Epoch of Twilight

Suddenly, the sky turned dark.

A strange bird the size of an aircraft flew down from the sky at the speed of light. It was as if a mountain was collapsing, and an eight-degree typhoon had broken out. The sand was dancing in the air, and dust filled the area. It was like a sandstorm, visibility becoming impossible at a hundred meters away.

The strange bird used its metal-sharp claws to grab a giant rock.

500 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters...

"Just a little more!" Luo Yuan’s heart was pounding. He had been waiting for the right time, but what he hadn’t noticed was that the wind had blown away the sand he had been buried in. He was completely exposed. A thin layer of sand was nothing to such a strong wind.

The bird’s vision was outstanding, a mutated bird’s vision even more so. Suddenly, the strange bird plunging towards him had a seizure and let out a frightened scream. Its flying course changed as well. It seemed like its fear of Luo Yuan had been deeply engraved. Noticing him waiting there to ambush it, the bird didn’t dare land anymore. It screamed and flapped its wings aggressively as if it was going to fly away.

Luo Yuan knew he was in a pickle. Looking at the bird’s strange behavior, he realized that it had noticed him. It was useless to hide anymore, so he made up his mind. He pressed the sand hard with his hands, and the beach exploded. A blurry shadow emerged within the sandstorm. As soon as Luo Yuan landed on the ground, he ran towards the strange bird like an arrow.

He used his entire body strength, putting all he had into the steps, one after another, explosive steps were taken towards the bird. The sand beneath his feet was splashing around, leaving deep potholes behind him. He squinted as he ran to avoid getting sand in his eyes. As he watched the strange bird stop and attempt to fly away, Luo Yuan was unexpectedly calm.

The 80-meter distance was nothing for him. He reached it almost instantly. On his last step, he landed softly on a three-meter tall rock and jumped. He used all his strength in that jump. The strange bird was 100 meters in the air, accelerating its flying speed to 200 meters per second. As Luo Yuan jumped into the sky, he felt as if he had just woken up from a nap. He was as comfortable as if he was stretching his body. The shadow of his body would disappear sometimes. When it became clear again, his body was folded together.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound, and the spear disappeared from Luo Yuan’s hand at a speed that made it invisible to the naked eye. There was only a white cloud left in its place. Just as the spear disappeared, the strange bird let out a devastating scream. It was just 0.3 seconds away. Countless feathers were flowing down from the sky. The bird couldn’t control itself as it groaned and flew away clumsily.

Luo Yuan didn’t hesitate. As soon as he landed on the ground, he started chasing after the bird. The bird was flying high and low, as if it was going to fall anytime. At the same time though, it didn’t seem like it was going to land anytime soon.

After chasing it for a few kilometers, Luo Yuan felt helpless and stopped, watching the bird fly away from sight. He was depressed. He had risked his life for a whole night to chase it and had been burning himself the entire morning, only to miss it. Judging by the bird’s flying pattern though, it must have been hurt bad and barely be holding it together. One thing was for sure. It would not be coming back anytime soon.

Maybe if it was unlucky, it would die of its injuries wherever it was that it was heading. Competition was cruel during the apocalypse. A badly injured mutated bird would definitely be a target for others. Its chances of survival were slim.

By now, the only thing Luo Yuan could do was be optimistic. He touched his injured arm as he walked towards the place he had come from. Looking at the giant ape hiding peacefully at the beach, he was tempted to beat it up and take his anger out on it. He thought about it again and gave up on the thought, though.

He should not push his own mistakes on somebody else. After all, it was his own carelessness that had not let him notice the wind exposing him, and had resulted in him failing to capture the bird. He contemplated his behavior ever since the apocalypse had started. He realized that ever since he had become stronger, he had stopped using his brain. He often used violence to solve everything. He was not as cautious as he had been before. Violence had become the most straightforward and efficient way for him to take care of things.

Just like a spoiled brat, he would not spend a long time or put his heart into a courtship, but use his money to get what he wanted instead. Whether it was money or personal strength, he was still depending on a certain kind of power. When one got used to the benefits of power, they got hooked. However, once power couldn’t solve a problem, it led to them getting hurt or even dying.

This served as a lesson for him. He rubbed the space between his brows and stood up. He stepped on the ground where the giant ape was hiding and shouted, "Let’s go back!"

It was almost evening when Luo Yuan arrived at the campsite. As the giant ape was approaching, the giant lizard could smell that there was a stranger invading its territory. It started roaring, and the ape did the same. The sound was so strong that it hurt Luo Yuan’s ears as he sat on the giant ape’s shoulders. The beast hesitated in moving forward, but Luo Yuan gave it a punch and it unwillingly walked towards the campsite, where the giant lizard was.

Once they saw each other, the two beasts instantly went into battle mode. There could only be one beast around. If two beasts of equal power met, a battle was inevitable. Unless one of them was losing, neither party would run away.

Of course, Luo Yuan wouldn’t allow anything like that to happen. He shouted at both of them. Hearing his familiar voice, the giant lizard realized that its master was sitting on the strange mutated beast’s shoulder. Stunned, it let out a cry. It was sad that its master had found a new pet.

The giant ape was afraid of Luo Yuan and squatted quietly in a corner after getting shouted at. It glared at the giant lizard from time to time, as if it was planning something.

"How come there’s no one coming out even after all this shouting?" Luo Yuan found it strange. He had a bad feeling about it.