A temporary silence fell over Lin Chen's side.
Inside Ying Huan's RV, her younger sister, Ying Xin, was carefully taking care of her.
While wiping away the beads of sweat that kept appearing on Ying Huan's body, she complained indignantly on her sister's behalf.
"That Lin Chen is so mean! Sister was just concerned about Yuqi's condition, and he was so sarcastic towards you."
"Doesn't he know what he's done? He gets all worked up when others criticize him, and he doesn't even look at his own reasons for not trusting him."
"Who would want to be his teammate..."
Ying Huan was annoyed by her sister's nagging and didn't want to listen to her anymore.
She and Ying Xin were almost ten years apart, and she always took good care of her younger sister, especially after the apocalypse, ensuring she didn't suffer any losses.
She had always protected her sister very well, but now she realized that her sister seemed to have been protected a little too much.
"Ying Xin!" Ying Huan's tone was stern. "You can't insult a Sequence Ability User like that. What if someone overhears you saying this one day?"
"And don't take me too seriously. Whether Lin Chen needs other people's trust is another matter, but he certainly doesn't need mine. Yuqi and Captain Fan trust him completely." "
Fan Nan was able to immediately decide to follow Lin Chen's plan, and Yuqi was able to immediately accept Lin Chen's proposal when faced with this life-or-death crisis. You also saw Lin Chen quickly carry Yuqi out of the car after getting in."
"As long as they trust Lin Chen, my opinion doesn't matter." Ying Huan's tone became completely serious as she said this.
"Yingxin, you have to remember, although I'm a Sequence Ability User, I'm neither a Guide Sequence User nor a Combat Sequence User. If I really piss someone off, they might actually kill me. We need other Sequence Ability Users to survive, but the Breeze Caravan can still operate normally without us."
"What happened today was impulsive. I'll apologize to Lin Chen later. Don't say those things again."
Yingxin lowered her head, looking like she was listening to advice: "Okay, sis, I know I was wrong. I won't say that again."
"Okay, you should go and rest too. I want to sleep for a while."
After nodding in agreement, Yingxin turned around and went from the living area of the RV to the driver's area.
The girl's face clearly showed some indignation. She thought sullenly, "You think you're so smart, sister? You think I'm stupid? Don't you know what you're saying? I was just trying to comfort you."
"Besides, if you really understood those principles, how could you argue with Lin Chen when you asked him how to settle Xiao Yuqi?"
"You always act and speak according to your emotions, and then you pretend to be reasonable afterward, only to act according to your emotions again next time..."
Ying Xin felt somewhat wronged. How could she feel good after being scolded by her sister like that?
If she were truly ignorant, it would be one thing.
If her sister was simply venting her emotions by scolding her, it would be another, and the girl wouldn't feel so wronged.
But Ying Huan didn't even realize that Ying Xin's words about Lin Chen were meant to comfort her, her sister. She really treated her like a fool, which made Ying Xin feel uncomfortable.
Leaning back in the driver's seat, the girl sighed helplessly, "Sigh... my older sister, she'll probably start arguing with Lin Chen again after apologizing, sigh... what am I going to do then..."
"If only I could awaken my sequence ability."
...
"Huh? Why is that Hundred-Eyed Monster behaving so strangely?" Fan Nan, who had been sensing the strangeness around him, noticed a peculiar phenomenon.
"Did it leave? Why did it suddenly leave? Did it kill all the survivors? No, why is its aura so much weaker?"
"It's like it's seriously injured."
After observing for another five minutes, confirming that the Hundred-Eyed Monster was fleeing at full speed into the distance with no sign of returning, Fan Nan felt he needed to investigate the situation.
Picking up the walkie-talkie, he called He Yan over. He Yan's walkie-talkie was one he had just activated at a cost that day, and He Yan's injuries from the previous battle weren't serious, making him the best candidate to investigate.
