Chapter 26
The stench of blood and burning mixed with the lingering ozone from the energy storm, making it nauseatingly thick. The cemetery was completely silent, save for the crackling of sporadic flames and the suppressed groans and sobs of the surviving hounds in the distance.
Shen Mengzhou leaned against the cold sandbag, panting violently, each breath causing excruciating pain in her chest and arms. Her spatial abilities were nearly exhausted, and the dizziness from mental exhaustion washed over her consciousness like a tide.
But she couldn't fall.
His gaze swept across the battlefield. At the edge of the scorched pit, the dying mutant twitched slightly, its dark red cuticle shattering, revealing the charred muscle tissue beneath, its threat greatly diminished. Further away, three or four surviving hounds struggled to crawl out of the rubble, each wounded and still in shock. Most of their weapons had been lost, making them a non-threatening threat for the time being.
Her gaze finally settled on the military-reinforced door half-buried deep within the ruins of the command post, flickering with a faint green emergency light.
Weapons depot!
The forgotten legacy of the past era mentioned in Chen Bo's information flow is right before our eyes!
Must go in!
She gritted her teeth, enduring the excruciating pain. She tore off a relatively clean strip of cloth from her sterile gown and hastily tied up her excruciating left arm. Then, she struggled to her feet, her eyes warily scanning the surviving hounds as she inched towards the storage warehouse door.
Her movements immediately caught the hound's attention.
"That...that woman..." A hound with a broken arm looked at her in horror, his voice hoarse.
The other, who was less seriously injured, had a flicker in her eyes and subconsciously reached for the machete that had fallen at her feet. But when she saw Chen Mengzhou's cold, emotionless eyes, she froze. The sight of her just now fending off the mutants and surviving the energy storm was too horrifying.
Chen Mengzhou ignored them. She was extremely weak at the moment, and any conflict could be fatal. She had to create the illusion of lingering power and unfathomable depth.
She walked straight to the heavy alloy door. There was no key, only an old-fashioned PIN pad and a biometric scanner, both dim and unlit, clearly without power. The junction between the door and the surrounding concrete wall showed obvious signs of rust and deformation.
Physical destruction is the only option, but in her current state...
She gathered the last vestiges of spatial energy, condensing it at her fingertips, and tried to sense the structure inside the door. The energy feedback was weak and vague, but she could "feel" the approximate location of the bolt mechanism, as well as the rust spots that had become even more fragile due to the impact of the explosion.
It requires precise and effortless destruction.
She raised her relatively intact right hand, spread her five fingers, and pressed on the rusted joint between the door and the wall.
The spatial energy is like the tiniest shock wave, passing through the metal and accurately transmitted to the key bolts and load-bearing pins inside!
Snap...Crack...
From inside came the teeth-grinding sound of metal breaking! The sound was not loud, but it was clearly audible!
Creak——
She actually used this almost clever method to shake open a narrow gap in the heavy alloy door from the outside!
A stale smell mixed with gun oil, dust, and cold metal poured out from the door.
Without hesitation, Chen Mengzhou squeezed in sideways, then used her backhand to push the door closed from the inside. The manual locking device inside the door seemed to still work, and she tightened it with great effort.
After doing all this, she was almost exhausted. She slid down to the ground with her back against the cold door, and her vision went dark.
After catching her breath a little, she raised her head and looked around.
Inside was an enclosed space of approximately fifty square meters. Emergency lights provided dim illumination. Rows of metal racks, covered in thick dust sheets, outlined long strips. In the corner, stacked were dark green metal boxes, emblazoned with faded serial numbers and hazard signs.
It seems that this place has not been completely emptied, or that later generations simply don't know about it or are unable to open it.
She struggled to her feet and lifted the nearest dust sheet.
Below was a row of perfectly maintained, standard assault rifles, one could even smell the oil! Though old, the metal components shone with a cold, ethereal luster, far superior to those crudely modified models from the outside world!
She lifted another dust sheet—boxes and boxes of sealed bullets! And grenades and blasting tubes!
The metal boxes in the corner, when opened, made her breath catch. They contained individual rocket launchers! And matching armor-piercing and high-explosive rounds! There were even two sets of heavy explosion-proof suits!
