Chapter 323: Viewing Death as Life

Chapter 323 – Seeing Death as Life

“Slow down.”

Lin Yu lifted his hand, making a downward press gesture.

The scout behind him gave a slight nod, and his steps immediately slackened.

The wound on his chest was already beginning to knit, yet the speed of its healing far beyond ordinary men came at a terrible cost of stamina.

The food in his stomach had long since vanished, and the moisture in his body was being drained away.

The scout felt wave after wave of a fierce vertigo, a signal of extreme danger.

If he could not replenish himself quickly, he might, as Lin Yu warned, be utterly immobilized by exhaustion.

He knew he had to devise a plan.

——

In fact, his thoughts had already turned to that corpse.

But, to his dismay, when they slipped back toward the body, they found it had vanished.

Only mottled bloodstains and tiny fragments of bone and flesh, sliced off by a blade, remained on the ground.

“The body has been moved.”

Lin Yu lowered his voice.

“That’s a good omen.”

“A good omen?”

The scout reached out, brushed the dried bloodstains, then slipped a finger into his mouth and licked it.

“How can that be a good omen?”

Lin Yu saw his action but did not stop him.

He answered:

“A corpse cannot simply disappear; it must have been taken away.”

“Yet since the Huaxia army’s nuclear blast, we have scarcely seen any active ‘robots.’”

“The machines on the periphery are merely small flying devices.”

“According to the information the Huaxia army previously mentioned, a nuclear explosion disables the vast majority of electrically powered equipment, which is why this city is ‘temporarily dead.’”

“If that is so, the one who removed the body cannot be a robot.”

“It is a human.”

“He will leave traces—track those traces, find his destination, and perhaps we will discover a chance to survive.”

“Understood.”

The scout nodded.

“The scent of blood is strong; shall we follow it?”

“Of course.”

Lin Yu patted the scout’s shoulder.

“Hold on.”

“Can you smell the direction?”

“Forward.”

The scout pointed into the distance; Lin Yu studied the scene for a moment, his mind rapidly calculating a pursuit route.

The sheer drop of the high ground would normally not hinder two bloodline bearers, but given their current condition, he chose a safer course.

“We’ll slip between the two buildings; there’s an aerial track there.”

“The upper half of the track is empty, forming a bridge of air.”

“Passing through it lets us evade the scouting of those small airborne machines—those devices are likely drones similar to the Huaxia army’s, and we cannot let them see us.”

“Our landing point should be on a floor of the building opposite.”

“Will the body be in that direction?”

“Uncertain.”

The scout shook his head and continued:

“But we can go there first, then figure out the direction.”

“No problem.”

Lin Yu nodded decisively, then lightly tapped the scout’s arm; the two rose together.

They crossed the platform between the floors, skirted a wide, open staircase, and followed a concealed path upward.

Lin Yu had no map, so he relied on instinct to choose the way.

Fortune favored them; they took no wrong turn and reached the entrance to the higher‑level aerial track.

“What on earth is this thing?”

Lin Yu stared at the track car before him, his voice hushed:

“The vehicle hovers on the rail!”

“Look, it has no wheels, no point of contact with the rail at all!”

“How does it work?”

“I have no idea.”

The scout shook his head.

“Perhaps the Huaxia army knows… but we must first get back to ask them.”

“That’s not certain—if we can just secure a usable communicator, we’ll be fine.”

Lin Yu reached for the rail and began to climb; at that instant his sheath flew uncontrollably toward the rail.

He snapped his hand around the sheath, and half a second before impact he miraculously reclaimed his blade.

“Magnet!”

Lin Yu exclaimed, realization dawning:

“It’s suspended by a magnet!”

“Secure your sword and any iron items on you.”

“Watch your footing!”

“Got it.”

The scout also gripped his sword; the two flipped onto the inverted, hanging rail, bent low, and moved forward with swift, agile strides.

The rail was not very long.

It stretched only a few hundred meters between the two towers.

