's watchful gaze, this extremely weak rank 3 contaminated beast continued to advance for a while before finally falling weakly into the ruins. It was like a piece of rotten wood that finally could not withstand the erosion of the wind and sand. It crashed to the ground with a loud crash, stirring up a ring of dust that drifted into the air.
After the Corrupted Beast fell, its extremely weak vitality was extinguished like a candle flame. Its withered body was weathered at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally turned into a pile of inconspicuous dust.
"The Corrupted Beasts inside have all disappeared!" The Blazing Angel said softly as she stared at the pile of dust.
Qi Yuan took a deep breath. A total of twenty-seven Corrupted Beasts had disappeared in just a few minutes. If there were no accidents, the remaining twenty-six Corrupted Beasts would have turned into a pile of dust in the ruins, just like this Corrupted Beast.
A gust of night wind blew, and the dust in the ruins flew into the air. The yellowish-brown sand was blown away by the night wind and flew into the open wilderness.
How were these Corrupted Beasts sucked dry?
Can these ruins really eat people?
Looking at the empty ruins, Qi Yuan rubbed the space between his eyebrows, feeling a headache coming on.
These Sign In points are too f * cking troublesome!
None of them are easy to deal with!
Can't you just be an invincible bully with muscles of steel?
Why do you have to kill my brain cells!
After complaining, Qi Yuan calmed down and decided to test the ruins again.
Just like the strange fish hiding in the lake, although it was powerful, it did not eat the Corrupted Beasts' weakness. As long as he used it well, he could also complete the Sign In.
Although these ruins were very strange, as long as he found a pattern, it might not be so difficult to deal with.
"Go and find a few more Corrupted Beasts. Don't go too far, just wander around nearby!"
The Blazing Angel nodded, and the three Corrupted Beasts stepped into the ruins again, but they didn't go far. They wandered aimlessly under Qi Yuan's gaze.
Qi Yuan stared at the three Corrupted Beasts, and even activated Area Detection at the same time, monitoring the changes of the three Corrupted Beasts in all directions.
Under his gaze, the changes of the three Corrupted Beasts were clearly displayed in front of him. Their bodies began to shrivel, and their energy response weakened at the same time. However, the three Corrupted Beasts didn't seem to notice anything and continued to wander blindly, not reacting at all to the changes in their bodies.
Qi Yuan frowned. The changes of the Corrupted Beasts were visible to the naked eye, but the reason for the changes was still unknown. Area Detection also didn't detect anything wrong.
Where did the lost black liquid and energy go?
Did they disappear into thin air?
Qi Yuan looked at the feet of the Corrupted Beasts. Except for faint footprints, there was nothing left. The danger didn't come from below.
Or rather, danger existed in every inch of the ruins!
The Corrupted Beasts' bodies became thinner and thinner, and their movements became slower. In less than a minute, their bodies seemed to have passed decades, or even hundreds of years.
"Let them leave the ruins!" Qi Yuan said.
Under the Blazing Angel's control, the three Corrupted Beasts walked out at the same time. However, their departure seemed to have triggered some kind of mechanism.
The weakening of the three Corrupted Beasts suddenly accelerated. If the initial weakening was a faucet, then when the Blazing Angel decided to let them leave, the faucet turned into a high-powered pump.
The Corrupted Beasts that had shrunk by one-third in a minute quickly shrank to two-thirds in a few seconds, and the shrinking speed was still accelerating. Two of the weaker Corrupted Beasts fell to the ground before they could leave the ruins, and finally turned into a pile of dust.
Only a rank 3 polluted beast managed to walk out of the ruins after its body shrunk by more than half. However, it wasn't in a good condition. The moment it left the ruins, it fell straight to the ground and seemed to be on the verge of death.
Its originally strong body had turned into a dried corpse. Through the area detection, Qi Yuan discovered that the black mucus in its body was close to drying up. Only its head and the core of the contamination in its chest still had remnants of the black mucus left.
The black octopus-like monster in the core of the Corrupted Beasts was also very weak, and seemed to be about to die at any time.
The Blazing Angel immediately let a Corrupted Beast bite its forelimb, and then put the part of the wound that was covered in black liquid into the Corrupted Beast's mouth.
Ennea Monkey!
Crack!
The violent action broke the Corrupted Beast's jaw in an instant.