Chapter 148: Mountains and Light

Yang Zicang looked at Li Zhinan, who had taken two more steps back.
“However what?”
“As long as you let him get out of here alive, I can share with you a copy of the Plant-Growth Secret Technique I obtained. If it weren’t for that secret technique, do you think I care whether he lives or dies?”
Seeing Yang Zicang’s contemplative expression, Luo Bin suddenly opened his eyes, laughed coldly, and jumped up, shouting outside the car:
“This guy knows no humanity, don’t let him go. Entangled in that control secret technique, he must have a price to pay. You should suppress his strength.”
“But…”
Thump! Luo Bin crushed an Ability Sphere in his hand, and Yang Zicang had casually reserved that low-level Chrono Weapon, which shot out with a red glow, instantly exploding Li Zhinan’s head.
Ding-dong!
A red surgical scalpel fell onto the ancient, darken stone. It quivered slightly, seeming to gaze fearfully at the train from the ground.
“Sigh.”
Yang Zicang felt a jolt in his heart, then let out a sigh.
The energy influence brought by the Phantom suddenly vanished.
“The power has weakened. The soul inside that treasure is Xue Lao’er, right,” Luo Bin said, his small eyes darting left and right, “It seems Shi Qian has already struck a deal with Xue Lao’er’s soul inside. You can spit out the thing you’ve been holding in your mouth.”
“Pah!” Yang Zicang spat out the incense pill and scanned his surroundings, “Wu Ying, come out!”
It was silent, with no response.
Luo Bin also stood at the train door, shouting relentlessly, “Shi Qian, that thing isn’t much use to you. Better give it to us, and I’ll call you brother and pledge alliance.”.
The next second, a zigzagging line shot toward Yang Zicang.
[Wu Ying wants to make an active investment in me.]
[Wu Ying has invested 1N in me.]
{Is that Chrono Weapon really from eighty years ago?}
“Exactly right.”
{Twenty thousand chronos, plus that weapon, I’ll give you this. You understand this is a bargain price.}
Yang Zicang narrowed his eyes slightly.
Held lingered, the treasure was worth hundreds of thousands of Chrono in his mind, yet something in him instinctively resisted this transaction. Spending two decades in one go would push the prospect of buying time in Hub Town shops far into the future, but missing this treasure would make acquiring it again next to impossible.
“He (Wu Ying) said for a price of two hundred thousand Chrono, plus that eighty-year Chrono Weapon, he’d sell us the Illusion Treasure.”
“The hell with it.”
Lo Bin cursed, having missed the deal by just a second—his body still stuck in time. He leaped off the vehicle, driving his drill spike onto the Cy-powered scalpel dagger, turning it into scrap.
Suddenly, the entire mountain began to shudder. A change swept across Held’s face.
“It’s the vines! Let’s get out of here!”
Ye Lie lunged forward quickly as the train dissipated into wind and faded away.
KABOOM! The very moment they departed, the ground beneath them cracked open, an eruption of countless vines piercing through the floor, limbs writhing wildly beyond control.
“Send the word about that thing being here. Every civilian who sets foot in the mountain must stay completely prohibited!”
The peak swiftly grew into a stunning emerald green waterfall like scenery. It gave a quick glance to both directions, zeroing their gaze precisely at where branches used to swing.
A piercing glimmer shot through the noise like a folded line catching time. Deep inside the pair’s consciousness, Ju Yin’s indomitable voice roared imposing and massive, crystal clear.
{Violent entities of that grade lash suddenly appear—do you two by any chance find a damn clue how to fight something like it?!}
“Not a cause for concern.”
“Don’t worry? Zizang, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but if it breaks out and rapidly expands, much of the Lost Frequency Land could become a death trap for humanity. The consequences would be disastrous! If you can’t handle this, I might have to request mobilizing the security team from the Hub Town.”
The train hurtled desperately, yet the young man on top wore a confident expression.
