This assassin is upright

Chapter 463 Return to the Wasteland
After much persuasion from the group, and with Yu Zhun repeatedly assuring them that the ash had been completely destroyed without leaving any backup, the rat finally gave up the idea of ​​throwing away the prosthetic arm, which was, after all, a valuable item that he had spent a lot of money to modify.

But thinking about it, it is indeed creepy. A prosthetic body houses an AI, which is like having another soul parasitizing in a person's arm.

"The Iron Tower has sent back a message," Wolf Fang said quietly. "All the powerful figures from the inner city who were wandering around the outer city have returned to the inner city."

“It must be Song Yu’s death that forced them to come back,” Yu Zhun analyzed. “We’re now following the same route back to the outer city.”

"Then, while the inner city is leaderless, we should leave here as soon as possible."

"Don't you want to give it a try?" the rat couldn't help but ask. "If you expose everything that Floating Ash has done, you might have a chance to become the new city lord here."

"No interest." Yu Zhun shook his head with a smile. "If I become the city lord of Floating Ash City, wouldn't our excavation team be one person short?"

Moreover, this does not overlap with his trial goals.

Upon hearing this, the group exchanged knowing smiles, and then quickly took advantage of the chaos in the inner city to return to the outer city via the same route.

As soon as I stepped out of the ventilation duct, the iron tower came to greet me.

"The inner city appears to be under complete martial law, and no one is allowed to leave."

"Thank goodness you're all back."

"Martial law is in effect in the inner city. What about the outer city?" Black Hawk couldn't help but ask.

Upon hearing this question, the tower smiled.

"The city gates of the outer city have been opened."

"It's said that the large-scale protests in the outer city, coupled with the fact that the city lord's death proves the remnants of the rebellion are in the inner city, so..."

Upon hearing this, the group immediately smiled.

Unexpectedly, things went so smoothly by a twist of fate.

Fearing further complications, the five members of the Black Hawk team, having reunited, dared not delay and left through the city gate immediately.

Back in the wasteland outside the city, the rat took a deep breath.

"It's still better outside the city; even the air is so intoxicating."

"I don't find this kind of air, which smells of earth and sand, particularly intoxicating," Wolf Fang said quietly. "Right now, I just want to find a place to sleep."

Although the poison has been neutralized, the experience of being poisoned still left him exhausted.

“Get away from here, then we’ll find a base.” Blackhawk spoke slowly, his voice also tinged with weariness. “Rat, how long will it take you to repair your exoskeleton?”

"One day!" The mouse exclaimed, startled. "I've already checked the exoskeleton; the damage isn't too serious."

"Give me a day, and I should be able to get it to a usable level."

“Alright.” Black Hawk nodded slightly. “Then we’ll settle in for a day.”

"Captain, where are we going next?" Yu Zhun suddenly asked.

Upon hearing this question, Black Hawk paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Originally, our plan was to excavate the ruins along the way, collect resources, exchange them, accumulate some money, and finally head to the Island of Order to exchange for higher-level evolution medicines."

"That's the source of the evolution medicine, so the price of the evolution medicine is slightly cheaper than in other places, and the quality is guaranteed."

Black Hawk paused slightly at this point, "However, the situation has changed somewhat. We've already obtained what we needed in Floating Ash City, so next..."

“Let’s continue to the Island of Order,” Yu Zhun suddenly said.

The origin of evolution drugs...

He had a feeling that something interesting was hidden there.

Upon hearing Yu Zhun's words, Black Hawk paused for a moment, then nodded.

"also."

"Judging by the time, by the time we get there, our strength should have been further improved, and I might have already used the fourth-tier gene drug."

"It is almost impossible for further gene therapy drugs to exist elsewhere."

"But if it's the source of the gene drug, the Order Island, then perhaps it exists."

"Is this place far from the Island of Order?" Yu Zhun understood Black Hawk's unspoken meaning.

Black Hawk has only recently started using the third-stage gene drug, and there is still a long way to go before it can fully adapt to the current stage of evolution and use the next stage of evolution drug.

But he said that it should have been usable by then.

“It is indeed very far.” Black Hawk nodded. “The Island of Order is not on land, but at sea.”

