Soon, Little Finger and Gao Gong split up to take action. Little Finger mobilized his network, heading to Scavenger City and even further to the Metropolitan Area to search for traces of the Desert Worm.
Meanwhile, Gao Gong decided to deal with the Desert Worms in the Heavy Metal Swamp first.
Both of them were in a bit of a rush. According to Little Finger, forcing Mechanical Hunters to hunt Radiation Beasts was just the first step. Soon, the Security Corps would organize the Mechanical Hunters into armed squads to hunt roaming beasts outside.
Once drafted into a squad, their actions would be quite restricted.
'Puff.'
Following a soft gunshot, a metal worm suddenly exploded into a muddy pit nearby, startling the big insect, which quickly burrowed into the swamp.
"Damn!"
Gao Gong ground his teeth. At first, it wasn't noticeable, but once the Desert Worms 'knew' they were being hunted, hunting them became extremely difficult.
The moment these worms got scared, they'd burrow into a mud pit. The deeper these pits were dug, the higher the metal content would become, and some spots were as hard as metal.
Not even an excavator would help.
Aside from catching five on the first day, Gao Gong's harvest dwindled daily. By the third day, he spent an entire day catching just one.
Except for a few big bugs, the past few days' harvest was nearly zero.
And from what he understood, Little Finger's harvest was even worse than his own.
"Although I don't know why you're so set on catching these big bugs, your current mindset isn't suited for work."
The usually carefree Huang Yuanli became unusually serious. She sat up and said earnestly:
"You should take a break first. I'll ask around the tribe for you and see if there's a better way to handle these insects."
Gao Gong took a deep breath, letting the cold, rusty air fill his lungs, then exhaled, looking at her in surprise.
"You actually care about people?"
"Nonsense, I'm older than you," Huang Yuanli rolled her eyes. "You should call me sister."
"Oh, by the way, there's a new flavor of lollipops. Want to try it?"
"New flavor, give it to me!"
Huang Yuanli's eyes lit up, and she snatched the lollipop from Gao Gong's hand.
"Is this all being an elder sister is about?" Gao Gong chuckled mischievously and rubbed her head vigorously with his hand. She was just the right height, making it very handy to ruffle her hair.
"Hey! I'm warning you! If you dare touch my head again, I'll let the bees sting your butt!"
Huang Yuanli bristled immediately, her face turning crimson as she snarled at him.
"Let's head back. Seems like today's haul is just this," Gao Gong stretched lazily and said, "Let's clock out early today."
"Exactly, balance work and rest. You can't succeed through shortcuts. Get addicted to walking a tightrope, and you'll fall eventually. That's what our teacher told us."
On the way, proving her elder sister demeanor, Huang Yuanli licked her lollipop while pontificating like an old sage.
"Listen to your elder sister, and she'll guarantee you..."
Gao Gong's expression suddenly changed. He crouched, scooped up Huang Yuanli, and with full speed, crossed a distance of over a dozen meters within seconds, rolling into an abandoned building.
"Mmm mmm—"
Huang Yuanli's mouth was tightly covered. She thought for a moment that he had turned into a beast and was dragging her into the woods for something, but in the next instant, she changed her mind.
It was her first time seeing Gao Gong so tense.
Then, her pupil widened dramatically, her whole body uncontrollably trembling.
Thick dust and smoke filled the air, while intense radiant light from radiation spread flickering like breathing. The heat felt as though facing a volcano crater, melting everything in its path, from metal trees to concrete ground.
The strong energy fluctuations made it impossible to see the monster's true form, looking at it was like staring directly at the sun.
And it itself was a mobile miniature nuclear explosion.
Both gritted their teeth, and those few short seconds felt like hours, or even a whole day.
After this 'nuclear explosion' left, Huang Yuanli's eyes rolled back, her limbs trembled uncontrollably, and foam spewed from her mouth.
Gao Gong's expression changed as he quickly put down his backpack, pulled out a Radiation Needle, and directly injected it into her neck.
Huang Yuanli finally regained her senses, clutching her mouth, crawling out of Gao Gong's embrace, and found a sewer to start dry heaving.
"Ugh, ugh ugh—"
Gao Gong also felt very uncomfortable. How should he describe it? It was like having a cockroach stuffed into his clothes.
He opened his attribute panel—
[Heavy Radiation State: All attributes -50%, duration 10 days, with a certain chance of causing cell mutations, severe organ damage, accompanied by anemia, lesions, premature aging, etc.]
Gao Gong shook his head, took out another Radiation Needle, and injected it into himself.
Soon, this state underwent a change.
