Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 91 The Strange Man on the Garbage Mountain (Bonus Chapter)

But before Hunzhen could take a few steps, just over ten minutes later, an unexpected turn of events occurred.

The air vibrated violently, and the power of the laws erupted uncontrollably.

He was not attacked.

Instead, there were two figures, one in black and one in white, fighting high in the sky, and the aftershocks of their intense collision even hit his face.

"Those are the Silver Demon Clan and the Black Demon Clan?"

Hunzhen hid himself in the garbage heap, his dark eyes secretly observing the two sides fighting.

Upon seeing them in person, it was discovered that the Silver Demon Clan and the Black Demon Clan looked surprisingly alike.

Their size is similar to that of ordinary humans, around two meters tall, and they also have four limbs and one head.

Aside from their overall colors being silver and black with a metallic sheen, the two royal families that rule the Abyss are covered in special armor that has a texture somewhere between metal and flesh, and on their backs are a pair of featherless flesh wings that clearly defy the principles of mechanics.

Its special exoskeleton is somewhat similar to an insect's shell, but the texture is more complex and it also has obvious muscle lines.

It's like the flesh-and-blood enhanced armor that Hunzhen saw in his previous life, which follows the flesh-and-blood technology route.

However, the outer armor on these two people is clearly integrated with their flesh and blood naturally, meaning that it was not something that was added later, but something that was naturally grown on their bodies.

"interesting."

"But why don't they add external armor? Do they think their natural flesh and blood armor is enough to deal with combat?"

Thinking of the metal debris piled up on the garbage mountain, a sense of doubt naturally arose in Hunzhen's heart.

The virtual universe provides key basic information about the general environment, but does not specifically describe the various humanistic details.

On the level of social relations, it only roughly points out the major classes within the abyss of purgatory.

Overall, although Hunzhen knew much more information in advance than the normal members of the original secret realm, it was only some general intelligence.

The real details must be explored by Hunzhen himself.

This is precisely the kind of observation that Hunzhen is currently conducting.

He noted that both sides in the conflict were at the cosmic level of life.

Based on data analysis of the levels of law fluctuations and the aftershocks of their battle, Hunzhen quickly arrived at some conclusions he had hoped for.

"Their life gene multiplier is probably 3 to 4 times, so they shouldn't be core royal family members, but just ordinary nobles?"

Encountering two nobles on the first floor truly piqued Hunzhen's curiosity.

Perhaps further observation would yield more information, but Hunzhen has no intention of causing any further trouble at the moment.

Taking advantage of the fact that the two were focused on their battle and had not noticed the person hiding in the garbage mountain, Hunzhen quietly descended.

What he was mainly observing just now was not the physical characteristics of the two fighters, but rather inferring their route based on the existing data.

Since it was not advisable to get involved, Hunzhen naturally wanted to avoid them as much as possible and find the gathering place of the first layer of residents.

Swimming through the garbage mountain, his body constantly collided with the metal lumps, yet he seemed to glide past them as smoothly as liquid, without making any extra noise.

Suddenly, Hunzhen stopped swimming and his brows furrowed slightly.

"What's going on?"

"How come I haven't encountered any of the low-income residents who come to this garbage dump to buy treasures, but have only run into these hairless bastards?"

Within his perception range, numerous members of the two royal families, each with fleshy wings, rushed towards him.

If the fight between the two could be attributed to a personal grudge leading to a one-on-one brawl...

The current scale clearly approaches that of a war-level conflict.

The war has begun, and the impact of the battles between the two sides has overturned mountains of garbage.

Hunzhen had no choice but to increase his output of primal force and speed up his movement to avoid being caught up by the aftershocks of the battle.

At that point, the two royal families, who are currently enjoying their war, might first execute this nobody from outer space who has entered the heart of the war, before even considering restarting the war.

As he was swimming, Hunzhen suddenly noticed another life force emanating from the garbage mountain.

The wreckage in front of him was pushed aside with a clatter, revealing a thin young man wearing a dark gray leather coat and with short, malnourished-looking black-gray hair.

"here!"

He glanced at Hunzhen, then beckoned to him, turned around, and gestured for Hunzhen to follow closely behind.

Under the influence of a strange metal device in the thin young man's hand, the surrounding garbage automatically moved aside.

Hunzhen glanced at the other person, somewhat surprised.

With the strength of a ninth-order cosmic level being just one step away from breaking through to the realm lord level, as a non-royal alien race, they are all at the bottom of the abyss's hierarchy of contempt. This level is already among the top of the alien races.