[Sequence Spirit Item: Greedy Walkie-Talkie]
[Rank: 11345]
[Ability 1: Creation: Can pay the user five kilograms of flesh and blood to create a secondary walkie-talkie]
[Ability 2: Communication: Secondary walkie-talkies can communicate with each other within one kilometer of the Greedy Walkie-Talkie]
[Ability 3: Activation: Paying the user ten kilograms of flesh and blood can designate a secondary walkie-talkie. Within that day, the communication range between that secondary walkie-talkie and the Greedy Walkie-Talkie expands to twenty kilometers]
[Cost: Requires ten milliliters of the user's blood to be given to the Greedy Walkie-Talkie every day, otherwise your flesh and blood will inevitably be gradually transformed into secondary walkie-talkies]
[Description: A Greedy Walkie-Talkie will not work diligently without the reward of flesh and blood]
"Ayan, go and investigate, be careful." Fan Nan explained the situation he had sensed to He Yan, then gave him a worried reminder.
He Yan nodded in agreement and turned to get on his modified motorcycle to leave. Just as He Yan started the modified motorcycle, Fan Nan remembered something and quickly called him back.
"Ayan, if you encounter any survivors still alive on the road, and they're still willing to follow us, bring them back. The convoy can't be without a tail."
"Okay, don't worry, Captain. Those survivors can't survive a day without us. Even the dumbest of them know what to choose."
He Yan indicated that he had heard, then turned and tossed a spherical device to Fan Nan: "Captain, this is a small surveillance camera I've made these past few days. It will alarm if anyone enters within ten meters of it. This thing is useless against the supernatural beings, but it's perfect for stopping these survivors! With this, you won't have to worry about them acting up at night."
"Okay." Fan Nan caught the camera and started fiddling with it.
He Yan started his motorcycle and headed towards the highway.
An hour later, He Yan brought back the twenty-odd survivors that the Hundred-Eyed Supernatural Being hadn't killed.
After escaping the Hundred-Eyed Supernatural Being's clutches, these survivors initially didn't want to return to the convoy, but as time went on, their anxiety grew. Staying where they were, they feared the supernatural beings would catch up; leaving, they feared encountering them.
After enduring this ordeal, most of the survivors still wanted to return to the convoy. Although they would be sacrificed by the sequence ability users in the convoy, at least they could survive today, right?
So when He Yan arrived and investigated the situation, he brought the survivors back without much effort.
The convoy was significantly reduced in size. Looking at the twenty-odd vehicles that remained, He Yan had each survivor drive one. Since there were more survivors than vehicles, He Yan smoothly brought both people and cars back to the convoy.
After confirming that the convoy had completely escaped the eerie threat, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: Read Good Books in Taiwan, Taiwan Novels Website, 🆃🆆🅺🅰🅽.🅲🅾🅼 (Superb!)]
Lin Chen untied the two girls and carried Xiao Yuqi back to her own SUV.
It was already afternoon.
The powerful concealment provided a day of safety, combined with An Xin's ordinary concealment ability and the interference provided by the rhinoceros beetle's horn.
And then there was the treasure trove Fan Nan had found, a considerable distance from all the eerie entities.
With all these factors combined, after discussion and calculations, Fan Nan decided to rest here until the morning of the day after tomorrow.
Two whole days and three nights—this was the longest rest period Lin Chen had experienced since joining the Breeze convoy.
But this incident no longer made Lin Chen and the others particularly happy; what they needed most now was rest.
The plans for the rest of the trip, the analysis of the strange events, the allocation of the extraordinary materials and supplies—all these could be discussed later. Right now, everyone just wanted to rest.
They turned on the surveillance system produced by He Yan and everyone began to rest.
Lin Chen returned to the SUV and collapsed onto the back seat; the series of battles and escapes had exhausted him.
Xiao Yuqi had been lying in the back for quite some time, and now, lying there, Lin Chen could still smell the strange mingled scent of her fragrance and the stench of blood.
Pulling Shu Caicai, who was in the passenger seat, into his arms, he touched the red marks on her body from being bound for so long and instructed,
"You should sleep too, recover your strength. You'll be expending a lot of energy when you wake up."
Shu Caicai obediently nodded and closed her eyes to sleep.
Lin Chen also closed his eyes, preparing to recover his strength and relax.
However, he felt like he had forgotten something.
"What exactly did I forget?" Lin Chen pondered, feeling himself slowly sinking into a dream, his body gradually becoming sluggish and out of control.
But his mind was still actively thinking: "What exactly did I forget?" Before long, he sensed his abnormal dream state.
Lin Chen suddenly remembered that he had killed three monsters today and completed the third Sky Island mission.
"Damn it, the Doomsday Dream! How could I have forgotten this!"
