Ark Journey

A young man rushed too far forward and was surrounded by several enemies. His two fists were no match for four hands, and the floating shield could not block all the attacks. If Xue Zhi had not arrived quickly, the weapons that pierced his abdomen would have been enough to take his life.

"Vice-Captain, I...'Sarkaz swear'! It hurts... Hey, am I okay?"

With a sizzle, blood flowed all over the floor.

After roughly pulling out those weapons, Xue Zhi placed her hands on his shoulders, and her powerful healing ability healed the wounds directly, and even the pain remained in the young man's nerves.

Absorbed in the caressing of the grown flesh, the young man looked up and saw that Xue Zhi had gone far away. He wanted to find some high-value targets, such as archers or magicians, to deal with in order to expand his own advantage.

Soon, the killing ended. Xue Zhi, with only some blood and dust on her boots, put away her knife and came to W. She didn't rush too forward just now, but just threw two bombs at the place where the enemy was hit.

"Does the enemy have any backup?"

"I'm not sure. It depends on the situation on the front battlefield. That will determine the value of this side."

Xue Zhi said nonchalantly: "Alright, but no matter how many of them come, I won't let them go."

W nodded in agreement: "Well, I feel relieved to have you here."

While they were talking, those injured in the battle had been gathered together and were being treated by doctors.

Xue Zhi, who had nothing to do for the time being, went over there to help clean up the battlefield. The mercenaries were more professional than him, and his magic was much more powerful than the doctor's Originium skills. Besides, this time, except for a few unlucky guys who were seriously injured, most of the injuries were minor and easy to treat.

After solving the problem of the wounded and receiving a wave of sincere gratitude, Xue Zhi returned to W. She was thinking about what to do for the rest of the day.

There is still a lot of explosives, but it is hard to say whether the enemy will be fooled again. This side is in a mess after the explosion, and the noise is so loud that even a ghost would know there must be an ambush.

"Install it first. If you are in a hurry, the enemy must go here. If it doesn't work, you can recycle it. The explosives I gave you are not unusable."

"Listen to you."

Everything was going on in full swing, and the team close to Hedley discovered that a large number of defeated soldiers were fleeing towards their defense zone. Judging from the identification, they were members of the Military Committee, and their team could not handle it alone.

After receiving the news, the slightly tired mercenaries picked up their weapons again, but Xue Zhi held his hand and signaled them to rest. He was not satisfied with the points he had just obtained and planned to take all the kills for himself.

"Leave it to him, you guys repair it here."

After W spoke, the mercenaries had no choice but to do as they were told.

There was no need to hide this time. Xue Zhi, who was standing in place, picked up the operating terminal, used a variety of observers to lock the positions of those people, and then stabbed them to death with ice picks.

Simple and efficient, maybe he will be known as the “Piercer of Babel” in the future.

"Report the damage results."

"Not a single one is alive, Lieutenant."

The voice coming from the communicator was a little trembling. They knew that Xue Zhi was several kilometers away from here at the moment, but she still took away the enemy with precise and powerful spells.

Chapter 29: One Man's Army

After returning the terminal to W, Xue Zhi also leaned against the stone wall and ate like the mercenaries.

Gun smoke, the smell of burning flesh and blood, and all kinds of strange and unpleasant smells came with the wind, but neither the mercenaries nor Xue Zhi cared.

W leaned beside Xue Zhi, closed his eyes and began to rest. She slept soundly, her full chest rising and falling regularly. With him around, she didn't have to worry about many things.

Time passed, and throughout the day, except for a few blind fleeing soldiers who broke into their defense zone, no other organized enemy appeared.

Many wild animals appeared on the battlefield and ate the bodies of the dead. Out of respect for the deceased, Xue Zhi killed all these strange little creatures.

However, this behavior not only did not reduce the number of animals coming to eat the dead bodies, but instead increased their number by causing more corpses. In the end, Xue Zhi actually gained nearly 5,000 points from these wild animals.

