Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded.

Chapter 126: Spiritual Pollution, Holy Spring Blessing, Goodbye Lisa
After officially entering the Feicheng shelter, everyone felt the vicissitudes of history.

As an eyewitness who witnessed it back then, seeing the familiar layout and the cold passage, I had the illusion of dreaming back thousands of years.

But what is before us is modern civilization, and the wasteland and barbaric world above the surface has become a lost land.

At this moment, time came to a standstill here. The contrast and separation between the two made everyone dazed.

Before anyone could react, the six of them heard a whisper of voices...

There were whispers and distant wolf howls.

Lin Feng frowned. This sound did not come from any real external sound source, because the quiet underground ruins were like a pool of stagnant water, without any ripples.

Moreover, the vague whispers in your ears will disappear without a trace once you concentrate and listen carefully.

Before Lin Feng and the others could speak, Zheng Yanying in front of them said in a low voice:

"The whispers you hear are the spiritual pollution left over from the ancient battlefield, not real sounds."

"They originate from deep within the ruins. The energy radiation they emit is similar to genetic pollution, but it affects the brain's mental state, affecting electrical impulses and causing auditory hallucinations."

"As long as one focuses their attention, their effects on the human body are minimal. Only those with weak willpower will be infected by them, becoming paranoid and suspicious, or even experiencing hallucinations and becoming mentally exhausted."

As he spoke, Zheng Yanying raised the sledgehammer, his expression growing increasingly serious beneath his helmet.

"Be careful later."

"Originally, mental pollution only appeared below the third floor, spreading along with the activities of the aberrant monsters. If even the first floor is now experiencing delirium and auditory hallucinations, either a distorted monster has been here recently, or someone has opened the door to the passage at the bottom..."

"The previously sealed and isolated source of heavy pollution erupted completely, surging like a fountain."

"Have you prepared your emblem? Remember to stick it on your chest. It can effectively alleviate the mental pollution caused by mumbling."

The four people behind him nodded, and then they realized that the church emblem hanging on their chests was slightly warm. As long as they focused their attention on it, they could effectively block out the whispering noise entering their brain.

As for Zheng Yanying and Shen Yue, as monks of the church, they originally relied on the genetic gift of the Lord of the Holy Spring to achieve evolution.

Naturally, he is not afraid of the spiritual pollution left behind by these third-level kings.

Lin Feng took a deep breath. Fortunately, he had the help of the church team this time. Otherwise, facing such a strange shelter ruins, the ubiquitous negative mental influence alone would be enough to screen out a large number of explorers with weak willpower.

Even an evolver who stays in this kind of noisy environment for a long time, with hundreds or even thousands of voices constantly appearing in his head, will gradually become schizophrenic and driven crazy.

No wonder the Taishan ruins are listed as one of the restricted areas.

The weirdness and horror contained in it are unbearable for ordinary life.

As soon as they entered the underground level of the shelter ruins, they were given a warning by the restricted area. Everyone swallowed nervously, followed Zheng Yanying, and continued to move forward.

Lin Feng is the most evolved being here, and also has the strongest spiritual attributes. He has a clearer perception of spiritual pollution and can even vaguely hear the low roar mixed in with thousands of words.

And those roars, coming from far away and getting closer, were like ghosts gradually approaching in a horror movie.

Realizing this, Lin Feng narrowed his eyes, and a reminder gradually emerged from the corner of his eyes:
"It has been detected that the host's environment has common mental pollution. You can consume a point of health to clear and block it. The effect lasts for one hour."

"Low-level pollution source detected nearby!"

Lin Feng tightly grasped the rapid-fire cannon in his hand, and thinking of Zheng Yanying's previous introduction, he asked in a low voice:
"If spiritual pollution spreads, is it possible that the aberrations that were originally below the third level will now appear above the third level?"

Everyone who heard this instantly became nervous, especially Zheng Yanying, who was walking in the front row. She had already raised the hammer in her hand and nodded in agreement:
"That's right, so be careful!"

"The Feicheng shelter has ten floors in total, with two automatic elevators, but both are damaged. Even if they were repaired, there would be no power supply, so to reach the lower floors, you can only take the stairs in the emergency passage."

