This time I chose Paladin.

The atmosphere in Chapter 213 was just so awful.

Even Nie Weiyang couldn't hold back anymore.

"Thanks." He couldn't help but laugh out loud. Without further ado, he carefully closed the lid and put the box into his backpack. "I'll enjoy it."

After saying goodbye to his two accomplices... no, his companions, he didn't linger and activated his lucky draw. The roar of his heavy motorcycle tore through the slightly oppressive air outside the shelter, and he rode alone once again into the vast, desolate evening wind of the open field.

The journey ahead was a long trek that belonged to him alone.

He drove the Lucky Sign across the plains overgrown with weeds and dotted with huge animal bones, crushing over pebbles marked by battles between strangers, speeding along the barely discernible road.

The open wilderness was exposed to the scorching sun during the day, and apart from a few low-level monsters wandering around, there was hardly any human presence.

He usually stops in the hottest part of the afternoon, finds a shady spot on a ruined wall or under a boulder, sets up a simple tent to rest, replenish his energy, and also refuel his lucky charm.

Nighttime is when he truly feels at ease and is most efficient at traveling.

His vampire lineage granted him exceptional vision and heightened senses in the darkness, while also giving him boundless energy. The headlights of the Lucky Sign car, like sharp swords, cleaved through the thick darkness, and the roar of its engine was the only persistent, powerful heartbeat on this vibrant land.

The journey is not entirely smooth. Mutant creatures are the true masters of this land.

The number of insect mutations is not large, and even if they do mutate, they are mostly small in size.

Most of the mutated beasts with the ability to judge could keenly sense the dangerous aura emanating from Nie Weiyang, so they kept their distance.

But there are always some driven by hunger or violent instincts who will see him as prey.

A group of mutated hyenas, with rotting fur, protruding fangs, and the size of calves, followed Nie Weiyang for nearly ten kilometers, attracted by the smell of engine oil and half-dead human flesh. Finally, they couldn't resist and launched an attack at a pass.

They leaped out from the hills and rocks on both sides, their drooling jaws snapping at the tire and his thigh!

Nie Weiyang didn't even stop completely; he simply maintained his forward momentum and drew the golden spear slung across his back.

With a swing of his arm, the spear flashed like golden lightning in the dim light, then vanished just as quickly.

Several short, shrill howls rang out as the three mutated hyenas at the forefront were pierced through the skull or heart by the sharp blade, their corpses tumbling and falling to the ground due to inertia.

The remaining hyenas, stunned by the imminent death, whimpered and stopped in their tracks, watching in horror as the relentless steel vehicle carried death away, leaving only the fading engine sound and the rapidly cooling corpses of their companions.

On another occasion, a giant, mutated centipede with a hard shell, lurking deep in an abandoned tunnel, attempted to ambush him as he passed by with its venomous fangs.

More often, however, are snakes—different colors, different sizes, and different venoms, but what they all have in common is that they are all hostile to him.

This seems to have started after the battle at the biological research institute: from that day on, all the snakes that Nie Weiyang encountered were filled with extreme malice towards him, and would even risk their own lives to bite him.

This wasn't a sudden change of attitude, but rather a gradual process of improvement.

It's as if a certain will is gradually awakening, and now, it harbors an instinctive hostility towards him.

Nie Weiyang saw and remembered all of this, and also killed the snakes as well.

These encounters were hardly even incidents for him, just mosquitoes and flies he casually swatted along the way.

On the evening of the fourth day after leaving Xunshan, he encountered the first settlement willing to trade with him.

It was a small outpost built against the mountain and by the water. It looked like it was built along half of a pre-civilization abandoned road. Dried meat strips and animal hides hung on the shelves inside the wall, thin smoke rose from the chimney, and sharp spikes made of scrap metal could be seen on the top of the wall.

As Nie Weiyang's motorcycle roared closer, the sentries on the wall immediately tensed up, aiming several rough longbows and a couple of magical beams at him.

A man who appeared to be the leader stood above the reinforced entrance, shouting in a wary voice, "Stop! Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing here?"

Nie Weiyang turned off the engine, stopped the car, took off his helmet, and revealed his face.

His long, black and white hair, now reaching his back, danced in the wind. He showed no aggression, simply replying calmly, "Passing by, coming from the south, going to the north."

"I have some surplus supplies and would like to exchange them for some local specialties."

The people on the wall exchanged wary glances, clearly not believing it.

In the new world, being a lone traveler often means danger and trouble, especially for someone so well-equipped.

"We have nothing to offer in exchange! Get out of here!" the leader shouted again, his tone forceful, his fingers seemingly clenching something tightly.

Nie Weiyang thought for a moment, then revealed his personal information and gave his name: "My name is Nie Weiyang, and I come from Gushi."

The name seemed to have some effect. A low murmur arose from the top of the wall. The leader's expression also became suspicious and uncertain. He carefully examined Nie Weiyang, especially his hair, but his gaze subconsciously avoided Nie Weiyang's eyes.

