Two days had passed since Tighnari left to visit his friend. With too much free time on his hands, Lin Feng had basically wiped out every monster camp in the surrounding rainforest.
His Dexterity trait had also reached level 4. At this point, his control over his body was absurd—walking across a fallen log was child's play; if he returned to his previous world, he could probably crush the auditions for a professional acrobat troupe.
The most obvious upgrade was his reaction speed. Everything felt smoother—like switching from 2G to 5G.
With his panel packed full of combat traits, Lin Feng suspected his real fighting strength was already ridiculous. As for Little White… with Lin Feng's steadily maturing "old dog" personality, he had long concluded: the little creature should stay a harmless mascot—eat, sleep, repeat—not get involved in explosions and dismemberments.
At least, that was Lin Feng's plan.
Seeing his level hadn't increased anymore, Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief. That meant the little Dendro Archon had failed to pull him into her dream again and temporarily given up.
After all, the real Nahida was still imprisoned in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, relying only on the distant Aranara who seldom ventured near human settlements. She had no manpower to spare.
The more Lin Feng thought about it, the more pitiful the little archon seemed. He silently resolved that before leaving Sumeru, he must meet her—at least indirectly—and see if he could help somehow. His jump from level 19 to 36 was largely thanks to her and her Statue.
As usual, after breakfast Lin Feng headed into the rainforest for his daily patrol.
But he'd barely gone far before he heard a voice shouting for help.
As a ranger, rescuing travelers was part of the job. Lin Feng sprinted toward the sound.
"I'm a ranger from Gandharva Ville—Lin Feng. Sir, please calm down. What happened?"
The source of the cries was a black-haired middle-aged merchant from Liyue, dressed in long robes.
"Please, young man, help! My daughter—my daughter was taken by monsters!"
He repeated the same line over and over, distraught.
"Please calm down first!"
Lin Feng released a bit of elemental energy—Dendro tinged with a trace of dreamlike influence. The soothing aura helped the frantic merchant regain some clarity.
"Which direction? What did you see? What kind of monster took her?"
Understanding there was no time for pleasantries, Lin Feng asked the key questions in the shortest possible form.
"Right up ahead—down this road!"
The merchant swallowed hard and explained:
"Half an hour ago, we were passing a patch of… dark woods. Suddenly a bunch of strange machines charged at us—covered in black mist! Our horses panicked and ran in separate directions!"
"My daughter is from Liyue—around your age! Please—please save her! I can give you everything my caravan owns! Please save my Little Lu—I'll kneel if I must!"
The man moved to kneel, but Lin Feng grabbed his arm quickly.
"No need to kneel—and we can talk about payment later. I'm from Liyue too; if you do this I'll lose years off my life."
"I'll do everything I can to bring her back. Please stay put. I'll take you for a proper statement afterward."
Having grasped the situation, Lin Feng knew it wasn't simple. He told the man not to wander and dashed into the deeper rainforest at full speed.
From the description, they had likely passed near a Withering Zone.
They must have only grazed the outskirts—otherwise the merchant wouldn't have escaped alive.
His daughter, however, had probably been carried deeper by the panicked horse.
During his time learning from Tighnari, Lin Feng had updated his knowledge about the Withering:
In reality, Withering Zones were not that common and rarely appeared near the outskirts.
• They were extremely dangerous to ordinary people. Even without monsters, simply staying inside drained life force—half an hour could already be fatal. Only Vision holders could endure longer.
• To clear a Withering Zone, you had to attack the Withering Branches, defeat all corrupted phantoms, and expose the core—the Withering Tumor.
Estimating the girl's time inside, Lin Feng's chest tightened. He picked up his pace.
Please don't let this be a high-level spawn…
The strongest monsters in a Withering Zone came from leylines. If it was just fungi or low-grade beasts, clearing it would be easy. If his luck was terrible, he might run into high-level Ruin Drakes or a Hilichurl Chieftain.
As he advanced, the light dimmed. A sinister purple-red glow crept across the sky and forest. The buzzing insects and chirping birds vanished. Silence fell.
This is it.
Lin Feng tensed. A malignant force gnawed at him, and deep inside he felt pure disgust—this was a power fundamentally opposed to all life.
Just as he stepped in, danger surged. Lin Feng leapt back instinctively, avoiding a beam of energy that scorched past. He turned toward the attacker—
Three centipede-like Ruin Sentinels, their triangular heads pulsing with light as they charged another attack.
"Bind! …Spikes!"
Not holding back, Lin Feng unleashed both skills at full strength.
Thick, waist-thick vines erupted from all sides, constricting the machines. Dense wooden spikes shot up from the soil, stabbing the bound constructs.
"…Huh?!"
To his shock, though damaged, the Ruin Sentinels still functioned.
Slashing away the vines with laser bursts, they twisted their bodies and drilled underground like massive screw-bits.
Lin Feng reacted instantly—he jumped aside moments before the ground beneath him exploded.
The three machines shot out from below like drills and unleashed a radial barrage of lasers—bright as miniature suns. The heat alone seared the nearby air into a burnt stench.
Perfect timing!
Knowing their mechanics well, Lin Feng didn't dodge. Instead, he condensed pure Dendro into an arrow and fired at their exposed cores.
"Bzzt—"
A corrupted crackle echoed through the clearing. Orange arcs of electricity danced across their bodies—they were briefly paralyzed.
Lin Feng immediately compressed the surrounding Dendro into a maximum-power explosive charge and hurled it at the center of the trio.
"BOOM!"
The blast shook the ground.
The three constructs convulsed once, then crumbled into black ash and disintegrated into the stale air.
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