Chapter 251: Worm (1/2)
Chapter 251: Worm
Translator: InsigniaEditor: Svjohn
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.