"And the safety stairs on each floor are from left to right, and you need to cross the main road on each floor and walk ten kilometers to reach the entrance to the lower floor."

"The entrance to the underground first floor is right in the middle, so we only need to walk five kilometers forward to reach the entrance to the second floor."

The underground shelter is isolated from the outside world and buried more than ten meters underground without sunlight, so the temperature is very low. The temperature on the first underground floor alone is seven or eight degrees lower than that in the cave.

In an environment of around 30 degrees, even if everyone is wearing airtight armor, they can still hold out for a long time.

However, the damp and dim environment around them made it difficult for people who were used to being exposed to the wasteland for three days to adapt in a short period of time.

Especially after hearing Lin Feng's reminder, they all opened their eyes wide, their pupils became bloodshot and dilated, in an attempt to sense more light from the darkness illuminated by the searchlight.

"what!?"

At this moment, Chen Shanshan, who was walking behind, suddenly let out a startled cry!
Just now, when she was observing a broken house on the left with the searchlight on her chest, a black figure suddenly flashed before her eyes.

This scene scared her a lot.

Lin Feng and his companions immediately shone the light in the direction of Chen Shanshan, but unfortunately the black shadow had disappeared without a trace.

After recovering from her shock, Chen Shanshan leaned against Lin Feng and explained in a low voice the strange scene she had just seen.

The unknown aberration is right next to them!
"Be careful. Lin Feng is right. The aberrations that were originally found below the third floor may have spread to the upper three floors due to the spread of mental pollution."

"But the number of aberrations migrating here is limited. With the six of us and the protection of the Lord of the Holy Spring, these monsters don't dare to approach directly. They are simply attracted by the light source."

After Zheng Yanying comforted him for a few words, she turned to remind him:

"The main task of this expedition is to familiarize yourself with the environment. Don't be startled. First, adapt to this high-pressure environment. From the actions of the aberrations, discern whether they are testing you or intending to launch an attack."

"The more panicked you appear, the easier it will be for them to take advantage of you."

Zheng Yanying stopped and looked back at Chen Shanshan beside Lin Feng.

"When you shouted just now, did the whispers in your head suddenly become louder?"

At this time, Chen Shanshan's face under the mask was slightly pale. In the moment of her panic, the mumbling in her mind seemed to be amplified more than ten times as if it had been loudspeakers, so that she was briefly unconscious.

Nodding with lingering fear, Chen Shanshan's left hand unconsciously grabbed the sleeve of Lin Feng's armor.

"Remember, stay calm and composed!"

After reminding everyone, Zheng Yanying turned around and continued to lead the way.

Lin Feng looked at the team. The rest of them were in good condition, except for Chen Shanshan. Because she was too young, although she had more experience in the wasteland than everyone else, she had lived under the protection of her master for the past few years...

Having adapted to the wasteland environment, it is understandable that they feel instinctive fear of the unknown horror before them.

Some people can face dangerous mutant beasts without blinking, but if they experience a real haunted house or watch a thriller or a weird movie, they may not be able to remain calm as they would in a battle in broad daylight.

Visible dangers are not dangers because we are mentally prepared in advance.

The real fear comes from the unknown.

Especially this unknown also brings death threats.

Alian and Amin in the team are both in their thirties. Before waking up in the wasteland, they were in their twenties. Not to mention having experienced similar strange environments, they have at least seen some horror and thriller movies.

I was more or less on guard in my heart.

Before the wasteland, Chen Shanshan was just a child in her early teens, still at the age of watching cartoons.

The six years of living in the wasteland were all under the scorching sun, and the most difficult times were just hunger and thirst.

I haven't even experienced walking alone at night...

The dark environment and the unknown horror were indeed a huge challenge for her.

Lin Feng then held Chen Shanshan's hand and nodded at her, signaling her to be relieved:
"You go in the middle, and I'll be at the back."

With the system reminder and the powerful perception of a late-stage evolver, Lin Feng can accurately detect the deformed creatures that come to test him nearby.

Chen Shanshan is the most powerful member of the team except for herself. If she cannot adapt to the environment of the ruins, it will undoubtedly cause a serious decline in the overall strength of the team.

