Chapter 60

Lin Tu had no intention of fighting them head-on. According to Tang Mei, although the Viper Mercenary Corps had only a little over forty members, every single one of them had basically made the Lianhai Republic's most-wanted list. They specialized in arson, robbery, and murder—the worst sorts of crimes. Calling them a group of professional killers wouldn't be an exaggeration in the slightest.

What she needed to do was make full use of the advantage of still being in the shadows.

"Stay back for now, and don't fire unless I say so." Standing behind the door, Lin Tu gripped the handle and spoke softly to Tang Mei.

Tang Mei's face showed a hint of anxiety. She grabbed Lin Tu's arm, as if trying to persuade her, but the increasingly urgent footsteps outside left her no time to say more. After a moment's thought, Tang Mei nodded and took two steps back.

At this point, she could only choose to trust Lin Tu.

The people outside reached the door quickly. They tried to push it open, only to find that the supposedly open door wouldn't budge.

"So there really are people? That coward who kneels at the sight of anyone actually dared to let someone in?" Lin Tu heard a man say in English, laughing carelessly. "And they came through the smallest entrance. Can that little boat even fit ten people?"

"Oh, I'm so scared~" Another voice deliberately pitched high and shrill. "Is anyone in there? We're coming in now~"

Tang Mei clutched her gun nervously, but Lin Tu breathed a sigh of relief. These people hadn't raised their guard at all. As long as they didn't enter with the most cautious, disciplined posture, Lin Tu was confident she could take them down the moment they stepped through.

Without making a sound, Lin Tu pulled a miniature corn cob from her backpack and hid it behind her back.

"Bang! Bang!" Hearing no response after a long while, they started slamming into the door.

They must have been built like bricks. The whole door shuddered under their weight, and even the frame seemed to be pulling away from the wall. A great noise echoed through the entire cabin.

But Lin Tu had no intention of waiting idly for them to break through. The miniature corn cob only affected creatures within a one-square-meter radius of its landing point. If these men burst through the door, their momentum might carry them a meter or more past the entrance.

What Lin Tu wanted was to trap everyone in the cramped space behind the door in a cornfield the instant it opened.

After waiting a moment, the people outside grew impatient and paused their battering. Seizing the moment, Lin Tu placed her hand on the door handle and, under Tang Mei's horrified gaze, gave it a gentle turn.

"Huh? The door opened by itse—" Before the burly man who'd broken through could finish his celebration, a crisp female voice exploded in his ear.

"Cornfield Effect!" Lin Tu shouted the words as she hurled the corn cob behind the door with lightning speed.

In an instant, the world spun around her. For a moment, she felt as if she'd been ripped away from the ship and dragged into a dense golden cornfield towering twice her height. She'd lost all sense of direction—even the sky above was covered by cornstalks. Trying to look up and find the heavens again seemed utterly futile.

Lin Tu steadied herself, and soon she noticed the cornstalks beginning to grow translucent.

She could clearly see several panicked figures darting through the cornfield. However, Lin Tu didn't make a move to take them out first. Instead, she glanced up at the stairs behind the door and confirmed there was no one else left on guard. Only then did she relax.

It seemed these mercenaries were even more arrogant and overconfident than she'd imagined—which was undoubtedly a good thing for her.

Among the terrified, bewildered mercenaries, Lin Tu—a full head shorter than all of them—silently drew her greatsword and crept up behind one of them.

A single phrase inexplicably surfaced in Tang Mei's mind: Death has arrived.

.

"Fuck you! This time I'm putting thirty grand on this guy, bet he gouges out the other guy's eyeballs. And I'm putting another thirty grand on that other guy, bet he bites this guy's dick off! I swear I can't lose this time! Anyway, I've said my piece—if any of you can't do what I just said and make me lose again, I'll pay you back double!"

"Hahahaha, that's amusing, I'll raise the stakes, sixty grand!"

"You two have too much money to burn, get the hell out of here! What's so entertaining about two men beating each other up? Don't hog the cage, let our beauties and little Ross have a turn! Shit, we haven't fed that wolfdog the whole trip to avoid being spotted—it's hungry enough to eat me alive!"

