Gao Wu: I have a dimensional gate

The deal is done.

But Li Zhao suddenly found the man's angular face unattractive. She spread her five fingers at him and said irritably, "Give me my medullary gland. And what's your name?"

Having revealed everything, she knew nothing except that the other party was a newly minted fire thief.

"You can call me Shan," Lu Qiu said.

He didn't think anyone in the world would recognize him, but he used a pseudonym just to be on the safe side.

"Myelin gland, hurry up, do you want to just eat it?" Li Zhao stood up, clearly recovering well.

Lu Qiu reached behind his back, pretending to take something out.

The panel's built-in personal space is also a secret, and it cannot be exposed anywhere.

He handed over the medullary gland.

My attention was entirely focused on guarding against Li Zhao's sudden outburst and analyzing Ye Cheng's situation from her words; I hadn't paid much attention to the information about the medullary gland.

Only then did I have time to check the prompts on the panel.

[Medullary gland: A source energy organ that grows after a secondary mutation caused by the influence of source energy in the cranium-crushing cat. After ingestion, it can significantly enhance recovery capabilities in a short period of time; however, it is highly toxic.]

Lu Qiu's finger twitched.

The low-level neurotoxin he used today to deal with the Iron-haired Boar and the Skull-crushing Cat was isolated from an adenoma.

The panel's assessment of the toxicity of bloodwort is only "moderate".

Although consuming medullary glands can greatly enhance recovery abilities, the potent toxicity will not disappear after the effect of enhancing recovery abilities ends.

Lu Qiu said seriously, "Your sister will still die after taking the myelin. I told you I would give you the medicine."

Under the moonlight, he saw tears welling up in the girl's eyes, and then she turned her head and wiped her eyes hard.

Li Zhao lowered his head slightly, not letting Lu Qiu see his expression: "Who needs your concern? The myelin gland is the core material of the flesh-and-blood energy resonance agent."

"I care about my source energy resonance agent," Lu Qiu said expressionlessly.

"A fire thief is a fire thief, only interested in profit." Li Zhao wiped his nose. "I won't take you to the hiding place. Just tell me a place, and I'll bring the potion over when it's ready."

"You can't use explosives anymore, can you?" Lu Qiu glanced at her hand clutching the medullary gland. "In your current state, you'd be dead even if you encountered a frenzied giant cheek pouch rat."

Li Zhao raised his fist defiantly, but only a wisp of black smoke appeared in front of him, and his little head drooped down.

She then glared at Lu Qiu with a fierce but weak expression: "Shan, let me tell you, we have more than a dozen Resonators in our hideout, each of them as powerful as me."

"If you dare to have any bad intentions, we'll kill you."

Lu Qiu said speechlessly, "Your sister must be very strong to have raised an idiot like you to eighteen."

Li Zhao had no way to refute it.

These refugees, surviving between the alien beasts and the new city, need more than just strength and ruthlessness; they also need absolute trust in their companions.

Having just been saved by this man named "Shan," she subconsciously included him in the category of "companion," unknowingly revealing too much information.

"Stop talking nonsense and get going."

Li Zhao walked in front, while Lu Qiu lowered his tactical goggles and followed behind her on guard.

The two walked faster and faster, gradually turning into a jog.

Li Zhao's physical condition was too poor, and Lu Qiu could easily keep up, secretly memorizing the route they ran.

"Keep going straight, turn east at the second intersection, then north at the next intersection, and that's it..."

Lu Qiu had just said that he didn't have the medicine with him and had to go back to the base to get it. Li Zhao was explaining the route to him when he was interrupted by a scream.

She stopped.

"Why have you stopped?"

Li Zhao turned around, her face, which had regained some color, turning deathly pale again. She exclaimed in alarm, "It's Zou Ming! He's also searching for the Skull-Crushing Cat. He's not as skilled as me! Something must have happened!"

"Save him, please save him!" she pleaded, grabbing Lu Qiu's arm.

Even when she was on the verge of death, Li Zhao didn't utter a single soft word. The first time she yielded was for her sister, and the second time was for this "Zou Ming".

"I need two bottles of Source Energy Resonance Agent."

The sound came from the rooftop of a small building about six meters high. Lu Qiu said something and sped off in that direction.