Lin Chen cursed inwardly, trying to delay the appearance of the Doomsday Dream, but the Sky Island scene remained unaffected and quickly appeared before his eyes.
"Phew~" He let out a soft breath, watching the monsters constantly jumping onto the Sky Island, and Lin Chen helplessly accepted the current situation: "Come on, the last nightmare of Sequence Nine."
Monsters, natural disasters, the unknown, construction...
slaughter, loneliness, fear, exhaustion...
a week, a month, a season, a year...
This Sky Island Dream was not like the previous two, where he could quit halfway. Lin Chen was not afraid of the challenge, but he just didn't know when this challenge would end.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Chen had transformed a small sky island into a floating continent spanning tens of square kilometers. He continuously propelled this continent towards areas where the fog thinned. After a long while, the floating continent broke through the fog and saw the outside world.
Above him was a fluorescent green sky resembling nuclear waste; below him stretched an endless, dark, thick ocean that constantly reeked of corpses.
This sight truly shocked Lin Chen. He had countless times speculated about what the world outside the fog would be like.
Looking at his own sky island's idyllic scene, he had always imagined that beyond the fog lay a blue sky, a blue sea, and a vibrant continent, while the fog, constantly teeming with monsters, was the culprit in invading this world and turning it into an apocalypse.
But after seeing the scene outside today, he realized he was completely wrong!
The fog was not the culprit behind the apocalypse; it was protecting the world's last remaining pristine sky island. The monsters that kept appearing were simply those that had slipped through its net after its best efforts to block them.
The cause of the apocalypse was not the fog, but Him!
Before Lin Chen, a figure lay horizontally across the dark sea near the horizon, its hands clasped in prayer position. This figure was enormous; Lin Chen couldn't even describe its exact size.
Above it, in the sky, was reflected a figure identical to the one in the black sea, only lighter in color.
Both figures continuously emitted a strange pollutant, deepening the color of the sea and sky.
This was the source of pollution in the Sky Island world!
Just as Lin Chen stared at the giant figure, he suddenly felt himself establishing some kind of connection with it.
Startled, before he could react, the dense fog he had previously escaped suddenly surged, engulfing him and the Sky Island, severing the connection that was forming.
"What was that?!" In an instant, Lin Chen's clothes were soaked with sweat.
Looking up at the surrounding fog again, Lin Chen no longer felt its strangeness or danger; instead, he felt a sense of warmth and peace.
Just as he was thinking this, the thick fog around him began to gather in his hand, gradually transforming into a pendant-shaped object resembling metal with a gemstone inlaid in the center.
Lin Chen tried hard to see what it was, but he couldn't make it out. Just as he focused all his attention on this pendant-shaped object, he woke up.
[Current sequence missions are all completed; Sky Island Apocalypse has been successfully witnessed.]
[Obtained Fog Core]
[Sequence Eight Advancement Ceremony has begun.]
"I'm... I'm back."
Lin Chen put the suddenly appearing item into the Sky Island; he wasn't in the mood to check its attributes.
He glanced at the time: 12:15, midnight.
The endless exhaustion, loneliness, and mental strain of the post-apocalyptic dream on the floating island overwhelmed his mind and all his reason.
He desperately needed rest, needed to soothe his erratic heart.
Shu Caicai had already woken up, and she had been lying quietly in Lin Chen's arms without moving.
Lin Chen got up and pressed her onto the back seat, which was now fully reclined.
Lin Chen's physical abilities, enhanced by the rewards of three missions, were not bad even among sequence ability users. With a gentle tug, the girl's clothes were torn to shreds and scattered to one side.
Shu Caicai was expectant yet somewhat afraid; after all, she wasn't a sequence ability user, and some things were always a struggle.
Looking at her like this, Lin Chen used his remaining reason to whisper, "Sigh, I'll try to be gentle."
...
The next morning at 10 a.m., Lin Chen sat at the large round wooden table brought out by He Qiang's assistant's nephew, munching on a bag of compressed biscuits. He hadn't had a hot breakfast that day, so he could only eat compressed biscuits to stave off hunger.
As for the reason, it was naturally because after all the work from last night to this morning, even with Shu Caicai using three methods, she couldn't avoid ending up unconscious in the back seat of the SUV. She still had some reaction, but no consciousness at all.
