Chapter 397: The Secret of the Excavator
“Um… is it really okay for us to come out like this?”
After I brought Qiu Ruxin out of the inn, she instinctively shrank her neck and asked me.
“What’s wrong? Is Lanas Island really at the point where it’s unsafe to walk on the daytime streets?” I pushed my glasses and tilted my head to look at Qiu Ruxin, smiling as I asked.
“Not quite, but there are occasionally excavator battles nearby, which means there might be more excavators in the area we are currently in, possibly in some alley, around the corner, on a rooftop, or even in the sewer…” As she said this, Qiu Ruxin seemed unsure of how to continue, but her meaning was clear.
“So you’re still afraid of sudden attacks, right? I’ve already put a layer of shield on you, don’t worry. Normal kinetic damage from firearms won’t be able to deal fatal blows to you. I also have healing spells, so be a bit bolder,” I encouraged her.
Although I could sense that Qiu Ruxin should be courageous, that courage was based on strength.
As long as she had strength, she could k*ll, and as long as she had strength, she could rob those wealthy people. It wasn’t merely a matter of words; it was a fact she was willing to act upon. And some people, even with strength, hesitate. This comparison illustrates Qiu Ruxin’s “excellent quality.”
Indeed, that hesitant person was myself, but now I had come to an understanding.
“These… spells are really convenient…” Upon hearing my reassurance, Qiu Ruxin couldn’t help but sigh, her tone tinged with longing and desire.
I pretended not to hear her at the appropriate moment.
We were naturally ready to do something big today. The little money we earned from selling scraps wasn’t enough for us to live comfortably in this world. By the end of today, we didn’t even know if we could stay the night at that inn, not to mention that there was only about half a day left.
We hadn’t even settled on a target yet.
Qiu Ruxin didn’t know much about the area, so the remaining effort had to come from me.
At first, I thought about using the remaining money to go to a place similar to an internet cafe to learn more about the area’s distribution or any recent news to see if I could find a breakthrough.
However, a sudden explosion in the distance caught both Qiu Ruxin’s and my attention.
“The plan has changed. Let’s go see what those excavators are like.” I said to Qiu Ruxin.
After all, those guys in front of us were alive, and since I hadn’t had the chance to see them until now, we naturally had to take a look.
“Eh? But…”
“It’s okay. I’ll disguise myself and interact with them later. You find a safe place to hide.” I quickly said, and after disguising myself, I headed straight for the battlefield.
Seeing me leave so quickly, Qiu Ruxin instinctively showed a hint of panic in her eyes, but then calmed down and looked around to find a place to hide. After all, with her unlucky physique, wandering around would only bring trouble.
At this moment, I arrived at the battleground. Although it was called a battlefield, it was really just the spaces between the buildings in this block. Once I got closer, I could see their figures moving.
From their jumping speed, I could tell their physical conditioning exceeded normal human limits. Moreover, their exaggerated outfits and accessories were completely out of place in this world, making it evident that these individuals were different from ordinary people.
No wonder Qiu Ruxin said it was difficult to imitate excavators; just their getup was hard to deal with.
As I approached, the three individuals seemed to notice my presence. The three figures with intersecting movements focused their gazes on me.
“Hey! Friend! Help me out! These two are ganging up on me, and it’s so unfair!” One person, who was sandwiched between two others, suddenly shouted, clearly addressing me.
“I can’t understand, I can’t understand at all~” I casually dismissed their words. Not only could I not comprehend their foreign tongue, but they also didn’t understand my language.
However, I could see that the three were divided into two opposing sides. Two of them were closing in on one, and from the tone of the trapped person, I sensed that he was seeking help.
So naturally, I chose… not to let any of them off!
In an instant, I leaped up, showcasing my superior physical condition at that moment, using some techniques to gain leverage in the air, and I pounced directly in front of the two individuals.
“What the hell! What skill is this? Double jump? Or triple jump?”
