Chapter 63 Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland 26

"Brother Tong, scan the area for suitable hiding spots."

[Scanning...]

[Target locked: 700 meters southwest, underground parking lot of a large shopping mall.]

[Assessment: The structure is stable with multiple entrances and exits, but only one remains passable. There are no signs of life inside.]

Zhou Jue nodded, and with a flash, disappeared into the shadows of the buildings.

Instead of walking on the open road, she moved silently among the ruins like a ghost.

Her steps were light, yet each step was taken with extreme caution.

Just then, the system notification sounded out of nowhere, cold and urgent.

[WARNING: Unknown attachment detected.]

"What is that?"

Zhou Jue's figure suddenly froze.

[Location: Directly behind the host, 30 meters.]

[Attachment point: Building exterior wall.]

[Volume: Microscopic.]

[Energy reaction: None.]

Vital signs: None.

Threat Level: Unknown.

Zhou Jue slowly turned around, his gaze sharp and precise, locking onto the location marked by the system.

It was a half-collapsed office building, its gray walls covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

There was nothing in sight.

"Zoom in on the image," she whispered the command.

On the system projection, the image zoomed in rapidly.

On a mottled cement surface, a black dot, smaller than a pinhead, lies dormant.

No energy, no life.

These two "nothings" actually raised the alarm bells in Zhou Jue's heart to their loudest.

In this world, the most dangerous things are often not those that are aggressive and menacing, but rather the unknown that defies common sense.

"Composition analysis".

Analysis failed. The target material's structure is beyond the current understanding of global databases.

Even the system can't parse it?

Zhou Jue's brows furrowed into a deep frown.

How did this thing appear? Was it originally here? Or was it teleported here with her? Is it a contingency plan left behind by that mutated plant? Or is it a strange byproduct of that explosion?

She did not act rashly.

There is an imperceptible "point" that cannot be dealt with for the time being. The most urgent task is to restore my almost depleted spiritual power.

She memorized the coordinates of the black dot, turned around, and continued to sneak towards the underground parking lot.

Soon, the entrance appeared before them.

A huge "P" sign was broken in half, hanging precariously above the entrance. The roller shutter door had been violently broken open, leaving a gap just wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

An air mixed with the smell of mold and rotting gasoline slowly seeped out of the cave entrance.

Zhou Jue did not enter immediately. She took out a hummingbird drone, flew out silently, and disappeared into the darkness.

The three underground levels were deathly silent.

The thermal imaging showed no signs of life, only a jumble of vehicles.

After confirming it was safe, Zhou Jue retrieved the drone, crawled through the gap, and headed straight for the deepest part of the third basement level.

This is a dead corner with walls on three sides and only one direction, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

She skillfully took out miniature sensor mines from the Starry Sky Box and placed them in the only passage, then scattered a thin layer of broken glass around them.

After doing all this, she leaned against a dusty car and sat down cross-legged.

However, just as she was about to close her eyes and guide her spiritual power...

An extremely faint, suppressed breath came from under the car behind her.

Zhou Jue's muscles tensed instantly, but his expression remained unchanged, and not even his eyelids twitched.

Someone's there!

And there's more than one!

The drone's thermal imaging failed to detect them!

The other party either possesses special equipment to shield themselves from thermal imaging, or... they can disguise their heartbeat and body temperature as if they were dead.

It seems the survivors in Kyoto have more tricks up their sleeves than the ones she encountered before.

She continued in her meditative posture, seemingly unaware, absorbing spiritual energy while simultaneously diverting her mental energy, like an invisible spiderweb, instantly enveloping the entire corner.

One...two...three...

There are five people in total.

Like predatory beasts, they lurked behind several wrecked cars, forming a perfect crescent-shaped encirclement that blocked all her escape routes.

They were waiting, waiting for the moment she would completely relax.

Zhou Jue sneered inwardly.

Coincidentally, she was also waiting.

Let them show their fangs first.