The encouraged girl took a deep breath, nodded, and began to concentrate and adjust her state and mentality.

With Lin Feng walking behind him, he felt much more at ease.

As they continued to advance, more and more afterimages flashed by their side, and from time to time they could see a pool of unknown gray-black viscous liquid on the ground.

If there were no breathing mask to filter it, you would definitely be able to smell the rotten stench it emits.

But even with the isolation of the sealed armor, when the searchlight illuminated it, the sticky liquid began to wriggle and twitch as if it had life, which still made everyone feel psychologically uncomfortable.

The sense of smell and hearing can be blocked, but the visual impact is unavoidable and can only be endured.

The cells of the viscous liquid are deformed products that appear after being assimilated by radiation, just like slime mold.

The light stimulates its sensory system.

If you get infected by this guy, you will definitely be living a life worse than death.

"Let's go, we're almost there."

Zheng Yanying reminded him and looked at the dark and dilapidated ruins in the distance.

At the end there is a bottomless doorway.

After taking a few glances, everyone followed Zheng Yanying's steps and came to the end of the underground floor.

There is a staircase leading to the second underground floor.

Just like entering the basement floor before, there is a ten-meter-high staircase with thirty steps leading directly to the next floor.

As everyone stood at the entrance of the passage, the searchlight shone on the stairs in front of them, and more than a dozen burnt and blackened figures suddenly appeared in everyone's sight.

At the same time, there was blood splattered on the wall, as well as various shapes of unknown body parts...

Like a murder tragedy, it formed a picture of hell, slowly unfolding before everyone's eyes and displayed in this ten-meter-wide staircase.

Shen Yue, who had just eaten a lot, suddenly felt nauseous. Her stomach was churning and she kept dry heaving. She swallowed the liquid food that came up back down.

Chen Shanshan had never seen such a horrific scene. Even when she saw the refugees in the wasteland, she only felt a slight discomfort psychologically...

But the scene before them was enough to cause severe physical discomfort to everyone.

I felt a chill all over my body, as if a stone was pressing on my chest and heart, making it hard to breathe.

At the same time, the whispering in their ears suddenly became amplified when everyone was distracted.

It was as if painting a picture of the hell before one's eyes, playing a mournful and tragic background music, bringing the emotional intensity to the extreme.

"calm!"

Zheng Yanying spoke in a deep voice and walked forward.

Focusing the searchlight on the distorted humanoid object that had been burned to charcoal, it was confirmed that it was completely dead.

"It seems quite fresh. It's something that happened in the last few days."

Lin Feng took a step forward and came to both sides of the stairs, imitating the other party to observe the traces of the battle on the stairs:
"It seems like fire is more effective than guns. If I had known earlier, I would have bought a gas tank and used a flamethrower to burn my way through. It might have been safer."

Zheng Yanying shook her head:
"While burning is useful, it doesn't have a knockback effect."

"These aberrations fear holy water, the devouring and purification of a higher being. It's more accurate to think of them as aggregates of alienated cells. They have no self-awareness, only instinctive fear. Beyond the concept of infecting more flesh and blood, they have no concept of death."

"With one tank of fuel, you can burn ten, a hundred, or even thousands of aberrations, but you can't escape their endless encirclement." "Our mission isn't to eliminate them, but to find the treasure within the ruins. We must conserve our energy, ammunition, and especially the limited holy water."

Lin Feng nodded, Zheng Yanying was right.

Killing the Aberration does not provide any benefits.

Otherwise, the monster hidden in the dark could be easily solved by the two of them.

But there is no point in doing so, especially when the team has no supplies. The key is to go deep into the fourth floor in one breath, search for wolf corpses and collect source materials.

"Let's go. These corpses still show signs of being eaten. Unless they are burned to charcoal and the bones are crushed to ashes, even if the aberrations are burned to death, the remaining cooked meat will become nutrients for the growth of other aberrations."

Zheng Yanying stood up and led everyone away.

The women suppressed their nausea and discomfort and walked between Zheng Yanying and Lin Feng.

They were the only two people in the team who were least affected.

Zheng Yanying had been here before, and as a combat priest of the church, she was a warrior selected from thousands of people with a very strong will.

