Survival Guide in the Age of Cataclysm

Chapter 57 Entering the Dream

Inside a quiet bar, in a private room.

Liu Guan sized up the unfamiliar man in gray.

Yu Xiaoman said calmly from the side, "This is Taban, a combatant trained within the Rubik's Cube. He can handle your little matter."

The gray-clad man, Taban, smirked and sat down beside Liu Guan, nodding. "Speak, what are your demands?"

"I'm going to kill three people," Liu Guan said in a low voice. "The first two are in the settlement, and the last one should appear near the gathering area."

After saying that, he opened his bracelet and swiped through some data, explaining the target information to Taban.

The latter remained silent, only nodding repeatedly.

As a knife, he always knew how to use it properly.

I didn't ask the client why they wanted to kill those people; there were just too many reasons.

Perhaps it was a blood feud, or perhaps it was just a fleeting glance in the crowd.

What Taban needs to determine is whether these targets can be killed.

Liu Guan kept talking and gave instructions quickly, but when he got to the last person...

Suddenly, before he could finish speaking, Taban raised his hand to interrupt him: "Why is the third target a mid-level member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

As he spoke, his gaze did not fall on Liu Guan, but instead lingered on Yu Xiaoman, his brows furrowing.

Yu Xiaoman should know his strength, so why would she notify him to come when she knew the target had intermediate members and she wasn't absolutely certain of success?

pastime?

The woman beside her chuckled and said slowly, "Don't worry, the other party is a newcomer. Besides, a nominal intermediate member can't really be considered a true intermediate member."

"What do you mean?" Taban was taken aback.

"The intelligence team investigated, and although they found very little information, they did find that Xu Yang had only been with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for about a week, did a simple escort mission, and failed. He's a complete newbie."

"How did he become a mid-level member?"

"I only found out that someone else arranged it for him, not that he applied for it himself," Yu Xiaoman said meaningfully.

Taban was taken aback, then instinctively said, "Black market dealer?"

Yu Xiaoman took a sip of wine and nodded slightly.

"After analysis, the intelligence personnel came to the same conclusion. It's the same old story. I heard that those black marketeers have recently reached cooperation agreements with some wanted organizations and happen to be short of goods. Otherwise, how could there be so many coincidences in this world?"

Hearing this, Taban's brows relaxed, and his lips twitched slightly: "So it's about using access privileges to trade supplies. Then I'm fine. Are these black market dealers doing so well lately?"

"I don't know, I've only heard that they've been involved with some kind of cult."

……

Elsewhere, under a psychedelic artificial night sky.

Inside the settlement, in a large clinic.

The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and people came and went in the corridor, their expressions a mix of joy and worry, and the sound of footsteps seemed never to stop.

Xu Yang was sitting in the waiting area.

The chair beneath him was a little cold; he had just finished his examination and was now waiting for notification. Ahead was a green sign that kept scrolling with the examination room number and patient names.

Time seemed to drag on endlessly.

His mind was in turmoil.

In fact, he no longer felt uncomfortable after leaving the radiation zone, but radiation is good at causing internal damage.

Even though he only glanced at the information, he remembers it clearly now: the biological radiation from the damaged lure would gradually transform other creatures into snake-like beings, altering their entire genetic sequence.

In the worst-case scenario, their own genes have already begun to transform into those black snakes.

Xu Yang's eyelids twitched, and he pressed his tongue against his teeth.

He had done this action countless times, and only after repeatedly confirming that his tongue had not separated did he feel slightly relieved.

That makes sense. He's practically a superhuman, and each time he adds points, it's essentially optimizing his genes, so he shouldn't be this fragile.

If you really stay there for a while, a mutation can occur.

The snake people don't need to establish a special radiation zone, or rather, it would take more time for such radiation to cause irreversible changes.

Xu Yang kept speculating in his mind, searching for reasons to feel at ease from various logical and reasonable perspectives.

He kept glancing at the sign ahead, impatiently shaking his leg...

As soon as the name was refreshed, he immediately got up and went to the clinic, where a pale door was half-closed in front of him.

Xu Yang took a deep breath and entered.

……

Less than ten minutes.

He left the room with a sense of relief.

The doctor diagnosed that the gene structure was unstable and had a tendency to mutate.

The body has indeed suffered considerable damage, but it is still within a controllable range and can be resolved with two injections of gene stabilizers.

