Epoch of Twilight

Luo Yuan was soon relieved when he saw Zhao Yali well and fine amongst the rest. Apparently something happened to someone else out of his circle.

All of them quickly parted when they saw Luo Yuan returned; they were relieved upon seeing him.

Even a few soldiers reacted the same way as the rest. Luo Yuan had always been exalted, and regarded as a huge influence to the people around him.

Luo Yuan walked closer. There was a soldier lying on the ground, still twitching, but he was already dead. His skull had been cracked open, while his brain was all smashed to mush.

“What happened?” Luo Yuan asked with a heavy heart.

A soldier explained to him with grief. The victim needed to ease himself this morning, and was planning to conduct a number one in a corner. When he walked to the border of the forest, an unknown creature landed on his head. Before he could even attack the creature, it broke his skull open.

It was Zhao Yali who discovered the fallen soldier. When the rest rushed to the scene, the creature had already escaped.

Luo Yuan gazed towards the forest... danger doesn’t seem to ever end, does it? His heart sank, as yet another life was gone. This was only the first day of their arrival, and who knows? Incidents like this might happen again. No one would ever know who could be the next victim.

He subconsciously observed everyone, and he noticed that there was something wrong with Zhao Yali. She was trembling with fear and insecurity.

Luo Yuan sensed something amiss. She had seen so much gory scenes and dead people along the way, so she couldn’t possibly be afraid of this one incident. Could she be hiding something?

Luo Yuan walked away from the crowd, beckoned Zhao Yali to follow him to an open space located a distance away.

Zhao Yali’s expression changed. She hesitated before proceeding to follow him, with mixed feelings.

The both of them walked more than a hundred meters away and stopped. They figured that this would be far enough; nobody could possibly eavesdrop on their conversation.

Luo Yuan kept quiet. He hesitated for a while and asked, “What exactly happened? Are you hiding something from us?”

Zhao Yali burst into tears before she could say anything.

“Little Yuan...... I think I killed someone.”

What Zhao Yali said hit Luo Yuan hard. He paused to think, and comforted her immediately.

“It’s okay, don’t worry. Tell me what happened.”

He knew Zhao Yali very well. She has no problem killing animals, but slaying people is something that she would never have the guts to do. Moreover, the soldier had nothing to do with her, why would she kill him for no good reason? There must be something that he doesn’t know about.

Zhao Yali narrated what happened, choking with tears.

What she said was similar to what the other soldier said. The victim walked too close to the forest, there was a fluffy, monkey-like mutated creature that landed on his head. Zhao Yali was collecting firewod in the area, when he heard the soldier’s yells of anguish. The moment she turned to look, she saw his skull being ripped open by the creature. She couldn’t help but to scream out loud upon witnessing the traumatic incident.

What she didn’t expect was how her scream formed an invisible force that hit both the mutated beast and the soldier. The soldier’s brain was smashed by the force as well.

The soldier was initially struggling to stay alive, but died instantly by the unexpected force of her voice.

After listening to Zhao Yali’s explanation, Luo Yuan was relieved. Zhao Yali was not the one to blame. The soldier’s skull had already been ripped open, he was already hovering on the brink of death. Even without Zhao Yali’s innocent hit, he wouldn’t have lived much longer. Furthermore, the mutated beast was still on his back, his life was already on the line.

Regardless of law or morality, Zhao Yali was not the one to be blamed.

Zhao Yali felt slightly better after being comforted by Luo Yuan, but the guilt was still inevitable.

If they were to look at this tragedy from a different perspective, this could be good news for Zhao Yali. The incident was very much like a transmission or baptism of sorts, for her. Nothing could change a person’s character faster than murder could. Although this was cruel, but being in the apocalypse, only the strongest ones survive.

Much later, Luo Yuan was curious to find out more about Zhao Yali’s superpower, so he asked her to attempt it again.

Zhao Yali hesitated, as she was obviously still traumatized from what happened. But after being convinced by Luo Yuan, coupled with her own curiosity towards her new superpower, she agreed to put it to the test.

Without any preparation beforehand, she screamed out loud.

It was nothing too different from her usual scream, but there was a unique force to it.

Luo Yuan felt the air being penetrated by an invisible force, and started to reverberate intensively in waves. It was quickly spread everywhere, causing the stones and fallen leaves to be hurled across the air after impacted by the force.

It was obviously infrasound, as her vocal cord was changed during the transformation. It was now capable of create such powerful waves with ease.

But the force was nothing compared to a five or six-tier typhoon, and its distance could only reach twenty meters away.

“Scream louder,” said Luo Yuan.

Simply knowing that she now possessed a superpower, Zhao Yali was exhilarated. She nodded and screamed again. This time she raised her voice an octave higher. The high-pitch scream penetrated through Luo Yuan’s ears, and caused his head to buzz. He felt a little nauseated and took a few steps back.

Meanwhile, the air in front of Zhao Yali vibrated was as if it was boiling with intense shock. An invisible wave spread, and in a flash, the weeds were destroyed. The only thing left was the tougher sticks, and even the roots were crushed by the wave.