"The entrance is here, but there are no stairs, you can't get up there!"

Li Zhao anxiously gave Lu Qiu directions, but seeing that Lu Qiu didn't stop at all, she was so anxious that she almost cried.

Then she saw the man suddenly stop downstairs, crouch down, leap up, and jump directly onto the roof.

On the rooftop, a man dressed even more tattered than Li Zhao lay on the ground, one of his forearms missing, revealing a gruesome stubble.

He pushed off the ground with both feet to retreat, facing a skull-crushing cat that was chewing on a severed arm as it approached the man.

After Lu Qiu came to a stop, he suddenly sprang up again, ignoring the momentum of the tiger's roar, and drew his sword to deliver a vertical slash.

The blade cleaved down with a force of nearly a ton, and the skull-crushing cat sprang to the side, tossing its severed hand toward Lu Qiu with a flick of its head.

when!

With a muffled thud, the blade shredded the severed hand into pieces, slamming it hard onto the watertight ground, sending stone chips flying and leaving a deep white mark.

"Aww—"

A sharp hiss exploded from the skull-crushing cat's gaping maw as it pounced on the more threatening Lu Qiu.

At this time.

Taking advantage of this moment, Lu Qiu had already completed the fourth stage of Tiger Roar's power accumulation, pouring an immense force, so great that it made his whole body ache, into his arms.

A cold glint flashed, and the longsword swiftly slashed upwards, grazing the softest part of the skull-crushing cat's throat, almost splitting its entire lower jaw in two.

The huge cat's body was cleaved and sent flying, arcing through the air before crashing three or four meters away like a broken sack.

The moment it landed, the Skull-Crushing Cat adjusted its posture, its eerie green eyes, influenced by the White Night, almost bulging out of their sockets, as it struggled to pounce again.

However, Lu Qiu moved swiftly, pushing the speed of the White Crane Step to its limit. Before it could even bend its limbs, it delivered a powerful downward chop that slammed into the middle of the Skull-Crushing Cat's spine.

Click.

The skull-crushing cat, which terrified Li Zhao and made "Zou Ming" howl in agony after losing his arm, completely rendered him unable to move.

Lu Qiu made two more cuts to the heart and throat, and then, following the method Li Zhao had previously taught him, he squatted down to remove the medullary gland.

Leaning against the wall, Zou Ming stared in disbelief, even forgetting to treat his wounds, his eyes fixed on Lu Qiu.

He didn't even have time to use his resonance ability before his arm was ripped off, while the man in front of him ended the fight with just two strikes.

Zou Ming noticed Lu Qiu's attire, and the words "fire thief" instantly popped into his mind, but seeing the current situation, he wisely refrained from saying anything more.

"Stop the bleeding." Lu Qiu tossed out the portable first aid kit that came with his combat suit.

He had never needed it himself, but unexpectedly it came in handy at this time.

"Sir, who are you...?" Zou Ming took the first aid kit and asked cautiously.

He was a psychopathic resonance user. After being captured by the fire-stealers in the new city, his best fate was to be killed on the spot, and his worst...

They'll probably be taken back for dissection and research.

But this "fire thief" in front of us seems to be different from those in the new city.

"Huff...huff..." Li Zhao finally climbed up from the building next door, leaning on his knees and panting heavily. "Is that...it's over?"

The previous skull-crushing cat had taken her a long time to defeat, and Li Zhao was somewhat skeptical of Lu Qiu's strength.

She felt that Lu Qiu was stronger than her, but only by a limited margin. However, the battle was already over as soon as she reached the rooftop, lasting less than thirty seconds.

At this moment, in her mind, Lu Qiu was already a master like her sister.

Lu Qiu ignored Zou Ming, stood up, and gestured for her to come and get the medullary gland.

Li Zhao glanced at his companion, then went over to retrieve and install the medullary gland. Only then did he run to Zou Ming's side and yell, "Are you an idiot? Mental resonance users are the most useless! Instead of keeping an eye on Big Sister, you ran out to your death?"

She stared at Zou Ming's severed arm with heartache, and was also angry that he had acted impulsively and run away on his own.

"If the mountain hadn't come, you would be dead here, do you know that?"

