7. Rat Horde
As the sky gradually darkened, Ying Chenlin ventured deeper, three kilometers into the area, he had entered the deep region of the Banute map. The mecha's built-in map displayed an alert, but he dismissed the "Abyss Exploration Warning," and the energy blade by his side was dripping with blood.
In Ying Chenlin's mecha's field of view, a rat with sharp teeth stared with crimson eyes. After witnessing him beheading one of its kind, the rat turned and fled towards the outskirts of the Banute Contaminated Zone.
[Emergency notification from the Banute Contaminated Zone Management Bureau: A mutated contamination source has been detected in the zone. All mecha pilots still deep inside the zone, please evacuate immediately!]
The emergency message blinked only twice before it was disrupted by the chaotic magnetic fields, turning into a buzzing signal.
"The contamination source issue, the mutation is at least of A-rank," Ying Chenlin analyzed.
"But we don't have enough Greenwall Ore at the outskirts; we can't leave yet. We need to go deeper and investigate," he added.
Inside the narrow cockpit, he was alone, and the neural connection remained unresponsive.
Pausing for a moment, Ying Chenlin looked down at the black and red necklace hanging around his neck.
The black and red mech necklace fell silently from his collar as he moved, making no sound.
Unlike his former companion, the sentient S-rank mech named "Yuan," the current B-rank mech was ordinary and lacked any form of intelligence. All actions were executed based solely on the direct commands of the mecha pilot.
"Forgot, you're not here right now."
Interacting with the intelligent mecha was like an ingrained habit etched into his memory.
Ying Chenlin didn't pursue the escaping sharp-toothed rat. He raised his right hand slightly.
A slight sense of weariness passed through his nerves, making his hand holding the weapon feel particularly heavy. The fatigue brought on by piloting the mecha was faster than the fading of his memory.
But he hadn't reached the limit of exhaustion yet.
Perhaps the level of his mental projection while piloting the mecha was relatively weak. Mutated plants and animals in the contaminated zone were highly sensitive to mental projections. His meager mental strength turned out to be an advantage, as ordinary mutated creatures couldn't sense him. So far, the strongest mutated creature he encountered was the sharp-toothed rat.
For now, the danger was temporarily averted. Ying Chenlin found a safe spot and disconnected the neural connection. He took out a syringe from his backpack and injected himself with the necessary medication. After completing these tasks, he turned his attention to the map with recorded routes and the pollution thresholds.
The danger in the depths of Banute was higher. From the outermost perimeter to now, the pollution threshold had surged from 1240 to 2310, exceeding the maximum value ever recorded in the Banute Contaminated Zone. Clearly, something was amiss.
Ying Chenlin turned off the notifications from the Banute Contaminated Zone Management Bureau. His A-rank mental power was more than enough to handle the B-rank mecha. However, his limited mental strength affected his response time significantly, and with proper rest, he could last in such a contaminated zone for a maximum of two days.
Two days, at least he needed to make enough profit before leaving.
Ying Chenlin glanced at the deeper parts of the Banute Contaminated Zone. He still wanted to explore further.
The deeper parts of the zone held more unknown dangers, but the resources became more abundant. Materials like green wall ore were scarce at the outskirts but became much more common in the deep regions. There were also strange signs and peculiar energy-rich minerals. Almost every kilometer he walked deeper, he could find traces of mining and tunneling.
A few such instances might be considered exceptions, but the deeper he went, the more numerous these holes became. The areas with such traces had significantly fewer resources, as if something had swept through and left only a mess behind.
