novelraw Chapter 65 : White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain
Chapter 65 : White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain
Ink Hills followed the mountain path onto the island. Apart from the traces that had been burned unclear by the fire energy Chen Sui had spread throughout the island, the ground vaguely showed marks of artillery fire and blade contacts, both old and new.
After observing along the way, Zhang Yingjie, who had come down from the supply point, suddenly looked up at the high tower of the supply point, then gazed toward the distant high position, suddenly comprehending.
"Zhu Jing Fu must have stayed here for a long time, at least two days."
He guessed Xie Chunshi's fishing law enforcement behavior and also noticed the Competition Committee's darkened mark inside the supply point.
Xin Ming followed his speculation: "They used the supply point to attract teams, but how could they be certain teams would come? If not, wouldn't that be a waste of time?"
The two suddenly exchanged a glance, and finally pointed to the same thing.
—"The Sky Pillar!"
Xin Ming was somewhat surprised: "It seems they've already figured out the rules of the Sky Pillar."
Zhang Yingjie nodded, his expression somewhat solemn.
He looked toward the analyst: "Can you determine the direction of the energy body battle?"
Jiang Zhongyu, through sensing the residual energy fluctuations, pointed toward the pure blood tree forest.
When Ink Hills entered the pure blood tree forest, they only saw plant remnants all over the ground, and trees burned like black charcoal, maintaining their upright structure.
The plants had long lost their vital firepower.
Seeing this scene, Ink Hills' foot soldier, Zhao Jingzhi, who also had a fire attribute, felt somewhat unbalanced: "Both are fire attributes, why do some people set mountains on fire, while others set themselves on fire?"
His spiritual body was the giant shrimp prototype from the SS energy field [Orchid Marsh Islands].
When fire-attribute energy concentrated, the giant shrimp would turn completely red, emitting a fresh aroma that stimulated appetite.
Jipuna, his good buddy, put an arm around him and, hearing this, loyally comforted him: "Don't say that, Little Zhi. Sometimes after fighting with you, I can eat an extra bowl of rice."
Braised prawns really are fragrant.
Zhao Jingzhi was not comforted at all. With mixed feelings, he approached the pure blood tree forest, and his expression gradually became more bizarre.
The pure blood tree in front seemed to have been drained of blood. The tree was covered with cuts, with some dried red liquid beneath the knife wounds, already solidified into hard chunks.
Looking at the forest where not a single drop of pure blood could flow out, Zhang Yingjie and Xin Ming were momentarily speechless.
Jiang Zhongyu, uncomfortable from the dust everywhere, didn't speak either.
Instead, it was Jipuna and Zhao Jingzhi, walking forward playfully, who both burst out with two consecutive "holy shits."
Jipuna reached out to touch it, drew his weapon, and made a cut on the trunk. After waiting a while, seeing no pure blood flow out, he couldn't help but ask in astonishment: "This couldn't also be done by Zhu Jing Fu, could it?"
Zhao Jingzhi's foot stepped on a withered branch that had been burned to charcoal but still retained its shape. However, where he touched it, the mecha's foot lightly tapped, and it turned into a pile of black powder.
Jiang Zhongyu looked at the hollow hole in the center of the withered branch, staring at it for several seconds.
Zhao Jingzhi, seeing him staring at the spot near his feet, hurriedly moved aside carefully. Hearing Jipuna's voice, he approached him and then saw the unresponsive pure blood tree: "Not a single drop left?"
He sincerely exclaimed: "Are those people from Zhu Jing Fu leeches? How could they drain so much, sucking an entire forest dry?"
Zhang Yingjie also recovered for a moment, his brain coming online to think for a second: "Xie Chunshi's spiritual body is water-attribute. He must have controlled water to force all the pure blood out."
Zhao Jingzhi shook his head, incredulous: "So generous. Others control water to fight monsters, but he uses it for this?"