Moreover, since the structural damage was caused by the biological radiation of the lure, it has a certain guiding effect. The doctor said he might have some strange dreams tonight, but since there is no mutagen and he has been removed from the radiation environment, it cannot be considered a complete genetic memory and will not have any effect on the body.

The doctor told him he could relax and treat these strange dreams as role-playing.

In addition, Xu Yang received some good news.

This was mentioned by the doctor, who told him that next time he encounters a radiation environment, he should remember to take some anti-radiation pills so that he wouldn't have so many problems. The doctor even thoughtfully recommended which brand to choose.

Xu Yang was naturally very happy.

This means he can continue exploring the mutated area; today he was just one step away from the result...

After leaving the clinic, Xu Yang handed in his mission to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and returned directly to the hotel.

He opened the door, lay down on the bed, and held up the syringe in his hand.

Gene stabilizers

[Officially produced by the Federal Future City, this product is used to repair structural genetic damage caused by various drugs and radiation, stabilizing the original genetic sequence. It must be used before genetic collapse.]

[Note: This won't save a "bad" person either.]

……

One injection costs over 5,000 yuan, plus some anti-radiation drugs, totaling around 13,000 yuan, which is comparable to the cost of a single injection of a drug-induced drug.

"Too expensive."

He pursed his lips and inserted a needle into his arm.

After a shudder, he looked completely satisfied.

It gives off a feeling of someone on drugs.

Xu Yang stared at the ceiling, but his mind was already considering the next plan.

First, the radiation problem has been solved; the anti-radiation drugs can handle the radiation zone. What remains is to continue searching for the exact location of the laboratory entrance.

It can now be confirmed that it is probably inside the cave, or more precisely, beneath the star-shaped stones on the cave's surface.

Otherwise, there's no way to explain the researcher's body in the passageway.

Moreover, there were werewolves. Xu Yang had witnessed their strength before and was quite shocked when he first saw them, but now it seemed... nothing special.

It's impossible to get past the Ringed Scale Serpent Man.

If the ID card was obtained from the researcher, then there could not have been a snake people settlement at that time.

It can be inferred that the snake-man mutation occurred after the werewolves left the laboratory, or that the snake-man mutation was caused by the werewolves who left the laboratory.

After all, there were no snake people downstream of Zhenjiang in the past.

So that makes sense.

At this point, the basic logical assumptions of this matter have been clarified; all that remains is to verify them.

Verification is necessary, especially when the answer is so close, yet always just a hair's breadth away from certainty.

It feels like there's a thorn stuck in your heart.

Xu Yang plans to buy a pickaxe or similar tool tomorrow to explore the cave again. As for radiation, he can take medication while dismantling the wall.

Whether the radiation is still present is another matter. For the snake people, the damaged lures are the foundation of their settlement, and it is no exaggeration to call them national treasures.

Moreover, when I left, I noticed other snake people and frog people heading towards the mutated area. They probably moved their nests after discovering that someone had disturbed them.

I've never seen anyone send national treasures to the battlefield.

but……

He frowned.

Snake-people are, after all, an intelligent race, and intelligent races share a common trait—they hold grudges.

He was the kind of guy who could kill all the opposing team's weaklings and potential powerhouses at the same time. If the opposing team had a kill list, he would definitely be far ahead of them.

So, is it possible that the other party deliberately stayed behind to seek revenge, or that there was an ambush?

These are all unknown.

However, I definitely have to go.

Even after the entrance is confirmed and he retrieves his experimental ID card, he will still go to that place, so preparations must be made.

Besides external supplies like ammunition, one must also have a basic combat strategy.

Fight if you can, run if you can't.

Especially when fleeing, make full use of your advantages.

Xu Yang's vision blurred, and he brought up the panel to check his skills.

First is [Sacrifice]. When things are hopeless, it is crucial not to linger in battle and can be used repeatedly as a movement skill to retreat.

Then there's [Regeneration], which provides fault tolerance during retreat, and, combined with sacrificing oneself to repair the legs, extends the range of movement.

The final "flame bomb," a cigarette before dying?

……

"Sigh, I really need to learn this magic."

Xu Yang sighed, feeling somewhat speechless.

If the Miracle Forge had taken him up there, he might have had other magic. But unfortunately, he encountered a spatial blockade, so having denars was useless; he couldn't buy or sell them, only summon them.

and many more.

call?