But why are you wandering around in this garbage mountain on the first level of the abyss?

Hunzhen had many doubts.

But without much hesitation, he hurriedly followed.

In about ten minutes, the simulation capabilities will be refreshed.

The gravity of the Abyss is incredible, greatly reducing movement speed.

In these ten or so minutes, it's uncertain whether we'll be able to leave this garbage dump area.

And that is indeed the case; the garbage mountain area is much larger than Hunzhen had imagined.

"My name is Xingluo. Did you also see that giant meteor and risk all this trouble to come here to dig for treasure?"

Upon noticing that Hunzhen had followed, the thin young man named Xingluo casually asked a question as if it were just a chat.

When Hunzhen heard Xingluo say this, he knew that the big meteor was referring to himself.

He replied, "Thank you, Xingluo. My name is Hunzhen. As you said, I haven't found anything. What about you?"

"Hey, don't even mention it."

Xingluo sighed softly and shook his head, saying, "I was one of the first to come this way. Before the battlefield's effects reached the royal family, I searched the entire area, but I didn't find anything that matched my expectations. Such a huge meteor! Even if most of the items were damaged, there's probably still a large portion that's intact and usable!"

Xingluo cleared a path and soon arrived at a special "secret passage"—a passage with virtually no piles of garbage.

The terrain here is like a basin, surrounded by towering mountains of garbage.

As is well known, spaceship wreckage has a certain effect of blocking consciousness detection, thus forming a natural signal shielding zone.

Instead of slowly navigating through mountains of garbage, moving directly on flat ground naturally increases efficiency.

Hunzhen wasn't sure if Xingluo knew about any hidden "real underground passages," but seeing that the other party had specially led her through such an open "passage," she couldn't help but feel a little fondness for him.

As we all know, enclosed environments are easy places to set up numerous traps.

Hunzhen didn't know if Xingluo had such considerations, which was why he led him through this naturally formed secret passage, but the other party's thoughtful approach was very considerate.

At the same time, I have a lot of curiosity about this young man who moves freely in the garbage mountain as if it were his own home.

Although he was very curious as to why Xingluo, with his strength, was wandering around the garbage mountain, Hunzhen ultimately didn't ask any questions.

The latest simulation also proved that the young man in front of me had no ill intentions towards me.

It seems they are in a deeper part of the garbage mountain, having avoided the fighting for a day.

"arrive."

"This is Blackrock City, the territory protected by Lord Nash."

After crossing the garbage-strewn area and traversing the barren, vegetation-scarce wilderness, what appeared before Hunzhen was not a concrete or metal city wall.

Instead, the style was similar to the outer armor worn by the two royal families we had seen before, with walls tens of meters high built from a grayish-black material that looked like flesh and blood that had lost their vitality and decayed.

The walls are covered with clusters of fine filaments, like capillary tissue, which seem to piece together the wall surfaces that resemble the skin of internal organs.

A flicker of shock crossed Hunzhen's eyes.

He turned to look at Xingluo, using the conversation to mask his astonishment at the strangely styled building, and asked, "Nash?"

Xingluo lowered his voice slightly: "He is the city lord of Blackrock City, the only domain lord-level expert in this area."

The latest novel is first published here!

Then, looking at Hunzhen with some confusion, he asked, "Lord Nash's name is quite well-known around here. Where exactly did you come from?"

"Sigh. Don't even mention it."

Hunzhen sighed softly, "The competition is fierce where I am, so I came all this way here to see if I can have an easier time."

Xingluo nodded knowingly: "I see. You're not from the East District, are you? People there are fighting tooth and nail to find good stuff and compete for a spot to go down to the lower levels. The competition is frightening."

Hunzhen replied, "You guessed that."

What he was thinking about was the "lower-level quota" that Xingluo had mentioned.

"Hehe, in that case, you've really come to the right place."

Xingluo, whether out of ignorance or knowing that it was inappropriate to speak too intimately with someone he didn't know well, didn't delve into Hunzhen's background.

The two chatted casually and soon arrived at the city gate.

The guards at the two city gates seemed quite lazy, and after only a brief glance at the two of them, they easily let them pass.

Judging from the attitude of the city gate guards, it seems that Black Rock City is indeed a place for leisurely living... Hunzhen secretly complained.

Once inside the city, the architectural style changed drastically, becoming mostly made of mud and stone. Only the top of each building was covered with a wall-like structure called "Flesh and Blood Technology," so the overall technology didn't seem very advanced.

"Xingluo, thank you so much this time! You still haven't told me how to contact you! I'll treat you to a drink later!"

