62: The Romance of a Female Technician

In the sky, a hundred meters high.

ferry no. 0819 stood still within a translucent bubble.

On the deck, the women who remained behind were gathered around a screen that had appeared out of thin air.

The screen was divided into dozens of frames, broadcasting the carnage below in real-time.

“Ugh!”

Wang Jia abruptly ripped off her glasses and rushed to the railing, retching as if she were about to throw up her bile.

In the bottom-left corner of the screen.

A four-person squad with Southeast Asian features had just landed when they were skewered by bone spears from the ground like human candied haws.

Blood snaked down the pale white bone pillars.

Before they could even scream, a tide of Carrion Beetles swarmed over them.

“They really died the moment they landed... This place is practically a slaughterhouse...” Zhou Qian trembled, her knuckles white as she gripped the railing.

Suddenly, the screen flickered.

All the team members watching instantly erupted.

“Holy crap! Who was that 1.5-meter-tall loli just now?! Those legs, that skin!”

“She’s only wearing lace panties?! Is this a post-apocalyptic loadout? Dammit, I’ve got a nosebleed!”

“If only I could take a screenshot! Brothers, this is the true light of the apocalypse!”

On the screen, An Nuonuo was huddled in the shadow of a skull, her hands desperately clutching a piece of fabric.

A second later, the camera zoomed out.

A two-headed Carrion Vulture was circling above her, drool dripping down.

The hearts of all the male onlookers leaped into their throats.

The Withered Bone Forest.

Chen Du had no idea that his loli’s fan service was being broadcast live.

At this moment, he was weaving through giant rib cages.

This place was incredibly eerie; his Sanity was plummeting.

Whenever a ghostly wind blew, the tiny pores on the bone surfaces would emit low-frequency vibrations, like some kind of... biological circuit.

Stepping on a main bone would definitely trigger a resonance and attract predators.

“I must find the others as soon as possible.”

As he thought this, the mist ahead began to dissipate.

The skeleton of a mammoth, as large as a skyscraper, lay across the middle of the path.

And on that mammoth leg bone, which was as thick as a pillar, sat a figure.

The person was wearing a set of black lace lingerie, boasting a hot figure.

Right now, her thighs were tightly gripping the bone, and she held a piece of obsidian in her hand, frantically... rubbing it?

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, this hardness, this luster...”

Xia Lai’s face was pressed against the bone surface, her eyes glazed with obsession.

“If I hollow out the middle, install a high-frequency vibration motor, and then embed two bearings... this would be the strongest ergonomic weapon of the apocalypse!”

“Even without alloys, this bone density alone would make an exoskeleton armor strong enough to withstand the impact of a muscular hunk...”

“Hehehe... Baby, let Big Sister take you apart and see...”

Chen Du, hiding in the shadows, felt his mouth twitch as he listened.

Is this how a technical geek’s mind works?

At a time like this, instead of worrying about being eaten by monsters, she’s here researching how to build a mace?

He tapped his toes lightly and floated behind Xia Lai.

He raised his hand.

Slap!

Chen Du unceremoniously slapped that perky area.

“Which blind bastard dares to sneak an attack on my butt?!”

Xia Lai reacted extremely fast!

She twisted her waist!

Using her straddling position, she swung the obsidian behind her, aiming straight for the person’s crotch!

This move went straight for the vitals, incredibly ruthless!

“A low blow? Second Sister, that’s a bad habit; you’ll end up a widow easily.”

Chen Du’s expression remained calm as he caught her wrist with one hand.

He applied a bit of pressure.

“Ow, ow, ow! It’s breaking, it’s breaking!”

Xia Lai let go in pain.

She turned around.

Those eyes, which had been full of killing intent, widened, then filled with wild joy.

“Captain?!”

The next second.

She threw away the stone and lunged at him like a vine wrapping around an old tree.

Her two long, beautiful legs wrapped tightly around Chen Du’s waist, the highly elastic flesh making his breath hitch.

“Waaaah! You deadbeat Captain! I missed you so much!!”

Xia Lai buried her face in Chen Du’s neck and rubbed against him.

“Do you know how lonely I’ve been, just touching bones here?”

“Without tools, I’m like a chef without hands. It’s pure torture!”

“Get down first.” Chen Du patted her back, signaling her to mind her behavior. “If your vibration motor could be used with this much energy, we’d have been invincible long ago.”

“Tsk, you have no sense of romance, you straight man.”

Though Xia Lai complained, she obediently slid down.