The former lounge of the ship's staff had been rearranged into a bizarre spectator's gallery. The plush sofas, tables, and chairs had been pushed around haphazardly. A massive cage sat in the center, containing the ship's original crew—many still wearing their gas station employee uniforms. Outside the cage were the intruders.

The hall was a fog of smoke and alcohol. Mercenaries lounged about idly, their guns lying casually within arm's reach.

The smoke curled upward, and at the top of the hall, at the ventilation duct opening, Lin Tu covered her nose and mouth, enduring the stench of sweat and the dust that had accumulated on the fan blades over the years. She frowned and peered down carefully.

Not long ago, she had easily dealt with the four mercenaries caught in the Cornfield Effect with her blade.

One of them had nearly gone berserk from being trapped in the cornfield, pulling out his gun and firing wildly in all directions. Fortunately, Lin Tu had been watching closely, and the cornfield also had a limiting effect on those within it. She'd darted behind him and finished him off before he could cause a disaster.

After taking them out, Lin Tu helped herself to their gear.

These men truly lived up to being mercenaries "famous" on the international stage. Their equipment was far superior to Lin Tu's—even just the bulletproof vests, made of some material she couldn't identify, were better than any she'd seen in the Global Zombie Crisis world or her own. There were also ring-shaped claw knives with finger loops, grenades, smoke bombs, tactical flashlights, custom backpacks, and various types of firearms.

Lin Tu happily patted the bulletproof vest, then without hesitation stripped every valuable piece of equipment off them and stuffed it all into her backpack. She even put on one of the vests herself, kitted herself out exactly like the mercenaries, and tossed a set to Tang Mei—sharing is caring, after all.

Tang Mei was shocked. Tang Mei was confused.

She'd been in disbelief ever since Lin Tu inexplicably shouted "Cornfield Effect" and those supposedly cunning, ruthless mercenaries had stumbled around like flies without a sense of direction, one by one getting their throats slit.

Then Lin Tu stuffed all that gear into her backpack, which showed no sign of running out of space, and even...

Her mind was racing when she noticed Lin Tu had somehow pulled out her phone. Lin Tu stared at it for a moment, then a look of surprise and sudden realization crossed her face. As for the reason behind that expression, Tang Mei felt her brain was already at its limit.

All she could do was watch Lin Tu crawl back down to the floor and fumble around in the blood before finding a walkie-talkie on one of the mercenaries.

"I don't think these guys managed to report our arrival to the others," Lin Tu said, checking the walkie-talkie's message log briefly before waving it at Tang Mei with a bright, standard-issue smile. "So, shall we go rescue your boss now?"

Tang Mei was baffled by Lin Tu's behavior, but the fact remained that she'd taken out those mercenaries.

At those words, all her doubts vanished in an instant. She nodded eagerly. "I really need your help!"

Tang Mei had worked at sea for years, and apart from her primary duties, she was nearly an expert on ship repair and hull structure.

The two got the location of the imprisoned crew from the refueling staff member. Tang Mei immediately analyzed the safest, quickest route there—the ventilation ducts.

The two were eager to go, but the staff member, seeing they didn't intend to leave, clung to Tang Mei, on the verge of tears. "Please, just go! If they find out I secretly let you in and gave you fuel, I'm dead for real!"

Tang Mei was about to reason with him when Lin Tu pried his hand off and gave him a smile. "See those corpses over there? Whether we leave or not, you're dead either way now."

The man's face went pale. He'd been avoiding that realization for a long time, as if it had only just hit him.

"So you'd better pray we rescue the crew safely—at least we're not people who kill indiscriminately." Lin Tu gave her blade a little shake. "Otherwise, when their comrades find out they're dead, given how vicious they are, they'll take it out on you. And whether you end up split in two just like them... well, that's anybody's guess."

The man let go of Tang Mei's clothes with a pained, involuntary release.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so scared..." His voice trembled. "You don't know—my colleagues, my friends... they... they died horribly! I didn't dare fight back! I was terrified! I don't want to die!"

