By the bonfire, Davis leaned against the hood of an Old World military vehicle.

Wearing a black windbreaker and sporting a stubble beard, his eyes were filled with panic and fear, yet his face wore an exaggerated smile. He occasionally spat out bubbles, and his eyes twitched rapidly every now and then.

His hands moved up and down incessantly, his body enveloped in illusory darkness.

The darkness was like mist, originating from his left pocket, sometimes rippling like water, sometimes as deep as night.

This was the relic hunter who had just returned from the No. 9 ruins in the crimson wasteland. He and his team had even escaped the pursuit of two high-level "Heartless"... What extraordinary thing did he bring out of those ruins? An item that could connect to the "New World"? Any numbered ruins were not simple... While Jiang Baimian's thoughts raced, Shang Jianyao, as if performing Old World gymnastics, did a handstand, splitting his legs, with one of them pointing towards Davis.

Genava "understood" and strode over, rushing to Davis' side.

Although he couldn't see the source of the "darkness" and wasn't sure where the problem lay, as an artificer, he had his own best method:

Exhaustive search!

Genava first pointed to the sunglasses clipped on Davis's windbreaker. Seeing Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao remaining motionless, he switched to the mechanical watch on the man's wrist.

After trying and failing again and again, he finally reached out and pressed his palm against the left pocket of the black windbreaker.

Clap, clap, clap, Shang Jianyao applauded with his bare feet.

Jiang Baimian was extremely grateful that she was doing a handstand and couldn't see the distorted scene, but just imagining it gave her the feeling that Shang Jianyao was bringing the "chaos" from that terrifying cruise ship into reality.

The most emotionally complex thing was that one of the feet Shang Jianyao was using to applaud was still holding the "Six Senses Bead."

Receiving positive feedback, Genava's eyes flashed red, and he inserted his metallic, skeletal hand into the pocket.

Soon, he took out an item.

It was a silver necklace, greyish and nearly black, with a cross-shaped pendant that was short horizontally and long vertically. Its surface was also inlaid with tiny diamonds.

Suddenly, Genava's arm, which was retracting, froze in mid-air.

Half-squatting, his eyes flashed red incessantly, but his silver-black body remained motionless.

In Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao's "eyes," "darkness" was pouring out from the old but exquisite pendant.

It was as quiet as a lake on a windless night.

Seeing this, Shang Jianyao blew several bubbles.

He wanted to awaken Genava!

Seeing that the action of speaking would be reconnected into blowing bubbles, Shang Jianyao earnestly blew bubbles, trying to reconnect to the action of speaking.

But in a short time, he couldn't figure out the more complex corresponding rules. Although he really opened his mouth and made a sound, it was limited to a single syllable:

"Poof! Poof! Poof!"

This made Jiang Baimian want to laugh and be worried at the same time.

At this moment, Genava didn't respond to Shang Jianyao's "calls" at all, as if possessed by an evil spirit, or someone had pressed the freeze button, foolishly squatting beside Davis, becoming a statue "hanging" with colored lights.

Even an artificer will be affected by touching a node of the "New World"? Jiang Baimian's mind raced, and she alternated her hands, quickly approaching Davis and Genava in a handstand.

Shang Jianyao wasn't willing to be left behind, abandoning the attempt to speak, and forcibly ran with his hands.

The scene was so comical that the surrounding hunters couldn't help but want to laugh.

But what appeared on their faces was undisguised panic and fear.

Arriving beside Genava, Jiang Baimian adjusted for a while and finally supported her entire body with her right hand.

She then tried to "raise" her left leg, letting her left palm leave the ground.

When pointing her palm at Genava, Jiang Baimian was a little hesitant in her heart.

What she wanted to do next was to imitate Shang Jianyao's use of high-voltage current to shock the "New World" node in that secret laboratory in the No. 13 ruin of the wasteland, temporarily destroying it. She would rely on the high-voltage current stored in her electric eel bio-limb to briefly suppress the "darkness" pouring out of the cross pendant, buying time to transfer the "danger" away.

But after careful consideration, there were still some significant differences between the two things. At least the "New World" node in the secret laboratory in the No. 13 ruin of the wasteland didn't throw the surrounding humans into chaos. It simply acted as a channel for the artificial intelligence "Future" to manipulate electromagnetism, appearing relatively harmless.

But the current "New World" node was affecting the nearby humans on a large scale, as if there was some kind of consciousness hidden within it.

Therefore, it might not be as passive as the one in the laboratory when faced with the impact of high-voltage current. Jiang Baimian's attempt might bring bad results.

At that time, the entire "Old Task Force" would have a significant probability of being buried here.

