Using the MC system to pretend spiritual revival

Chapter 242 Return
"Huh? It's almost dawn?"

On the surface street, a pit as tall as a person with smooth outer walls slopes downwards into the ground.

A rope was swung out, and after a while...

The old Taoist priest Songming climbed up the edge.

I looked up at the distant horizon.

A bright spot was slowly rising from behind the dark clouds, prompting a sigh of amazement.

The sea breeze blew, making his red and white striped shorts rustle loudly.

He had previously been bitten in the middle of a room by a monster, but his limb regenerated after taking the Herbal Rejuvenation Pill.

But the pants and the lower half of the robe were nowhere to be found, so he could only find a suitable piece of clothing at the supermarket to put on.

Aside from the slightly odd combination of a Taoist robe on top and beach shorts on the bottom, everything else was fine.

And just as he was still feeling overwhelmed with emotion at finally seeing the light of day again after being underground for so long.

The shouts coming from behind him snapped him back to reality.

"What are you daydreaming about? Quick! Help me out!"

Upon hearing this, the old Taoist priest Songming turned around and went back to the pit, pulling up Old Meng, whose top was shiny and gleaming, along with a large box of things.

"Phew... what's in that box? It's so heavy!"

Watching the old man carry the box aside, muttering complaints.

Old Meng, who had just sat up, rolled his eyes at the sky.

"What else could it be? Data, of course. Have you forgotten that we're an exploration team? We've encountered such a bizarre situation, it would be strange if we didn't have enough data."

He then ignored them and turned back to the pit, helping the people below pull things up one by one.

"Come and help quickly, there are still many more behind."

Next, the two worked together to climb out one by one, carrying supplies and personnel.

Those who remained were Li Qingfeng and Yang Ping.

One flew up by lightly touching the ground, while the other also gathered its strength slightly before leaping out.

They landed on the ground one after another.

Not far from where everyone came out were the two troop transport vehicles brought by Team Zero.

Soldiers were already working together to load the items onto the train carriages.

This camp has nearly two hundred people, including the students rescued from the academy.

With the pills Li Qingfeng provided and Yang Ping's healing talisman, although she didn't fully recover, she was much better.

Their combat strength actually increased rather than decreased after the two joined.

So after a brief discussion and some adjustments to the team structure, they decided to leave the area and continue their journey to the outskirts.

Previously, living underground was a last resort.

With ammunition and food exhausted and many wounded, they could only hold out in one place. Now the situation is different, so naturally they have to find a way out again.

Unfortunately, after the group descended to the third underground level, they blew up and blocked the staircase they had come from to prevent monsters from the surface from invading.

Fortunately, there wasn't much stuff.

Finally, they simply climbed up from the opening that Li Qingfeng had created.

Fortunately, there were readily available vehicles to transport supplies, which greatly increased the speed of the team's operation.

After Li Qingfeng darted to the rooftop in a few flashes, compared the map, and determined the general direction, he...

The entire group then set off again, heading towards the port.

Along the way, the buildings and streets were still covered with purple, slimy mycelium.

But as the sky cleared, the clouds that had been raining all night could no longer block out the sunlight.

The view was expansive, and the shadows were much smaller.

Perhaps because some monsters are afraid of light, obstacles to their progress are few and far between.

With Yang Ping, the "yellow robot cat" who can pull out various talismans at any time to deal with different situations, there is hope.

Despite the road surface being riddled with potholes and debris, it remained clear and unobstructed.

Many members of the team were familiar with the fluorescent, raised growths on the mycelium along the way.

It can only be said that everyone had been harmed by them to some extent. With the reminders of others, the group still took a slightly detour and avoided these things.

The team proceeded with caution for the next few hours.

Fortunately, given the current team composition, this is at least not a fatal issue.

As the hazy sun was about to reach its zenith, the steadily advancing team finally came to a halt on the edge of the city.

This should have been a wasteland, with some rivers running through it. The various teams that entered Dongjing from this direction were all familiar with this terrain.

But now, looking up, all I see is a murky purple.

Only those various bumps, like pustules, that one sees repeatedly in the city, shine with a cold, fluorescent glow, adorning them.

Looking further into the distance, even the few withered trees at the far end of the field of vision are covered with purple veins.

"Tsk~ This thing is really..."

Looking at this filthy place, which seemed to make the earth itself rot, Yang Ping clicked his tongue, not finishing his sentence.

However, the meaning behind his words was also somewhat clear to the others who had stopped around and were also looking at the shocking scene before them.

The terrifying spread of pollution.

