I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

In this moment of peace, Lu Ban called out.

"Throw these corpses out!"

He was shouting at the stone.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Ban used a crowbar to press against the accelerator. The crowbar, as if it were one with him, deftly pressed against the pedal and was fixed in place, allowing the bus to maintain its maximum speed forward.

He quickly stepped back, picked up the ratman's mangled head, and threw it out the window.

When that ugly head flew out of the window, it didn't fall in a parabolic trajectory. Instead, it hovered in mid-air as if the ground had lost its gravity, and was quickly left behind by the speeding bus.

In the unseen night sky, the head instantly attracted the attention of the fish. In an instant, the grassy area came alive as more than ten fish abandoned their journey with the bus and turned to devour the delicious rat-man's head.

Lu Ban continued to throw the remains of the two ratmen out the window, attracting the fish to chase after them and tear them apart in mid-air.

He finally saw Mary, who had stopped breathing.

The middle-aged woman's body was covered with wild grass, like a young girl surrounded by flowers.

Lu Ban silently apologized, lifted Mary's body, and threw it out of the car through the door.

Finally, the fish that had been following the bus gave up the chase and began to circle around Mary's corpse, taking turns pecking at it and dismembering it in an instant.

The look in Shi Tou's eyes as he looked at Lu Ban was a mixture of fear and awe.

"Stay away from me."

Lu Ban said something, raised his hand, his fingers wrapped around the tender bud that had just emerged from the depths of his eye, and pulled it off sharply.

The tender shoots, resembling ivy, suddenly twitched, writhing and struggling like horsehair worms, causing Lu Ban's intraocular pressure to rise and his right eye to turn bloodshot.

But Lu Ban showed no mercy, wrapping the new shoot around his hand again and again, pulling it out completely.

The tender new shoots with their delicate leaves twisted in Lu Ban's hands, and he threw them out of the car.

Back in the driver's seat, Lu Ban picked up the crowbar, sat down, gripped the steering wheel with his left hand, and pulled on his left upper arm with his right hand. He then pulled out the grass and shrubs that had sprouted from the wounds bitten by the rat-men and threw them out the window.

At the same time, Lu Ban's murmurs, originating from the distant stars, rang out once more.

"■■■■■——"

The plants that had been waiting for a chance to grow on his body trembled and stopped growing. Even the fluorescent light in the roadside grass around the bus began to dim, whether it was an illusion or not.

Stone sat in the last row, covering his ears and trying to endure Lu Ban's ramblings.

Lu Ban saw that the fluorescent light had disappeared not far ahead.

For the first time, he so desperately wanted to see darkness.

A moment later, the bus drove out of the grassy area.

Or rather, Lu Ban saw that the grassland was shrinking.

It moved toward the area to the left of the bus, as if it were a living thing.

“I see... Just like rat swarms move periodically, this grassland moves on its own.”

"The unusually active grasslands, soil, air, and fish together constitute a special ecosystem."

"The rat-people... took advantage of this ecology?"

Before his delirium cooled down, Lu Ban stopped muttering and began to think.

"These rat-men don't seem to be affected by the grass, just like the fish. Could it be that some kind of symbiosis has formed between them?"

"The ratmen are responsible for attacking passing vehicles, which are then digested by the grass and become nutrients for the fish. And perhaps the nutrients needed by this grass come from the fish that fly in the sky?"

In the wilderness of the ruined capital, these ecosystems seem to exist in their own right.

Lu Ban could understand why "Hound," a bounty hunter, and Mary, a biologist, had no knowledge or warnings about the grassland.

Because it is likely that none of the travelers who witnessed this bizarre "creature" have survived.

"You are very lucky."

Thinking of this, Lu Ban said to Shi Tou, who was curled up in the passenger seat.

"You have witnessed a unique ecological structure on this ruin."

"Lucky?"

Stone found Lu Ban's claim unbelievable.

Lu Ban's ramblings still lingered in his mind, and he always felt a voice echoing in his ears, as if some kind of knowledge that the stone couldn't understand was trying to change the structure of his brain.

This made Shi Tou's face turn ashen, as if he were carsick and wanted to vomit, but there was nothing left in his stomach.

"...I read in a book before that the rat people were originally human."

In an attempt to alleviate the pain, Stone recalled what he had read before.

"They once owned a city, back when the ruined capital was not yet a ruined capital."

"That city was even more magnificent, more prosperous, and more bustling than the ruined capital; it was a true city of hope."

“They relied on the mines in the center of the city to excavate rare ores, and used these ores as fuel to build huge machines.”

