Chapter 33: Immortal Cells
The mechanical war vehicle sped along, Bubu Wang sat in the back seat with a slightly swollen dog mouth, while Mogro, covered in alloy armor plates, was driving. Clearly, this former leader of the Fire Skull Gang no longer trusted Bubu Wang's driving skills, let alone any "black tech" autonomous driving.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Su Xiao picked up the "Law Compass" from under the windshield. This device was a combination of a compass and a weather prediction tool.
After some initial understanding, Su Xiao learned that Mogro's weapon was a biological firearm, best suited for mid-range combat with extremely strong firepower. However, the bullets for that biological firearm were special, requiring Mogro to consume life force and flesh to form them.
Besides mid-range combat, Mogro had another powerful ability. Due to his undead nature, the cells in his body would gradually become "immortalized," so he had to regularly strip away the immortal cells within him.
This defect was developed by Mogro into a detection ability. As for how effective it was, Mogro didn't say.
"How long until we reach 'that place'?"
Su Xiao looked at the Law Compass in his hand, its outer ring slowly rotating, indicating that rain was coming, and a heavy downpour at that.
"At least, 6 days."
Mogro's metallic, muffled voice came through. Most of the time, he was taciturn.
"6 days..."
Su Xiao closed the cover of the Law Compass and looked at the gradually overcast sky. In at most a few hours, a heavy rain would begin.
Since a few days ago, Su Xiao had felt a constant sense of being watched. At first, the feeling was very close, but as more hunters gathered at Shelter No. 9, that sense of surveillance began to fade in and out.
Su Xiao certainly wouldn't ignore this feeling of being watched. Initially, he suspected it was assassins from other shelters, after all, he held the healing potion.
However, compared to the watchers from hostile forces, Su Xiao felt it was more likely someone from the Apocalypse Paradise side. He had never forgotten the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise: after he killed a Battle Angel, Apocalypse Paradise would summon other Battle Angels.
So far, Su Xiao had killed two Battle Angels. Based on his speculation, under Reincarnation Paradise's containment, Apocalypse Paradise couldn't endlessly summon Battle Angels.
Su Xiao looked at the scenery outside the car window. The faint sense of surveillance from before was most likely a Battle Angel watching him. Even if not, he needed to confirm if there were enemies tailing him. The place he was about to go was very dangerous, and he had to deal with high-threat enemies before arriving there.
If the hunters at Shelter No. 9 weren't so utterly useless, Su Xiao would at least use them to cover his retreat.
Su Xiao didn't do this, both because of his cooperation with Mogro and because he didn't want to bring those hunters along. Those people took cowardice and betrayal to the extreme.
Gathering them together for a firepower bombardment was fine, but once the situation turned bad, those people would scatter like birds and beasts, and more likely than not, they would stab him in the back.
For this reason, Su Xiao chose not to bring any of them. Even the Broken Fang Brothers and Ghana, who he had the longest contact with, weren't very trustworthy.
Rumble, rumble...
Thunder rumbled in the sky, dark clouds gathered, and before the heavy rain arrived, the mechanical war vehicle stopped beside a semi-abandoned lighthouse.
The lighthouse was shaped like a large chimney and had been abandoned for a long time. Entering inside, Su Xiao found it was less than fifty square meters, hollowed out inside. From the several piles of ashes on the ground, it was clear that hunters often rested here.
The torrential rain soon arrived, with a whooshing sound outside the lighthouse, and some rain leaking from the high spire.
Su Xiao originally planned to brave the rain and continue, but Mogro refused. According to Mogro, while the internal combustion engine of the mechanical war vehicle was waterproof, they couldn't take the risk. There was a stretch of road ahead where the vehicle was crucial.
The mission time limit still had over twenty days, so Su Xiao wasn't in a hurry and agreed to take shelter in the lighthouse.
The wood in the fire crackled as Su Xiao sat in front of it. Compared to the pitch-black, rainy outside, the lighthouse was noticeably warmer and drier.
"Mogro, how many years ago did you reach 'that place'?"
With nothing to do, Su Xiao asked Mogro for information about the area where the supernatural plant Dibamu was located.
"Many years ago."
Mogro's answer was very concise, and it was like saying nothing at all.
"Woof~"
Bubu Wang clearly had a conflict with Mogro, starting from when the latter didn't trust his driving skills.
"Be more specific."
"That place... is very dangerous."
"..."
Clearly, Mogro was the type who couldn't squeeze out a single word, taciturn, brutal, but very trustworthy.
Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha all stared at Mogro. After a few minutes, Mogro's eye twitched.
"That place has many undead and aberrant beasts."
Mogro barely squeezed out this piece of information, then stopped.
"..."
Su Xiao gave up trying to get information from Mogro. The other party was hiding some secret, but everyone had secrets.
"Set off when the rain stops..."
"Someone triggered my trap."
Mogro suddenly interrupted Su Xiao.
"Distance."
"At least 2 kilometers. Give me 10 seconds."
Several tubes on Mogro's back extended and pierced into the ground.
"Over there, three beasts... no, humans, three humans, 2 kilometers away, moving at high speed."
As he spoke, Mogro pried off a metal armor piece from his arm. Underneath was a squirming mass of black biological tissue—this was the immortal cells.
Su Xiao caught the metal piece Mogro tossed over, hesitated for a moment, then pressed it against the Black King Bracer on his left arm.
With a squelch, the biological tissue clung to the Black King Bracer. The bracer contained dead silence force, so Su Xiao wasn't afraid of Mogro playing tricks.
"Heating means the enemy is approaching, vibrating means the distance is widening, detaching... means losing the target."
Mogro's tracking experience was rich, but unfortunately...
The black metal piece detached from Su Xiao's bracer. Mogro silently picked it up and sat back in front of the fire.
"Old pal, this is unreliable. I was all ready."
Baha's expression was conflicted. It was prepared to face the enemy, but Mogro's tracking failed instantly.
"That human cut off a piece of flesh from their leg."
The tubes on Mogro's back writhed, and after a while, a mass of black biological tissue crawled into the lighthouse. Stuck to this mass of black biological tissue was a large chunk of flesh.
This mass of black biological tissue was the immortal cells Mogro had previously stripped away. He had to remove this stuff from his body periodically, or he would become a mindless undead.
"Three people..."
Su Xiao crouched in front of Mogro's immortal cells, seemingly hesitating about something.
"The heavy rain will last at least a few hours. That should... be enough."
Su Xiao grabbed the immortal cells on the ground. Seeing this, Mogro frowned.
"It will bite..."
With a crackle, Cyan Steel Shadow energy surged, and the immortal cells escaped from Su Xiao's hand, leaving only some enemy bloodstains on his palm.
"What?"
Su Xiao looked at Mogro.
"Nothing."
Mogro's eyelids drooped. Having formed an alliance, he had almost forgotten how monstrous his ally's strength was.
"Bubu, Amu, Baha, wait here for now."
Su Xiao stepped toward the lighthouse exit. He never liked to passively face enemies. Since they liked to follow so much, he would take the initiative to meet them.
[Prompt: The Hunter has equipped the Old Hunter title.]
[Blood Mark (Active) has been activated.]
[Title Effect 1: Blood Mark (Active), can track targets using blood. Even if the prey is in a derivative world, primordial world, or trial world, it can still be accurately tracked.]
[Prompt: This skill has no cost. Each tracking lasts 12 hours and can be used once per world progress. If the prey is in another world, the prey's world coordinates are obtained, and the tracking effect ends immediately.]
...
A mark outlined by blood appeared in front of Su Xiao and vanished the next moment.