He blinked.

Suddenly, a bold idea popped into my head.

Could I... possibly use the summoning mechanic?

It is known that the Miracle Forge can be summoned by denars without consuming denars, and due to the spatial blockade, it remains in the current world and interacts normally with the current world.

Furthermore, during the summoning process, the relative time between oneself and the world changes.

The answer is:

"A dinar equals...time stops."

Xu Yang stared blankly at the currency in his hand.

After a long pause, he frowned slightly.

There are still some questions. Will the Miracle Forge come as invited? Or will it simply not accept the invitation because of the spatial blockade? After all, the other party isn't stupid; they won't just use it as a free skill for free.

Is the plan truly feasible?

Xu Yang tapped his fingers on the edge of the bed repeatedly.

……

What we know for now is that this is not the first time the Miracle Furnace has come to the Earth Source to make a deal. After so many years, it is impossible that it did not know about the spatial blockade. Therefore, it is also gambling on luck, betting that the space has not been blocked.

This means it has no way of knowing the specific time period of the space blockade.

In other words, if it wants to reach this deal.

So theoretically, when the dinar is used again, it will still come, and it will only leave when it discovers that it has encountered a space blockade event, which takes a certain amount of time.

Of course, there is another point to consider.

As a trading location, the owner of the furnace is most likely an intelligent being, and normally he wouldn't be fooled repeatedly.

Xu Yang recalled the scene at that time.

First the dinars became hot, then the furnace arrived, and time changed accordingly...

The first thing to change was the dinar, not itself. Based on this, it seems that the furnace was likely sensing the dinar, not the user.

Therefore, the dinar is not only a currency, but perhaps also a special coordinate system, with the furnace using the dinar to guide users.

However, if the same dinar repeatedly fails to smelt the furnace, logically speaking, it might be marked as an abandoned coordinate.

From the perspective of a normal person, it is entirely possible.

But he still has 29 dinars left.

That is, 29 new coordinates.

In the worst-case scenario, the furnace might indeed become unusable, meaning there are at least two safe uses.

That is, within the isolation zone, during the red-lighting period, as long as the time and number of times are controlled, at least 58 "time stops" can be performed.

58 times!

Xu Yang took a few deep breaths.

Thinking about it this way, it does indeed have a certain degree of feasibility.

There are probably many other unconsidered scenarios or potential problems, such as the furnace marking users additionally, or the furnace suddenly starting to detect spatial blockages before conducting the descent...

However, if a real crisis occurs, who cares about all that? Even if there were a magic wand, he would still have to test whether it works.

It's the same as worshipping gods. We don't worship gods because they are actually effective; we just need to know if there is a possibility that they might work.

Xu Yang felt relieved after receiving the dinars.

Now that he has another possible trump card, he feels more confident about tomorrow's itinerary.

After taking a shower, he lay back down on the bed.

At this moment, Xu Yang felt utterly exhausted and slowly closed his eyes.

Darkness and drowsiness came together.

……

Before we knew it.

Consciousness gradually sank into the black abyss.

At one point, my gaze was drawn to the sky.

Through a scarlet rift, a red star in the sky was emitting an eerie light.

The light shines down into the bottomless canyon.

Between the two walls of the canyon, the black, sharp stone cones resemble some kind of obliquely growing grass, or perhaps giant teeth, turning the entire canyon into the gaping maw of some kind of wild beast.

Sparse black dust particles drifted in the air.

Until Xu Yang opened his eyes and saw a pair of pitch-black arms.

The surface is covered with hexagonal scales, smooth, dense, and subtly reflective, concealing a terrifying power within.

Looking around, he found himself in the middle of a canyon, his feet gripping a stone pillar tightly.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from below, and through the dim red gap, a shadow could be vaguely seen spreading upwards.

He hadn't even had time to react.

A huge serpent emerged from the depths, its contorted body spiraling upwards around the stone cones in the cliff face, the scraping sound of the serpent against the stone cones like thunder.

Finally, it stopped in front of Xu Yang.

It is over tens of meters long, with two sharp, cone-like horns on its head. Its body is covered with thick, shiny rock scales, with gaps between them like cracks in the rock, through which only black mist flows.

His vertical pupils were fixed on Xu Yang.