As Jiu whipped out a spray and let it rip at the Neighborhood Watch, the critter suddenly stopped its rampage and started wobbling like it couldn't keep its balance. It looked totally wasted.
Seizing the moment, the rest of the crew pulled out almond water and splashed it all over the Neighborhood Watch's big peepers before it could even blink.
With a hiss, a loud scream seemed to burst from the Neighborhood Watch's eyeball. It shook its big eye and bolted in a panic, stumbling all over the place.
The rest of the team didn't give chase but stayed on high alert around the area.
After about half an hour, everything seemed chill.
"Phew," Jiu let out a long breath and said, "We got lucky this time. The Watcher didn't show up. Only a Forerunner came."
Then he added, "Let's all go fix the barbed wire first before we crash. Otherwise, we won't get any decent rest."
Me and the other team members all nodded and headed towards the warehouse.
This base was the biggest one they had in Level 9, with a dedicated warehouse packed with tons of supplies and gear.
But just as we reached the warehouse door, my heart suddenly skipped a beat, like something super dangerous was closing in!
In the blink of an eye, a thick fog rolled in around us!
In just a few seconds, I couldn't see squat, and even the members of the Wandering Explorers Alliance were just blurry outlines.
While I was totally confused, Jiu suddenly yelled, "It's Crusher..."
Oh crap!
My heart sank. The Babel Lip Balm had worn off, meaning Jiu and I couldn't talk.
I couldn't understand what Jiu was saying now, but I knew I had to get the hell out of this fog.
Because in the fog, I felt goosebumps all over, like something was watching me.
With the fog so thick, I couldn't see a thing and just ran in any direction.
At that moment, I felt the temperature drop like a rock. In no time, I was shivering, and a creepy wind sound started echoing around me.
But this wind sound didn't clear the fog; instead, it made it harder to hear anything.
I ran around like a headless chicken in the fog and soon had no clue where I was.
Luckily, my luck wasn't totally shot. I soon managed to escape the fog.
But as soon as I got out, I saw a corpse lying on the ground. It was Ba.
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I quickly scanned the area to figure out where the danger was coming from.
At that moment, I realized I had crossed the barbed wire and was now on the street. I looked back and saw the whole base swallowed by fog.
Just then, my hearing came back, and the creepy wind sound rang out again. But this time, it felt different from the one in the fog.
Suddenly, a huge black shadow appeared on a distant building. It ran and jumped on the rooftops in a way that defied physics. In a flash, it was on a rooftop right in front of me.
It had long limbs and looked kinda like a spider, but with a human head. And this human-like head was almost as tall as a regular person!
Since no wanderer had ever snapped a close-up of it, there was only a sketch of the Overlord.
It stared at me from the rooftop, and I felt my scalp crawl. Without a second thought, I bolted deeper into the street.
I ran like hell, not knowing if the thing was chasing me or not. But I could constantly hear low growls and sobs in my ears. Just as I was running out of steam, I suddenly saw a door open in a house ahead. Standing in the doorway was Lu. He waved at me, signaling for me to come in and hide. I was over the moon and dashed towards the house. But as I got closer to Lu, he suddenly ran towards me. I freaked out and sensed something was off. I quickly turned and ran the other way. At that moment, Lu's skin split open, and a monster with bluish-red skin and a huge mouth on its belly lunged at me!
It was a skin-stealer!
I mentally high-fived myself for not falling for the trick.
These skin-stealers would kill a wanderer and then wear their skin to disguise themselves and lure in the wanderer's buddies.
Even though I had spotted the skin-stealer and escaped, I still felt a bit bummed because it meant Lu was toast...
At that moment, the growling and sobbing sounds in my ears suddenly stopped. I turned my head and saw the monster that had been chasing me was now going after the skin-stealer!
I was secretly stoked and ran even faster. Just then, a hand suddenly grabbed me from the bushes beside me and yanked me in.
I landed on my back in the bushes and quickly looked to the side. It was Jiu!
He signaled for me to keep quiet, and I quickly covered my mouth to show I got it.