Her eyes stared fervently at Chen Du’s... hands.

“Captain, since you’re here, hurry and help me out.”

Xia Lai pointed at the mammoth skeleton beneath her, her eyes shining: “Quick! This thing has a hardness comparable to alloy! If you can dismantle it, I can hand-craft a set of god-tier equipment for you!”

Chen Du was about to speak.

A screech suddenly exploded overhead.

A shadow loomed.

A Bone Giant Lizard, over five meters long, was hanging upside down from the mammoth’s ribs.

It had no flesh, only a skeleton, with two orbs of ghostly green fire burning in its eye sockets.

Its long tail, covered in bone spikes, was poised to strike.

A camper! They were being ambushed!

“Is this the raw material you were talking about?” Chen Du stepped aside, shielding Xia Lai behind him.

“Uh... it’s alive?” Xia Lai swallowed. “Dismantling a live one seems even more exciting? But it looks like it wants to dismantle us first!”

Crack!

The air boomed!

The long tail whipped down like a lash, carrying a foul wind!

Bone dust flew from the ground, and cracks were whipped into the hard mammoth bone.

“Its joints are its weakness!”

The Mechanic talent allowed Xia Lai to see through the weaknesses of this biological structure at a glance: “The third cervical vertebra and the hind knee bones! There’s no bone armor covering those spots!!”

“Got it.”

Chen Du lowered his stance and charged like a cheetah.

“A mere pile of rotten bones dares to howl in front of me?”

However.

The giant lizard opened its massive maw, preparing to spit out toxic mist.

He had to interrupt it!

Chen Du abruptly looked up, a golden light flashing in his eyes!

Talent Skill: Tyrants Gaze!

The aura of a top-tier predator that erupted in that instant caused the Bone Lizard’s movements to freeze.

Even if it was only for 0.1 seconds.

It was enough!

“Xia Lai! Catch the hammer!!”

Chen Du kicked up a mammoth leg bone from the ground and sent it into Xia Lai’s hands.

Xia Lai caught the bone and rolled with the momentum, her movements surprisingly fluid.

She swung the leg bone in a wide arc, using the centrifugal force of the spin to smash it hard against the giant lizard’s hind knee joint.

“Kneel for me!!”

The giant lizard lost its balance, and its body collapsed with a crash.

Chen Du had already leaped into the air!

He used a sharp piece of broken bone as a dagger.

He precisely stabbed it into the gap of the giant lizard’s third cervical vertebra!

He twisted it violently!

The ghostly fire extinguished.

The giant lizard’s body twitched twice and then went completely still.

“Phew...”

Xia Lai leaned the leg bone against the ground, wiped her sweat, and then threw a wink at Chen Du.

“Nice teamwork, my Great Captain. That move just now was incredibly cool.”

Chen Du ignored her teasing and pressed his palm directly onto the giant lizard’s skull.

He thought to himself: “Sacrifice!”

A familiar surge of dark red light swallowed the massive skeleton.

[Offering detected: Tier 2 Bone Giant Lizard, intact!]

[Evaluation: A pile of walking calcium tablets, but its bones contain faint necromantic runes, making it an excellent material for early-stage equipment crafting.]

[Sacrifice successful!]

[Obtained: Fine Bone Polishing Tool Set x1, life essence x1, Necromantic Bone Powder x5kg.]

The red light faded.

A set of tools gleaming with a cold light appeared in Chen Du’s hands.

Bone saws, drills, chisels, sandpaper... everything was there.

Looking at the tool set, Xia Lai’s eyes shone brighter than the ghostly fire.

She snatched the tools and caressed them lovingly: “Captain, you’re practically Doraemon! Drills of this precision... with these, forget equipment, I’d even dare to build you a skeleton for a Gundam!”

“Stop talking and get to work.”

Chen Du pointed to the mammoth skeleton nearby. “Make the armor first. We’re too fragile right now, that’s...”

“Ah—! Help! Ahhhh!!”

Before he could finish, a miserable howl suddenly echoed from deep within the forest.

Even in the scream, the tone still carried the variation of some kind of divine melody.

Immediately following that.

The overwhelming sound of flapping wings began to spread toward them.

Xia Lai’s hand shook in surprise, her expression changing.

“That’s... the south? The direction of the Carrion Swamp?!”

She glanced at Chen Du, her tone strained: “This commotion... which idiot poked a hornet’s nest?”

“And... they seem to be heading right for us?”