BXBX NOVEL Chapter 5
Outside the passageway was a different story.
As the high-rise was entwined with giant vines, a few floors down dense leaves had sealed the windows, preventing any sunlight from penetrating.
Coupled with the destruction of civilization, there had been a long-term power outage in the building, rendering the lights useless.
Jiang Chen peered down the entrance of the passageway and could only see pitch darkness, unable to gather any useful intelligence.
“This won’t do.”
“It’s too dark inside, I don’t have night vision, and even without those large elite creatures, getting attacked by a swarm of small ones in the dark, my chances wouldn’t be good.”
“Drawing the Mutants out to fight in the passageway, the sound would travel far.”
“At that point, possibly dozens of floors’ worth of Mutants could be attracted by the noise and come running out in swarms.”
“That’s just as suicidal.”
For those who didn’t want to fight, this basic trial was very simple.
One just needed to repel the initial creature, and then one could likely spend the twenty-four hours safely on the rooftop.
But to Jiang Chen, this trial scenario was quite tricky.
Inside the lightless high-rise, countless Mutants lurked, giving off that feeling where pulling at one thing may move the whole.
It was difficult to methodically clear out the creatures and farm resources.
Was there a way to change this situation, to face only a few Mutants at a time?
An idea began to take shape in Jiang Chen’s mind as he looked at the metal door frame built with mechanical precision.
The walls and doors of the emergency passage were constructed of metal, with steel several dozen centimeters thick, looking extremely sturdy.
Even with bombs, they might not be easily destroyed, let alone by these Mutants—
They were ferocious, but in the end, they were still creatures of flesh and blood.
Even that large fellow might not be able to shake such thick steel alloys.
Therefore, all he had to do was return to the rooftop, use sound to draw the Mutants from the lower floors, and then guard the entrance.
At one time, he’d only need to face the assault of one or two Mutants!
As for the large creature on the fifth floor…
A giant with a fatal weakness.
Its immense size, over four or five times that of an ordinary Mutant, consequently made it impossible for it to squeeze through the metal doorway and enter the emergency passageway.
Nor could it make its way to the rooftop to trouble Jiang Chen.
The more Jiang Chen thought about it, the more feasible he found this strategy.
He stopped his descent and returned to the rooftop via the emergency passage.
Once he arrived at the helipad, he did not immediately start making noise.
If he were to use the terrain to farm creatures, he needed to maximize his advantages!
Jiang Chen approached the crashed helicopter, surveyed it, and then bent down to grasp the fractured tail, using all his strength.
“Hah!”
The model of the helicopter differed from those of the present world.
A single section of the tail already weighed at least two to three tons.
This weight had reached the limit that the model Zero-Type Exoskeleton could bear, but it was still barely movable.
Amidst the grating sound of steel scraping the ground, Jiang Chen dragged the tail segment to the entrance of the passageway.
He carefully set it down, and this piece of tail blocked more than half of the entrance, leaving only a little less than half the space unobstructed.
“Early stage Mutants move by crawling, even if I block half the door, they could easily crawl over.”
Jiang Chen was not yet satisfied and once again approached the wrecked helicopter, collecting scattered parts.
Utilizing the formidable strength provided by the exoskeleton, he dragged them one by one and piled them all by the entrance of the passage.
What was once a spacious passage now had only one or two narrow crevices remaining.
“Now it’s about right.”
Jiang Chen looked at his handiwork with satisfaction.
As he moved these steel parts, to avoid making noise, he nearly exhausted the strength of the Zero-Type Exoskeleton to its limit.
The Armor Value had consequently plummeted, dropping from ten points to six.
Next, it was time to test the outcome.
Jiang Chen picked up an iron bar nearby, his palms slightly sweaty.
He wasn’t entirely sure whether these metal obstacles could withstand the impact of the Mutants.
He also didn’t know whether there were other types of Mutants in the building besides the small, thin monkey and the big, dumb brute.
But…
Where in the world are things ever perfect?
If you want to level up by grinding monsters, how can you not take some risks?
He took a deep breath, lifted the iron rod, and struck the tail wing of the helicopter in front of him with force.
“Dang, dang!”
The sound echoed through the metallic cavity of the helicopter’s tail wing, reverberating in the emergency passage and quickly spreading downward.
The air fell silent for an instant.
The next moment, the screeches of early stage Mutants rose from within the high-rise.
One after another, gray mutants with purple veins sprang from the darkness, charging up the emergency passage towards the rooftop like a tide!
But when they reached the top of the passage,
they were shocked to find the exit blocked by layers of metal obstacles, with just a few cracks letting in the outside light.
The Mutant at the very front squeezed into the largest crack first.
It had just poked its head out when it saw a warrior in a silver-black exoskeleton, raising the iron rod in his hand.
“Is the cafeteria open?”
“Congratulations, you’re the first one.”
The iron rod fell, smashing its skull to pieces.
With the first Mutant motionless, the ones behind were frantic.
Some climbed upward, striving to squeeze through another crack.
Others pulled apart the corpse of the previous Mutant and followed through the largest gap.
Two Mutants emerged almost simultaneously.
“No need to rush, line up nicely, one by one, everyone gets their turn.”
A poke, a smash.
The two Mutants were like fish on the chopping board, not lasting even a second before moving on to the next stage.
The abyss atmosphere emitted from their corpses flowed into the Abyss Rune in Jiang Chen’s palm.
A line of information emerged alongside it.
[Killed an early stage Mutant, acquired item: Spirit Blood Live Root.]
…
[Spirit Blood Live Root]
[Quality: Ordinary]
[Type: Item]
[Effect: Can repair two Armor Value when used on armor that is more than fifty percent intact.]
[Description: Live roots nourished by spirit blood, they seem to still be pulsing.]
The model Zero-Type Exoskeleton had previously overloaded while carrying heavy objects, losing four points of Armor Value.
Seeing an item that could repair armor, Jiang Chen did not hesitate and took it out of the Abyss Rune to use on the spot.
A mass of purple vines appeared in his palm, winding quickly along the glove to the exoskeleton above, forming countless tiny roots that burrowed into the cracks.
The cracks on the surface of the model Zero-Type Exoskeleton immediately began to heal significantly.
Seeing this, Jiang Chen’s actions in dealing with the Mutants became even more swift.
Streams of abyss atmosphere flowed into the Abyss Rune with the death of each early stage Mutant.
About every four streams of abyss atmosphere would generate one material or item.
However, the [Mecha Module] Jiang Chen hoped to obtain still had not appeared.
Until the eighth message emerged.
Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up.
[Killed an early stage Mutant, acquired module: Roots Strengthening.]
…
[Root Fortification]
[Rank: 0]
[Rarity: Ordinary]
[Type: Upper Limb Module, Lower Limb Module.]
[Effect One: When loaded as an upper limb module, increase strength by 2, defense by 1.]
[Effect Two: When loaded as a lower limb module, increase agility by 2, strength by 1.]
[Description: Roots have replaced my flesh, and their sap flows within me.]