Looking up…
The sun is high above.
In a small village not far away from Tang Yu's territory, several youngsters were gasping for breath while showing expressions of panic.
"Just now… it was way too dangerous. When I caught a whiff of that rancid demonized wolf, I thought I was a goner for sure!" A young man said with lingering fear in his eyes.
A young girl next to him laid slumped on the ground as she said: "You're fine. I tripped and almost got caught by that smelly wolf."
The girl had freckles and an average-looking face along with dishevelled hair. However, she looked somewhat sensual while gasping for breath with her chest heaving up and down.
"Thank you Senior Brother Xiaopeng, you are worthy of being called an awakened one."
"Of course!" Lu Xiaopeng caresses his messy hair and assumed a boxing pose with a smile as he said: "I'm also a natural awakened one. This is rarer and stronger than a regular awakened one which has to rely on auxiliary devices to awaken! How can an ordinary demonized beast be my opponent?"
"But Senior Brother Xiaopeng, you didn't even fight against the demonized wolf…" The freckled-faced girl weakly said.
Lu Xiaopeng's smile suddenly collapsed.
At the time when he became an awakened one, he was still in high spirits. He fantasized about punching demonized wolves and kicking demonized tigers as he gradually climbs to the peak of being an awakened one. But reality firmly gave him a slap on the face.
Thinking about the demonized wolf they had just encountered on the road. He didn't believe it was very strong in the beginning until he found out he couldn't beat it at all.
Obviously, his eyes can keep up with the demonized wolf's speed, but he couldn't avoid its attacks. Even if he was an awakened one with a strong physique, he still suffered heavy injuries from this encounter. If this wasn't the case, their group wouldn't have been forced to flee so shamefully.
Fortunately, after escaping for a period, they finally got rid of the demonized wolf and hadn't encountered any other demonized beasts on the road for the time being.
After a short rest, they began looking around at their surroundings.
This is a very quiet village. It doesn't look like there was much demonized beast activity around here. So, several of the people couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief.
"Where should we go from here?"
Upon hearing this, everyone had blank expressions on their faces while someone sighed and said: "Yes, it was a good idea to follow the army. However, after we've been separated from the army, not only have we lost our way. But we've also lost our security. If it weren't for Senior Brother Xiaopeng being an awakened one, I'm afraid we'd still be stuck hiding in that dark room."
They are running low on food. So, if they continued hiding, they'd only be delaying their eventual demise. In the end, they decided to run outside and find a shelter. The only way to understand the dangers outside was to leave that hiding place. Without mentioning not knowing the way to Lindong, their group had travelled a short distance of about ten kilometres before feeling complete and utter despair.
"Wait, look over there!"
Their classmate with glasses suddenly pointed in the distance. Several people looked up and saw an ordinary house. It looked no different from the other dilapidated looking houses around town.
"It's nothing…" Lu Xiaopeng's calm eyes suddenly stopped as he stares wide-eyed. Observing the house, he sees several black characters painted on the walls.
"Tree Shade Shelter, located 3.5 kilometres northwest from here. A place where food is abundant, and the environment is safe. Welcoming All Survivors."
The original resort name was Tree Shade…
After the doomsday, most shelters were named after their original site name. For example, Lindong Shelter was established in a town located in Lindong County.
Tang Yu's name was too weak wasn't well recognized, so he naturally followed the original name of the shelter.
The name doesn't matter, what matters is whether it can attract survivors. Compared with other shelter names such as Subway No. 3 Shelter and RT-Mart (supermarket) Shelter. Tree Shade Shelter, err, doesn't sound too bad…
Lu Xiaopeng read these words aloud as several of the people looked at each other.
"Tree Shade Shelter? Is this shelter nearby?"
"But how can this shelter's message be… Written down in a place like this? Why do I keep thinking this place is so unreliable?!"
"Although the characters look a bit ugly, the news should be true… By the way, I think I've heard of Tree Shade from somewhere before! There is a place named Tree Shade Resort near here, is which should be the shelter mentioned on this wall."
After some discussion, several of the people decided to head to this so-called Tree Shade Shelter to take a look.
Given their current circumstances of having neither food nor strength, they won't be able to make it to Lindong Shelter at this rate. It seems they can only go to this Tree Shade Shelter to take a look.
The village isn't far away from the shelter, and they seldom encountered any demonized beasts along the way.