Get rich!
This is a small arsenal! Enough to equip an elite squad!
In the end times, this means a powerful capital for survival!
After the ecstasy came the ultimate calmness. She couldn't carry these things away by herself, and she was too big a target to be coveted.
She quickly sifted through the items. Two assault rifles in top condition, as many magazines as possible, a few grenades, a bayonet, and a lightweight tactical vest to store her ammunition. The bazooka was too heavy, so she forgot about it for now, but she noted its location. The riot gear might be useful, but she kept it for now.
She found a medical kit that still contained a number of unexpired tourniquets, antibiotics, and analgesics. She immediately gave herself an injection of analgesics and tended to the wound on her arm, feeling slightly better.
After being armed, she felt a great deal safer. However, the threat from outside had not been resolved, and the tiankeng was not a place to stay for long.
She needed to leave as soon as possible.
But how to leave? Backtrack to the geothermal pipe? That would only lead to being trapped again.
Her eyes fell on an old map of the area on the wall inside the storage warehouse. The map had yellowed, but it was still legible. It showed the complete structure of the military base, including several emergency evacuation routes!
The exit of one of the passages points to the surface northwest of the tiankeng! It's not far away!
Hope is rekindled!
She carefully noted the location and route of the entrance to the passage (the entrance seemed to be next to another exit buried by rubble next to the storage depot), and then carried as many necessary weapons and ammunition as possible on her back.
Taking a deep breath, she gently opened a crack in the door of the storage warehouse and looked outside.
Inside the tiankeng, the few surviving hounds seemed to have regained some courage, carefully gathering supplies left behind by their companions. Their eyes occasionally glanced toward the sky in fear, fearing the cracks would reappear. The mutant had completely stopped moving.
Chen Mengzhou's eyes turned cold. He couldn't leave any trouble behind, nor could he give these people the chance to reveal the secrets here.
She silently raised the assault rifle in her hand, with a silencer installed on the muzzle (found in the storage warehouse).
Puff! Puff! Puff!
A few extremely light bursts of gunfire.
The hounds that were still searching for supplies suddenly stiffened, a bloody hole appeared on their foreheads, and they fell to the ground without a sound.
Cleaned up.
Chen Mengzhou quickly left the storage warehouse and, following his memory, came to a pile of collapsed concrete debris nearby. His spatial perception probed in and he saw a blocked passageway at the back!
She took out two blasting tubes, set the delay, carefully inserted them into the gaps in the debris, and then quickly retreated to a safe distance.
Boom!
With a dull thud, a gap was blown open in the debris, revealing a dark passage behind it.
Chen Mengzhou entered the passage without hesitation.
The passage was also covered in dust and cobwebs, but its structure was still intact. She walked quickly along the passage, and after about ten minutes, she saw upward stairs and a light ahead.
At the end of the stairs was a rusty iron door.
Follow the same method, use the space energy to shake open the internal lock tongue, and push it open with force.
A long-lost breath of dusty air, reeking of ruins, filled her nostrils. Before her lay a strange, even more desolate, and dilapidated landscape of ruined cities. She had left the mountainous region where the fortress stood and arrived in the true "outside."
Safe for now.
She closed the iron door again and covered it with rubble.
Standing high up in the ruins, she looked back in the general direction of the fortress. The massive building loomed on the horizon like a silent behemoth.
She came out, carrying weapons, intelligence, wounds, and countless mysteries.
Where to next?
The apocalypse is vast but also dangerous, and acting alone is inefficient and extremely risky.
She needed a base, a source of intelligence, and... to observe the movements of the fortress.
She remembered the "ecological park" area mentioned by the survivors, which was further west of the fortress. It was said to be relatively hidden and there were occasional small gatherings of other survivors.
Just go in that direction.
She identified the direction, hid the assault rifle under her large sterile suit (although it didn't fit her well, she had no other choice for the time being), and quickly disappeared into the shadows of the broken walls.
A few days later, at the edge of a dead forest, there was an abandoned viewing platform.
Chen Mengzhou managed to build a crude shelter using tattered canvas and branches he found. His arm injury had mostly healed thanks to medication and his psychic's physique, but his spatial ability was still recovering slowly.