Recalling last night's experience, Lin Chen gave her a Sky Island peach that had been enhanced five times before getting out of the SUV.
Eating the compressed biscuit, Lin Chen looked at his teammates around him. Everyone's injuries had recovered somewhat, with Xiao Yuqi recovering significantly faster. With such a fast recovery speed, Lin Chen felt that the peach he fed her, which had been enhanced seven times, had played a role.
He Qiang, He Yan, Ying Huan, Xiao Yuqi, everyone was there, only the captain was missing.
"Strange, where's Captain Fan?" Lin Chen asked.
"The captain hasn't come out yet, I don't know what he's busy with." He Yan pointed to the still closed door of Fan Nan's SUV.
"Oh, then let's wait." Lin Chen nodded to indicate that he understood. Anyway, there was no rush, he would just wait for Fan Nan to finish his work.
Three hours passed.
After He Qiang had prepared four different fish dishes and everyone had almost finished eating, Fan Nan finally emerged from his SUV.
He had heavy dark circles under his eyes, but he was in a state of extreme excitement.
Seeing his teammates all neatly seated around the table, he couldn't wait to boast: "I've broken through to Sequence Eight!"
"Driving in the tall grass area during this period greatly interfered with the range and accuracy of my perception of the strange entities, but it also significantly improved my use of sequence abilities!" "
Just yesterday, during my intense perception and analysis of the strange information, I finally felt I was about to break through, so from last night until now, I've been continuously using my abilities." "
Just now, I successfully broke through!"
"Breakthrough?" Lin Chen was surprised, not expecting that Fan Nan's reluctance to leave the RV was due to this.
The others were also pleasantly surprised; this was Sequence Eight, the first Sequence Eight in the team.
Hearing of Fan Nan's advancement, everyone had questions, but Fan Nan was currently sitting at the table picking up scraps and probably didn't have the energy to answer them right now.
Lin Chen turned to Xiao Yuqi beside him and whispered about Sequence Eight. Although the girl's eyes still held a hint of disdain, she still huddled with Lin Chen to exchange their insights and speculations about advancing to Sequence Eight.
Ying
Huan watched the two of them acting like best buddies, feeling that her earlier conflict with Lin Chen because of her concern for Xiao Yuqi was purely meddling.
After a long while, Fan Nan finally finished eating and drinking, and his assistant, Xiao Zhang, and He Qiang's nephew cleared the table of food.
Fan Nan sat in his chair, glanced around at everyone, and then cleared his throat before speaking:
"I know you all want to know what changes will occur after advancing to Sequence Eight, and whether there are any additional conditions for advancing to Sequence Eight. Now I will share what I know."
Everyone nodded, and Lin Chen and Xiao Yuqi also ended their casual conversation. Everyone listened attentively.
"I am now a Guide Sequence Eight: Beacon."
"Let's talk about the upgrades to Sequence Eight first. After reaching Sequence Eight, all my original abilities were enhanced. Now I can gather information and intelligence without getting out of the vehicle to observe, and the range and accuracy of my detection have improved." "
Most importantly, I also gained a guidance ability. This ability allows me to break through my perception range and sense and detect something I need."
"The number of new abilities gained may fluctuate depending on the sequence, but regardless of the sequence, once you advance to Sequence Eight, your original sequence abilities will be greatly enhanced."
"As for how to advance to Sequence Eight, as you can all feel, as long as you keep using sequence abilities, the sequence will gradually advance."
"The terrain our convoy has been in recently has greatly interfered with my perception. It's because of this interference that using sequence abilities has become more difficult, but it has also allowed my sequence abilities to improve faster." "
Furthermore, yesterday I kept releasing sequence abilities on those powerful anomalies, which also rapidly increased my strength, quickly bringing me to the threshold of Sequence Eight."
"Furthermore, I believe that sequence advancement is also related to the strength of one's mental power. After entering the Takagrass region, my mental power was repeatedly over-exhausted, and it became stronger after recovery."
Lin Chen listened to Fan Nan's words and fell into deep thought.
The idea that 'constantly using sequence abilities can improve one's sequence' should be common knowledge for every sequence ability user, but it was a complete blind spot for him.
"So, simply using sequence abilities can improve one's sequence? But my sequence abilities have always been improved through sequence missions."
