Chapter 16.1 - Growth
Heading north was not necessarily a good idea and was definitely a crazy one. Even though they would temporarily free themselves from these three vultures, they could track them down at any time. The most important thing was that the trap designed to deal with that target worth tens of millions was set up there, so if they headed north, they were taking the initiative to approach the trap. No matter how you looked at it, the strength of the ones that created the trap should surpass that of these three vultures. If the two of them went headfirst towards the trap, it would be hard to predict the result. While leaving a surprise for the enemy, they might be walking straight into the trap themselves.
If this trap really did exist.
As they set out for the northern area, this was what Ricardo was thinking about the entire time. The so-called trap’s existence, as well as the target valued at tens of millions were all speculations. All of this arose from Su’s intuition and not anyone’s reliable evidence. The problem laid in the fact that even though Su possessed abilities in the Mysterious Fields, was his intuition a hundred percent trustworthy? Even if his Mysterious Fields ability had reached an extraordinary level and entered the realm of grandmasters, there still shouldn’t be a hundred percent confidence.
Close to ten people advanced north through the rugged terrain and harsh cold winds. From the sky, they looked like a line of insignificant ants.
Ricardo tightened the wind jacket as he took the lead through the desolate earth. Desolate silence and lifeless ruins lied everywhere. From time to time, crooked high voltage towers could be seen. As they towered in the great earth, they formed an especially bleak appearance. Behind Ricardo were Li, Li Gaolei, and then his five subordinates. Hanlon walked at the very back of the troop.
After his fight with Martham, Hanlon was able to walk around after just lying on the bed for half a day. However, after he woke up, he didn’t say a single word and only tidied up his things silently. No one knew what he was thinking. After Ricardo explained their plan to head towards the north, Hanlon nodded and followed along. After seeing Hanlon and Martham’s clash of strength, having Hanlon in their group made them feel much safer.
Su wasn’t inside this troop. He was wandering alone far in front of the troop to scout ahead.
Approximately fifty kilometers from the front of the troop, Su’s body was slightly bent as he sprinted through the complex and difficult terrain. When there were great crevices in his path, he would suddenly increase his speed, and then unhurriedly bounce up. His body would spread out, and then he would quickly curl up again, allowing him to easily leap past crevices over 20 meters in width. He would then land like a feather and continue sprinting.
He still liked this type of carefree and freestyle fighting method. However, it was different from the past. After finding information about the enemy, he had to lead them into his small troop’s ambush and not attack the enemy alone. Su was not suited to this type of method at all, so he felt as if he was being shackled by intangible chains. However, from his understanding of Li, Li Gaolei, Ricardo, and Hanlon’s abilities, this group should possess both long and close range offensive capabilities. When they grouped up together, their strength was definitely not something he alone could compare with. When he realized this point, Su began to earnestly adjust himself so that he could match this type of combat group.
Su’s way of advance was extremely strange. Every time he ran a few kilometers, he would enter a half squat and place his palms on the ground to sense its slight vibrations.
The living things of this world weren’t static. As such, the great earth was always vibrating, only that it was extremely light, light to the extent where before Su used his Perception Domain’s sixth level ability transparent surveillance, he couldn’t sense them at all. However, even though the vibrations were light, they formed extremely complex information, so complex that it far surpassed Pandora’s projection. When Su first sensed these vibrations of the earth, he had tried to deconstruct the vibrating data, but in the end, he immediately felt a sharp wave of pain, and a third of the strength stored inside his body seemed to have instantly vanished. After paying this price, the amount of data he was able to deconstruct was only an insignificant portion when compared to everything else. In addition, the data were disordered and chaotic themselves, and they were likely only random fragments of an incomparably large body. Before he had the ability to sense the even larger world, there was no way for him to peer into the meanings behind this data.
After the confrontation against Martham and Pandora, Su’s evolutionary points that had been completely exhausted increased by 22 points. This amount was far lower than what Su had anticipated. He didn’t expect that after experiencing a battle where he hovered between the brink of life and death, there would only be this amount of evolutionary points.
What accompanied this were signs that were definitely not good. After his confrontation with Pandora, regardless of whether it was his body composition or genes, they all became unstable. This was especially prominent for genes related to the Mysterious Fields.
After understanding that there was no way his current level of ability could explain all of this data, each time Su touched upon the great earth, he would only search for some vague feelings or purely experience the vibrations of the great earth. Doing this didn’t seem to have any meaning, but this always gave him an indescribable and vague sense of security.
