An endless grassland was in front of Chu Han; he wanted to go through it to shorten the distance, but the danger he’d face would similarly double.
Cities filled with zombies were the most dangerous places after the apocalypse, and the wilderness came in second. Zombies were not the only organisms threatening humanity’s existence. Everything changed in these last two months.
In the green grassland, the weeds had become taller than an ordinary human; the plants’ genes had mutated after the global darkness. They had either perished or grown at a terrifying fast rate. Chu Han had been afraid of going through the grassland, which only a phase-1 evolutionary or above could pass through in his previous life. Luckily, he now had Ye Mo’s modified Wrangler.
Chu Han’s vision was hindered by the tall grass, but he just rushed forward without wasting time. No matter how careful he was, he still met a group of deer.
It was quite common seeing deer in the grassland, but after the apocalypse, no one wanted to face them; the animals were no more humanity’s prey as their genes had changed too.
Although the tall grass was hiding the Wrangler a herd of deer that was not far spotted it and rushed to the vehicle. Their height had surpassed the vehicle and dozens of female deer, with red eyes and an air of brutality exuding from their very skin, looked like hungry monsters. The sun’s cold light fell upon a male deer’s antlers. After the gene mutation, its antlers were more aggressive and sharp as a knife.
Chu Han looked at one button in the vehicle, never doubting that the deer would rush to the vehicle since animals’ body structure and strength were different now. It could be said that humans would be the weakest organism in the lowest rung of the food pyramid if they did not enhance their strength.
‘Roar!’
The deer left deafening sounds one after the other. It would be inconceivable to an ordinary person since they sounded like monsters, but Chu Han was familiar with that sound.
Animals were the same as plants; they would either die or crazily grow after the gene mutation. They would follow the law of jungle and turn into savage beasts.
At the moment that those deer rushed to the Wrangler, Chu Han pushed the button.
‘Boom!’
There was a loud noise and then…
‘Puff! Puff! Puff!’
The monstrous deer’s bodies were cut clean in pieces. Their blood surged out and the surrounding greenery was dyed scarlet red.
"I’ll have to wait for a half hour again," Chu Han helplessly murmured in the vehicle.
The fuel tank had been dismantled and modified into one of harnessing pure solar power. Luckily, Ye Mo’s modifications were top-notch and the vehicle’s solar energy absorbing efficiency was very high; the vehicle could be driven for a whole day. But after the attack, the energy was depleted; no matter if it was the electric shock rendering the tanks useless or the high-energy light wave capable of cutting dozens of deer in pieces, Chu Han had to wait for half hour to resume his journey.
Chu Han briefly closed his eyes to rest, but he suddenly opened them again. He looked through the black window and found two adult cheetahs approaching with extreme speed. They were very powerful for him to handle. Their fangs extended outwards and Chu Han was sure that the Wrangler wouldn’t last for half an hour if they started biting through it.
"Damn it!" Chu Han held the Xiuluo ax tightly.
He forgot that even though a few zombies were lurking around, the fresh blood of the deer would attract other animals!
"F*ck!" He could not help cursing, and he checked the Meltdown System with annoyance all over his face.
He had accumulated 1953 credits and still needed a little more to break through and become a phase-2 evolutionary. Why couldn’t he have met a group of zombies instead? He would die while fighting two cheetahs with his phase-1 strength.
Bang!
The door was opened and then closed soon after. Chu Han didn’t hesitate to abandon the vehicle and run away. It was not his style to wait for death. He had to run away as the vehicle needed half an hour to recharge to be of use.
‘Clash!’
Carrying the Xiuluo ax, Chu Han’s speed had reached its peak. The dead pack of deer was not that appetizing to the two cheetahs so they ignored the bloody carcasses. They instead hunted down Chu Han as his blood was much fresher.
A thousand mile distance was shortened by half in just a few seconds! The cheetahs’ running speed was truly terrifying!
"Damn it!" Chu Han’s speed exploded without turning back. He couldn’t hear their steps so he focused on the straws they stepped on. He had no other options but to place everything on one method if he wanted to live.
"Upgrade speed talent!" He desperately roared in his mind.
The Meltdown System transmitted in his mind, [Upgrading the speed talent costs 500 credits, do you want to proceed?]
"Just upgrade the goddamn thing. What the f*ck are you asking?" Chu Han was speechless with the sluggish Meltdown System in such a critical moment, but it didn’t respond like usual.
‘Clash!’
Chu Han could feel something warm passing through his body, and he became lighter; his speed had increased, while his credits decreased to 1453. Finally, his speed was the same as the cheetahs, while 300 meters were separating them. Chu Han couldn’t relax since they could trace him, even though he was using evading maneuvers. He didn’t want to look into the cheetahs' open mouths.
After half an hour of pursuit, Chu Han felt tired running for that long.
"F*ck! Have I not arrived yet?" He was dizzy and cursed.
At that moment, a huge monolith whose length was a thousand meters and its height reaching a hundreds of meters to the top were visible ahead. Why it was there was unknown but it looked like a high building in the grassland.
The huge monolith was gray and looked very common. The transverse distance could not be gone through. The monolith was in front of Chu Han but his eyes became really sharp suddenly.
Chu Han’s speed soared, and he crashed into the monolith’s left side!
‘Roar! Roar!’
Chu Han heard two extremely angry roars but didn’t care. His entire body seemed going through jelly, which left a weird tugging sensation. His body vanished into the monolith.
At the moment that Chu Han was absorbed by the weird monolith, he held the ax and turned back. The smile on his face was filled with provocation. He silently looked at the cheetahs crashing on the wall and their blood surging out from the impact.