Chapter 1146: Hidden Crisis

Interesting.

After reading the system prompt, Lin An's eyes flashed with a strange color.

No wonder the Heaven Eye Tribe hates these outsiders so much; it turns out their people were burned as firewood.

When spiritual energy cannot be replenished, these 'people' are practically walking points. Lin An wondered if he too fell into spiritual exhaustion, he would not hesitate to throw this Heaven Eye Tribe into the spiritual energy furnace.

In the apocalypse battlefield, sympathy is the most useless thing.

"Quiet."

Hearing the terrified screams nearby, Lin An coldly shouted for silence, ignoring the panicked crowd, and walked straight into the gathering place.

At a glance, the gathering place looked ramshackle but still had many items; quite a few looked like junk tech, which sparked a bit of his interest.

"A Gu! You traitor!"

"You actually brought an alien species back!"

As Lin An approached, a furious roar erupted from the gathering place. A muscular man clad in insect-shell armor burst out, wildly swinging his strange staff, and charged straight at him.

"No! I didn't!"

Behind Lin An, the dark-skinned youth cursed by the tribe panicked, flailing his hands anxiously.

"He promised not to kill us!"

However, the burly man resembling a tribal chief refused to listen to the youth's explanation, simply charging madly at Lin An.

"Die, alien species!"

Watching the farce before him, Lin An flashed a hint of impatience in his eyes.

Although he could understand why the Heaven Eye Tribe hated him, their constant squawking annoyed him greatly.

"Whoosh!"

As the distance closed, the middle-aged man resembling a tribal chief firmly twisted his staff; in an instant, a scorching energy bolt shot toward Lin An's eyes.

"Sizzle"

"Boom!!"

With the sound of the energy explosion, the spot where Lin An stood instantly burst into thick black smoke, blasting a deep crater into the ground.

Clutching his staff tightly, the middle-aged man nervously stared into the smoke.

His staff is the 'Tribe-Suppressing Divine Artifact,' which has slain alien species before; he would only use it in the last few charges, never drawing it unless the tribe's survival was at stake.

"Is he dead!?"

The middle-aged man panted, the divine staff passed down from the previous chief could blast a fire-spitting insect to death with a single shot!

Holding their breath, the crowd in the gathering place stared nervously, unaware that the few who had brought Lin An over were now pale with fear.

However, the next second, as the dust settled, a cold, impatient voice suddenly rang out.

"My patience is limited."

"Swish"

Standing in place, Lin An released a pressure that knocked the middle-aged man to his knees with a bang, while his right hand wielded arcane power to easily snatch the staff from the man's grasp.

Casually examining the black staff that looked like a firewood stick, Lin An raised his eyebrows in mild surprise.

"Ding, acquired blue-tech item: Mining Device (Civilian)."

"Can be used for blast mining; at high power it reduces lifespan."

"Mining device..."

Staring at the black staff in his hand, Lin An felt a brief moment of bewilderment, then a strange sensation welled up.

Although this thing hardly harmed him, that attack just now was at least second-level; a pure energy attack equivalent to an Awakened One's skill.

Even a civilian device has this kind of power?

The civilization that once existed here seems not so simple.

Before Lin An could speak, seeing the unharmed tribal chief stare wide-eyed, the nearby tribesmen were also startled.

They knew alien species were strong, but perhaps they had never encountered third-level beings; seeing someone like Lin An was their first time.

Reaching out, Lin An grabbed the stunned tribal chief and pulled him to his face.

Coming to his senses, seeing himself about to fall into alien hands, the middle-aged man shouted sharply, and the eye on his forehead snapped open.

"Whoosh!"

In the middle of his forehead, the horizontal third eye burst forth a red laser that, at close range, instantly shot into Lin An's eyes.

"Sizzle!"

A spiritual energy shield instantly formed; Lin An coldly watched the red laser constantly striking his body's surface, as if frozen, the laser continuously streaming from the third eye.

"Seek death!"

Lin An seized the man and shoved him forward, violently pressing the laser toward his eyes.

In his terrified gaze, the emitted red laser kept compressing, finally like a burst pipe, it was forced back into his eyes.

"Ahhhhh!!"

A miserable wail.

Without Lin An lifting a finger, the seized tribal chief painfully touched his forehead, and a burnt smell immediately spread.

Only see his forehead's eye, the laser that was forced back burned most of it, like a scorched nut, emitting white smoke.

Faced with repeated provocations from the Heaven Eye Tribe, Lin An could barely suppress his killing intent, directly reaching out to gouge out the opponent's third eye.

Holding the somewhat slippery eyeball, Lin An exerted a little force and popped it like a grape.

Nothing special about it; the special part must be the Heaven Eye Tribe's brain.

This eyeball is more like a focusing emitter.

Shaking off the blood on his hand, Lin An coldly looked at the frightened crowd:

If I get another chance, I'll throw you into the spirit furnace and gouge out your eyes to use as material.

A lunatic who can't communicate properly.

Lin An couldn't be bothered to wonder whether these people were attacking him repeatedly due to a stress reaction; if he hadn't realized they could help him reduce his spirit energy consumption—and felt a hint of pity—the best solution would be to toss these human‑like beings into the spirit furnace and burn them all as fuel.

Under his ruthless tactics, the remaining crowd shook with fear, too terrified to utter a sound.

Seeing Lin An before them, they realized this demon was far stronger than any they had faced before.

If they angered him further, this demon would indeed slaughter them all in the most brutal manner.

Ten minutes later.

Standing before the spirit furnace, Lin An gazed thoughtfully at the rough "chart" in his hand—or rather, a soon‑to‑fail electronic tablet map.

The item was extorted from the chieftain.

According to them, this is a "divine artifact" used for mutual communication between their gathering sites. It marks each site's location, with the red dots' intensity indicating population. If it vanishes, it signals an insect swarm attack, and they flee at once.

On this antique‑like electronic screen, Lin An unexpectedly found that the gathering site he occupied was not small—it was of medium size.

"100 points per hour, doubling every hour."

However, it's not exponential doubling; it's a fixed increase of 100 per hour... only the base doubles.

"Two hours: 200 points, three hours: 300 points... According to this, the later returns become ever more extravagant..."

Looking at the gathering site of about a thousand people before him, Lin An realized that the larger the occupied site, the higher the base point reward.

After 24 hours, the point reward reaches a respectable 2,400 points per hour.

After holding the site for two days straight, the total earnings exceeded thirty thousand points, and on the third day they reached an outrageous seventy thousand points!

This means that, theoretically, even without counting points from killing insects, holding the site for four or five days straight would yield enough points to exchange several epic‑grade equipment pieces; and if one could hold the site for a full week's survival trial, obtaining a tier‑four card would be easy.

Faced with such generous rewards, Lin An instantly became wary.

He didn't believe the system would be that generous.

Where will the crisis arise?