Chapter 130: Chapter 122: Each Displays Their Prowess
"Everyone, get up! A Mutant Beast Group is coming!"
In an instant, Tang Mo reacted. She got up, packed her things, and stored them in her Space in one smooth motion.
Although she didn’t know what exactly was beneath the gravel, her intuition and experience told her it was a Mutant Beast Group.
And there were a great many of them—so many that she couldn’t express it with an exact number.
Lisa and the others reacted quickly. It was clear that after spending so long in the wild, the team had become mature and well-coordinated.
The moment Tang Mo’s words fell, Lisa and the others opened their eyes and began to pack up their sleeping bags and backpacks.
To Tang Mo’s surprise, besides Lisa, the short, stout guide was the second-fastest to act.
He gathered his things and immediately hid behind Tang Mo.
In the guide’s eyes, Tang Mo gave him an even greater sense of security than Lisa.
"What... is this?"
Besides Tang Mo, Ah Bin was the only other Spiritual Ability User here, so only he could feel the disturbance under the gravel.
"Run!!!"
The things were getting closer and closer. The short, stout guide was the first to turn and run.
It seemed he knew what they were.
The group didn’t hesitate, turning to follow the guide.
"Everyone, split up!"
Humans were clearly slower than those things. As they watched the creatures get closer and closer to Ah Bin, who was falling behind, everyone caught a glimpse of what they were.
There were few mutant beasts in the desert—almost nothing but snakes and scorpions.
And today, their luck was terrible. They had run into the latter.
Swarms of scorpions, having scented their prey, were now flocking toward them. Everyone could imagine the consequences of being caught.
Like crops after a locust swarm, their flesh would be devoured completely, leaving only their lonely bones to be buried in the desert.
’No one will survive if we stick together.’ Tang Mo quickly made the decision to split up.
There were six of them in total. This way, they could at least divide the scorpions’ numbers and give everyone a chance to survive.
Tang Mo took the lead, running at the very front. The others behind her split off in different directions, and just as they’d hoped, the scorpion swarm divided into six groups to chase them.
The pressure on Tang Mo lessened considerably. She channeled all her spiritual power into her legs and switched to a high-speed sprint.
Tang Mo’s base speed attribute value was already high. Now, with the boost from her spiritual power, she quickly put some distance between herself and the scorpions behind her.
But the distance wasn’t enough to make the scorpions lose their target. So, every time Tang Mo pulled ahead, she would briefly turn around, pull her Wind Breaker from her Space, and kill a dozen or so of the closest ones.
Then she would immediately accelerate forward again. She kept this up for more than two hours before finally eliminating her pursuers.
Even for Tang Mo, with her high spiritual power, such exertion was exhausting.
After finally escaping the predicament, Tang Mo sat right down on the sand, took out a bottle of water, and started chugging it down.
Meanwhile, Lisa and Ah Bin weren’t moving very fast. Lisa wasn’t a speed-type superpower user to begin with, and Ah Bin’s physical constitution was poor.
After separating from the main group, the two were about to be overtaken by the scorpion swarm.
But just as the first scorpion was about to touch Ah Bin’s ankle, Lisa and Ah Bin suddenly rose into the air.
Neither of them panicked. Instead, as if they had practiced it many times, they skillfully crossed their legs and sat in mid-air.
If anyone had been there to see it, they would have thought some fantasy event was taking place.
"Ah Bin, this flying carpet you made with your spiritual power can carry more and more weight. I remember last time we used it, it flew very low, but now it can go this high."
At this moment, Lisa and Ah Bin were hovering about three meters off the ground, high enough to be out of the scorpions’ reach.
"Once we get that Spiritual Flower and my Spirit Attribute Value is high enough, forget a flying carpet—I might even be able to create a spaceship."
A determined light shone in Ah Bin’s eyes, a stark contrast to his previous image as a meek, quiet scholar.
"Lin Fang and the others knew about this secret of yours—your ability to shape spiritual power—but we can’t figure out that Tang Mo’s background, so we absolutely can’t tell her. It’s just a pity about Lin Fang and the other one. They followed us for so long, only to die."
Lisa’s tone was tinged with regret.
Although it would have been a strain, Ah Bin’s flying carpet could have carried a few more people, as long as they didn’t ascend quite as high.
But to avoid exposing this secret to Tang Mo, they had to sacrifice Lin Fang and the other person as well.
"On the path to godhood, some sacrifices are always necessary."
Ah Bin put his arm around Lisa’s shoulders, and she nestled against him like a delicate bird.
"You’ll definitely become the most powerful person in the entire Alliance." Lisa’s voice was filled with admiration and adoration.
If Tang Mo could have heard their conversation, it would have been very interesting indeed.
She might have felt relieved about her wise decision to treat Lisa’s oath—sworn on her family—to protect her as complete bullshit.
Trust between people doesn’t collapse all at once. Tang Mo’s trust in others had crumbled bit by bit long before this.
What happened at Wuxi Village was the final straw that broke Tang Mo’s trust in humanity.
Tang Mo had long since stopped trusting anyone.
There’s always a bigger fish. Anyone who could survive this long in the apocalypse had a trick or two up their sleeve. And to think Tang Mo had always thought her acting was pretty good.
After resting for a while and replenishing her food and water, Tang Mo set off again.
Now, with no guide and no companions, she had to find her way through the desert alone.
Over the past few days, Tang Mo had figured out that the guide didn’t actually know where Sand Town was. From the sounds of it, Sand Town didn’t even have a fixed location—it was mobile. Finding it was a matter of luck.
Tang Mo’s luck had always been average, so she just had to press on.
The desert environment was boundless, all sand, without a single plant in sight. As far as the eye could see, there was only an endless expanse of yellow.
Trying to mark a path was too difficult; any sign she made would be quickly covered by the yellow sand.
Tang Mo could only rely on the sun’s position to get a rough sense of direction. By the end of the day, she had no idea how many circles she’d walked in.
’I seriously doubt I’ve even gone five kilometers since this morning. I’ve probably just been walking in circles.’
Once night fell, the desert would become very cold. The drastic temperature difference between day and night was unsuitable for continued travel.
Besides, if she couldn’t recognize the path during the day, it would be even more impossible at night. So, Tang Mo took a zen-like approach, setting up camp early, bundling up in her thick cotton-padded coat, and settling down to rest.
Unable to sleep while lying in her sleeping bag, Tang Mo took out a small desk lamp and began to read the books she had brought from Xiao Tao’s place.
The few complete diagrams were a bit too advanced for her. She wanted to thoroughly study the fundamentals first.
That way, she would be able to decipher more from the diagrams later, and her gains would be greater.
