Allen said, "It's not very far, about forty minutes on foot."
Li Chengjie nodded, "Why don't we move the supplies over and send a couple of people ahead? The rest can walk. After all, one car might not be enough for so many things and people."
Allen nodded, "Head southeast. After 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 walkie-talkies, specially made. The signal can transmit up to three hundred kilometers."
As Davis spoke, he took out a remote-controlled drone. After it was activated, the drone flew into the sky and slowly moved forward without any manual operation.
Davis said, "This is a mobile signal tower."
After assigning personnel, Allen led Gonzales and Ji Ruyue to go first.
Li Chengjie, Davis, and Bai Ye walked forward.
Carrying their weapons, they advanced. Li Chengjie looked at Bai Ye and smiled, "Mr. Bai, your skills are excellent. You're not a cyborg, are you?"
"No," Bai Ye replied, "but I've had some gene therapy injections."
"No wonder," Li Chengjie said with a look of realization. "That's not good for your body. Most gene therapy drugs have side effects."
"Yes, that's why I'm so handsome. Oh, wait, it's why my knees always ache when it rains or is windy," Bai Ye bluffed. "But as long as I can live, anything is fine. 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 probe Bai Ye's background, as Bai Ye was the only one not from the Ruined City.
The backgrounds of the others were easy to investigate, but Bai Ye was an exception.
However, Li Chengjie didn't have a strong sense of caution towards Bai Ye, mainly because Bai Ye's strategy had been effective.
Bai Ye had displayed some strength, which made his claim of traveling from Cowboy City to the border believable. It would be impossible to traverse a large expanse of wasteland without some ability.
Yet, Bai Ye hadn't shown excessive strength; at least, Li Chengjie felt he could handle Bai Ye at the moment.
Therefore, the suspicions surrounding Bai Ye were reduced and within a controllable range. Li Chengjie naturally became less wary.
They continued forward without encountering any trouble.
The venomous arrow frogs were an unexpected encounter. As hunters who frequently operated on the border, Li Chengjie and Davis were actually very familiar with the surrounding outer areas.
This included the distribution of most mutated creatures. Therefore, as long as they were careful, with Davis and Li Chengjie leading the way, it was easy to avoid mutated creatures.
Forty minutes later!
The abandoned machine tool factory that Allen had mentioned appeared before the eyes of Bai Ye and the other two.
The barbed wire surrounding the factory and the buildings within were covered in large swathes of vines, and the ground was overgrown with weeds.
Many sections of the outer barbed wire had collapsed, and even those still standing seemed precarious.
But the most noteworthy thing…
was the crystals!
From the outskirts of the factory, the crystals Allen had mentioned were already visible.
They were a vibrant pink, varying in size from as small as a fingernail to as large as a palm. They were not densely distributed.
They grew like mushrooms around the barbed wire, appearing at intervals.
However, the extent of these crystals was clearly too limited to enter the mirror world.
At this moment, Davis, walking ahead, called out, "The car is this way. They left a marker."
Bai Ye and Li Chengjie stepped forward and saw the jeep. Beside it was an arrow pointing to a gap in the broken 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 building."
Li Chengjie nodded and took the lead in carrying the boxes of weapons. Bai Ye and Davis followed suit, picking up the supply crates.
The group walked inside and arrived at the front of a factory building.
The scene here was much more astonishing. Large areas of pink crystals covered almost the entire factory building. The ground, walls, ceiling, and even the abandoned machinery were all covered in crystals.
Allen looked at Bai Ye as he entered and said, "This is where I found it, but I don't know how to use the crystals to go to another world."
As Allen spoke, he pointed to a corner on the side.
"I discovered the peculiar nature of those crystals because I once placed a weapon in that corner, and the item disappeared."
Bai Ye nodded, "It's alright. Let's gather everything together first."
Allen nodded, "Everyone come and lend a hand."
After all the items were piled together, Bai Ye instructed again, "Move the crystals over here."
Allen asked, "Those crystals are firmly grown. Can we break them?"
"You can break them, just smash them," Bai Ye said with a smile. "If you're not at ease, aren't there many crystals appearing on the surrounding machinery? You can push those machines, along with the crystals, over here."
Allen nodded, "Let's do that!"
Allen was somewhat hesitant about the crystals and didn't dare to break them easily. Therefore, he took the lead in pushing over the machines that had crystals appearing around them. Following Bai Ye's instructions, they arranged them in a circular formation.
However, nothing happened.
Bai Ye frowned. It seemed the magnetic field wasn't strong enough; more crystals were needed.
But there were no more machines around, and Allen was reluctant to smash the crystals.
"Looks like I need to add some effort!"
Bai Ye murmured, secretly tapping his toe. Immediately, an arc of electricity appeared and climbed up the surrounding crystals along the ground.
The next moment, those crystals suddenly began to emit light.
Allen exclaimed excitedly, "Yes, just like that! It's the same as when the items disappeared."
The light was initially crimson. As more arcs of electricity appeared below the crystals, the light began to flow, turning into a tri-colored radiance, swirling within the crystals like smoke.
The next instant, the surrounding scenery suddenly blurred.
A strong wind began to blow, and circles of electrical arcs appeared, enveloping everyone and forming electrical rings.
Crack, crack!
Cracks began to appear on the surrounding crystals, and fine crystal dust scattered into the air.
Everyone involuntarily raised their arms to shield their eyes.
The surrounding scenery spun faster and faster, eventually becoming streaks of light, a blurry expanse.
In an instant, the space around them became distorted, and the world spun, making them feel nauseous.
After about seven or eight minutes, the rotating space gradually stopped, and the scenery began to slowly return to normal.
...