The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 199 The Missing Lamb (7)

“Otherwise, why do you think I could enter and exit the contaminated area five times in one day? This level of pollution wouldn’t affect me in a short time.” She cleverly avoided the real reason and threw the conclusion back at her, “So, it can only prove one thing: your vision has been interfered with, and you’ve misjudged what’s above you.”

Doug looked at Su Ninglong with a rare eagerness in his eyes. "Kid, for the sake of me being your friend's teacher, could you share your 'immunity to all poisons' experience when we get back?"

Although he is usually a bit stingy, especially in the eyes of others who mess with his precious tools, he is a very easygoing person when it comes to matters of survival and power enhancement.

He was eager to learn about and even master any means that could effectively combat pollution and enhance himself.

He made the request sincerely, and Su Ninglong couldn't very well refuse him directly.

However, she knew in her heart that the core of this method lay in the inheritance of cultivation techniques, which was an insurmountable barrier for modern people.

“Experience can be shared,” she said bluntly. “But the problem is, you probably won’t be able to use it. If you force yourself to try, you might end up becoming an idiot.”

The cultivation methods and techniques employed by cultivators often appear mysterious and unpredictable to those accustomed to modern technology and supernatural abilities, even carrying a strange aura of "evil arts" or "witchcraft."

However, the sacred artifacts created by Master Su had real effects, and indeed provided a great help to the hunter community in fighting against the pollution.

For this reason, this year, the unique system of "cultivation" was officially included in the category of "spiritual practitioners".

Unfortunately, this system has extremely high requirements for talent and temperament; otherwise, the line of people wanting to become Master Su's apprentices would probably stretch from Gemini all the way to the neighboring star system.

Doug was a smart man and understood the subtext in Su Ninglong's words: this was someone else's "secret technique" that couldn't be learned even if forced.

He wisely refrained from pressing the matter further, but in his mind, he figured that since his student Lei Qingya was a good friend of Su Ninglong, he could secretly have Lei Qingya try to get some information out of her and perhaps uncover some valuable details.

He doesn't need to copy exactly; finding some inspiration is good too.

Besides, now is not the time to chat.

Tong Zi, who was standing to the side, suddenly thought of another question and frowned slightly: "Wait, if we have already been affected and our vision has been distorted, why is it that the values ​​of our disintegration pointers, at least mine, have not changed drastically?"

She couldn't help but worry about Yun Fei and the others who remained in the sewage room. "The situation with Yun Fei and the others is probably even worse."

Su Ninglong shook her head, her gaze fixed on the thick, eerie atmosphere deep in the corridor: "This place is like an out-of-control biological laboratory. Heaven knows what kind of monstrosities they've created. Without seeing the source with my own eyes, I can't analyze the specific reasons."

She frankly admitted that the forms of pollution were beyond her comprehension.

Although Tong Zi and Doug agreed with Su Ninglong's analysis, the fact that someone could maintain a full SAN value in the treacherous contaminated zone was itself unusual.

Out of caution, both of them subconsciously gestured to everyone, including Su Ninglong, to keep a slight distance between themselves.

The group continued along the intricate corridors, with Doug responsible for opening doors.

As they delve deeper, wondrous changes quietly occur among the Star Police officers.

The once clear image of "energy transmission cables" in their eyes began to twist and deform, gradually being replaced by tangled "tree roots" that exuded a rotten smell.

The forced "correction" of their perceptions did not bring them peace of mind; on the contrary, it made them even more nervous and their expressions more serious.

The fire lizard walking on the side began to feel his eyelids grow heavy, and he felt intense mental pressure as he walked. He shook his head and stopped in his tracks.

My gaze was drawn to a "pipe" covered with thick, wrinkled tree bark.

The wrinkles and textures possessed a strange magic that drew him closer and closer, almost pressing his face against them to examine them closely.

Just as his mind was completely captivated, the bark suddenly twisted and bulged, coalescing into a ferocious, roaring wooden human face.

The human face shook a few times, breaking free of its restraints, and fiercely lunged at the fire lizard's face.

The chilling malice rendered the fire lizard immobile.

Su Ninglong's senses detected the danger almost the instant the anomaly occurred.

He turned around abruptly, a barely perceptible glint of light flashing across his wrist.

