Epoch of Twilight

On the dawn of the fifth day, the sky was still dark. Luo Yuan was meditating in front of the main door when he suddenly heard a familiar sound. The sound was very soft, but luckily he was sensitive enough to hear it.

He immediately grew excited and got up from the ground. He quickly walked a few steps and looked up at the sky in the distance. There were about eight tiny black spots moving around in the sky. The surface of the objects was not shiny, so he could not identify what exactly they were. However, the black spots produced some sounds that Luo Yuan could confirm belonged to airplanes.

"Finally, you’re here again." He tried to calm down as he observed the flying route of the planes, instantly forming a 3D graphic pattern in his head.

He was calculating the direction of their activity in his mind while recalling the draft Commander Xia had made. He realized both were quite similar, but the angle was slightly different. However, his thoughts were not conclusive. The location of the airport might not be the same after all. All the data he had used in his speculations were based on his observations only.

From a certain aspect, Commander Xia’s judgment could be more accurate as he was an officer who had graduated from military school. Knowledge was not everything, though. Sometimes experience mattered more.

His calculations might not be perfect, especially considering that there were so many people in the rehabilitation area. The compound was not small by any means, so the activity area was probably a lot bigger than the compound. As long as there was not too big of a difference, it was not a big deal. Otherwise, they could go in the wrong direction and waste their time. Luo Yuan checked the time and realized it was only 3 a.m. He decided not to wake the others.

He just looked at the sky in worry. He realized the situation at the current location was getting worse. Five days after the rainstorm, there were already 10 times more mutants in the forest than there had used to be.

There had been about the same quantity of mutated beasts before the drought, but there were a lot more insects and birds now. Similarly, the desert before the apocalypse had turned into a green field with flowers after the heavy rain. Many living things would come alive and reproduce within that short period, most lives only getting a few days of opportunity.

That was the miracle of life and its perseverance during tough times.

Apparently, their current situation was quite similar. Insects lay eggs in massive amounts after the rain, the eggs hatching after only a few days of incubation. It was still bearable during the night, but it became really scary in the daytime, when the insects would fly in the sky. Sometimes, they could not even see the sky because of the insects blocking their vision. The worst thing was that the insects attracted more birds, because they were their main food source.

The power and body size of the newborn insects was still weak, so they were mostly white level mutants. They could currently see numerous insects flying here and there around the field before the cliff. If the insects were as big as a human palm, then the birds who would hunt them would be extremely scary.

The mutated birds were only as big as foal eagles, but they could move very fast and they were very flexible, so they were able to move rapidly in small spaces. Luo Yuan’s battle beasts did not even dare challenge them. If they appeared in a big group, their characteristics could be extreme.

Luo Yuan did not know what their problem was, but something very bad must have happened before, because when the giant ape became aware of their existence, a few hundred mutated birds rushed down from the sky and started pecking on its body. In the end, no one had won the battle.

Many of the mutated birds had died and the giant ape had gotten injured. Of course, those were only minor injuries, but the ape still did not dare challenge those birds anymore.

Luo Yuan stood in the dark for a while before returning to the cave and sitting down. There was a thick layer of tiny worms on the floor that were about the size of rice. He heard a weird, annoying sound as he stepped on them. Those were the carcasses of the insects which had been trying to get close to the cave.

However, Luo Yuan was not the one who had killed them. It had been the Zhanmadao.

Weapons were very important for a soldier or a fighter. The Zhanmadao was getting smarter as Luo Yuan used his Will to increase its power over time. Even though it was just inserted into the ground, it was powerful enough to keep the insects away. They would try to avoid it once they got five to six meters away from it. That was actually the best case scenario. When other living things besides Luo Yuan tried to get close to it, the Zhanmadao would usually release an aggressive, powerful force. That was how the insects had died.

Sometimes, Luo Yuan felt as if the saber was alive and was transforming into another person. He actually looked forward to that day, but right now the saber was still like a newborn baby. Perhaps, it would miraculously come alive at some point in the future.

There were less than two hours to go until dawn, but Luo Yuan did not plan on meditating anymore. He was thinking about the resources they would need to prepare for their departure. He had decided to leave that place the next day. They would have to go sooner or later, so they might as well depart earlier. If they took too long, they might not be able to leave anymore when they wanted to go.

There were very few things to pack, so there was not much to think about. With his Intelligence, Luo Yuan could have thought over the same issue a few times in a second.

However, he actually felt stressed as he thought about how lucky they had been. They had not encountered any danger, because they had been staying in the cave. He did not believe things would be as peaceful for long if they left. Kunlun Mountain was a mysterious forest after all.

Luo Yuan could not predict what would happen along the journey. However, when he recalled those giant, powerful monsters in the lake, he immediately felt a massive pressure rushing to his face.

Although his power had been upgraded, his Dexterity and Intelligence had just increased by one point. His power had increased a few more times, but he was still not confident enough to kill a green level mutated beast. Although there was only a small gap between blue and green mutated beasts, the difficulty in killing them was really different.

If living creatures below green level were normal, and those above green level were evolved, Luo Yuan speculated that they would possess certain superpowers aside from their strength.

For example, the giant lizard could blow flames, but that was just the flammable liquid secreted from its special inner organs. From certain aspects, it was similar to spitting, but totally different from the soul absorption superpower or the mountain and water dividing power.

He had been lucky enough to manage to kill the Flood Dragon at the time as it had died before it could fully utilize its powers. However, he would not be that lucky every single time. Perhaps he might need to fight a mutated beast that possessed a superpower. Luo Yuan grew very serious as he thought about that.