448: Chapter 448: Fla (Large Chapter) 448: Chapter 448: Fla (Large Chapter) The black van slowly made its way into the quiet valley.
The gentle breeze rustled through the leaves with a whispering sound.
The hum of insects and birdsong that should have echoed by the roadside was now replaced by complete silence, silence so profound it was as if driving into this place was entering death itself.
He Ao steadied the steering wheel with one hand, while dynamic heavy tal music played on the van’s sound system.
He lowered the window, and with a cigarette in hand, extended it outside, letting the faint smoke drift away with the moving air.
That ‘delicious’ sensation lingering in his heart grew stronger and stronger, filling his mind to the point of near bursting.
Now, the Wilderness Wanderers had already driven the exotic beasts around the periter once, and the compiled reports indicated that the situation was not good.
Many traces of C-level exotic beast activity were found around the area covered by the Phantom Mushrooms.
Since most Wilderness Wanderer families did not possess C-level combatants, the Wanderers could only rely on the sacrifices of their kinsn or on targeted attacks to map out danger zones.
They could not be sure whether the danger in each area was due to exotic beasts or hazardous Transcendent items.
Generally speaking, those who encountered the source of danger were unable to convey the information back alive.
Thus, the Wilderness Wanderers’ knowledge of the danger zones was simply ‘very dangerous’, regardless of whether it was because of one C-level exotic beast or three.
In the past, the solitary Wilderness Wanderers lacked the capability, but under the call of the Andavi family and the pressure of the Phantom Mushrooms, they united to have the chance to undertake detailed exploration and cleansing of the nearby areas.
Before the exploration began, He Ao and the old clan patriarch had estimated that there would be quite a few C-level exotic beasts around the Phantom Mushroom area.
But the reality turned out to be even worse than they had anticipated.
So far, at least eight traces of C-level exotic beast activities had been found around the area, while the initial estimate of the nearby C-level beasts was a maximum of two or three.
The principle was quite simple: the Phantom Mushrooms had ceased expanding here, not because of any benevolent intent to stop, but rather because they had encountered an obstacle to their expansion.
C-level beings had so resistance to the allure of the Phantom Mushrooms.
Purely by the attractiveness the Phantom Mushrooms emitted to their peripheries, they couldn’t lure and prey upon the surrounding C-level exotic beasts.
The existence of these C-level exotic beasts also caused other wild beasts and exotic beasts on the outer layers to shy away from this area, cutting off the food supply to the Phantom Mushrooms.
In a sense, these C-level exotic beasts were constraining the expansion of the Phantom Mushrooms, thus protecting the wilderness.
He Ao’s vehicle once again passed that abandoned Wilderness Wanderer Camp, which was now desolate and empty, strewn with dark, dull bones and Phantom Mushrooms thriving lushly upon them.
Those killed Wilderness Wanderers have been completely ‘digested’ by the Phantom Mushrooms.
The abandoned camp was also filled with dense, overlapping layers of Phantom Mushrooms.
The delicious temptation emanating from these mushrooms made one subconsciously overlook the cold and dim surroundings, feel that everything was as it should be, and simply wanted to taste that delicious mushroom.
He Ao turned the steering wheel, crushing the Phantom Mushrooms on the ground, and left the road behind, turning into the wilderness.
This road was just on the edge of the Phantom Mushroom area— to reach the true heart of it, one had to continue deeper inward.
The pristine juice stuck to the black tires, quickly blending into the soil below.
There were no roads on the wilderness, only the uneven, bumpy mud.
He Ao controlled the steering wheel, following the safe route suitable for vehicles outlined by the old clan patriarch, feeling his way forward.
His body bounced up and down with the vibration of the vehicle.
Under the dim headlights, the ground was littered with bones of humans and animals alike.
Half-buried in the mud and half-exposed, the gleaming Phanto Mushrooms grew atop these bones under the starlight.
He Ao began to understand why ancient legends called this type of mushroom Phantom Mushrooms.
They sprouted from the remains of the dead, like ghosts returning from hell.
He Ao continued forward.
The bones around here showed signs of weathering, so were very old, others were quite fresh.
This proved that the C-level exotic beasts nearby had not completely stopped animals or humans from entering the area, and these constantly attracted ‘prey’ would cause the Phantom Mushrooms to multiply and get stronger.
Until they could attract the peripheral C-level exotic beasts that were blocking them.
That would be the ti when true terror descended.
Therefore, Wilderness Wanderers had to resolve these Phantom Mushrooms before they could attract the C-level ones.
The small truck struggled over the rough and uneven wilderness.