“Are you stupid? She’s coming for you! Get out of the way! That must be a melee profession!” shouted the third person urgently. Suddenly, several firearms appeared behind him, and the dark muzzles shot countless tongues of fire toward me.
“Try my fire suppression!”
At that moment, I was slightly astonished to see so many firearms produced by the opponent. Was this the method of these excavators?
In the next moment, countless bullets erupted, each b*llet trailing long, colorful paths like tracer rounds. I believed that even without activating my protection spell, I could dodge them with my physical conditioning.
There was simply no way to pinpoint where the coverage of firepower fell.
“d*mn it! This guy is too fast! Be careful!” One of them exclaimed, frowning, as he pulled out a pair of grenades. He bit down, and the safety pin popped out.
“Eat my explosive grenade!” He shouted, releasing the pin, and two shadows flew toward my direction.
“Wow, they are really grenades.” I observed the somewhat familiar projectiles. Indeed, carefully designed destructive weapons shared a certain similarity in shape.
But the next moment, as the two grenades approached me in mid-air, they suddenly vanished. The next instant, the sound of them hitting the ground came from beside their thrower.
With a crash, the person instinctively looked down at his feet, his pupils dilated in shock. Then two terrifying explosions echoed around him.
Boom—Boom—!
Countless shrapnel and explosive shockwaves rang out. I watched the instant transmission spell I had just employed. This technique was indeed very effective against these overconfident guys.
Let him experience the feeling of being blown up by his own grenades!
Sure enough, the earlier explosions had been caused by this guy. It was as if I had taken revenge for being disturbed during my meditation.
With the explosion, the other’s companion let out a sharp cry, likely calling out the name of the injured individual.
But as the smoke cleared, a hexagonal light blue module, resembling a “shield,” completely enveloped his body. It seemed that the explosion hadn’t caused him much harm.
“d*mn… I was tricked; this was supposed to be my most precious one-time-use protection shield!”
The opponent wailed in anguish, sounding as though he had just lost something invaluable.
Seeing that his teammate was fine, the other one finally reacted, but he had no means to defend himself against my sudden attack. A powerful punch pierced through his abdomen, and an invisible shockwave tore apart his clothing from the back.
“I might have gone a bit hard.” After taking down this guy, I shook my fist and said nonchalantly. The good news was that he wasn’t dead yet, but the bad news was that he was probably not far from d*ath.
I then placed a binding and silence spell on the guy curled up on the ground, unable to move.
Next, I turned my attention to the person wielding the exaggerated firearm.
At this moment, he seemed to quickly recover from his grief, and when he saw my gaze locking onto him, he immediately appeared tense.
As soon as he turned around, a black spirit cat leaped into the air right toward him.
“Ah—!”
With a heart-wrenching scream, a soaring hawk also dived down, targeting the one who was at a considerable distance.
With two summoning spells, things should not go awry.
And the one who had called out to me earlier instinctively gulped. At this moment, he finally realized something was off and prepared to flee. This was clearly running into a big shot!
This was no longer just about asking for help; he might get eaten along with the others!
As he prepared to run, he turned around and saw my silhouette behind him.
“Ghost… a ghost!”
“Just right, three of them,” I ignored the other’s exclamation and cast a silence spell on him. His hoarse cry abruptly stopped, and he thought he had lost his voice out of fear and shock.
However, in the next moment, an invisible force bound his form, rendering him motionless.
I was able to appear behind this person so quickly because of the transport spell. Though it consumed a lot of energy, it was convenient. As long as it was within the visual range, there was no need to mark the location beforehand, making it the best way to utilize the spell.
With that, I casually clapped my hands, indicating I was done.
I remembered Qiu Ruxin mentioning that these excavators might have a bounty. I didn’t know if it would support me in claiming it or where to claim it.
But more than that, I hoped to extract some information from them to understand the secrets of these excavators on a deeper level.
Now I was sure they were certainly invaders from another world, even if their bodies seemed… indeed like those of people from this world.
But because of this, their methods were terrifying!
Was this what consciousness occupation was?
