Chapter 90: Chapter 80: Hidden Danger
“Didn’t raise it for nothing…”
Driving the truck at around 25 yards per minute on the outer ring road of Las Vegas, Tao Yu watched Little Black occasionally dive down to distract the zombies and couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.
So far, this route was quite good, with fewer zombies than expected, just many broken-down vehicles on the highway.
Some could be rammed open, others circled around by the sidewalk, relying on his superb driving skills to navigate around them.
Although the speed wasn’t fast, the two vehicles were still bumping along, making their way on this outer ring road.
“But aren’t there too few zombies…”
With the height of the truck and his own eyesight, Tao Yu could easily plan the road ahead.
The steering wheel in his hands was incredibly flexible.
He handled the ten-meter-long vehicle with ease.
“Las Vegas is getting closer, and there’s definitely a lot of good stuff in there. If we include the time for stocking up, we could complete a round trip every three days, and the income would be quite substantial.”
Tao Yu thought cheerfully in the cab of the truck.
He then checked the time and, realizing it was past noon, turned on his watch radio, waiting for today’s updates.
Sun Shiqing’s voice started coming through the radio.
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“We’ve preliminarily determined the location for the settlement, choosing the Zombie 01 fragment. The specific location is…”
Although Tao Yu also felt there was a great possibility it would be chosen here, when he got the official response, he still let out a sigh of relief.
At least the goods from these two trips weren’t in vain!
“…Now, whether you’re new or already a Pioneer in the Abyss, you can head to the settlement. Meanwhile, we will also issue some new tasks. First, for indigenous survivors, you can receive one hundred units of Yuan Force for every indigenous survivor brought to the settlement…”
There in the radio, Sun Shiqing, the beautiful youth, updated each of the tasks one by one.
And indeed, they followed the path of rewarding with money.
Since there were not many people now, they were also concerned that the Pioneers to come might not choose the new Development Zone. That’s why they hadn’t enforced any conscription, and it was foreseeable that they probably wouldn’t until the new settlement was properly established.
It was all about spending money to willingly get people to complete tasks.
A hundred units of Yuan Force were quite a tempting reward for each indigenous survivor.
Bringing just three would equal the monthly income of Tao Yu’s parents combined.
Although the risks were indeed greater, normally saving the indigenous residents would be incidental, and it was possible to concurrently transport some demanded goods—the opportunities in the new Development Zone were indeed greater.
“Right now, most of the greenhorns’ strength doesn’t compare to dad’s.”
As Tao Yu listened to the broadcast on the radio, he also contemplated.
Now with two vehicles at his disposal, and his own strength combined with Little Black’s cooperation.
He could carry out such actions alone, monopolizing the team task rewards. Persuading Judy to stay and help wouldn’t cost much in wages either.
He could keep transporting the high-price goods as long as possible.
“Pandora Planet actually has potential too, it’s just a pity that the flying mounts there probably won’t adapt to the air of other worlds…”
Tao Yu was quite envious of the motorcycles flying around the Floating City twins.
He didn’t have the money for such things, but with his “Riding” and “Taming” Skills, getting his own flying mount should be possible, right? He might not be able to become a Phantom Knight from Pandora, but perhaps he could capture a young one?
Thinking about the general physique of Avatars, along with the sheer strength of the creatures from Pandora Planet, Tao Yu fell silent for a moment.
When he’d fully tapped into the potential of his second-stage Deification Breathing Technique, he should be able to handle it.
As he thought about this, he also flipped another can of beef into his mouth and chewed continuously.
The canned beef wasn’t the best for nutrition, but it was the most cost-effective for him right now…
“Hm?”
As Tao Yu was driving around a corner, he suddenly paused, then picked up the nearby walkie-talkie and said,
“Slow down, there’s something up ahead.”
While speaking, he also began to decelerate, and Judy, the female truck driver, followed suit, slowing down behind Tao Yu’s vehicle.
Right around the bend, just at the next intersection ahead, a mountain of corpses was piled high, like a pyramid, blocking more than half of the entire crossroads!
