Epoch of Twilight

If it were not for the shocking one-meter big wound on the giant bug’s left wing, they all would have run away immediately.

"Gosh, that wound is bad. All we have to do is punch it a few times, and it will collapse for sure," said Peng Guohua in a low, shaking voice. Out of nowhere, he started charging balls of thunder on his palms. There was a crazed look on his face.

"No, we should retreat!" Luo Yuan was upset. The tunnel was too narrow, so it was not suitable for battles. Even with his +15 Agility, he would not be able to move freely. If the giant bug was to assault him, there would be nowhere for him to run. He usually had a 50 to 60 percent odd of winning, but in such an environment, the odds were less than 20 percent.

"Yes, Mr. Luo is right. Let’s go back, this creature is too strange. We need an extensive battle plan," Xu Zhiqiang said immediately, snapping out of his thoughts.

The creature was too terrifying. He believed that he was not a coward. Even though he had a high-ranking position and he was the one leading the mission, the creature before them was too overwhelming.

"I’m giving up on this mission!" said Li Qingqing, the only woman in the team. She looked very pale.

"Don’t tell me you guys have lost your guts! This is just an injured mutated beast," said Peng Guohua with a grin. His emotions were obviously off. "Watch how I’m going to kill it!"

"You’re a lunatic!" Li Qingqing yelled at him before she ran away.

Li Qingqing’s condemnation was abrupt, and it was certainly strange that she ran away right afterward. Luo Yuan was skeptical. Suddenly, he heard the sound of screws being loosened. He paused and looked at Peng Guohua. Balls of thunder were developing on his palms, and there was a green smoke coming out of it.

Luo Yuan knew that something was wrong, and he ran through the crowd shouting, "Damn it, we have to run now!" He did not care if his voice would wake the mutated beast anymore.

"F*ck, you’re really crazy!"

"If you want to die, don’t drag us down with you!"

None of these evolved people were ordinary, considering that they had managed to survive this far. They noticed that something was not right and started running as soon as they heard Luo Yuan.

"Don’t run too fast, wait for me! Please wait for me!" Peng Guohua had lost his usual smile. His voice was rough with an indescribable excitement. Thunder was still rumbling in his palm as he followed the rest like nothing was going on.

"He has completely lost his mind! Boss Xiao, please use your power now!" Hu Lianqing shouted as he turned his head around to take a look. He sounded terrified.

Peng Guohua was only a step away from him. Hu Lianqing was a fire based evolved human, so if he used his power under the circumstances, he would only trigger and speed up an explosion. If an explosion took place so close to him, he would not be able to survive it, even though he was an evolved person.

"Damn this lunatic! He wants to kill us all!" Xiao Baihong heard Leader Hu say in despair. His words gave him a chill.

"Quick, go faster! There’s not much time left!" Shen Jixin shouted in madness. The air started to shake as if it was preparing to fight the explosion.

"You guys don’t f*cking disturb me!" Leader Xiao was using the power in his entire body, his veins bulging on his neck.

Peng Guo felt the thunder in his palm transforming at the speed of light. The concealing mask he had on his face had been completely torn off, revealing his savage expression.

A spark was produced, and suddenly there was a giant flame ball burning on his palm. It was snuffed out the next second.

The rest of them turned around and looked at him in fear. Relieved, they stopped running.

"Peng Guohua, you owe us an explanation!" Hu Lianqing said.

"Explanation? The only explanation I have is that we’ll all go to hell together!" There was no fear on Peng Guohua’s face as he spoke. He just proceeded to laugh like a madman. One of his hands was burnt, exuding a disgusting barbecue-like smell.

"Who sent you here? You haven’t killed anybody yet, so it’s not too late for you to repent!" said Xu Zhiqiang, trying to delude him. It was not easy to train an evolved person to be a martyr. Considering the abnormality of the mission though, he had already solved half the mystery.

"It’s too late, the monster has been awakened! All of us will die!" said Peng Guohua, laughing hysterically.

The ground started shaking, and there was a sharp noise that sounded like a worm and a bird. The temperature in the tunnel was shooting up.

"Damn it, run fast!" Xu Zhiqiang shouted in distress as he ran away.

