Chapter 25: The Annihilation of Vulture Bluff, the Ley Line Core, and the Birth of the Farm

A metal sphere flashing with a deathly red light carved a deadly arc through the air and plunged straight into the center of the hollow! A piercing buzz rang out like a death knell!

"Hit the ground!" Wrench let out a screech in a changed tone, the first to throw himself flat and clamp his hands over his head.

Sister Ai Li reacted even faster! She whirled around, summoned every ounce of strength in her body, and slammed Lin Mo and Xiang Lingna beside her hard against the base of the sturdiest concrete wall inside the shack! Using her own body to shield the two of them!

Lin Mo only had time to catch Sister Ai Li's resolute, pale profile before a tremendous force slammed him to the ground the next second!

"BOOM——！！！！!"

The deafening explosion swallowed everything in an instant! A terrifying blast wave, like an invisible giant hammer, smashed brutally into the shack! The whole earth was shaking violently! The reinforced metal frame groaned under the unbearable load, the thick concrete walls cracked, and rubble and dust rained down like a storm! A scorching blast of air, laden with flames and lethal shrapnel, poured wildly in through the door and every gap!

The world seemed to lose its sound, leaving only a violent ringing in his ears and the dull thunder of his heart pounding. Lin Mo was knocked senseless, his mouth and nose full of dust, his back aching from the falling rubble. He felt Sister Ai Li's body, pressed against his, jolt sharply, as if struck by something, and let out a muffled groan!

"Sister Ai Li!" Lin Mo struggled in panic, trying to check on her.

"Don't move!" Sister Ai Li's hoarse voice was edged with pain, yet she pinned him down with unyielding resolve. The shockwave of the blast had not yet fully dissipated; outside was a hellish inferno of flying debris!

The chaos lasted for over a dozen seconds before the deafening explosion was replaced by the panicked roars of the beast horde and the crackle of flames.

Lin Mo shoved with all his might at the rubble and Sister Ai Li pinning him down, struggling to sit up. The sight before him made him gasp and suck in a cold breath!

More than half the shack had been blown apart! The metal frame was twisted and warped, the steel roof plates had vanished without a trace! The outer thorny fence and bunker had been utterly razed to the ground, leaving a massive, scorched-black crater! The hollow was a scene of utter devastation—carcasses of Blood-Claw Raiders and shattered vehicle parts lay scattered everywhere, burning. In the distance, toward Vulture Bluff, thick smoke was also billowing up; clearly, Lame Wolf had detonated something during his retreat, completely destroying his temporary camp.

The Blood-Claws, so ferocious just moments ago, seemed to have broken and fled amid the bomb and the chaos? But the price was a heavy one!

"Cough, cough… is Master Wrench still alive…?" A weak groan came from the corner. Wrench crawled out of a pile of parts, head covered in dirt, a tuft of his green hair singed away.

"Xiang Lingna!" Lin Mo hurriedly looked beneath him. Xiang Lingna had been shielded beneath Sister Ai Li; she was only frightened, no real harm done. She was staring in terror at Sister Ai Li, who lay pressed over both her and Lin Mo.

"Sister Ai Li!" Lin Mo's heart clenched instantly! He saw, embedded in Sister Ai Li's back, a palm-sized shard of metal with razor-sharp edges! Blood had already soaked through her cloak!

"Don't… touch…" Sister Ai Li's voice was extremely faint, her face ashen as paper, her forehead beaded with cold sweat. In the explosion just now, to protect Lin Mo and Xiang Lingna, she had taken the brunt of the blast and the flying shrapnel with her back!

"Xiang Lingna! Quick! Medicine! Clean cloth!" Lin Mo's voice was trembling. He carefully examined Sister Ai Li's wound; the shard was lodged deep, but fortunately it seemed not to have hit her spine or any major organs. Still, the blood loss and the violent impact had left her extremely weak.