"I wonder if this method is ineffective for me? Or is it just that the improvement from completing sequence missions was so great that I didn't even notice this slow improvement method?"
Although there was a sequence eight advancement ceremony,
Lin Chen still decided to start using his sequence abilities continuously after returning to the off-road vehicle to see if there would be any improvement.
While Lin Chen pondered, Fan Nan continued, "Furthermore, the things that sequences crave not only elevate their rank but also provide some assistance for sequence advancement."
Fan Nan pointed to the unicorn beetle's strangely fallen horn stuck to the side:
"My advancement to Sequence Eight was without any obstacles, which is somewhat related to the horn I obtained yesterday. Otherwise, I think my advancement would have been delayed even further; it wouldn't have been so smooth." "
In summary, there are three factors related to sequence advancement: sufficient sequence ability strength, sufficient mental strength, and the item the sequence craves. Of course, the last point isn't essential."
He Yan sighed, looking at Fan Nan, who had obtained the horn, with great envy.
He had almost obtained the item his sequence craved when facing the mechanical anomaly; if he had obtained it smoothly, He Yan felt he would have already advanced to Sequence Eight. After
Fan Nan finished sharing his experience, everyone was thinking about their own sequence advancement, and no one spoke for a moment.
Lin Chen was eager to go back and test whether his sequence ability could grow in this way, but he still needed to distribute the spoils today.
"You can think about it later when you get back. Let's discuss the distribution of the spoils,"
Fan Nan said after giving everyone some time to think.
"We didn't collect any basic supplies at this supply point. We'll mainly discuss the ownership of the strange extraordinary materials from the rhinoceros beetle yesterday."
"He Qiang's potion was the most effective, so he gets two portions. Lin Chen is the main combatant, so he gets two portions. Ying Huan and I each get one portion. We'll follow this order when choosing the spoils." "
These two extraordinary materials, the horn is clearly more valuable than the carapace, so the carapace will be divided into two portions, and the horn into four portions. Does anyone have any objections to this distribution?"
Lin Chen was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Fan Nan to be so fair in distributing the extraordinary materials.
He had thought Fan Nan wouldn't include the horn in the distribution but would exchange it for other materials.
No one objected. He Qiang and Lin Chen chose the rhinoceros beetle horn, clearly wanting to exchange it for other extraordinary materials with Fan Nan.
After the spoils were distributed, everyone dispersed, except for He Qiang and Lin Chen, who remained in the same spot. They still had a deal with Fan Nan.
"I need this rhinoceros beetle's eerie horn. I'm willing to exchange it for two pieces of extraordinary material of similar quality. Do you agree?"
He Qiang nodded in agreement. Lin Chen thought for a moment and said, "Okay, Captain, do you have any extraordinary material related to weapons or similar in shape? I need this kind of extraordinary material." "
If you have any, you don't need to give me extraordinary material of horn quality. After all, it's something we both need, so the quality of the extraordinary material just needs to be similar."
After hearing this, Fan Nan thought for a moment and nodded, "I actually have a supernatural material here, see if it's okay." He then turned and rummaged through his car.
"This." A moment later, Fan Nan pulled out a long, thin, white leg bone. This leg bone was a meter long, but very slender.
"This is a supernatural material I obtained before, of very high quality. It's the leg bone of a slender, ghostly skeleton."
"Take it if you need it. Although its value is slightly higher than the carapace, it's not by much."
Knowing that Lin Chen had just joined the team and supernatural materials were scarce, Fan Nan didn't haggle over minor details.
Of course, there was also the reason Fan Nan was eager to complete the deal.
For him, quickly confirming the ownership of the unicorn was the top priority; he didn't have the time to haggle over the price.
The deal with He Qiang was much simpler. He Qiang didn't have any special needs, and Fan Nan quickly obtained the unicorn he had been longing for.
Fan Nan, satisfied with the unicorn, went to find He Yan to have it crafted into a sequence of spirit objects.
He Qiang casually stuffed the extraordinary materials into the RV and started fishing with a bucket of water.
Lin Chen, holding the leg bone, checked his remaining Doomsday Points with satisfaction, pondering his future modification plans.
[Current Doomsday Points: 13970]
Everyone was satisfied with this deal.