Tang Mei patted his shoulder reassuringly, then picked up a walkie-talkie from the floor and handed it to him. "Hide yourself. If something happens to us, I'll send you a message to buy you time, and then you take the boat and get out of here. Save whoever you can. At sea... it's always got more of a chance of living."

The man nodded gratefully. He was just about to duck back into the ship when he suddenly turned around. Clenching his fists, he said firmly, "I can't do this again. I'm going back to the monitor room to keep watch. They smashed most of the cameras, but my post at the door can see how many of them go in and out. If something happens, I'll warn you!"

Tang Mei looked at him with gratitude and gave his shoulder a solid pat. "Good!"

With that, the two crawled into the ventilation duct without a worry in the world.

"Tch, why haven't those four patrolling guys come back yet? How long does it take to search this damn ship? I'm still waiting for them to take over!"

Beneath the ventilation duct, one of the men irritably picked up his walkie-talkie and glanced at it. There were no messages.

"Why do you care what they're doing? Patrol? You believe that bullshit? They probably ran into some crew member and decided to have some fun. Just wait—they'll be back when they're done. Look, those four idiots, five minutes each, that's twenty minutes max total."

"Hahaha!"

Lin Tu lay flat against the ventilation duct, having overheard this exchange.

"What's wrong?" A muffled voice came from behind her in the duct.

"They haven't spotted us yet, but we need to hurry." Lin Tu lowered her voice, which came out just as muffled.

They fell silent and crawled forward with the swiftest, quietest movements they could manage.

The crew was being held in the staff dormitories at the rear of the hall. As long as they got past the hall, they'd soon reach the dorms.

As she crawled, Lin Tu's mind churned over what she'd just seen and heard. Twenty minutes—that should be the limit before these people go looking for the missing ones. Counting the time since they'd entered, about ten minutes had passed, which meant she had only about ten minutes left.

As for the number of people in the hall, Lin Tu had quickly counted: thirty-six in the hall, minus the four she'd just killed, leaving fewer than ten. That number was still within acceptable range.

With that thought, Lin Tu crawled faster. Her clenched fist gripped the dusty surface of the duct tightly, thinking about the message she'd seen on her phone just now—

Side mission, points, item rewards—she wanted them all!

After passing the hall, the two followed Tang Mei's memory and the scent of air freshener from the women's restroom, found the bathroom, lifted off the vent cover, and dropped down one by one.

The women's restroom was eerily quiet. For a mercenary team made up almost entirely of men, there was no reason for them to ever come here. In a sense, this was the safest spot on the entire ship.

Lin Tu pressed her ear to the bathroom door and listened. Hearing nothing outside, she beckoned to Tang Mei and gently twisted the door open.

Beyond the door was the familiar interior of the ship. The two pressed themselves against the wall, moving lightly and swiftly toward where the crew was being held.

Every few steps, they'd pause, terrified that a mercenary might be around the next corner. Even their breathing was held. A more timid person would already be drenched in sweat by now. Fortunately, both of them had plenty of nerve, and in about two or three minutes, they reached the staff dormitory door.

"Got any magic trick to see how many are inside?" Tang Mei asked Lin Tu.

Lin Tu: "?"

"You know, that magic of yours where you make people see corn out of nowhere and make things disappear out of thin air," Tang Mei said confidently. "I've thought about it—only magic could do stuff like that. And I've noticed you're small but strong, so you must have built up that strength from practicing magic."

Lin·the otherworldly Liu Qian·Tu nodded silently.

Tang Mei looked at her expectantly, and Lin Tu, playing along, reached into her backpack—only to pull out an ordinary selfie stick.

Lin Tu mounted her phone on the stick, opened the camera, found a hidden corner, and quietly extended the phone out.

Watching Tang Mei's expression shift from skepticism to confusion to belief to shock, and finally to "I told you so," Lin Tu wasn't sure what to say. Perhaps hoarding too many random supplies and being able to pull out gadgets anytime like Doraemon really did make her look like a magician to others.

