Chapter 23 Dangers of the Night
The blue smoke swept across the highway at an extremely rapid speed, and in the blink of an eye, everything except where Qiao Yu was located was surrounded by blue smoke.
The smoke was hazy, and upon closer inspection, one could see a grainy texture; layers of particles swayed and intertwined, with faint shadows appearing.
Qiao Yu quickly opened the car door, climbed inside, and closed the door, leaving only a small crack in the window.
This is...
What was the source of the foul smell last night?
Before long, the shadow appeared in the smoke.
First, a thick, large foot emerged from the smoke, stepping onto the ground. Several yellowed toenails immediately emitted a sour stench.
This foot is huge, almost as big as an elephant's leg, but it is covered with abscesses. Several of the abscesses have ruptured, and the yellow pus and blood inside seep into the spaces between the toes.
Then another shadowy figure emerged.
This was a huge monster, at least two meters tall, with a head that looked like a balloon blown to its limit, its skin forcibly stretched open by gas.
Its yellowish-brown head had no pupils, only two empty eye sockets. Its face was covered with pustules the same size as its thighs. Not only were its legs very thick, but its hands were too.
The skin on my arm was like fish scales, split into patches hanging on my arm, the brown epidermis dry and cracked, the flesh underneath separated by the lines.
The moment the monster appeared, the wide road suddenly seemed very narrow.
It stood alone in the middle of the road, like a mountain blocking people's way.
As Qiao Yu sat in the car, watching the monster appear, her heart ached as if it were being gripped by two hands.
What is this?
Could it be that which arrived last night?
Qiao Yu quickly dismissed the guess. Impossible. It definitely wasn't this monster last night.
This monster's hands are almost as big as car windows, and the handprints on the window are clearly those of dwarves, so it definitely can't be this kind of creature.
As the smoke dissipated, the monster took a step forward with a thud.
"boom--"
The ground was shaking, and stones from both sides of the road rolled into the middle of the road.
Before the ground tremors stopped, the monster took its second step, this time heading towards Qiao Yu.
Qiao Yu immediately held her breath, lowered her head slightly, controlled her trembling fingers, and tried her best to keep her body from shaking.
The monster took its third step and came to a spot five meters away from the vehicle.
Upon closer inspection, Qiao Yu was utterly astonished by the monster's size.
They can walk 100 meters in three steps. How is that any different from a giant in an anime?
No, there is a difference; at least giants don't look that ugly.
The monster was so hideous that she wanted to gouge her own eyes out after just one glance.
What is that? If you didn't know better, you'd think it was half-burnt trash that had escaped from the garbage can.
The monster stopped five meters away from the old man's car. Just as Qiao Yu was wondering what it was going to do, the monster ran to the side of the road diagonally in front of the vehicle.
It trampled the weeds along the roadside under its feet, bent down slightly, and with one swipe of its paw, dug up all the soil and tree roots, along with many stones buried in the ground, which were also thrown onto the road.
Soil fell through the gaps between the monster's outstretched fingers, and soon its hand was empty. It threw away a few stones, moved to another spot, and struck again.
Within seconds, several piles of dirt appeared on the highway.
However, the monster was still not satisfied, and the blood on its body was out of control, constantly sliding down its calves.
It seemed oblivious to pain, busily running back and forth until it had loosened the soil on both sides of the road, before finally stopping and standing there, stunned.
Qiao thought the monster was over, but the next second the monster, which had calmed down, roared again.
It turned its head at lightning speed, its dark eyes locking onto the old man's car, and took a step forward.
Qiao Yu's heart skipped a beat. Almost simultaneously with the shadowy figure, she frantically pressed the window button and pushed the window up.
At the same time, the shadowy figure reached the window, and the window and the car were sealed together perfectly at that moment.
"Bang--"
The monster slammed its massive hands against the car window, causing the car to shake violently. Everything inside the car was thrown from its fixed position and rolled to various corners of the vehicle.
As the car swayed, Qiao Yu hurriedly grabbed the steering wheel and pulled on the seatbelt to hold herself up.
What the hell? Wasn't this supposed to be a newbie protection period? How can this be called a newbie protection period?
The monster outside missed its attack and, unable to find food, grew hungry. Just like the crazy little dwarf from last night, it grabbed the sides of the old man's car with both hands and tried to pull the vehicle outwards with its fingers.
But just as it grabbed the car, before it could even make a move, the dozen or so empty batteries hanging outside the electric vehicle flashed simultaneously.
A faint green sliver emerged from the battery, and a dozen currents traveled along the monster's hand gripping the vehicle, entering its body and rapidly circulating within, destroying its internal tissues.
With a sizzling sound, black smoke billowed from the monster's body, and the smell of roasted meat wafted into the car from outside.
The monster was so shocked by more than a dozen electric currents that it could not even stand up. It was forced to let go of the vehicle and trembled on the spot. Its cracked skin was torn even more by the electric shocks.
Qiao Yu was stunned. The battery that she had complained about during the day, saying it could only be used once, turned out to be really useful at night, and quite useful at that.
In an instant, a piece of information flashed through her mind.
During the newbie protection period, almost every two treasure chests contain batteries. The system is giving them batteries like crazy. Is there some other reason behind this?
Yes, that's definitely the intention, otherwise why would the system be so kind as to send out so many batteries?
The firefly that hadn't been extinguished only found three barrels of fuel in three days, and other survivors who used fuel didn't sell much either. It was obvious that no one had much fuel left.
The system distributes batteries aggressively in the early stages because it knows that not many survivors will choose to use them, so these batteries will be sold off as survivors won't need them.
Moreover, it's an empty battery that's been used up. A normal person would just throw it away after using it, and very few people would think about making use of it.
Once Qiao Yu understood this, her face turned green. "Damn system, you really didn't have any good intentions."
She felt something was wrong at the time. Why would the system suddenly give out so many batteries, especially when one battery could last a day in the early stages?
So that's what the system's real goal was.
Once the newbie protection period is over, everyone will be out of batteries and won't have any spare batteries. Without the protection of the newbie period at night, what will happen when survivors encounter monsters instead of just dying?
In one night, without needing to use a single soldier, just by having these monsters that can get close to vehicles, most of the survivors would die.
To put it bluntly, it's not impossible for an entire district to be wiped out, since there are still many unarmed elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people.
Damn system, you're so vicious! You kill people without a shred of mercy.
Qiao Yu watched with a cold face as the monster was burned and started bubbling, thinking about the system's intentions, and felt an inexplicable anger rising in her heart.
She rolled down the car window and, taking advantage of the monster's momentary pause, quickly threw something at it.
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