"Before the catastrophe, the world's oceans covered three times the area of ​​land. After the catastrophe, this figure increased further, and the oceans expanded."

"That was a place far more dangerous than the mainland."

Yu Zhun nodded knowingly.

He could also figure out why the ocean was more dangerous than the land.

Because there are creatures in the ocean that are far more terrifying than those on land, and those creatures are also affected by the catastrophe.

So far, no fifth-tier mutated beasts have appeared on land, at least not on the surface, but such creatures are very likely to exist in the ocean.

This also confirms from another perspective that the Order Island may have a Tier 5 gene drug, since one of the important raw materials for gene drugs is mutated beasts.

The fact that the Order Island was able to establish its power on the ocean and has continued to develop steadily without being destroyed by mutated beasts and polluted beasts speaks volumes about its strength.

“Not only that, we will also pass through District 37 before heading to the Island of Order,” Wolf Fang said quietly. “District 37 is too large. If we want to go around it, we may spend twice as much time on the road.”

"But crossing District 37 is not an easy task either."

"What kind of place is District 37?" Yu Zhun couldn't help but ask curiously.

Before today, he had never heard of this place.

He still knows too little about the forces at play in this world.

“That’s a very chaotic area,” Black Hawk said slowly. “Sector 37 doesn’t have a clear leader and isn’t considered a faction, but it’s an extremely powerful force that no faction can ignore.”

“Countless excavation teams live there.”

"The law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, is the only rule there."

"An excavation team?" Yu Zhun was taken aback.

Although he joined the excavation team and is now a member of it, he still feels that such a nomadic group as the excavation team is not respectable.

But now it seems that my understanding of the excavation team was somewhat flawed.

“The name District 37 comes from the old era,” Black Hawk explained. “The old era had already completed the unification of the world and divided different regions according to numbers. The whole world is divided into more than one hundred districts.”

“District 37 is one of them.” Black Hawk paused slightly. “In the old days, this district was designated as a heavy industrial area.”

"Almost the entire area is comprised of various heavy industrial industries."

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhun's pupils contracted slightly.

Heavy industry refers to various large-scale industries. The products of these industries are extremely valuable in themselves, not to mention the technical documents and production lines that may also be present within them. For the excavation team, this place is practically a treasure trove.

Now he could roughly understand the special nature of District 37.

"It used to be a heavy industrial area, which is only one of the reasons why District 37 has evolved into its current state," Iron Tower suddenly added. "Another reason is District 62, which is near District 37."

“In the old days, that place was a huge natural ecological reserve.”

"After the cataclysm, it became a kingdom of mutated and corrupted beasts, with an almost endless number of monsters throughout the region."

"After a long period of fighting, these monsters and the excavation team of District 37 have reached a certain level of understanding and do not interfere with each other."

"And they also became natural barriers to prevent other forces from interfering in District 37."

“That’s good.” Black Hawk nodded, then smiled. “I almost forgot, the Iron Tower comes from District 37.”

“Hmm.” Iron Tower nodded. “Before I met the captain, I was with another excavation team from District 37.”

"However, that excavation team was a marginalized team in District 37. They got into a dispute with other excavation teams over interests and eventually kicked my team out."

"After that, we encountered several more attacks by mutated beasts. When we finally met the captain, I was the only one left in the entire team."

At this point, the Eiffel Tower couldn't help but feel a little wistful.

"Um, let me interject," the mouse said quietly, "When we go to District 37, those guys who had disagreements with your old team before..."

"Won't they cause us trouble?"

This kind of thing is not without precedent. Back in Ash City, the people that the rats offended targeted the entire Black Hawk Squad.

"No." Eiffel Tower shook her head without hesitation.

"Because they are already dead."

"Dead?" Wolf Fang asked in surprise. "How did he die?"

“The reason they argued with us was that they wanted the excavation rights to a newly discovered ruin.” Iron Tower paused for a moment. “District 37 is a bit different from the outside. Because there are many ruins there, excavation teams can buy out the excavation rights to a particular ruin, so that no one else can excavate that ruin.”

"Although the cost is high, if there are any good things hidden in the ruins, the entire excavation team could become rich overnight."

The others nodded slightly to indicate that they understood.