"Five," Lin Tu said in a low voice as she retrieved her phone.

That number was better than expected. And those five were playing cards, completely absorbed in their game—they didn't even notice half a phone sneaking out from behind the door to take a peek.

"Can you take them?" Tang Mei asked hopefully.

"No," Lin Tu shook her head. "Too far away. Unless I can get close to them, they're too professional—they'd have too much reaction time, and they might dodge."

In Lin Tu's opinion, the best approach was to just go in, take out as many as she could immediately, then fight the rest. She had her items for protection; who knew who'd come out on top.

But her side mission required her to safely rescue—

"I've got it!" Tang Mei raised her index finger, looking clever. "I know how you can get close to them!"

Next to the staff dormitory was the logistics room. A few minutes later, Lin Tu emerged wearing a black-and-white maid outfit. She couldn't say she was speechless—she was simply extremely speechless.

"Your gas station's logistics staff wear this?" Lin Tu rolled her eyes.

"Of course! Don't underestimate our gas station—it's a refueling ship affiliated with the Elizabethan royal family. Even the Queen's ship comes here to refuel! This is our work uniform! Otherwise, do you think other ships would dare to leave the Lianhai Republic with us?" Tang Mei gave Lin Tu a once-over and looked very satisfied. "Who'd have thought you'd look even prettier in this dress. Tall and slim really is a natural clothes hanger. I have no idea where you get all that strength from such a thin frame."

"Though you look a bit too much like someone who's well read," Tang Mei said with some disdain, walking over and crouching down. She grabbed the hem of the skirt and tore with a sharp rip, splitting the ankle-length dress up to just above the knee. Then she moved to undo Lin Tu's buttons, but Lin Tu dodged away, giving her a wary look.

Tearing the skirt was fine—it made movement easier. But unbuttoning her shirt? What was she planning, seduction?

Tang Mei raised her hands in surrender. "You're not convincing like this! We're supposed to be pretending to be coerced crew members bringing them food. You look like you're about to go in there and gut them all."

Lin Tu irritably pulled off her glasses, undid her tight hair tie, and pulled a few strands of hair loose over her chest. "Time's running out," she reminded her impatiently.

If not for that sudden side mission, she'd already be barging into the room and killing those men. Or, if time could rewind a bit further, she might already be on her houseboat heading north to find Noah's Ark.

"That's enough, that's enough!" By Tang Mei's aesthetic standards, that was more than sufficient.

Tang Mei knew time was short. While Lin Tu had been changing, she'd grabbed a few bottles of liquor from the logistics room, arranged some snacks on a tray, and placed it all on a cart, artfully styled to look luxurious.

Now, she handed the cart to Lin Tu and followed behind her, watching her walk alone into the dim little room.

"Be careful," she whispered, her voice thick with worry.

Lin Tu ignored her. She stuffed her changed clothes into the Single-Use Backpack, then tucked the backpack into the cart. To avoid delays in accessing her items, she stashed the miniature corn inside her dress. The other things weren't easy to hide, so she planned to stay close to her cart at all times.

"Honorable gentlemen, I've been sent to bring you some refreshments." Lin Tu stopped at a distance, displaying just the right amount of deference and fear.

Her slender frame, jet-black hair, and Westerner features might have raised questions about her identity—after all, they'd been sent to capture Westerners. But her accent, so refined and noble, as if she'd been raised in the shadow of the royal court, involuntarily dispelled such doubts.

Especially those slender arms, trembling slightly under the dim light, like the jade the Westerners often spoke of. Surely someone like her couldn't be a threat?

"Come here first." One of them spoke before the others could.

Lin Tu shuffled forward as slowly as she dared. The moment she got close, she suddenly noticed that besides the five at the table, there was a sixth man lying on the sofa a meter away. That was a problem.

"Does this gentleman need any assistance?" Lin Tu asked cautiously.

"Hahaha, I think I need assistance more than he does!" The mercenary gave a lecherous grin, the look of a wolf who'd just cornered a little rabbit. "He's just drunk. But me? I'm drunk just looking at you, baby."

