Chapter 60: Not Fatal, At Most Crippling

After a moment, Wang Changjun slowly regained consciousness.

Hiss!

The pain was excruciating—his whole body felt as if it were being pricked by countless needles.

Wang Changjun reached for his backpack, hoping to grab a chilled bottle of mineral water. “Where’s my backpack? Where did my big backpack go?” He frantically turned his head, only to see Lin Mu idly fiddling with a vehicle core.

Lin Mu hadn’t expected that this bald man’s core would actually be Level 4—quite capable, it seemed.

He looked at Wang Changjun. “That was just a little punishment for you earlier. Don’t ever…”

Sizzle, sizzle~

A wisp of blue smoke rose from Wang Changjun’s body.

Lin Mu’s mouth twitched. Surely he wasn’t dead, was he? Lin Mu had high hopes for this teammate!

“Ahem, put him in the car first. As for that wild boar… 001, take care of it.”

“Yes, Master.”

Lin Mu certainly had no intention of dealing with it himself, and the others didn’t look like they were up for it either.

Back in the vehicle, Lin Mu hurriedly opened his interface panel.

“Hey, panel, this restraining collar won’t kill someone, will it?”

【Rest assured, player. The restraining collar will not kill—at most, it will cripple.】

“….”

Lin Mu clicked his tongue. Being crippled wasn’t acceptable either—he still had his uses.

It was hard enough for him to encounter another person.

He glanced at Wang Changjun, hoping the man’s earlier thoughts weren’t too outrageous.

Ten minutes later, 001 returned to the car with neatly divided meat.

“Let’s make it into lunch. We’ll set out again after we eat.”

Although Lin Mu still didn’t know exactly what this so-called ‘raid battle’ entailed, he knew one thing: the casualties would not be few.

As for the vehicle cores, Lin Mu had a reasonable suspicion that they were provided by the contestants themselves.

Two hours later.

Lin Mu drove, the vehicle rolling across what seemed to be a road on the grassy terrain.

The others gazed out the windows, determined to enjoy this rare scenery.

“001, can the vehicle core be detected?”

“Master, a standalone vehicle core cannot be detected.”

Lin Mu frowned. That made things tricky.

But he didn’t have any better ideas. All around was nothing but forest—if not trees, then wild beasts, none of which were his goal.

He drove aimlessly for half an hour until an open field appeared before him.

At the edge of the clearing stood a wooden house, solitary and quiet.

Lin Mu didn’t know its purpose, but its presence here surely meant something.

He turned right and pulled up in front of the cabin.

From the outside, the cabin looked old and dilapidated, clearly weathered by years.

The door was tightly shut, with no sign of a lock.

Lin Mu tapped the steering wheel rhythmically, scrutinizing the cabin. After some thought, he used the camera function to snap a picture of it.

Then he summoned an axe from the front of the vehicle and struck the cabin with it.

Boom!

The house was cleaved in two, and four black bears emerged from within.

He knew it!

Lin Mu had suspected the house was much like a treasure chest—and his intuition was correct.

“Four little black bears—how dare you act so brazenly? Watch this.”

A long sword descended from above, slicing one bear cleanly in half.

The other bears didn’t last long either, all falling in battle.

【Ding! Killed S-class dangerous black bear x4, obtained bear paw x8, 500g bear meat x80, bear skin x2】

Wait! Shouldn’t it be four skins?

“Panel, these numbers aren’t right.”

【Too badly damaged, repair incurs a fee. Two skins is reasonable.】

“….”

You’re the panel—fine, you win.

In the back seat, Wang Changjun had already awakened, his face pale as a ghost, swallowing repeatedly.

Cold sweat trickled down his temples, and his hands clenched tightly.

Seeing the grisly fate of the four bears, he couldn’t help but imagine his own.

If he’d acted out, would he have ended up just like those bears?

Terrifying!

He’d met many people, but none as ruthless as Lin Mu.

“You’re awake. You really are something. Of all of us wearing collars, apart from that woman who had a mild shock, none have suffered as you did.

Actually, there was one other who ended up like you, but within two days, Lin Mu tossed him into a lava pool, where he disappeared as a puff of black smoke.

You… eat what you like, try to cheer up.”

The chubby man patted Wang Changjun’s shoulder, shaking his head with a sigh.

Having just recovered, Wang Changjun felt even more afraid. Was he going to die?

His gaze toward Lin Mu grew increasingly fearful.

Lin Mu, meanwhile, was busy clearing the cabin with his axe, searching for anything hidden inside.

Three minutes later, he found a Level 2 vehicle core amidst the rubble.

“So the house contains the core? If that’s the case, isn’t the death toll a bit high?”

Four black bears were not something ordinary people could handle.

He continued to rummage through the cabin’s debris.

Inside, he found the remains of a table, bed, and wardrobe.

Did someone once live here?

Lin Mu shook his head—pondering this seemed a bit much.

A black hole appeared, instantly absorbing all the waste.

Even the smallest mosquito is still meat, after all.

…

Three hours later, Lin Mu had encountered seven cabins—luck was not on his side.

With no roads, it all depended on chance.

Of the seven cabins, only three were dangerous, and not overly so.

He collected a total of six Level 1 vehicle cores and one Level 2 core.

Not a bad haul.

“Master, the radar shows two vehicles.”

Lin Mu immediately checked the radar. At the edge of the screen, two vehicles were moving in tandem, three kilometers away.

What was he waiting for? Time to catch up.

The car accelerated from zero to a hundred kilometers per hour in an instant, sending the passengers tumbling to the floor.

Jiang Ying rubbed her backside, glanced at Lin Mu’s cracked smile, and promptly shut her mouth.

Ah, life is hard.

The two blips on the radar drew closer, but a stretch of forest blocked Lin Mu’s path.

“Damn it!”

Barely two kilometers in, and another forest had appeared just after the last one.

Lin Mu helplessly turned right.

The farther he drove, the more frustrated he became.

The two yellow dots had already turned, and he still hadn’t found a route toward them.

Then a left turn appeared ahead.

After turning, the road remained flanked by trees, wide enough for three cars down the middle.

The more he looked, the more uneasy Lin Mu felt, but with the yellow dots on the radar, he had no time to ponder.

A hundred meters ahead, another left turn.

After turning again, yet another forest blocked his way.

No matter—just another right turn would put him behind the two vehicles.

“Big sister, doesn’t this remind you of that ice maze?” Shu Xin said, gazing at the scenery on both sides.

Shu Yi nodded. “It certainly does. Except that maze was built of snow, while this one is made of trees.”