Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Bangle’s Shocking Change 3

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Although the green wall in front of him was old, it was probably the most intact structure in the city ruins.

When Lin Ke saw this six to seven meters tall green wall, memories of the past gradually emerged.

His memories had returned-all of them!

This was not just a wall, but a maze made from pure concrete that existed during the time when the city thrived and prospered.

After the Wasteland Era, the Machinery Holy Cult occupied this place and looted all the metal in the city. Since this maze was constructed of concrete, it was spared and survived till today. 3

When the game officially opened for beta-testing, the Machinery Holy Cult had stationed its troops here after they discovered the Underground Crypt of Death.

The Machinery Holy Cult’s soldiers wore exoskeleton armor. They would drop blueprints, parts, and even armor chips required by the mechanical system after they were killed. Back then, Lin Ke had earned his first pot of gold here, relying on the maze’s complex terrain.

Lin Ke waited for a few seconds in front of the green walled maze and saw the jeep coming out of the green cloud of smoke and dust.

The Wastelands Gang mercenaries immediately noticed Lin Ke-who was standing on the street-covering his arm.

“Shot?” The machine gunner looked as though he had won the lottery after seeing the slave clutching his arm.

“To hit him despite the poor visibility, you must be very lucky!” His companion, who was the driver, couldn’t help but complain. 2

The machine gunner was so conceited that his nose was almost pointing up to the sky. “Maybe it’s all thanks to me that we can escape this time. Remember to treat me when we are back!”

“Stop talking rubbish! That guy has run away!”

“Crap, where can a slave go!”

The jeep completely ran out of fuel and continued to slide forward due to inertia.

One had a pistol in hand while the other had a tactical machine pistol, as they leaped off the jeep, running in the direction where Lin Ke disappeared to.

When the two arrived at the green wall entrance, they popped their heads in and took a glance inside.

“This looks like a maze. That little fellow has disappeared into it!”

The two looked at each other, deciding on their strategy almost instantly.

“You will enter from here and pursue him while I head over to block the exit. Let’s sandwich him!” 2

“Okay! Let’s make this a quick fight. We must not attract the Machinery Holy Cult. I don’t want to end up as a human battery!” 2

They were armed with guns and did not think much of an unarmed and wounded slave. Instead, they were very fearful of the Machinery Holy Cult. 3

…

Lin Ke entered the concrete maze and immediately experienced the feeling of killing monsters back then.

This was where he discovered the fun of killing monsters. Relying on the concrete maze’s complex terrain and narrowness, he led more than a dozen Machinery Holy Cult soldiers in circles, chipping away at them bit by bit!

This was also the place that laid the foundation for Lin Ke’s ‘Golden Farmer’ career.

Destiny was a game created to solve the tension between the people’s growing material and cultural needs and falling productivity. Under the coalition government’s leadership, many companies had joined forces to create this game, using the latest generation optical computing technology and virtual game cabins. Apart from the basic parameter settings, everything else in the game was generated by optical computers without human intervention. 3

After its release, Destiny instantly became popular all over the world. At its peak, there were four billion people online at the same time. It had become a relaxation and entertainment outlet for people after they were done with work. Enterprises in the real world would naturally not miss such an opportunity to create publicity. They set up guild teams to project their influence in the game.

Moreover, our protagonist Lin Ke had been in the game since the game’s beta test. His luck was normal, and he did not have any extraordinary encounters. However, it was this concrete labyrinth that opened a new door for him-killing monsters and earning gold! 4

Lin Ke gradually became a ‘gold farmer,’ earning a fair amount of income every month by selling in-game currency.

Skill could replace luck. His long-term experience in earning gold had resulted in him having effective and efficient monster-killing skills. In addition, he was willing to work hard. He stood out among the many gold farmers and had a bit of fame. Hence, he had a lot of stable customers on hand, including some wealthy tycoons from the guilds. 2

For Lin Ke, this place was ‘where the dream had begun.’

Lin Ke walked into the maze calmly. He had the entire layout of the maze in his head. Lin Ke planned to use his knowledge of the maze to lay a trap for the two mercenaries. After they were separated, he would make a sneak attack with his dagger and kill them.

Lin Ke did not realize that the blood from the gunshot wound on his right arm was flowing along his thin arm. What was surprising was that the blood did not flow down to his fingertips but was ‘cut off’ by the gold bangle on his forearm.

This gold bangle was sucking his fresh blood greedily at this moment. 4

The bangle was made entirely of gold and was shaped like a death worm. Its body resembled a worm with blurry head features and a mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth. A lifelike scarab was carved near the tail of the worm.

Lin Ke did not notice it at first. When he reached the ambush site and raised his dagger, he saw a horrifying scene on his arm.

The golden death worm on his bangle was actually moving! The death worm squirmed slowly, and the bangle began to shrink, completely gluing onto Lin Ke’s skin without revealing any gaps.

The death worm absorbed the blood, and the gold on the surface began to peel off, revealing its red body that was filled with blood.

Lin Ke watched as the bracelet became tighter. He reached out to take it off, only to realize that the bangle had been attached to his arm as though it was part of his body. “What… what is this wretched thing!” 6

When Lin Ke took the bangle during his escape, he hoped to exchange it for some money as start-up capital. He didn’t expect that his earlier actions would turn out to be a disaster!

At this moment, a series of notifications appeared in front of Lin Ke…

[You received the Zerg’s Nest[1.A insect-like race in the game Starcraft.] (Incomplete)] 16

[Zerg’s Nest (Incomplete) successfully bound]

[The synthesize interface is activating. Please wait…]

“It turned out to be the Zerg’s Nest!” Lin Ke’s heart trembled, as though huge waves were crashing into it.