Lu Xiaopeng and several of his classmates had rich experience in avoiding the demonized beasts. At last, they came to the gate of the resort without facing too many dangers along the way.
At the entrance, there are also several big black characters painted on the wall that says: Welcome to Tree Shade Shelter!
However…
They observed the half-collapsed resort gate and the surrounding walls. These walls seemed to have been trampled by many ferocious beasts, leaving them almost unable to imagine its original appearance.
"Is this the shelter?!"
Lu Xiaopeng yells, feeling that he had been cheated.
"No." The glasses classmate found something else and said: "Look over there, there are barbed wire fences and destroyed firearms. Maybe there really was once a shelter here."
Other people also heard the implication from their classmate. Once meaning it's now no longer around. Combined with this tragic scene before them. At this moment, everyone seems to have pictured the tragedy in front of their eyes—the tragic scene when a shelter has been breached by the demonized beasts.
"Then shall we go?" The freckle-faced girl felt a little scared. She thought there might be a terrifying demonized beast lurking in the depths of this resort.
At last, Lu Xiaopeng made up his mind and said: "Let's go in and take a look first. I don't think it's very likely there will be any scary demonized beasts lurking inside. Haven't you guys noticed? We've been seeing less and less demonized beasts along the way."
These students are just ordinary people. Naturally, they don't possess the courage to adventure anywhere far. Every time they see a demonized beast from a distance. Their hearts beat half a beat faster and they didn't even notice how many demonized beasts they've encountered so far along the way.
Lu Xiaopeng is different. He is more or less an awakened one. Even if the reality is he can't beat a demonized wolf. With him being an awakened one, he is naturally calmer than the rest. Although he also wasn't counting how many demonized beasts they've encountered along the way. He can at least detect that the frequency of their encounters with demonized beasts has indeed decreased.
The classmate with glasses thought for a moment and said: "I agree, let's go in and take a look. Even if the shelter no longer exists, at least we'll still have the opportunity to find some food."
Several people began walking into the resort.
Only the demonized beasts have been cleaned up on the periphery of the resort. Most places still remain the same—collapsed houses, dried blood, and some broken arms and limbs which haven't been removed yet.
Lu Xiaopeng and several of his classmates all turned pale. Fortunately, this wasn't their first time seeing such tragic scenes. At the very least they can handle this much!
Soon, they noticed something unusual.
"Look, there are tracks on the ground going from here to there. Look at this demonized beast corpse. Some of the parts have been taken away. There are still survivors in this place!"
"Look over there, I also see some traces of cleanup work going on. It seems that the shelter has survived the crisis. However, looking at the surrounding environment, the shelter has obviously suffered heavy losses and no longer seems very safe."
The most important thing they want from a shelter is to find a safe place to settle down.
But here, it almost looks in ruins. Even if the survivors here are still alive, can this place still be called a shelter? Obviously, this place has encountered a demon wave before. Does that mean another demon wave cannot be resisted in the future?
For a moment, everyone had this same thought in mind.
But since they've already come this far and noticed there are other survivors. The decision on whether or not to stay will be determined on what they find next.
This group of people continued moving forward. The deeper they walked into the resort; the more traces of human activity can be seen. When they arrived near the centre, they noticed the surroundings have obviously been cleaned up with the demonized beast and human corpses no longer visible.
But they still found it very strange that they haven't seen a single soul.
"Listen, I hear a sound." Lu Xiaopeng whispered and pointed to a corner not far away.
Sure enough, out of sight, there were strange sounds around the corner from time to time.
Is this a survivor or a demonized beast?
Carefully, the group proceeded forward and finally poked their heads around the corner only to see a strange scene not too far away.
They saw two unidentified "creatures" wrapped in black iron. With a round, ball-like torso and arms several times larger than normal, these arms looked like they held a hidden explosive force.
At this time, the iron monster was holding a long sword. With a strong wave, a huge stone on the ground was split in two with a loud bang. However, the iron monster didn't stop but continued wielding the long sword. The huge stone was eventually cut into smaller pieces until the stones became moderately sized.
The whole process is so clean and straightforward!
This seemingly ordinary long sword is like a magic weapon. When it chopped the stone, it was as if there is no resistance at all. Lu Xiaopeng can even clearly see the cut parts of the stone. It looked as smooth as a mirror!