Chapter 27: Cruel Fantasy

Xiao Yu continued explaining, “This is a mystical gem that possesses soul power.
It is utilized to replenish the loss of spiritual power and your capability to use innate skills.
Furthermore, it can repair any equipment and can also be absorbed by your body which can help regain most of your strength.”

“That is to say, after using our skills to their limit.
When absorbing the power of the soul gem, can we quickly restore that missing spiritual power, thereby restoring the ability to use our skills once more?”

“You can treat it like a magic potion you heard of in games.” Xiao Yu nodded, “In addition to repairing weapons and restoring spiritual power, soul gems can also be used to recharge most magic items.
Such as the Blast Flame Ring.
Under normal conditions, this ring needs forty-eight hours to recover its energy, but if it is charged with the power of the Soul Gem, it can greatly shorten its recovery time.
However, recharging magic items consumes a lot of energy, so it’s not cost-effective.
So unless you absolutely need to, it’s best not to use it too lightly.”

Han Kexin exclaimed: “wow, this small stone actually had so many uses; I think it will probably become our most crucial consumable in the near future!”

“Soul gems are practical consumables.
In fact, with future development, soul gems may be used as world currency.
This lower soul gem is more than enough to exchange for a piece of a low gray weapon.”

“What, it is that valuable?” Han Kexin opened her eyes wide.
In her impression, weapons were very precious, rare treasures.
“So, we can get three pieces of gray equipment?”

Xiao Yu did not deny it, “yeah, but obviously, soul gems cannot be used as currency for transactions in the immediate short term.
These three soul gems appeared just in time, as our spiritual power consumption is huge.
Those soul gems will help us.”

Finally, Xiao Yu grabbed one of the three lower soul gems, Han Kexin took one, and Jiang Xiaowen received the remaining one.
The three of them all had a significant amount of energy to refill.
They could quickly replenish their consumed spiritual power by extracting power from the soul gems.
The lower soul gems were absorbed in a matter of minutes.
The three immediately recovered about 30% to 40%, which was enough for Xiao Yu to maintain the “eye of insight” for half an hour and for Han Kexin to use two blood sacrifices.
In contrast, Jiang Xiaowen could barely use “Dream dust” once.

Tens of minutes passed as the surrounding burning flames faded away.

’

Nobody wanted to linger here for too long, so they just packed their belongings, ate a small half-piece of chocolate, and set off before dawn could fully arrive.
After the night’s long battle, the strength of this team has risen to another level.
The weakest among them had already killed six to seven monsters.
While a few prominent individuals, such as Yun Yun, have already killed fifteen or sixteen.
She only needed to face an elementary-level creature to have her chance at evolution.

If there were one or two elementary monsters for her to kill, another elementary being would definitely be born in this team!

As a result, while there were frequent surprise attacks by monsters along the way, most of the time, other individuals were able to deal with them without the need for Xiao Yu and the others to intervene.
They didn’t meet any kind of elementary monsters along the way, so Xiao Yu and the other four didn’t bother to do anything and left the rest of the team to deal with the minor trouble.
It is worth noting that Huang Jianmin was not a weakling anymore.
After fighting last night, his strength grew rapidly, and he was in the middle tier of the group.

The weather was relatively cold on this day, with heavy clouds stacked high in the sky, hiding the hot sun, while the forest felt less stifling.
Such climate was ideal for traveling, and after approximately three hours of walking, Huang Jianmin finally found the region in the woods where the police station was located.

“This is the mark I left behind.” Huang Jianmin found a cross-shaped mark on a tree.
He pointed to the woods in front of him and said, “This time around, I am certain.
If we walk in this direction, keeping our current pace, it will take us about twenty minutes to arrive.
But it’s been so long that I’m unsure how the people there are doing and whether monsters have already besieged them.” 

“Let’s keep on.
However, slow down as much as possible, and don’t be careless.
“

Xiao Yu led everyone through the forest, and within five minutes of marching, Jiang Xiaowen suddenly noticed something strange, “guys, Look, in front of us, something is lying on the ground; it looks like a monster!”

Everyone was startled before Xiao Yu, and the others rushed over immediately.

’

There was indeed a corpse on the ground.
It was a two-meter-tall one-eyed ape with a menacing face, a muscular torso, gray-black hair all over its body, and a set of razor-sharp claws.
It was of no threat, though, since it was no longer alive.

Jiang Xiaowen was a little surprised, “Xiao Yu, How could there be a dead gorilla over here?”

“This is not a gorilla.” Xiao Yu squatted down to check, “It is called the one-eyed ape, and it is a non-elementary monster.
Its strength is relatively high among same-level monsters.
The corpse is still warm; it shouldn’t have been dead for long.”

Jin Shi asked: “How is the monster’s corpse still here? This is too abnormal.
If it was killed by other creatures, they would’ve dragged the body away or just eaten it directly.”

