Chapter 301: Contaminated Equipment

On the highway, on the command vehicle.

The convoy speeds forward.

Wang Meng stands on the command vehicle's top, brows furrowed, staring fixedly at the direction the black off‑road vehicle disappeared.

Seeing the troops, they flee; even the vehicles oddly fly up.

No need to think; it must be the Awakened Ones' doing.

Just as he hesitated whether to send troops to investigate, the soldiers at the front suddenly shouted nervously:

"Commander Wang!"

"Ahead, a suspected mutant! Extremely fast, only one!"

"What?!"

Wang Meng had no time to think; he quickly turned his head toward the direction the sentry pointed.

In the distance on the highway, a dark red streak — a blood‑skinned frog‑person — rushes forward at high speed, a severed arm clenched in its mouth.

Mutant?

This direction?!

Didn't Lin Bo Cheng say the mutant was killed? What is this then?

"Cha‑cha‑cha!"

Machine‑gun fire sweeps; the gunner at the convoy's front chooses to open fire.

The other Awakened Ones stare nervously at the red monster, ready to strike at any moment.

The red monster moves with extreme speed, like a red lightning bolt, charging straight at the convoy.

"Awakened Ones, attack!"

"Watch out for the monster's attack!"

"Kill..."

Wang Meng lets out a harsh shout, signaling the Awakened Ones squad to act directly.

The monster before us differs greatly from the mutants we've seen before, but it's undoubtedly a monster!

As his words fell, the blood‑flesh puppet that had been sprinting straight suddenly veered, leapt from the field, and dashed wildly toward the direction the off‑road vehicle vanished.

????

The Military Region's support troops stared dumbfounded at the oncoming red monster, which then suddenly 'fled'.

They had never before seen a mutant that would 'flee'.

What's going on?

On the vehicle, the Awakened Ones poised to act feel a suffocating tension in their chests.

Even if the off‑road vehicle just flew off, how could we encounter a mutant that also runs away?

Wang Meng's eyes flickered with astonishment; he barely held back a curse.

"Send a scout team to check the direction the off‑road vehicle disappeared!"

"These people are definitely up to something!"

Doubts pile up, especially deep inside he feels he's missed something important.

Without further hesitation, a squad of Awakened Ones and soldiers on motorbikes hurriedly followed the tire tracks left by the off‑road vehicle.

Beside the black off‑road vehicle, Zhang Tie eagerly pried a pair of gauntlets from the hands of the cracked‑corpse puppet.

He tore away a layer of blood‑skin as well.

Ignoring the pain.

The cracked‑corpse puppet following behind the Military Region's support unit returned first.

It stood there blankly, like a dead object.

"Lin Dui! Is this equipment still usable?"

Zhang Tie held the gauntlets high in his hand.

Originally snow‑white, the gauntlets turned flesh‑red, like two severed hands.

Lin An nodded, glancing briefly at the equipment's stats.

"Contaminated Gauntlets (white, attack equipment)"

"Equipment attribute: Strength +1"

"Equipment effect: Attack speed increased by 10%, and grants corpse‑poison on hit."

"Equipment description: Due to unknown reasons, the equipment's spiritual energy infusion is damaged, reducing attribute bonuses."

"Equipment review: The contaminated gauntlets can turn a person into a zombie."

"Eh, this equipment is useless."

Lin An gave it a couple of looks, then tossed it to Xiong Hanzi.

He has no use for the gauntlets; aside from Zhang Tie, no one else in the squad is suited for hand‑to‑hand combat.

But the gauntlets are perfect for a black bear.

After Zhang Tie transforms into a broken‑bone black bear, no weapon suits him well; the gauntlets are still the better choice.

Gao Tian, after hearing Lin An's casual remarks, deeply agreed.

He simply can't picture Zhang Tie, as a black bear, wielding blades and spears...

As for the corpse‑poison effect, it might be useful in prolonged combat.

At least it's an extra effect.

After a while, once the heartless puppet returned, Gao Tian rushed forward with anticipation, feeling it up and down.

Finally, under Lin An's perception, they found a blood‑soaked pistol in the heartless puppet's chest.