Time ticked by, and the air seemed to solidify into lead, so heavy it was suffocating.

Finally, the hunters in the darkness lost their patience.

call out!

A barely perceptible whooshing sound rang out!

A crossbow bolt, made of steel bars and coated with black oil, shot straight toward the back of Zhou Jue's neck!

In the blink of an eye!

Just as the crossbow bolt was about to touch his skin, Zhou Jue slid his body to the side, avoiding the fatal blow!

At the same time, she flicked her wrist, and the vibrating blade emitted a low hum, spinning and tearing through the air as it slashed towards the direction from which the crossbow bolts were fired!

"puff!"

A dull thud as a sharp weapon pierced flesh, followed by a scream that was being suppressed in the throat.

A dark figure behind the car fell to the ground with a thud.

"Let's do it!"

A furious shout shattered the silence!

The remaining four dark figures suddenly sprang up from behind the cover, their fire axes, crowbars, and machetes whistling through the air as they attacked Zhou Jue from four angles simultaneously!

Their teamwork was seamless, clearly an instinct honed through countless life-or-death battles.

But they were facing Zhou Jue.

Even with her spiritual energy depleted, her combat suit instantly went into overload mode, and combined with her combat instincts and physical abilities, she remained resilient.

Instead of retreating, Zhou Jue advanced, his figure flashing as he deliberately crashed into the encirclement!

She didn't even look at her own Vibration Blade, but instead took out the Boundary-Breaking Shovel.

"puff!"

The back of the shovel struck the other person's arm holding the weapon.

Before the man could scream, Zhou Jue had already chopped his carotid artery with a chop to the neck. The burly man groaned and collapsed to the ground.

Having dealt with one person, the attacks of the other three have completely shut down her escape routes!

Zhou Jue bent her waist backward in an astonishing arc, almost parallel to the ground, letting the axe blade and knife whistle past her nose.

The next second, she pushed off the ground with both legs, and like a compressed spring, she suddenly spun up!

A sweeping leg strike landed hard on the knees of the remaining three men!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three muffled thuds sounded, and the three men knelt down on the ground.

Before they could react, Zhou Jue had already lunged forward, clenched his fists, and punched them squarely in the temples and backs.

The entire process took less than ten seconds.

Zhou Jue stood up straight, his chest heaving violently as he breathed heavily.

Performing such a powerful burst of energy while her spiritual energy was depleted placed an enormous strain on her body.

She walked over to the group of people, checked them over, and found they were all lifeless.

In the end times, to be merciful to the enemy is to be cruel to oneself.

As for why they didn't use a pistol or a shovel to cut open the neck, it was naturally to avoid the smell and sound of blood attracting other dangers.

Zhou Jue stepped forward and found a rudimentary device still in operation in one of the men's pockets, which emitted a weak interference wave.

Something that blocks thermal imaging.

She casually put it into the Starry Sky Box, but her gaze suddenly sharpened.

"Brother Tongzi".

Is that black dot outside still there?

【exist. 】

Zhou Jue's heart sank.

What she feared most was never the visible dangers, but the unknown that she couldn't understand.

Without further delay, she sat down immediately, forcibly suppressing her physical exhaustion, and began to circulate her internal energy.

The surrounding spiritual energy began to penetrate into Zhou Jue's body, re-gathering in his dried-up meridians.

She must recover as soon as possible.

This perilous city will not give her much time to catch her breath.

An hour later.

When her spiritual power had just recovered to 60%, the system alarm sounded for the third time!

This time, it was neither a prompt nor a warning, but the sharpest and most urgent screech!

[Warning! Warning! Unknown organisms are proliferating abnormally! They are undergoing exponential growth!]

Zhou Jue suddenly opened his eyes and instantly pulled up the surveillance footage.

On the exterior wall of that office building, the black dot that was originally smaller than a pinhead had now become a patch!

Hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands of black dots, like ink that has come to life, are spreading wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye!