How Do We Play If This Boss Isn't Nerfed?-Chapter 50 - 49: Secret of the Ruined City (Part 2)
His experience bar was skyrocketing at an unprecedented, terrifying rate!
At midnight, the communicator on his wristband vibrated gently.
It was a message from his mother.
[Xiaoye, why aren’t you back yet?]
Lin Ye stood beside the corpse of a mutated creature whose head he had just smashed in. His chest heaved slightly, and he was covered in sticky, foul-smelling blood.
He gazed at the concerned words on the light screen, and the murderous intent and savagery in his heart felt as if they had been doused by a cool spring, subsiding slightly.
He took a deep breath to compose himself, afraid his mother would hear the hoarseness in his voice, and replied using the voice-to-text function.
[Mom, my teacher is giving me some extra tutoring, so I’m staying in the school’s temporary dorm tonight. You and Sis should get some rest.]
His mother’s reply came almost instantly.
[Okay, but you get some rest too. Don’t overwork yourself.]
After turning off the communicator, the warmth in Lin Ye’s eyes faded, replaced once again by icy killing intent.
He lifted his head and looked toward the other areas of the ruined city he had yet to set foot in.
’Time to keep grinding!’
...
「Dawn broke, a streak of pale white on the horizon.」
The first ray of light pierced through the darkness, outlining the silent, dead city in gold.
Lin Ye stood on the rooftop of a tall building.
The gentle morning light seemed to soften even the wind of the ruined city.
As Lin Ye’s alloy staff shattered the skull of the last mutated beast, the long-awaited system notification sounded in his mind.
[Your level has increased to LV9!]
[You have gained 1 free attribute point!]
[You have gained 1 skill point!]
Amidst the continuous slaughter, Lin Ye hadn’t even taken the time for Healing out of combat.
Only when his stamina was nearly depleted, or when he encountered a monster of the same level as himself, would he sacrifice some efficiency and wait for his stats to fully recover before fighting again.
Lin Ye let out a long, foul breath tinged with the smell of blood and found a flat spot to sit down.
His muscles ached slightly from the extreme exertion, but the pain vanished after ten-odd seconds.
Leveling up overnight—such efficiency was something he wouldn’t have dared to imagine before.
Lin Ye looked down at the alloy staff in his hand, which was already riddled with dents and even showed a slight crack.
Just a few hours ago, he had encountered a LV9 mutated pangolin.
The mutated beast wasn’t large and its attack power was weak, which was why Lin Ye had dared to provoke a creature above his level.
But its Defense Power was absurdly high.
He had tried everything, even using [Power Strike], but had only managed to daze it, failing to pierce its armor.
In the end, it took him a full half-hour, his hands going numb from the effort, before he finally managed to pulp the pangolin’s internal organs and tissues beneath its shell to claim victory.
Lin Ye had lost count of how many staffs he’d gone through in the past twenty-some days.
From a simple hardwood staff at the beginning to the alloy staff he used now.
He realized that without a dramatic leap in his own strength, he had likely reached the limit of what a staff could do.
’Learning to use a spear is a must.’
’And I need to start saving up to see if I can buy a weapon forged in a real Weapon Workshop.’
Otherwise, as his level and power continued to increase, a poor, unwieldy weapon would only hold him back.
Lin Ye sat on his high perch, watching until the horizon was stained with the brilliant colors of sunrise before standing up again.
This was the first time he had ever stayed in the ruined city until dawn.
Usually, to keep his mother from worrying and to cover his tracks at night, he would have already gone home or to school.
’That’s enough rest. Time to keep grinding.’
The ruined city by day presented a completely different kind of desolate silence compared to the night.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but rubble and ruins, without a single sign of life.
Without realizing it, Lin Ye returned to the spot where he had hunted the LV9 mutated pangolin and noticed something strange.
The pangolin’s corpse was lying right where he’d left it, completely untouched. In these ruins where the law of the jungle reigned, it was extremely unusual for it not to have been devoured by other mutated beasts.
Lin Ye scanned his surroundings warily. After confirming there was no danger, he slowly stepped forward to take a closer look.
He discovered that the blood that had flowed from the pangolin’s mouth and nose due to severe internal injuries had long since dried, leaving behind some powdery crystals on the dusty ground that emitted a faint blue glow.
Lin Ye’s pupils contracted slightly.
The sight instantly reminded him of the mutated black panther he had gone to great lengths to finally hunt down.
That panther’s blood had also precipitated these same strange blue crystals after it coagulated.
’This powder... what is it?’
Filled with questions, he cautiously prodded the pangolin’s corpse with the tip of his staff, hoping to find more clues.
Just then, in an extremely hidden spot on the pangolin’s abdomen covered by thick Scale Armor, he discovered a series of numbers that had clearly been branded there by someone.
[132]!
’Why would a man-made number appear on a mutated beast?’
Lin Ye felt a chill shoot up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, as if an invisible hand were choking him.
In that instant, he realized that the secrets hidden within this vast ruined city were likely far more complex and terrifying than he had ever imagined.
Ever since he first set foot in these ruins, Lin Ye had been curious about one thing.
Why were there so many different kinds of mutated beasts here, and in such massive numbers?
It was normal for mutated rats and cockroaches to appear in a city’s sewers.
But for so many different species of mutated beasts to appear in a nearly independent and isolated area, even forming a complete and cruel ecosystem, was just strange.
For a long time, Lin Ye had been asking himself this question: where did all these mutated beasts come from?
After seeing that string of numbers, a horrifying answer began to take shape in his mind—
’They’re man-made!’
That would also explain why this ruined city had existed for nearly a century without ever being completely cleared out by the Dongjiang City Government. Instead, it had been left to grow wild, like a deliberately preserved experimental site.
Just as Lin Ye’s mind was racing, his thoughts in turmoil, the faint sound of footsteps and hushed conversation came from behind a dilapidated building not far away.
His heart skipped a beat. Acting on pure instinct, he flickered out of sight, instantly hiding in a long, dark crevice between two buildings.
As the footsteps grew closer, Lin Ye slowed his breathing to a bare minimum.
He became like a cold stone, pressed tightly into the shadows of the crevice’s deepest recess, even forcibly suppressing the beating of his own heart.
Darkness was the best camouflage.
No light could reach this spot, and the heavy, foul stench of mutated beast blood on him blended in perfectly with the smell of the ruins.
Lin Ye peered through a fingernail-sized hole in the broken wall in front of him. His field of vision was extremely narrow, allowing him to see only a tiny area.
A splash of pure white abruptly entered his view.
It was a figure in a bulky white hazmat suit, completely covered from head to toe, with only a pair of dark goggles visible.
’Someone’s here!’
Lin Ye hadn’t been certain when he’d only heard footsteps, but the suit confirmed it: it was a person.
The person was clearly unaware that a pair of cold eyes were hidden in a dark corner just over ten meters away.
Soon, a second, similarly dressed figure appeared.
"This is so weird. We’ve made a huge loop and haven’t seen a single escaped mutated beast..."
"It feels like the number of mutated beasts in the entire contaminated zone has dropped a lot this past month!"
The one who grumbled had a crisp, very young-sounding voice. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"That’s a good thing! It’s an easy payday for us. Better than being one of those unlucky bastards who get torn apart by mutated beasts and sent to the ICU! What’s there to complain about..."
The other person chimed in, their hoarse, older voice tinged with relief.
"Yeah, you’re right. The money for this gig is too easy. Bro, after this job, let’s go back to our village."
"Get a wife, have a kid..."
"Wouldn’t it be great to live a comfortable life!"
