Epoch of Twilight

The feeling was amazing, yet unrealistic at the same time.

Luo Yuan pulled up the attributes panel silently.

“Character: Luo Yuan”

“Career: Hunter”

“Level: 8”

“Experience: 3,400/38,400”

“Attributes:-”

“Strength: 12 (10)”

“Dexterity: 13 (10)”

“Physique: 13+3 (10)”

“Intelligence: 13 (10)”

“Sensory Perception: 13+1 (10)”

“Will: 14+1 (10)”

“Skills: Physics 16, Math 14, Mandarin 19, English 16, Finance 17,

Calculation 9, Dancing 1, Drawing 3, Gaming 6, Negotiating 9,

Socializing 7, Cooking 3, Driving 1, Hand-to-hand Combat 5,

Knife Skill: 13, Shooting Skill: 1”

“Unique Skills: Identification, Synthesizing”

“Battle Beast: Giant Jungle Lizard (Level 3)”

“Innate Abilities: Earth Stomp (Level 3)”

“Unassigned Property Points: 1”

“Unassigned Skill Points: 5”

“Incomplete Missions: None”

Luo Yuan noticed that the attributes panel had an additional option just like the giant lizard’s innate ability.

He selected the innate ability sub-option.

“Earth Stomp”

“Level: 3 (Related to Sensory Perception and Strength)”

“Effect: Regional Attack, Chance of Dizziness; Strength+3 (Related to Level)”

“Element: Earth”

“Remarks: Do not leave the ground. The ground is your friend. You will never feel tired as long as both of your legs are on the ground; you can always feel its pulse. Human strength is limited, but the universe’s strength is limitless. With the Earth’s strength on your side, you will never lose a fight!”

“This evolution is way too powerful!”

He could feel everything on the ground within a distance of fifty meters from where he was standing. There was some sort of connection between him and the Earth. He could not reach at a further distance, though. The distance seemed to depend on his Sensory Perception.

The pulse of the Earth made him feel confused. The vibration was too complex. It felt disorganized, like different kinds of chaos all mixed together. However, there was a subtle pattern. He guessed that the endless waves interfered with one another, somehow mixing together.

He could only experiment to discover the fixed pattern.

He opened his eyes with joy on his face. Even if the strength of the attack was weak, the three extra points of Strength were more than enough to make him happy.

It was a pity that his Physique could not significantly improve his actual Strength. Within such a short period of time, this kind of Physique would be a waste. There would be an advantage in his next upgrade though. His Physique would be put aside to increase his Strength and Dexterity in the future.

Nevertheless, there was no need to rush. An evolved human’s Physique was special. It seemed to break the limitations of normal humans. During this time, Sun Xiaowu and Ning Xiaoran had improved a lot. Luo Yuan could not figure out what Sun Xiaowu’s ability was, but it mainly affected his Physique. As for Ning Xiaoran, Luo Yuan estimated that her Strength had already surpassed 11 points.

This was not because they had been consuming blue rank mutated beast flesh. Although massive consumption could elevate Physique up to 11 points, that only applied to men. The majority of women were between 10 and 11 points. Wang Shishi and Huang Jiahui both fell within that range.

This could only be explained by the special physique of evolved people.

Of course, Wang Shishi was also evolved, but maybe evolved people had different reactions to sub-attributes, and that was why her body was no different than ordinary people’s.

Luo Yuan decided to undergo intense training to see if he could break his own limits. Only then would he be able to solve his attribute problem.

“What’s the matter?” asked Huang Jiahui, who was still worried. She looked at him blankly as he stood there motionless. She thought his wounds might still hurt.

Luo Yuan came back to his senses. He only realized he had been standing there for a while when he saw Huang Jiahui’s anxious face. He reassured her by saying, “Just thinking about something.”

He realized everyone was looking at him from afar uneasily. They did not dare get closer. Luo Yuan asked doubtfully, “Was it Huang Yuying?”

Huang Jiahui remained silent, her face expressionless.

It was Wang Shishi who said angrily, “That shameless woman! Last time she stole our food, and now she brought a group of people and took our house. They killed Lin Xiaoji too!”

“What happened here?” Luo Yuan addressed his question to Huang Jiahui. He did not trust Wang Shishi’s words.

Huang Jiahui told him about the incident from beginning to end.

When he heard about Sun Xiaowu’s betrayal, his face sank. He had thought that Sun Xiaowu was quite nice. He never would have thought that he would turn out to be like that. At such a critical time, not only had he not helped them, but he had talked nonsense and aligned himself with the enemy.

“How many men do they have? Any evolved people?” asked Luo Yuan calmly.

The calmer Luo Yuan was, the more pressure the others felt. They could all sense his anger and urge to kill.

“They did not show their abilities. We were surrounded before we knew it.” Huang Jiahui looked embarrassed. Her reaction had been awful. She had not demonstrated the least bit of awareness or vigilance. Had the others not been scared of the giant lizard, the consequences would have been far worse than they could imagine. She felt terrified.

“Is Huang Yuying one of them?” asked Luo Yuan.

Huang Jiahui hesitated a little before she nodded.

Luo Yuan’s expression was terrifying. As he walked up to Huang Yuying, some of them turned away. They dared not witness the ruthless scene. Huang Jiahui wanted to say something, but in the end she didn’t.

Huang Yuying had aged a lot in such a short time. Her body was full of stains and bruises, and she looked like she had not had a bath in days. Her dress was full of holes and failed to cover her seductive body.

