Hours passed. In the night sky, Feng Hui collected his thoughts. Looking into the distance, he examined the decimated city empty of human life. Amidst his contemplating, he perceived the sudden intrusion of sound waves originating from a distant violent scream. Utilizing his Qi, he caused the ear-piercing sound to dissociate into nothingness when the waves approached his home.
"What?" Extending his vast spiritual sense to discern the source, Feng Hui's eyes widened.
With a straight tall back, Feng Hui stood atop the balcony ledge; he turned around to look into his home. Hidden in the darkness, his eyes flickered with strands of golden Qi. Releasing his domain, he surrounded the entire apartment.
No outsider could invade his domain without his acceptance. A domain was an isolated area that ran on its own, separate from the world. Along with this defensive domain, Feng Hui clenched his fists before summoning a portal. Just now, he had discerned an innumerable number of portals; furthermore, it was emitting a frightening emerald glow.
"What are these monsters?" Feng Hui's tall figure emitted killing intent. His spiritual sense wasn't extended during the formation of the portals; thus, he hadn't detected the faraway disturbance at the beginning.
"I need to investigate this." Feng Hui would not allow any otherworldly lifeforms with unknown powers to freely wander. What if these creatures could evade his initial senses to harm those dear to him?
Closing his eyes, Feng Hui continued to probe around the countless buildings. A short while later, he sensed the presence of numerous strong cultivators; his pitch-black eyes turned murderous. These cultivators were undoubtedly connected to the golden-robed Tian Changming.
Feng Hui would not stop after the sole murder of Tian Changming; instead, he would end the lives of everyone related to the kidnapping of his mother. In his eyes, none of them could earn forgiveness within this lifetime!
Reaching the Golden Dragon realm once more, Feng Hui's confidence was overwhelming. It overshadowed even his former self as the Secret Legion's master. With unbelievable ease, he had returned to the Transcendent level which he had needed seventeen years to reach in the Eastern World.
With this alone, Feng Hui believed that the Immortal realm was easily within his reach. For him, it was no longer a question of 'if', rather it was 'when' he would achieve this fabled realm.
Stepping into the portal, Feng Hui's tall figure emanated the aura of a peerless devil. With a thought, an exquisite black mask covered his handsome face. This mask was a childhood present that he had received from Xiao Ruo. Shrouding his entire body in a veiled silver cloak, his eyes were incomparably cold.
There were various significant items residing within a small space inside his soul. If he were to take action, it was best to remain undercover in order to not drag his mother into this mess. What if Tian Changming knew that the masked man who would end up slaughtering his entire army was the son of one of his cherished talents? Feng Hui would not take the chance.
* * *
Starryfu.
A survivor stronghold.
Within the five-story stronghold, there were over a thousand survivors located at the base of the building. Surprisingly, in the sealed-off company building, there was an abundance of children. It had been over two months since the disastrous apocalypse. Nowadays, there was a miniscule number of survivors left beneath the age of eighteen.
Furthermore, food was becoming a looming problem. The monsters such as the orcs would scavenge for supplies in the supermarkets if human flesh wasn't an option: this led to a supply shortage.
In the stronghold, every survivor had a grim face. In their eyes, it was a question of how soon their lives would end. At this stage, the abilities of the lemures were public knowledge. There was no safe place to hide.
If there were enough arms to defend a stronghold, the lemures would still end up destroying everything! With their mind-control abilities, no one could successfully build a long-term base.
In the corner of the construction, there were two fourteen-year-old teenagers discussing their next course of action. Surprisingly, the vast majority of the survivors looked toward these two with respect.
The respect shown by the survivors included even the sturdy-looking men. If Feng Hui were here, he would distinguish the two teenagers: Bao Jing and Mo Hongxi.
Bao Jing, the beautiful teenager with pale skin, smiled at her changed friend. After the Xinlong Paradise mission, Mo Hongxi had grown up to become more calculative, and his bright intelligence shone in the chaos. It was with his intelligence that the stronghold could successfully grow to this scale.
"Jingjing, the sole problem we have to deal with now are the lemures." Mo Hongxi sighed. In these two months, the two friends had saved thousands of lives; however, the majority would opt not to stay with them.
