nucmednet Chapter 2 Racing Against Time
Chapter 2 Racing Against Time
The dizziness lasted only a second.
Lin Mo's feet touched solid ground, and screams and cries instantly erupted in his ears.
He opened his eyes and saw hell.
The once peaceful island city is now unrecognizable. Huge cracks have appeared in the streets, buildings have collapsed more than halfway, and flames burn amidst the ruins. Unidentified giant birds circle in the sky, emitting piercing cries.
An office worker in a suit ran past him and was pounced on by a two-legged lizard that darted out of the shadows, his scream abruptly cut short.
Lin Mo didn't look at it a second time.
Having witnessed too much death in his past life, he now had only one thought in his mind: the second portal.
He determined the direction and then took off running.
The streets here were slightly different from what he remembered, but the general layout remained the same. After crossing this commercial street, turning left, and walking another 300 meters, he would reach the building where the underground parking lot had collapsed.
"Help! Help!"
A blond tourist reached out his hand to him from the roadside, but Lin Mo dodged to the side and continued running.
It wasn't that he was cold-blooded; he knew very well that stopping now meant death. Only after obtaining the Pandora's Box, possessing the Necromancer's Spell, and the Graveyard would he be able to protect himself.
Ahead stood a leaning building, a massive, bottomless crack opening in the ground. Thick smoke billowed from the crack, carrying a foul, fishy odor.
right here.
Lin Mo rushed to the edge of the crevice and looked down. There was a faint light in the darkness, and about fifty meters deep, there was a white net-like object.
Spider web.
The survivors from the previous life said that there are webs spun by shadow spiders in this pit. Although you won't die from falling in, you will be eaten by the spiders.
He took a deep breath, gripped the firecracker tightly in his hand, and held a lighter in his other hand.
Then, he jumped.
The wind howled in his ears, and darkness swallowed everything. About three or four seconds later, his body slammed heavily onto a soft and elastic web. The huge impact almost made him roll off, but the web held his clothes firmly in place.
Ignoring the pain, Lin Mo immediately pulled out a lighter and lit it.
The firelight illuminated the surrounding scene: a huge white spiderweb covered the entire pit, much larger than he had imagined. And at the edge of the web, a dozen pairs of eyes glowing red were staring at him.
Shadow Spider.
Each one was the size of an adult, its black carapace gleaming eerily in the firelight, its eight long, hairy legs bracing against the net as it slowly crawled toward him.
The foremost spider spread its chelicerae, dripping venom onto the web with a hissing, corrosive sound.
Lin Mo's heart almost stopped, but his fingers did not tremble.
In his previous life, the most important skill he learned over three years was to remain calm the more afraid he was.
He bit open the fuse of the firecracker and lit it with a lighter.
scoff~~~
Sparks flew as Lin Mo hurled the weapon at the swarm of spiders.
Crackling sounds!
Firecrackers exploded on the spiderweb, the loud bangs echoing through the deep pit, sparks flying everywhere. The shadow spiders let out sharp hisses and retreated frantically, several falling directly from their webs to the bottom of the pit.
Without hesitation, Lin Mo immediately used a lighter to burn through the spider web that was sticking to him, causing his body to fall two meters before landing on another layer of web. He continued burning and falling, repeating this process three times until he finally stepped onto solid ground.
The ground at the bottom of the pit was damp and hard, littered with bones and mutilated corpses.
Lin Mo stepped over the skeletons and ran forward.
There were rustling sounds in the darkness. The spiders were still overhead, not daring to come down yet, but they could come chasing after us at any moment.
Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters...
A purple light appeared ahead.
A crack, like a torn space, with purple energy flowing at its edges.
The second portal.
Lin Mo practically lunged forward, and the instant he heard the sound of a spider landing behind him, he plunged headfirst into the purple light.
This time the teleportation time is longer.
After a severe bout of dizziness, Lin Mo collapsed amidst the rubble and dust.
He looked up and saw a completely different scene.
North America, Hasburg, Mississippi.
This once peaceful town has been turned into a battlefield, with burning vehicles littering the streets and huge gaps torn in the walls of buildings. In the distance, a cyclops, as tall as a three-story building, is smashing the roof of a house, the ground shaking with each blow.
The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder, blood, and a certain putrid stench.
Lin Mo got up from the ground and tried to figure out the direction.
The church is over there...
He ran frantically toward the town center, the road filled with people fleeing for their lives. A woman carrying a child ran past him, only to be struck by a flying rock and fall to the ground motionless.
Lin Mo bypassed them and continued running.
At the street corner ahead, a two-meter-tall lizardman was tearing apart a corpse. Hearing footsteps, it suddenly turned its head and stared at Lin Mo with its vertical pupils.
Lin Mo didn't stop. He pulled out a firecracker from his waist and lit it with a lighter.
Bang! Smash!
The firecracker exploded in front of the lizardman, the loud noise causing it to scream in terror and turn to burrow into the ruins.
Lin Mo continued running.
The church is just fifty meters ahead.
