The wind and snow on the road fluctuated, and the scenery was almost monotonous.
This place was too desolate, with not a soul in sight, not even a frozen zombie. It was a vast expanse of white, and staring at it for too long could lead to disorientation.
Therefore, Lin Yuan had to stop every so often to confirm his direction and the time, to avoid getting lost.
Another two hours passed, and it was already 5 PM. The sky was about to darken. Furthermore, some time had been spent determining the location of the "high tower" that Camille had mentioned, and they had only just reached North Kanwei.
In the view of the telescope.
This small town had completely become a home for mutated insects. The "people" living within still maintained their pre-apocalypse behaviors, as if their sanity remained intact.
There were even two "people" with worm-like heads embracing and kissing. Read books here.
Enduring the discomfort in his stomach, Lin Yuan continued to observe.
There was no wall around the town of North Kanwei, nor were there any guards in sight, as if it were a "normal" town.
However, Lin Yuan dared not act rashly. Perhaps they had some sort of alarm system or sentinels, similar to what Ivomona encountered with the crows.
Or perhaps it was simpler: their sensory range covered the entire town, even extending beyond it.
"Fortunately, I didn't impulsively rush over."
He was currently observing from about 1 kilometer away from North Kanwei. Everything within the town appeared normal, with no signs of activity expected from intruders.
Putting away his telescope, Lin Yuan headed directly towards the "high tower." North Kanwei was completely inaccessible; with his current equipment, entering would mean certain death.
He decided to check out the "high tower" first, as there should be fewer people there.
The sky had already darkened. The distant high tower had its top lights illuminated, blinking intermittently, as if signaling to survivors that this was a safe place.
In Lin Yuan's eyes, these lights were like flames, attracting survivor after survivor into the abyss of hell.
As usual, he would first observe the situation from a distance with his telescope.
The exterior of the high tower resembled a lighthouse on an island, but Lin Yuan could vaguely see a large antenna at the top.
"It should be the communication tower, but are there too many people?"
That's right, a spiral staircase was built along the exterior wall of the lighthouse.
There was a person standing every two steps, actual people, who still looked human and were even chatting with each other.
This made it almost impossible for Lin Yuan to infiltrate stealthily.
Did he have to attack head-on?
Just from the people visible outside, there were at least 30 of them, and each was armed.
Lin Yuan could take out one or two at the beginning, but eventually, he would be suppressed by their firepower and surrounded, leaving him no escape.
There was no other way but to first use sound to attract some of them, divide and conquer, and then launch a full assault.
Just as he was about to act, the situation observed through the telescope suddenly changed.
A large number of people on the spiral staircase suddenly went inside, leaving only five people outside to continue on guard duty.
This sudden change made Lin Yuan pause his attempt to mimic sounds.
"Did the Travelers cause some major disturbance?"
A few minutes later, at least a hundred people emerged from the high tower, armed with heavy weaponry.
They drove snowmobiles directly towards Ivomona. There was no need to guess; the Travelers organization must have clashed with the Everlasting Sect of Ivomona, otherwise, so many people wouldn't have been dispatched for support.
The plan was working, even better than expected.
Lin Yuan lay on the snow, quietly watching the people supporting the high tower leave vehicle after vehicle.
He silently calculated his next move.
The previous plan of luring the enemy and dividing them was no longer necessary. He only needed to lure out a small portion of the remaining people inside, and he could make his move.
He acted immediately. Taking out his last flashbang, Lin Yuan ran to another hilltop and fashioned a timed fuse using thin string and toilet paper.
After igniting it, he ran to the other side, quietly waiting for the explosion.
The timed fuse burned to its end, the string holding the branch was severed, and the elasticity triggered. The branch snapped straight, pulling the ring of the flashbang held at the other end.
"Boom!"
The sound was relatively quiet compared to a grenade, but in the silent night, it was enough to attract the attention of the duty personnel in the high tower.
"Hey!" The moment the explosion sounded, the guards outside the high tower noticed it. A powerful flashlight beam was also shot over, but nothing was found.
"Who's there?!" After shouting several times without finding anyone, the guards exchanged glances, nodded, and sent half of their men out, leaving three to guard the post.
As soon as they left, Lin Yuan crept closer to the high tower.
There were two guards on the spiral staircase, both staring in Lin Yuan's direction. At the entrance below the staircase, there was one guard, keeping watch on the rear for the people who had just left.
"Still so heavily guarded," Lin Yuan glanced at his watch, deciding not to waste any more time here.
Then he would kill them all.
He picked up the Vector submachine gun, aimed the sight at the highest-standing guard, and pulled the trigger.
With almost no ballistic deviation, three bullets accurately entered the guard's head.
His body, losing control of his brain, fell straight from the height.
"Song song song!" Before the person even hit the ground, three more bullets were fired, hitting the guard below him.
After eliminating two in quick succession, Lin Yuan had already rushed to the bottom of the high tower. The guard at the entrance only heard the sound of falling.
As he turned around, he saw a black silencer pressed against his forehead.
"Y..."
Before he could even utter a sound, Lin Yuan cleanly dispatched the last guard outside and, grabbing the key, rushed inside.
The first floor of the high tower was piled high with food.
The cook in the kitchen was preparing food, completely unaware of what was happening outside. He was plating the dishes while humming a tune.
"Life is old there, older than the trees~
...
Blowing like a breeze~..."
Oh, it was a classic folk song from the Eagle Federation, "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
After listening carefully for a few moments, Lin Yuan unhesitatingly eliminated the three cooks.
There was no choice; they had all been parasitized by the Everlasting Sect's parasites. One of them was even trying to mutate, but Lin Yuan interrupted its transformation.
Nothing was found on the first floor, so Lin Yuan continued upstairs. This time, he didn't linger on any particular floor, killing his way all the way to the top.
Wouldn't it be better to deal with all the enemies before slowly searching for supplies?
The door to the last floor was heavily locked. The material was solid, and it could only be opened from the inside. There was only a doorbell on the door, and a camera-like device on top, which was not currently activated.
A frontal assault was impossible; he had to see if he could outsmart them.
He returned to the bottom floor. The three people who had gone to investigate had not yet returned, and their flashlight beams could still be seen in the distance.
He brought up two steaming dishes of food from the kitchen, disguised himself, and returned to the entrance of the top floor.
"Ahem." Clearing his throat, Lin Yuan imitated the voice of one of the cooks and pressed the doorbell.
After a moment, the red light on the camera at the top lit up.
"Damn it, why are they delivering food at this time?"
Before Lin Yuan could even demonstrate his vocal mimicry skills, the door opened, and two naked men, completely unclothed, appeared before Lin Yuan.
They were covered in filth.
What the heck, playing it that wild?
"Cook, you really picked the wrong time!"
The two inside grumpily picked up the two meals from the tray and were about to close the door.
However, they found they couldn't close it.
"Damn it, you're going to... Hck... Spare me."
Before one of them could finish speaking, Lin Yuan grabbed him by the neck and lifted him with one hand.
"My apologies, my apologies. I was blinking just now, hoping to remove that image." With that, Lin Yuan exerted force, snapped his neck, and threw him out like trash. The other was so terrified he couldn't even speak, completely forgetting his ability to use parasites.
Lin Yuan said nothing more, giving him five bullets as his last meal.
He also shot the corpse that had been thrown out five times before it stopped moving.
"The extra two bullets are for emotional distress."
He threw the corpse in the room outside as well, out of sight, out of mind.
"Damn it, if I can make it back alive, I'm definitely going to a psychological counseling center for two months!"