"After driving us away, the other side successfully obtained the excavation rights for that ruin." At this point, Eita changed the subject.

"I later found out that a serious accident had occurred at the ruins."

"Their entire army was wiped out."

"It is said that it caused quite a stir in District 37."

The expressions on everyone's faces immediately turned strange.

After going to great lengths to drive away the iron tower, the ruins they managed to seize turned out to be a dead end.
From this perspective, Iron Tower and his team are actually the lucky ones.

“That’s how it is with excavation teams; there’s always the risk of death,” Black Hawk sighed. “But the fact that they have no enemies is good news.”

Although their strength is now considerable and they are not afraid of ordinary enemies, it would be best to pass through District 37 smoothly.

For the next two weeks, the Black Hawk team traveled at full speed, encountering only a dozen or so roaming mutated and polluted beasts along the way, but all of them escaped unscathed.

The most dangerous encounter was when they met two Tier 3 mutated beasts traveling together. However, thanks to Yu Zhun's exceptional performance, the exoskeleton that the rats couldn't fully utilize for the time being, and Black Hawk's explosive power, the entire group survived and killed one of them.

As they drew ever closer to Sector 37, a sudden event forced the Black Hawk team to halt their advance.

Yu Zhun has evolved once again.

Having already reached the second tier, he unexpectedly discovered that he could absorb the third-tier mutated beast after killing it and extracting its mutated core.

The result of the absorption was that his already extremely rapid evolution was greatly accelerated, and with the accumulation during this period, it eventually led to another qualitative change.

"It's true what they say, comparisons are the thief of joy." Wolf Fang sighed as he looked at the tents emanating faintly in the distance, then at the Tier 3 gene drug in his hand. "We haven't even reached the point where we need gene drugs yet, but Yu Zhun has already evolved."

“Not just Yu Zhun, but me too.” The rat next to him said slyly, “I can now further activate the power of my exoskeleton.”

"I, Rat Lord, have now turned the tables and sung songs of triumph, stabilizing my third-tier combat power."

"Hmph!" Wolf Fang rolled his eyes, snorted, and turned his head to the side.

He didn't want to see the rat's smug expression.

It's just an exoskeleton!
Who cares?

"Keep it up." Iron Tower chuckled and patted Wolf Fang on the shoulder. "We should be able to reach Tier 3 before we reach the Island of Order."

"Although we're a bit slower, we're not exactly falling behind, are we?"

"Alright." Wolf Fang nodded slightly.

Suddenly, his expression shifted slightly as he looked at the tent not far away.

The commotion inside the tent grew a bit louder.

At the same time, a powerful force is emerging.

“It should be almost over.” Black Hawk, who was staring intently at the tent, spoke slowly. “Yu Zhun’s evolution has always been very rapid.”

"He was four times faster than when I used the third-order gene drug."

Almost as soon as Black Hawk finished speaking, Yu Zhun's tent flap was lifted.

Soaked in sweat and smelling of sour odor, Yu Zhun slowly emerged from the tent. His face was still pale, but his eyes were bright.

Tier 3, a completely new level of strength.

He felt that his physical fitness had improved several times over, and even the various abilities that had mutated due to the mutation inducer under the influence of the external environment had collectively been upgraded to a higher level with this evolution.

He looks much the same as he did in the past, but he can now easily defeat his past self, achieving the feat of "I kill myself".

"Judging from your expression, the improvement after this evolution is quite good," Black Hawk said with a smile.

“Indeed.” Yu Zhun drew his dagger and brandished it in mid-air a few times. “The improvement in strength between the third and second tiers is truly astonishing.”

“That’s natural.” Black Hawk nodded. “With each subsequent level, a qualitative change occurs, resulting in a significant overall increase in strength.”

He paused slightly at this point, "Your current evolution to the strength of a third-tier evolver is good news for the team."

"With the addition of the rat, our team now has three Tier 3 combatants."

"Such strength is by no means weak even in District 37."

"Keep moving forward, and in a few days we will enter the area of ​​District 37."

"With such strength, as long as we don't actively seek trouble, no one should be foolish enough to cause us any trouble."

Upon hearing this, the others immediately smiled.

(End of this chapter)