Chapter 23

Li Yi and Zhang Gao followed Brother Tao as they ventured deeper into the danger zone, and the journey was safe all the way.

However, even so, Brother Tao led the two of them to bypass three danger points, and finally, they successfully stopped in front of an abandoned high-rise building.

"The address is correct. This is the point we are to garrison. From now on, we will stay here for the next six hours."

Brother Tao took out his phone, opened the map to compare, and only after confirming there were no issues did he signal the two people behind him.

"Let's go, follow me to the top floor."

"Is this building dangerous?" Li Yi asked.

"This high-rise is at the very edge of that transcendent creature's territory. Other things in the danger zone dare not approach here, so for us, it is actually safe. Yang Yi Long and that Qin Qing are moving faster than us; it took us twelve minutes to reach the destination, while they only need about five minutes to kill their way into the center of this territory."

"Right now, that transcendent creature has to deal with Yang Yi Long and the others first and has no time to care about small fries like us. Once Yang Yi Long succeeds in the hunt, we can evacuate. But before that, we must report any abnormalities we see in the surroundings."

"There are too many unknown things hidden in the danger zone. Yang Yi Long invited us here precisely because he was afraid that unknown things from other places would approach and reap the benefits. Don't underestimate those things; anything that can occupy the danger zone for years without perishing is no simple matter."

Brother Tao said while groping his way into the high-rise.

The building was well-preserved, with almost no damage, just covered in dust and without water or electricity. It was evident that the evacuation here had been very urgent. Walking inside, Li Yi could even see many abandoned important items, such as wallets, mobile phones, and car keys.

"There's actually money in this wallet. Can you believe it?"

Zhang Gao picked up an abandoned wallet and discovered that there were actually several hundred yuan in paper bills inside.

However, this old currency had ceased to circulate after the Heaven Tilt event, and its use was prohibited in the market, but it could be taken to a bank to exchange for new bills.

"If you don't mind the trouble, you can come to the danger zone to scavenge. If you're lucky, you can pick up quite a bit of money, and you might even unearth vaults left behind by wealthy families. In the past, many scavengers in the abandoned urban areas got rich, but those scavengers didn't dare enter the danger zone, so there is a lot of wealth left behind inside the danger zone," Brother Tao said while walking.

"Too much trouble, let's forget it." Zhang Gao thought for a moment, then finally shook his head and tossed the old wallet aside.

Although the idea was good, those who could enter the danger zone to survive would hardly be lacking that bit of money.

Moreover, the employer would have long since hired cultivators to take away anything particularly valuable. If it couldn't be taken, then either the item was in a particularly dangerous area, or it wasn't worth the effort.

Because of the lack of electricity, the elevators in the building were out of service, and the three of them could only head to the top floor via the stairs.

However, all of them had good stamina, and even climbing over twenty floors in one breath was no problem at all.

"Stop."

Suddenly.

Brother Tao, who was walking in the lead, stopped his footsteps abruptly. He halted on this floor.

Li Yi and Zhang Gao also stopped suddenly, and then their bodies instantly tensed up.

From Brother Tao's tone, they felt a trace of unusual tension.

Is there... an abnormality?

In the darkness.

Li Yi's pupils shifted slightly, attempting to search for the danger in the surroundings. Soon, his pupils constricted slightly; even without activating his Spirit Medium, he saw the danger hidden on this floor.

But that thing... what exactly is it?

A spider?

No, not a spider. Is that a 'person'?

On a wall of this floor, a strange person was clinging. That person's skin was a grayish-black color, almost blending in with the surrounding environment. But what made one feel horrified was that the person had no legs, and eight exceptionally thin and long arms were growing from their body, with a palm on each arm.

The eight palms were clinging to the wall like suction cups, allowing this humanoid creature to cling there like a giant spider.

Zhang Gao, who was to the side, also saw it at this moment, and his breathing involuntarily became rapid.

What to do?

Should they ignore this monster, or choose to kill this monster here?

Li Yi and Zhang Gao looked at Brother Tao.

At this time, Brother Tao had to make this decision because he was a Spirit Medium and his strength was relatively powerful.

Brother Tao was motionless at this moment, but his eyes were constantly sizing up the spider-man clinging to the wall, and he was also thinking about his next move.

"I'm going to make a move to test it. Having this thing here is unfavorable for our subsequent actions. Even if we can't kill it, we must find a way to drive it away. You two be careful." Soon, he made his decision and said in a low voice.

"Okay."

Li Yi took a deep breath and prepared himself to respond.

Brother Tao no longer hesitated and quickly approached the strange spider-man on the wall.

When he closed the distance to a certain point, the strange humanoid creature clinging to the wall immediately noticed. Its eight thin, long arms suddenly moved, and then its body shifted rapidly, moving to the adjacent wall for a distance of about four or five meters before stopping its movement briefly.

And the moment that strange humanoid creature stopped, a gleam of light suddenly appeared in the dark floor.

Eyewitness!

This was a unique attack method for cultivators who had activated their Spirit Medium. Brother Tao seized the opportunity and chose to strike.

Although Eyewitness was almost useless against cultivators of the same level, it was a devastating blow to existences weaker than oneself, and it was also a very good probing method.

"Ah!"

Instantly.

A sharp scream immediately echoed in the silent building. This sound was very horrifying; it sounded like a human, and yet also like a wild beast.

However, Eyewitness did not kill the humanoid monster; instead, it enraged the thing.

The next moment.

That strange humanoid creature with eight arms on its body moved rapidly on the wall, quickly closing in on the direction of Li Yi and the others.

