Epoch of Twilight

Lao Huang had miraculously survived, but its condition was not good. Most parts of its flesh were gone, and some of its internal organs had been injured. Luo Yuan could even see the bones underneath its skin. If he hadn’t prepared some nutritious food cubes for Lao Huang, it would have already died. Still, it could not stand up again within such a short period.

While the giant lizard was slightly better than Lao Huang, based on Luo Yuan’s judgment, neither battle beast could go on a long journey for the time being. Thus, they were forced to stay and rest in Jiaping City for some time. They found the train station very quickly. The station did not just act as the main point of the city transportation. It was also an excellent shelter during wartime. It was a lot stronger and safer than other buildings, which were already corroded.

When they reached the entrance, they smelled a strong, awful stench coming from inside. There were plenty of corpses in the station. Apparently, a lot of survivors had been staying there before they turned into the skeletons on the floor. Since they were going to stay there for some time, they could not live with that awful smell every day. After checking their surroundings, the first thing they had to do was throw away all the corpses and skeletons in the station.

They acted very fast. After half an hour, all the bodies and skeletons were gone. The awful smell remained in the station due to inadequate ventilation, but they began to get used to it after a while. In fact, they were lucky to even to find such a reliable, safe shelter during wartime. Zhao Yali tried her best to overcome her fear and quickly sat down in the corner right after she finished cleaning. She was shivering. Luo Yuan sighed as he watched her reaction.

“Yali, are you alright?” he asked as he walked towards her.

“I’m all right,” Zhao Yali said, taking a deep breath.

Luo Yuan remained silent. After a moment, he said, “You’ll be fine sooner or later.”

Zhao Yali cried softly when she heard him. She said, “But... but I’m scared. I thought I was going to die. Lao Huang is going to leave me. I’ve always been a coward, I used not even to be able to look at a dead person, but I just threw away all those skeletons by myself. I’m afraid people will judge me.”

Zhao Yali shivered helplessly, and began to talk nonsense, “I know I shouldn’t blame you, but I still hate you. Why are you bringing me along? I’m just an ordinary person. I’m not as strong as Wang Xiaguang or Huang Jiahui, let alone Wang Shishi. I just want to live a regular life as long as I can, not try to escape from beasts on a daily basis.”

Luo Yuan sighed. He understood that it had been a long, tough journey. He had been through a lot of serious battles himself. Zhao Yali was only an ordinary person, and her life was very fragile. However, Luo Yuan also knew it would be more dangerous if they stopped moving. The beasts would only get stronger as time passed, and they would not be able to survive without a mutual alliance. They would only be safe when they reached the west region.

However, that seemed to be too much for Zhao Yali. It was all unreal to her, and the journey was far too long.

Luo Yuan sighed and said, “You’re right, I was probably too selfish. I shouldn’t have dragged you into this risky plan. We will be staying here longer this time. If you don’t want to come with us, then I’ll send you back home. No one will hurt you as long as Lao Huang is with you.”

Zhao Yali had stopped sobbing. She looked at Luo Yuan and realized he had changed a lot. He was no longer the young man that she had known. Unfriendly, cold and unfamiliar, she no longer felt the intimacy she had felt long ago between the both of them. During the next few days, none of them saw any mutated beasts or insects.

Luo Yuan walked around the city a few times during that period to ensure their safety. There were a few regular mutated beasts, but he had not encountered any mutated beasts controlled by tentacle crypt worms. Apparently, the tentacle crypt worms had learned their lesson during their earlier battle and did not dare go near Luo Yuan anymore. Perhaps, they had already left the city.

There was nothing else left, other than a few tiny bugs and regular mutated beasts. It seemed that the tentacle crypt worms had successfully conquered the entire city because there was nothing left there after their departure. Luo Yuan felt scared as he recalled the battle scene. He felt grateful that he had managed to upgrade his Knife Expertise to Knife Specialist. Had he not, they might not have been able to escape, and the giant lizard and Lao Huang would probably not have been able to survive.

Luo Yuan knew that once he released his full power, those blue level mutated beasts would lose the ability to attack and kneel before him. The stronger ones would turn around and run away, while the weaker ones, such as light blue mutated beasts, would begin feeling dizzy and throwing up right before they died. White level mutated beasts would be too weak to escape. They would all die instantly.

Luo Yuan was delighted by his discovery. He would not have to worry about small mutants anymore. Besides, this would be a useful power during a battle against giant beasts. On the other hand, he was thankful that he had not continued the trial and error method inside the train station, or most of them would have died.

However, he also realized that he would have to pay a higher price for that kind of power. Luo Yuan had noticed that as he grew stronger, his consumption of Sensitivity and Will increased as well. Sometimes, he even felt tired and dizzy, and his head started to hurt.

Of course, those side effects were trivial compared to the power he had gained. After all, he would only need to use that power if they bumped into a big group of mutated beasts again. He would master it and strengthen his Will and Sensitivity by practicing more.

Sub-attributes like Intelligence, Sensitivity, and Will manifested in mysterious ways, and Luo Yuan found it tough to understand their connection fully. He could only guess that the three of them were related to some uncertain biology of the soul. So far, there was no substantial evidence which could prove the existence of a soul. All there was, was human speculation and imagination.

However, the system was able to update its information on sub-attributes by using data analysis. Also, there was a lot more information provided regarding the forecast and strengthened power for each mission he completed. Luo Yuan was assuming that the system was something beyond human civilization as he was not aware of any theory which could currently justify the existence of the system. Based on the information that he had, people would not even have those powers after 50 or 100 years. Anyway, it was not like his speculations would make any difference in the current situation.