Jiang Zhongyu walked toward the position where Zhao Jingzhi had just been. Zhang Yingjie and Xin Ming looked over and immediately followed. The three looked down at the plant remnants pierced with a large hole.
"This kind of wound..."
Jiang Zhongyu's sensed energy fluctuations returned: "There are two types of wood-attribute fluctuations around, an A-level spiritual body and an SS+ energy body."
The SS+ energy body was undoubtedly the energy body in the pure blood tree.
But—
Xin Ming recognized that this was the trace caused by wood-attribute's commonly used technique of stimulating vine growth, and immediately understood Jiang Zhongyu's confusion: "An A-level spiritual body suppressed an SS+ energy body's vine growth? This is truly rather bizarre."
Besides this, Jiang Zhongyu had another confusion: "Fire-attribute energy dispelled the island's closure. Zhu Jing Fu's fire-attribute spiritual body is..."
He looked at the Team Leader. Zhang Yingjie continued: "Strong attacker, Gu Qinxue. Her energy body is fire-attribute, with the prototype of the three-eyed flame rabbit from the SS-level energy field [City of Deception], level SS+."
Jiang Zhongyu looked upward. The fire-attribute energy factors had dispersed considerably, making it difficult to sense the initial level.
"This energy level is dissipating too quickly," he speculated about the energy level amplitude. "It doesn't look much like SS+, more like S-level."
Xin Ming nodded, her voice carrying warm gentleness, soothing Jiang Zhongyu's frustration at not being able to see the level clearly: "Gu Qinxue's core crystal condition isn't very good, so her energy dissipation is indeed faster, making it harder to trace back than other energy fluctuations."
When Xin Ming mentioned this point, Jipuna, who had finished his shocked comments, heard it and immediately approached with a gossip face: "Sister Xin, is the gossip exploding on the StarNet forum true?"
Not only was he gossiping, but the barrage was also waiting for Xin Ming's answer.
Xin Ming softly made an "ah" sound, smiling slyly, "You believe the gossip on StarNet! There are also people saying you skipped training matches to go to Na Luo River, collaborating with Simos to appear in the underground music city! Do you believe that too?"
Jipuna guiltily touched his nose, coughing awkwardly, and sneered: "You're right, we can't fully trust it!"
He pretended to be profound, looking up at a 45-degree angle toward the sky, "For certain truths, conviction is more dangerous than rumors.*"
"Alright, philosopher, put away your philosophy," Zhang Yingjie saw him put on a profound face and start reciting a philosophical quote completely unrelated, immediately realizing that Jipuna's philosopher performance disease had flared up again, and cut him off.
"Zhu Jing Fu's actions are excessively clean."
After searching around for a while, Xin Ming diplomatically remarked.
Zhao Jingzhi didn't have her high emotional intelligence and directly exposed the truth: "Not just clean, it's like plucking feathers from a passing goose. The fire nitrate mine had barely grown any fire nitrate stones, yet they dug it all clean."
Thinking of the completely cleared mine cave, he laughed from extreme anger. No wonder they left so neatly and decisively—they practically took the mountain with them.
The five members of Ink Hills walked to a high position on the island, observing the surrounding sea areas.
Xin Ming turned to look at the mecha in front, raising her voice slightly: "Are we going to observe the Sky Pillar's situation here?"
Zhang Yingjie lowered his eyes to think for a few seconds, then shook his head at her. He handed the repair device to Jipuna.
"Reduce the deterioration rate. We're also leaving the island. There are no more resources around here. After the fifth day, the map will shrink according to resource distribution. We're heading to the base station."
This was the pattern of past elimination matches.
In the first elimination match, there were many participating teams and a large map. As more teams were eliminated, the Competition Committee would concentrate the remaining teams based on resource distribution and incite chaotic battles.
The resource point location couldn't be determined, but one thing was certain: any team wanting to know the sea domain distribution map would go to the base station.
Jipuna's mecha repair needed time, so the five stayed on the island for a while.