Lin Chen walked to his off-road vehicle and saw Xiao Yuqi waiting by the side. Lin Chen took out the two extraordinary materials he had previously kept for her and her Tang sword, returning them to her.
The girl thought for a moment, then handed the heart back to Lin Chen:
"Thank you for yesterday. Without your help, even if I survived, I would have paid a terrible price."
"Here's the heart. You can also tell me if you need any other materials besides this." After saying that, the girl pointed to the long sword-shaped extraordinary material.
"If you put it that way, I won't hold back. Do you have any weapon-shaped or supernatural materials that look like they could be fused into a weapon?"
Lin Chen repeated the conditions he had set for Fan Nan to Xiao Yuqi.
"Let me look. Don't get your hopes up too high. I've usually used up all the supernatural materials that look like weapon shapes."
"Used up?" Lin Chen was puzzled. Using supernatural materials to modify a weapon would definitely leave some marks, but the girl's Tang sword didn't show any signs of using supernatural materials.
"Yes, I used them." Seeing Lin Chen's confusion, Xiao Yuqi drew her Tang sword with one hand and laid the long sword supernatural material flat with the other.
Just as Lin Chen was wondering what the girl was going to do, the Tang sword slammed into the blade of the long sword supernatural material.
"Clang!" The long sword supernatural material broke in response, turning into black mist and dissipating the moment it broke. The Tang sword visibly became even sharper, as if it could cut through the air.
The girl pointed to the nearly completely dissipated extraordinary material of the longsword: "Look, this is how you use it."
"You, you just use it like this? How did you do that?" "
This sword of mine is a continuously growing sequence spirit object. Absorbing other suitable sequence spirit objects or extraordinary materials allows it to grow faster."
"Look, isn't it sharper now!" The girl proudly displayed her Tang sword.
"Impressive." Lin Chen had never seen such a magical sequence spirit object before, and he gave it full affirmation.
But he also realized a problem, and changed the subject: "So, you really don't have any suitable extraordinary materials?"
"Yes, but I can go and look for some for you. Maybe I can find something usable."
Finally, after searching around, the girl took out a mantis foreleg and handed it to Lin Chen: "Here, see if you can use this. I don't have any others."
Lin Chen took the mantis foreleg. The mantis foreleg had dense serrations on it. He thought it could be used for fusion, but Lin Chen was still somewhat dissatisfied.
"It should work, but isn't it a bit too easy for you to repay this life-saving debt?"
"But I don't have anything else right now," the girl replied.
But then she became wary, crossing her arms:
"I'll repay your life-saving debt later, but giving it to you once is definitely not an option."
Lin Chen was speechless, not expecting the topic to jump so quickly:
"No, when did you start having the illusion that I'm lusting after your body? Your flat chest and flat butt really have nothing for me to covet."
"Not even with your feet!"
"You're having another episode. I really don't need to talk to you anymore." Lin Chen didn't want to talk to Xiao Yuqi anymore and turned to walk towards his SUV.
He felt that Xiao Yuqi's thinking seemed to have gone completely astray at some point. These past two days, she had been treating him like some kind of perverted man who was lusting after her body. But even though that's what the girl thought, when Lin Chen asked her if she wanted to take refuge in his car, the girl didn't hesitate at all.
"Identified as a chuunibyou girl slowly transforming into a sissy."
Lin Chen sat in the SUV, stored the two extraordinary materials in the Sky Island, and then began repeatedly using his Sequence Ability.
The Qiongzhi repeatedly appeared in his hand and was teleported back to the Sky Island.
Lin Chen carefully sensed it, and he felt that his Sequence Ability had indeed become slightly stronger.
However, the rate of increase was too slow, and it couldn't compare to the feedback he received from completing the Sky Island mission before.
"It can actually increase, but didn't I have an advancement ceremony?"
"Does the increase in this ability have anything to do with the size of the items I teleport?"
Lin Chen pondered, reaching out to teleport the still unconscious Shu Caicai into the Sky Island.
After several more teleportation cycles, Lin Chen felt that the increase in his Sequence Ability hadn't accelerated.
"Unfortunately, this method can't speed up the enhancement of Sequence Ability."
He blindfolded the still unconscious Shu Caicai and left her on the bed in the Sky Island, then climbed into the back seat of the SUV. Immediately afterward, his consciousness sank, and he also entered the Sky Island.