Contaminated spirit-energy pistol (white, attack equipment).

Equipment attributes: none.

Equipment special effect 1: Infinite bullets; after infusing spirit energy, it can automatically generate bullets.

Equipment special effect 2: The equipment description can be modified; after modification, it carries no effect.

Equipment description: Contaminated spirit-energy pistol, retaining only the ability to generate bullets.

Equipment evaluation: Trash; this equipment inherited part of the fantasy ability, but limited to fantasy.

Gao Tian stared blankly at the pistol in his hand, drips of sticky, foul-smelling blood falling.

Lin An laughed helplessly; he had never seen such trash equipment before.

No attributes added, not even bullet power.

Basically equivalent to rolling bullets by hand.

Looks like, for later turning flesh-and-blood puppets, one must first remove the equipment; otherwise, perfectly good equipment being contaminated like this is truly wasteful.

This spirit-energy pistol's only possible highlight lies in special effect 2.

Can the equipment description be arbitrarily modified?

Lin An pondered for a moment.

Subconsciously, he suddenly recalled a notorious heaven-shaking scam from his past life.

Thinking of it, he just did it.

He tentatively took the pistol, then randomly filled in a description.

A red light flashed, and the text in the equipment description instantly updated:

God-Slayer (green, attack equipment, set)

Equipment attributes: Strength +10, Agility +10, Will +10, Constitution +10

Equipment special effect 1 【Life Lock】: After locking on, a hit is guaranteed to kill.

Equipment special effect 2 【Bullet Rain】: Can lock onto up to 10 targets at once and fire simultaneously.

Equipment description: Under the barrel, no god survives.

Equipment evaluation: A weapon that once slaughtered spirits; killing a Fourth Stage is as easy as turning over one's hand.

As expected.

Lin An looked at the weapon in his hand, which could be called 'invincible,' with a strange expression, and a surge of impulse rose in his chest.

The modification of the text description has limits; he actually initially filled in attributes +999.

But after inputting, he found the maximum value was limited to 10 points.

Seeing Lin An modify the pistol into this description, Gao Tian and Zhang Tie couldn't help but exchange a glance:

Holy shit!

Amazed.

Any normal person could think of what this equipment could be used for...

Lin An likewise couldn't help but feel somewhat amazed.

Never expected that Li Lei's trait would actually be attached to the pistol.

Looks like the contaminated equipment is not completely useless.

If used well, the profit from this pistol is no less than that of an orange equipment.

Suddenly, he began to anticipate the day when the system opens the trading channel and auction house.

In his past life memory, he clearly remembered someone once trading a modified-description orange curved blade for a full set of blue equipment, plus...

a nuclear bomb...

At that time, in the trading channel, that curved blade was hyped up to astronomical prices.

Such that the final buyer, under crazy bidding, nearly went bankrupt.

But only after actually obtaining it did they discover that the curved blade was just trash...

Also because of this incident, in later trades many people feared another curved-blade incident, so each transaction made them nervous, repeatedly verifying.

Not hard to imagine.

That curved blade is likely also from this kind of contaminated equipment, just like the pistol in his hand.

Just don't know whether the way it was obtained is the same as his.

Also taking an Awakened One with belief power, bringing their weapon, then turning them into a puppet?

Lin An, lost in thought, tossed the pistol to Mo Ling, letting her make do with it for now.

He gestured for Mo Ling to have the flesh-and-blood puppets take separate routes to follow the Military Region and rescue team, then he hesitantly looked at the little loli.

That one.

Huh?

Mo Ling lifted her head to look at Lin An, a hint of fatigue flashing in her eyes:

What's wrong?

Lin An organized his thoughts a bit, but found there wasn't really anything to say.

He simply gripped an alloy long sword in his hand.

Hmm...

Nothing much, just borrowing your head for a bit.

Having said that, Lin An handed the iron box containing the skull to Mo Ling, then gestured for her to cut off her own head and place it inside.

Fan Bing beside them jumped in fright upon hearing it, feeling a chill run down her back, a coldness spreading.