A considerable distance from the Arcane City,
"Ye Feng, there are simply too many zombies here, an endless stream. Should we retreat for now, or find a place to rest?"
Qiao Ying glanced at the darkening sky and the zombie horde surging like a tide around them, calling out to Ye Feng.
"Xiao Xiao, don't you have that hover machine platform? We can spend the night on it!"
Ye Feng clearly had a plan. He turned to Xiao Xiao and spoke quickly.
"Oh, okay!"
"I've been wanting to try it out for ages!"
Hearing this, Xiao Xiao's eyes lit up with joy.
Earlier, following Ye Feng's instructions, she had purchased many items from someone named Ying, including a rather large hover machine platform. She had always wanted to use it but hadn't found a suitable opportunity until now...
Soon, a flash of light appeared in Xiao Xiao's hand, and a large iron block, about two cubic meters in size, materialized before her.
Having studied it beforehand, Xiao Xiao stepped forward and manipulated it. The two-cubic-meter iron block underwent a series of transformations and, within moments, became a machine platform approximately twenty square meters in area.
"Clank~ Clank clank!"
Xiao Xiao took out two Arcane Yuan Coins and inserted them into the recessed slot in the center of the machine platform.
"Buzz~!~"
The entire machine platform was instantly enveloped in a flowing white light.
"Whoosh!~"
Immediately, several jets of gas erupted from beneath the platform, and it levitated into the air.
At this point, Xiao Xiao also donned a glove-like sensor on her right hand. The machine platform moved up, down, left, and right, even tilting, according to her hand's commands.
"Big brother, Qiao Ying sister and I will go up to make dinner first!"
After familiarizing herself with the controls of the machine platform for a while, Xiao Xiao stored the Humvee into her spatial rift fragment bracelet and then shouted to Ye Feng, who was amidst the zombie horde ahead.
Throughout their exploration journeys, although Xiao Xiao didn't possess a spatial warehouse like Ye Feng's, the space within her spatial rift fragment bracelet was quite large, easily accommodating a Humvee...
However, the Humvee was usually kept in Ye Feng's spatial warehouse, as the spatial rift fragment bracelet had usage limitations, while Ye Feng's spatial warehouse did not...
"Okay!"
"Bang!~"
As Ye Feng's voice fell, the horde of zombies around him flashed with white light and were instantly blown away by a powerful surge of energy. But before Ye Feng could break free, more zombies lunged at him...
"Boom~ Swoosh~ Whoosh!"
"There are so many zombies..."
Xiao Xiao murmured after killing a few zombies that charged towards her. She then piloted the machine platform to hover in the air, out of the zombies' reach, and began setting up a tent with Qiao Ying to prepare a meal.
In the distance,
"Alas, another foolish fellow who doesn't believe until they're zombie food..."
"This world is never short of such stubborn individuals... actually trying to force their way through the zombie horde to reach the Arcane City..."
"What a shame, anyone who can reach the final teleportation gate must have considerable strength!"
"Stop watching the spectacle, put away your telescopes. We need to leave here quickly. It won't be safe here at night either!"
...
A group of explorers sighed, put away their telescopes, and quickly drove away.
...
The next day,
As the sun just began to rise,
"This vast desert region is truly not safe at night..."
Ye Feng yawned sleepily, and Xiao Xiao and Qiao Ying also appeared somewhat listless.
Last night, the three of them had slept in tents on the hover machine platform. Although the height was sufficient, the frenzied zombies below couldn't harm them. However, unknown monsters frequently flew in from the air... and there were also third-order mutated zombies with wings on their backs, the Winged Walkers...
While the monsters and zombies couldn't injure the three of them, they prevented any of them from getting a peaceful night's sleep...
"Big brother, are you going to continue killing zombies?"
Xiao Xiao rubbed her eyes and looked at the zombies with a questioning gaze.
"No~ It's a bit annoying~"
Ye Feng glanced at the considerable amount of available points added to his [Personal Information] panel, shook his head, and said, "Let's head directly to the Arcane City. It's best if we find a place to catch up on sleep first!"
"Okay!~"
...
Soon, the three of them proceeded directly towards the Arcane City.
Of course, they didn't return to the ground but traveled on the hover machine platform.
"Big brother, this Arcane City is so strange... it's actually built in the middle of a massive zombie horde..."
Xiao Xiao said with some confusion, looking at the countless black masses of zombies in the distance.
"This point is indeed quite strange... Logically, a place surrounded by such a sea of zombies wouldn't be suitable for survival... yet the Arcane City, one of the seven great powers, is located here..."
Ye Feng was also somewhat perplexed.
...
At noon,
"Whoosh~"
"Buzz!~"
"Ah!~"
A gust of wind blew, and the machine platform, which had been flying steadily, suddenly tilted and began to fall directly downwards. Xiao Xiao cried out in surprise.
"Xiao Xiao, what's going on?"
Ye Feng grabbed the edge of the machine platform, asking with mild confusion.
"Big brother, the Arcane Yuan Coins' energy has been depleted!"
Xiao Xiao checked the slot in the center of the machine platform and replied.
"Depleted?"
Ye Feng frowned slightly. "That shouldn't be the case. We just exchanged Arcane Yuan Coins. Based on the previous consumption, it should last for at least a whole day!"
"I also find it strange. The value on the Arcane Yuan Coins suddenly dropped to zero!"
Xiao Xiao's voice was filled with confusion.
"Ye Feng, it might be a problem with this area. Another flying machine has just crashed over there!"
At this moment, Qiao Ying pointed in a direction and spoke.
"Big brother, this situation seems very similar to what happened at the ancient ruins!"
Xiao Xiao thought for a moment and said to Ye Feng.
"Indeed!"
Ye Feng nodded, looking at the other falling flying machines in the distance. "There might be some kind of mechanism deployed around the Arcane City. Once we get within a certain range, the arcane energy of flying machines is rapidly drawn away!"
"Xiao Xiao, retrieve the machine platform!"
"Okay!~"
...
A moment later, the three of them landed on the ground.
Currently, the ground was not filled with zombies but with a dense crowd of people.
"Boom! Rumble!~"
As Ye Feng was observing his surroundings, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from the sky.
"Idiot, another one trying to fly directly into the Arcane City!"
"Exactly, is the Arcane City that easy to enter?"
Before the fiery debris of the explosion had even dissipated, someone next to Ye Feng scoffed.
"Uh, sirs, two explorers, are there any specific procedures for entering the Arcane City?"
As he spoke, Ye Feng reached out and offered a cigarette to each of two middle-aged strong men standing before him.
The two middle-aged strong men had rather interesting appearances: one was missing his left ear, and the other was missing his right ear.
...