Three days later.
At the boundary of Area 9 of the Mellon Consortium, a figure covered in dirt and mud emerged from the grass. After looking around and seeing no danger, he carefully groped his way out, stepped barefoot on the moss-covered ground, and limped into the ruined street ahead.
"Finally back in Area 9." Dudian's tense body finally got a little relief. These past few days, when passing through Area 6, if it hadn't been for his sense of smell that allowed him to detect monsters and zombies in advance, he probably would have lost his life hundreds of times over. Even so, he had almost died. He was attacked by a sharp-horned snake that knew how to hide its scent while sleeping at night. Fortunately, he reacted in time and wasn't entangled by it, otherwise he would have been doomed.
Following the route he remembered from before, Dudian walked towards the location where the Cold Crystals were stored. Along the way, he smelled the scent of some Bone-eating Rats from the ruins of various collapsed buildings. Besides, he also smelled the scents of some other monsters coming from the entrance of the sewer.
Although hunters could hunt monsters on the land, they were completely helpless against underwater monsters. Once, someone tried to kill them with poison, but the water in the sewer led in all directions. It was estimated that even if tons of poison were poured in, it might not be able to kill the monsters. Moreover, due to the mutability of the monsters, if they weren't killed immediately, they might evolve again and become even more terrifying.
After a while, Dudian found his hiding spot. He lifted the stone and found the wrapped Cold Crystals and the rotten gun inside.
Dudian put the gun aside, opened the bundle of Cold Crystals, and looking at these crystal-clear and round Cold Crystals, he couldn't help but think of their real name, "Soul Crystals". Perhaps, these were really the souls of the zombies when they were alive?
Dudian shook his head, put away his thoughts, rolled up the sleeve of his left hand, and held a dagger. He suddenly hesitated in his heart. If it wasn't necessary, he really didn't want to absorb these Cold Crystals to enhance his strength. He always felt that something bad would happen. However, now he was pushed to a desperate situation. If he didn't enhance his strength, he wouldn't be able to return inside the Wall. Staying outside for a long time, the radiation in his body would increase sharply.
Gritting his teeth, Dudian cut a blood mark on his wrist, picked up a Cold Crystal, and immediately blocked it against the blood mark.
The next moment, he saw this icy Cold Crystal, like ice and snow meeting boiling water, gradually melting, turning into a translucent viscous liquid that slowly seeped into the blood mark on his arm.
In the blink of an eye, a Cold Crystal the size of a table tennis ball disappeared at the blood mark.
Dudian felt that the area near the blood mark was cool and full of power. He gritted his teeth, picked up the second Cold Crystal, and continued to absorb it.
After the second one disappeared, Dudian continued to absorb the third, the fourth...
In the blink of an eye, ninety Cold Crystals entered his left hand and disappeared. There was no swelling or other signs on his arm at all.
Dudian looked at the remaining dozen or so Cold Crystals in the bundle and immediately picked up another one and pressed it against the blood mark.
The Cold Crystal slowly melted and flowed into his arm. When Dudian picked up another one, he suddenly felt a chill emerging from the blood mark on his left hand. At the same time, a swelling discomfort came from both his left hand and his stomach, accompanied by a feeling of nausea and the urge to vomit. His brain also felt a bit tired and dizzy. He had experienced such a reaction when he absorbed the Cold Crystals last time and knew that he had reached his limit. He immediately released the Cold Crystal in his hand and stopped absorbing it.
He hugged his left hand, leaned against the wall, and quietly waited for this uncomfortable reaction to subside.
However, this time things didn't go as Dudian had expected. This uncomfortable feeling of dizziness, vomiting, and the bone-chilling cold not only didn't weaken but became stronger and stronger.
Dudian felt as if he was in the Black Snow Season, surrounded by endless ice and snow, making him shiver.
Crack! Crack!
Suddenly, Dudian heard the sound of piercing ice. Following the source of the sound, he was horrified to see that his left hand had started to freeze from the fingertips! Moreover, the freezing ice slowly spread, extending from his fingers to his palm, and then to his wrist. Judging by the trend, it seemed that it would spread from his left hand to his whole body!
Dudian was terrified. He quickly covered the frozen part of his left wrist. Immediately, he felt the biting cold seeping into his right hand, and the ice actually covered his right hand. He was so scared that he quickly withdrew his right hand. Seeing that the ice was still spreading upwards, his mind went blank.
In this moment of panic, he suddenly thought of fire.
The best way to stop the cold was to use fire!
With his right hand, he quickly took out the flint hidden in the inner armor of his chest that he carried with him. He held the flint steel and rubbed and struck it desperately. Soon, sparks were ignited. He picked up the dry firewood on the ground beside him, peeled the filaments with his teeth, and threw them on the sparks, and it gradually caught fire.
He continuously picked up the nearby fallen leaves and broken vines and stacked them on the sparks to make the fire burn. The fire grew bigger and bigger.
However, Dudian saw that on his left hand, the ice was still spreading upwards and had already reached his elbow. The biting cold all over his body was not warmed up at all by this vigorous fire.
Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind. He stretched his left hand into the fire to be burned!
When the ice on his hand met the fierce fire, it melted quickly. Moreover, bursts of intense pain came from his arm. This pain was not from being burned by the fire but as if countless ice knives were stabbing into the inside of his arm.
Dudian withdrew his left hand and hugged it, rolling on the ground in pain.
After his arm was out of the fire, the pain immediately lessened. However, the ice that had stopped spreading started to extend towards his shoulder along his arm again. This made him feel terrified. He didn't know if it would continue to spread upwards after reaching his shoulder. If it froze his throat, he would suffocate to death!
Dudian gritted his teeth and raised his left hand again to be roasted in the fierce fire.
The ice gradually melted into water, dripped into the fire, and evaporated into water vapor, hissing.
The biting pain also came from his left hand. He was in so much pain that he wanted to scratch his scalp. He tried his best to withdraw his hand but still held back with great effort. He picked up a thick dry firewood from the ground and bit it tightly. The intense pain made him completely lose control. A low growl like that of a wild beast came from his throat. Tears welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face. Big beads of cold sweat also seeped out from his forehead, mixing with the tears and continuously falling.
In such painful endurance, he didn't feel the passage of time at all. He didn't know how long it had passed, maybe more than ten minutes, or maybe less than a minute. Gradually, he felt that the biting pain in his left hand lessened, and then he slowly couldn't feel the stabbing pain.
His eyelids trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes. The next moment, he saw that his left hand was on fire!
The hunting armor on his hand was made of animal skin and was sizzling as it burned. His arm was like a burning stick!
Dudian was so scared that he quickly withdrew his hand and slapped it on the ground desperately. Soon, the fire was put out, and black smoke rose from his left hand.
Dudian raised his left hand to look at it and found that the skin on his left hand was only slightly burned, but the wrist guard of the hunting armor on his left hand was burned to pieces. He let out a sigh of relief. The next moment, he suddenly froze.
His left hand was so seriously injured... Why couldn't he feel the pain?