Chapter 47: A Hidden Reward?
Lin Jiayao started with the bald man’s backpack.
He seemed to be the leader of this three-person team, so his backpack might contain more valuable items.
Gas masks, gas masks, a pack of filters, a new filter cartridge, an unopened pair of goggles, a gold key engraved with “V-D-021″…
Besides these, there were some compressed biscuits, dried meat, a water filter, and other supplies.
No written notes or letters, which disappointed Lin Jiayao.
The other two backpacks contained similar items.
They also had keys, but they were worn on their bodies, not in their backpacks.
One was “V-E-030,” the other “V-E-031.”
The keys were made of pure gold, easily bent and deformed, unlikely to be for rooms.
They were probably used by the Voodoo Cult for identification.
A simple analysis suggested “V” likely stood for Voodoo Cult, “D” and “E” for their Awakened ranks, and the numbers for their order within those ranks.
V-D-021… Did this mean there were at least twenty D-rank Awakened in the Voodoo Cult?
That was a force no ordinary camp could resist. No wonder even Survivor’s Light hadn’t been able to eliminate them.
After the apocalypse, without the constraints of law and order, few people remained lawful.
Even those who had been good-natured before the apocalypse might have become completely different, unleashing their suppressed, twisted personalities.
Lin Jiayao casually hung the three gold keys on a bone spike and then searched their clothes.
They weren’t carrying rifles, only one pistol and two flare guns each. Nothing else.
Not even blood crystals? That was strange.
They had pursued their targets all the way here, which meant they must have had a vehicle. She just didn’t know where it was parked.
There was only the male Awakened’s jeep at the scene.
Lin Jiayao didn’t need the food. She put the gas masks, goggles, earmuffs, and other supplies into one backpack and hung it on a bone spike.
Now, she carried eight rifles, a pistol, two flare guns, a burlap sack full of magazines, and a backpack.
Quite a haul.
After making sure there was no one else around, Lin Jiayao, using the moonlight, started loading the rifles.
Fortunately, she could multitask and load four magazines simultaneously; otherwise, it would have taken a long time.
One of the polymer magazines cracked as she was loading it.
It seemed the gang members hadn’t maintained their equipment properly.
Discarding the broken magazine, she finished loading the rest and inserted them into the rifles.
After spending half an hour crossing the mountains and another half an hour dealing with the Voodoo Cult members, Lin Jiayao had less than three hours left for extraction.
The extraction point was 14km away in a straight line, plenty of time.
Carrying the rifles and her loot, Lin Jiayao quickly crawled through the town.
Along the way, she kept an eye out for any vehicles that might belong to the Voodoo Cult, but found none.
If the Voodoo Cult’s gas masks, goggles, and other protective gear weren’t just for show, then they must have known about some other deadly contagion.
Deadly enough to make even these lunatics take precautions.
Lin Jiayao suspected it was the fungus.
But why did even the Voodoo Cult know about the fungus, while Survivor’s Light seemed completely unaware?
Even the “Mimic zombies” had only been mentioned once on the radio two years ago, never again.
There were too many unanswered questions. Lin Jiayao decided to control another zombie in Donghai City after the 24-hour cooldown.
She would have two available zombie slots then.
Shortly after leaving the town, Lin Jiayao returned to the Yanghang Highway.
Although there were zombies along the way, they were all ordinary Biters. Finding mutated zombies on the highway wasn’t easy.
She needed to go to densely populated cities to hunt them.
The journey was uneventful, and Lin Jiayao reached the extraction point.
Due to the extra weight, the 14km crawl had taken over an hour. She had about an hour left until extraction.
Looking at the desolate wilderness around the service area, Lin Jiayao decided not to explore and simply found a spot to lie down, burying her head in her loot.
「Extracting in: 7.9」
After the countdown, she found herself in the familiar black space.
Mask’s illusory form floated before her, its body laden with items, slightly lessening the horror.
Beside Mask was the safehouse, containing only a loaded pistol and a blood crystal.
The safehouse was too small to hold anything else.
Lin Jiayao tried; even the backpack Mask was carrying required a 4×3 space, too large for the safehouse.
Too bad the system didn’t have a proper storage system.
Slightly disappointed, Lin Jiayao left the space and returned to her body.
She didn’t open her eyes immediately but pressed her fingernail against the mattress, listening.
Hmm… hmm?
Where’s Sister?
Lin Jiayao opened her eyes and saw that her sister hadn’t returned.
A system prompt appeared before her.
「1、【Bone Spike Lurker Lv.3 (Gray): Increases Lurker precision, can simulate terrain by emitting vibrations, 50m range】」
「2、【Bone Hardening Lv.2 (Gray): Moderately increases your bone defense】」
「3、【Safehouse (Red): Unlocks a system internal space】」
The sudden red flash startled Lin Jiayao, but she didn’t read the description, quickly choosing [Safehouse] before sitting up.
She was more concerned about her sister’s whereabouts.
Suddenly, she picked up a conversation within range of her Bone Spike Lurker and relaxed, lying back down.
“Sister Lin, I confirmed with the guards on duty today. Those Blood Gang members left shortly after the night market opened. They didn’t even pack everything…”
“Mm, I know.”
“Sister Lin, are you leaving Yangzhou City?”
“Yes.”
“Safe travels. I’m going back on duty.”
“Okay.”
Hearing her sister’s approaching footsteps, Lin Jiayao was reassured and looked back at the system interface.
What level of evolution was red?
[Safehouse]?
What was that?
Was it the hidden reward the system had mentioned?
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