The current Phantom Mushroom area had ford from many smaller infected zones rging together.
Those lives surrounded by Phantom Mushrooms had no chance to resist and almost imdiately beca nourishnt for them, with their territory rapidly rging together.
The area that ultimately rged together was roughly circular, with irregular protrusions along its edges.
The deeper He Ao walked in, the denser the Phantom Mushrooms beca in his field of view.
The white mushrooms that covered the hills and fields faintly reflected a dim glow under the starlight.
This glow could help ‘prey’ locate the Phantom Mushrooms more accurately.
In a sense, the Phantom Mushrooms were very strong, their ability to attract was unmatched, and it seed that this ability strengthened with the growth of their collective.
But from another perspective, they were very weak.
As long as one could resist their contamination, they were nothing more than ordinary mushrooms.
At the mont the wheels of He Ao’s vehicle rolled over them, the Phantom Mushrooms burst open one after another.
It seed the Phantom Mushrooms had no intellect, they just kept drawing in prey as a ans to absorb nutrients and increase their own value.
With Super mory activated, He Ao saw no shadows on the bodies of the Phantom Mushrooms.
This proved Phantom Mushrooms were soulless.
Even the most frail blade of grass had a shadow so light that it was nearly invisible if not looked at carefully.
But there was nothing on the Phantom Mushrooms; though they had the appearance of living things, they were as lifeless as machines made by humans.
The ‘delicious’ allure still lingered in He Ao’s mind and was rapidly growing stronger, which seed to indicate he was approaching the core area of the Phantom Mushroom region.
He had to reach the central area of the Phantom Mushroom zone, a place unreachable by the close-range artillery from the outer periter.
He Ao would launch burning projectiles in the central region while, at the sa ti, the Andavi family would shoot burning projectiles toward the center from all around.
With a two-pronged attack, they could ensure the quick eradication of the Phantom Mushrooms, reducing the ti that might attract powerful exotic beasts.
The only problem with this plan was that He Ao’s situation would be very dangerous.
He would not only be in the central area of the Phantom Mushrooms, experiencing the strongest allure and facing those powerful beasts rushing into the region, but he would also have to endure the scorching of flas.
For this, He Ao had borrowed a damaged transcendent item from the old patriarch of the Andavi family, which could allow its bearer to partially avoid the scorch of flas, although it would continuously attract fire.
The Andavi family had only one transcendent item capable of reducing fire damage, and the old patriarch did not recomnd using it.
Because the previous owners of this item all died by fire, it didn’t completely eliminate fire damage while defending against flas and actually attracted even greater flas.
Nevertheless, He Ao was quite interested in this item and took it with him.
As the bright moon traced a path across the sky, He Ao finally arrived at the planned core area.
He pushed open the door of his vehicle, jumped out with a cigarette in his mouth, and crushed a Phantom Mushroom underfoot.
He was dressed in a specialized fireproof suit, which insulated him from heat and provided a certain level of protection against flas.
From the driver’s seat, he took out a folding signal gun and slowly unfolded it.
Throughout the process, his arms shook uncontrollably, as the powerful lure of the Phantom Mushrooms from the core region incessantly attracted him, attempting to alter his will and take control of his body.
This feeling was like a person who had been starving for three or four days standing in front of a lavish banquet, struggling to control themselves from eating.
Especially when in front of this person was a plate of roast chicken sizzling with fat, slathered in honey and spices.
He Ao wasn’t just resisting temptation, but also the instincts of his own body.
The reason those C-level exotic beasts around could resist the temptation of the Phantom Mushrooms was probably because they were relatively far from the core area.
His movents were slow, but eventually, He Ao unfolded the signal gun as planned.
He raised the signal gun, aiming at the sky.
Accompanied by a bright trail of flas rising into the sky, he discarded the signal gun in his hand and in an instant pulled down the tarp covering the bed of the small truck, revealing the cargo inside.
Dominating the truck bed was a small launching device already loaded with incendiary rounds, and at the rear of the truck, a small off-road motorcycle was also tied up.
He Ao took down the off-road motorcycle and placed it on the ground.
This type of motorcycle was sturdy and durable, capable of adapting to various conditions, even though the driving experience wasn’t very comfortable—it was one of the most popular off-road motorcycles in the wilderness.
Then He Ao looked up at the small launching device inside the truck, and to reduce unnecessary ti as much as possible, all the incendiary rounds had already been in the ready-to-launch position by the ti He Ao set off.
The only problem with this operation was the risk of accidental discharge during the drive, but as He Ao drove steadily, this hadn’t happened.
