Epoch of Twilight

Along the way, they caught a glimpse of some wanderers, but none of them dared to approach the group. As most of them saw the silhouette of the giant lizard, it was enough to send them fleeing, without even looking at its passengers. Only a handful of them who did not run away, were only looking from afar vigilantly.

Judging from their clothes, the lives of the wanderers did not look good at all.

A few wanderers at the front had probably just been exiled from the Construction Area not too long ago, as they still had their shirts on. Nevertheless, most of them were only wearing rough beast skin on their backs, while some were even naked, akin to a group of barbarians. What surprised Luo Yuan was that the few women he saw were neither embarrassed nor uncomfortable, as they naturally went about with their lives without even covering their private parts. It was as though they had not worn a single piece of clothing in their lives before.

The sense of civilization had gradually faded from them. Each of their actions was savage, and Luo Yuan could only see ferocious and barbaric demeanors plastered across their faces.

Luo Yuan could not help to sigh. He then suddenly had thought, if the Construction Area falls, it could very well be the end of humankind. If such a meagre ethnic group were not able to uphold the foundation of civilization, the inheritance of knowledge will gradually be forgotten, and their grandchildren will only be left to rely on their imagination of the splendid civilization that their forefathers built.

............

Wang Shishi was thrilled. Along the way, she continuously used her Telekinesis to pick up the jewelries and gold from the floor. The other women were also helping her to search carefully with interest, and they screamed loudly as and when they discovered treasure.

All of them were in a deliriously jolly mood, it could either be due to the temptation of the jewelries, or how relieved they were, knowing that they were about to be safe and sound entering the human base camp,

Those dusty and blood-stained jewelries shone with an enchanting gloss that attracted more attention after they were wiped clean. Even Luo Yuan could not help himself from stealing a few glances at them.

For thousands of years, these things could become assets or its equivalent, which was reasonable, because they had the power to induce the deepest desires of human beings.

Wang Shishi did not take all these jewelries to herself but distributed a portion of it to everyone. Of course, the best, which included a natural diamond the size of a thumb, was gifted to Luo Yuan. He smiled but did not decline, as he got to know from Commander Xia that even though the Construction Area had been replaced with planned economy, jewelry – especially gold – were still valuable. It was actually held in high regard, provided that many still recognize its worth. It would still be valuable even if the government had impeded a ban.

The portions of both Wang Shishi and Luo Yuan’s were kept together in a baggage by Huang Jiahui, but the rest kept their own portion. Though they did not express much, each of them gradually formed their own thoughts as they got closer to the Construction Area.

However, everyone of them was in an elevated mood. They were talking and laughing joyfully along the way. Even the king kong was affected as it kept roaring with delight. With its physically strong body, it had even lifted a few rusty cars and threw them around; followed by loud banging.

Its body of about seven to eight meters tall was filled with explosive strength. It could even flip those heavy trailers. As for those small sized cars it chanced upon occasionally, it was able to lift them up high and fling them to about a hundred meters away, causing Luo Yuan to give it a sidelong glance.

As they got nearer to the Construction Area, traces of civilization were increasing. Luo Yuan had also seen the fighter plane in the sky several times now. Perhaps they were unmanned, and they were flying at an altitude of more than ten thousand meters. A normal person might not be able to distinguish the tiny speck, but his eyesight was good enough to discern its shape and color clearly.

After travelling for about a hundred kilometers, the road conditions got better as the moss and rattan had almost disappeared, apart from the signs of recent patches. Those abandoned cars on the road were also greatly reduced, and new skid marks of tires proved that they were already extremely close to the Construction Area.

“Look, are those artillery craters?” Lin Xiaoji suddenly asked.

Luo Yuan looked at the direction he pointed at. About a kilometer away, there was an area of about a few kilometers square without any plants in sight. Many holes of various sizes were seen puncturing the surface of the ground, akin to the surface of the moon. Of course, the area was not completely barren without any plants, but they appeared to be shorter and sparser as if they had just begun to sprout.

The bombardments of artillery at the desert could be easily disregarded, as the artillery craters could be camouflaged quickly by speedily growing plants or strong wind. If those artillery craters can be seen easily by the naked eye, it could only mean one thing. After Commander Xia looked at them for a while, he said in all seriousness, “This area should be bombarded only recently, I reckon it had happened not more than half a month ago.”

“It just happened not too long ago?” Lin Xiaoji asked, surprised.

The group was shocked and no longer felt relaxed as it meant that there had been battles occurring only just recently. Therefore, danger might still be lurking behind every rock, as some might have narrowly escaped the net.

Luo Yuan furtively held onto the handle of his Zhanmadao tightly. Sniffing attentively, he was able to pick up a faint smell of artillery smoke.

He carefully paid attention to his surroundings. It was very quiet, possibly because of the barren desert with only very sparse plants. Even though there were many mutated beasts, most of them were weak and small. Hence, along the way, he could barely see the dark blue rank mutated beasts, let alone those that were of the light green rank.

This was after all, a location near the Construction Area, the base camp of human beings, which should have been patrolled and cleansed several times now. It had seemed that the Construction Area appeared to be safer than expected, but he clearly understood now that it was a mere façade. What threatened the humans the most was in fact, not the powerful mutated beasts, as they were small in number, and man had enough powerful weapons to fight against these larger individuals. But it was those unremarkable creatures that held the power to threaten the survival of mankind.

He could still vividly remember the upheaval that occurred at Hedong City. A scourge of mutated mosquitoes with rather weak capabilities actually turned the whole city into a haunted one, causing everyone to cower with panic and fear. This eventually ruined the city, largely due to negligence in the defense army.