In comparison, taking advantage of the ability to drive by using her feet to steer the steering wheel and her hands to press the accelerator, fleeing this camp seemed like a better option.

However, in this way, Genava, who was "frozen," would undoubtedly be abandoned. Anyway, artificers wouldn't suffer from "Heartless Disease." Once the abnormality disappeared, he could still be rescued.

Of course, the escape strategy also had certain hidden risks. The members of the "Old Task Force" who had already been affected or eroded by the "darkness" were likely to be unable to escape the subsequent outbreak of "Heartless Disease," even if they ran to the ends of the earth.

After thinking for several seconds, Jiang Baimian gritted her teeth and made a decision.

No matter what, try using high-voltage current to shock it first!

Evasion can't truly solve the problem!

Once the impact of the high-voltage current worsens the abnormality, there will still be a chance to consider leaving this camp.

With this mentality, Jiang Baimian, bearing the pressure of potentially losing her companions, laboriously raised her left hand, barely aligning her palm with the cross pendant.

With crackling sounds, streaks of silver-white arcs leaped out, intertwining into a giant python, striking Genava's hand holding the strange item.

Davis, leaning against the hood of the military vehicle beside him, couldn't lower his head to the side and couldn't see what Jiang Baimian was doing. He only knew that his field of vision was instantly filled with the erupting silver-white electric light.

The high-voltage current struck the cross pendant, and the "darkness" spreading out from there shook violently.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian felt that a gaze was cast from the infinite distance, falling on her, causing her blood to freeze and her thoughts to slow down.

However, this seemed to be just an illusion brought about by the dissipation of the encroaching "darkness," and everything quickly returned to normal.

This included the movements of the surrounding hunters.

Davis, spitting out bubbles, blurted out:

"Quick, throw away that necklace!"

Noticing that the "darkness" had shrunk back into the cross pendant, Jiang Baimian quickly gave Genava an order:

"Throw it five kilometers away, and it would be better to bury it!"

Genava, with tiny currents still running through his body, felt as if he had just had a dream, a dream in which he reunited with his wife and daughter in Tarnan.

He woke up feeling a little melancholy when he heard Jiang Baimian's voice.

Without hesitation, Genava made a big jump in place, leaping dozens of meters away.

Then, holding the old cross pendant, he ran with the feeling of a car driving at high speed.

During the run, he had his added electric shock module aimed at the item in his hand, and he would take emergency measures immediately if anything went wrong.

In just over two minutes, Genava ran a full five kilometers.

Boom!

He fired a grenade, blasting a shallow pit in the wilderness with heavily polluted and lush weeds.

With a snap, he threw the cross pendant into it.

After breaking contact with this item, Genava was no longer so hurried. He carefully found dirt and stones, filling the shallow pit.

At this time, the hunters in the camp had long returned to normal, Jiang Baimian also turned over and got up, canceled the binding of her right foot and left leg, and threw the "Angel of Life" necklace back into Shang Jianyao's tactical backpack.

Shang Jianyao reluctantly gave up the handstand.

Seeing all eyes turned to this side, Jiang Baimian said to Davis, the relic hunter with the black windbreaker and stubble beard, and his team:

"Is that what you brought out of the No. 9 ruin?"

Davis nodded with lingering fear:

"Yes, I saw it had special abilities, so I brought it out."

"Has there never been such an anomaly before?" Another relic hunter nearby asked with dissatisfaction.

This almost led to the annihilation of everyone in the camp!

Fortunately, that beauty and her companions seemed to have had similar experiences and knew how to deal with it.

Davis and his companions exchanged glances and frowned slightly:

"It seems like there was, but each time it returned to normal in less than five minutes."

"Then why didn't you throw it away?" Jiang Baimian raised her eyebrows upon hearing this.

Davis's statement made her increasingly feel that this was similar to the abnormality on that terrifying cruise ship:

Both of them repeated multiple times within a period of time, but now one had an ending, and the other had not yet reached that stage.

Seeing the gazes directed at him and his companions with obvious anger, the originally confident and composed Davis stammered:

"We were going to throw it away, but, but..."

"But what?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

Davis and his several companions replied in unison:

"Forgot!"

"Forgot?" Some hunters didn't believe it, while others showed thoughtful expressions.

Shang Jianyao rubbed his chin:

"The negative effect of that item is forgetfulness?"

Davis showed a look of sudden realization:

"So that's how it is..."

Jiang Baimian didn't intend to intensify the conflict. After thinking about it, she deliberately changed the topic:

"Where in the No. 9 ruin did you find that item?"

ps: Asking for guaranteed monthly tickets at the beginning of the month~