"You said this place wouldn't have problems. I still want to work for you."

The feeling of unease grew stronger, but Yiven didn't know where to hide.

"Under normal circumstances, of course there wouldn't be a problem, but these are not normal circumstances. As for working, I'll give you the night off."

Lin Ye finished putting on the Disaster Hazmat Suit, picked up the pale purple suitcase, and was ready to make a run for it at any moment.

The system never required him to stay inside the general store.

"Don't do that, I don't want time off."

Yiven moved close to Lin Ye. If she wasn't afraid Lin Ye would mind, she would have wanted to hug his leg.

"Whether you want it or not, you're getting it. We are a legitimate enterprise here."

Lin Ye sensed the situation outside. Perhaps all who were supposed to come had already arrived, as no new customers had teleported in during this period.

Just then, a brief spatial fluctuation suddenly occurred outside the shop door, and a blood-soaked figure dropped to the ground outside the general store.

It was the student Colin, who had previously ventured deep into the desert.

He collapsed at the entrance of the general store, unable to even move his body.

Lin Ye discovered that all the bones inside the other's body had disappeared, replaced by a cross-shaped, penetrating passageway.

Even in this state, Colin was still not dead. This wasn't due to his own power, but rather the influence of some residual rule power lingering on him. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Lin Ye walked over to Colin. The other was, after all, a quality customer of his; if he could help, he should lend a hand.

"The rule power affecting you is fading. You're about to die now. I can save you, but your condition is too severe. To save you, I'd have to use my life-saving trump card, and I am a shop clerk... you understand what I mean, right?"

Lin Ye sat down beside Colin, speaking unhurriedly.

"Ugh... ugh..."

Having lost his bones, Colin, now like a mollusk, could only make indistinct sounds.

"I'll take that as agreement."

Lin Ye retrieved a long-accumulated Treatment Syringe from his loot space. He almost never got injured, so he had never had a chance to test the effects of this syringe.

After injecting the Treatment Syringe, the injuries inside Colin's body began to gradually recover. The residual rule power was affecting the syringe's efficacy.

Lin Ye did not attempt to purge that rule power. For Colin in this state, recovering too quickly was not a good thing.

Five minutes later, Colin finally managed to get up from the ground. He didn't waste words, instead directly taking an item from his spatial item and respectfully handing it to Lin Ye.

It was a thick, pale golden book with a golden cross engraved on the cover.

"We found this thing deep within those metal crosses. I don't know what it is either. If you feel it's not enough, I can also pay a sum of trade points."

Lin Ye could have completely waited for Colin to die and then inherited his assets, but he chose not to do so.

This deeply moved Colin. He didn't think Lin Ye would fear his family; Survivors of the system never cared about such things.

"No need, this book is enough. I enjoy collecting various books."

Lin Ye sensed a heavy concentration of rule power on this book. It was very likely a relic.

"My teacher and classmates are trapped over there. Can you help me rescue them? You can name any price."

Colin barely managed to stand upright. He didn't want to abandon the others and leave alone... mainly because the spatial transfer device wasn't on him.

"If it's on the way later, I can give them a hand. However, I only have one Treatment Syringe left. If your classmates are in a similar condition to yours, then they'll have to purchase special services."

Lin Ye possessed the Flesh and Blood Rule Fragment and was proficient in mutation runes. As long as he had sufficient materials, he could solve the vast majority of problems.

"No problem, but what do you mean by 'on the way'?"

Colin asked, puzzled.

"You'll know what 'on the way' means very soon."

Lin Ye put on the helmet of the Disaster Hazmat Suit. A gigantic cross-shaped phantom appeared in the sky.

As the cross phantom appeared, Lin Ye sensed a certain rule power in the surroundings. This rule power tried to act upon him but was blocked outside by the ritual effect of the Disaster Hazmat Suit.

However, this rule power still forcibly acted upon the Disaster Hazmat Suit itself. The surrounding space began to collapse, and Lin Ye, along with the shattered space, was moved to an unknown region.

Before being transferred away, Lin Ye expanded the ritual power of the Disaster Hazmat Suit to cover Colin and Yiven, who were standing nearby. The three of them simultaneously vanished from outside the general store door.

………………………………………

'...Where is this?'

Although Lin Ye had anticipated this situation might occur, he still felt he had overestimated the effectiveness of the Disaster Hazmat Suit.

Opening his eyes amidst the biting, fierce wind, Lin Ye looked around. He was currently standing on a pure black metal plane. The metal plane was a square dozens of meters in diameter, and on the smooth surface, he was the only one.

Without needing to think too much, Lin Ye guessed he had probably been teleported to the top of one of those giant metal cross structures.

This area seemed to be under some kind of rule restriction. His mental energy and spiritual energy were both suppressed to extremely low levels.

'This is a bit troublesome.'

Due to the restrictions on spiritual energy and mental energy, Lin Ye couldn't use spiritual energy propulsion to fly, meaning he couldn't get down.

'Hopefully, there's an escalator down here.'

Lin Ye quickly walked to the edge of the metal plane. He looked down. Unlike the top, the sides of the structure were not smooth planes.

The sides of the structure were studded with a large number of small metal crosses, with humans impaled upon them.

Some of the humans on those small metal crosses were still struggling incessantly, while the remaining portion had already been assimilated.

They weren't dead, but having been impaled for so long, they had gradually become part of the metal crosses.

Clearly, Lin Ye was originally meant to become one of them, but that rule power, influenced by the Disaster Hazmat Suit, teleported him to the top of the giant metal cross structure.

"...Truly worthy of the Disaster Hazmat Suit. It is reliable."

Lin Ye immediately changed his previous opinion.

'Though it would have been even better if it teleported me below. It's a bit hard to get down from here.'

Lin Ye walked a full circle along the edge of the metal plane but found no safe passage leading down.

'Am I supposed to wait here until the event ends?'

Lin Ye sat at the edge of the metal plane. The survivors below twisted their bodies, trying to attract his attention, but this behavior was meaningless. Even if he could go down, he couldn't save this many people.

Just as Lin Ye was pondering his next move, a piercing noise suddenly erupted from the center of the metal plane.

Lin Ye turned his head and discovered a gap had appeared at the center of the metal plane. He could enter the interior of the giant metal cross structure through this gap.