Night fell again, and the mercenaries who took turns to rest became refreshed. They no longer needed to worry about energy issues for the drones that could be charged with solar energy. Except for some loss of mortar ammunition and arrows, their condition was almost the same as when they first arrived.

There were explosions heard in the distance, and I didn't know which troops were exchanging fire.

Amid the sound of insects chirping, several special units suddenly appeared on the terminal. They were enemy drones.

"They probably already know we're here."

Xue Zhi had read some explanations about drone tactics. As long as the opposing commander was smart, he would only use drones to detect the enemy so openly when he was aware of the opponent's existence. It was probably because the previous team had no news that made them aware of the existence of the defensive force on this side.

Raising her hand, several chains of lightning flew out from Xue Zhi's palm and shot straight towards the flying drones. Soon, several sparks flashed and they were shot down.

A few minutes later, no new drones appeared on the terminal. It seemed that several drones were shot down at the same time, and the commander there judged that it was not worthwhile to continue shooting.

The mercenaries were already aware of the enemy's presence. They clenched their weapons in silence. After a brief period of peace, a large number of units began to appear in the forest at an extremely fast speed. Accompanying them were several bright meteors that suddenly appeared in the sky, but the trajectories of these meteors were from bottom to top.

After the meteor appeared, the entire battlefield suddenly became bright.

Xue Zhi narrowed her eyes and asked W, "Flares? Do you need me to shoot them down?"

W shook his head and ordered the mortar gunners behind him: "No need. Mortar gunners, use the flares to aim. Weaken their momentum!"

The firing table calculated, the angle was corrected, and the loaded shells activated their fuses under the action of gravity, turning into arcs and slamming into the charging troops.

Continuous explosions suddenly sounded, and many remaining mines were activated, but the density was much lower, and this unit was obviously stronger than the previous one. Xue Zhi could see that many magicians mixed in the team used various methods to reduce the damage caused by explosives.

With the ice surrounding her, Xue Zhi signaled others not to take action. She walked down the hill alone and wanted to see how far she could go if she cast the spell with all her strength.

Then the next second, the horrific killing brought by the core and pure elements swept through the forest.

The ground turned muddy in an instant, hindering the progress. The scorching flames that appeared from nowhere directly ignited the entire forest. Once it was contaminated, it would burn all combustible materials like a maggot on the tarsal bone. Even if it was not contaminated for the time being, inhaling the dry and hot air would cause the fragile respiratory tract to be burned madly.

The explosives were detonated by the high temperature, but this attack was insignificant in this deadly sea of fire.

The light from the flames could be seen beyond the horizon.

Hedley, who was also under attack, chopped down a man with his greatsword. He looked up at the red sky not far away and was a little surprised: "Is that W's defense zone? Did she set the mountain on fire?"

In the sea of fire, a magician summoned water to put out the fire. In his astonished eyes, the control over the water he had just summoned was immediately taken away. The life-saving water immediately turned into deadly blades and shot out in the surroundings. Wherever it passed, whether it was armor or flesh, it was cut into mirror-smooth sections, and the blood gushing out of the wounds instantly evaporated under the high temperature.

Thick blue-purple arcs of electricity were transmitted along the earth, attacking equally everyone who was in the sea of fire but was still struggling. Their paralyzed hearts immediately made them lose all means of defense.

Ice spikes and earth spikes appeared along with electric arcs. Those who endured the burning flames and jumped onto trees to avoid the electric shock suffered a devastating disaster. Huge and sharp cones protruded from the ground at an extremely fast speed and pierced their brains. Then they lost their balance and fell heavily into the sea of fire.

An attack leaped out, heading for Xue Zhi's forehead, but the ice shield surrounding him immediately blocked the attack.

An unknown wind blew, blowing away the hot air, but it still made the mercenaries observing from behind feel dry in the mouth.

The magic power seemed endless. Xue Zhi, who used multiple magics at the same time, did not feel tired. This was not even his full strength. The flames in the field had turned white, and the muddy ground was burned hard, then became soft again, and finally turned into hot lava.

