Chapter 112: Vehicle-Mounted Protective Formation

“The architecture here isn’t like anything from my homeland. How were those hundred-meter-tall buildings constructed...?”

“New Divine Era, Year 3000, June 5th. This is the fourth day since I arrived here. So this place is called the Survival Game—everyone must scavenge for supplies to stay alive.”

“I’ve lost track of the date now. All I know is that today marks the tenth day since I arrived. Our squad has grown to four. We’ve faced five attacks and survived them all.”

“Day twenty. Oh my, today we actually encountered a living dragon. Our mission remains the same: to survive by any means using whatever tools we can find...”

“...”

“Year three, two months, and twelve days later, our ruinous survival game has ended, but I feel the real game of survival is only just beginning.”

“Year six... This world has natives who are very strong. Those strange machines are terrifying. Or perhaps they, like us, are survivors of the same game...”

“Year ten. We encountered a formidable enemy. I don’t know which planet they’re from or how long they’ve been surviving here...”

Lin Mu skimmed the diary in his hands. It was clear this journal did not belong to anyone from this town; otherwise, such a thing wouldn’t have been left behind.

The last page was dated Year Twenty, and there was nothing beyond that.

Had the writer died? Or had they simply stopped recording?

Twenty years...

Rubbing his temple, Lin Mu felt the situation was even grimmer than he had imagined. Someone had lived here for twenty years without ever returning to their own planet.

Was it that they couldn’t meet the conditions to go back? Or was it simply impossible?

Would they be trapped here for life?

Worry clouded Lin Mu’s eyes. If he really had to stay here indefinitely, he would have to plan carefully. No more acting recklessly.

“Anna, do you also have a communicator?”

“You mean this?” Anna pulled a necklace from deep within her armor, a red circular bead hanging from it.

Aside from the color, it was identical to the vehicle core of Lin Mu’s group.

“That’s right. You can contact others too, right? How many people do you have left?”

“Of course I can contact them, though I rarely do. After all, I’m a succubus—a despised species. As for numbers, after all these years, fewer than a million remain.

The death rate has been staggering. We started with a billion.”

Lin Mu twitched at the corner of his mouth. A billion?

How many did you start with?

He moved to a second-floor window and looked out. Under the moonlight, the entire town radiated tranquility.

If this weren’t a survival world, living here for life wouldn’t be so bad. But obviously, that wasn’t an option.

...

The next day.

“Captain! Captain! We discovered mysterious rune shards. We believe they are part of the city’s protective array.”

Zhang Qian came running in excitement.

If this thing could be repaired, staying here wouldn’t be so bad.

As for driving... who would need a car then?

Following Zhang Qian, the group arrived at the town’s center.

There was a small pool, and indeed, a stone shard lay at its bottom, etched with intricate, mysterious patterns.

“It’s a protective array, but unfortunately, the energy has been depleted,” Anna said, shaking her head. It would be useless for a while.

“Oh? How is the energy replenished?”

“By entering spatial tunnels and completing missions. That’s the only way to obtain the mysterious elements.”

“Wait! What did you say?”

Lin Mu raised an eyebrow.

“Mysterious elements. Four of them can sustain a protective array.”

Mysterious elements!

He had plenty of those.

Every time he dismantled a blueprint, he could gain between one and five mysterious elements.

He currently had hundreds in his possession.

And he had even more blueprints.

After all, each time he acquired blueprints, there were hundreds. How could they not be abundant?

“Can this array be extracted?”

“It should be possible,” Anna replied uncertainly. She had always operated alone and only learned this through chatter on the communication channel.

Lin Mu stroked his chin, an idea forming, though he wasn’t sure if it would work.

The entire vehicle fleet had already entered shelter mode, and when deployed, the vehicles formed a small town.

If that was the case, why remain in this town?

“Zhang Qian, take out that array.”

“All right.”

Zhang Qian jumped into the pool and reached in.

With a gentle tug, he pulled the stone shard free.

He looked astonished.

This was the town’s protective array, yet it was so easy to remove?

“Captain, this is...”

Lin Mu extended his hand and took the array. Information about its properties appeared before him.

[Defensive Magic Array]: Basic protection array capable of withstanding attacks of 10,000 degrees energy, covering a radius of 3 kilometers. (0/4 mysterious elements)

Only a basic defense array? If it were advanced, it might be impenetrable.

As for this “10,000 degrees” energy, it was presumably a measure of attack strength.

“Continue exploring thoroughly. Don’t miss anything. As for you, follow Shu Yi first.”

Having arranged everything, Lin Mu hurried back to his vehicle.

He wanted to test his idea.

Inside the vehicle, Lin Mu activated his modification skill and applied the defensive magic array.

“Install on vehicle and grant corresponding abilities.”

This time, the process was surprisingly rapid.

[Vehicle-mounted Defensive Magic Array]: Array Stone x1, Secret Silver x1, Mysterious Elements x4.

Lin Mu raised an eyebrow. Just that simple?

For him, it was easy, but for others, difficult.

Usually, such arrays could only be fixed in one place, but he had created a mobile version.

Not that the array stone couldn’t be used elsewhere, but the pattern beneath the stone had to be laid out properly.

That alone defeated 99% of people.

Even within the same planetary system, there were differences.

Especially since these were game-provided items, the discrepancies were even greater.

Lin Mu’s skill bypassed all that automatically.

Modification!

A flash of light appeared, and mysterious patterns and runes emerged on the floor of the living room behind Lin Mu.

It directly integrated the defensive array with the vehicle.

Lin Mu quickly checked the info, hoping nothing was broken.

[Vehicle-mounted Defensive Magic Array]: Basic vehicle-mounted protective array. Can withstand attacks of 10,000 degrees energy. Coverage radius 1 kilometer. (0/4 mysterious elements)

It had indeed changed—the coverage radius had shrunk.

But for his fleet, it was sufficient.

Even if all vehicles deployed their arrays, this size would be enough, perhaps just a little denser.

Lin Mu stroked his chin. “Then let’s strengthen it further.”