Lin Tu raised an eyebrow, a meaningful smile crossing her face. "That's good to hear."

"What's good to—"

The man saw a small object hurtling toward him. In that split second, he watched the little rabbit raise her slender arm, steady as a rock, grip her gun, and fire a single, precise shot at his companion lying on the sofa. Blood splattered.

"Yumidixiaoying!" She shouted a string of syllables. The man didn't understand the words, but he understood what she'd done.

"You fucking bitch!" Enraged at being deceived, he roared and flipped over the poker table. Just as he reached for his gun, his vision blurred—and a vast cornfield appeared before him.

"I'll kill you! I'll ki—" The man's voice cut off abruptly.

Tang Mei, waiting outside, heard the commotion and knew the fight had begun. She rushed in immediately. The moment she saw the man struggling hardest, she didn't hesitate—she put a bullet in him on the spot.

The man never finished his last sentence before leaving this world. He probably died without ever understanding how he'd been killed.

"Go rescue them; time's running out. I've got this." Lin Tu raised her greatsword, eyes locked on her targets, only showing Tang Mei her profile.

Tang Mei nodded and hurried deeper inside.

The dormitory keys hung by the outermost door. Tang Mei grabbed the keyring and quickly sorted through the keys. She knew the place well, so she unlocked the doors with remarkable speed.

The staff dorms were two-person rooms, small in size. But those vicious mercenaries had deliberately tried to torment the crew, cramming ten to twenty people into a single room.

The first room was empty—only remnants of blood remained. The second was the same.

Tang Mei took a deep breath and this time got smarter: "Is anyone else here? I've come to rescue you!"

Immediately, faint sounds came from behind several doors.

Tang Mei quickly found the right keys. As the doors swung open, dozens of crew members surged out, reeking of filth and looking utterly haggard.

"Where's Lady Campbell?" Tang Mei's heart clenched.

"She's in the innermost room. They haven't touched her—they said they're keeping her for ransom," one crew member said.

"Good." Tang Mei breathed a sigh of relief. Lady Campbell was her superior—Luo Yilan.

By the time Tang Mei led Luo Yilan out of the cell, Lin Tu had already taken care of every mercenary in the area and cleaned out every last bit of their supplies. She slung her backpack on again, feeling a sense of security that came with being fully stocked.

"I hear you want to bring the evidence of Noah's Ark's crimes back to the Western Kingdom?" Lin Tu asked.

Luo Yilan shot Tang Mei a surprised glance. Seeing no reaction from her, she replied, "That's right, young lady. I intend to be the best living witness."

"Good," Lin Tu nodded. "Then I'll make sure you get back safely."

Luo Yilan looked at Lin Tu with even more surprise, taking a proper look at her for the first time. The girl in the maid's outfit was no true maid. Her skirt had been thoroughly dyed crimson by splattered blood, as vivid as a rose rising from the depths of hell.

"Why, young lady?" Luo Yilan felt she should at least ask.

"Because I'm a Westerner." Lin Tu's simple answer, delivered without much conviction, brought tears to Luo Yilan's eyes. Lin Tu continued, "I still have time. I'll turn around and head south, take you to my last refueling point. From there, you can find your own ship and head back to the Western Kingdom with the evidence."

"I believe you," Luo Yilan nodded. "But I can't take your advice. I have to stay with this ship. The crew here will follow my orders. This time, we're in the shadows and they're in the light. If we fight with everything we have, we might not be without a chance!"

"If you're afraid, you can leave before we make our move..." She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small seal. "This is my family's seal. I'm giving it to you now. I heard you're going to Noah's Ark. That's not a good place. If you ever run into trouble in the future, you can use this seal—it carries a certain authority within my family."

Lin Tu hesitated for a moment, then took the seal. The next second, her pocket vibrated with a "buzz—" as her phone rang.

[Congratulations on completing your side mission—

Side Mission Progress 2/3: You have successfully joined a faction. You have now obtained the identity "Western Spy." You may activate this identity in this world at any time, gaining favor from specific people and access to specific supplies (check the identity interface for details). You may now claim the reward for Side Mission 2/3.]

