The convoy continued onward. Lin Xinghai sat in the vehicle, deep in thought. Roger's words had truly caught him by surprise.
'This apocalypse is even more dangerous than I imagined! Looks like I'll have to start taking some risks,' he couldn't help but mutter.
Originally, his plan was to get stronger step by step, collecting Blood Qi Power when opportunities arose and simply waiting when they didn't. He couldn't afford to take risks.
But now, he had to accelerate his collection of Blood Qi Power.
Just as Lin Xinghai had hoped, after about twenty minutes, the convoy encountered another group of Zombies. This time, however, the group was small—only five of them.
Five Zombies posed no real threat and were quickly dispatched. Before Roger could even call out names, Lin Xinghai eagerly leaped from the vehicle, the first one out to collect the Elemental Crystals.
Roger watched this scene, somewhat dumbfounded, but he just shook his head without saying a word.
After all, it wasn't his place to meddle with someone's personal interests.
Since he had used the excuse of "watching to learn" before, Lin Xinghai couldn't just stand by this time. He took out his Vibrating Dagger, preparing to try his hand at dissection.
Honestly, dissecting a corpse was a strange feeling. But having seen it done a few times before and being mentally prepared, he didn't feel the urge to vomit or anything.
The Vibrating Dagger was incredibly sharp. Even without activating its vibrating function, it sliced through the flesh and bone at the back of the Zombie's skull with ease.
Soon, about three centimeters deep inside the back of the skull, Lin Xinghai found a crystal the size of a quail's egg. This was an Elemental Crystal.
The Elemental Crystal was translucent and sparkling, as beautiful as a diamond.
Lin Xinghai found himself wondering why such a beautiful object would be inside a Zombie's body.
He used the dagger to pry it out. Holding it in his palm, he was surprised to find it felt warm and smooth, like jade.
DING! Primordial Qi detected. Host is unable to absorb. Convert to Blood Qi Power?
'This...' Looking at the system prompt that had popped up, Lin Xinghai desperately wanted to select 'Yes!'.
But in the end, he could only grit his teeth and select 'No'. These Elemental Crystals had to be turned in, and he wasn't sure what would happen to one after he absorbed the Primordial Qi from within.
If the change wasn't obvious, he could probably get away with it. But if it was, he'd have a hard time explaining it.
'I can't expose the system. I'll just have to see if there's a chance later.' As he thought this, Lin Xinghai silently absorbed the Zombie's Blood Qi Power.
He glanced over and saw that the Elemental Crystals had already been extracted from the other Zombies. Since there were so few of them, each person had taken one to dissect, and the work went by in a flash.
"Not bad at all, Xiaohai," a passing mercenary commented, seeing that Lin Xinghai had already extracted the Elemental Crystal.
Another mercenary gave him a thumbs-up.
Lin Xinghai smiled back at their praise, but inwardly he was cursing.
'How am I supposed to find a chance to absorb Blood Qi Power if you guys collect the Elemental Crystals so quickly?' he grumbled to himself. He walked over to the two nearest Zombies, bent down, and pretended to examine their wounds while he absorbed their Blood Qi Power.
That was all he could manage, however, as everyone else was already getting back into the vehicle.
He had no choice but to hurry back. Otherwise, with so many eyes on him, his subtle movements would easily arouse suspicion.
For the rest of the journey, they encountered a wave of Zombies almost every ten to twenty minutes.
The number of Zombies in each group varied. Sometimes there were only a few, while other times there were more than twenty.
Throughout this process, the amount of Blood Qi Power Lin Xinghai had collected steadily climbed.
After the convoy had been on the road for over two hours and was nearing Tianshan City, his collected Blood Qi Power had reached a total of 63 points.
'Almost there. There will definitely be more Zombies once we're in the city. A few more waves, and I should have enough Blood Qi Power for a breakthrough.' Lin Xinghai was secretly thrilled; he hadn't expected everything to go so smoothly.
Suddenly, an alarm blared once more.
A look of delight spread across Lin Xinghai's face. To him, an alarm meant more Blood Qi Power was being served up on a silver platter.
But he quickly realized something was wrong. This alarm sounded different from the previous ones—it was louder and more urgent.
He could see from the display screen that it wasn't the Zombie Detector that had been triggered. The alert was coming from the sub-screen for the... weather detector.
More importantly, he saw a look of... terror in the eyes of the other Mercenaries.
"Run! Now!" Roger practically roared the two words.
At the same time, Fang Tianhe's urgent order to retreat crackled over the radio.
SCREECH!
The fifty-ton Armored Vehicle actually pulled a massive 180-degree drift.
If not for its outstanding suspension and stabilization systems, the vehicle likely would have flipped over.
But it was undeniably the fastest way to turn around. The instant the U-turn was complete, the deafening roar of the engine erupted, like a wild beast's snarl.
The intense, incomparable force pushed Lin Xinghai back into his seat, making him feel as if he were in a nimble sports car, not a fifty-ton Armored Vehicle.
In just three seconds, the Armored Vehicle's speed shot up from 60 to 120 kilometers per hour.
And... that wasn't all.
The Armored Vehicle continued to accelerate. Through the observation window, Lin Xinghai saw metal panels on the vehicle's sides slide open, revealing... rocket thrusters?
BOOM!
Pale blue fire erupted from the thrusters. The vehicle lurched violently as its speed surged to an unimaginable degree.
At that moment, the entire Armored Vehicle felt as if it were about to take flight. Lin Xinghai couldn't even begin to guess what terrifying speed they had reached.
"We made it out," Roger sighed in relief, slumping into his chair. The other crew members were in a similar state.
Just then, Lin Xinghai looked back through the observation window. He saw that in the area they had just passed through, a tornado one kilometer in diameter had appeared out of nowhere.
It stood between heaven and earth like a pillar supporting the very sky.
Lin Xinghai could see the violent winds ripping everything from the ground—soil and rock alike—and flinging it high into the sky.
In less than the time it took to draw a breath, that one-kilometer-wide stretch of land had simply vanished, replaced by a pitch-black crater.
And as the tornado moved, the crater spread with it, gradually carving a great chasm into the earth.
GULP.
Lin Xinghai couldn't help but swallow hard. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed such a scene was possible.
"That is the most terrifying natural disaster from the Great Disaster: the Hell Tornado."
"The most terrifying thing about this kind of tornado is that it appears with almost no warning."
"It takes only ten seconds to form, but its radius can range from 500 meters to three kilometers. Most living things can't possibly escape in such a short amount of time," Roger said, having finally caught his breath.
"Didn't the Great Disaster already pass? Why are these tornadoes still happening?" Lin Xinghai asked, a wave of lingering fear washing over him. He felt that such a force of nature was far beyond anything a human could possibly stand against.
"The Great Disaster is over, but all sorts of natural disasters still pop up from time to time. The probability is very low, though. You might not even encounter one in a whole month."
"We were really unlucky today. I hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly," Roger said, his brow furrowed. This was not a good omen.