“I already have a plan—trust me!”
Boom! The forest shook as the vine monster surged forward like a tidal wave, but soon, scattered torches appeared in the woods ahead of the vines.
Several threads flashed by.
“Captain Zijian, the gasoline is ready. Should we keep burning?”
“Set everything on fire!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deep within the mountains, bonfire after bonfire burst into life, flames spreading rapidly through the forest.
……
“Ah-woo, hmm…”
Zuo Feixian had just woken up to take over the night watch from Wang Chong when he suddenly heard a commotion in the distance.
He stretched lazily, scratching his backside as he stepped outside, and happened to catch the distant noise. Straining his eyes, he saw what seemed like specks of flickering starlight among the mountains in the night haze.
“That many people in the mountains?”
Frowning, he went closer for a better look, but it was too far to make out clearly.
“What collection teams are this desperate?”
At that moment, the train swept through the mountains like a whirlwind.
[Storm Fist!]
[Blaze Sword Path!]
A blast of wind carrying sparks exploded with a roar, igniting the plants and trees in the mountain forest.
Just as it came to a halt, a vine shot forward like an arrow.
The black hole spun and thrust out a long spear, thud-thud-thud! The spear clashed rapidly with the vine mid-air.
Luo Bin looked at the flickering golden light in the distance and shouted, “Beware of the explosion!”
“We’re leaving right now.”
Yang Zicang’s wooden staff burst into sparks with a bang as he tossed it into the dense forest. The oil-covered thicket instantly erupted into spreading flames, crackling and hissing.
The railway car and the black hole once again dissolved into the wind and vanished, just before the vine monster rushed through the flames.
As sparks ignited all around, soon the entire mountain was ablaze with red-hot fires.
Innumerable beasts fled in panic, charging in every direction.
{Thinking fire can trap and kill me?}
A flash of sword-light struck the ground, leaving a crater, and at the same time, a tuber crossed the flames and plopped into the hole. Vines killed and tossed small captured wild beasts into the pit, where the tuber started growing at a breakneck pace.
“Damn, it wants to spread everywhere,” a voice muttered.
The railway car appeared on another hilltop, looking down from a high position at the valley below. Luo Bin was shocked by the growth rate of those vines, feeling that this thing could truly cover the entire mountain forest in less than a day.
A distant roar came echoing:
{Once I become the master of this mountain forest, I will turn every single one of you humans into my fertilizer.}
Seeing its fury, Yang Zicang felt that the fire should be effective against it.
“Even if I can’t kill it with fire, I must cut off its source of nutrients.”
Suddenly, the surrounding forest twisted.
A phantom of a human figure appeared in the sky. With a wave of its hands, surging energy spread over the forest.
The voice of Wuying came:
{You set the fires; I’ll trap it.}
Yang Zicang gazed deeply at the much wilder youth standing high in the air like a god or demon.
“Thanks.”
With reduced interference, Yang Zicang and Luo Bin increased their arson efficiency.
Several small glowing orbs appeared above their heads.
{This is so fun.}
Lili Ya appeared beside Yang Zicang’s shoulder. Yang Zicang smiled:
“You came late, even though you knew it’s fun.”
{I was sleeping. I want to play too.}
The little being inside the glowing orb stretched out a small hand to Yang Zicang, begging for the burning stick he held.
Yang Zicang, continuously using the Blades Sword Art, had his internal energy surging wildly, causing him great discomfort. He activated the Glass perception to calm his erratic internal force as he looked at the little one helplessly:
“Can you even lift it?”
{Don’t underestimate me!}
Yang Zicang handed the stick over to it.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several orbs flew down together and grabbed up the stick.
They were not afraid of the flames at all; some carried it while others lifted it, dragging the burning stick crookedly towards the main vine trunk that was constantly battling phantoms.
“Ah, they…” Luo Bin rubbed his eyes.
Just then, the little sprites actually threw the burning stick into a patch of vines.
