The Post Sky Tipping Era

Li Yi and Zhang Gao followed Brother Tao deeper into the danger zone, and the journey was safe all the way.

Even so, Brother Tao led them around three danger points and successfully stopped in front of an abandoned building.

"The address is correct, this is our point of defense. From now on, we'll stay here for the next six hours."

Brother Tao took out his phone, opened the map to check it, and after confirming there were no issues, he gestured to the two people behind him.

"Come on, let's go to the top floor."

"Is this building dangerous?" Li Yi asked.

"This building is on the very edge of that Extraordinary Creature's territory. Other things from the danger zone dare not come close here; hence, it's actually safer for us. Yang Yilong and Qin Qing move faster than us; it took us twelve minutes to reach our destination, they only need about five minutes to penetrate into the center of this territory."

"Now the Extraordinary Creature has to deal with Yang Yilong and his team first; they don't have time to bother with us small fries. Once Yang Yilong has successfully hunted, we can evacuate, but until then, any anomalies we see around us must be reported up."

"The danger zone hides too many unknown things. Yang Yilong asked us to come because he is afraid of unknown things from other areas approaching to steal the benefits. But don't underestimate those things; anything that can hold its ground in the danger zone for years without being wiped out is no trivial matter."

As Brother Tao spoke, he explored his way into the building.

The building was well-preserved with almost no damage, covered only in dust and with no electricity or water supply; apparently, the evacuation here had been very urgent. Li Yi even saw many abandoned important items as he walked inside, such as wallets, mobile phones, and car keys.

"Can you believe there's still money in this wallet?"

Zhang Gao picked up an abandoned wallet and found several hundred yuan in bills inside.

However, these old currencies had been out of circulation since the Sky Tipping event and their use was prohibited on the market, but they could still be exchanged for new bills at banks.

"If you don't mind the hassle, you could scavenge in the danger zone. If you're lucky, you can find quite a bit of money, even come across some wealth left by rich families. Many scavengers got rich in the Ruined District before, but they dared not enter the danger zone, so there's a lot of wealth left here," Brother Tao said as he walked.

"Too much trouble, let's forget it," Zhang Gao thought for a moment and finally shook his head, throwing the old wallet away carelessly.

Although it was a good idea, those who could survive in the danger zone wouldn't lack that bit of money.

Moreover, the really valuable things had already been taken away by the Cultivators hired by the employers a long time ago, and if they couldn't take them, then either the items were in particularly dangerous areas, or it was not worth the effort.

Due to the lack of electricity, the elevators in the building were inoperative, and the three of them had to take the stairs to the top floor.

However, each of them was in good physical condition, and climbing over twenty floors at once was no problem at all.

"Stop."

Suddenly.

Brother Tao, who was leading, abruptly halted his steps at this floor.

Li Yi and Zhang Gao also stopped abruptly and immediately tensed up.

They sensed an unusual tension in Brother Tao's tone.

Is there... something amiss?

In the darkness.

Li Yi's eyes subtly shifted, trying to search for dangers around them. Soon, he narrowed his pupils slightly. Even without activating Spirit Medium, he saw the lurking danger in this floor.

Was it a spider?

No, not a spider. Was it a 'person'?

On one wall of this floor, there was a bizarre person crouched, with skin of a grayish-black color, almost blending into the surroundings. What was chilling, however, was that this person had no legs, but instead, eight unnaturally long arms, each with a hand.

Eight hands, like suction pads, stuck to the wall, allowing this humanoid creature to crouch there like a huge spider.

At that moment, Zhang Gao saw it too, his breathing involuntarily quickening.

What to do?

Ignore this monster, or choose to take it down here?

Li Yi and Zhang Gao both looked to Brother Tao.

It was time for Brother Tao to make that decision since he was the Spirit Medium and comparatively more powerful.

Brother Tao stood motionless, his eyes continually sizing up the Spider-man on the wall, contemplating his next move.

"I'm going to take action and test this out. This thing here doesn't favor our subsequent actions, even if it can't be killed, we need to find a way to drive it away. Be careful on your own," he quickly decided and said softly.

"Okay."

Li Yi took a deep breath, preparing himself to respond.

Brother Tao hesitated no longer, quickly approaching the eerie Spider-man on the wall.

As he drew near, the bizarre humanoid creature also immediately sensed it; its eight thin arms suddenly moved, and then its body quickly shifted, moving about four or five meters to another wall, before momentarily stopping its motion.

In that instant the odd humanoid creature stopped, a gleam of light flashed in the dark floor.

Eye witness!

This was the attack technique unique to Spirit Medium Cultivators. Seizing the opportunity, Brother Tao chose to strike.

Although Eye Witness was almost useless against other cultivators of the same level, it was devastating against those weaker, and also served as an excellent probing tactic.

"Ah!"

Instantly.

The silence of the building was immediately pierced by a sharp scream; the sound was chilling, like a human yet akin to a beast.

However, instead of killing the humanoid monster, the eye witness had only enraged it.

The next moment.

The creepy humanoid creature, with eight arms, moved swiftly across the wall and rapidly approached in the direction of Li Yi and the others.

