Lin Ye waited for about ten minutes, then saw Zhao Yong, Zhao Qi's cousin.
Behind Zhao Yong were more than a dozen people, all young and strong.
Zhao Yong saw Lin Ye's well-proportioned muscles and realized Lin Ye had a habit of exercising, so he nodded slightly to Lin Ye with a satisfied expression.
"Everyone knows where we're going next, so I won't say any more."
"Right now, I'll just tell everyone one thing: those who want to enter must sign an agreement with me."
The agreement was prepared by Zhao Yong long ago, and Lin Ye quickly received a copy.
After a quick glance, the agreement only emphasized two things: after entering the ruins, life and death were not Zhao Yong's responsibility, and half of the gains had to be given to Zhao Yong as a guide fee.
Lin Ye quickly signed and handed the agreement to Zhao Yong.
For ordinary people exploring wild ruins, it was a fight for their lives.
If one feared death, then one could only remain an ordinary person.
Lin Ye did not want to be an ordinary person; he did not want to repeat his parents' old path.
Many people wanted to risk their lives but had no opportunity; he was already luckier than most.
Zhao Qi saw Lin Ye sign the agreement, pulled Lin Ye into the car, and whispered, "Don't be nervous. My cousin and his group have been into the ruins several times. We'll only be active in the outer areas, so there won't be any danger."
"My cousin and his group also have tranquilizer guns, so even if we encounter a Yao Beast, we can escape."
Lin Ye was indeed very nervous, but he wasn't nervous about the unknown dangers in the ruins; he was nervous about whether the gains from the ruins would amount to sixty thousand yuan.
Zhao Qi leaned half his body back into the seat and said happily, "If this trip goes smoothly, I'll buy two portions of Qi and Blood Soup Medicine when I come out. Once I condense Qi and Blood, I'll slowly work hard to Cultivate, and in three to five years, I can become a Martial Artist."
"As long as you become a Martial Artist, not only can you explore ruins, but any casual job will start at ten thousand yuan."
"Ah, what a pity, this ruin has already been exposed. If I could enter and explore a few more times, I might even be able to carry a gun like my cousin."
Zhao Qi was excited and thrilled internally, while Lin Ye occasionally chimed in, chatting as they watched the car drive out of the city.
Two hours later, Lin Ye and the others got out of the car and followed Zhao Yong into the dense forest.
Another hour later, the group arrived in front of a waterfall.
Lin Ye immediately saw the light curtain hidden beside the waterfall, which was the entrance to the ruins he had seen online.
Zhao Qi was so excited he jumped a few times on the spot.
Lin Ye also took a deep breath, trying to control his wildly beating heart.
Zhao Yong repeated the precautions for entering, which could be summarized as one point: do not leave the team and act alone.
"Let's go, enter."
At Zhao Yong's command, everyone lined up and entered the ruins one by one.
Lin Ye had seen online that upon entering the ruins, one would feel dizzy.
Indeed, after entering the ruins, not only did his head feel a bit dizzy, but he also experienced tinnitus similar to static, and it seemed like he was hallucinating sounds.
"Ding! Detecting... Host can be bound, binding... binding... binding failed..."
Lin Ye turned to look at Zhao Qi, wanting to ask him if he had experienced auditory hallucinations after entering the ruins, but seeing Zhao Qi's face full of excitement and shock, he knew he hadn't.
Lin Ye quickly shifted his attention to the surroundings. The ruins were quite different from the outside; the sky was hazy, and giant trees surrounded them.
Although the air was fresh, the humidity was heavy, and there was a smell of decaying plants.
Lin Ye walked cautiously with every step, fearing a poisonous insect would crawl out from under his feet.
Zhao Yong led them to a weedy stream, where everyone saw the Spirit Medicine growing by the bank.
Lin Ye was also very excited at the sight.
He had found his Qi and Blood Soup Medicine!
Lin Ye busied himself opening his backpack, and the static-like auditory hallucination reappeared in his ears.
"Failed... binding... failed"
"Unable... unable to detach..."
"Unknown... error"
...
Lin Ye frowned and lightly bit the tip of his tongue to stay awake. Was it because he hadn't condensed Qi and Blood, so the after-effects were more severe?
But it had been almost an hour since he entered the ruins; those after-effects should have disappeared by now.
"Sizzle..."
Suddenly, a piercing static sound rang out, and Lin Ye stiffened, reflexively closing his eyes tightly until the static sound disappeared before he dared to slowly open his eyes.
The first moment he opened his eyes, he was startled and quickly closed them again.
'What's going on? Why are there text annotations on the Spirit Medicine in front of me?'
Could it be that he wasn't just hallucinating sounds, but also experiencing visual hallucinations!
Lin Ye took a deep breath without a change in expression and opened his eyes, clearly seeing the text on the Spirit Medicine in front of him.
"Two-year-old Water Frost Leaf, prefers water."
He knew about Water Frost Leaf; he had seen pictures of this Spirit Medicine online, but he couldn't tell how old it was.
Lin Ye looked around again and found that only the Spirit Medicine within ten meters had text annotations.
Ordinary weeds just showed "Weed," while Spirit Medicine would show its age and name, along with some simple textual descriptions.
Lin Ye slowly approached Zhao Qi and quietly asked, "Do you know how old the Water Frost Leaf we're picking is?"
Zhao Qi was busy picking herbs with both hands, not even lifting his head.
"My cousin told me that most of them are one-year-old Water Frost Leaf, and some are two-year-old. What kind of Spirit Medicine we can pick depends entirely on our luck."
Lin Ye was certain he couldn't distinguish between different ages of Water Frost Leaf, so these Spirit Medicine prompts in front of him shouldn't be his subconscious.
If it wasn't his subconscious, then what were these prompts in front of him?
Lin Ye paused, involuntarily recalling the auditory hallucination he heard as soon as he entered the ruins.
It sounded like a System binding failure!
Who in their youth hadn't fantasized about binding a System, changing their fate to become a Heaven-Defying prodigy!
He had thought it was just wishful thinking, which was why he had the System binding auditory hallucination.
Lin Ye saw everyone busy picking Spirit Medicine. If it had been just a moment ago, he would have been doing the same.
Lin Ye lowered his head, picking herbs while subtly moving away from the crowd along the stream, his gaze constantly sweeping the streambank.
Overly common things had no text annotations, like ordinary stones or soil.
The surrounding trees also had text annotations; after gazing for three seconds, the text annotated on the tree canopy would shrink and appear before his eyes.
Lin Ye saw a mound of earth with a line of text annotated on it.
"Ordinary highly venomous aquatic centipede, irritable, prone to sleep."
Lin Ye slowly began to believe that the strange text annotations in front of him were not hallucinations.
How could hallucinations fabricate so many plants he didn't recognize out of thin air?
'Could it be that the auditory hallucination that appeared just now was real, that there really was a System trying to bind me, and then it failed! The annotations on the plants are remnants after the System binding failed!'
Lin Ye's heart pounded wildly; his intuition told him this was the case.
Lin Ye quickly adjusted his emotions and began picking three-year-old and four-year-old Water Frost Leaf, because they couldn't stay in the ruins for long.
The ruins had haze, and ordinary people staying too long would feel dizzy and be poisoned.
Once one fainted in the ruins, they would 100% become food for Yao Beasts, and some plants even ate meat.
Zhao Qi gave the signal to gather, and as Lin Ye straightened up, he saw an annotation in the stream.
"A seemingly ordinary stone, but actually containing a thousand-year Iron Essence."
The stone was fist-sized, its appearance no different from other stones in the stream, but its weight in hand was very different.