Cyber ​​God: Abyss Walker

"..."

Narrowing his eyes, Wang Yu looked at the abnormal area of ​​the stele forest that was gradually approaching the edge of City No. 2. His intuition, which was much higher than that of ordinary people, did not allow him to perceive anything extra. He had no idea which great being's power this stele forest was derived from, or what kind of impact they would have on the surrounding area.

"Are you curious about the unusual characteristics of this stele forest? Once the mobile city arrives at its first stop, you'll learn about its unique features and how the people of the abandoned city utilize them."

A familiar voice came from behind him, which made Wang Yu, who had been looking at the wasteland outside, turn his head. The figure of the Silent Cultivator appeared not far away, walking towards him and talking as he walked.

"I can guess your curiosity about the wasteland, so you'll most likely be here. In the wasteland, too much curiosity isn't a good thing. But that being said, sometimes a certain amount of curiosity and corresponding courage are necessary, such as the special product of the Stele Forest, the Advice Slab."

The Silent Monk stood beside Wang Yu, explaining his reasons for coming and offering some teachings. Wang Yu noticed that the Silent Monk was not the only one who had arrived here; rather, a considerable number of passengers from the mobile city had come one after another.

These people turned their attention to the increasingly close anomaly zone of the Stele Forest. Clearly, they had the same purpose as the Silent Monks, and Wang Yu just happened to be at the place where they were waiting.

"A stone tablet for offering advice?"

Wang Yu uttered the term with a hint of curiosity, as he knew almost nothing about the Stellite Forest, and this peculiar thing seemed to be a product of this unusual area.

"Yes, the admonition stone tablet is a special individual among the endless stone tablets in the Stele Forest. There are words on these stone tablets that appear for reasons that are not yet determined. Some of the words are understandable to us, while others are not used by us and are completely incomprehensible."

"These stone tablets with inscriptions will have corresponding functions. For example, if it says 'shield'..."

So if you smash this stone slab, a protective shield will appear; the same applies to healing and teleportation.

The silent monk explained to Wang Yu what the Advice Tablet was, which made Wang Yu even more curious. It sounded like some kind of magic scroll, but judging from the other party's attitude, it probably couldn't be that simple and friendly. After all, it was the power of a great being...

"So the passengers of the mobile city profit by collecting the admonition stone tablets in the Stele Forest? That does sound like a very good item."

Asked casually.

The mobile city's advance slowed further, and the limbs that had unfolded on the foundation below retracted and transformed back into massive tracks. At the edge of this group of stone tablets, there was a flat area that had been cleared out. The overall structure was similar to the "port" of the abandoned city, only the functions were not as complete, but it was still used for the mobile city to dock.

"You'll see soon enough. It's much better to see for yourself than for me to tell you."

The Silent Monk didn't offer any further explanation at this moment. Instead, he turned his gaze to the wasteland explorers who were already waiting at the No. 2 Edge City docking station below. The mobile city gradually came to a complete stop, lowering the deck passage for personnel and supplies.

"Let's go. We need to find someone we know to be reliable. Otherwise, there will always be people selling fake stone slabs. You can't tell the difference just by experience or anything else."

Leading Wang Yu in one direction, the wasteland explorers who couldn't wait to board the second edge city had already formed a temporary market stall. Piles of advice tablets were stacked on some simple soft cloths, and the owners were waiting behind their stalls for someone to be interested in their advice tablets.

"Cultivator, you've come to the wasteland again. You're in luck this time; you have a batch of Class 1 stone slabs. I can offer you a discount. Is this a newcomer?"

One of the stall owners recognized the silent monk immediately upon seeing him, waved, and called out to him enthusiastically.

"Looks like you're doing pretty well. Coupon, indeed. He's a newcomer to the wasteland, Ultraman."

The silent monk didn't stand on ceremony with the other party, but went directly to the other party's stall and began to rummage through the stacked stone tablets of advice, which were completely different in shape and state, looking for the type he wanted.

