I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords-Chapter 40 - 0. Not suitable for travel_1

Chapter 40: 040. Not suitable for travel_1

Chapter 40: 040. Not suitable for travel_1

With a base of 4,500 Silence Points, if the completion is a bit higher, it would be very normal to exceed 5,000. Adding on the rewards from subsequent profession development tasks, Lu Ban’s savings would quickly break through 10,000, enough for an Essence Extraction on his “Testament.”

As for why he chose to Essence Extract “Testament” instead of buying more crowbars to protect himself, it was of course because “Testament” is an Inherent level item.

Another Inherent level item is the All-In dice, capable of taking effect even when Lu Ban faced a great presence, a miraculous item that allowed him to survive.

Although “Testament” was currently just a recording device, Lu Ban believed that once it could be Essence Extracted, it held great future potential.

Besides, the youth these days are always thinking about spending money, with little understanding of the value of saving and frugality, losing the spirit of tradition. Lu Ban was disheartened by this and decided to set an example.

Actually, the main reason was that Lu Ban couldn’t afford those useful items.

After he selected the [Corrosion] difficulty, the tiny hole expanded, morphing into the shape of a peephole.

Lu Ban glanced inside and saw pitch black.

Suddenly, within that darkness, an eye abruptly opened.

It was not a human eye, but that of some animal with vertical pupils, deep yellow in color, dirty and turbid, dim and dull.

Around the eye, a ring of text appeared.

[Would you like to enter the Silent Lands?]

[Yes/No]

Lu Ban chose No.

He saw that the timer outside was still counting down.

“So these two days were inclusive of making choices and preparation.”

Lu Ban understood.

However, he didn’t have much to prepare.

With such good public order domestically and no time left to travel abroad, Lu Ban couldn’t obtain firearms and ammunition. He couldn’t use these weapons effectively, nor could they compare to what he could exchange at the Silent Department Store.

As for those various weapons like knives, guns, axes, halberds, swords, spears, hooks, and staffs, Lu Ban found them all awkward to use.

He went downstairs and bought some ribs from the supermarket, along with a portable frying pan that could serve as a fire source, a portable camping light, the corresponding tools, side dishes, water, etc., which he packed into his bag.

He also took along a flashlight, power bank, and compressed food rations.

After packing, it was already evening.

Lu Ban sent a WeChat message to Qin Tiantian, saying he was going out to collect materials for a few days. After thinking about it, he also sent one to his old squad leader, Feng Yu.

In this world, Lu Ban really didn’t have many close people left.

He put on his coat, shouldered his backpack, and held the crowbar in his hand as text appeared in his field of vision.

[Would you like to enter the Silent Lands?]

[Yes/No]

Lu Ban chose [Yes].

Surrounding him was a whirl of colors, not of this world, swirling around him.

Lu Ban felt the weight of his body shift to his head, then swiftly to his stomach.

He saw several lines of text composed of indescribable colors.

[The flow of time in the Silent Lands does not align with that of the outside world]

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freёnovelkiss.com.

[The time ratio for this journey is: 3:1]

[Heading to the Abandoned Capital]

Just as Lu Ban was getting somewhat dizzy from these words, he felt something hard.

First, there was the sensation of dry air that made his throat feel scratchy.

Then came the sensation of a bumpy ride on some massive steel object.

Lu Ban found he was sitting in the last row of a bus.

The bus wasn’t large, less than twenty seats, and he was the only one in the back row.

The interior lights were dim, as if they could go out at any moment.

The seats were hard and seemed to be made of aged wood.

The handrails were of rusted steel.

The windows were made of glass full of cracks.

Outside the window was an endless expanse of ruins beneath the night sky.

Lu Ban saw the intertwining ruins of unknown age, which formed a string of words.

[Abandoned Capital]

[New Calendar Year 20, not suitable for travel]

[The Prohibition did not completely eradicate sin but made the gangs even more powerful. In the Abandoned Capital, gangs rule the underworld—killing, blood, death, turned the once City of Hope into a city of sin.]

[Yet, people still yearn for the Abandoned Capital and flock from all over the world, hoping to find their own fortune.]

[Doesn’t everyone hope to be the protagonist of such stories?]

[Mission requirement: Complete the journey to the Abandoned Capital.]

[Difficulty: Corrosion]

“Prohibition…”

Lu Ban’s knowledge of history was not rich; he only knew that in the original world, around the 1920s or 1930s, there had been a Prohibition in some country because alcohol was believed to lead to crimes against women.

However, after its implementation, many people brewed alcohol under the guise of medicine, and all that alcohol ended up in the black market controlled by the gangs, indirectly boosting their power.

It seems now, the chaos of the Abandoned Capital and the prevalence of gangs had a significant connection to the Prohibition.

He withdrew his gaze from the window and looked around the interior of the vehicle.

The driver was a man in his forties, portly and bald.

Apart from Lu Ban, there were three other passengers in the car.

To the front left, in the second-to-last row, was a thin young man crouched in his seat, shivering, wearing a beret.

On the front right, in the third-to-last row, was a middle-aged woman who kept glancing at the others, her hands tucked into her pockets, appearing extremely cautious.

Behind the driver’s side was a tall man nearly two meters in height, dressed in a short outfit, with a scar starting from his crown and sprawling down to his shoulder blade, a sight to behold.

These were his companions for the trip?

Seeing that everyone else was silent, Lu Ban could only move to sit behind the trembling young man.

“Hey.”

He spoke up.

“Ahh!”

The young man let out a cry, nearly jumping out of the window.

His reaction drew the attention of the others, but that was all.

“Wh-what do you want?”

The young man’s speech, like Lu Ban’s, carried a bit of a rural accent and wasn’t very standard.

“Do you know how much longer it will be?”

Since communication wasn’t a problem, Lu Ban asked directly.

“To-tomorrow, I guess… At least until dawn before we, we can see the houses of the Abandoned Capital…”

He stammered, not very bright.

“At least eight hours.”

The burly man sitting next to the driver chimed in.

“Oh.”

Lu Ban nodded.

With the time flow rate at 3:1, if he stayed here for eight hours, only just over two hours would have passed in reality—he might even make it back in time for a late-night snack.

He didn’t continue the conversation, instead, he observed the environment attentively.

The outside ruins seemed long abandoned, already taken by rainwater and vegetation, with no trace of the original architectural form.

Even the road, looking back, appeared to have been laboriously carved out of the remnants of broken bricks and tiles.

There were no stars, no moonlight; the whole world was in darkness, with only the bus’s headlights providing some illumination on the road.

Just as Lu Ban was about to retract his gaze, suddenly, he caught a glimpse of something darting from behind the bus into the darkness of the ruins.

He could only glean a glimpse, unable to discern its exact form, but could vaguely make out that it had limbs, a body, a head, and it was pale.

Like a… person?

*

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