Forty meters, thirty meters, twenty meters!
boom!
A car suddenly flew from afar and crashed into the church, causing the front wall to collapse and rubble to block the entrance. From the direction the car had come from, a building collapsed, and amidst the billowing dust, a huge shadow seemed to be moving.
Lin Mo didn't dare to delay and gritted his teeth as he climbed in through the side window of the church.
The church interior was a mess, pews overturned, and stained glass windows shattered. A dozen survivors huddled in a corner. Seeing Lin Mo enter, an elderly man who looked like a priest said in a trembling voice, "Child, hide quickly, there are monsters outside..."
"Where is the cellar?" Lin Mo asked directly.
The priest was taken aback: "What?"
"The cellar! The church cellar!" Lin Mo practically roared.
The priest subconsciously pointed behind him.
Lin Mo rushed over, lifted the carpet, and saw the entrance to the cellar: a half-open wooden door, from which came a cold, damp atmosphere.
He opened the door, and a stench of decay hit him.
Lin Mo lit the lighter and walked down the stone steps.
The cellar was small, about twenty square meters, and filled with wine barrels and wooden crates. In the very center, a naked figure with rotting flesh was facing away from him, tearing at a corpse.
A living corpse.
It actually refreshed to this point.
One of the most common undead creatures in the game, they are weak in combat but still deadly to ordinary people. Their nails and teeth are covered in necromancy, and being scratched can lead to infection.
Hearing the noise, the zombie turned its head sharply, its pale face covered with bits of flesh, and its eye sockets burning with eerie green flames.
It let out a low growl and pounced on Lin Mo.
Lin Mo dodged to the side, and at the same time lit the last firecracker, stuffing it directly into the zombie's open mouth.
Bang! Smack!
The explosion sent the zombie flying back several steps, its rotting flesh flying everywhere. Half of its face was blown off, and only a few teeth remained. Even so, it still let out a piercing roar and tried to attack again.
Lin Mo rolled on the spot and saw a crowbar standing in the corner of the cellar wall. He grabbed it and smashed it down on the zombie's head.
Bang!
It's like hitting a bag of cement that's about to harden.
The zombies are monsters that spawn in the game world. Their defense is much stronger than that of normal people. Fortunately, the half of his face that was blown off became his weak point. Lin Mo also did his best and used the sharp end of the crowbar to stab it hard.
puff!
It pierces into the front of the mouth and exits through the back of the head.
The zombie fell to the ground!
Lin Mo was panting heavily. This was him; anyone else would have had their legs go weak by now, let alone the strength to fight back.
Immediately afterwards, his gaze locked onto something.
In the innermost corner of the cellar, a hexagonal box floated in mid-air, its entire body golden and emitting a soft glow.
Pandora's Box.
Lin Mo's hands were trembling.
In his past life, this box brought about the creation of the Ghost King Hammer. In this life, it belongs to him.
He walked up to the box and reached out to touch it.
A stream of information flooded into my mind:
Should we open Pandora's box?
[WARNING: Opening the magic box may trigger the following effects... Obtain treasure, receive a curse, summon a monster, or have no effect. Are you sure you want to open it?]
Lin Mo was absolutely certain.
The next moment, a new prompt appeared: [Open the magic box, you need to answer a question... Please select an answer...]
Immediately afterwards, a string of garbled text appeared in front of me, with four options below.
Lin Mo stared at the string of gibberish, his memory rapidly searching.
In an interview, Hammer mentioned that the question wasn't a serious one at all, but rather a series of randomly generated runes, with only one of the four options not triggering a trap.
He chose... the third one.
Lin Mo took a deep breath and chose the third option.
The golden box vibrated slightly, then slowly opened.
There are no curses, no monsters.
Only two items lay quietly in the box.
A talisman covered in mud and grime emitted a faint gray glow.
A yellowed parchment with intricate architectural drawings on it.
Lin Mo picked up the talisman, and information flooded his mind:
[Undead Amulet (Level 1 Treasure)]
[Basic Summoning Technique]
[Effect: Increases the effectiveness of the summoning spell by 5%]
[Description: Beside the grave lies a mud-covered amulet; upon closer inspection, you discover it is actually a spirit amulet.]
He then picked up the parchment:
[Architectural blueprints: Grade I cemetery]
[Required Resources: 2000 Gold, 1000 Stone, 500 Wood]
Lin Mo hung the amulet around his neck and carefully kept the blueprint close to his body.
He leaned against the barrel, completely exhausted, panting heavily.
Successful.
He really succeeded.
From Country H to the island nation, and from the island nation to North America, traversing tens of thousands of kilometers, within two hours, they obtained this strongest starting treasure before the chosen ones of the world.
From this moment forward, his starting point is even higher than that of the Ghost King Hammer in his previous life.
Because Hammer didn't know about those future events, while he knew them all.
Lin Mo raised his head and looked out at the chaotic sky through the cracks in the cellar. A slow smile crept onto his lips.
The game has only just begun.
And he has already surpassed everyone else.