Bang!
Boom!
Within the abandoned city, several black dots maneuvered adeptly between buildings.
Behind them was a giant beast, over ten ters tall with red skin, relentlessly pursuing them.
Although its movents were cumberso, it charged through, easily toppling cent high-rises.
Amidst the chaos of shattered stones and flying glass, shrouded in smoke, using their three-dinsional maneuver gear to escape was undoubtedly the scavengers’ biggest challenge.
"You hold onto my waist, I need both hands now."
Rachel quickly dodged a huge rock and yelled in mid-air.
Zhong Shenxiu promptly adjusted his posture and even managed to look back at the red giant beast in pursuit.
Lesser Fiend rank—Comoros Giant Beast!
It had a rhino-like head with countless intimidating horns and red skin without scales, but its thick keratin layer clearly provided strong defense.
If it weren’t for the heavy artillery of a steel fortress, other attacks would have little effect on it.
’Back then, if it weren’t for the fact that they were driving a war tank, the scavengers might not have been able to do much...’
A realization flashed through Zhong Shenxiu’s mind: ’And... Ze Wei’er is dead... I thought he was going to create so interesting stories with Koro... what a waste of expectations.’
...
Half an hour later, by the riverside.
"Check the gas in the maneuver gear, report!"
Zola said solemnly.
"Three bars."
"Five bars!"
"Captain... I’ve got two bars left," Rachel reported, raising her hand.
"We must conserve it, otherwise, if we encounter another giant beast like that one, we’ll just beco at paste under its feet..."
Zola warned, looking sowhat troubled.
This mission was clearly not going well.
They had only made it halfway when Ze Wei’er died, and a few laborers had scattered.
"Thanks to the territorial instincts of Fiend-ranked creatures, that Comoros Giant Beast didn’t continue to chase us... As long as we cross this river, we can reach the residential area."
Zola looked toward a shaky steel bridge not far away, spanning hundreds of ters across the river.
Above the water’s surface, the thin Black Fog seed to blend into the river itself.
"On both sides of the broken bridge, there are powerful Fiend-ranked creatures we cannot bypass... the only way is to swim across!"
Koro hadn’t been abandoned; the Demon Hunter, whose cloak was tattered after the intense chase, now discarded it, revealing his neck with so scales visible.
"Swim across? Are you mad?"
Rachel pointed to the wide river surface: "Below the water is the most dangerous place, full of hidden creatures... there are even rumors that the mist from Black Fog City is connected to this river..."
"Of course, we’re not swimming directly across..."
Koro smiled slightly, pointing to the broken bridge: "I don’t fancy becoming monster bait in the water either, and your gear can’t span such a distance, so we need to prepare first..."
He carefully took out a small tal bottle from his chest and opened it.
Rachel imdiately turned away with a look of disgust.
Zhong Shenxiu’s face twitched as he slled the indescribable odor in the air.
"What is that?" Zola asked, frowning.
"Extract of excrent..."
Koro replied unflinchingly, "It’s sothing the leader managed to get ahold of... possibly from a mythological creature..."
"You’ve seen mythological creatures?" Zola looked surprised.
"Of course not, we’ve only seen so traces... and then the leader found these, maybe it’s fecal matter, or so kind of secretion, who knows?"
Koro held the small bottle in his hand with great care: "It effectively repels all Servant-rank creatures, as well as so Fiend-rank creatures, as long as they have olfactory organs and haven’t seen us... The most important thing is, its sll is so potent that normal water takes at least three days to wash it off..."
"Captain..."
Rachel looked pitifully at Zola.
Zola’s cheeks twitched, pointing at Koro: "You first!"
"Will do!"
Koro took out a bottle of refined powder and sprinkled it over himself, seemingly still feeling it was not enough.
Zola was the second to step forward.
Monts later, everyone present had a bizarre expression on their face, so even retched a few tis.
"Get in the water, swim across from where the current isn’t too strong..."
Zola was the first to enter the water, followed by the others, scrambling to jump in.
Splash!
Waves splashed one after another.
Zhong Shenxiu felt the nurous currents wrapping around him and suddenly resurfaced, exhaling a long breath.
The strange sll still lingering around his nose had not dispersed, a terrible scent that not even a bird-beak mask could filter!
"Disgusting... this definitely counts as a calamity!"
He grumbled to himself while catching up to Zola and the others.
The group swam slowly across the river, and when they reached the center, Zhong Shenxiu’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He thought he saw countless worm-like monsters overlapping each other beneath the water.
But in the next mont, they scattered in all directions as if they had seen a natural predator.
"One must admit... although that stuff is disgusting, it’s quite effective... It might really be a secretion from a supernatural being... But after using it, the potential contamination issue is also worth serious consideration..."
Zhong Shenxiu thought to himself while swimming.
He suddenly looked contemplatively towards the river surface.
Beneath the deep waters, there seed to be a huge, twisting dark shadow at the riverbed.
It was serpentine, or perhaps rely a shadow on the riverbed. With each movent, mist rose from the river surface.
The enormous body seed as though it could overturn the entire river with just a slight motion.
This made Zhong Shenxiu’s heart leap with fear, but fortunately, the creature did not act. The other monsters in the river also dared not attack their team, allowing them to successfully reach the opposite shore.
"Thousand Silk Garden District?"
After a period of rest, Zola led the team past several monster strongholds and finally stepped into the residential area.
Zhong Shenxiu looked at the dusty sign at his feet with an expressionless face.
"Let’s rest up in this apartnt building first. You all split up and move out, and we’ll regroup in half an hour."
Zola surveyed the surroundings and made a decision.
Zhong Shenxiu nodded and headed toward a residence on the second floor by himself.
The hallway was silent and empty, with accumulated dust and most of the doors tightly locked, their surfaces stained with dark brown blood.
’203?’
He approached the door and tried to turn the doorknob.
The door didn’t budge for a long ti.
"Leave it to !"
Rachel whispered and gestured sothing that Zhong Shenxiu didn’t understand, then stepped forward, grabbed the handle and applied a little force.
Click!
In a dull sound, the door lock popped open, revealing a small living room.
"Be careful, there might be monsters locked inside the rooms..."
Rachel whispered.
Zhong Shenxiu looked at the sofa, chairs, and household appliances, feeling a sense of historical vicissitudes.
He could imagine the despair and fear of the humans who once lived here, suddenly facing the apocalypse.
Rachel searched excitedly through the refrigerator, only to sigh at the sight of a pile of food that had long since decayed.
Zhong Shenxiu opened another door and found a bedroom.
The windows were long barred shut, but slivers of sunlight still penetrated through the cracks.
Next to the bed was a desk, and several of its drawers were unlocked.
Zhong Shenxiu opened them one by one and found so yellowed books.
"An Aesthetics Guidebook, A Collection of Exam Questions? No matter the world, it seems children can never escape the horror of exams..."
He sighed, flipping through and finding a black hardcover notebook without a cover, which upon opening, turned out to be a diary.
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