Just as Zhang Yingjie was thinking about Zhu Jing Fu's route, the distant sea surface suddenly began to roll.
Huge waves rose, violently surging outward, and a massive whirlpool formed in the distance, rapidly creating a whirlwind that lifted the seawater, forming a giant sea tornado on the water surface. The water turned turbid and chaotic, and the waves around the island also became fierce.
The calm sea seemed to roar, beginning to emit one growl after another.
All five members of Ink Hills were attracted by the sight. Jiang Zhongyu felt an unusual fluctuation from afar, immediately furrowing his fine brows, "There's a spiritual body fluctuation in the Sky Pillar!"
The Sky Pillar, coming from the distant sea area, had competitors moving within it.
Zhang Yingjie watched the Sky Pillar's trajectory. It was quite far from the island, but on the vast sea surface, its movement was visible, this route......
"Zhu Jing Fu is over there."
Zhang Yingjie had imagined many possible routes for Zhu Jing Fu, but now seeing the Sky Pillar pass by, he suddenly became certain, "They must have discovered something, like the rules of the Sky Pillar."
He spoke with such certainty that Jiang Zhongyu's beautiful face showed a trace of doubt: "How could that be? We've calculated the appearance and trajectory of the Sky Pillar, but so far, we haven't found any pattern."
Zhang Yingjie turned to look at him: "We've only seen it twice, and both times it just passed by. Zhu Jing Fu has been on this island for at least two days, judging by the elimination light pillars and battle traces. They've had enough time and samples to understand the Sky Pillar."
Jiang Zhongyu pressed his lips together. The color in his face was somewhat pale, but his lips were unusually red, creating a stark contrast. Unable to find a reason to refute Zhang Yingjie's words, he felt somewhat uneasy inside.
"Are we still going to the base station now?"
Zhang Yingjie nodded: "Of course, the water-repellent material we acquired is enough for us to sail for one day. We'll go near the base station and pay attention to collecting water-repellent material."
Zhang Yingjie had a premonition that with White Sand Island potentially dissolving into seawater at any time, the only places to land in the end would be the base station and the real island. With 50 teams competing for just a few landing spots, chaotic battles would be inevitable, making water-repellent material and energy particularly important.
His gaze looked far away at the Sky Pillar circling the island, sweeping the entire sea area.
Meanwhile, rushing to catch the passing Sky Pillar and plunging right into it, Zhu Jing Fu had no idea that the team they had just met would be heading to the same destination.
The familiar dizziness, the familiar stopping method.
When the Sky Pillar stopped and dissipated in the center of the North Sea Domain, several mechas within it were thrown out by the residual force, violently crashing into the seawater. Eventually, due to their scattered dispersion, Chen Sui's energy wound around a reef, tightening around the mechas on both sides to stop them.
Zhou Chen's figure hadn't yet stopped, and he immediately let out a vomiting sound.
Everyone else simultaneously closed the team channel.
Chen Sui retracted her energy, shaking her head, with the dizziness gradually fading.
As her vision gradually cleared and her consciousness became alert in the first second, she released energy perception to sense the energy level.
When the perception returned, Chen Sui was rubbing her temple: "This energy fluctuation is somewhat similar to the one near the Sky Pillar."
She muttered softly, causing Ji Qing in the main control room to have a heart jump.
Realizing she hadn't paid much attention, he breathed a sigh of relief.
In the White Sand Sky Pillar Sea Domain, the Sky Pillar had two formation methods: one was naturally formed by the energy field, starting and stopping according to energy field fluctuations; the other was through base station control of energy level changes, causing the Sky Pillar to stop.
Zhu Jing Fu had already figured out the pattern of the Sky Pillar's natural formation and, based on the distribution of White Sand Island and base stations, could use the Sky Pillar to achieve their goals. If they also knew about the Competition Committee's hidden design, other teams might as well give up.
It had only been four days, yet they were already a big step ahead.