These survivors could not be blamed for departing. In their eyes, a stronghold was merely an assembly of people waiting to fall to anarchy: not even the military could successfully build a long-term base.
In the Party Hunt mission, there were two parties who survived. Naturally, one of them was Qie Chuanli's group which held Liu Jun; the second was Bao Jing's group that took action instantly.
Not even ten seconds after the black-robed Feng Hui had left, Bao Jing had hastened her friend to form a group as soon as possible before the monsters were depleted. In her eyes, there was no such thing as a free meal. The early bird would get the worm.
Fortunately, Bao Jing was gifted some short-term energy by the mysterious black-robed man. This led to her party being able to clear the sufficient number of goblins before dusk to survive.
Bao Jing softly stated, "Brother Mo, I think everything will end soon. Yesterday, the portals in the sky disappeared. Will our lives eventually return to normal?"
"I wouldn't count on it. Likely, something even bigger is coming. Furthermore, the monsters are still here." Mo Hongxi sighed. From his experience in the apocalypse, he believed that it was instead the signal that an even bigger crisis was approaching.
Reaching the late stages of the Qi Refining realm, Bao Jing was confident in defeating even the strong orcs as long as she was not surrounded. Utilizing her superb agility, she could nimbly dodge all of the attacks.
"I really want everything to just return back to normal." Bao Jing's fledgling voice was filled with melancholy.
"Me too." Mo Hongxi shook his head, and he looked outside. While he was about to discuss the future construction plans, he heard a sudden loud crash outside the stronghold.
"Boom!"
In the course of a few seconds, the over thousand survivors within the stronghold began screaming in fear. It was a natural reaction. Throughout the apocalypse, there was no one who would not have constant nightmares. Thus, when something terrible did occur, utter chaos and anarchy would ensue.
"Calm down, everyone!" Mo Hongxi roared in an authoritative tone.
In response, hardly any of the survivors listened to the fourteen-year-old teenager. Regardless of Mo Hongxi's leadership and intelligence, the survivors still could not trust a mere teenager fully. In the face of the monsters, overwhelming strength was the sole thing that mattered in the end. With enough strength, everyone would follow close behind.
In the end, authority in the apocalypse was something that had to be backed by physical might! Luckily, Mo Hongxi, the leader of the stronghold, was supported by his strong dear cultivator friend.
Mo Hongxi was at the yellow level in strength; thus, he could fight decently as well. Unfortunately, his talent was pathetic; he owned the ability to wield simple water. It was a pitiful amount too.
In the stronghold, Mo Hongxi's ability was useful for providing drinking water. But, in reality, it was useless when fighting monsters. For humans, the true battle was to wipe out the monsters to regain control of Earth!
"Let's go, Jingjing!" Seeing his order being ignored, Mo Hongxi's mouth made a shattering noise. Clenching down on his teeth, he ran outside amidst the stampede with his friend to analyze the reason for the madness.
Upon stepping outside, Mo Hongxi's face instantly turned grim. In the sky, there were hundreds of portals forming with a frightening emerald color. Furthermore, the portals were opened this time!
Soon, whatever demons which were hiding inside would come out. Mo Hongxi's entire body was swiftly covered in sweat. Looking to the side, he saw his dear wide-eyed friend. Calming his nerves, he stated, "What's your opinion on this, Jingjing?"
Naturally, Bao Jing could discern the true underlying meaning behind her friend's words; he was asking whether they should abandon the stronghold. Facing these dangerous emerald portals, what could the two of them do? The smartest option was to flee to fight another day.
However, when Bao Jing saw all the scared little children quivering within the stronghold, she could not bear to abandon everything they've built. With a hesitant voice, she responded, "I don't want to leave everyone behind…"
"Then we won't." Mo Hongxi smiled. In the end, the two of them had journeyed the entire apocalypse together. In comparison to the gruesome, insignificant deaths of countless other humans, the two of them defending their stronghold could be considered a noble and glorious death.
"Brother Mo…" Bao Jing's heart was pained. Reaching this point, the two of them were more certain of their love for one another.
But, in reality, neither of them had uttered the word 'love' even once. As if the word was a taboo in the apocalypse, Bao Jing would remain silent along with her friend.