Hun Zhen observed his surroundings, only to discover that Xing Luo planned to leave without saying goodbye.

Hunzhen has always disliked owing favors, and given Xingluo's goodwill along the way, he immediately called out to stop the other party.

Xingluo didn't turn around, but just waved his hand: "I live at the very end of the west side of the city, goodbye."

"Um?"

Hunzhen noticed that when he called out to Xingluo just now, many people around him turned their gazes toward him.

With Hunzhen's abilities, he can perceive the emotions of others to some extent from their mental fluctuations and changes in expression.

"Disgust, disgust...and awe? It's really complicated."

These emotions were mostly directed at Xingluo, rather than at him, an outsider.

Shaking his head, Hunzhen headed straight for the factory that contained the metal debris, which he had learned about from Xingluo along the way.

He doesn't have the currency of this world, so pretending to be a scavenger digging through garbage to earn some money is the most reasonable way for him right now.

"Hey, new face. Judging by your appearance, you must be from out of town, right?"

Before they had taken two steps, an old man with a strange expression stepped forward.

Meeting Hunzhen's questioning gaze, the old man gave Xingluo's retreating figure a meaningful look: "I advise you not to get too close to that guy."

"Grandpa, what's wrong? Is there something strange about Xingluo?"

Hunzhen had no intention of actively seeking information, but it seemed strange that he deliberately avoided the topic when others brought it up, so he immediately asked a question in return.

The old man gestured with his lip and said, "Xingluo, it's been a long time since anyone has called him by his name. Now, we call that guy 'the weirdo on Garbage Mountain,' or just 'weirdo' for short."

"A weirdo? I had a brief conversation with Xingluo on the way here, and I didn't see anything strange about him. Besides, he's very experienced in scavenging, and the life force he exudes is quite strong. He seems quite capable."

The conversations along the way have basically confirmed that, at least on this first level, being a scavenger is not a rare thing, and this strange person is obviously not referring to the identity of a scavenger.

The old man chuckled and said, "You're absolutely right. If that were all, no one would consider him a freak. Besides, I vaguely heard somewhere that this guy seems to have some connections with big shots underground. No one should be calling him that. It's just... this guy's gone mad, actually thinking about collecting those metal scraps to build some kind of spaceship that can fly into the sky!"

"Everyone knows that beyond the sky lies terrifying spatial turbulence, where even those important figures would be torn to shreds if they flew even slightly higher! The constant falling debris tells us that the outside world has already been destroyed. To try and fly out of the sky to that destroyed world is simply foolish! Perhaps that's why, despite rumors of his connection to powerful figures, he was abandoned here without a trace!"

Seeing that Hunzhen seemed shaken, the old man added, "Getting too close to that guy and being influenced by him will lead you to indulge in those crazy fantasies. You can imagine the outcome. Not everyone is like him, capable of supporting themselves while indulging in daydreams. Outsider, you'll regret not listening to your elders. You'd better watch yourself."

After saying that, he put his hands behind his back and left with a carefree expression.

Hunzhen felt no resentment towards the old man's lecturing tone; on the contrary, he expressed gratitude for this simple and honest folk custom.

Without people with this tendency to be know-it-all, it would be much more difficult to obtain information.

only……

Flying through the sky?

Hun Zhen's expression became slightly complicated as he thought of the thin young man's smiling face.

Spatial turbulence? A world in ruins?

He knew that these claims were mere conjecture. What truly shattered the natives' attempt to escape the abyss of purgatory was not a natural disaster, but undoubtedly the Star Prison Demon Lord who guarded this place.

"If everything goes smoothly, I can give Xingluo a heads-up before leaving, so he doesn't give up his life for nothing."

Thinking this, Hunzhen shook his head slightly in his heart.

Generally speaking, people who hold ideals that differ from the general public are often people of strong will. Hearing the truth and saving lives may not necessarily be happiness and good fortune for them; on the contrary, it may cause their faith to collapse.

Woo-woo-woo!

Just then, a deafening alarm sounded throughout Blackrock City.

Seeing that the old man with his hands behind his back, looking like a hermit, hadn't gone far, Hunzhen suddenly ran like the wind, leaving a trail of afterimages as he rushed towards the nearest building.

Immediately following, a deafening rumble echoed from all directions.

One by one, the buildings suddenly sank into the ground.

Hunzhen's expression immediately turned serious. Without even considering exchanging money, he followed the old man into a house.

boom!

Amidst the spatial tremors, a white, fleshy wing fell from the sky.

(End of this chapter)