"...Nie Weiyang? That...that Nie Weiyang?" The leader's tone softened considerably, but his vigilance remained.

What do you mean by 'that Nie Weiyang'...? Nie Weiyang nodded slightly: "If no one else has this name, then it must be me."

After a few seconds of silence, the leader seemed to have made a decision. He gestured for his men to put down their weapons, but the door was not fully opened; only a crack was left for one person to pass through.

Soon, a young man emerged from the doorway. He walked with a light step for a moment, but when the leader coughed loudly, he quickly changed his posture and walked toward Nie Weiyang with a serious expression.

The transaction process was quick.

Nie Weiyang took out all the meat, unprocessed leather, and bones he had passively collected along the way, while the people of the settlement gave him some strange mushrooms that they had gathered that could slightly increase stamina for a short time, as well as a small bag of mutated wild oats that they had tried to grow themselves, which had a rough texture but were extremely filling.

Very good, new plant specimen.

Nie Weiyang hadn't forgotten the favor the agricultural scholars from his hometown had asked him for, and he gladly accepted the gifts.

As they parted, both maintained a polite but cautious distance. Nie Weiyang could sense that even after confirming his identity, the other party's fear and wariness had only decreased from 'extreme' to 'high,' which was probably why they had survived until now.

On his subsequent journey, he passed through six more settlements, large and small.

The transaction process is largely the same: initial extreme vigilance – eases somewhat after revealing names but remains cautious – completing a quick, mutually beneficial transaction.

He traded these settlements for dried flowers and herbs with a slight calming effect, tough, hand-tanned lizard skin, a rough map showing the distribution of water sources and dangerous monsters in the area, and even a small jar of honey that could attract certain harmless creatures... and other miscellaneous items.

He proceeded along the route that people had pioneered, and also along the map he had previously shared with Wei Lan and others. The terrain gradually changed from flat and open to slightly undulating, with more hills and forests appearing.

When he could finally see the winding, dragon-like river in the distance, and the bridge spanning it, whose magnificent structure still stood out even in the apocalypse, more than ten days had passed.

Near the bridge, outside a large, walled town, he saw a different scene.

Several rough but sturdy wooden frames stood in the open space at the entrance to the town.

Several stiff corpses hung on the rack, swaying gently in the breeze blowing from the riverbank, attracting a few crows to circle and caw in the distance.

A group of fishermen and hunters walked past the carcasses, then quickened their pace and shouted to a group of people not far away, "Hey guys! Can you hurry up and collect them? They smell awful!"

Not far away, a group of patrolmen in uniform looked back helplessly.

"We hate the smell too!" they shouted. "But these guys have committed so many crimes, so this is how it should be done according to the rules! It's alright, folks, maybe they'll be confiscated next time you go to work!"

A strong river breeze swept over us, carrying the scents of water and rust, and also bringing this conversation.

Nie Weiyang stopped the motorcycle and looked up.

It is no longer the graceful rainbow that once spanned the chasm in our old homeland, but a colossal concrete and iron beast that has grown wildly from the rushing river and lies prostrate on its surface.

The massive bridge piers are rough, cold, and unadorned, bearing the erosion of the river water and the mutated creatures in the river. Holes are faintly visible beneath the waves, yet with the aid of the magical light that permeates them, they still stand on the riverbed with an almost terrifying stability.

Its base color is concrete gray, splattered with dark red bloodstains, grayish-white bird droppings, and some kind of dark green to black moss vegetation, like a frenzied and heavy abstract mural.

Clearly, the people here had just fought a major battle with the mutated creatures in the river before he arrived.

Looking further up, the bridge is a pure, brutal geometric superposition.

Massive rectangular beams stacked and extended in layers, forming a cold yet clean and beautiful passageway. All the structures were exposed, without any covering or embellishment. The thick rivets, like black fangs, densely gripped the steel joints, each one protruding, cold, and hard.

Steel is the only language here, and it's a roaring language.

This bridge, at the wrong time and in the wrong place, spans the vast expanse of the river, stripping away all the embellishments of civilized times, leaving only its most primitive and naked functionality: passage, and... deterrence.

It is not a landscape; it is a warning, a declaration, a cold and hard presence forged from concrete, steel, and human will.

Nie Weiyang stared at the giant beast, Jiang Feng tugged at his black and white hair... then his gaze returned, tinged with a hint of speechlessness.

—The closer to the bridge, the more pedestrians there are. Hundreds or even thousands of soldiers patrol the area, and a simple farmers' market has even formed around it, where people from the surrounding settlements come to trade with representatives of the officially controlled area, bringing resources with them.

Surrounded by vegetables and poultry, the registration staff, dressed in simple floral T-shirts, looked up and chatted with each other. Surprisingly, a red banner hung beneath their workstations, its bold black characters swaying in the wind: "No fighting, the loser will be hospitalized, the winner will be put on the shelf."

“…Damn it.” Nie Weiyang muttered.

The tense atmosphere was completely ruined...!
(End of this chapter)