Apocalypse: Hero of Potato Fields

Tilian Planet Fragment.

Lin Yi came to the side of the dead Mechanical Zombie.

He found that these guys all have an Energy Core on their chests.

These cores are wrapped with wires, and one mutant's core is hidden inside its armored body, making it difficult to extract.

"Do you know how to extract the cores from these things, Zack?"

Zack and his wife stood beside him, they had been staring at the Laser Rifles—the weapons were too powerful.

He snapped back to reality. "Yeah, I know, do you need our help?"

"Then you do it."

"Sure!"

The Half-Mechanical Person pulled out his Energy Blade, effortlessly removing the excess parts from the first mutant's Energy Core, then opened up the body of the second mutant.

This took a little more time, but not much, the whole process took just over a minute.

"Here you go."

"Thanks, we didn't bring any tools, and well, we're only good at killing people."

Lin Yi said, taking the cores.

Zack chuckled cautiously.

"My wife and I can help you in this regard, it's no trouble, consider it a little payback for escorting us."

"Thanks a lot."

The team spent another two hours hunting Zombies, but the harvest was not much, only three green rewards, one white reward, and one blue reward.

The last mutant was tough to handle.

This mutant, or rather "cyborg," was four meters tall, with superior armor.

Luckily, its armor couldn't withstand the concentrated fire of eight Laser Rifles.

However, the team consumed a substantial amount of energy during the fight, and Lin Yi had to recharge the batteries again.

Around four in the afternoon.

The team killed a few more batches of Zombies.

They quickly divided the loot and then set up camp.

When Lin Yi and the others entered the tent.

Zack and his wife started talking.

"They are quite... strange, aren't they? What do they need those tents for?"

"Maybe so that we don't see something we probably shouldn't."

Zack shrugged and replied.

But he was also curious, especially about the strange little things that appeared when the soldiers killed the infected...

In the tent.

"Has everyone opened their rewards? If so, report them. I got one syringe for treating severe injuries and an empty reward."

Lin Yi was quite displeased; his luck was too bad.

"Three Nail-Headed Hammers..."

"A handgun and a crossbow, both Second Level."

"First Level axe."

"I've got a set of Nutrition Bars! Ten of them!"

"That's great!"

"Awesome!"

They were fortunate to get food, but what to do with the found equipment?

After a long discussion, Lin Yi decided to bury all the equipment in the sand, except for the axe and handgun.

The team also purified the liquid they found, getting a decent amount of clean water.

The upcoming journey went quite smoothly.

Lira knew the habits of the desert monsters like the back of her hand, enabling them to know where it was safe to travel and where it wasn't.

These Half-Mechanical People also sleep.

Zack and his wife wrapped themselves in a camouflaged cloth covered with sand, staying there until dawn.

The next day, in the morning.

The sky was filled with dark clouds, and thunder rumbled in the distance.

They had been silently walking in the desert for an hour, not having spoken a word since morning.

Suddenly, Zack broke the silence,

"Lin Yi, there's an acid rain storm approaching. We should find somewhere to hide quickly."

"Is there anywhere nearby where we can hide?"

"We can make one ourselves."

"With what, the sand?"

Lin Yi looked around at the endless sand dunes.

Lira interjected excitedly.

"Yes, the sand! We usually bury ourselves in the sand and wait for the rain to stop!"

"Boss! I think our tent should be able to withstand the acid rain, I don't want to go into the sand."

Rob said, he was the poor soldier who had been dragged into the sand before.

Lin Yi neither agreed nor disagreed.

He was waiting for the scout to report back.

Soon, he got the news he wanted.

"Boss, I see a building with a roof ahead, just a few kilometers away!"

"Oh, really? That's great!" Lira exclaimed.

"We need to hurry."

Lin Yi ordered the team to quicken their pace.

Indeed, there was a building ahead, it was the top floor of a structure buried in sand, mostly intact though thoroughly looted.

"Hmm, this will do. Everyone gather close! What's the scanner showing?"

"Give me a second… I've found the target… Everyone stay quiet, don't move. There's a large group of Zombies right below us!"

"Zack, Lira..." Lin Yi said softly.

Lira looked at the building with curiosity, then at Lin Yi: "What is it?"

"There's a big pile of Zombies right below us!"

"What's a 'Zombie'?"

Lira asked in surprise: "There's a way down! Let me go down and take a look..."

"Zack, control your wife! We have a large number of enemies right below us!"

Zack was terrified upon hearing this, and immediately jumped to his wife's side, covering her mouth with his hand.

But it was too late…

"Urgh?"

A voice moaned somewhere below them, and moments later, the roar of hundreds of undead creatures shook the entire building.