The next moment, more than a dozen thin, silver metal blades flew out of thin air, combining and transforming with lightning speed to form a small, sturdy rhomboid shield, which hovered between the fire lizard and the roaring wooden monster face, serving as a barrier.

The fire lizard was terrified by the sudden attack and rescue. It lost its balance while retreating and fell straight backward, landing awkwardly on the ground.

His lips trembled, his face was ashen, and he pointed at the air behind the shield, his voice shaking uncontrollably: "What...what the hell is that?"

"What happened?!" The fox reacted quickly, rushing forward to help the fire lizard.

“A face…there’s a face there, it roared at me.” The fire lizard, still shaken, pointed tremblingly to the spot where the “handrail tube” had been.

Hungry Wolf looked in the direction he was pointing, his brow furrowed: "Fire Lizard, calm down! That's just an ordinary handrail pipe. Are you hallucinating because you're too nervous?"

The fire lizard blinked hard, and when it looked again, the terrifying sight of the wrinkled bark had vanished, revealing it to be just an ordinary metal handrail.

Could it be... really just a hallucination?

“He wasn’t mistaken.” Su Ninglong’s clear, cold voice rang out, shattering the fire lizard’s self-doubt. “There is indeed something lurking there, just temporarily hidden. Fire lizard, your SAN value has dropped drastically, hasn’t it? The other party is clearly targeting you and trying to invade your mind.”

Upon hearing this, the fire lizard hurriedly turned his palm over to check the disintegration pointer, which clearly showed 54.

In just two or three minutes of confrontation, his mental stability value plummeted to below sixty.

The SAN values ​​of the fox and the wolf are about the same as before.

"Damn it." The fox cursed under his breath, pressing his hand hard on the fire lizard's trembling shoulder, trying to transfer a bit of strength to it. "Fire lizard, hang in there! Or should we get you out of here first?"

He looked at Su Ninglong, Tong Zi, and Doug, seeking their opinions.

Su Ninglong immediately shook her head, her tone grave: "I don't recommend doing that. Since this is already the core area of ​​the contaminated zone, the possibility of breaking out alone is almost zero. I estimate that something has happened to Yun Fei as well, and the passage we came in through is probably already completely blocked by those living tree roots." "All tree roots? I didn't see any?" Tong Zi said.

Doug was equally puzzled, "Aren't the passageways all made of wooden and metal supports?"

Su Ninglong categorically denied it, saying, "There are crisscrossing tree roots everywhere—overhead, on the walls, all around. They're clearly all around us."

Tong Zi and Doug exchanged glances, which meant that their vision had likely been slightly distorted from the moment they stepped into this area, and they had fallen into an illusion woven by the mysterious spirit.

Why didn't you say so in the first place?

Su Ninglong was taken aback by the question. For her, this kind of "tree root passage" was commonplace during her countless missions in her previous life.

To her, those tangled tree roots were just a normal sight.

The passage of time has not completely erased these deeply ingrained "common sense" beliefs, to the point that she sometimes subconsciously takes these sights for granted, ignoring the fact that others may be completely unaware of them.

More importantly, she did not sense any unusual or ominous aura from these tree roots.

In her eyes, they were just ordinary plant roots.

“I…I didn’t know you couldn’t see them,” she explained. “I saw you all naturally avoiding those tree roots when you walked, so I assumed you saw the same thing as me. As for the metal support you mentioned, it does exist, but it’s partially covered or replaced by the tree roots. So, I really didn’t expect that even a physical phenomenon visible to the naked eye could have such a big cognitive bias.”

To confirm their escape route, Doug quickly turned back to the door they had just passed through and opened it.

The scene behind the door was like the manifestation of the deepest nightmare, instantly suffocating the already collapsing fire lizard.

There was no trace of the passageway left; all that remained was a sea of ​​wildly writhing tree roots.

They coiled and intertwined like the blood vessels of a living creature, completely filling and sealing off the space, leaving not even a crack for a person to squeeze through.

Even more terrifying, these tree roots seemed to have sensed the presence of living people, and their wriggling speed suddenly increased, like a swarm of giant pythons that were about to devour someone, surging towards the open door crack!
"Damn it, our escape route is completely blocked!" Doug's expression changed drastically. He used his superpower to distort the door panel and seal the iron door shut as well.

He could feel a heart-stopping impact and friction coming from behind the door.