Tao Yu slowed down, not because the road was impassable; in fact, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to get through given his driving ability—the gap left was sufficient.
“Man-made…”
Tao Yu discerned the origins of the corpse mountain that resembled the Imperial View Garden and then furrowed his brows.
Pioneers?
That didn’t seem right. The Inner City Pioneers like the Lizard Kirin shouldn’t have arrived much earlier than himself.
Those who reared aliens should not have the spare time to engage in such showy acts.
Was there a pervert among the pioneers?
It was likely that it wasn’t the pioneers at all!
In an instant, Tao Yu thought of Cao Shaolin, who lurked in his shadow, and then picked up the walkie-talkie to say,
“I’ll have Little Black stay to protect you. Wait for me for a bit.”
Having said that, he squeezed through the truck’s window and climbed onto the roof. With one stride, he covered the three-meter distance, grabbed the edge of a nearby roof, and began his increasingly proficient climbing.
He swiftly ascended to the rooftop, then ran a few steps towards the direction of the Imperial View, continuously comparing his thumb to objects as he went.
“There’s no mistake, someone is purposely creating a corpse breeding ground?”
With his Corpse Refining Skill and after his Deification, Tao Yu was adept and quickly formed his judgment, then he stopped, swiftly clambered back down the rooftop, dove into the truck, and took out the paper map.
He saw the somewhat square distribution of Las Vegas city.
Then he pointed at the spot where the Imperial View was located…
“If this is true, then I should encounter another one on my route, and I can confirm it on the way.”
Tao Yu didn’t plan to spend too much time digging to the bottom of things. If it really was someone’s grand scheme, it wasn’t something he could handle at the moment.
But verifying it on his way was not a problem!
If he couldn’t handle it, he would just report it as a task for the two from the Floating City, pretending he had learned a zombie skill and knew some geomancy.
“If it’s the skill I’ve learned, there’s actually a limit. Even if they used an entire city or even the whole world to breed zombies, it wouldn’t be too exaggerated, the law of diminishing returns would be obvious. The person behind this is truly mad…”
Tao Yu had the Corpse Refining Art himself and had even undergone Deification. He was very precise with the details of the skill, so he knew that zombies had a limit!
The person was simply stacking materials and corpse breeding grounds, trying to forcibly raise that limit, reaping minimal gains for maximum effort.
As long as they could achieve the slightest improvement, they wouldn’t care no matter how many people died!
“Fortune Thief…”
Tao Yu thought of Cao Shaolin’s twisted character and then thought of the tragic world, realizing that the Fortune Thieves were truly a bunch of maniacs!
“The Abyss favors madmen… Temor makes sense!”
While pondering, Tao Yu took up the walkie-talkie to tell the others to keep following, then he resumed his skilful driving to bypass the Imperial View up ahead.
Judy and Jesse, trailing behind, although they had clawed their way out of hell and were mentally strong, still couldn’t help feeling a bit of fear at such a sight.
The only thing they could do was to nervously drive and follow Tao Yu around the area.
No wonder the zombies had decreased on the road—they were all concentrated here…
…
“Sure enough, it’s a man-made corpse breeding ground, tsk…”
As night fell and the darkness set in, driving the truck back onto the desert highway with the headlights on, Tao Yu didn’t feel much excitement despite having left the Las Vegas urban area.
He had intended to keep coming back to Las Vegas for supplies recently. Now, it seemed there might be some trouble.
He wondered if the two from the Floating City could resolve this issue.
Thinking this, Tao Yu shifted gears to accelerate and picked up the walkie-talkie to say,
“We’ve left the city. Find a spot with fewer zombies to rest, and try to stay in the truck. If you need to leave the vehicle for a break, go to Little Black.”
“Okay, thank you, Boss.”
Judy and her companion were sensible, with no complaints throughout the journey.
After Little Black had cleared the zombies, it would come back and perch on their rooftop.
Over time, the ferocious-looking alien became their guardian in the women’s eyes, and oddly enough, it offered them a sense of security.
Then the two trucks stopped on the edge of the highway, a road that, in this new world, scarcely saw any traffic, so parking on the roadside was inconsequential…