Epoch of Twilight

“Wait!”

Just as Luo Yuan was about to leave, the man called out to him. Luo Yuan frowned and turned around. “What do you want?” he asked.

The man stared at the lizard, but held his position.

“You... you just destroyed my house!” The man looked awkward, as if he did not know how to continue. Then he said, “What I mean is, I have no place to stay.”

Luo Yuan knew what he meant, and he asked, “You’re not afraid that I’m from the organization?”

The man scratched his muddy scalp and laughed as he said, “They’re not nearly as powerful as you.”

Luo Yuan asked curiously, “What is this organization you mentioned earlier? Are there a lot of powerful people in it?"

“It’s some crap called Mutual Alliance. There are some evolved survivors in it, but the majority is still normal people,” tha man explained. “They have been giving me a lot of trouble. That’s why I thought you were one of them,” he added.

“If they’ve invited you, why don’t you join them? Surely, It’d better than fighting alone?” Luo Yuan asked.

The man’s mouth twitched as he said, “They’re the all same. They’re hiding like me.”

“Don’t try to mess with me, I want the truth.”

The man looked awkward and hesitated for a while. After a moment, he decided to tell him, “Fine! Laugh all you want, but the leader of that stupid alliance slept with my girlfriend!”

He looked agitated as he talked about it.

“It was around the time that the mutation outbreak hit our country. She kept crying and said she wanted to go back to her hometown. In the end, she never returned, and I thought she was dead. I almost committed suicide. I couldn’t believe it when I saw her in the arms of another guy a few days ago. Luckily, she could not recognize me anymore. Otherwise, I’m not sure what would I have done. How embarrassing would it be If I accepted their invitation?”

“The smell of blood is too strong, I’m worried it will attract bigger animals. What do you need to bring? Hurry up, we need to go!” Luo Yuan finally allowed him to come with after verifying his background.

“I’ve got nothing valuable, we can go anytime.” The man relaxed. He now knew he would not have to worry about finding food and water. He could rely on Luo Yuan’s and the lizard’s powers.

"Do you want to come up here?" Luo Yuan asked, his mouth twitching. Since the lizard was already carrying so many things on its back, an extra human would make no difference.

The man quickly shook his head. He could not even go near the lizard. “I think I’ll just run, I’m kind of used to it.” Then he asked, “It’s not too far, right?”

“It’s not, but are you really fit enough to run?” Luo Yuan looked at his pale face. He doubted the man had any energy left.

“I’m fine. I used to run back when I was in school, this journey is nothing,” he laughed.

“Fine.” Luo Yuan did not to ask anything else.

He just jumped onto the back of the lizard and tapped on it. The lizard began to move. It was only able to walk slowly, and it formed a long bloodprint along the road as it passed.

The man was fine at the beginning, but he started to feel exhausted after a minute of running.

Although he had a very strong recovery power, he could not have fully recovered in such a short time. He began to feel dizzy and numb.

He did not dare stop though, as he was worried that Luo Yuan would abandon him. He was afraid of being eaten by the other mutants, so he continued to run. After a while, the lizard finally entered the district, and a little later the villa. The man suddenly fell to the ground. He did not have the energy to get up again. Everyone in the villa had already come out of the house.

“Brother Luo, who is this?” Huo Dong asked curiously.

Luo Yuan moved some of the meat off the back of the lizard. It was about 50 kg. He then threw the rest to the lizard. He walked towards the man and looked at him. He laughed when saw the man trying to get up. “I bumped into him along the way. He’s probably dehydrated. Someone help him, please.”

Everyone looked at each other, but no one seemed willing to move. In the end, Sun Xiaowu went up to him to help him.

Huang Jiahui brought a bottle of mineral water to him and said, “Drink it.”

He took a few sips, and then put on the lid as he said, “Thanks. Thank you so much. I’m Lin Xiaoji.”

“We are all survivors, we are just trying to help each other. Could you take a shower first? Then we can eat something in about half an hour,” Huang Jiahui said. She just could not stand the dirt.

Although she talked indirectly, the man still understood what she meant. He replied, “Sure! Of course!”

There was a big tank on the rooftop with a lot of water stored inside. Although it was not drinkable, it could be used to bathe or wash clothes. When he came out of the shower, they all realized that Lin Xiaoji was quite young. He admitted that he was a university student. The university had closed since the mutation outbreak, but he had decided to stay in the city. He had not expected that things would be so bad in town.

“You can stay here with us, but we don’t have en empty room. I hope you don’t mind sharing with Huo Dong,” Luo Yuan said. Although there was another empty room, it belonged to Wang Shishi. She would need to return to her room one day. The three of them were staying together, but there were some days when Luo Yuan and Huang Jiahui wanted to be alone.

Although Huo Dong was not happy with the arrangement, he had to agree.

“Also, I need to tell you that everyone here is equal. Please don’t try to show off,” Luo Yuan warned him. He did not know him well enough yet.

Everyone looked at him in shock.

Lin Xiaoji naturally puffed out his chest and said, “I won’t bully them.”

Luo Yuan knew what he was thinking. Almost all evolved survivors acted that way as they felt that it was a special achievement. Sometimes he also had the same feeling, but he was good at hiding it. After a while, Huang Jiahui came out of the kitchen with a big plate of raw meat.

“I’m sure all of you envy those people with superpowers. The key to getting superpowers is actually a well-known secret. Most of you have heard about it already,” Luo Yuan said.

After Huang Jiahui put down the plate, Luo Yuan put a piece of meat into his mouth using a pair of chopsticks and swallowed it. Except for the internal organs, the rest of the meat of tertiary mutants was as hard as cow skin, so he could only swallow it.

He put down his chopsticks and said, “The meat of mutated beasts above secondary level is essential for evolution. This is tertiary mutant meat. That’s all. Help yourselves, please.”

During that chaotic period, even girls were trying to train themselves to be strong. Luo Yuan got up from his chair and walked out of the house. He did not want to watch the disgusting scene of people eating raw meat for the first time. Indeed, many of them vomited, and the whole living room was full of the awful smell. A few minutes later, someone screamed and Huang Jiahui rushed out of the house to call Luo Yuan.

“What’s wrong?” Luo Yuan asked.

“Ning Xiaoran fainted, and her body feels very hot," Huang Jiahui replied.

“Let me see.” Luo Yuan was shocked.

He was depressed as he was the one who had eaten the most meat, but he had yet to evolve. Anyway, this was a good thing. It was better to have one more evolved survivor rather than an extra burden.