Xiang Lingna scrambled on all fours to find the medicinal powder and relatively clean cloth strips left over from before. Wrench also crowded over, looked at Sister Ai Li's wound, his bean-sized eyes rolled, and from within his grease-stained "clothes" he fished out a small tin box. He opened it; inside was a blackish salve: "Master Wrench's ancestral… uh, homemade wound ointment! Stops bleeding and grows flesh! The effect… depends on luck!" He scooped out a big dollop and, without asking, started to smear it on Sister Ai Li's wound.

Lin Mo hesitated for a moment, looked at Sister Ai Li's ever-paler face, and gritted his teeth: "Use it!"

The salve gave off a pungent smell, but after it was applied, the bleeding really did seem to slow. Xiang Lingna also brought the medicinal powder and cloth strips, and Lin Mo carefully helped bind the wound tightly.

Once the wound was treated, Sister Ai Li slipped into unconsciousness, but her breathing was fairly steady. Lin Mo let out a long breath, only then feeling as if every bone in his body was aching like it had come apart.

"Water… water…" Xiang Lingna's weak voice came through. The explosion, the fright, and the exhaustion before it had left her nearly dehydrated.

Water! Lin Mo suddenly remembered their hope—the water purifier!

He struggled to the back of the shack. The spot where Xiang Lingna had assembled it was a mess; the main body of the purifier had been knocked over, the joints a bit loose, but the overall structure was still intact. Xiang Lingna was laboriously connecting the hand pump Wrench had made to the filter's intake.

"Xiang Lingna! Quick! Try it!" Lin Mo hurried to help steady the purifier's main body.

Xiang Lingna inserted the pump's intake hose into the murky puddle at the edge of the hollow, then began desperately working the pump's handle!

"Creak… creak…" the pump gave out a strained sound. Murky, dirty water was drawn up and poured into the top of the massive filter.

Lin Mo, Xiang Lingna, and Wrench all held their breath, eyes fixed intently on the filter's outlet.

One second… two seconds…

Finally, one drop, two drops… clear, transparent beads of water slowly dripped from the outlet, falling into the chipped basin Xiang Lingna had prepared below!

Clear! Pure! Carrying the fresh scent of having been filtered!

Success! The large-scale water purifier! After a baptism of blood and fire, it was finally running! The flow wasn't fast, but it was steady and unceasing!

"Water! Clean water!" Xiang Lingna was so moved she burst into tears, carefully scooped up a cup, and handed it to Lin Mo.

Lin Mo took a sip; the sweet, clear water soothed his parched, burning throat, as if the very source of life were being poured in. He looked at the water dripping steadily, then at the unconscious Sister Ai Li, the devastated hollow, the distant Vulture Bluff still burning… a complex surge of emotion—survival against the odds, a thousand things to rebuild—welled up inside him.

【Ding! Territory Core construction progress increased! Stable water source successfully established! Territory status upgraded from 'On the Brink of Collapse' to 'Initially Stable'!】

【New function unlocked: Territory Resource Panel (view resource production and consumption within the territory)】

【New blueprints unlocked: Basic Wooden Fence (Reinforced), Simple Watchtower Blueprint】

【Special energy fluctuation detected… 'World Fragment – Wasteland 0137' faint origin core has been activated… absorbing and fusing…】

The system's chime rang out in succession! Lin Mo felt a faint yet resilient warm current surge up from deep within the earth beneath his feet into his body, and his exhaustion and pain seemed to ease just a fraction. At the same time, he "saw" within the hollow's range the faint green dots representing the potato field, the blue light of the water purifier, and could even sense the faint glow of nearby metal ore deposits!

World Origin? Territory Core? Lin Mo's heart trembled with shock! Hope Outpost, after enduring so much hardship, had finally truly taken root in this wasteland! From this day forth, this place was no longer a battered, barely-surviving outpost, but his—Lin Mo's—territory!

He looked at the unconscious Sister Ai Li, at Xiang Lingna holding the cup of water and weeping with joy, then at Wrench excitedly studying the purifier and muttering, "Wonder if adding a steam booster pump would make it faster," and finally at the potato field that had survived the explosion, its green even more lush than before.