Lin Tu glanced at the message she'd received just before this one—

[Congratulations on discovering a side mission—Choose a Faction (from mission "Entering Noah's Ark")

You have approached a key figure "***." Please choose whether to complete their commission. Note: you must complete the commission to join this faction; you have only one chance to choose a faction in this world.]

So it seemed Lin Tu had completed her side mission. By rights, she could leave now. But she was somewhat interested in this "Western Spy" identity.

She opened her phone's identity interface and quickly went through it—

[Identity "Western Spy": All those loyal to the Western Kingdom or the Campbell family will now have a certain degree of favor toward you and be willing to provide you with a certain amount of supplies or tell you information related to supplies. This favor is dependent on the individual's overall qualities.]

"Hey, know anywhere with good stuff?" Lin Tu suddenly asked, brimming with enthusiasm as she decided to test it out.

A nearby crew member immediately answered, "I know! We've got something good right on this ship!"

Lin Tu hadn't expected him to say that. Luo Yilan immediately grew furious. "Don't talk nonsense!" She then looked at Lin Tu, though not with blame—rather, she opened her mouth, let out a sigh, and seemed to hesitate, as if she had something to say but held back.

Whatever good thing was on the ship, the stark contrast between their reactions told Lin Tu one thing: the [Western Spy] identity worked better on people with lower overall qualities. In simple terms, people who'd read more books were harder to fool.

"That thing... is exactly why I can't just abandon the ship and flee alone. It's too important—it concerns the very survival of the entire Western Kingdom. If you're willing to stay and help us," Luo Yilan finally made up her mind, "I'm willing to share it with you, if you want it."

Lin Tu had always had a "never leave empty-handed" mentality. She immediately nodded, saying she could help.

However, Lin Tu didn't use her miniature corn cob again. First, she had more people on her side now, so she no longer needed to fight as hard. Second, with the crowd so mixed, accidentally hitting one of her own would be far too embarrassing.

To show her sincerity, Lin Tu had planned to pull out the mercenary gear she'd already cleaned out. But it turned out these people all had their own weapons for self-defense.

And why wouldn't they? A fleet belonging to the royal family couldn't possibly be defenseless. Most of these crew members had undergone professional training. They'd been captured by the mercenary group in the first place only because it was a fight of open against hidden—those in the open had fallen victim to those in the shadows.

It was at that moment that the crew member hiding in the monitor room relayed a message over the walkie-talkie—"They're heading out to look for the missing men!"

About half an hour had passed since Lin Tu boarded the ship. These mercenaries had already been slow on the uptake, but professional killers they were—they weren't foolish enough to let corruption fester unchecked.

"Hide." Luo Yilan gave the order herself. The cowardly staff member was overjoyed and immediately agreed.

A great battle was about to erupt.

Some of the crew had lost friends, some had lost wives or husbands. They stared out of the cabin with fury burning in their eyes. At Luo Yilan's command, riding a wave of rage, they burst through the hall doors, raised their guns, and rained a torrent of bullets down upon the mercenaries.

Lin Tu was among them, though her aim was true enough that she didn't need to charge the front lines. Wherever she spotted a straggler slipping through, she trained her gun on them.

One opportunist tried to take Lin Tu out first, but the moment he raised his gun, a bullet from another direction tore through his skull.

"Hey! Sister!" Tang Mei raised her hand and called out to Lin Tu. "Don't worry, I've got your back!"

With the last few scattered gunshots, the crew emerged victorious. Such a formidable Viper Mercenary Corps had been brought down, crushed right here on this refueling ship.

The only pity was that many of the bulletproof vests had been ruined.

Lin Tu ran her fingers regretfully over a bulletproof vest lying in a pool of blood. Luo Yilan walked over and called to her. "Please, follow me."

Because this matter was so confidential, even Tang Mei had no knowledge of it. The two walked one behind the other, silently passing through unknown corridors, entering unknown rooms, and traversing unknown tunnels, until they finally reached the heart of the ship—beneath the oil storage tanks that held the ship's fuel.