[Light Radiation State: All Attributes -10%, Duration 3 days, Causes mild nausea, dizziness, arrhythmia]
Huang Yuanli finally vomited up everything she had, wiped her sweat, and stammered, "Just now that was——"
"At least B+, very likely A-level."
Whether it's B+ or A-level, within the player community, they are called Boss Commanders, meaning these monsters often have a sufficiently large Genetic Territory, commanding a group of boss creatures with corresponding genetic attributes. Their biggest difference from S-level is not having crossed that last step.
Crossing that step means breaking through Tier 2 limits and reaching Tier 3 level.
Generally speaking, monsters above level 60 are also called planet monsters.
Huang Yuanli's calves were shaking, unable to stand, "But this is clearly a low-dangerous zone."
According to the scavenger's words, typical metropolitan areas are divided into low-dangerous zones, medium-dangerous zones, and high-dangerous zones.
A high-dangerous zone inevitably has an A-level monster.
In Scavenger City, there are two widely recognized A-level monsters, one is the Crimson Empress of the Red Lantern District, and the other is the Mechanical Fortress of the Metal Zone.
The former, located in the Red Lantern District, is recognized as a forbidden zone, even a plane flying overhead would be shot down by the Empress.
The latter is the source of one-third of the mechanical bio-beasts in Scavenger City.
If nothing unexpected happens, soon, Scavenger City will carve out another high-dangerous zone.
Even if the other side is not A-level, they are surely on the verge of mutation.
"You should be grateful that it's an A-level monster, in its eyes we're just ants. If it were a B-level or C-level radiation beast, it would likely have attacked us on the spot."
Gao Gong exhaled, his mood heavy, "Let's go, the future Scavenger City, no matter which district, will be very dangerous."
The two were very cautious on the way back to the city, moving in stops and starts, Gao Gong released a human-headed dog, and Huang Yuanli released electronic bees. Only after thoroughly confirming safety did they continue moving forward.
Only upon reaching the outskirts of the city did Huang Yuanli's expression relax, she opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But soon her face changed again because the released electronic bee came back, and it brought back another electronic bee.
The two electronic bees flew and intertwined, seemingly transmitting something.
Huang Yuanli's expression changed drastically, instinctively grabbing Gao Gong's arm, "Something's wrong, our tribe people are surrounded by monsters."
Scavenger City isn't completely surrounded by concrete jungles. Before the mechanical war, it was a famed tourist city, preserving the planet's oldest forest area. After the war, that ancient forest also became an unvisited forbidden zone.
The off-road vehicle revved up, racing along the broken tarmac road heading into the forest.
The road to the forest was not easy to traverse, full of pits and bumps. Fortunately, the degree of deformation here was not high, at least not completely blocking the road.
"Is this the direction?"
"Yes, the electronic bee says it's here."
Gao Gong glanced at the electronic bees in the palm of the counterpart, wondering how they communicated, neuron sensing? Exotic domestication? Or bio-transmission?
The trees on both sides grew bigger, branches intertwined between them, like two rows of high walls sitting between heaven and earth.
Gao Gong inexplicably thought of the term 'gigantophobia.'
Soon, Gao Gong saw a corpse on the road, its eyes rolled white, cut mid-torso, intestines spread all over.
The further they went, the more corpses appeared, all hacked into chunks, some corpses' nerves weren't completely dead, causing their limbs to still twitch.
Huang Yuanli suddenly covered her mouth.
"Can't go further!"
Gao Gong suddenly braked at a roadway bend, pulled out a sniper rifle, and some equipment Huang Yuanli had never seen.
Previously, to heal his hand injury, Gao Gong held back, now two weeks passed, the injury was nearly healed.
Watching Gao Gong pull out the big knife he'd used when they first met, 'swish swish swish,' he carved a big gap in the wood wall. For some reason, Huang Yuanli suddenly felt a strong sense of security.
They took a side path, climbing up the hill about a hundred meters or so, screams and shouts echoed.
"I'll go up and take a look."
Gao Gong flicked a steel rope claw, catching a thigh-thick branch, quickly climbed up, repeated the technique, soon reached the treetop, right eyelid blinked twice, aiming mode activated, vision zoomed, through leaves and shrubs, targeting the roadway below.
Only to see more than twenty people clad in animal hides hiding behind makeshift barricades, holding rifles, shooting into the distance.
In the foremost, several were particularly tall, at least two meters high, wielding steel bars and hammers. Whenever mechanical bio-beasts rushed forward, they charged up, pushing them back.
In the back, some young girls about the height of Huang Yuanli were closing their eyes, and above them, a dozen metal sparrows hovered. Whenever the front line destabilized, these sparrows charged like mini fighter jets, pushing them back.
Gao Gong opened his vision to the limit, finally seeing the monster opposite.
Mmm, an old acquaintance indeed.