We were hiding in the bushes, sneaking peeks like a couple of kids. After the monster took out the skin-stealer, it kinda just wandered around for a bit. Not spotting anything, it hopped onto the roof and bounced.
After a while, when the monster still hadn't shown up, Jiu next to me let out a big sigh of relief. He whipped out a tube of Babel Lip Balm and slicked it on his lips. Then he turned to me and said, "That thing's called a Crusher. It's the scariest and rarest monster in Level 9. Super hard to run into, but guess what? We hit the jackpot today and lost at least two teammates..."
He sighed and went on, "But hey, the good news is, this monster's got terrible eyesight. If you hide quick when you see it, you're usually golden..."
I nodded, feeling his sadness, and put on some Babel Lip Balm to kinda comfort him.
Jiu said, "Thanks. By the way, what's your nuclear energy? Haven't seen you use it yet..."
Hearing that, I froze: "Nuclear energy? What's that?"
Jiu was stunned too. He clearly didn't expect me to be clueless about it.
Then it hit me, and I pulled out a white pearl from my backpack, asking, "Is this what you call 'nuclear energy'?"
Jiu smacked his forehead and said, "I'm such an idiot!"
Then he explained, "Nuclear energy's a gift from the Beyond. It can pop up in dangerous spots. The riskier the place, the higher the level. The top level's seven."
"Each nuclear energy has different perks. Some boost agility, some strength. The higher the level, the bigger the boost."
"Usually, you can equip three nuclear energies, but no duplicates."
"Some wanderers can carry five. There's a theory that it's triggered by living in high-risk zones for a long time. And guess what? I can carry five, which kinda proves the theory."
Jiu paused and added, "Also, people with nuclear energy can sense it on others. But I didn't expect you to carry it without equipping it, and not even knowing how to..."
Hearing this, I got the gist of nuclear energy and understood why Jiu was so confident in letting me guard the southwest. He thought I had it equipped and was strong in combat... I thought for a sec and asked, "How do I equip it?"
Jiu said, "Easy. Just swallow it. After that, it'll pop up in your mind, and you'll know its info."
I nodded and swallowed it without hesitation. Instantly, the info appeared in my mind.
Nuclear Energy: Level 2
Effect: Speed +2
Is it equipped? (Remaining slots: 3)
I told Jiu about the boost and asked how much speed +2 was.
Jiu said, "Like, if you usually run 100 meters in 12 seconds, with speed +2, you'll do it in 11."
"This isn't much..." I muttered.
"Not much?" Jiu rolled his eyes. "Do you know how much training it takes to shave off a second? You think nuclear energy's gonna turn you into Superman? It just gives a simple boost, nothing crazy."
"I saw a vagrant with three level four nuclear energies, but he couldn't even take down a sad zombie with a stick. So don't think nuclear energy makes you invincible. If you do, it'll just mess you up."
I nodded seriously and asked, "If I equip nuclear energy, can I swap it out for another one?"
"Yup," Jiu said. "But you can only do it when entering a new level, and only once. If you wanna do it again, you gotta re-enter that level."
I nodded to show I got it and thought, "Equip."
Instantly, three slots appeared in my mind, one with the pearl and two empty.
Just as I was about to ask Jiu about his nuclear energies, something unexpected happened.
Next to Jiu, a floating one-eyed monster popped up and reached for him. Without thinking, I shoved Jiu away. He was startled but rolled behind a tree in a flash. I jumped back, putting distance between me and the monster. Jiu was quick too. The moment I pushed him, he rolled behind a tree.
As soon as Jiu was clear, he shouted, "Watch out! That's a transporter!"
I was on high alert, keeping my eyes glued to this creepy thing in front of me. Its skin was jet black, just floating there like it didn't even have legs, and it was wrapped in this long, floor-length black coat. Some vagrant nearby was frantically scribbling notes on a transmitter. Then, out of nowhere, it started drifting toward me. Before I could even blink, it was right in my face. On the other side, Jiu whipped out a military dagger and was about to rush to my rescue, but by then, the thing had already grabbed me and tossed me against the wall like a ragdoll...