With a loud bang, the area quickly caught fire, and the little arsonists whooshed away, floating high up in the sky.
Yang Zicang chuckled softly, then looked at Luo Bin and said, “The siege plan has been executed well; next up is the cleanup.”
Luo Bin nodded with vigor, saying, “Hehe, although it possesses terror-inducing strength stronger than Yue Ying’s shadow, since it has entered our world, it must abide by the chronological rules here.”
“And as long as there is a chronology, there will be a moment when it is neutralized.”
The dash-like lines on Yang Zicang’s chest spread outward.
“Captain Yuan Kun, are you ready?”
Yuan Kun in the sensory image appeared both excited and nervous, as if eager to grab this opportunity to prove himself.
{Boss Jia had me prepared right from the start, and I’ve been putting everything into it. I now have eight rifles with a range of three hundred meters, five pistols approaching a range of one hundred meters, and a cannon. Of course, that thing takes a long time to fire.}
At such a great distance, the Amplified Chrono was not something that could be activated. Thinking of the vast amount of chronology about to be consumed, Yang Zicang reluctantly said:
“That’s already more than enough. Let’s begin, and try our best to suppress the timing-sequence of that demon; otherwise, once it escapes the flame zone, it may rapidly replenish its sequence.”
One night passed.
The next day, Yuanlong, who had risen early, yawned as he looked toward the tent entrance. A few of his subordinates were signaling each other with raised eyebrows, urging one another to step forward.
“What’s going on?” Yuanlong asked, a bit puzzled.
Someone parted the tent flap, and Yuanlong stood frozen in place, staring into the distance.
In front of him, several mountains were ablaze, flames leaping toward the sky. Two peaks had already been completely scorched bare, countless plumes of black smoke climbing into the heavens, merging with the overcast gloom.
“Ah… my timber yard…”
Meanwhile, several miles away,
Lu Xiang, parched and disheveled as if he were a beggar, leaned on his wooden staff and stared at the burning forests ahead. Panting heavily, he rasped:
“I’ve, I’ve finally… arrived…”
……
Zorro, after delivering three terrain engines to a group of solitary shanty-dwellers who had fled deep into the uninhabited wilderness out of fear of being robbed on the road near the hub town, left amid their thanks and watchful gazes.
Beneath the dark clouds, a motorcycle chugged and bumped across the open plains, then suddenly skidded in a half-arc and came to a halt. The man stretched out his leg, propped up the bike by it, and craned his neck to look up at the sky.
A golden beam of slanting sunlight broke briefly through the scattered clouds, revealing a patch of azure sky.
The little red horse curiously felt the heat scattered across its body.
{Huh, a strange feeling… Is this sunlight? I feel like I’ve seen it before, many years ago.}
On the horizon ahead, a few blurry figures moved forward in the lingering shadows, soon reaching the edge of this patch of sunlight.
“Hello, Mr. Russell. We are Executives of the Starlight Illusion division, from the Lost Illusion Company.”
Zorro was slightly startled as he looked at these people in clean and stylish office uniforms. A man with a composed demeanor stepped forward and said:
“In recognition of your contributions to the Freq-Lost Zone, we sincerely invite you to join our company and become one of us.”
Beside the man stepped out a woman with a gentle, delicate appearance. She spoke in a pleasant voice and asked with a smile:
“May I ask, would you be willing?”
“Me? I have no notable reputation.”
“But you are a true Frontier Builder.”
These words softened Zorro’s sharp, keen eyes.
Sunlight scattered over this small patch of land, while dust and withered leaves drifted slowly in the air.
{Lost Illusion Company? I want to go see it.}
The Escapist Motorcycle hummed eagerly.
Zorro raised his hands and gazed at his palms glowing white under the light. After feeling this long-absent sunlight, the man took off his mask, letting the sunlight touch the ugly scars near his eyes and on his forehead.
A smile appeared on his stubbled lips.
“Of course. This is our honor.”