Chapter 125 In the Name of Survival
"Everyone thought old Bruce would die of myocardial infarction because he shouldn't have drunk so much booze. His heart, which was already on the verge of breaking, couldn't bear such a violent shock." Pela said with no expression, as if it was something she had nothing to do with.
"Do as you say, Pela, and do it well!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Pera withdrew quietly, and Sean's fingers darted across the screen of his computer. Another program, which had already been designed, immediately replaced the original system. In this program, Sean had the highest priority. As a result, the documents that were previously rejected were immediately approved by Sean himself.
Sean had always had the ambition to replace Bruce, but he hadn't taken action. For one thing, it wasn't necessary. For another, old Bruce was sometimes able to shield Sean from inconsequential troubles. Now, it was different as Lemott was about to become an efficient machine, and Sean would not allow an obsolete part like Bruce to obstruct the machine.
From today on, he would firmly hold onto power in his hands, even if the price to pay was endless blood!
There was no hesitation in Sean's eyes. People who were hesitant couldn't do anything, just like old Bruce. And the fate of this kind of person was to be eliminated by the era and eventually become a corpse within his residence.
In terms of this, he felt that he and Ling were of the same kind person. As long as they decided on something, they would spare no effort to accomplish it.
Sean walked to the window of his office and faced north with the steaming coffee in his hands.
"To us!"
Sean said quietly.
Today was destined to be an extraordinary day for Lemott.
At noon, old Bruce was found dead in his bedroom by a servant. The heavy smell of alcohol in the bedroom and a few empty bottles had already explained the cause of Bruce's death, and after the doctor's confirmation, there was a large amount of alcohol left in Bruce's body. So his sudden heart attack had made sense, and although some of the union representatives who had been friends with Bruce still doubted it, the sudden increasing number of patrols in Lemott had dispelled their inquiries.
On the same day, Sean held a meeting of the union representatives. Under the watchful eyes of the cobra army and a group of armed soldiers, Sean quickly got the position of president of the union with an overwhelming votes.
The representatives whether they were on Sean's side before or his opponents, they all began to realize that Lemott was going to make a big move according to the series of speeches Sean made. The new emerging base city would soon begin to move like a wheel, generating resources and wealth that would flow into Sean's plans.
It was foreseeable that Lemott City will usher in a period of rapid growth. As for whether Lemott will have a new life or head towards a hell, no one knew.
Even Sean himself didn't know!
All he knew was that as Ling emerged from Death Ridge, Lemott would present a new appearance to the world.
Ling was now walking through a jungle like a rain forest.
After leaving Phoenix City and passing by a short but steep mountain path, that evening, Ling and Monnie finally entered the Death Ridge, which was known as the forbidden land of Life.
However, he didn't expect that the ridge which was described as forbidden land full with terror, death, and all sorts of other terrifying scenes would be brimming with astonishing vitality. Unlike the desolate wilderness, the Death Ridge was filled with vegetation. Just on the border zone, they saw many extinct plants of the old days.
However, regardless of whether it was the shrubs or the tall trees bearing colorful fruits, the vitality of these plants was too strong. It was so dense that it was as if they were living human beings.
It was a ridge with life.
It was Ling's evaluation on the Death Ridge.
But the name of Death Ridge was well earned. The horror of this mountain range lied in the dangers one cannot see. Ling had yet not encountered any powerful mutated beasts, but shrubs whose branches could grow teeth at any time, man-eating trees whose roots could leave the ground and reach into the prey's body to suck blood, or a small grass whose outer appearance seemed weak but could easily cut through a human body … All sorts of plants here were filled with the thirst for flesh and blood, as if they were hungry and thirsty beasts.
Half an hour after entering Death's Ridge, Ling was attacked by mutated plant. In the turbulent years, in addition to animals, plants had also mutated in order to survive. However, the mutation of these plants in the Death Ridge seemed to be much stronger than those of their relatives in the wilderness. From the perspective of Ling, they even had some intelligence, giving off an demonic atmosphere in the Death Ridge.
In the evening, the grass within ten meters of a hillside had been cleared by Ling. Moreover, those plants similar to root were also dug out from the soil. After been roasted dry in the evening sun, they were used as fuel for the bonfire.
It turned out that Ling was right to be careful. When these seemingly harmless rhizomes were thrown into the fire, they actually began to twist like living creatures, causing the flames to crackle. Monnie left the strange fire in some terror, but Lala was interested, and the little animal put out its short forelegs to touch the roots.