After shifting his gaze away from the small launching device, He Ao glanced at the ti on his wristband, then picked up his binoculars to look in the direction of the Moon where a bright flash rapidly ascended under the bright moonlight, soaring toward the celestial Moon.
This was the Andavi family’s response, indicating they were aware that He Ao had reached the designated location.
Upon seeing the signal flare, He Ao looked at his wristband, checked the ti on his watch, and saw that there were fifteen seconds until midnight.
This was the agreed-upon ti to launch the incendiary rounds.
He placed his hand on the launch button, watching the countdown on his wrist, watching the seconds count down to zero.
Soon, the ti approached the final three seconds.
Three!
Two!
One!
The reflective-coated rounds instantly filled the entire sky.
One after another, the flas blood like carnations opening at midnight, bursting forth one by one upon the earth.
Among these blossoming flowers, bullets filled with a highly combustible incendiary agent were propelled forth, spraying bright flas.
While He Ao was unconscious, the Andavi family had tested the state of Phantom Mushrooms after being scorched.
During the process of being burned by flas, the temptation of Phantom Mushrooms would increase by three to five tis; at temperatures below one thousand degrees Celsius, the Phantom Mushrooms could be scorched for over five minutes before turning into powder.
Then, once reduced to powder, these powders could easily ignite, and the combustion could easily produce temperatures exceeding one thousand degrees Celsius.
At temperatures above one thousand degrees Celsius, Phantom Mushrooms could resist the flas for only thirty seconds, but during those thirty seconds, the allure of so Phantom Mushrooms to their surroundings could increase more than fivefold.
Most of the incendiary rounds currently being used by He Ao and the Andavi family could create temperatures above one thousand degrees Celsius.
However, these incendiary bombs were quite expensive and not easy to find; if the rck family hadn’t stockpiled a large quantity, they wouldn’t have been able to amass such an amount.
Even so, more than twenty percent of the incendiary bombs were just ordinary ones.
At that mont, however, He Ao was in no mood to admire the blossoming spectacle of these fire flowers.
At the very mont the flas burst forth, the surrounding Phantom Mushrooms began to emit a deadly temptation.
In the process of resisting this temptation, He Ao even briefly lost control of his body.
By the ti he regained control, several seconds had already passed.
And at that ti, the roaring flas were almost sealing off the entire core area.
He hastily took out a ring adorned with a fla pattern, put it on his finger, and started the motorcycle, charging through the gaps in the flas.
As he burst out of the central flas, the tongues of fire behind him spewed forth, spreading rapidly towards him.
That was the price of wearing the fireproof ring; it would constantly attract flas toward it.
But He Ao did not take off the ring; instead, he kept wearing it as he continued to rush toward areas where the flas were less intense.
The heat and insulation resistance of this off-road motorcycle were very well designed, and even under such extre conditions, its speed was not greatly affected, allowing He Ao to race through the flas.
It was just that the tal seat was getting quite hot.
As He Ao continued to race forward, the surrounding flas burned fiercer and fiercer.
Although several tis, he was nearly lured by the Phantom Mushrooms into the flas, he always managed to turn calamity into safety and landed smoothly.
By then, so of the Phantom Mushrooms had been scorched into powder, becoming fuel for the flas.
He Ao rode the motorcycle toward the outer layers.
At that mont, slightly to the north of his course, a faint glimr of firelight rose into the sky.
It was a signal from the Andavi family.
This ant that a C-level exotic beast had entered the region where the Phantom Mushrooms grew.
He Ao took a deep breath, opened the throttle of the motorcycle to the max, and fiercely leapt over the fire in front of him, directly charging towards the direction from which the beast had co.
These C-level exotic beasts were the biggest obstacles to destroying the Phantom Mushrooms.
He Ao touched his chest, where, underneath the thick fireproof suit, was a Mithril Test Tube giving off a faint cool sensation.
Inside was a Secret dicine that He Ao had extracted not long ago with the help of the Andavi family’s materials.
Talent Sequence 115: Nightwalker
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In a valley not far from the Phantom Mushroom region, there lay haphazardly scattered corpses that were already dead.
It seed a fierce battle had taken place here; a convoy from the city had been attacked, their trucks parked on the roadside with their contents completely scavenged.
The rain had washed the blood away, leaving behind only decaying cadavers.
A gigantic foot stepped out slowly from the misty darkness, startling the nearby scavenging birds.
This foot landed on the roof of the truck, crushing the bullet-riddled but still sturdy vehicle into a sheet of tal.
In the cover of night, the enormous creature raised its head, looking into the distance.
It seed to have caught a scent.
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