"You can’t run away, I will wait for you in hell!" Peng Guohua remained standing exactly where he was, watching the rest of them run away. As the temperature spiked, blisters developed on his skin. The blisters turned into yellow fat and started dripping down his skin. Feeling that he was reaching his limits, he opened his eyes, which were dry from the scorching temperature, and yelled, "Beware of that beautiful woman, and take revenge for me!"

Suddenly, his stomach started to expand and his eyes opened wide, steam coming out of his whole body. Within seconds, his stomach was bigger than a 10-month pregnant woman. It became transparent, and his eyeballs popped out like marbles because of the pressure, rolling down on the ground. Then there was a loud thud, and his body exploded.

Li Qingqing was running in the very front, looking desperate. She was a mysterious based evolved human with prophetic abilities, so her abilities were very rare. Although she was not very strong, she could predict what would happen in the next second, which could be a very useful ability in a battle.

With this ability, she was always able to avoid danger, which made her superior to other evolved humans that looked more powerful. However, her mysterious ability was redundant at the moment. All she could see was that things were about to go south. Her footsteps were getting slower, her vision was getting blurry, and her mind suddenly went blank. Eventually, she collapsed on the ground.

"No!" she screamed in desperation.

...

Hearing Li Qingqing’s shriek in the back, Hu Lianqing was stressed out. He was using all his power, so there was a thin, turquoise flame surrounding him, and the air around him was distorted. The flame was a terrifying one. He was experimenting, it made the common ironware in his hand turn completely red within 10 seconds. After 30 seconds, it started to melt.

If that flame touched a human body, that human would either die or get badly injured. In the Desert City, nobody dared go near him during a battle. He believed that even Luo Yuan, who was a level-5 evolved person, would not go near him.

The temperature in the tunnel was not too high, 200 degrees at the most. As a fire based evolved human, that kind of temperature would usually not affect him. The surface of his skin could absorb it and turn it into energy. However, the temperature in the tunnel was unique. It felt like it was released from within the body, so it was irresistible and could not be absorbed at all. It seemed like it was meant to burn him alive.

"Don’t run around, let’s find a shallow place to hide! This is like a microwave!" shouted Shen Jixing, who was running in front. As an evolved human with a similar wave ability, he was sensitive to the waves in the air. He could sense right away that there was something strange in the air.

A microwave was a radio wave between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. The heat produced by the molecular shocks in things absorbed waves, such as water and organic matter. The heat was directed on the surface of the molecules, which rendered the defense of the body useless.

"Damn it, I should’ve thought of this earlier!" Xu Zhiqiang shouted. He looked terrified as a thick layer of fat dripped off his burning body. The fat on his skin seemed like it was melting. It was falling off while he was running, and new skin kept growing.

He saw a two-meter high piece of concrete that had fallen from the top of the tunnel in front of him and he hid behind it immediately. Relieved, he felt the temperature of his body slowly decreasing. A few seconds later, he saw Hu Lianqing tottering up to him. His legs were weak, so he sat down on the floor.

"Come here quick, it’s only a few more steps!" Xu Zhiqiang said loudly.

"I can’t do this anymore, leave me alone!" Hu Lianqing forced out a smile as his body released a terrifyingly high temperature. Under that microwave heat, his abilities seemed to get out of control. The flame on his body was getting more and more intense, his entire body eventually burning. He was burnt to ashes instantly.

"Damn it! Damn it! Ah..."

Xu Zhiqiang heard Xiao Baihong and Shen Jixing’s footsteps far away, but Luo Yuan was nowhere to be seen. Loneliness and desperation devoured him as this recent scary incident crushed him. Xu Zhiqiang punched the ground hard and groaned like an injured beast.

The microwaves in the tunnel were getting more intense, so hiding behind a rock was not a good enough solution anymore. He heard footsteps approaching slowly, the sound getting clearer. Whoever it was had to be hurt because the pace it was approaching was not very fast. However, considering their huge body size, their speed did not sound slow at all. Perhaps there was no way for Xu Zhiqiang to leave this place in one piece.

He felt a sense of remorse. Maybe the mission itself had been a conspiracy, but he’d thought he’d been smart to take the initiative and be a part of it.

"Even if I die, I will not have died for nothing," he said to himself softly. Out of nowhere, he became ferocious.

"Ahh!" he let out a roar, tearing his clothes apart.

Within seconds, he had turned into a giant once again. Hunching down in the tunnel, he stared furiously up ahead, "Come at me, you little worm!"