When the rhizomes detected some foreign objects, their whiskers grew quickly from the end of their roots, trying to wrap Lala and pulling themselves away from the fire like tentacles. Of course, Ling cut off the wooden whiskers of these rhizomes with his saber and then these roots things can do nothing but helplessly be burned into carbon in the flames, unmovable.
However, even though these things appeared to be dry on the outside, they had a lot of water inside. Even in the heat of the fire, it still took half an hour for them to stop writhing. Ling thought to himself, perhaps this was the origin of the strong vitality of the plants. The jungle's desire for survival was embodied in the different forms of life of each plant.
"Ling, how long do we have to stay here?" Monnie hided beside Ling and flinched.
Looking at this stubborn child, although Monnie did not say it out loud, her trembling body showed that she was very afraid, Ling patted on her pink back and said, "ten days at most."
Monnie nodded and didn't ask any more questions. She took out the dagger Ling had given her and began practicing. Knowing that Monnie didn't want to be a drag on him, she was trying to practise what he had taught her. But he knew that if Monnie wanted to become strong or live alone in the wilderness, it would take a very long time. No matter how strong the desire to become stronger was, it could not change the fact.
However, Ling very much appreciated Monnie's determination. Facing cruel reality, some chose to surrender, while others chose to resist. Undoubtedly, Monnie was the latter.
A map that was constructed in Phoenix City was spread out in front of Ling, which only showed the general geography of the Death Ridge. The mountain road was not convenient for travelers to pass, but it was not safe at all. Not to mention the mutated beasts that had yet to be discovered, even the ubiquitous mutated plants were threats to anyone who passed by.
In fact, there wasn't much of a difference in safety between taking the mountain road or going over the mountains directly like Ling did. The difference was that the caravan could not take Ling's route due to the cargo. The direct route Ling adopted greatly shortened the time, but since there was no team to take care of each other, the safety factor was correspondingly reduced.
The two methods had their own pros and cons. As for how to choose, that was all depending on the people who chose.
Here it came again.
Ling quickly pulled out Colt, then turned to aim at the darkness beyond the jungle.
Just now, Ling felt like he was being watched. As his ability increased, his sense also became more and more acute. He did not think that it was an illusion. Weak, but with a slight pricking sensation, it was a sort of hostile probing. But when Ling took out Colt, the feeling faded rapidly, indicating that the person or creature who had spied on him had left.
This kind of feeling appeared from time to time after Ling entered the Death Ridge. From the frequency and position of its appearance, he could tell that his opponent was getting closer to him.
Without accurate information, it was impossible for Ling to tell whether it was a native of the Death Ridge or a lingering killer from Parkland. But whichever side it belonged, as long as he or it was hostile to Ling, Ling would always give them a surprise.
The sudden raising of the gun gave Monnie a fright, but the girl did not panic. Instead, she grabbed Lala and crouched down. At the same time, she grasped the dagger in her hand tightly, ready to attack at any moment. Until Ling had collected back his Colt that Monnie released her own vigilance.
However, before Ling could even sit down, the bushes not far to the west began to shake. There was a wind blowing, and it was not surprising that the bushes swayed. Strangely, the shrub swayed in the opposite direction to the wind, as if avoiding something. If it wasn't for Ling's sharp senses and his golden right eye, which allowed him to adjust his vision range freely, no one else would have been able to detect such minute details.
Ling immediately pulled Monnie to the place where the bonfire can not shine. A moment later, two men appeared at the camp that Ling had cleared. The man was not wearing modern clothes, but a hemp dress. The hem of the dress was graffiti made by unknown paints, like a picture of a duck, and there were also various colorful tattoos on their body.
The man held sharp wooden spears in their hands. The tip of the spear was painted with a greenish color. If not out of a certain color of worship, then it should be poison, an ancient but effective means of attack. Because of years of exposure to radiation in the air, the men both had an undetectable mutated tissue on their chests or shoulders like a layer of biological armor.
As the mutated tissues worsened, they would compete with human organs for nourishment, which would eventually lead to human death. Unless these tissues been removed precisely by surgery like Master, no one can change the outcome.
Before they became deadly, these fibrous layers, which were abnormally thick in the mutant tissue, did indeed act as a defense layer for them.
In the eyes of Ling who was hiding in the dark, the two men were no different from the natives in the forests of the old era. Ling knew that they were the mob in the mountains that George had spoken of.