"Ultraman, right? Hello, just call me a coupon. As my name suggests, I never do fake business. I'll give you the discount I can. I'm a wasteland specialty merchant. If you have any special needs, feel free to contact me."

Another strangely named item appeared, called "A Coupon," but Wang Yu didn't care about that. He just looked at the piles of suggestion tablets and asked the other party a question.

"Is the production of admonition stone slabs so large? Collecting stone slabs in the Stele Forest must be very profitable."

The coupon glanced back at the admonitory stone tablet that the Silent Monk had picked out from his shop, and shook its head at Wang Yu.

"The output is huge, but only a small portion is usable. Let me explain briefly."

Walking over to the silent monk, he picked up a stone tablet with a message that the monk had chosen and showed it to Wang Yu: "Explosion."

"This type of stone slab is called a Class I stone slab. It is the rarest admonitory stone slab in the Stele Forest. Its characteristics are that the text is in human language, and the content is simple and easy to understand. Therefore, the effect of its use is basically controllable."

After setting down the stone tablet with the word "explosion" written on it, a coupon picked up another stone tablet. The writing on it was still legible, but it had changed from words to sentences: "Open up a road."

"This is a type of stone tablet. The text is understandable, but the meaning of the sentences is ambiguous, and the effect cannot be determined. Using it rashly could bring terrible consequences to the user."

"Let me give you an example. There was once a guy who received a second-class piece of advice tablet that read, 'I'll take the blame for you.' Guess what happened to him?"

He put down the stone slab in his hand and began searching for another type of stone slab, asking Wang Yu about a coupon.

"I don't know, but from what you've said, it doesn't seem like it will end well."

Wang Yu shook his head. He didn't like guessing, but the general direction should be deduce without guessing.

"Pretty much. After using the stone tablet, he discovered that a strange humanoid figure that only he could see had appeared beside him. The humanoid figure did not harm him, but followed him around 24 hours a day."

"He was initially panicked and nervous, after all, according to his description, the appearance and physique of the humanoid were really terrifying. But later, after he realized that the humanoid did not harm him, he got used to it. Anyway, it was just following him, and there was no other problem."

"Until he discovered that he had been exceptionally healthy for a long time, and the illnesses he used to suffer from had stopped. Even when someone hit him on the head, he was fine."

"That's what 'taking the pain for you' means. All the trauma he suffered was absorbed by that humanoid figure—illness, injuries, and so on..."

"This sounds like a good thing, but it's actually terrible. The humanoid keeps accumulating small and large wounds, which gradually appear on its body, turning it into a horrifying, bloody mess. You can imagine how much mental stress it would be to have something like this constantly following you."

A coupon tells the story of that unfortunate person's ordeal, with a pause in the middle.

"That does sound pretty bad."

Wang Yu imagined that a mentally sound person might indeed experience immense pressure.

"Then, a year later, that guy died. His whole body suddenly exploded into a stinking, rotten mess of mud that was impossible to recognize. More than ninety kinds of common bacteria and viruses were detected in that mess. All the flesh and blood had been corroded and devoured."

"That humanoid figure took all the damage for him, but the minor injuries and pains of daily life also accumulated without limit. The human body has a self-healing function, but that humanoid figure didn't. The consequence of this unlimited accumulation was that injuries that were not fatal were stacked up to the point that they could instantly turn the 'protected' person into a pulp."

"After that, many similar admonition tablets were used, with similar sentence structures to this example, and the users' fates were basically the same."

He shrugged, took out a coupon and a Class III stone slab, and displayed it in front of Wang Yu. Wang Yu could no longer understand the text on it, and naturally had no idea what it meant.

"These are the three types of stone slabs. Because of the language barrier, their effects are completely unpredictable. If I hadn't had spare space in my cargo hold, I wouldn't have brought these slabs back to sell; almost no one would buy them."

"Of course, some unfamiliar characters have found corresponding translation methods through repeated trial and error, but because the meaning will eventually become unclear after translation, even simple words are all classified into the risky second category of stone tablets."