"That speed of movement... so fast."

In just one or two seconds, the creature was already above Brother Tao's head, then two long arms, their palms resembling claws, swung with formidable force, aiming to tear Brother Tao in half at the waist.

"Bang!"

The ground burst into dust, and the hard concrete was torn open, leaving several ferocious marks.

But Brother Tao moved just as swiftly, dodging the attack while simultaneously producing a black-coated machete from nowhere; this blade was unlike the common ones on the market, seemingly forged from a special alloy, not only sharp but also extremely tough.

He acted just as quickly; the black blade swept through the dark surroundings, it was impossible to see clearly where he struck.

But then, the two arms of the spider-like creature instantly broke into two segments, and a strange, fluorescent-like juice spurted out in the darkness, splashing everywhere.

After the attack took effect, Brother Tao seemed greatly encouraged. He leaped up, attempting to chop off the creature's head.

The creature appeared to possess intelligence. Realizing the situation, its remaining arms frantically waved in an attempt to fend off Brother Tao.

In mid-air, the sharp blade clashed with the bizarre hands, sparking off flames.

The attack unsuccessful, Brother Tao's figure exploded backward, rapidly increasing the distance as a precaution.

"This thing's nerve response is faster than mine, even blocking my blade; truly terrifying," Brother Tao muttered under his breath.

The spider-like creature, having lost two arms, also seemed to realize Brother Tao was not easy to provoke and did not attack again. Instead, it retreated with astonishing speed along the wall.

"It's trying to escape," Zhang Gao urgently said.

Brother Tao's expression was somber, but he did not act. "Let it go. This creature has taken a loss and won't appear in this area again soon. Since we didn't kill it just now, it's not worth the risk to force a confrontation."

He did not want to interfere and risk getting toppled here.

After all, this trip was only for making money, not for risking their lives.

In just three or four seconds, the humanoid creature quickly squeezed out through a broken window, then swiftly climbed the exterior wall of the building. Soon, as the sound of its climbing faded away, it was clear the creature was truly fleeing the area.

Seeing it leave, Li Yi also heaved a sigh of relief.

The creature's lunge had been terrifyingly fast, nearly unreactable, and fortunately, Brother Tao had managed to drive it away, or else he would have had to turn tail and run.

"It should be safe now."

Brother Tao remained alert, surveying the surroundings once more after the noise completely disappeared, and only then did he slowly exhale.

"What exactly was that creature?"

Li Yi now stepped forward, looking at the arm lying on the ground.

Without a doubt, it was a human arm, but the bone density and muscle strength of that arm far exceeded that of an ordinary person, and even more so than a cultivator who had activated Spirit Medium powers.

"Who knows, ever since the Sky Tipping incident, our world has been filled with many incomprehensible entities, but no matter what it is, as long as it's a creature that doesn't belong in our world, it can be sold for money. Many research institutions are very interested in these things, and the market price is high, even for severed limbs," Brother Tao said as he sheathed his blade and approached the severed hand to inspect it, though he could not determine its exact nature. Finally, he picked up the chopped off arm and packed it in a bag to take away.

"Thanks for your help just now, Brother Tao, otherwise we really would have been in danger," Zhang Gao quickly expressed his gratitude.

"No need to thank me; this creature was not particularly dangerous. I just wanted to see if I could kill it off, but unfortunately, it still got away," Brother Tao shook his head, somewhat disappointed.

In dangerous areas, the opportunities available for Spirit Medium Realm cultivators to hunt are limited; he couldn't say his luck was bad.

Li Yi asked, "Brother Tao, if you don't mind me asking, how did you judge its strength? Just now when it was clinging to the wall motionless, it looked like a piece of wood, impossible to gauge its strength or weakness."

"Two methods, one is experience, the other is feeling," Brother Tao lit a cigarette and slowly said, "Its skin color was gray-black, almost matching the color of the surrounding walls. If its body color is close to the environmental color, it means it relies on the environment to hide itself, to protect itself from other predators, so they're usually not very strong. So this time, it was an analysis based on experience."

"I see," Li Yi suddenly found it very reasonable and thought of creatures like chameleons and octopuses.

Indeed, those who need to rely on the surrounding environment to hide themselves couldn't be particularly strong.

Brother Tao then continued, "As for feeling... it's actually inspiration. Once cultivators in the Spirit Medium Realm progress further in their cultivation, they can unlock inspiration. These cultivators have extremely sensitive senses and can perceive the strengths and weaknesses of other beings, better confirming their position in the food chain. However, I haven't unlocked inspiration yet."

"Alright, enough talk, let's head to the rooftop. Such a weak thing hiding here further proves this place is safe. I believe there won't be any more dangers next," he said, and without lingering any longer, he continued up the stairs towards the rooftop.

However, after this incident, Li Yi's vigilance was elevated once again.

Luckily, this time they had an experienced Spirit Medium leading the way. If one day he recklessly entered a dangerous area, he truly wouldn't know how he would die.

"It seems I still need to make an effort to learn and improve," Li Yi thought at that moment, feeling that there was still much to learn.