“These damn things are driving us, forcing us deeper into the abyss.” Doug glanced at the Disintegration indicator on his wrist, which had already dropped to 95. “The SAN value is continuing to decrease. It seems to be taking action. Every second we stay here, our situation becomes more dangerous.”

The fox's gaze was fixed on the fire lizard.

Now, the fire lizard's eyes are empty, completely consumed by fear.

He said, trembling, "I'm sorry, Captain. I can't move, I really... can't move."

The fire lizard never imagined that one day it would be frozen by fear.

Deep within, countless forgotten childhood shadows, the embarrassment of being ridiculed, and the helplessness of being isolated are mixed with the bizarre and terrifying illusions that have sprung up out of nowhere, churning wildly like boiling venom.

He felt as if he were trapped in a thick nightmare from which he could not wake up, heavy fear filling his limbs like cement, making it impossible to even lift a finger.

The rapidly decreasing SAN value on the back of his hand indicates that he is about to go out of control and mutate.

Su Ninglong crouched down and swiftly retrieved a dark green pill with a faint herbal fragrance from her small bag, handing it to the fire lizard: "Open your mouth and eat this. This is an experimental drug, a 'Mind-Concentrating Pill' concocted by my master using a secret method. So far, only Lei Qingya and I have tried it. It can forcibly stimulate your mind, allowing you to concentrate and temporarily calm down. But..."

She said seriously, "It has a clear side effect: if your SAN value continues to plummet below a certain dangerous threshold during the medication's effect, your body will forcefully expel the contaminants through violent vomiting to maintain the last bit of consciousness. This process will be very uncomfortable."

Tong Zi keenly grasped a key point and asked in confusion, "You yourself hardly lose any SAN value when you enter the contaminated area, how do you know so much about this side effect?"

Is this the right time to ask?

Su Ninglong gave a "does that even need asking?" look and casually pointed to someone who wasn't there: "Isn't there Lei Lei? She doesn't have my or Master's ability to maintain a high SAN value. When she was testing the medicine, cough, her reaction was more 'obvious'."

Doug listened from the side, his lips twitching almost imperceptibly, a hint of heartache flashing in his eyes. His silly apprentice must have suffered a lot while testing the medicine.

The fire lizard's condition is extremely urgent.

He collapsed to the ground, seemingly unable to swallow, let alone take his medicine.

Seeing his teammates on the verge of collapse, and glancing at the door that kept banging, the fox knew perfectly well that staying still in this contaminated area, where danger lurked at every turn, was tantamount to waiting to die and handing over one's life to the unknown spirit.

Only by being able to run can one survive!
Regardless of whether Su Ninglong's pills are reliable or whether she herself is completely trustworthy, we must give it a try.

Without hesitation, he took the pill from Su Ninglong's hand and said in a deep voice, "Fire Lizard, hold on! Swallow it."

The hungry wolf quickly unlocked the fire lizard's helmet. A strong, sweet, and pungent smell, a mixture of rotting plants and rust, immediately filled the fire lizard's mouth and nose, making his stomach churn and causing him to gag.

Without the slightest hesitation, the fox seized the moment when the fire lizard opened its mouth to gag, and swiftly stuffed the dark green pill into its mouth.

"Cough cough cough." The fire lizard coughed violently, choked by the pill. The pill melted instantly in his mouth, turning into a thick, slightly bitter liquid that stuck firmly to the walls of his mouth and throat, making it impossible for him to vomit.

The drug took effect incredibly quickly; the fire lizard, which had been trembling like a leaf in the wind, stopped trembling at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The chilling fear that had dragged him into the abyss seemed to be forcibly suppressed by an invisible hand, and the terrifying images churning wildly in his mind were instantly blocked and faded.

His eyes refocused, and the scene before him finally became clear and stable, no longer a distorted and throbbing nightmare.

The hungry wolf immediately helped him put the helmet back on and fasten it.

"How are you feeling, brother?" he asked with concern.

"Much better..." The fire lizard's voice was still a little weak, but it was no longer broken, and it carried a sense of relief after surviving a disaster.

He glanced at the disintegration indicator in his palm; the value had stopped at around thirty and then started to rise again, stopping at 63.

Looking at Su Ninglong's figure ahead, he felt a surge of gratitude. Fortunately, he was on this mission with Su Ninglong.