Chapter 43 Chapter 43 The Fourth Wish
The car was driving on the highway, occasionally seeing some abandoned vehicles on the roadside. They also encountered a few zombies. Every time Chen Mu dealt with them, he would burn the meat paste with fire.
"Their bodies will spread the virus. Burning them is the best solution." Chen Mu sat in the passenger seat, staring at the steering wheel, eager to try: "Let me drive."
"No." System 05 decisively refused.
This was Chen Mu's first time using a mechanical industrial product in this world. Because System 05's body wasn't agile enough, he handed the steering wheel to Chen Mu. Then Chen Mu stepped on the accelerator, and the car went straight ahead and crashed into the big tree next to it.
Fortunately, the car had been modified and was extremely sturdy. System 05 and Chen Mu came down and wrapped the cracked car body with tape. They would rather drive with their stiff bodies than hand it over to Chen Mu.
"I didn't expect it to start so quickly," Chen Mu explained. "The cars here are different from those in the previous world. They're more like combat tools, not just for transportation."
System 05 emphasized: "This car was rented by the host." Bai Daqiu certainly couldn't afford such an expensive car. He used all his savings to rent this car, hoping to explore the city. If he was lucky, he would make a lot of money.
When System 05 said this, he actually felt something strange. He had always stopped thinking about his previous world whenever he arrived in a new one, but Chen Mu often discussed their previous worlds during their conversations, as if constantly traveling to new worlds was a journey they were on together.
In the past, every time he arrived in a new world, it meant starting all over again, a strange world and a strange host, but now he knows that someone will definitely catch up with him. The scary thing is that he has actually become a little used to it.
Chen Mu immediately lowered his head and said, "I'll pay you. When we get back to the base, I'll say you saved my life from the zombies, and then I'll promote you to my deputy."
"Let's not go back to base yet." System 05 tapped the steering wheel. "Let's go to the city. The host has too little information about cities in his memory. If I want to understand this world, I must visit those abandoned cities."
Bai Daqiu's original destination was an abandoned city called Shancheng, but he was infected by the virus before he arrived. At this time, System 05 continued to drive towards Shancheng according to the map. The road became more and more rugged, and a large number of abandoned vehicles began to appear on the roadside. At this time, they had all turned into steel slag and empty frames.
The mountain city stood tall and steep, its roads dilapidated and bumpy. System 05 and Chen Mu stumbled in the car. In the distance, the city skyline appeared in their sight.
The densely packed skyscrapers formed a jumble of tall and short lines, now cloaked in the fog and shadows of the mountains, like a vast, silent beast. System 05 drove right into the beast's mouth, its vehicles dwarfed by the city like ants to an elephant. As the towering buildings drew closer, System 05 felt its own insignificance.
It is said that Shancheng was once a giant city that accommodated 30 million people. Bai Daqiu could not imagine that number. The total population of the world is less than 10 million now. A base with a population of 100,000 is considered a super-large base, and the total population of Base No. 59 where Bai Daqiu is located is only 30,000.
But once you're here, all doubts vanish, filled with wonder. Towering buildings cling to the hillsides soar into the sky, roads crisscross and wind across several mountain ranges, and a long river runs north and south. This city seems like a miracle. With the disappearance of human and animal activity, plants quickly evolved a method of reproduction that doesn't require animal participation, and now they've taken over every corner of the city.
"The car can't go any further." System 05 stopped the car, and he and Chen Mu put on their equipment and walked out with weapons in hand.
The roads were completely obscured by vegetation, covered in vines, thorns, and towering trees that blocked out the sun. This made it impossible for vehicles to move forward. Chen Mu looked around. Because the trees obscured his view, he pulled a drone from his bag and launched it into the air. The view on the screen continued to rise, displaying their location.
"The base even has drones?" System 05 asked in surprise.
Bai Daqiu had never seen a drone in his memory, but System 05 naturally recognized it.
"The base itself doesn't have the ability to manufacture drones. These are relics unearthed from the city." Chen Mu said as he operated the drone, "Most of this world's technology relies on urban excavation and archaeology, with the exception of biopharmaceuticals. Things unearthed are called relics."
He is the leader of the base and knows much more information than Bai Daqiu.
"Judging from the various relics they've unearthed, this world's original technology should have been more advanced than Li Shanyue's. At least drones and humanoid robots were already widely used. However, due to the virus outbreak, technology was interrupted, theories were lost, and there was a lack of communication between bases, causing the level of technology to plummet."