On these deep purple things, whether monsters or living people, they are devoured after death and turned into nutrients, causing these things to spread in all directions at an incomprehensible speed.

And the structures that spread outwards will produce even more monsters.

This is like a rigorous and self-consistent operating logic, seemingly different from all real-world ecosystems, and a completely different ecological structure.

Unlike any other species and environment in nature, this is more aggressive and dangerous.

The absurd and distorted feeling that permeates everything, from the very core of the being to every detail, would make any creature that relies on order feel oppressed and disgusted upon seeing it.

A shared idea then arises:
This thing shouldn't exist on this planet.

This is just like a virus in real life, which reverses everything that is good and kind.

Amidst sighs of admiration, everyone remained silent.

Using this relatively flat open space, the team took a break, distributed food, and rested.

Throughout the journey, even those seemingly energetic young people...

After leaving the underground shopping mall, which still retained some human presence, they all fell silent upon seeing the world as it was now.

A sense of crisis and unease filled their hearts, urging them to set off quickly, to move forward, and to leave this place that should never have existed.

Yang Ping, who is usually carefree and somewhat lazy, seemed to be infected by the atmosphere and became calm.

He strolled over to Li Qingfeng, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, and followed suit, beginning to practice his cultivation technique.

What surprised him was...

The encounters and experiences along the way seemed to have influenced the path he was building.

I've been so busy that I haven't been able to calm down, but now that I'm suddenly cultivating, I'm actually feeling my cultivation level loosening.

Perhaps once this matter is settled, it's time to prepare for a breakthrough...

For the next half hour, the refugees in the group were all students.

The young people recovered their strength quickly, and since the situation was unclear and it was not convenient to stay any longer, the group soon set off again.

They easily traversed the wasteland between cities, but soon after entering the urban area, the scenery changed.

It wasn't that I saw the boundary of the purple area, but rather that what came into view was an area that resembled the ruins of a battlefield.

Wisps of smoke rose, and the streets and buildings were filled with all sorts of twisted metal debris and monster corpses.

The overall structure, covered by tough purple mycelium, shows no signs of bombing.

But the flames and thick smoke scattered everywhere confirmed the previous stalemate in the battle. Faced with the unknown situation, Li Qingfeng, who was at the front of the group, also summoned the Qingyun Sword and gripped it tightly in his hand.

He exchanged a glance with Yang Ping beside him, became wary, and continued forward.

Meanwhile, the team at the rear was also quickly changing its formation.

Soldiers and other people guarded the vehicles and civilians, their expressions vigilant, their pace slowed, and they advanced cautiously.

After crossing several more streets and blocks, the wreckage of the battle around them was still as numerous as ever.

On the other side, a huge steel wreck lay across the middle of the road, billowing thick smoke and flickering flames.

"...It doesn't look like it fell that long ago?"

Yang Ping, who was walking to the side, muttered to himself and then patted a few more Iron Armor Talismans on his body.

He then strode towards the steel wreckage that occupied most of the street.

As soon as you get close, the scorching heat hits you.

He then drew out a Gale Talisman and flung it out, blowing away all the thick smoke and flames enveloping the machinery.

The interior was revealed, showing the mechanical body that had been twisted and deformed into a jumbled mess.

He stroked his chin, looking it over.

Soon, his gaze swept over a patch of metal plates, reddened by the flames, resembling some kind of armor.

Some text can still be vaguely seen on it.

"Air raid 1450 - 76... Hmm? That seems to be the serial number of a large unmanned combat aircraft on the fleet, right? It's shattered like this..."

Looking at the charred remains in front of him.

Yang Ping couldn't help but recall the scene from not long ago on the fleet, where the staff member in charge of the introduction proudly described various new weapons and equipment.

I remember that enormous, futuristic machine, covered with missiles and guns.

He looked again at the charred remains twisted into a heap in front of him and felt a pang of sadness.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Seeing Yang Ping standing there motionless for a long time, Li Qingfeng curiously walked over to his side and turned his gaze to the mess of steel.

"It's nothing, just lamenting that this thing, which was said to be quite expensive to build, has crashed here. It's a real shame."

Hearing the sound from his side, Yang Ping turned around and saw who it was, and then he spoke up with a sigh.

"It seems the fleet lost contact with us."
They sent in to provide support, but obviously the commotion was too great, attracting the monsters out as well, resulting in a fierce battle.

As he spoke, Yang Ping tossed out a transport talisman, summoning little devils who disassembled the large mass of metal machinery in front of them and tossed it aside.

While waiting.

He walked a few steps further away, kicked the ground, and saw the twisted corpse of a monster with bat-like fleshy wings.

