Chapter 3065: Assemble and Depart
The white-haired man and Yilan's group had already vanished from sight. Xu Huo wiped the sweat that instantly beaded on his forehead and first opened his personal interface. He could now unlock one more device.
In this environment, the combat-type devices he carried on him were basically useless. Large-scale devices were even more impossible to bring onto the island, let alone special protective suits that could regulate body temperature.
In the end, Xu Huo still exchanged for a long-distance teleportation device. With this thing on him, he could use his spatial evolution ability without restraint.
Tucking the device into the inner pocket of his clothes, Xu Huo checked the items in his backpack: a few combat devices, two protective devices, one direction finder—all things he hadn't used in the previous arena matches and hadn't been destroyed by jamming devices—plus some dry rations bought from the store, two bottles of nutrient supplement, two doses of antidote, one first aid kit, six bottles of water, a reusable water bottle, and some dried meat and dried fruit.
There was also a protective suit tied to the bag strap.
Adding the newly unlocked teleportation device, this was his entire inventory.
After adjusting for a moment, Xu Huo felt that this temperature hadn't yet reached the point where the human body couldn't bear it. So he picked a few broad leaves nearby, made them into an open-top hat, put it on, and began searching the vicinity.
The plants growing here were all mutant varieties, resistant to both high heat and cold, so they remained lush and green. However, traces of animal life were hard to find. Occasionally, when the grass rustled, only small creatures like snakes and insects could be seen, and even those were few in number, most of them already dried into mummified corpses.
A special irrigation system was laid underground, but it was filled with nutrients and undrinkable. So he searched for several plants with abundant sap and cut a section from each.
Beyond that, he only found some nuts, with no other fruit rich in juice.
He walked all the way to the edge of the wasteland before stopping.
From here, everything in the barren zone seemed normal—at least within the limits of his perception, he didn't detect any chaotic space like the white-haired man had mentioned. Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that the barren zone was exceptionally vast, or that chaotic space appeared randomly.
Gazing at the endless yellowish land and sky, he closed his eyes for a moment, put on a simple face mask made from leaves, and then turned back.
At the same time, Ding Xiang and Double Head and the others had gone near the second gate to inquire. After confirming that Xu Huo had already entered, they returned to the city to discuss their next steps.
Among their group, Double Head, Loving Orange, Wood, Wolf Fang, and Navi had all scored over a thousand points at least once. Only Ding Xiang and Old Duan hadn't. The requirement to pass the second gate was to have at least one score exceeding a thousand. So the group had to leave Little Bear City first and return to Bear Hug Zone to accumulate points.
Xu Huo had made it clear he would only wait half a day for them. The seven didn't waste time. Following their previous cooperation methods, they stopped controlling their scores, and soon each of them was close to a thousand points. Double Head and the other five then used the injury rule to give them a hundred points each, finally reaching the thousand mark.
This time, their scores upon entering the city were too high. The players guarding near the gate saw that they weren't injured, so no one came out to challenge them. The group smoothly exchanged for their items and rushed to the second gate.
After passing through the gate, facing the wave of heat rushing toward them, everyone's hearts sank. At such a high temperature, people would reach their physical limits much sooner than under normal conditions.
"Where's Xu Huo?" Ding Xiang looked around. She had bought a detection device and just turned it on when she heard footsteps not far away. Moving closer, she saw Xu Huo dragging several plant roots toward them.
"Hey!" She waved happily.
Xu Huo had already noticed them. Looking up, he saw the group walking quickly toward him. He smiled, pointed at the things he had dropped on the ground, and said, "See if any of you recognize these and which ones are edible."
Loving Orange stepped forward to examine them and picked out two types. "Both of these are non-toxic. Though the taste is a bit strange, they can be used for hydration."
When they returned to Bear Hug Zone, they had already filled their existing containers with water, but bringing these along was even better.
Xu Huo still had an empty water bottle. He squeezed some juice from the plants on the spot, then worked with the others to cut enough plant roots, tying them into bundles, with each person planning to carry one on their back.
Loving Orange and Navi also helped make a few large leaf hats. "Wearing these on our heads can barely serve as sunshades."
"When will it get dark?" Old Duan checked the time. "At this hour, Bear Hug Zone is almost dark."
But here in the barren zone, the sunlight was still blazing, with no sign of cooling down.
"Hard to say." Xu Huo had been here for half a day, and the weather had remained the same, with no change at all.
"Since we can't wait for nightfall, let's set out now," Double Head said. "Whether we stretch our neck for the blade or shrink it back, we have to go in anyway."
He then grinned mysteriously and said to Xu Huo, "You don't know what good stuff we managed to get, do you?"
Xu Huo waited for him to continue.
"It's a map!" Double Head pulled out a hand-drawn map, spread it on the ground, and said, "Look, a map of the barren zone. Traded a device for it."
Although the map of the barren zone required high points to buy, someone had indeed purchased it, and trading it for items was reasonable. However, this map was too simple—it only outlined a rough area and marked a cross-zone location in the northeast direction.
Ding Xiang and the others had all seen this map. In short, it was hard to describe.
"Is it the northeast direction from Little Bear City?" Xu Huo asked.
"Should be," Double Head said. "I asked the seller. They said the map is based on the departure city. Since we bought it in Little Bear City, it's according to our position. Otherwise, what kind of map would it be without any reference points?"
"I even doubt if this direction is real," Loving Orange said helplessly. "No one knows who the map originally came from. What if someone marked a wrong direction? Only he would be willing to trade a device for it."
"Better than nothing, right?" Double Head didn't think he'd been cheated. "We have to pick a direction anyway."
"The island is round. The first two zones were rings. Even if the barren zone isn't a big circle, it's still a ring. Heading forward is definitely the right move."
"What do you think?" he asked Xu Huo.
Xu Huo nodded. "Since we don't have any better leads right now, let's follow the map."
"I wonder how we're supposed to accumulate points in the barren zone," Old Duan said. "The desert is endless. It'll be hard to even run into other players."
"Maybe it's random arenas," Navi said. "Challenge Island definitely won't make things easy for us."
The test of human nature in harsh environments was just one of the highlights; the challenge matches were the main event.
"Who cares about all that," Wood said. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We're well-prepared, and there are eight of us. As long as we don't run into a group with too many people, we'll definitely be fine!"