Card maker? No, I'm a mechanic!

A strong feeling of weightlessness came over me instantly.

This teleportation was longer and more bumpy than any before.

Jiang Zhe felt as if he had been thrown into a washing machine, and his internal organs were churning.

I don't know how much time passed before the dizziness gradually disappeared.

"Bang!"

His feet landed heavily on the hard ground.

Jiang Zhe staggered for a moment, but quickly regained his balance.

However, before his mind was fully awake, his body instinctively pulled out his goggles and began to vigilantly observe his surroundings.

There were no plants, no life.

What comes into view is a steel ruin filled with the violent aesthetics of industrial life.

The massive, fractured pipe stretched across the ground like a giant python.

In the distance, several dilapidated towers soared into the dark sky, making the environment feel particularly oppressive.

"hiss……"

Jiang Zhe took a deep breath and felt a refreshing coolness rush through his nose to his brain, making him feel instantly clear-headed.

Immediately afterwards, he clearly felt that the spiritual energy within his body began to surge uncontrollably.

That feeling of purification returned, and it was several times stronger than the previous effect of the Yellow Sand Relics.

"Wow, that's an exaggerated effect..."

Jiang Zhe clenched his fist, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

"Spending a day here is probably equivalent to a month of training outside."

"No wonder it's called the core area of ​​the ruins."

However, he was also aware that there was a price tag attached to this gift.

While the mental energy is being cleansed, the body is also being eroded simultaneously.

If someone with a weaker constitution were to come in, their body might collapse before five days are up.

"It's like drinking poison to quench thirst."

Without much hesitation, Jiang Zhe immediately took out the modified and compressed barrier card from the card box.

"Purify stance, initiate."

"Buzz..."

The next moment, a layer of light green membrane instantly opened up and enveloped his entire body.

However, at the very moment the shield was fully formed...

That intoxicating coolness vanished instantly, as if the power had been cut off.

"As expected."

As Jiang Zhe felt his mental energy returning to calm, he rubbed his temples with a hint of helplessness.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

"But in order to survive and thrive in the long run, let's forget about this incredible wealth."

However, he didn't dwell on it for long.

After all, he has the cheat code that provides original feedback, and his mental strength is already growing quite fast, so there's really no need to gamble on this.

Moreover, his main purpose in coming here was to purchase goods, not to actually go into seclusion.

After confirming that the surrounding area was temporarily safe and no one was around, Jiang Zhe maintained his shield and took out the card that was gleaming with a cold light.

"Scouts, get out there and get to work."

"Buzz!"

A silver-gray metal sphere appeared out of thin air, and its single eye gleamed with a ghostly blue light.

"Go ahead and see what the surroundings are like."

Jiang Zhe closed his eyes, and his mental energy surged into the floating cannon through the invisible connection.

The next moment, his perspective also changed.

"Price surge".

In the blink of an eye, the floating cannons silently and rapidly ascended to higher ground.

Ten meters, twenty meters, forty meters...

As altitude increases, the scenery on the ground gradually becomes smaller.

The grand original appearance of this ruin began to gradually unfold in Jiang Zhe's mind.

"Wow, it's huge..."

Jiang Zhe was secretly alarmed.

The scale of the ruins far exceeded his expectations, with endless rows of dilapidated buildings stretching as far as the eye could see.

"This is only the edge of the ruins... Let's go higher and see if we can find the location of the core building."

Jiang Zhe directed the floating cannons to continue upwards.

However, just as the floating cannons climbed to the top of a tall building in the ruins...

"Sizzle..."

A faint yet deadly red light shot out from the void without warning.

Fast! Too fast!

It's simply beyond the limits of neural response!

But at the very moment the red light flashed, it was as if the instinct ingrained in its core was triggered.

The floating cannon's originally stable flight posture suddenly changed, and it actually made a strange deflection that defied inertia at the limit!

"Bang!"

A loud bang.

The red light grazed almost the top of the floating cannon and instantly struck a building behind it.

The solid wall was instantly pierced, leaving only a smooth, charred hole.

"Sizzle..."

Although they narrowly avoided a fatal blow,

However, the high temperature still scorched the outer shell of the drone, leaving a charred mark.

"What?!"

Jiang Zhe suddenly opened his eyes, cold sweat pouring down his back.

"return!"

Watching the floating cannons descend rapidly, even emitting smoke, he felt a lingering fear.

"It's alright, its automatic response is much faster than mine."

Jiang Zhe carefully examined the marks and found that there was no major damage.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief and frowned as he looked in the direction from which the red light had come.

"Laser air defense system?"

"So this is what they call a no-fly zone."

"No matter what kind of object it is, if its height exceeds the warning line, it will be considered an intrusion and will be directly locked and eliminated."

"High-altitude reconnaissance is out of the question; we'll have to come on foot."

Jiang Zhe put away the floating cannons, not daring to gamble on the patience of that air defense system.

And although the field of vision is limited, it is at least relatively safe.

As he spoke, he began to carefully observe his surroundings through his goggles.

Although the surrounding area was dilapidated, the layout of the buildings was unusually orderly.

Neatly arranged ruins line both sides of the main road, which is wide enough to accommodate several heavy trucks side by side.

And there are those broken but still faintly discernible tracks on the ground...

"This layout... seems to be a logistics and warehousing area?"

Jiang Zhe stroked his chin and made a guess based on his experience from his previous life.

"If it really is a logistics zone, then there should still be some materials that haven't been transported away, or warehouses or similar buildings nearby."

Thinking of this, his eyes immediately lit up.

Risk often comes with reward; these logistics zone warehouses are practically a paradise for scavenging... no, for treasure hunting!

"Let's go take a look."

While pondering, Jiang Zhe cautiously made his way towards the group of buildings ahead.

Walking among the ruins, all around was deathly silence.

Apart from the occasional whistling sound of the wind passing through the building, there were no other sounds.

However, as they delved deeper, Jiang Zhe gradually sensed that something was amiss.

Although this place is a ruin that has stood for countless years, the ground is unusually clean.

There was no thick layer of dust, nor any scattered gravel.

Even the broken edges of the metal were as smooth as if they had been polished.

"This is very unusual."

Jiang Zhe squatted down and gently ran his fingers across the ground to make sure it was spotless, without even a trace of rust.

"Natural weathering couldn't be this clean."

"Is there some kind of automatic cleaning system operating here?"

"Or... is there something that frequents this area, which is why it was cleaned so thoroughly?"

This thought immediately set off alarm bells in his mind.

The unknown is often more terrifying than the known.

He unconsciously slowed his pace, keeping a low profile as he moved through the shadows of the ruins.

After walking for about ten minutes, we passed through a collapsed metal corridor.

A relatively well-preserved building then appeared at the end of the line of sight.