But when the two of them had walked halfway and looked outward, they discovered that similar tracks were everywhere in this city.

Like a dense spiderweb, the tracks linked the city's buildings together, one after another.

And the longest of these tracks stretched to a degree that seemed boundless.

It resembled a slender skybridge.

How on earth was something like this constructed?

And what purpose could such a construction possibly serve?

Lin Yu could clearly see that every track here was brand‑new.

Just like the buildings in this city, they bore no trace of having ever been used.

If they have never been used, why were they built?

Isn't that a sheer waste of resources?

He had thought that once he entered this legendary city, all its mysteries would unravel with ease.

Yet now it seemed the secrets had not only remained hidden, but had spawned even greater enigmas.

“We’ve arrived.”

The scout behind him patted his shoulder.

Lin Yu gave a slight nod and deftly leapt down from the track.

At that moment they had successfully reached the second building; after the two entered its interior, the scout slipped quietly to the bedside and inhaled the air drifting in from the window.

“The scent of blood is still to the south; it must be heading downward.”

“But it’s odd. I keep feeling that there’s a very peculiar odor in the air.”

“A very peculiar odor?”

Lin Yu furrowed his brow.

“What kind of smell? Something like engine oil?”

“Of course not.”

The scout shook his head and said:

“I can’t describe what that smell is. I’ve never encountered it in my whole life.”

“Never mind, let’s set that aside for now.”

“Continue downward?”

“Continue downward.”

Lin Yu nodded decisively.

“Take the stairs, go down from this tower.”

“Understood.”

The two no longer hesitated and kept descending the staircase.

Yet the instant they stepped into the next level, Lin Yu suddenly sensed something amiss.

The surrounding environment began to change.

It was no longer the empty, hollow structures they had seen before.

In the space below, familiar things began to appear.

“Living quarters.”

Lin Yu’s mind flickered.

“This must be the real residential area!”

He raised his hand to signal the scout to follow, then continued down the stairs, glanced left and right, and entered the corridor.

“Balcony, stairs, rooms.”

“It’s much like the ruins we explored before.”

“It looks so new; perhaps someone lived here not long ago.”

“Impossible.”

The scout reached out and pushed open a half‑ajar door, leaned inside, took a sniff, and then said:

“There’s absolutely no scent of human habitation here.”

“Just like the previous buildings, everything here is… fake.”

“Rather than saying people lived here, it’s more accurate to say this city preserves the illusion of people living here.”

“Come in and have a look.” “There’s everything inside, just no human smell!”

As those words fell, Lin Yu also lowered his body and stepped into the room.

Before his eyes lay a standard “pre‑cataclysm dwelling.”

A living room, a bedroom, all the facilities were complete.

He slowed his steps as much as possible, as if the owner of the house might still be present and he could be discovered at any moment.

Yet it was evident that his worry was unnecessary.

The entire room was silent and still.

“No water, no food.”

“No.”

Before the scout could finish his sentence, Lin Yu abruptly interrupted.

“There truly is no food.”

“But water—”

He entered the room that was clearly a “toilet,” reached out and turned a valve.

In the next instant, water rushed down in a roar.

The scout stared in astonishment.

“Tap water.”

Lin Yu whispered:

“Almost every ruin has this design, but most of them have long since failed.”

“But this water—”

“Smell it. Is it drinkable?”

The scout immediately bent down; after a moment he answered:

“It’s drinkable!”

“It’s exceptionally clean, pure water!”

"Drink water!"

Lin Yu, without a flicker of hesitation, lifted the water to his lips, and the scout mimicked him.

Their parched bodies drank the moisture, coaxing a faint resurgence of the near‑exhausted vigor they both possessed.

When their bellies finally brimmed, Lin Yu slumped against the wall.

"It's getting stranger."

"I feel you're right."

"Perhaps this truly is a cemetery for humanity."

"I've heard a phrase before: 'to regard death as life.'"