After transmigrating into the game, he was not that surprised after returning to a period six years back. However, he was ecstatic, and his face was full of all sorts of colorful expressions after obtaining the Zerg’s Nest!

“Why did version 6.0-Heart of the Swarm’s power artifact[2.The second installment in the Starcraft 2 series.] end up in my hands?” 3

There was only Lin Ke standing in the dark corner. No one could answer his doubts.

Lin Ke recovered from his shock. He first listened for the enemy’s position while holding his breath. He then returned his attention to the system interface after he was sure that his surroundings were safe.

[Synthesis] was added behind [Stats] and [Missions].

Entering the [Synthesis] interface, the first thing that caught his eyes was a set of complicated instructions comparable to a drug prescription. 1

After glancing through it, Lin Ke summarized the following three points:

….

To put it simply, this could be used for biosynthesis and transformation of organisms.

In version 6.0, Heart of the Swarm, before Lin Ke’s transmigration, Paul The Great Emperor-who had the complete Zerg’s Nest-dominated the other players. He led an army of transformed organisms and subdued the big companies and guilds to the point that they were subservient to him. 2

Only Lin Ke knew about the titan warships, dragon vessels, bio-alloy leviathans, legendary mobile suits, super fortresses, and the death star gravitation command platform that were lost by the United Army of the Hundreds Guild during their battle with Paul The Great Emperor… 1

They were worth hundreds of billions! 1

After the battle, Paul The Great Emperor retreated completely.

It was a one-sided massacre!

The Zerg’s Nest that Lin Ke activated was only one part of the complete Zerg’s Nest; its functions were also greatly reduced compared to the completed version. But even this ‘castrated version’ was enough for Lin Ke to rise to prominence.

Lin Ke’s [Synthesis] interface currently had only one formula.

[Organism]+[Material]=[Organism]

You only needed to provide the ingredients required by the formula to synthesize new organisms. The requested organism could not be higher than Lin Ke’s level. However, there were no restrictions on materials.

“I am only Level 1 at the moment. Anyway, where can I find any organisms within the city ruins?”

It was a pleasant surprise to obtain the Zerg Nest. However, there were no other organisms at the moment. Lin Ke’s top priority was also to deal with the two Wastelands Gang mercenaries.

Just after Lin Ke exited the interface, he realized that the bangle on his wrist had disappeared. A few pieces of gold were lying on the ground. On his arm was a tattoo of the death worm and the scarab. This had to be the artifact’s form after it was bound.

[You received 400 grams of gold.] 1

Right after Lin Ke picked up all the gold, he heard the shouts of the two mercenaries.

“I am in position!”

“Me too!”

The two voices went back and forth, without any attempt of concealment.

“They are thinking of sandwiching me!” Lin Ke immediately saw through the enemy’s plan; he knew their locations from their voices.

If the two of them walked over from front and back, not only would he not be able to sneak attack them, but he would also be sandwiched and attacked by them. Moreover, his roaming range would be reduced by half. He would also be open to attacks on his stomach and back, unable to defend himself properly. 2

“I cannot stay in this position any longer!” Lin Ke stood up. His current position was at the center of the maze.

His only way to survive now was to choose a side and break through it!

Lin Ke got up and walked towards the front entrance. He heard some grass rustling in the corner just after he took two steps. He steadied his eyes and saw that it was actually a rat.

Lin Ke’s eyes brightened. “Ah! Isn’t this an organism?”

The rat was only Level 1, which fit the requirements perfectly.

Putting his dagger back in the crotch area of his trousers, Lin Ke stepped forward to grab the rat and entered the [Synthesis] interface again.

Rat (adult) + gold (100 grams) = ? (90% success rate) 8

[Synthesis consumes 10 Health Points. Synthesize? Yes/No]

As for consuming 10 HP…

Lin Ke took a glance at his 30 HP. This synthesis wouldn’t be fatal to him!

With a success rate of 90%, what was there to consider?

Synthesize! Lin Ke noticed that the 100 grams of gold in his left hand was gradually absorbed and disappeared from his palm.

The rat in his right hand was wrapped in blood-red filaments that emerged from his palm, eventually forming a fist-sized blood cocoon.

[Blood cocoon incubation countdown: 30 seconds.]

According to the synthesis instructions, the new organism’s incubation time was proportional to the level of creatures and materials used.

Rats were the most common creatures, while gold was a rare metal of Green quality.

Fortunately, Lin Ke didn’t put in too much gold. Hence, the incubation time was extremely short.

Holding the blood cocoon, Lin Ke hid in an inconspicuous corner of the maze.

The anxious and highly-anticipated half-minute was finally over.

Along with a series of graceful system notifications, a rat emerged from the cocoon, poking out its little furry head to look at Lin Ke.

[Monster synthesis is complete. Obtained Treasure Hunter Rat (Green)!] 4

[Monster Stats]

Name: Treasure Hunter Rat (Young)

Quality: Green

Race: Rodent

Stats: Metal Affinity

Level: 1

Initial Skill: Search By Smell Lv1 (The Treasure Hunter Rat has a keen sense of smell and can distinguish the various scents in the air. It is particularly sensitive to metallic items. Its search range is 500 meters. Its range is doubled for metallic objects.)

Evaluation: Ordinary rat with precious metals fused with its blood. It is extremely sensitive to the smell of metals. In short, you have found yourself a treasure-collecting basin.

Lin Ke’s eyes lit up. Searching for treasures was of secondary importance. What was formidable was its metal sensing ability!

Lin Ke gently patted Treasure Hunter Rat, which was sniffing and licking his palm. He then said in a low voice, “Take me to the nearest metal source now.” 5

It was time to verify the ability of Treasure Hunter Rat!

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