The ceiling and floor were painted white. Surrounding them were numerous white pillars and oil tanks. In this snow-white world, several black hoses connected to the oil tanks, leading straight to the center of the entire white expanse. There, suspended in midair, was a large crystal formed from three colorful gemstones.

The black hoses were like blood vessels, constantly feeding fuel into it. And there it floated, absorbing fuel endlessly. Yet no matter how black the fuel it consumed, or how much it drank, it remained as pure and radiant as this white world—flawless and spotless.

Lin Tu froze.

"We call it... the Sky-Patching Stone," Luo Yilan said. "I'm sure Xiao Mei has already told you that Noah's Ark is the source of all these disasters. Well, are you curious how they did it?"

There was no need for deep thought—Lin Tu already understood.

"That's right, it's this thing we call the Sky-Patching Stone." Luo Yilan stared at the pristine monster before her with fear—or perhaps, it had originally been a treasure, only no one could control its power.

"The scientist brought it?"

Luo Yilan said, "Events from a hundred years ago, no one truly knows. But according to my family's records, it was indeed brought by a man who called himself a messenger of God. She wore a white robe, but to call her a scientist would be wrong—she was more like a priestess. She quickly cultivated a group of fanatical followers and established Noah's Ark."

Lin Tu sharply noticed the gendered pronoun.

"This kind of Sky-Patching Stone can absorb all the energy in the world and transform it into something else. We don't know exactly how to use it, but Noah's Ark does. They used its power to create these disasters, striving for a world of heretics," Luo Yilan sighed. "All I know is that feeding it fuel keeps it from withering, but I don't know how to use it to stop all of this from happening."

"It can wither?"

Luo Yilan nodded. "It can, if it doesn't absorb enough energy for a long time. As far as I know, the madwoman originally brought twenty-two Sky-Patching Stones. After she died, ten were scattered and all withered due to improper care. Only twelve remain now. As you can see, these three are what I managed to secure with everything I had. I intend to bring them back to my homeland."

Lin Tu gazed at the three brilliant stones before her. Her instincts screamed that these stones were definitely connected to [Infinite Calamity].

"Will touching them kill me?" Lin Tu asked cautiously.

"Of course not. You can touch them. In fact, they have mild beautifying properties," Luo Yilan laughed, a hint of bitterness in it. "One of the Sky-Patching Stones withered precisely because it was used for long-term skincare."

Relieved, Lin Tu reached out her hand and touched the Sky-Patching Stone. The next second, as expected, her phone buzzed with a familiar sound.

[From Infinite Calamity: Congratulations on discovering the new material "Evolution Point." You may now unlock the function "Evolution Club."]

[From Anju: Congratulations on discovering the new material "Energy Stone." You may now upgrade your existing Anju functions, evolving them into super-powered functions.]

[From Infinite Calamity/Anju: Would you like to absorb this new material? ...Yes/No]

"You said you'd give me a share, right?" Lin Tu turned to ask Luo Yilan.

"Yes, if you want it." Luo Yilan gave her a deep, meaningful look, then cautioned, "But I'd advise you not to take it. This thing is a money pit. If I weren't feeding it with the entire ship's fuel, it would have already withered."

Lin Tu ignored the latter half of her sentence and immediately chose to absorb the new material. She was, however, true to her word—she absorbed only one stone.

Then came a sudden crack. The brilliant crystal grew dim without warning, shattering into pieces. A strange slip of paper suddenly dropped out from within the crystal—

"Oops, I've been found out." A ridiculous, hoarse female voice rang out from nowhere.

Luo Yilan didn't have time to ask why this Sky-Patching Stone had withered so abruptly. At the eerie female voice, she hesitated, wondering if she'd misheard. Then she watched Lin Tu bend down to pick up the card from the floor.

From the shattered fragments of this stone—dubbed the "Sky-Patching Stone," the thing that had brought catastrophe to the entire world, yet also carried the hopes of those who remained—this card looked especially absurd and ridiculous.