It wasn't that Chen Sui hadn't noticed; she just hadn't had time to process this point. She quickly marked the energy fluctuations around them on her hand, determining the base station location.
Chen Sui looked at Xie Chunshi, waiting for instructions, when her peripheral vision caught Zhou Chen sprawled on the reef, looking completely exhausted.
She glanced at him somewhat pitifully: "Such a strong reaction, are you really not too weak?"
Zhou Chen was still listless, but his spirit remained unyielding. Hearing such belittling words, he immediately raised his head to defend himself: "How could that be? I could challenge the entire Summoning Department. Go ask around—who doesn't know that I, Zhou Chen, have excellent combat ability and physical fitness?"
After saying this, he gave Chen Sui a once-over, snorting and challenging: "You think I'm like you, exhausted after fighting for just a while? My endurance is very strong."
As he spoke, he reached out to Puluo, "Puluo, give me a hand."
The foot soldier extended an arm, letting him cling to it like a railing, and supported him as he stood up.
"Mere Sky Pillar," Zhou Chen rallied his spirits, shaking his head to suppress the splitting headache, pretending to be relaxed: "Is that all? Just some minor injuries and pain!"
He affectedly flicked nonexistent dust off his shoulders.
Chen Sui and Gu Qinxue exchanged a glance, and she teased: "Even if you were burned to ashes, your mouth would still be tough."
Zhou Chen mumbled, wanting to retort, but Puluo picked him up in one go, letting him lie on his back, using a more comfortable posture to borrow strength as he carried him forward: "Say less. You're so weak you can't even stand steady."
Zhou Chen finally nodded helplessly: "Fine, fine, fine. Wait until later to see my strength. I, Zhou Chen, have been mediocre, have been weak, but never frail."
Xie Chunshi also found it hard not to smile. After marking the route on the map, he led the school team toward the base station.
The North Base Station was located in the center of the sea area, a floating steel island. The huge steel structure extended a layer of metal roads in all four directions of the island. Outside the base station was a layer of energy isolation barrier. After inputting permissions, mechas could penetrate the outermost protective shield and enter the inside of the base station.
Chen Sui landed ashore, looking up at the lookout tower that soared into the clouds. The surrounding energy level had dropped to almost undetectable. After passing through the isolation barrier, Chen Sui couldn't help but reach out with her mecha, feeling a resistance on the island.
"This is a continuous energy isolation device built by the Analyst Association's joint efforts," Xie Chunshi explained. "It's a large-scale analysis instrument completed by more than a dozen analysts working together."
Chen Sui nodded, looking at the man-made steel giant island before her. In front was a metal path leading to the base station, and further ahead was a circular archway, entering a long enclosed passageway.
The base station had a fully enclosed structure. The outer rim consisted of terraced buildings arranged in circles, narrowing upward, with a tall lookout tower standing high at the very top.
Xie Chunshi swiped his competition proof at the circular archway, and the rings of blue light surrounding the base station broke at the archway.
"Let's go."
The Team Leader turned his head to signal them.
Passing through a corridor built with white metal, inside the base station, half-bodied robots with four-wheel bases were handling base station tasks. They followed the illuminated guide to the repair room.
Xie Chunshi left the team to go to the lookout tower control center.
Chen Sui and the others were in the repair room, and with the energy isolation all around, they finally had the opportunity to come out of the mecha cockpits.
Several people jumped down from the tall mechas. Zhou Chen had dyed his hair back to black, finally stopping his plan to turn his hair into a rainbow of colors, but because of the Sky Pillar's aftereffects, he still hadn't recovered, with his head still dizzy.
As soon as he came down, he collapsed on the long bench beside the repair room.
"I think base stations also need to be equipped with medical pods."
His face was somewhat pale, having lost all the strength he had been forcing.
Chen Sui glanced back at him, taking the repair device from Puluo's hand, roughly disassembling the intelligent device, stopping the automatic repair program, and taking out all the tools.
