With the collapse of the Dark Fortress and the successful sealing of the Dark Energy Reactor, Su Yao and her assault team won a hard-won victory in this deathly desert. However, before they could even properly rest, a new crisis quietly descended.
The intense heat radiation, originally suppressed by the dark energy, raged even more fiercely after the dark power dissipated, like a beast unleashed. Temperatures in the desert soared, sandstorms became more frequent and ferocious, and the radioactive material they carried swept across the land like deadly poison arrows.
Su Yao keenly sensed the change in the environment and quickly scanned her surroundings using the system. "System, is there any way to alleviate the spread of this high-temperature radiation?" she asked anxiously. The system responded, "We can use spatial abilities combined with special energy crystals to construct a large energy shield to temporarily isolate this area. However, the required number of energy crystals is enormous, and maintaining the shield requires a continuous input of energy."
Without hesitation, Su Yao immediately checked the energy crystal reserves in her system space. Fortunately, she had collected quite a few precious energy crystals during her previous explorations of some ruins, but there was still a gap between what she needed to construct the shield. "Ling Yu, lead the team to search for any possible energy crystals nearby. I'll begin the initial construction of the shield here," Su Yao instructed.
Ling Yu accepted the order and led the ability users to disperse and carefully explore the dangerous desert. Su Yao, meanwhile, began to use her spatial abilities. She arranged the existing energy crystals according to a specific array, her hands constantly changing hand seals, while she chanted ancient and mysterious incantations. The spatial abilities gradually enveloped the energy crystals, forming nodes that shimmered with light.
Just as Su Yao was fully focused on building her shield, a group of mutated creatures suddenly appeared in the desert. These creatures were originally ordinary desert animals, but under the long-term effects of high-temperature radiation, they underwent a terrifying mutation. They were enormous, with skin as hard as iron, mouths full of sharp fangs, and eyes that gleamed with a bloodthirsty light.
The mutated creatures surged towards Su Yao's location, their passage causing sandstorms and disrupting the radioactive energy. Su Yao's heart tightened; she knew she couldn't afford to be distracted now, or not only would her shield fail to form, but she would also be in dire straits. She quickly retrieved some defensive items from her system space and arranged them around her, forming a makeshift defensive line.
These defensive structures were barely holding on against the attacks of the mutated creatures. While maintaining the shield's construction, Su Yao also diverted a sliver of her mental energy to manipulate spatial traps, attempting to halt the mutated creatures' advance. However, the mutated creatures were numerous, relentlessly assaulting the defensive line, and some of the defensive structures had already begun to break.
At the critical moment, Ling Yu and his team returned. During their search for energy crystals, they encountered numerous attacks from mutated creatures, but through their tenacious fighting spirit and skillful use of their supernatural abilities, they successfully repelled the enemies and found some additional energy crystals. "Su Yao, we're back!" Ling Yu shouted, leading his team back into the battle.
The ability users used their respective skills: the fire ability user concentrated their flames to form a wall of fire, blocking the mutated creatures' attack; the earth ability user created huge earth spikes underground, piercing up any mutated creatures that approached; and Ling Yu used his ice ability to create patches of ice around the mutated creatures, slowing their movement.
Taking advantage of the time gained by her teammates, Su Yao incorporated the newly found energy crystals into the shield's construction. As the number of energy crystals increased, the shield's light grew stronger, gradually forming a huge semi-circular dome that enveloped the area.
With the last energy crystal embedded in the shield, Su Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief. The shield was successfully constructed, effectively isolating the high-temperature radiation from the outside. But she knew this was only a temporary solution. "We can't stay here; we must find a longer-term solution," Su Yao said, looking at her exhausted team members.
In the battle against the dark organization and in dealing with the subsequent crisis, Su Yao realized that the dangers of the high-temperature apocalypse far exceeded her imagination. Relying solely on her assault team was far from enough; she needed to unite more forces, explore more ruins, and find a way to fundamentally change the fate of humanity.
Thus, Su Yao led her team on a new journey. Carrying crucial intelligence and valuable technology obtained from the Dark Fortress, they returned towards human settlements. Along the way, they continued to study the information provided by the system, hoping to find more clues about coping with the high-temperature apocalypse. What awaited them were even more unknown challenges and difficult choices.
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