Lin Feng had the system to help him eliminate negative influences. At the same time, he had played many similar horror games during his time on Old Earth...

Although it is an immersive reality right now, after training, her adaptability and speed are definitely faster than the four women in front of her.

So after entering the second underground floor, he and Zheng Yanying walked one in front and one behind. Zheng Yanying was responsible for leading the way, while Lin Feng walked at the end of the team to prevent any sneak attacks from the deformed monsters.

Needless to say, the former radiates abundant power of the Holy Spring, and coupled with the church's special armor, ordinary deformed bodies composed of first-order cells dare not approach it at all.

Lin Feng, who was standing at the back of the hall, had a powerful aura of the late stage of evolution. Combined with the emblem of the second-stage holy spring water provided by Father Su An, the dispelling effect could cover an area within a radius of ten meters.

Under the protection of the two, everyone quickly crossed the ten kilometers of the second basement floor.

Although they saw many traces of battle along the way and saw more and more deformed figures, the team was no longer the same as they were on the negative first floor...

Startled and jerky, sometimes moving and sometimes stopping.

After getting acclimated, everyone quickly arrived at the bottom of the second basement floor, the entrance to the third basement floor.

Standing at the stairs, the people in the front row shone their lights and saw several hideous monsters appearing in the middle of the stairs. Their skin was pale and their heads only had noses and mouths.

They are wet, hairless, and constantly secrete a sticky fluid. They walk on all fours, with sharp black claws on their fingers and toes.

The huge mouth on the face that opens to the back of the head is also filled with fine fangs.

These monsters were lying at the end of the stairs, gnawing on two dead, charred corpses.

Because he was too engrossed in eating, he didn't notice the arrival of Zheng Yanying and her group.

It was not until the bright light from the searchlight stimulated their sensory organs that they suddenly raised their heads and made a low hissing sound.

Zheng Yanying snorted coldly, swung the hammer in his hand, and released the power of the holy spring.

The monsters were frightened and quickly crawled away on all fours.

At this moment, several people behind him had already held their breath.

My heart was in my throat.

"These are late-stage first-order aberrations, corrupted from the surface hunters and wanderers."

Zheng Yanying frowned slightly and said in a deep voice:

"Be careful! If you come into contact with the deformed monster's body fluids, rinse immediately with holy spring water and drink a few sips of it. Otherwise, within half an hour, the contamination will spread to your entire arm or leg. Then, it won't be a matter of just washing it off..."

"If you want to survive, you have to amputate your limb."

"Or else, like the corrupted ones just now, you will become a high-level aberration here, a group of corrupted people without self."

After hearing this, everyone gasped.

At this moment, we are about to enter the negative third floor, thirty meters underground, and the temperature is gradually dropping below twenty degrees.

The sealed armor that was unbearably hot on the surface has now become thermal insulation clothing that maintains body temperature.

Everyone adjusted their state and continued to move forward.

Soon on the third floor, a yellow-white light was seen in the distance.

"Someone?!"

Chen Shanshan let out a low cry.

It is always a good thing to find like-minded people in the pitch-black underground ruins.

Of course, only before the treasure is discovered and a conflict of interest arises.

It is much safer to travel in a group than to go it alone.

"Stay alert and go take a look."

Zheng Yanying spoke slowly. There was no need to hide one's tracks in the underground ruins, and it was impossible to hide.

Several people have searchlights on their chests, which can be seen from a long distance. If they don't turn on the lights and move forward in the dark, it is equivalent to giving the deformed monsters a signal to eat.

As everyone got closer, the light gradually became clearer.

A bonfire was lit inside the collapsed wall.

There were five or six figures sitting around the campfire.

There was also a familiar figure among them.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes. The figure of one of them looked very similar to Lisa.

Mainly among the wasteland residents, there is a tall foreign woman with blonde hair. Except for Lisa, there is no one else who meets these characteristics.

A group of six people slowly approached, and the six people by the campfire also discovered Lin Feng and his group walking from a few kilometers away.

As the distance shortened, both sides became alert, holding their weapons tightly.

Although the people around the campfire were also wearing protective clothing and masks, only two of them were wearing armor. The other four were only wearing simple protection and helmets on their heads.

