Epoch of Twilight

“Active Energy Enrichment.” Luo Yuan could not hold in his excitement any longer as he finally found something extremely valuable. The scales and heart of the snake or any other valuable part of previous mutated beasts that he had found could not match this rare treasure. Most mutated beasts possess active energy and their level will be higher as their power and active energy increase.

That kind of energy could be directly absorbed by the human body to improve its physical strength. Based on his knowledge, it was common that an individual’s dexterity, strength, and physical condition will be upgraded to 11 points if they consumed the meats of dark blue mutated beasts over a long period. Moreover, they could be upgraded to 12 points if they consumed the meats of light green mutated beasts in the same way. And that’s just from eating normal meat.

It’s difficult for the free form of active energy to be better than the solid form of active energy. In fact, it is also very difficult for Luo Yuan to upgrade at this point as he was already so powerful. The precious meats which people see as treasure is basically just normal food to him which can only fill his stomach.

Normal people could easily upgrade their power by eating the flesh of high-level mutated beasts. But Luo Yuan could only rely on the system and his training to upgrade himself slowly. Lately, he seems to have reached a limit and he began to feel helpless as the missions were getting more challenging but his power still remained unchanged.

This ‘treasure’ which looked like a stone gave Luo Yuan hope. He quickly kept the energy stone into his pocket. In order to make sure he did not miss out anything else, he checked everything once again. All the internal organs were removed, the brain has been checked and even the stomach inside the snake’s thoracic cavity has been dissected.

There was only one precious stone and he could not ask for more. He wrapped everything in a huge piece of snakeskin and it was about 150 kg. The internal organs and brain weighed almost the same weight as an archelon’s eggs. Luo Yuan carried the whole bunch of internal organs on his back and walked back to meet his team. Of course, he had kept his upgraded Zhanmadao into its sheath to avoid questions from the rest.

They were done moving the things in less than half an hour. After that, a few cranes and two heavy trucks with empty container moved towards the giant snake’s carcass. There were about 7-8 soldiers which jumped down from the trucks and started to dissect the giant snake with an electrical saw. They were working very quickly without hesitation.

One of the soldiers was trying to check the snake’s stomach to see if the dead soldiers had left anything inside. Unfortunately, there was nothing left as everything had already been digested. Although the carcass of the giant snake was smaller than the sea monster’s, it was actually about a meter thick in diameter, around 50 meters long and 30-40 tons in weight. It would be very difficult for the two trucks to send it back if they did not pack it properly. The bones of the giant snake were extremely strong, probably stronger than most normal metals, as a few of their saws broke throughout the dissecting process. When they were done with the dissection, the cranes began to move the dissected carcass into the empty containers.

The rescue mission had finally come to an end. Two heavy bulldozers were moving forward to push away all the rocks and trees in front to make a pathway. About 20 heavy trucks were then following from behind along with other vehicles which formed a line.

Luo Yuan and the other survivors were seated in one of those heavy trucks. The surviving soldiers began to cry as they could not hold their emotions in anymore. Even the talkative Wang Shishi remained silent at that moment. Apparently, the ending of the battle was worse than what they could imagine.

The entire journey was a bumpy one as the roads were terribly damaged. They finally made a stop somewhere after traveling more than an hour for about 20 km. Luo Yuan got down from the heavy truck and was shocked by the scene he faced. The military base looked like a worksite as there were more than 100 heavy trucks lined up and the containers were carried by an electromagnet to be moved to the safe room of the military base. They looked so tiny when they were in line with the other trucks.

Commander Xia and a few soldiers greeted them and then jumped down from the truck. They then walked towards the military base. Luo Yuan and the other two also followed them. The big iron door in front of the military base was opened. It was very bright inside and a huge object was surrounded by many trucks. Many containers were being moved into the huge object. Upon closer observation, it was a giant dark gray transport aircraft that looked really strong and much bigger than normal commercial aircrafts. The sheer magnitude of it amazed many of them

“Such a big airplane!” Wang Shishi was amazed and naturally stopped walking.

“This is the latest military cargo aircraft in China. Its body is 55 meters long and its height is 15.6 meters. It can carry up to 146 tons of weight. It was planned to serve the military officially in 2017, but it has to be used earlier due to the urgent need. We have been manufacturing 150 of this type of aircraft in half a year and we have ten in the military base." Commander Xia explained proudly.

100 cargo aircrafts is not a small number. Even the US only had a few hundred cargo aircrafts in total despite being the most advanced country in manufacturing.

These were not peaceful times and the war was with mutated beasts instead of human beings. Kindness is not allowed in battles. Everyone is a warrior and every resource has to be used to fight.

Commander Xia and a few soldiers were lectured by someone of a higher status even though they had just arrived recently. Apparently, Luo Yuan and his friends did not look like soldiers, so the major hesitated and then got another soldier to send them back to the hostel. Luo Yuan opened the door and put down his parcel. Huang Jiahui and the rest rushed to him. Everyone felt relieved when they found out that both Luo Yuan and Wang Shishi were fine.

Wang Shishi described their adventure which caused them to feel scared. In fact, the mission was a lot scarier than what she was able to describe but it was unnecessary to explain these things in detail to prevent them from having nightmares. Huo Dong asked about Fatty Xie as he did not see him around. Everyone sighed when they learned what happened to him on the battlefield. Life becomes so fragile at the end of the world.

Luo Yuan told them he needed some rest as he was exhausted from the battle. Many people quickly left after Huo Dong used his eyes to signal them. Luo Yuan then shut the door and took out the active energy stone he found inside the heart of the giant snake earlier. He paused for a while as it was a risk to consume it.

No one knows the effect of eating that stone. It’s possible that he would evolve just like Chen Xianfeng. Luo Yuan put it near to his nose and smelled it. It had an awful smell but he seemed to be addicted to it and it made him feel hungry and motivated.

For safety purposes, he pulled out his Zhanmadao and cut a thin slice of it first. He finally put it into his mouth after a short hesitation. It melted in his mouth just like ordinary refined sugar. He swallowed and what was left in his oral cavity was just the awful scent. After less than 20 seconds, Luo Yuan’s eyes slowly grew bigger as if he received an electric shock. He felt good and excited and it felt like every single cell in his body was trying to absorb the active energy.

His skin turned red and his bodily temperature rose to around 60-70 degrees Celsius. However, he did not feel it at all. In fact, he felt warm and comfortable like he just took a hot shower. The heat lasted for about 5 minutes and then stopped. Luo Yuan recovered and checked his body but he did not feel anything wrong with it. He felt good and energetic, just like when he got his Earth Stomp ability.

He quickly walked forward and pulled out his Zhanmadao. He practiced striking it in the air and then kept his saber back into its sheath again. He was delighted as he realized his power has been upgraded but sadly nothing changed for his dexterity and strength. After that, Luo Yuan divided the leftover energy stone into three and then put one into his mouth again.

He experienced the same feeling again but it was five times more powerful than the previous one and it lasted longer. His skin was now dark red and his nose almost puffed out smoke. His skin was getting tighter and firmer; his bones were getting stronger; and all the cells in his body were transforming.

It was still changing when the system beeped again. “Active Energy Body Consumption, Physique +1”.