"Moreover, only stone tablets written with human characters can be used within the safe zone; the others will gradually become ineffective after being taken back for a period of time."

After explaining the classification of the stone slabs to Wang Yu with a coupon, the Silent Monk had just finished selecting the admonition stone slabs he needed.

That's all.

The Silent Monk presented the stack of stone slabs in front of the other person and confirmed their presence.

"Five Class A stone slabs and two Class B stone slabs. You really know how to pick. You've taken all the clearly useful ones I have here. The rest probably won't sell at all. Fine, the same as always, Class A stone slabs are 2500 universal currency each, and Class B stone slabs are 500 each."

He glanced at the stone slab chosen by the silent monk, and gave him a slightly speechless response with a coupon, but still sold it to him at the normal price.

"And you, is there anything you want?"

Having received payment and a coupon from the Silent Monk, Wang Yu, who was squatting there fiddling with the stone slab, turned and asked.

"Hmm... give me one of these first-class stone tablets for giving advice."

Wang Yu picked up a stone slab with the word "Mist" written on it in a recognizable language. Although the meaning was clear, it didn't seem to be of much use, so the Silent Monk didn't choose to buy it.

"Same, 2500 universal currency."

The answer is a coupon.

"Um."

After readily paying in common currency, Wang Yu and the Silent Monk returned to their temporary residence together.

"Do you know why we chose to buy from him? It's not because he's really reliable and trustworthy, but because he'll be traveling through Edge City the rest of the way, so if there's a fake stone tablet, this guy won't be able to escape."

On the way back, the Silent Monk told Wang Yu his reason for buying it with a coupon, which made a lot of sense. Wang Yu really didn't expect such a simple and direct answer. It was another lesson learned. Sometimes there's no need to overthink things.

"Although your stone slab is of the same type, its effectiveness is hard to say, so it's somewhat of a waste."

When they parted ways at the hotel, the other person gave Wang Yu a final reminder: the fog was practically useless against a scanner and wasn't worth 2500 universal currency, but that wasn't the reason Wang Yu chose it.

"Bang!"

The door to the room was closed tightly. Wang Yu sat on the bed, took the stone slab in his hand, and looked at the words written on it. The word "mist" disappeared when Wang Yu looked directly at it, and was replaced by the word "revelation" without any sense of incongruity.

While searching for the tablets of advice, this almost intuitive hallucination occurred to him. In the darkness, some being reminded Wang Yu to randomly choose a tablet of advice.

This prompt means that when he looks directly at each stone slab, the words on it will transform into the word "Revelation." Only out of the corner of his eye can he see what others see. In other words, it doesn't matter which stone slab Wang Yu chooses or what type of stone slab it is; in the end, he will receive a stone slab inscribed with the word "Revelation" as a piece of advice.

He made this choice simply to avoid any misunderstandings from a coupon and the Silent Monk.

"..."

Silently gazing at the strange stone tablet bearing advice, he could guess where this strange intuition came from—from the great being that corresponded to him, the particularly mysterious black and white cross for which Wang Yu still hadn't found any corresponding information or data.

"Do you need it?"

He asked himself that question, and then Wang Yu laughed. Use it! Why not? He was extremely curious about what changes this thing would bring to him.

"Crack!"

Wang Yu snapped the stone slab in two, and everything around him slowed down. The "Escapee" activated instantly, and with a start, he immediately tensed up, ready to evade the impending unknown danger.

"Nine seconds, eight seconds... two seconds, one second"

But even after he finished counting in his mind and the time slowdown ended, there was still no sign of the expected threat. This made Wang Yu realize that the triggering of the "Escapee" was probably not from an unknown danger, but from the admonition tablet.

"Have I changed in any way? I don't think so..."

Looking at myself, I couldn't find anything different; even the depth gauge reading hadn't changed.

"etc……"

Suddenly realizing something, Wang Yu finally discovered that

The difference is that he has a habit of counting his heartbeats to keep track of time while it slows down, and this time, he counted three times as many heartbeats as before.

"The effect of time slowing on me has weakened?"