The great earth gradually disappeared behind them. Su and the small troop behind him proceeded deeper into the north with each passing day. The weather became more and more cold, and the surrounding environment became increasingly bleak and desolate as well. When they were passing by N958, they couldn’t even make out the inhabited area’s existence. If one looked all around, they would find that most of the time, there were only wastelands around them without any trace of life. It was almost impossible to find any food or water source.
The wind was extremely cold. If it was based on the olden era’s standard, the temperature right now should be below negative thirty degrees, a temperature that was much lower than the average temperature of the olden era around this time of year. Frigidness, as well as a lack of water and food, made this region’s environment exceptionally harsh for any creature. Moreover, when one stood in these cold winds, one would feel vague and continuous stinging pain on their skin, a sign that the body was experiencing excessive amounts of radiation. Most individuals who grew up in the new era had an innate sensitivity and alertness towards radiation that allowed them to avoid places that contained areas with excessive radiation.
After entering the wasteland, the distance between Su and the small troop was gradually pulled apart. Travelling through this type of environment, even with the dragonriders’ special equipment, was still a tiring and exhausting task. Only Combat Domain ability users like Li and Hanlon could accomplish this skillfully and easily.
After entering the tundra, some of the weaker members of this group couldn’t help but take radiation resistance medicine after this sudden increase in radiation. However, the efficacy of these medicines was quite short, usually only lasting a day. As a result, the continued endurance of this group was starting to become affected. In addition, after an entire day of trudging through this environment, two of Ricardo’s subordinates were already showing signs of exhaustion. However, Su in front of them continuously advanced without any sign of stopping. Every so often, Su would leave behind some kind of sign only him and Ricardo understood to inform him of the time he reached this area, the direction of advance, as well as the marking for the next location. This type of method was extremely primitive, but when faced against enemies that might possess communication networks, this type of primitive method was quite effective.
When the two subordinates were unable to endure any further, Li directly grabbed those two individuals equipment without a word and carried it herself. Hanlon carried them on his shoulders and began to follow the rest of the troop forward. Of the two subordinates, one was an electronic specialist, and the other was a doctor, so both were indispensible personnel. They also had a level of Combat Domain strengthening, so their bodies weren’t weaker than ordinary soldiers. However, traveling like this left even Ricardo a bit tired, let alone the specialist subordinates.
Hanlon was one thing, since his reputation and fame in the Northern Battlefield wasn’t any inferior to Ricardo’s, but the pretty and a bit unyieldingly tough Li was placed little importance by most of the men that weren’t familiar with her. However, after seeing her carry the equipment that was almost her own body in size while following the group silently, the men all developed a newfound acknowledgment for this seemingly bold and rude girl, as well as a type of admiration. Of course, Li Gaolei wasn’t included in this group.
Before leaving, Su used Ricardo’s tactical tablet to inform Helen about his current situation, but he didn’t include too many details. Su believed that with Helen’s extraordinary intellect, she should be able to form a plan for them to break free from their current predicament. If she couldn’t even find one, then they could only rely on themselves, on struggling between life and death, and on luck. Regardless of what they relied on, Su believed that there would be some way. As for the source of information on Kafen’s three man group, Ricardo claimed to have friends who were powerful enough back at headquarters, and that they could intercept a bit of information from the communications network. Su then understood that a communications network was completely unreliable, even if it was the network of the Black Dragonriders that was supposed to be unconditionally safe.
Behind this group spiraled the three vultures, and they were gradually closing the distance. The atmosphere between the three vultures wasn’t particularly harmonious, even if the food in front of them was plentiful enough to share.
Half a day after Ricardo led the troop into the tundra when the curtain of night descended, Bloodthirsty Maria stood at the edge of the tundra. Her fiery red hair was especially eye-grabbing under the dusky light. Behind Maria stood more than ten individuals with strange attires. They were all young, with both males and females. Every single individual’s clothes were full of both leather and metal components, forming a style that was no different from Maria’s. The auras they released was tender and beautiful, but at the same time a bit crazy. They each possessed different weapons, with most of them being cutting tools, but they carried rifles as well of course.
Maria looked at the vast, lonesome, and ice-cold tundra, and then she looked at the subordinates behind her who didn’t have much equipment. A shadow began to cloud her cold and bewitching face.