Using the repair room's three-dimensional holographic projection to scan the mecha damage, seeing his half-dead appearance, she reminded him: "Want me to do a spiritual healing for you?"
Gu Qinxue stepped toward Zhou Chen, sitting down beside him.
Zhu Jing Fu's combat suits also had distinctive school uniform characteristics—black isolation material uniforms with large gold patterns on the back that looked like flames.
When Chen Sui came out, the barrage was slightly shocked. Her build looked excessively thin, but with every move, one could see the smooth muscle lines on her arms, very powerful.
But her face was extremely lean, with very clean and harmless features, even a bit cute with the braids on both sides.
[Zhu Jing Fu's analyst...... never mind, not saying anything]
[So the StarNet saying she could be killed with one punch is true]
[Isn't Zhu Jing Fu's Biology Department very famous? Why does this person look so thin? This is practically malnourishment, right?]
[Folks, please be rational. She's thin, yes, but she can take out outputs with one spear]
[Puluo standing next to the analyst, the contrast......]
Puluo was about two meters tall, with a massive build. His arms were almost as thick as Chen Sui's waist, looking like a giant bear as his large hands helped pass tools to Chen Sui.
Zhou Chen was stunned for a moment, instinctively wanting to refuse, but as soon as Gu Qinxue sat down, her frost-like eyes fixed on him, with a good degree of intention to take action.
"Um......" Zhou Chen swallowed the words he was about to say and changed them to: "That works?"
After speaking, he somewhat unnaturally explained: "I think I'm just dizzy from the Sky Pillar, not to the point of needing spiritual healing, right?"
For high-level spiritual bodies, the process of spiritual healing was somewhat uncomfortable, especially for someone like Zhou Chen, with a high degree of inner closure and heavy psychological defenses. Each spiritual healing felt like an invasion of privacy, making his scalp tingle.
But Zhou Chen glanced at Gu Qinxue out of the corner of his eye, seeing her cold face and gloomy appearance, and still nodded, "Alright then, in a bit. Let me rest first. Riding the Sky Pillar is more tiring than fighting."
As he spoke, his tongue pressed against his oral cavity. The Sky Pillar's rotation had been so uncomfortable that he couldn't help biting his mouth, and now his oral cavity was filled with a bloody taste.
Chen Sui turned to see him close his eyes and distributed nutritional fluid: "Today's nutritional fluid. When the Commander returns, we'll see where we go next. We're running low on nutritional fluid, and the spiritual bodies also need feeding agent supplements."
Zhu Jing Fu had been in the competition for four days, and they were still in a resource-deficient state. Thinking of this point, Chen Sui felt a kind of anxiety like seeing a bank account balance hit zero.
They needed to ride the Sky Pillar several more times to collect resources, otherwise, as the competition time progressed, it would become harder to find.
When Xie Chunshi returned, Chen Sui was still checking the mecha. Both Gu Qinxue and Zhou Chen had high mecha deterioration from testing weapons, and her own mecha wasn't low either. The three mechas had taken quite a bit of work. Seeing Xie Chunshi enter, she immediately asked him: "How's the situation around the North Base Station?"
Xie Chunshi shook his head, directly bringing up a holographic image: "Not good. The supply points in the North Sea Domain are concentrated in the outer ring, towards the direction of the West Sea Domain. Most likely, teams will eventually converge towards the West Sea Domain area."
"West Sea Domain......" Chen Sui pondered for a moment, her gaze stopping on the map, looking at the distance from the North Sea Domain to the West Sea Domain, suddenly enlightened: "We're taking the Sky Pillar there?"
"Yes," Xie Chunshi nodded, his deep voice carrying a slight laugh, "We can now play with the Sky Pillar. In the end, no matter where everyone congregates, the Sky Pillar will take us there."
"Play with the Sky Pillar?" Chen Sui repeated these words with a smile, glancing at the blank-eyed, still dazed Zhou Chen, revealing the truth, "I think it's more like the Sky Pillar playing with Zhou Chen."