"It's not too far, about forty minutes on foot," Allen said.
Li Chengjie nodded. "Why don't we move the supplies over and send two people ahead? The rest can walk. One car might not be enough for all this stuff and people."
Allen nodded. "Head southeast. In about forty minutes, you'll see an abandoned machine tool factory."
Li Chengjie nodded. "Take Gonzales and Ruyue with you."
Davis took a box from the car. "Here are some walkie-talkies, custom-made. They have a transmission range of up to three hundred kilometers."
As he spoke, Davis took out a remote-controlled drone. After activating it, the drone flew into the sky without needing manual operation and slowly moved forward.
Davis said, "This is a mobile signal station."
After assigning personnel, Allen set off with Gonzales and Ji Ruyue.
Li Chengjie, Davis, and Bai Ye walked forward.
As they moved forward with their weapons, Li Chengjie looked at Bai Ye and smiled, "Mr. Bai, your skills are excellent! You're not an android, are you?"
"No," Bai Ye replied. "But I've had some gene therapy."
"No wonder," Li Chengjie said with a look of realization. "That's not good for your body. Most gene therapies have side effects."
"Yeah, that's why I'm so handsome. Oh, wait, that's why I get knee pain when it rains," Bai Ye said, making it up. "But as long as I can live, anything goes. A few side effects don't matter."
Li Chengjie nodded and sighed. "Who isn't? It's really not easy to survive these days."
Li Chengjie clearly wanted to gauge Bai Ye's abilities, as Bai Ye was the only one not from the ruined city.
It was easy to find out about everyone else, but Bai Ye was an exception.
However, Li Chengjie wasn't particularly wary of Bai Ye, mainly because Bai Ye's strategy had worked.
Bai Ye had shown some strength, which made his claim of coming from Cowboy City to the border believable. He couldn't have traversed vast wastelands without some ability.
Yet, Bai Ye hadn't displayed overwhelming strength. At least, Li Chengjie felt he could handle Bai Ye at the moment.
Therefore, the doubts about Bai Ye lessened, and he was within controllable limits, so Li Chengjie naturally became less guarded.
They moved forward without encountering any trouble.
The poisonous dart frogs were an unexpected encounter. As hunters who frequented the border, Li Chengjie and Davis were quite familiar with the outer perimeter.
This included the distribution of most mutant creatures. So, as long as they were careful, with Davis and Li Chengjie leading the way, it was easy to avoid mutant creatures.
Forty minutes later!
The abandoned machine tool factory that Allen had mentioned appeared before Bai Ye and the other two.
The barbed wire around the factory and the buildings inside were covered with vines, and the ground was overgrown with weeds.
Large sections of the outer barbed wire had collapsed, and even the parts still standing looked precarious.
But the most noteworthy thing…
was the crystals!
From the factory's periphery, they could already see the crystals Allen had spoken of.
They were a vibrant pink color, varying in size from as small as a fingernail to as large as a palm, and were not densely distributed.
They grew around the barbed wire like mushrooms, appearing at intervals.
However, the number of crystals present was clearly too few to enter the mirror world.
At this point, Davis called out from the front, "The vehicles are this way. They left a marker."
Bai Ye and Li Chengjie stepped forward and saw the jeep, with an arrow next to it pointing to a gap in the barbed wire.
Just as they were about to enter, Gonzales happened to walk out and immediately called out, "Move the supplies, the destination is inside the factory."
Li Chengjie nodded and led the way in carrying the boxes of weapons, while Bai Ye and Davis followed with the supply crates.
They walked inside and arrived at the front of a factory building.
The scene here was far more astonishing. Large patches of pink crystal covered almost the entire factory. Crystals were embedded in the ground, walls, ceiling, and even on the abandoned machinery.
Allen looked at Bai Ye as he entered. "This is the place I found, but I don't know how to use the crystals to get to another world."
As he spoke, Allen pointed to a corner on the side.
"I discovered the peculiarity of those crystals when I accidentally left a weapon in that corner, and it disappeared."
Bai Ye nodded. "It's okay, let's put everything together first."
Allen nodded. "Everyone, lend a hand."
After the supplies were piled together, Bai Ye directed again, "Move the crystals here."
Allen asked, "Those crystals are growing firmly attached. Can we break them?"
"You can break them; just smash them," Bai Ye said with a smile. "If you're worried, aren't there many crystals appearing on the surrounding machine tools? You can just push those machine tools, along with the crystals, over here."
Allen nodded. "That's what we'll do!"
Allen was somewhat hesitant about the crystals and didn't want to damage them rashly. Therefore, he took the lead in pushing over the machine tools that had crystals growing on them. Following Bai Ye's instructions, they formed a circle.
However, nothing happened.
Bai Ye frowned. It seemed the magnetic field wasn't strong enough; more crystals were needed.
But there were no more machine tools around, and Allen was reluctant to smash the crystals.
"Looks like I need to add a bit more power!"
Bai Ye murmured, secretly tapped his toe, and then an arc of electricity appeared, climbing along the ground to the surrounding crystals.
The next moment, the crystals suddenly began to glow.
Allen exclaimed excitedly, "Yes, it's like this, just like when things disappeared before."
The glow initially was scarlet. Then, as more electrical arcs appeared beneath the crystals, the glow began to swirl, turning into a three-colored radiance that drifted within the crystals like smoke.
The next instant, the surrounding scenery suddenly blurred.
A strong wind swept through the area, and circles of electrical arcs appeared, enveloping everyone and forming arc rings.
Crack! Crack!
Cracks began to appear on the surrounding crystals, and small crystal fragments scattered in the air.
Everyone involuntarily raised their arms to shield their eyes.
The surrounding scenery spun faster and faster, eventually becoming streaks of blurred light.
In a flash, the surrounding space became distorted, and the world spun, causing a feeling of nausea.
After about seven or eight minutes, the rotating space gradually stopped, and the scenery began to slowly return to normal.
...