Watching Luo Yuan walk towards her, she shivered like a scared bird. She seemed to remember the bloody scene when Luo Yuan had killed a number of enemies.

“What can you say for yourself?” asked Luo Yuan.

Huang Yuying was unexpectedly calm as she said, “Kill me if you want. I’m tired of living. I told them to take the food. So what? You were all gone, why couldn’t I have some? What did I do wrong?”

He had no words. Huang Yuying had done nothing wrong in that case. They had already abandoned those supplies. It was just that he had not expected that he would not be able enter the underground base and would have to return there once again.

Judging by how she looked, despite the fact that she had provided the food supplies, she still had not been treated well. All her exposed body parts were bruised, and there were scars on her that looked like they’d been made by cigarettes. Luo Yuan could not imagine had she had been through. In this wild world, humanity was hard to find and brutality had gotten out of control. Beauty was no longer a blessing from above, but a curse from the Devil.

Luo Yuan looked at Huang Yuying, who looked hopeless, and he shook his head as he said calmly, “What you have done makes me really mad, but it’s not a reason to kill you. I can tell just by looking at you that you had nothing to do with Lin Xiaoji’s death.”

Huang Yuying had not expected Luo Yuan to let her off that easily. She felt relieved. Who would want to die given a different choice? Luo Yuan turned around to leave. Huang Yuying hesitated a bit before she shouted, “Wait, they have three evolved people! I’ve only seen one use his power. He can produce rays of light. The one holding the gun is very strong as well. Be careful, will you?”

Luo Yuan nodded. Just as he was about to walk away, he suddenly turned around and said, “If you’re not happy staying with them, you can come back!”

To Luo Yuan, one more person meant one more mouth to feed. However, for Huang Yuying this was like a lightning in her dark soul, brightening up her whole world.

She was shocked. She covered her mouth as tears flowed nonstop down her cheeks, falling one by one on the ground. Luo Yuan’s words had touched her. Her throat felt like it was blocked by something as she cried soundlessly.

When Luo Yuan was ten meters away, she squatted down and cried her heart out, making everyone feel sympathy towards her.

Lin Xiaoji lay on the ground motionless, his clothes soaked in fresh blood.

Luo Yuan looked at him for a while before he picked up a bullet squeezed out of his body. He suddenly kicked the corpse and said, “Get up, stop pretending!”

The corpse remained unmoving.

Luo Yuan grinned. “Do you want me to stab you again?”

Lin Xiaoji opened his tightly closed eyes, and stood up awkwardly.

He had never expected those men to be so violent. After getting shot a few times, he had started to regret speaking out. No matter how strong his self-healing ability, if he got shot in the head or got injured too badly, he would still die. Afraid as he was, he had pretended to be dead.

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise. Wang Shishi stared at him. “You just pretended to die?”

After a while, Lin Xiaoji blushed and said, “Indeed, I... I fainted just now.”

Luo Yuan looked truly unsatisfied with his actions. His eyes focused on him as he slowly said, “I’ll let it go this time, but make sure there is no next time. Deserters will be executed by shooting.”

Lin Xiaoji’s face turned red and his heart beat fast. He was terrified by Luo Yuan’s threat.

Luo Yuan knew that the man had very high self-esteem. He didn’t think he’d make such a stupid mistake again, so he decided to forgive him this time.

Luo Yuan’s acute senses noticed something shaking by the entrance of villa. His face changed as his body vanished. His speed burst to the maximum. He crossed more than ten meters in just a breath’s time.

There was a man trying to spot the giant lizard through a crack between the door and the frame. He heard the crisp sound of a knife, and sensed something blue that had to be the cold blade of the knife rapidly magnifying before his eyes. Before he got a chance to react, Luo Yuan thrust the knife directly into his brow, pushing it out the back of his head.

Everyone watched as the man fell to the ground through the door crack.

Luo Yuan slowly pulled out his knife, blood spilling all over the ground. He looked at the door, unable to hold back his killing urge anymore.

Huang Jiahui still felt embarrassed about her earlier reaction. When she saw Luo Yuan ready for murder, she quickly volunteered in an effort to prove herself to him, “Do you need help?”

Luo Yuan wanted to decline, but when he thought of his people getting surrounded without a chance to fight back, he hesitated.

Not every normal human lacked the ability to revolt. They had three evolvers, but Huang Jiahui was great at shooting. She could handle a blue rank mutated beast. It wasn’t like she did not have the ability to revolt. At least in theory. Reality had proved quite different. Although, to be fair, she had probably just gotten nervous after seeing him faint.

Regardless of the reasons of their strength, if they did not possess even the basic awareness, they wouldn’t be able to survive in the future. It was time for them to see blood.

“Wang Shishi will come with me inside. You, Ning Xiaoran and Lin Xiaoji will guard the entrance to prevent anyone from escaping. Be careful!”

Huang Jiahui looked at Wang Shishi and nodded.

“Shishi, are you scared?” asked Luo Yuan.

“I’m not!” Fear had flooded Wang Shishi’s heart, but she still managed to gather her courage.

“I’m talking about murdering people.” Luo Yuan was serious.

“I’m not... scared,” Wang Shishi hesitated.

“Louder!”

“I’m not scared!” shouted Wang Shishi.

“Good, come with me. Stay behind me.” Luo Yuan looked at Wang Shishi’s tiny face. It was full of fear and excitement, her expression a mix of the two emotions. He did not feel so good all of a sudden. She was just fourteen years old. She should not be worrying about anything, much less be forced to kill people.