There were no trees left in the sea of fire. The fire had consumed all organic matter within the area. However, outside the area, the flames did not ignite even a single weed. The deadly temperatures were strictly controlled within a certain range.

The magician who has fought hard until now can be considered powerful, but he is still not strong enough in front of Xue Zhi.

The entire team suffered an unprovoked blow and was completely wiped out, which made the magician who led the team furious. At this moment, he was squeezing his body to maintain his living space, ignoring the increasing number of Originium emerging from his body surface.

Then, Xue Zhi saw an astonishing scene. The spell that was just maintained in the sea of fire suddenly disappeared, and the sorcerer's flesh and blood quickly crystallized into a lifelike human-shaped source stone.

The energy field began to become strange, and the control of various energies became difficult. Seeing that no enemies survived, Xue Zhi put away his spells and quietly looked at the source stone in the distance. He estimated that this thing would explode.

Then the solid ice surrounding him suddenly expanded, forming a towering ice wall behind him. However, Xue Zhi was outside the wall, with no other intentions, just wanting to see what the Originium explosion looked like.

Just when the dramatic change in the energy field reached its peak, the source stone exploded as expected.

Chapter 30: Mission accomplished, considerations for the future

Xue Zhi, who was still using his special vision, saw a magnificent scene when the Originium exploded. Colorful lines exploded at the most concentrated location of the energy field, and a large number of inexplicable energy singularities spread in the air, either collapsing or expanding. In a trance, he seemed to see scenes flashing by quickly, but these scenes could not be seen clearly or remembered even with his current vision and brain.

Finally, all of this turned into violent energy and exploded in all directions. Fortunately, the range was not large and the power was just so-so. Only some shock waves reached Xue Zhi's position, blowing up the corners of his clothes. There might also be fatal Originium radiation, but it had no effect on him.

All the magic effects dissipated, and Xue Zhi, who was covered in mud, lowered her head and muttered to herself: "'Dongda Foul Words', what are those? Has the information contained in the Originium been released?"

In the past, when he was checking the settings of Arknights, he had seen some interesting conjectures from fellow enthusiasts. According to the theory of grand unified information, Originium stores a large amount of information left by previous civilizations for future generations, and Originium skills are the result of expressing part of this information.

"Hey! Xue Zhi!"

W's anxious voice woke Xue Zhi from her thoughts.

He turned around and smiled at W who was wearing a gas mask: "Ah, I'm fine, I just thought of something interesting."

Then he pointed to the land covered with lava and said a little embarrassedly: "If you don't stop, you probably won't find anything. Can you exchange the charred body for the reward?"

The mercenary in charge of statistics nodded hurriedly: "Sure, sure, deputy captain, we can just take a picture with a drone. Babel Tower doesn't just recognize dog tags."

Xue Zhi heaved a sigh of relief after receiving a positive answer: "Okay then."

This wave of attack ended abruptly. An obviously stronger army was defeated by Xue Zhi without even putting up a single resistance. The large amount of weapons they carried also turned to ashes. The mortar that had only fired a few flares was now lying somewhere unknown.

By the early morning, the mission was officially over and the entire team began to pack up and prepare to return to the base.

This time they had a great harvest, as a large number of enemies were eliminated without any casualties on their side.

W, who was the last one to fall, leaned against Xue Zhi and whispered, "You were too reckless at the end. Why didn't you use the Originium technique to protect yourself?"

Reaching out to hold her waist, Xue Zhi smiled and said, "There is no need for that. I want to observe the Originium explosion phenomenon up close. The effect observed through the Originium technique is not perfect."

His casual remark actually fits the researcher persona he made up for himself. Or maybe it wasn't so much a fabrication, after all, he was a graduate student in materials, an engineering student, so it was normal for him to be curious about many things.

W sighed, not knowing what to say. It was the first time she met someone crazier than her.