“The carcass is pretty much intact, with no trace of bite marks.” Xiao Yu inspected the injuries on its body, “There are several gunshot wounds, but the power of the bullets cannot kill this kind of monster.
The deadly wound that killed it is in its heart, as if it was punctured by some type of sharp weapon, pierced back and forth, neatly, certainly the work of humans, yet causing such clean damage is difficult even for me.”

“Even you can’t do it?!” Several people were shocked by his statement.

Huang Jianmin suddenly noticed that everyone’s eyes were focused on him, and some of them even looked a little unfriendly.
He quickly explained: “Don’t look at me like that; I am also very puzzled by this matter!”

“You did not inform us of this….” Han Kexin’s eyes turned hostile, and she interrogated him, “There are obviously very powerful experts in your team.
Are you not simply deceiving us into following you so that we might fall into your trap?”

“Absolutely not, I swear, believe me!” Huang Jianmin was also quite puzzled.
“Although there were many individuals sheltering there, the majority of them were refugees, mostly old people, children, and women.
While most young and strong men were with me in the advance team, just a few remained behind, responsible for protecting the others.
But every single one of those people was far weaker than any one of you, let alone being as strong as Xiao Yu.
I can absolutely guarantee this!”

’

Jin Shi pointed to the one-eyed ape on the ground, “They can shatter this monster’s heart and puncture its exceedingly tough body back and forth this neatly; none of us can do this.
That person’s offensive power is clearly greater than ours; how do you explain this?”

“I apologize; I have no explanation!” Huang Jianmin’s expression remained unchanged in the face of all these inquiries, “But everything I said is true, and there is absolutely no deceit in my words.
I can’t help it if you don’t believe me.”

Jiang Xiaowen was kneeling down, looking at the corpse, before she stood up and said, “I believe Uncle Huang Jianmin.
He used to be the captain of the crime division, and he chased all kinds of bad people.
Moreover, he led our city’s vanguard to eradicate those gangsters! I don’t think he means us any harm.”

“No need to argue anymore.” Xiao Yu stood up, “We currently lack the energy to turn around and go back.
Now that we’ve arrived let’s just go in and take a look; we’ll eventually find out what is happening here.
A mere one-eyed ape’s corpse being pierced isn’t enough to deter us.
Or have you all forgotten the power of the blast Flame Ring?”

Everyone nodded their head as they felt more secure in their hearts when they were reminded of the ring.

At this stage, there were very few people who could reach the elementary stage, but if some were lucky enough and got a certain magic item, they could indeed exert superhuman attacking power.
If the other party killed the one-eyed ape-man with the help of this certain magic item, then everything could be explained.
Thus, nothing could pose a threat to them as magic items needed time to be used again, just like the blast flame ring.

The power of the blast flame ring was several times stronger than the opponent’s, and even though it was still recharging its energy, it could still be used again at the expense of one soul gem.

Han Kexin was still worried, but that was all he could say to assure her.
The group walked for more than ten minutes, discovering more signs of human activity.
Finally, it seemed that they were about to reach their destination, and through the dense foliage, they could vaguely see the ruins of several buildings.

Everyone bypassed a couple of large trees, and they finally saw the ruins of those buildings.
Even a road full of cracks was brought here together with several streets and stores, including bakeries, fruit shops, and so on.
Therefore there should be plenty of food in the area around them.
They were overjoyed at the new discovery, but everyone’s expressions shifted when their gazes were drawn to the trees next to the ruins.

’

There were seven big trees in total, and on each big tree were four to five corpses bound by thorny vines.
Each one of them has a twisted face and a pained expression.
The blood flowed and turned into a rich crimson color.
There was a mix of men and women, as well as old folks and children.
All kinds of people were hung, but they had one thing in common: they were all stripped naked.
They had all been tormented, and their bodies were covered in wounds and bruises.
Some victims had their hands and feet hacked off while they were still alive, and a few chunks of flesh pulled off.
A flock of odd blackbirds descended on the bodies, eating flesh and blood with relish.

The people below that watched this scene felt their scalps go numb.

Among the dead was a little girl, about twelve or thirteen years old.
She died not long ago, and her corpse was mostly intact, but her skin had been ripped apart, her small breast was covered in teeth marks, her lower body was wounded and bleeding, and it was clear that she had been bound to death after suffering incredible humiliation!

Jiang Xiaowen couldn’t bear it; she hid behind Xiao Yu and didn’t dare to look up anymore.

“Bastards, animals!” Huang Jianmin’s eyes turned red when he saw this, and he roared angrily, “What the hell happened while I was away!”

Han Kexin warned: “The people here are really twisted; everyone be careful!”

At this moment, footsteps sounded nearby, and five to six men rushed over, holding various handmade crude weapons, while the two leaders in front were holding Type 64 pistols, pointing them towards Xiao Yu and the others.

“Stop right there; who are you guys!”

When they heard that sound, everyone clenched their weapons and braced themselves for battle.