"There are many good things in cities, but they are also very dangerous. Urban areas are where the highest concentration of viruses is."
[Current regional STDE-C-2 concentration: 98%]
System 05 glanced at the numbers in his field of vision and carefully tied his headscarf tighter. Chen Mu gave him a pair of red goggles, so the world he saw at this moment was covered with a red filter.
After walking a few steps, they encountered attacking zombies. There were more zombies here than outside, and they were more aggressive. Their bodies were almost no longer recognizable as human. When Chen Mu was ready to fight, System 05 took out the stone relief and summoned an Avenger.
A black shadow appeared in the air, seemingly absorbing the surrounding air and light, creating a faint sense of intense mental oppression. Chen Mu looked at the Avenger in surprise. System 05 whispered, "This is one of the rewards for completing a mission in my last world. Let's try to avoid fighting."
Fighting can easily lead to infection, especially in a place like this. System 05 ordered the Avengers to attack the zombies, while he and Chen Mu hid aside. The Avengers quickly chopped the zombies into pieces. Chen Mu was about to clean up the pieces with his dagger when he heard a rustling sound. Vines snaked through the dense forest, grabbed the pieces, dragged them back, and stuffed them into brightly colored flowers, chewing them vigorously.
These vines are extremely efficient, eating up all the debris without leaving any behind, leaving it cleaner than if it had been burned by fire.
System 05 and Chen Mu looked at each other. They had never seen this scene in their host's memory. They felt a chill at this moment and quietly moved a little further away from the surrounding plants.
The plants in this world have evolved incredible abilities.
The Avenger could exist for an hour. After dealing with the zombies, it quietly followed System 05. The two continued to move forward. Chen Mu thought for a while and asked, "Which world did you get that horse as a reward?"
The horse was very cool and could gallop on water. System 05 said, "It's a world of magic and fantasy creatures."
Chen Mu asked in a casual tone, "What is your mission in that world?"
"Help the host become a legendary magician," System 05 said. "That world is quite similar to yours. It utilizes different elements for cultivation and has various professions and levels. My host has average talent, but wanting to become a legendary magician is roughly equivalent to a person with three spiritual roots wanting to cultivate to the Tribulation Crossing Stage."
Chen Mu understood his analogy immediately and became curious: "Then how did you do it?"
"Just like you, he cleansed his spiritual roots first, which means increasing his affinity with the elements, but the process was much easier than yours." System 05 recalled the time he passed out from the pain, pursed his lips, and continued, "To become a legendary magician, the mainstream method is to train your mental strength, meditate, fight, and learn new magic... That host was much lazier than you, always thinking of taking shortcuts. Later, I orchestrated a crushing defeat for him at the hands of the enemy, and only then did he wake up and become willing to fight and meditate honestly."
System 05 started to talk too much. He was actually quite confident and satisfied with his methods, and was eager to share them with others, but he had never had an audience to listen to these things. He would never tell a new host about things in other worlds, and Maintenance System SE7 didn't really understand.
Chen Mu knew his working style, having seen it once before on Li Shanyue. After a moment's thought, he said, "Your style is quite consistent."
"These wishes aren't actually difficult," System 05 said. "As long as the wish is related to the host, there's always a way to resolve it. The most troublesome wishes are actually..."
Before he finished speaking, several more zombies rushed over, and the Avenger immediately blocked the way. While it was dealing with the zombies, System 05 and Chen Mu turned a corner and came to a commercial street.
"This is a bookstore." System 05 walked in. The bookstore had already been occupied by plant roots, with exposed branches and green leaves everywhere, and only a few books scattered on the ground.
System 05 picked up a book. Bai Daqiu had never been to school and did not recognize the words on the book, but he was able to translate it directly through the plug-in.
This novel tells the story of a lonely young man who falls in love with a household robot. The author's writing suggests this isn't a fantasy story, but a documentary romance, in which the household robot, equipped with AI, offers more nuanced emotional support than a real person.
There is a humanoid machine in this bookstore, but half of its body is gone, and the remaining parts are completely aged, no different from those scrapped car frames outside.
People had come to explore the mountain city before, but this kind of novel was completely out of the target range of any explorer. Who would go through so much trouble and risk their life to get a romance novel? Various reference books and some theoretical books were gone. Knowledge was very expensive in this era and was completely monopolized by the upper class.
System 05 took a few novels and left the bookstore with Chen Mu.
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