Epoch of Twilight

It was difficult to start the fire in a completely sealed room. Luo Yuan took a bite of the preserved sausage made from meats of mutated beasts and tried very hard to swallow it. They made almost 50 kg of preserved sausages as it provided a high amount of energy and was beneficial to the human body. The quantity they had was enough to sustain all of them for about two weeks.

Huo Dong took a sausage and stuffed it into his mouth as well. Suddenly, he stopped moving as his teeth almost chipped. He quickly covered his mouth. The sausages became very hard after it cooled down and felt like coagulated latex which is extremely difficult to chew. Although Luo Yuan’s teeth were stronger than normal, he too had to try very hard to chew it.

“Drink some water.” Huang Jiahui poured a cup of warm water for Luo Yuan.

Luo Yuan took a sip and finally the food slid down his esophagus. He took another sausage out and started chewing again. He only stopped after he finished the fifth sausage. He began to feel warmer after the food had digested inside his stomach.

“Beep! Energy +1.”

Luo Yuan was delighted, “Finally, an upgrade to 13 points!”

Although Luo Yuan is considered as an evolutionary survivor, he had no specific power. For example, Lin Xiaoji has the ability to recovery speedily though the other powers he had were just marginally stronger than normal people and his energy level and dexterity did not exceed 13 points. Luo Yuan did not know how many points he needed to obtain the ability to recover as quickly as Lin Xiaoji.

Ning Xiaoran’s power is related to strength while Luo Yuan’s power is related to strength and sensitivity. His ’sensitivity’ had reached its optimum level and hence there has not been any significant improvements lately.

He had stopped pushing himself to upgrade after he figured out the theory behind his powers. The reality is always different from the ideal state and 13 points seemed to be the boundary for evolution. It is possible that they could still upgrade after long periods of training, however, they do not have much time to practice. Hence, he was willing to take the risk to assign his bonus points now because the more powerful he is the safer he will be.

Luo Yuan opened the status panel and checked on the existing property points. He decided to assign all the bonus points he had to dexterity. He kept adding property points to his dexterity but each assignment made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He felt everything in the world was moving very slowly.

The worse thing about this power was that he needed to constantly slow down the speed of his speech in order to avoid any suspicious thoughts from others.

“What’s wrong with you?” Wang Xiaguang kept looking at Luo Yuan and asked.

“I... I’m fine. I was just thinking about something.” He realized he spoke too fast and tried to slow down.

“Something wrong with the route?” Huang Jiahui asked. Everyone else started looking at him.

Luo Yuan did not expect his excuse to draw so much attention from them. He then said, "You’re too nervous, we should be fine until tomorrow afternoon. Jiahui, bring the map of Hedong city.”

Huang Jiahui quickly took the map from their luggage and opened it. Luo Yuan pointed on the map and said, “This is the location of the giant tree and this is the area.”

Luo Yuan has an amazing memory and could remember almost everything he has ever seen. He made a mark on the map and said, "Based on the map, we are going to pass the giant tree under its shade. That might be dangerous, but the journey there should be relatively safe. The giant tree is very strong beyond imagination.”

Everyone was shocked when they heard Luo Yuan describe it as a ‘giant tree’ because they were still scarred by the memory of the Haunted Locust Tree earlier even though they did not actually see any bad spirits.

"We probably need to walk an extra 30 km if we take an alternative route." Cao Lin said.

Everyone was in fear. Huo Dong started to regret following them as he did not expect such a strong and scary creature. They could not even imagine the power of the giant tree but suspected that even a missile probably could not damage it.

Huo Dong wanted to say something but ended up remaining silent as he knew Luo Yuan would not change his mind. If Huo Dong attempts to leave alone, he will probably by eaten by the beasts before he could even reach his next destination.

Luo Yuan noticed that everyone was depressed so he smiled and said, “That’s the worst speculation. The tree should be just a normal tree that grows rapidly. There are a few mutated birds lingering above the tree, so I guess their nests are there. If the mutated birds are fine, then it should be fine for us to walk under the shade.”

“Are there many more mutated birds?” Wang Shishi asked anxiously.

“If you’re afraid then you should have stayed in the villa.” Luo Yuan said coldly.

Wang Shishi was biting her lip and glared at Luo Yuan as she hated it when he kept lecturing her publicly as it made her look like an idiot.

There was nothing much to do after dinner and everyone decided to go to bed early. Although the office was big, they soon realized that it could not fit many tents. After some arrangements, Lin Xiaoji ended up having his own tent because nobody was willing to stay with him- he was too smelly. Ning Xiaoran was sleeping alone as well because she was afraid she would accidentally hurt others in her sleep. The rest were sharing.

Huo Dong and Chen Xianfeng shared a tent, while Wang Xiaguang and Cao Lin shared another. Wang Shihi and Huang Jiahui squeezed in a tent together with Luo Yuan as usual. Wang Xiaguang could not believe that Luo Yuan was sharing a tent together with Huang Jiahui and Wang Shishi. She was rubbing the edge of her shirt while watching them enter the same tent and tears were rolling down her cheeks.

Luo Yuan could sense what was going on but he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the tears from Wang Xiaguang lingered in his mind. He sighed as he knew he could never be loyal to her. However, he did not want to lie to her as well. It is good for her to know the type of person he is as well.