He found that some burrows could be seen clearly in the desert. The size of these burrows varied, with the small one about a foot, and the big one reaching about few meters. Although these burrows were found at the loose sand of the desert, they did not seem to collapse, as if they were held together by something.

He frowned slightly, as it seemed to have many underground creatures buried underneath.

The giant lizard became rather impatient and shot out thick smoke from its nostrils, which were occasionally mixed with fiery sparks. The king kong too, often exposed its ferocious teeth and growled.

With such an abnormal situation, the group realized that danger was just around the corner.

“Luo Yuan!” Seeing that Luo Yuan was sitting there, not moving, Zhao Yali could not help but to remind him.

“Don’t be nervous, it’s just a few little worms!” comforted Luo Yuan.

He was not showing any signs of nervousness. With his extraordinary strength, apart from a few super lifeforms, the common mutated beasts could barely threaten him.

As the strength of Luo Yuan had been deeply rooted in the heart of the group, they were relieved when they heard his response.

Luo Yuan was sitting on the back of the giant lizard while monitoring his surroundings attentively. The sounds transmitted underground seemed to be subtle yet rustling loudly, similar to the sound of two pieces of sandpaper scraping against each other.

There seemed to be more than one spot!

Luo Yuan’s ears twitched; he drew out a short spear from his backpack and stood up. Meanwhile, the giant lizard had stopped moving forward but was stomping on the spot irritably.

“It’s coming, hold tight!” Luo Yuan grunted.

The group was shocked and held tightly onto the rattan carpet on the back of the giant lizard while trying to lower their bodies as flatly as they could.

Just as he finished his sentence, the concrete beneath the legs of the giant lizard suddenly gave way, and gravel began bursting out. Meanwhile, a giant mouth was biting onto the stomach area of giant lizard. The belly was the softest and most vulnerable part of these creatures. Once bitten, it could also signify the end of its life.

The brilliant angle of its attack was far from expected. Even Luo Yuan had never thought that these worm-like creatures underground would have such an accurate sense of direction. His line of vision was completely blocked, and thus unable to take action.

Nevertheless, the giant lizard exerted its 15 point Agility during the critical moment. It retreated a few steps back and opened its mouth to unleash a burst of flames in a state of fear and fury.

Bang! A loud sound ensued.

The head of the worm-like creature was bludgeoned onto the floor by the high-pressured flames, with its body still in flames. The pain caused by the burns had caused it to struggle frantically. But alas, the menacing flames could not be extinguished at all. It kept struggling in vain, and roads were destroyed, as collateral damage due to its gigantic body size.

Soon, the area where the giant worm was, had caved into a deep pit of more than 10 meters in circumference. A large amount of burning gravel were spattering towards all directions like rapid bullets, but fortunately, Wang Shishi had already used her Will to repel its force.

The giant worm was not alone. Shortly after, another worm appeared but it was targeting the king kong instead.

The king kong, although not too quick in response, it was much smarter. After seeing the giant lizard getting attacked, the former had already jumped onto an abandoned truck nearby.

When the giant worm appeared, the whole truck was flipped over and the king kong was hurled into the air. Though it was a meagre attempt, this saved its life.

Just as the giant worm attempted to chomp onto its bait in the air, a short spear whizzed past and struck its large mouth. Instantly, its upper jaw burst and half of its head blew off.

Luo Yuan commanded the giant lizard to move backwards, leapt down and sprinted on the ground. After a few breaths, he abruptly stopped. While sensing the hive of activity underground, which seemed to have numerous giant worms rushing to the scene, he smirked and took a deep breath. Then, he lifted up his leg, which shook the ground as if the whole earth had been lifted up, and numerous cracks appeared on the road. Luo Yan then stomped heavily onto the ground.

With a loud boom, like explosive dynamites buried underground, the cracking road had suddenly exploded into debris. Luo Yuan did not stop there but he lifted his leg again and stomped heavily with all his mighty strength.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

After stomping for four consecutive times, clouds of dust suddenly filled the air within a circumference of a hundred meters. The air flow and immense power could even be felt clearly by Huang Jiahui and the group, who stood more than a hundred meters away. It was as though an earthquake, albeit small in magnitude, had just occurred.

As the dust gradually dispersed, the five bodies of the giant worm that had wriggled themselves out were now lying on the ground. Some of the bodies were flattened by the immense force, while the rest had been ripped apart. They were now lying in a pool of their own bodily fluids.

Their strong will to live had them twitching at the brink of death, but that was their final struggle before breathing their last.

If they were to be on ground level, the power of the Earth Stomp would not have been as strong, as it was only capable of making these dark blue level creatures, and the two light green level creatures feel dizzy. But underground? It was different story altogether.

The Earth Stomp that changed the topography underground had caused these giant worms to endure an unimaginable and terrifying force that squashed them whole; it was even fatal for light green level creatures.

Luo Yuan prostrated himself on the ground to listen intently. The situation underground was already quiet, as the rest of the giant worms who was unaffected would have had already escaped.

He retreated from the impulse of the earth, flicked the dust off his body, and went back onto the giant lizard to adjourn.

The battle that lasted for less than 20 seconds had now come to an end. Seven large corpses were left to die on the spot, still slightly twitching. At the same time, an unmanned aerial vehicle hovering above happened to capture the footage of the scene, which was instantly sent to the Central Safety and Strategy Information Management Center, located at the New Capital City of Reconstruction Area.