For several days, she carefully explored the surrounding area, avoiding several waves of wandering Ecstasy and small groups of survivors (she didn't trust anyone yet). As the rumors said, there were indeed fewer Ecstasy here, but the resources were also extremely scarce.
She urgently needed to know what was happening outside, especially about the fortress.
The opportunity presented itself one evening.
She hid in the hollow of a huge dead tree and saw a dilapidated pickup truck with welded steel plates coming in the distance. The car stopped near the observation deck and three men got out of the car. They were dressed in a variety of clothes and looked like a team searching for supplies.
They seemed relaxed, talking loudly, and had a small bonfire over which they were roasting some unknown meat.
“… Damn, what’s wrong with those bastards at Fortress lately? The patrols are going out more and more frequently, and they’re even carrying new equipment!” “Have you heard? The old mining gathering place in the west was wiped out by a team of men in black uniforms the night before yesterday! No one was left alive!” “Men in black uniforms? Not from Fortress?” “Don’t look like them… Their methods are more brutal, and their equipment is more weird… I heard they’re something like… ‘Scavengers’?” “Scavengers? Another fucking new force? Is this world going to let people survive…” “Who knows… Anyway, it’s better to stay away from Fortress and their damn ‘safe zone’… Hey, is your meat healed?”
Scavengers? They took down the gathering point? Black uniforms?
Chen Mengzhou's mind raced. This seemed out of place at the Fortress. Was it a secret force within the Fortress? Or another force? Was Dr. Adrian clearing out the threats from the periphery?
She needed more accurate intelligence.
Seeing that the three men had eaten and drunk their fill, they left one man to keep watch while the other two got into the car to sleep. The man on watch also dozed off against the wheel, holding his gun.
Chance.
Chen Mengzhou approached silently like a black panther walking at night.
puff!
With an extremely slight muffled sound, the rifle equipped with a silencer accurately knocked down the Night Watchman.
She quickly approached the pickup truck and opened the door. The two men inside woke up with a start, and before they could react, the cold muzzle of a gun was pressed against their foreheads.
"Don't move, don't make a sound." Chen Mengzhou's voice was low and cold, carrying unquestionable murderous intent. "I ask, you answer."
The two men were so frightened that they nodded repeatedly as they looked at the woman who suddenly appeared in front of them, dressed strangely, with frighteningly cold eyes, and the well-maintained standard rifle in her hand.
"What happened in the fortress recently?" "No... I don't know... There are just more patrols, and... I heard that something seemed to have happened inside, and martial law has been imposed..." "What are scavengers?" "I... we heard about it too... They are a group of people wearing black clothes, with very ruthless methods. They specialize in sweeping small gathering points in the west, as if... as if they are looking for something..." "Looking for what?" "I really... I really don't know... It seems to be something... Women? Or children? It's hard to say..." "West of the fortress, are there any other places where survivors are gathering?" "Go... go another thirty miles west, there is an abandoned logistics transfer station, there is a small market there... Sometimes you can exchange some things... As for other things... I don't know anything else..."
Chen Mengzhou asked a few more questions, and after confirming that he could not squeeze out any more valuable information, he raised his hand without hesitation.
Puff! Puff!
There were two soft sounds, and silence returned to the car.
She quickly searched the vehicle and the body, finding some food, clean water, and a crude hand-drawn map that marked some resources and danger points in the nearby area, including the logistics transfer station.
Supplies were replenished, intelligence was obtained, and potential threats were eliminated.
She dragged the body to a distant place and buried it, cleaned up the traces, and then drove the broken pickup truck towards the logistics transfer station marked on the map.
A logistics hub. Perhaps you can get more information about the "Scavengers" and the fortress's movements here, or try to exchange arms for necessities.
The pickup truck drove on the bumpy ruined road, raising dust all the way.
Chen Mengzhou looked through the dirty car window at the vague outline of the fortress in the distance, his eyes cold and deep.
Dr. Adrian... "Scavenger"... What are you looking for?
Are you looking for me?
Or... looking for Niuniu?
Whatever you want to do, I won't let you succeed.
The hunt has just begun.
And she has transformed from a prey into the most deadly hunter lurking in the dark.
Waiting for the moment to deliver the fatal blow.
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