The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

"Never turn on the lights at night! Those flying monsters are extremely sensitive to light. Last night I put a light on the top floor to look around, and in less than five minutes it attracted a swarm of bat-like things."

"High-rise buildings are safer than low-rise ones. The first night I stayed on the second floor, and there was a monster walking around outside the window in the middle of the night, which scared me to death. The second night I moved to the fifteenth floor, and there was no noise all night."

"Don't live in buildings near main roads. Those big guys like to walk on main roads. I've seen a giant that's over ten meters tall walk across the street, and the low-rise buildings next to it swayed as it bumped against it."

"Don't leave food scraps in the room. Some monsters have an exceptionally keen sense of smell and can detect them from hundreds of meters away."

Su Mu memorized each piece of information. He turned off the regional channel and opened the public channel.

In the public channel, the number of cables has increased from over fifty in the morning to over ninety. There are far fewer messages than in the regional channel, since each message consumes one Ghost Stone, and not everyone is willing to send one. However, the quality of each message is very high, with no nonsense, no spamming, and no pointless arguments.

"Looking to buy breakthrough runes of level 3 or higher. Can be exchanged for blue materials. DM me."

"Selling a map of Ash City's North District, marked with the locations of seven silver treasure chests. Weapon exchange only."

"Team up to explore the ruins of the southern city. Requirements: level 3 or above, with a combat class. Send me your stats via private message."

"Just a heads-up: a new monster has appeared in the west of the city. It looks like a human but crawls on all fours and is extremely fast. At least five squads have already been wiped out. We recommend taking a detour."

"The army has updated their information. The breakout time is set for 6 PM tomorrow, with the assembly point at the North Suburb Power Plant. We won't wait for those who are late."

Su Mu read through the messages one by one, pausing for a moment at the last one.

Tomorrow evening at 6 PM, at the North Suburb Power Plant. His evacuation point is also in the north, so the timing matches up.

However, he didn't plan to go with the army... at least not now. He hadn't figured out their background yet and wouldn't easily entrust his back to a group of strangers.

He also saw some descriptions of monsters on the public channel.

Someone encountered a monster in the south of the city. It was human-shaped, had no facial features, and its face was a smooth white sheet. However, it could walk freely on the walls at an extremely fast speed.

Someone spotted a pack of completely black hunting dogs in the east of the city. Each dog was the size of a calf, with blood-red eyes and the ability to breathe fire.

Someone discovered a pool of moving black liquid in an underground parking lot in the north of the city. It can corrode anything it touches, and several people have already died from it.

The more Su Mu looked around, the more he realized that the world was more complex than he had imagined.

Goblins, zombies, and minotaurs are relatively "common" monsters, at least they have some clues. But faceless monsters, fire hounds, corrosive liquid... the forms and abilities of these things are beyond his comprehension. Who knows how many other things in this city he hasn't seen before?

However, there is at least one piece of good news.

Judging from the channel, the strange creatures encountered on the cable car... the poisonous fireflies, the piercing beetles, and the overwhelming army of strange creatures outside the city... seem to really not be able to enter the city.

Of course, it's also possible that it's not completely dark yet.

Su Mu glanced out the window. The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, leaving only a last sliver of dark red light on the sky. The city's outline blurred in the twilight, distant skyscrapers became black silhouettes, the streetlights were off, there was no moonlight, and the streets were plunged into complete darkness.

He drew the curtains and didn't turn on the lights.

The room was pitch black, with only the faint blue glow of the control panel in the darkness.

Su Mu placed his pistol beside him, leaned his rifle against the corner of the wall, put his backpack behind his head, closed his eyes against the wall, but did not fall asleep; instead, he rested.

It's very quiet outside the window.

There was no sound of bats crashing into the glass, no muffled thud of fireflies exploding, and none of the dense, chilling noises he had listened to all night in the cable car.

Only the wind.

The wind blew through the ruins, through the broken windows, through the empty streets, making a low, mournful sound, like the distant murmur of some unknown wild beast.

As Su Mu listened to the sound of the wind, his breathing gradually calmed down.

After resting for a while, he took out his AWM, aimed the scope at the window, and scanned several directions. There were scattered points of light on the distant high-rise buildings... someone was using a flashlight or some other light source, flashing it intermittently, as if transmitting some kind of signal.

Further away, several figures moved slowly on the street... not human, but monsters. They were not large and were not clearly visible in the darkness, but judging from their movement, they looked like zombies or corrupted students.

No flying monsters were found. None of the things that gave him a headache on the cable car were seen.

Su Mu put the gun away and closed his eyes again. He wasn't sure if anything would happen tonight, but so far, things were better than he had expected.

He didn't sleep; he just closed his eyes to rest.

In this unfamiliar city, in a residential building where he didn't know who lived, in the darkness, he dared not truly fall asleep. His ears caught every sound outside the window, his fingers rested on the gun, ready to open his eyes at any moment.

Time ticked by in the darkness.

One hour.

Two hours.

Four hours.

As night deepened, the city fell into a deathly silence.

There was no moonlight, no starlight, only the occasional low growls of unknown monsters from afar, like the city's murmurs in its sleep.

Su Mu's breathing was steady and slow, his consciousness hovering between sleep and wakefulness. He heard the wind, the occasional strange noises coming from distant buildings, and the sound of someone coughing in a room downstairs... very softly, as if deliberately suppressed.

Just then...

"ah......!"

A scream ripped through the night sky.

It wasn't a faint sound coming from afar, but right downstairs, on the street next to this building—sharp, piercing, and filled with fear.

Su Mu suddenly opened his eyes, his body instinctively sprang up from the ground, and his right hand gripped the M500.

Then came more voices.

"Run! It's catching up!"

"Damn it, how come this thing is following me so closely! There's no way to escape!"

"You bastard, you betrayed your teammates!"

"If he doesn't die, we'll all die! Run!"