Because it was a modern playing card—the Ace of Hearts.

On the pristine card face, the black oily ink seemed freshly written, still not fully dry. Written in English were the words "Just a little joke~"

A red heart sat among the string of black text, adding a touch of playfulness. But at that moment, a chill ran down Lin Tu's spine. She was suddenly certain—this was the scientist. This was the outsider.

.

Nearly a month later, after crossing frozen seas, sea fog, and countless other obstacles, Lin Tu finally reached the borders of Noah's Ark.

Her phone buzzed with a "buzz—" sound. Lin Tu was just about to smile, preparing to bribe a Noah's Ark staff member to infiltrate and uncover the truth as a real "spy," when she suddenly gasped.

Then, the next moment, she doubled over abruptly, face toward the ground. The world spun around her, and when she blinked again, she found herself sitting upright in bed, staring at the familiar interior of her little house.

"Damn it!" Lin Tu realized what had happened instantly and cursed loudly. "Why did it throw me out!"

She pulled out her phone. The time read 23:00:01, and a flood of messages were appearing on her [Anju] app—

[Congratulations! You have successfully cleared No-Light Doomsday—C-Class Disaster, Place of Sinking.]

[At the time node of Day 62, Hour 18, you successfully entered Noah's Ark! In this place of safety, you have already moved far away from disaster. Main mission complete, clearance conditions met! (C-Class Random Reward Unlocked)]

[Player Performance Rating: SSS]

[World Whisper: Humanity rose up and resisted, so no deity's prophecy could come true—not even the most evil prophecy. You have set foot on a path that defies the "gods," a road of no return. Their wrath will plunge this world back into darkness, and you too shall be unable to escape the calamity.]

[Congratulations on completing the side mission: Enter Noah's Ark (Beyond Complete); (S+-Class Random Reward Unlocked)

Congratulations on completing the side mission: Kill C-Class Mutant Creatures ×102; (B-Class Random Reward Unlocked)]

[Congratulations on achieving special achievements: "I, Third Brother Lin, Will Return" (Note 1), "Joke of the Cards," "Legendary Western Spy" (C-Class World Post-Disaster Legend), "First Evolution"]

[Note 1: Luo Yilan failed. For forty-four long years, the sea levels kept rising. No one could stop Noah's Ark from destroying the world. No one could figure out the true use of the Sky-Patching Stone. No one even knew what the most basic material that composed it was. A thing from beyond the heavens—that was what everyone called it. Even Luo Yilan began to wonder if Noah's Ark was truly the messengers of the gods. But she knew they weren't. They couldn't be. Beneath that girl's blood-stained skirt, the shattered fragments of the stone made her believe, with absolute certainty, in the existence of hope. She waited until her dying breath for news from the seal she'd sent out, but until the last moment of her life, she still stared north—and the sky was empty. The migratory birds had all gone extinct... she thought, how ridiculous.]

[You may now begin drawing your random rewards... as well as your special achievement rewards...]

Lin Tu rubbed her head, completely devoid of sleepiness. She was furious—she'd been played by the outsider, and she'd been played by Infinite Calamity. She didn't even need to check to know that once you left a disaster world, time there would cool down like hot water left outside in winter, becoming cold in an instant.

There was no point now in trying to investigate Noah's Ark's secrets. Who knew where those secrets had vanished to?

If she ever ran into that damned Ace of Hearts woman, she was going to catch her and beat her senseless.

Rubbing her temples, Lin Tu put on her gold-rimmed glasses, calmed herself down, and checked her phone.

C-Class world settlement, plus the 150 points from clearing, plus the few hundred points left over from the last disaster after paying utilities, she had 856 points in total. This time, in her rush to reach Noah's Ark in the Arctic, she hadn't spent much time killing monsters to accrue points, so her direct point earnings weren't high. Fortunately, completing the side mission awarded a hefty S+-Class random reward, plus a special achievement for first acquiring an evolution point—so at least her efforts hadn't been in vain.

Aside from points, there were also random rewards for completing the main mission and side missions, plus four special achievement rewards.