"No wonder all we've encountered along the way are ground creatures. The fighting here has probably wiped out most of the winged creatures in the city."

Upon hearing this, Li Qingfeng nodded slightly, not entirely surprised.

I didn't have much contact with the commander-in-chief of the operation, although he appeared somewhat timid and cautious in front of my master.

But given his military background, such a decision is not unexpected.

Clearly, no matter how fast the reaction or how decisive the action, this large-scale air rescue operation ended in failure.

Thinking this, Li Qingfeng's pupils contracted rapidly as his gaze swept over the large area of ​​wreckage nearby, taking it all in.

Looking at the wreckage scattered everywhere, resembling garbage, and even piled up into a high layer, it was a sight to behold.

Among them were monsters with various twisted wings, and even some with deflated air sacs, some of which were even larger than the flying machines in front of them.

Clearly, both the monsters and the fleet suffered heavy losses in this battle.

However, he also noticed that many of the monster remains that fell to the ground were incomplete.

Some were even partially embedded in the dark purple mycelium, causing me to frown slightly.

Having spent so long in this eerie environment, I still haven't figured out the relationship between these monsters and the mycelium.

Is it symbiosis, mutual prey, or something else?

But clearly, the ultimate beneficiary of this battle is the thing beneath our feet, something that may or may not even still be considered a living being.

This massive influx of resources may be the source of the seemingly endless deep purple color.

And so, as the two were lost in their own thoughts.

Along this stretch of road, the various debris obstructing passage has been mostly moved by the imps summoned by the transport talisman.

Vehicles parked in the distance and waiting were also restarted.

The tires rolled over the dark purple pavement, creating a sticky, nauseating sensation.

However, both the drivers and the civilians and soldiers walking on these vehicles had long been accustomed to it and continued on their way with normal expressions.

The rest of the journey went relatively smoothly.

We drove along, stopping frequently, for over an hour, until the wreckage and debris that filled our view suddenly began to thin out.

It seemed that as they left that battlefield, the number of monsters began to increase, and Li Qingfeng even saw some living flying monsters.

Those things looked like some kind of cattle or sheep, on all fours, with bat wings covered in fleshy membranes on their backs.

However, its entire appearance is smooth, like its skin has been peeled off, with a gel-like texture, and its whole body is a terrifying scarlet red.

Only the sounds he heard allowed him to vaguely guess that perhaps before it became this way, it was originally a type of livestock such as cattle or sheep.

Besides these, there are others that float in the air using other methods, but they are also distorted in various ways.

As they continued their journey, the number and variety of monsters increased.

Even when passing through a farm on the outskirts of a city that supplied chickens, ducks, and eggs, the convoy was suddenly attacked.

They were creatures as tall as a person, with huge beaks and short wings, resembling ostriches, except that their bodies were covered with all sorts of pustules and rot.

After the group passed by and killed one of the monsters blocking their way, hundreds of identical monsters suddenly sprang out from the surrounding factory buildings and bushes.

Fortunately, Li Qingfeng had used his divine sense to scout ahead and found that there were a lot of biological presences nearby. The team had already taken precautions and their formation was not affected by the sudden attack.

Without the two of them needing to lift a finger, the elite superhumans and soldiers from each team, having recovered their strength, quickly used their respective methods to kill the monster.

In the end, it only slightly affected the speed of travel, and the crisis was resolved without any harm, allowing them to continue along the road.

As time went by, several more hours of silence followed.

Even if we take a break every now and then.

Along the way, the dual pressure of psychological and physical stress pushed many ordinary people in the team to their limits.

Even taking turns resting in the gaps between carriages still significantly slowed down the speed.

As the sun was about to set and darkness fell, the sky gradually darkened.

Li Qingfeng, who leaped to the top of the building, saw a glimmer of light through the gaps in the street.

Those were searchlights belonging to the port's advance camp, used to guide the troops and prevent them from getting lost.

They are finally about to reach the finish line.

The news quickly spread throughout the team.

Because of their long journey, the students looked dirty and disheveled, almost like refugees.

One by one, they bent over, gritted their teeth, and moved their heavy legs step by step to catch up with the group.

After hearing that they were about to arrive at the camp and would then be able to leave this terrifying island nation by boat.

The tired, numb eyes immediately lit up with excitement.

Their nearly depleted stamina was suddenly replenished, and they quickened their pace, the whole group accelerating as they rushed toward the light.

What no one noticed was...

Behind them, the dark clouds that had been blocking the last rays of the setting sun twisted for a moment before returning to calm, as if nothing had happened.

(End of this chapter)