We returned to the camp safely, and the team disbanded on the spot. We should have a good rest tonight, and we will discuss the division of credit tomorrow. The other two units had already sent us communications, and they were also on their way back to the camp.

Inside the tent, W, who had just asked Xue Zhi to help her take a shower, was sitting at a small table wearing a simple vest and shorts.

Although she had not been to school or read many books, W had learned a lot in order to survive. Since joining the mercenary group as a cadre, she would summarize the details of each battle so that she could improve herself later. Perhaps this is also the reason why her future tactical planning could achieve excellent evaluation.

However, there is really nothing much to write about this mission. The first half is fine, it is just her usual tactics, but the second half has nothing valuable except Xue Zhi's operation, which opened a big eye for her and her teammates.

After all, you can't expect someone to use complicated, precise, wide-ranging and powerful Originium skills to destroy the enemy like Xue Zhi. This is not realistic.

Throw the pen aside. Since there is nothing good to write, just leave it there.

Seeing that W stopped doing his work, Xue Zhi approached him from behind.

"Don't write anymore?"

"What to write? There's nothing to summarize."

W tilted his head back, pressed his back against Xue Zhi's chest, and wrapped his tail around his waist. Xue Zhi then wrapped her arms around her slender waist, and her warm hands reached into her clothes and pressed against her smooth belly. Ever since she suppressed her mineralogy, Xue Zhi liked W's slightly fleshy belly.

"I must try to get you some books on chemistry."

"Books? What do you need them for?"

"Knowledge is power, my W. Your Originium skills are powerful, but you have not yet fully realized its potential."

What happened today made Xue Zhi think of some possibilities. W's Originium skills can create some explosives, so her deeper hidden ability may be to gather nitrogen and oxygen elements in the air.

"Potential? I've used these things for so many years, and they haven't changed much. At most, the number of them that can be made has increased."

W raised his hand, invisible matter gathered, and a bomb of unknown composition appeared in the palm of his hand.

"I've seen the explosives you made using this Originium technique. Although they are quite powerful, they are still not as powerful as some of the most powerful things."

Watching her movements, Xue Zhi also raised her hand, and pure white ice crystals began to appear on the table, first forming balls of various sizes and sticks of varying lengths, and then the balls and sticks combined into strange shapes again.

"All-nitrogen anion salt, octanonitrocubane, cyclotrimethylene trinitramine, and in fact, metallic hydrogen, but this has nothing to do with your Originium skills... The remaining high-energy explosives are difficult to make without an industrial foundation, but your Originium skills have given me some possibilities."

Listening to Xue Zhi blurting out various names like a treasure trove, W stretched out his fingers and fiddled with the strange combination hanging in the air.

Under the influence of W fingers, these models kept rolling.

"These are so-called 'chemical formulas'?"

"That's about right. I'm more used to calling them baseball bat models. Once I get the book, I'll make some preparations. I'll teach you some basic knowledge and you can start trying to make these things. You don't have to worry about accidents since I'll be there to protect you."

"Ah."

W has never been averse to learning to gain greater power, and with Xue Zhi protecting him, his worries no longer have to worry about it.

"One more thing. I need to help you see if I can get you a launcher or something like that. Throwing explosives with your bare hands is too unsafe and inefficient."

This is not a difficult question. W uses a variety of explosives, but there are basically no primer-activated ones, so a large slingshot should be able to solve most problems.

"what ever."

W stretched out in Xue Zhi's arms, and held down Xue Zhi's big hand that had quietly climbed to her chest through her clothes. She raised her head and looked up at Xue Zhi, her slightly red face revealing a charming look.

"Aren't you tired?"

"How can I be tired when I have a beauty like you? But if you are tired, I don't mind helping you relax."

"Eh~, so corny."

Feeling Xue Zhi's slowly sliding hand down, W leaned against his chest and closed his eyes.

Soon, the lights in the tent dimmed, and suppressed sounds of joy were heard.

Chapter 31: Divide the money and prepare for business