The Sky Island was still the way Lin Chen had arranged it before, and it hadn't changed at all because of the completion of all the Sequence missions.
A vacant lot, about the size of four basketball courts, was dotted with a few peach trees. Beside the lot stood a small brick house, and next to it, a gently flowing pond.
Lin Chen looked around, checking various information.
He discovered that the Sky Island's upgrade options were now much more intelligent, capable of evolving entirely according to his wishes. He could even modify the Sky Island himself without consuming Doomsday Points.
For example, if Lin Chen wanted to cultivate a vegetable garden on the Sky Island, he had two options:
one was to choose a vacant lot and pay Doomsday Points to turn it into a garden;
the other was to find a hoe and fertilizer and cultivate the garden himself.
This was something impossible before; previously, he could only modify existing items on the Sky Island, but now he could create new facilities.
Lin Chen looked around and entered the Sky Island's room.
Since the Sky Island could now be modified according to his wishes, he could try to advance his plan to create contracts.
The Sky Island's room was only about forty square meters in size. Although not large, it was extremely spacious because it contained very little furniture.
The entire room contained only a bed, a chair, a table, a shelf, and two cut peach wood logs against one wall.
Lin Chen walked straight to the table, a product of the Sky Island, and after staring at it for a while, upgrade information popped up:
[Upgrade table requires 100 Doomsday Points, upgrade?]
After redesigning the table according to his own ideas, the upgrade information changed again:
[Upgrade table requires 2000 Doomsday Points, upgrade?]
"Yes!"
[Current Doomsday Points: 11970]
A flash of white light, and the table in front of Lin Chen hadn't changed much, except that there were many more items on it.
Originally, the table only contained the wooden box with the Hybrid Core, the Sky Island Core given by the last Doomsday Dream, and the Fog Core.
Now, the table had a pile of white paper, notebooks, ink, pens, brushes, and other writing utensils.
Lin Chen picked up each item to examine them, discovering that their upgrade patterns were the same as the wooden sticks and peaches.
For example, paper is calculated per sheet when it's being upgraded. Upgrading a notebook would require about the same number of Doomsday Points as upgrading a peach tree.
Lin Chen didn't dare to spend all his Doomsday Points on crafting contracts. Making the contracts and having Shu Caicai sign them now would only increase his sense of security a little, but wouldn't increase his combat power.
He still needed Doomsday Points to fuse two more extraordinary materials onto the Dome Branch.
With that in mind, Lin Chen temporarily put aside his thoughts of investing Doomsday Points in the contract and picked up the two cores beside him.
Lin Chen held the two cores in his hands and examined them carefully.
Strangely
, no matter how long he observed them, no sequence information appeared.
They weren't sequence spirit objects, nor could they be upgraded using Sky Island.
The Sky Island core was an unknown silver-gray metal with a gray-blue gem embedded in it, while the Fog core was a dark gray metal with a dark red gem embedded in it.
[Sequence Eight Advancement Ritual]
[Light up the Sky Island core and the Fog core, driving strong and complex emotions to make the Sky Island function again and regain vitality]
"The Sky Island core should be the core of the Sky Island power system, while the Fog core is the core of that world's origin power against the apocalyptic invasion."
"If my guess is correct, these two cores shouldn't be difficult to activate, but why are they unresponsive now?"
Lin Chen tried various methods but couldn't make the two cores change. Finally, he found a rope, strung the two cores together, and hung it around his neck.
"Let's figure it out slowly, we'll eventually find the right way to use it."
Since he couldn't find a way to activate the two cores for the time being, Lin Chen simply carried them with him.
He walked to the bedside, picked up Shu Caicai, and lowered his mind, appearing in the back seat of the SUV.
After putting Shu Caicai down, Lin Chen continued to take the Qiongzhi out of the Sky Island and put it back in. Although this method of increasing sequence abilities was slow, since it was effective, he would continue to do so, as it would ultimately improve his abilities.
Lin Chen repeatedly took the Qiongzhi out and put it back in dozens of times, then carefully felt the changes in his strength.
"Hmm?" Lin Chen sensed something was wrong. The speed at which he improved his strength this time was much faster than before. This change in the rate of increase in strength couldn't be an illusion!
Lin Chen immediately thought of the two cores he had used as a necklace. He took them out and saw that the Sky Island core was glowing faintly.