The roar was loud and could be heard in all directions.

"Piero, burn everything below us! But not too much; we still need to stay!"

Lin Yi turned to the others and said, "Prepare to fight! Pack your bags; we might need to retreat at any moment!"

"Roger that!" Piero shouted.

He pushed the Half-Mechanical couple away from the entrance and drew his Fourth Level Mage Staff.

The staff's tip glowed, spewing flames that illuminated the path to the lower floors.

A large number of Mechanical Zombies were rushing up the stairs. When they saw the light source, they roared and quickened their pace.

The Mage didn't know how much fire to unleash because the zombies were at least partly mechanical.

So, he used eighty percent of his Mana.

An immense flame, like dragon's breath, cascaded down the stairs.

The Mechanical Zombies tried to protect themselves with their arms, but their synthetic skin melted instantly, their microchips overheated, and even their metal parts melted into liquid.

The fiery rain spread downward, burning every floor of the building, setting everything alive ablaze.

"Oh, boss…" the Mage muttered, then fell backward.

He thought there were only a few floors underground, not realizing the fire kept burning down to the tenth level.

Lin Yi's worry immediately became a reality.

The building began to tremble and was about to collapse.

"Piero! Damn it! Everyone, gather together!"

Lin Yi grabbed the half-conscious Mage and ran to the center of the room.

Everyone else ran toward him upon hearing this.

Then, the floor beneath their feet suddenly caved in.

After a short free fall, they hit something and stopped.

But it didn't stop for long.

The concrete floor beneath them collapsed again, and they started falling downward.

Falling from one level to the next, they kept getting dragged down layer after layer…

By the time they fell to the tenth level, nearly everyone was dizzy.

Except for Lin Yi, who activated his combat reaction skills, scanning the surroundings throughout the fall.

He immediately found an exit.

"This way! Everyone, hurry!"

The team sprinted down a wide corridor that could fit a tank.

They had just run fifty meters when everything behind them began to collapse again.

Concrete and sand poured into the massive hole above them.

At this moment, a soldier holding a radar shouted, "There are enemies ahead! Only a few of them!"

"Push them aside! Or cut them down, just don't stop!" Lin Yi shouted while running, preparing his rifle.

The first zombie was quickly illuminated by the lights on their helmets, but its head was instantly pierced by a laser shot.

The second zombie was kicked in the chest and then stamped underfoot, while the third zombie was directly cut in half.

Few enemies—this was good news.

They occasionally saw doors on both sides of the corridor.

Some doors were closed, some were open, and some led to darkened rooms.

Zombies occasionally emerged from the rooms, but the soldiers quickly disposed of them.

Lin Yi was surprised to find the Half-Mechanical couple running fast and quietly.

He initially thought they weighed four to five hundred pounds and ran as if causing a small earthquake.

"Okay, everyone stop! We've been running for ten minutes. Can anyone tell me where we are and where we're going?"

Lin Yi looked at his team.

"This is clearly not a regular building. We must be deep underground, and it was beneath the sand even before the apocalypse…

Anyway, I think we should keep going forward; maybe there's another way out."

"What if there isn't?" Piero asked after waking up.

"Then we make some shovels and dig a way out, and if we end up starving… we'll eat Piero first, see how long we last."

Lin Yi glared at the Mage.

Piero's face turned pale; he wasn't sure if the boss was joking or serious…

The team continued onward.

Clearing out all the zombies along the way, it's definitely good to grab some extra rewards.

Besides, it would be stupid to miss an exit in a hurry.

"Sorry, but… what was that?" Lira asked Piero uncertainly, "How did you produce such a big and strong flame?"

"It's a skill."

"Skills can reach that level?!" Zack gasped.

Lin Yi snorted, "The system possesses god-like powers, so why can't skills achieve that?"

The Half-Mechanical couple had no reply.

The team began checking those rooms.

Some rooms had intact computers, though they were extremely old.

They also found several… skeletons.

Real human skeletons!

Lira muttered, "Where exactly is this?"

She had seen some of these devices in museums before; they were hundreds of years old!

"Okay, find some hard drives or other data storage devices. I have a feeling this is some type of ancient laboratory."

Lin Yi's eyes lit up, "But be careful!"

Everyone silently dispersed, beginning to dismantle computers, rusty metal tables, and even file cabinets.

Before long, a soldier reported, "Boss! There are some documents here, the paper seems to be synthetic material or something, so it's well preserved."

Lin Yi immediately took out his translation tablet and started reading the documents.

Zack walked over curiously, "Lin Yi, but… can you understand it?"

"In a way, yes."

"Can you tell us what it says?"

"It's…"