Warning! The evil god's minions are invading the eerie dungeon.

In a dilapidated steel forest.

The city looked as if it had been ravaged by artillery fire, with countless buildings collapsed and reinforced concrete exposed to the air.

The streets were cracked and bulging everywhere, piled high with all sorts of congested or wrecked vehicles, enough to make one imagine that when the apocalypse came, cars would be speeding in panic trying to escape the city, until one car lost control and triggered a chain reaction...

Interspersed among these are traces of various explosions and shootings, suggesting that humanity in this world once tried to resist to the very last moment.

"Whoa..."

On the street, Qi Xie looked up at the middle of the road, where there was a domineering steel behemoth with camouflage green paint, a size larger than a heavy jeep. The lower half of the steel armor was as thick as an iron box, while the upper half was a rotating iron box that was two sizes smaller than the lower half. A long cannon barrel with a caliber about the size of an adult male's head extended out, and the whole body was full of power and mechanical beauty.

"Was the situation so serious that tanks and troops had to be driven into such a densely populated urban area for combat...?"

Chen Mu had just finished taking over with Lin Tong and carried the unconscious Lao Wu forward. Looking at this scene, his eyes were gloomy.

Qi Xie walked towards the already dead steel behemoth.

Nearby, there were makeshift roadblocks and two armored personnel carriers, each smaller than a tank, with their doors open, revealing empty, dust-covered cargo compartments.

There were broken gun barrels on the ground, clearly indicating that even this effort had not been enough to salvage the situation.

when--!

when--!

when--!

A rhythmic knocking sound came from inside the tank.

Qi Xie walked over, a faint red light flickering in his eyes. He glanced at her through the thick armor, then shook his head and said:

"A beginner-level anomaly. It's likely that the tank driver was infected and locked himself inside before the mutation."

Chen Mu silently followed, carrying Lao Wu on his back, gaining a deeper understanding of the weakness of human military systems in the face of the bizarre.

Even without being particularly bizarre, the insect swarms they encountered in the supermarket—some with carapaces capable of withstanding flames of over a thousand degrees, others able to bite through steel plates—would cripple the human military system with just one wave of these novice-level insect swarms.

Human creations are far less effective against these beings that humans cannot understand or imagine.

Of course, if you can throw the steel coil like a projectile, then disregard what he said.

Lin Tong walked last.

The young man paused for a moment, then drew his rapier, leaped onto the tank's armor, located the point of impact directly above, and easily pierced the armor and the infected driver from top to bottom, freeing the man.

He sheathed his rapier, jumped off the tank, and looked at Qi Xie with some hesitation:

"We've been wandering around like this for half a day, and apart from a few low-level monsters that are trapped, we haven't encountered a single person. If we can't find anyone soon, shouldn't we find a safe haven for the night?"

Qi Xie gave a soft "hmm," and then spoke again:

"But I think we should find them soon, maybe quite a few, and we can stay at someone else's shelter for the night."

"Well?"

Lin Tong was taken aback:

Why?

"It's obvious, as you just said, that we haven't encountered anything except a few low-level monsters that are trapped."

Qi Xie glanced back at him:

"This doesn't make sense. It's one thing for people to be strange, but why are there so few strange creatures? And the rest are all low-level strange creatures that aren't dangerous unless you actively touch them?"

Chen Mu understood:

"Is there a group of people cleaning up this area for some strange thing?"

"Yes, and there are quite a few of them. The reason we haven't encountered any is probably because all the travelers in the area have been absorbed there. And they certainly wouldn't be cleaning up an area of ​​strangeness for no reason. The most likely explanation is that there's a large shelter nearby, and they want to use it as a base to gather people?"

Qi Xie explained.

Although in the apocalypse, humanity is not trustworthy, but human instincts tend to favor stability and sticking together.

This is why there are always strongholds in any type of post-apocalyptic world.

Humans need a stable and warm settlement and companions they can trust to a certain extent to prevent their tense nerves from breaking down. Of course, they also need such a place for the circulation and exchange of resources.

Just as the three were talking.

Suddenly.

Whoosh~~~~boom!

A clear voice rang out from the sky, and the three of them instinctively looked up.

A firework exploded in mid-air, the sound not loud, but very clear in the quiet city.

咻~~~

A second later, another firework rose into the sky and exploded.

Then three more fireworks burst into the sky and exploded simultaneously, one after the other.

At this point, the pattern is clear, ruling out the possibility that the explosion was caused by the impact of the battle, confirming that it was released by intelligent beings.

Of course, it could have been placed by a person, or it could have been placed by some strange entity.

However, based on Qi Xie's previous speculation, it is almost certainly the former.

"Let's go."

Qi Xie spoke first:

The people who set off these fireworks cleared such a large area beforehand and created such a clear signal so that passersby would know there was a human settlement there and go check it out.

The three quickened their pace toward the direction of the fireworks.

It took almost an hour to get there.

After climbing over a collapsed overpass, a tall, gray-white building finally appeared before them, next to several abandoned office buildings.

It appeared to be an official institution, with some abandoned bunkers and fortifications in front of the building, indicating that an army had previously been stationed here to resist the apocalypse.

Even from a considerable distance, one could already see some people repairing the bunkers and fortifications.

"That's really true..."

Chen Mu let out a soft breath beside Qi Xie.

"Let's go quickly!"

Lin Tong, who was taking over the shift and carrying Lao Wu on his back, said excitedly:

"With so many people here, maybe we can find someone who can cure Angkor!"

Just as he was about to step towards the building, Qi Xie suddenly reached out and stopped him:

"etc."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Lin Tong turned his head to look in confusion.

"The signal is so obvious, I reckon a lot of hikers from the surrounding area have gathered here."

Qi Xie chuckled softly:

"Do you think the two people who stole your things are here?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Tong was taken aback at first, then his eyes lit up.

"Be careful once you're inside, don't make a fuss, observe your surroundings carefully, and if you find someone, quietly point them out to me."

After saying that, Qi Xie jumped off the towering overpass first and led the way toward the gray-white building.

A few minutes later, the three arrived at the plaza in front of the gray-white building.

In this open square, seven or eight people were repairing the fortifications and bunkers, hoping they could be used to defend against the supernatural.

Among the seven or eight people, a man wearing a baseball cap seemed to notice the three of them and walked in their direction.

……

……