"These devices, though clearly unused, operate as if someone were manning them."

"Isn't that a graveyard?"

".It's a graveyard; we have no recourse now, we've already entered."

The scout let out a sigh.

"Keep moving forward."

"I smell the scent of blood growing stronger. That corpse seems to have halted."

"Halted?"

Lin Yu's expression shifted.

So quickly we reached the place?

Yet, from his earlier high‑ground observation, this spot lay far from the illuminated core zone.

Perhaps a swift passage to the core lies nearby?

Like those aerial tracks?

Or the "subway" he had glimpsed in other ruins?

"Move!"

Lin Xu issued a decisive command:

"Give chase!"

"Understood."

The two rose in unison.

After replenishing their fluids, their movements grew markedly more supple.

They descended the narrow staircase, their footfalls so faint they were nearly imperceptible.

"We're close."

The scout ahead raised his hand.

"Slow down!"

"I smell something else!"

"Someone!"

In that instant, the scout's keen sense of sniffing proved its worth.

Without risking exposure, he could still gauge the surrounding environment.

Lin Yu halted instantly, following the scout's measured advance.

"Ahead."

"No more than two hundred meters."

By now, the metallic scent of blood was so thick that even a non‑specialist could detect it.

Lin Yu breathed slowly, fearing his own breath might alert any lurking foes.

The scout gestured, signaling them to part.

Lin Yu returned the gesture, then slipped left, creating a gap of nearly fifty meters from the scout.

"Take a look."

The scout pointed to his observation; Lin Yu nodded slowly.

Then he leaned forward, half his head peering through the opening.

The scent of gore rode the wind between the structures, and Lin Yu cast his gaze outward.

There, a solitary light had ignited.

Someone!

By the silhouette, it was unmistakably a person.

Two figures stood, each beside a rather sizable apparatus.

What are they doing?

Rescuing?

Lin Xu, puzzled, watched the two engrossed in their task and gestured to the scout for clarification.

"Shall we launch a surprise attack?"

In truth, such operational command should have been his prerogative.

Yet now, with only one comrade left, the notion of command had become moot.

Whatever they wished to do, the two had to agree.

"Observe further."

The scout answered with a similar gesture.

He was not cowardly.

He merely felt that a reckless assault might be far less worthwhile than staying put, observing quietly, and gathering more intelligence.

"Understood."

Lin Yu turned his eyes back to the distance, where, bathed in light, the two had unfurled their brought‑along equipment.

Lin Yu could not discern what it was, nor infer its purpose.

Yet the next instant.

The "mountain‑city dweller" beside the corpse bent down.

Then he cradled the dead body's head in his hands.

An unknown implement appeared in his grasp, which he pressed to the corpse's skull.

Flesh and blood splattered!

In that moment, Lin Yu understood.

It was a circular saw.

He was sawing open the corpse's skull!

What on earth were they doing??

Lin Yu's pupils suddenly contracted.

He watched, eyes wide, as the man, after cleaving the hard cranium, split the skull clean in two.

Then, with meticulous care, he disassembled the shattered skull and gently lifted the ashen‑gray brain from its confines.

They were collecting the brain??

No.

What they sought lay hidden within the brain—a certain something.

The man peeled away the brain and promptly extracted a tiny object from its depths.

Another mountain‑town dweller waiting nearby tipped pure water from his flask, rinsed the extracted item clean, and then dabbed it dry with a piece of gauze.

Immediately thereafter, he took the object and placed it into the apparatus whose hatch was already ajar.

The two rose, verified everything was in order, closed the hatch, and then one shouldered the device while the other stuffed the mangled corpse into a pocket, departing from the spot where they had performed their “surgery”.

The metallic scent of blood still lingered in the air.

At that moment, Lin Yu stood frozen, stunned by the enormity of what he had witnessed.

“What are they doing?”

The scout shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“But if we can locate the communicator—”

“We must, at once, report this to the Huaxia army!”

(End of chapter)