Li Zhao kept cursing, but he had already snatched the first aid kit from Zou Ming's hand and helped him apply medicine and bandages.

"Didn't you go out hunting skullcrushers too? If you can do it, why can't I? Besides, you..."

Zou Ming looked Li Zhao up and down and found that although her wounds were gruesome, the scabs had formed thickly and she was still lively, which meant that a high-level medicine had been used.

He frowned and said, "You should be able to hold on. The medicine should be given to your eldest sister."

"He forced me..." Li Zhao subconsciously argued, but after glancing at Lu Qiu, she shut up awkwardly. After a while, she said, "That's not what I meant."

Lu Qiu said, "It's just a transaction. Take me to see your eldest sister."

Zou Ming looked troubled: "Professor Shan... this..."

Lu Qiu did save them, but his long-standing hatred for the fire thieves made it impossible for him to immediately trust Lu Qiu.

But Lu Qiu had just casually killed the Skull Crusher Cat, and Zou Ming knew that he and Li Zhao were stuck together and neither of them had the right to negotiate with Lu Qiu.

"It's alright, he's a newly awakened fire thief, unlike the beasts in the new city."

"I swear on my life." Li Zhao puffed out his chest. "Let's go, we can't delay with my older sister any longer."

Lu Qiu immediately took a step to follow, while Zou Ming remained silent, walking between Li Zhao and Lu Qiu, subtly separating the two.

If Lu Qiu harbors ill intentions, he can still buy some time for his companions.

After all, he had already lost an arm and his resonance ability was poor, so he might as well leave the chance of survival to Li Zhao.

On the way, Li Zhao gave Zou Ming a brief introduction to Luqiu. Zou Ming's eyes were finally less cold, but he did not completely let down his guard.

After about ten minutes, they entered a series of dilapidated, maze-like low-rise buildings.

It should be a shantytown from before the Nirvana period, but now the environment here is even worse than before.

Every few steps on the wall are symbols drawn with charcoal blocks, triangles, circles, diagonal lines, and arrows arranged in random combinations.

Li Zhao would glance at each one as he passed by, occasionally erasing one and drawing a new one.

On the window at the corner of the alley, there was a giant cheek pouch rat skin nailed to it, fur side facing out, sewn shut with bone needles and thick thread, probably for blocking the wind.

Several strings of dried cheek pouches hung nearby, having been sun-dried for a long time, shriveled into small, dark brown patches.

The ground was worn into a groove by countless footsteps, and filth gleamed on the edges of the stone slabs. The walls on both sides of the alley were piled with broken bones and hard shells, soaking in stinking puddles along with rotting limbs of strange beasts and bizarre mutated tissues.

The various smells mixed together, making Lu Qiu frown repeatedly.

Some houses were cleaner, clearly inhabited regularly; others were covered in dust; and some had simply collapsed.

Lu Qiu noticed that whenever they passed by the dusty houses, Li Zhao would sigh almost imperceptibly; these people were clearly dead.

At the end of the alley was a rusty iron gate. Li Zhao knocked on it three times in a specific rhythm before there was any response from inside.

"Cough...cough cough? Xiao Zhao?"

Li Zhao excitedly replied, "Sister, it's me! You're saved!"

Squeak.

The door opened from the inside, and a woman in her twenties came into Lu Qiu's view.

Her cheeks were sunken, her complexion was dull, and blood seeped from the handkerchief covering her mouth. She looked extremely weak, but there were no obvious injuries on her body.

"Who are you?"

Upon seeing unfamiliar faces, the woman's first reaction was to shield Li Zhao and Zou Ming behind her, while keeping a wary eye on Lu Qiu.

"Cough—cough cough!"

This cough was more severe; the woman bent over, tightly covering her mouth with a handkerchief, her expression one of great pain.

Li Zhao was frantic and at a loss, hurriedly asking Lu Qiu, "Shan, my sister is badly injured, please save her!"

Lu Qiu shook his head.

Li Zhao was stunned: "Why? We made a promise."

Lu Qiu pointed to the ground.

The woman coughed so violently that she couldn't cover her mouth with her handkerchief and ended up coughing on the ground. Her blood was faintly black and mixed with some tiny crystals.

"The crystallization infection has penetrated deep into the lungs and internal organs; the medication you are taking cannot cure it."