As he spoke, Shi Tou's tone became calm, and the pain seemed to fade away. He could feel that his outpouring and memories were reaching a harmonious consensus with the incessant babbling in his head. He even felt incredibly wonderful and wanted to pour out everything that was on his mind at once.

"But they dug down and dug down until they finally dug up something terrible."

"Overnight, the entire city collapsed and became ruins."

"People thought the city had suffered a disaster and no one had survived, but in reality, they all survived."

"They survived, but were dominated by that terrible thing and turned into creatures that could not see the sunlight."

"They turned into rat people."

Upon hearing this, Lu Ban turned his head slightly.

He saw that the young man, whose face was covered in blood and who had gone through a life-or-death adventure in the ruined capital, was now wearing a cold and eerie smile.

Chapter 048 You should just turn yourself in!

That sinister smile lasted only a moment before Stone showed a weary expression, as if all his energy had been drained, and fell into a deep sleep.

Lu Ban withdrew his gaze.

In that brief moment, he did indeed sense that some unknown entity had descended upon this frail young man.

Perhaps for many years to come, this boy will be tormented by a voice in his head, or he will gradually transform into some kind of inhuman being, like those rat-men who are buried in the dark ruins and gradually become alienated.

Lu Ban focused on driving, just as "Hound" had said, all roads lead to the ruined capital.

As the darkness of the sky turned gray, and beyond the horizon, a vibrant golden hue sprouted, eventually bathing the heavens in its color, Lu Ban finally saw that at the edge of the earth, some orderly human creations, unlike ruins, began to emerge.

The first thing you see is a tall tower, followed by rows of buildings, a stark contrast to the barbaric wilderness, with buildings representing human civilization lined up one after another.

Then, Lu Ban saw people, vehicles, horses, and people dressed in long gowns, cloth clothes, and suits.

Contrary to expectations, the abandoned city has more Chinese elements than Lu Ban anticipated.

After entering the city, stopping the bus, and being questioned by the police at the city gate, Lu Ban even saw women in cheongsams walking hand in hand on the street.

Between the streets, there are rows of brightly colored signs with words like "Fulimen Restaurant", "Zhongji Dessert Shop", "Zhaocai Pawnshop" and "Huang's Martial Arts School".

A ragged little beggar chases after a well-dressed man in a suit and tie; soldiers carrying rifles walk in a scattered formation; and a man in a silk hat and sunglasses keeps a watchful eye. Next to the bustling city are dirty alleyways, and the bright high-rise buildings stand in stark contrast to the narrow slums. If Lu Ban didn't know that he was in a foreign land, he might have thought he had returned to a film studio.

"Sir, would you like to stay somewhere?"

A soft, seductive voice called out from behind him. Lu Ban turned around and saw a woman in a rose-red cheongsam with a graceful figure. The woman had one hand in front of her and held an open folding fan in the other. The fan covered the lower half of her face, but just by looking at her eyebrows and eyes, one could tell that she was an extremely beautiful woman.

"no need."

Lu Ban declined the invitation.

He glanced at the stone, then walked into the filthy, stinking alley.

The murky, muddy water formed a somewhat indistinct system of characters.

[Mission complete, now returning to base]

【3......2......1......】

The moment Lu Ban returned, he saw the woman holding a folding fan looking at him from the entrance of the dark alley, her eyes seemingly smiling but not quite. But he had no time to pay attention to her.

Countless eerie colors guard Lu Ban, while vibrant colors form the cold text.

Congratulations on completing the task!

Settlement will now commence.

[Mission Exploration Progress: 40%]

[Task Completion Status: Mediocre]

[The revelry of the night has ended, and you've successfully arrived in the ruined capital. The sights and sounds along the way will surely make you long for the warmth of your bed and the warmth of your hearth. It's just a pity that no one is there to share these memories with you. But that's alright, a new journey awaits you!]

[Gained Silence Points: 4800]

[Reward Obtained: Skill: Photosynthesis]

[Reward obtained: Item: One Night of Revelry]

Settlement complete

Try out different creative methods and test your creative theories; a new world is opening up for you.

[Choose to complete career development tasks and receive career rewards]

Welcome back to the Silent Land!

Just as Lu Ban finished reading these words, he felt the soft mattress beneath him.

He looked around and realized he was back in his warm and sweet home.

Lu Ban took out his phone and glanced at the time.

Over the past three hours, he hadn't confirmed the time, but his perception was that the time flow was indeed three to one.

It's past 10 p.m. now, and it's still bright outside.

Lu Ban glanced at himself. His clothes were tattered and there were bite marks on his arms. It seemed that this system did not have the function of repairing the body.

He could only be thankful that he didn't have too many weeds growing inside him.