"This movement speed... so fast."

In just a second or two, the monster had moved to the top of Brother Tao's head. Then, two thin, long arms—the palms on those arms were like sharp claws—flailed with astonishing power, intending to tear Brother Tao in half directly.

"Bang!"

Dust was kicked up from the ground, and the hard cement floor was torn open with several ferocious marks by the monster.

But Brother Tao's figure was not slow either. While avoiding the attack, a black-coated machete appeared in his hand from somewhere. This knife was different from the common knives on the market; it seemed to be cast from a special alloy, not only sharp but also extremely tough.

He moved just as quickly, the black blade slicing through the pitch-black environment; one couldn't even see clearly where he had attacked.

But immediately afterward, the two arms of that spider-like humanoid monster were instantly severed into two sections, and strange fluids gushed out like fluorescence in the darkness, splattering everywhere.

After the attack proved effective, Brother Tao seemed to have gained great confidence. He leaped directly, attempting to chop off the monster's head.

This monster seemed to possess intelligence. After reacting, the remaining arms flailed wildly, attempting to repel Brother Tao.

In mid-air, the sharp blade collided with the strange palms, actually sparking.

The attack failed, and Brother Tao's figure retreated explosively, quickly opening up distance to prevent any mishaps.

"This thing's neural reaction speed is faster than mine, and it can even block my blade. Truly terrifying," Brother Tao cursed in a low voice.

After losing two arms, this spider-man-like monster seemed to realize that Brother Tao was not to be trifled with. It did not attack again but retreated rapidly along the wall at an astonishing speed.

"It's going to escape," Zhang Gao said hurriedly.

Brother Tao's expression was solemn, and he did not take action: "Let it go. This monster has suffered a loss and won't appear in this area again for a short time. Since we didn't kill it just now, don't force a fight; it's not worth it."

He didn't want to block it, fearing a mishap and ending up dead here.

After all, this trip was just to make money, not to risk his life.

In just three or four seconds, this humanoid monster drilled out through a broken window at an extremely fast speed and then crawled rapidly along the outer wall of the building. Soon, as the sound of crawling gradually disappeared, it could be confirmed that this thing was truly fleeing from here.

Seeing it leave, Li Yi also breathed a sigh of relief.

The speed at which that thing pounced just now was truly frightening; it was so fast that he almost couldn't react. Fortunately, Brother Tao had the upper hand and drove this thing away; otherwise, he would have turned around and run.

"It should be fine now."

Brother Tao did not lower his guard. After there was absolutely no movement, he observed the surroundings again, and only after confirming there was no danger did he slowly exhale.

"What exactly was that monster just now?"

Li Yi walked up at this moment and glanced at the severed half of the arm that had fallen on the ground.

Without a doubt, it was a human arm, but the bone density and muscle strength of that arm far exceeded those of an ordinary person, and it was even stronger than a cultivator who had activated their Spirit Medium.

"Who knows? Since the Heaven Tilt event, our world has had many things that cannot be understood. But no matter what it is, as long as it's a creature that doesn't belong to our world, it can be sold for money. Many research institutions are very interested in these things, and the purchase price on the market is also very high, even severed limbs can be sold for money."

Brother Tao put away his knife and approached the severed hand to take a look, but he couldn't identify what kind of creature it was. However, in the end, he still found a bag to pack the severed arm and took it with him.

"Many thanks to you just now, Brother Tao. Otherwise, we would have been in real danger," Zhang Gao said hurriedly in thanks.

"No need to thank me. This thing's danger level isn't particularly high, and I also wanted to see if I could kill it. Unfortunately, it escaped in the end," Brother Tao shook his head, feeling somewhat disappointed.

In the danger zone, the things that a Spirit Medium cultivator can hunt are very limited. He couldn't say he was unlucky to have encountered it.

Li Yi asked: "Brother Tao, if I may ask, how did you judge the strength of this thing? Just now it was clinging to the wall motionless, like a piece of wood; it was impossible to tell its strength."

"Two methods: one is experience, and the other is feeling."

Brother Tao lit a cigarette and said slowly: "The color of this thing's skin is grayish-black, almost identical to the color of the surrounding wall. If the body color is close to the environment color, it means it needs to rely on the environment to hide itself and protect itself from being discovered by other predators. Therefore, usually, creatures of this type won't be very strong. So this time, it was an analysis based on experience."

"So that's how it is."

After such an explanation, Li Yi immediately felt it made a lot of sense. At the same time, creatures like chameleons and octopuses came to his mind.

Anyone who needs to rely on the surrounding environment to hide themselves indeed cannot be particularly powerful.

Brother Tao then continued: "As for feeling... it's actually inspiration. Cultivators in the Spirit Medium Realm can activate inspiration if they continue to cultivate further. Such cultivators have very keen five senses and can perceive the strength of other creatures, better confirming their own status in the food chain. However, I haven't activated inspiration yet; the attack just now relied on experience analysis."

"Alright, enough talk. Let's go to the rooftop. Such a weak thing hiding here proves all the more that this place is safe. Next, I believe we won't encounter any other dangers."

Saying this, he did not linger here any longer and continued to walk toward the top floor along the stairs.

However, after this incident, Li Yi's vigilance was raised once again.

Fortunately, there was an experienced Spirit Medium leading the way this time. If he had rashly entered the danger zone on his own one day, he truly wouldn't even know how he died.

"It seems I still need to study hard and continue to improve."

Li Yi only felt at this moment that there was still much for him to learn.