So Lin Feng could clearly see the golden hair of one of them.

Finally, when they were twenty meters apart, Lin Feng and the other six stopped.

At this distance, most of the details of both parties can be distinguished, such as the church mark on Zheng Yanying's body and the triangular Salvation Army mark on the other party's body.

Because the two forces were at odds with each other, several members of the Salvation Army raised their guns directly.

Lin Feng then walked out of the team and showed the Special Hunter License of the Wilderness Hunting Guild on his chest, indicating his identity as a member of the guild.

Seeing this, the latter put down his gun and waved at Lin Feng.

When Lin Feng approached, he found that these six people were all early to middle stage first-level evolvers, and the two of them wearing armor had the strength of middle stage first-level.

"Was it arranged by the Oasis Guild?"

One of the men in armor asked.

Lin Feng frowned slightly, and suddenly realized that the Salvation Army was likely to have some connection with the Hunting Guild, and it was in the recent period.

Otherwise, Oasis would not be mentioned by name.

But this matter has little to do with Lin Feng.

So he shook his head and replied:
"I just accepted a commission and came to the Taishan Ruins to carry out a mission. It has nothing to do with your operation. I didn't know about the discovery of the military factory before I came here."

The latter was slightly stunned, and then said no more:

"In that case, I won't bother you anymore. Please do as you please."

Lin Feng frowned slightly. He didn't expect the other party to refuse so quickly. Obviously, because of the existence of the Holy Spring Sect, they didn't want to have too much contact with him and his group.

At this moment, a female voice suddenly came from the side, with a slightly inquiring tone:

"Lin Feng?"

Lin Feng turned his head and looked at the woman with a blurry expression in the shadow of the fire.

Because of the breathing mask on her head and the shadow, it was difficult to distinguish her appearance, but from the timbre of the voice, Lin Feng was sure that the other person was Lisa:
"Yes, it's me. Where are old Duncan and the others?"

Among the six people in front of him, Lin Feng only recognized Lisa, and the rest of the Duncan team were not present now, nor were they in the convoy above.

When Lisa heard Lin Feng mention Old Duncan, her joy at seeing an old friend disappeared immediately. Her expression darkened, and she shook her head slightly and said:

“They went back and I joined the Salvation Army.”

Lin Feng nodded. Judging from the fact that Old Duncan chose to use the life essence of the Rockhorn Beetle to achieve cross-level evolution, he would definitely leave the opportunity for pure evolution to Lisa.

Lisa, who has completed her evolution at this moment, has also evolved to the upper limit of the initial stage of the first level and has the strength of level thirteen.

"Have the rest of you gone down yet? We're only on the fourth and fifth floors, collecting some life essence. We don't have any plans for the arsenal and weapons factory on the lower floors."

"Even if there is, it won't come until the end."

Since it was confirmed that it was Lisa, he could not waste the acquaintance between the two, so Lin Feng quickly inquired about the news.

After hearing Lin Feng's question, Lisa was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said:

"On the fourth floor below, second-order aberrations will appear. They can lead those first-order aberrations to attack living people, so we are assigned here to provide support."

"You need life essence, which is found in some of the marginal rooms on the negative fourth floor, but that is also where the aberrations usually hibernate."

Feeling the aura of the late first stage on Lin Feng, Lisa continued:

"If you want to find the second-level life essence, you have to go down to the fifth floor. There are the corpses left behind by the second-level wasteland wolves who died in the battle with the evolvers."

Lisa, who had arrived a few days earlier, was clearly well aware of the current state of the ruins. She added a reminder after she finished speaking:

"However, below the third level is too dangerous. Although the strength of the aberrants is much weaker than those of the same level evolvers, there are tens of thousands of them."

"Unless a fire burns it all down to charcoal, after a while it will regenerate like weeds..."

"If you must go down, at least reserve two-thirds of your ammunition and physical strength for retreat. Otherwise, you will be surrounded and the consequences will be disastrous!"

Lin Feng nodded and replied seriously:

"Thank you."

At the same time reminded:
"We just saw a few Corruptors below the third floor entrance. Their strength is mid to late stage of the first level. Be careful."

　He Zhang, take a break.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)