The gems on the Sky Island core showed a dim light, except for the light at the very bottom, which was exceptionally bright, like a progress bar increasing from bottom to top.
Seeing this, Lin Chen immediately practiced his sequence ability a few more times and discovered that the bright light at the very bottom had indeed increased slightly!
"The activation method for this Sky Island Core is the same as the sequence enhancement method. As long as the gem on the core emits a dazzling light, I can activate this Sky Island Core."
Seeing this, Lin Chen practiced his Sky Island ability even more diligently, hoping to fully activate the Sky Island Core as soon as possible.
"Unfortunately, I still don't know how to activate this Fog Core."
Speaking of fog, Lin Chen quickly thought of the endless fog that protected him from pollution in the Dream of the Apocalypse.
"What exactly is that figure lying on both the sea and the sky? Are other apocalypses caused by this kind of thing?"
Lin Chen thought of that figure lying on both the sea and the sky, and the connection that was established with him after just one glance. Lin Chen still felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
He calmed down and focused on practicing his sequence ability. Through the car window, he could see Xiao Yuqi practicing with difficulty, wielding a knife with one hand. She was also practicing her sequence ability.
...
In another world unnoticed by Lin Chen,
a figure lay horizontally before the horizon of the dark sea, hands clasped in prayer. No matter the angle or location, this figure always appeared to lie before the horizon, forever distant from the observer.
Above this figure, in the fluorescent green sky, was reflected a lighter-colored, identical figure. Both figures continuously emitted a strange pollutant, deepening the colors of the sea and sky.
As the pollutant continued to emanate, an invisible spiritual bond quietly extended, plunging into the thick fog and beginning to pierce through layers of spacetime, heading straight for Lin Chen.
This time, the boundless fog did not prevent the two figures from establishing a connection with Lin Chen; instead, it enveloped the connection, accompanying him through spacetime travel.
Lin Chen remained completely unaware of all this, continuing to practice his abilities.
The afternoon passed slowly. Shu Caicai still hadn't woken from her slumber, but even if she did, she would likely fall into a coma again soon.
Lin Chen ate a biscuit for dinner. His sequence ability had clearly improved that afternoon, and the light at the bottom of the Sky Island core had also increased.
Lin Chen estimated that if he maintained his forging efficiency that afternoon, it would take him about ten days to fully illuminate the Sky Island core and officially activate it!
"I need to advance to Sequence Eight as soon as possible, and also obtain more Doomsday Points as quickly as possible."
After dinner, Lin Chen planned to practice until bedtime, then do some work in the evening and continue practicing the next day.
...
Inspired and stimulated by Fan Nan's advancement to Sequence Eight, the sequence ability users all began to practice continuously.
He Yan, He Qiang, and Ying Huan basically used their sequence abilities the whole time. Lin Chen had been doing sequence missions, and only the Tang Sword Girl was truly motivated by Fan Nan to work hard.
While the sequence ability users were busy and full of hope for the future, the atmosphere among the ordinary survivors was not so positive.
Fan Nan was resting, so he handed over all the affairs of the ordinary survivors to Xiao Zhang and Feng Liang.
The two were currently counting how many vehicles in the rear convoy were unclaimed.
They could ignore the supplies on these vehicles, considering them a reward for the ordinary survivors' survival. However, they needed to accurately count the vehicles to facilitate the convoy's recruitment of other survivors later.
Feng Liang and Xiao Zhang decided to keep the vehicles, temporarily having the twenty-odd survivors drive them, with the supplies on board as payment.
They planned to reward the vehicles themselves to well-behaved and disciplined survivors in the convoy later. Since taking on the responsibility of supervising discipline, Feng Liang had devoted all his energy to this.
He knew that finding the monster who killed his wife among these people would not be easy.
He could only numb himself by focusing on his work, and the convoy's disciplinary system gradually took shape under his guidance.
The sequence ability users did not object to his takeover, and even Fan Nan, the convoy leader, didn't seem to care much.
In their eyes, ordinary survivors were ultimately not considered on the same level as sequence ability users.
For example, for Lin Chen, without his special sequence ability, even Shu Caicai would be difficult for him to consider a companion.
After all, treating an ordinary person who could die at any time even if you wanted to protect her would only be a waste of your feelings.