Moreover… it seemed they had even bypassed the existence of “cursed misfortune.”
I didn’t know if it was because their bodies were from this world or some other methods.
However… having come into contact with them now, these guys were way too weak, lacking even the awareness of world invaders.
Or was it simply that their individual strength was low while the overall civilization and technology behind them were strong?
Thinking on this level, I realized I had to be cautious. If I stood out too much… I might attract the attention of this invading civilization.
So… once I obtained the information I needed, I couldn’t leave any survivors.
Having thought this through, I grabbed the collar of this guy and lifted him up. Along with him, there were two others I had heavily injured, making a total of three. They should provide me with quite a bit of valuable intelligence.
However, before that, I still needed to find a place. I couldn’t just do this in the street, could I?
Although the fighting between these excavators had scared everyone off the streets, I still had to emphasize caution.
As for Qiu Ruxin, I wasn’t worried about her. She wasn’t suitable for contact with these excavators. As for the fear of her getting lost?
She had my protection spell on her, so I naturally knew where she was. She wouldn’t get lost.
With these three individuals, I directly entered an adjacent vacant residential building. The insides were bare, still in their rough state without renovations, so naturally, no one lived there.
Entering through the balcony, I threw the two heavily injured ones aside. The last one I caught seemed quite energetic, and I expected he would cooperate.
After lifting the silence spell from him, he gradually recovered from his fright.
“What the heck… what the heck… big shot, what profession are you? That skill is so cool!”
Hearing him burst out with such words after the silence spell was lifted, I naturally didn’t understand what he was saying.
However, from his tone, I didn’t detect fear; rather, it seemed a mix of… admiration.
This reaction was very strange, indeed too strange!
At this point, my expression grew slightly serious. I used the mind communication magic that only targeted one individual directly on him, and then his words were transmitted to me in a conscious manner.
“Big shot… no offense, though you are beautiful, I do have a girlfriend. But if you really want to… I’m not…”
“You keep talking nonsense, do you believe I’ll chop you up?” I stomped the ground between his legs. The powerful force made the entire floor tremble slightly. Although it was partly due to the poor quality of the residential building, this stomp provided enough deterrence.
“Ah? Wait! I wasn’t joking!” Seeing my serious expression, he finally realized the gravity of the situation.
But after being shocked, he also recognized something! Consciousness transmission!
“Now, I will ask questions, and you will answer honestly.”
“Okay! You ask, big shot!”
“You’re not from this world, right?” I pondered for a long time before speaking.
From the tone he had earlier, I figured he might see me as one of the excavators. It seemed he had no good or convenient means to confirm if anyone else was an excavator like himself.
However, if I didn’t break this idea, I wouldn’t obtain any useful information by merely inducing questions as a kind of kindred spirit. So I directly laid out the current situation.
“Wait… what?”
Upon hearing my question, he clearly froze for a moment, and then a look of shock appeared on his face!
“You! You you! You’re not… $%&#!”
“What do you mean? Clarify!” Even using the mind communication spell, I still couldn’t hear what he was saying clearly. The last part was clearly a crucial piece of information, and his words had turned into gibberish!
This instantly made me feel like I was in an ice cave, as it indicated that a higher-level power had restricted him from expressing those concepts. After all, this was pure mind communication; merely preventing speech shouldn’t interfere with consciousness exchange…
“You! How could you be… ^&*%! Impossible! This world… how can there be such an existence! This world isn’t…”
“You know a lot of secrets, right? Quickly share everything you can, or I’ll make you wish you were dead!” I grasped him by the collar and questioned him. It was clear he knew quite a bit, but I didn’t know.
“Heh heh… haha! So interesting! Just this? At worst, I’ll just %&$# myself! If you don’t let me go, I’ll directly #*$!”
In the next moment, the person I was holding tilted his head, and just like that, he lost all signs of life…
“What… what is this?” I looked at the guy in my hands in disbelief. I swear I hadn’t used much force; he shouldn’t be that fragile!