Luo Yuan was surprised, but he had his doubts.

Although the force seemed to be strong, but its lethality was rather limited. The force may not even be able to kill a Light Blue mutated beast.

“Could you go even higher?” asked Luo Yuan, who felt she was far from exceeding her limit.

Zhao Yali, very much in the moment, eagerly agreed to try again.

This time she mustered her strength a little longer with some deep breathing, and let out a scream after one deep breath.

Luo Yuan did not hear anything at all, but there seemed to be an explosion in the air. There was a brutal blow-up; a ring of white appeared in the near distance, that looked like very much like a missile explosion. The wave spread at the speed of light. All the rocks and bushes were critically hit, even the mossy boulders had a few layers shredded off, from the recurring waves.

With the continuous infrasound explosion, layers of humus on the ground were lifted. The sky was covered with flying leaves and gravels. It was quite a glorious scene to behold.

Zhao Yali stopped and blushed; she couldn’t stop. Apparently, this feat had required a lot of strength. She looked up, her red lips slightly opened. She was shocked at the scene that she had caused.

Although Luo Yuan’s power was much more impactful, Zhao Yali’s infrasound had the power to affect the forest faraway. Many creatures that were hiding in the forest thought there was a catastrophe about to befall upon them, so they fled the scene.

Even for Luo Yuan, his body could not take it. His heart was racing rapidly. He felt nauseous, and a numb sensation penetrated his scalp. He wasn’t even standing where the force was aiming at! If he were to be attacked head-on, the impact would be much stronger, more than anyone could ever expect.

“Sister Yali, your superpower is amazing!” said Wang Xiaguang in excitement. Her face was pale, it was clear that she was affected by the infrasound.

Due to the great impact, apart from the injured soldiers who stayed put, the rest ran over out of curiosity.

Zhao Yali was embarrassed, “I didn’t know that the impact would be this monumental.”

“Congratulations! You are certainly an amazing evolutionary,” said Cao Lin, who didn’t want to offend either party.

Huang Jiahui congratulated her as well, but with a forced smile, visibly upset that she was not the bearer of such a superpower.

Wang Shishi wasn’t impressed and didn’t say a word, but she felt massively pressured inside.

Lin Xiaoji was unhappy looking at the damage caused. As a senior evolved human, he was not fine with this at all, as his power was only slightly better than an ordinary person’s. He kept everything bottled up and it was driving him crazy.

It was a solemn procession, as they watched the cremation of the dead bodies, including the two pilots.

After the cremation was over, the soldiers wrapped the ashes with the beast’s skin and buried them together with their personal belongings.

There was no grave nor tombstone; the handling of the dead was minimal. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it sounded at all, considering that many fallen soldiers had been left in the wild to be eaten by mutated beasts.

When noon approached, the giant lizard was eager to come out. The aircraft was deformed, and the door could not be opened. In order to let the giant lizard out, Luo Yuan had to cut open the back of the aircraft.

After a good night’s rest, the giant lizard was still tired and spaced out from time to time. Luo Yuan was helpless, as evidently, the anesthetic had a strong effect. Nobody would know when the giant lizard was able to fully regain its energy again.

But since it was able to stand up, it could still be used for labour purposes.

The most dangerous time to be in the forest was at nightfall. The fear that they had to go through in the wild last night was traumatic. It was impossible to live like that any longer, even if their bodies were made of steel.

Therefore, a safe refuge was essential to their survival.

The aircraft was supposed to be the best option they had as it was spacious and sturdy, even a normal mutated beast could not destroy it. But ever since the tragic collision, there were many cracks the size of two meters in diameter. Furthermore, the back of the aircraft had already been cut open to allow the giant lizard to come out. It was definitely not a place safe enough for them to hide in, especially with such treacherous circumstances.

Luo Yuan initially wanted to dig a cave big enough for more than 10 people, but the effort and work required for this was rather major; it could possibly take a long time to accomplish. But with the help of the giant lizard, this task would be much easier.

After discussing with the rest, Luo Yuan realised that he missed out some facts. Such a cave was not very safe, as this was a virgin forest with corrosions as deep as three to four, or even five to six meters. If they didn’t dig all the way to the claypan, it would collapse easily. Moreover, there was no preventive measure to this; all they could depend on was their instinct.

They soon conjured a better idea.

The head of the aircraft was supposed to crash onto the mountain slope. As long as they dug another five to six meters into the head, it should be able to accommodate everyone.

The cockpit was five to six meters higher than the cabin anyway. If someone were to come in, they would have to pass through a metal staircase. Also, there was a door outside the cockpit.

What came to everyone’s surprise was how the door was not damaged from the hit, and could still be locked.

“That’s great! Now there won’t be any creatures sneaking into the cave!” yelled Huo Dong with excitement.

“The only downside is that the task is major, but considering the fact that we will be able to sleep peacefully tonight, it would be well worth it,” laughed Commander Xia.

Everyone was revelling in delight. They were finally relieved from their oppression and distress.

There was nothing more important than safety, on a dooms day such as this one.