Epoch of Twilight

Luo Yuan found a piece of black cloth on the ground covered with dirt and blood stains. At first, he was hesitant to pick it up as it exuded a foul smell. Finally, he ignored the nauseous smell and wrapped half of his face with the cloth.

The most deadly part of the volcanic eruption wasn’t the hot and slow-moving lava or the toxic gas in the air. It was actually the ashes that were falling from the sky. Because it is only a few micrometers in diameter, through respiration, the volcanic ashes could easily enter into our lungs causing difficulties in breathing which could eventually lead to death. Even though the sun was up, the entire sky turned dark and gloomy.

Looking at the never ending wave of mutated beasts, Luo Yuan’s face gradually became more ferocious. He slowly pulled out his knife from its sheath and in an instant, he sprinted and sliced up the blue level mutated beast which was about to climb onto the highway. Blood splattered all over the place. Luo Yuan continued moving; he quickly ran towards a tiger-like creature and jumped on top of it before it even had time to react. He stabbed through its eye all the way into its skull.

The other beasts began rolling into a ball because of the earthquake. A large number of low-level mutated beasts were trampled on or crushed to death. The never ending wave of mutated beasts became lesser, but Luo Yuan could not relax. Some of the beasts were able to stand up and the weakest among them were the light blue level beasts. The blue level mutated beast had almost become a norm now. Even the more frightening dark blue mutated beasts can be seen everywhere.

The rapid beating of Luo Yuan’s heart supplied him with a steady amount of strength. All the wounds on his body and even his fractured bones began to heal quickly. Unfortunately, his range of perception was declining, but his energy should last him at least another half an hour. A lot of mutated beasts started appearing but they were all beheaded by Luo Yuan one by one. This wave of mutated beasts did not pose any threat to Luo Yuan. He even had time to gaze at the volcanoes in the distance.

Sadly, the good times did not last long; a dark blue level mutated beast appeared. This mutated beast was strange as it looked almost like a fish but had four long sturdy legs and some fins. Black moist scales were seen on its body and long stretches of watermarks could be seen on the ground beneath its white belly. It was as though it just recently came out from the water.

The dark blue mutated beast was huge! It was easily more than 10 meters long and eight meters tall, it was even larger than the lizard. Due to its fish-like nature, it had big jaws on its head filled with large steel-like teeth. However, it was clear that the beast was not familiar with walking on land, and thus, it moved very slowly. The size of the beast was enough to easily crush Luo Yuan to death if it was able to move quickly. Luo Yuan noticed that its body and even its tail were covered in scars.

Luo Yuan’s expression became serious at that moment. He was not concerned about the huge size of the beast but was worried about the other aspects related to its presence. The creature was obviously a fish which grew limbs that helped it walk on land. Before this, Luo Yuan had never feared the ocean or what horrible species were inside it. To him, the ocean was the ocean, and the land was the land. They were basically two different worlds. He had never considered anything about the ocean until this creature appeared.

The world was changing and more and more creatures were mutating. Luo Yuan began to move as he noticed the creature struggling to climb up onto the highway. He quietly sneaked close to the fish which had not fully adapted to the land. Its reaction was extremely slow and Luo Yuan was only ten meters away from it. When the fish finally noticed Luo Yuan, it was too late. Luo Yuan quickly trampled on the ground.

“Trampling of the Earth!” He shouted.

Suddenly the ground began to tremor as if an explosion had occurred. Solid concrete floors instantly turned to dust and severe shockwaves could be felt. However, the trampling of the earth did not have any effect on the beast. The high-frequency vibrations did not cause any dizziness to the beast at all; it only caused its body to shake. The beast suddenly stopped moving forward and Luo Yuan took this opportunity to strike. He jumped off from the ground and with his sharp blade he cut through the beast’s head. One-third of its head was cut, and even the brain inside was damaged.

The beast was in unimaginable pain and its tail was struggling fiercely. Fortunately, Luo Yuan had already retreated. It was the first time he had used his power against a dark blue level mutated beast. However, in general, his power would not cause much damage to this creature. In fact, even Wang Shishi’s telekinesis powers were better. During a battle, the slightest distraction could be fatal. Even the slightest pause could easily decide a battle.

As time went on, more and more mutated beasts stacked in front of Luo Yuan. The beasts were strong as most of them struggled but had not died. Many of the beasts saw their friends slaughtered and quickly ran away. Ten minutes later, the wave of mutated beasts finally stopped completely. Luo Yuan was lucky. Until the very end of the wave, he did not face any level five mutated beasts. Apparently, the difficulty of this task was not assigned to ‘b’ unless he was going to deal with a level five mutated beast. The system seems to have the ability to predict correctly in this regard. Looking straight ahead with no mutated beast in sight, Luo Yuan felt relieved and was finally able to relax. His heartbeat returned to normal, however, the Earth began to pull away power from his body causing him to almost fall onto the ground.

At this moment, the system prompted a message:

B- Level tasks: blocking the beast’s wave. Requirement: Only two deaths allowed. Mission completed. Time length: 3 minutes, mission evaluation: good”

“Character: Luo Yuan”

“Completion Rate: 3%”

“Reward-Based Experience: 603”

“Evaluation: Good, experience value: 803”

“Total Experience: 18603400”

“Mutated beasts: The Forest Chameleon”

“Completion rate: 10%”

“Reward-Based Experience Points: 6010”

“Evaluation: Good, Experience Points 8010”

“Experience: 6260”

His experience points increased by a large margin, but Luo Yuan was not satisfied. If he could choose, Luo Yuan would have preferred not to do this kind of mission. ‘B – level’ difficulty is far beyond his limit. If it was not for his good fortune in understanding the Earth’s pulse, he would have been dead by now.

Volcanoes kept erupting in the distance which accumulated a thick layer of ashes on the ground. Luo Yuan could hardly stand properly at this point and Huang Jiahui quickly rushed over while coughing.

“Are you alright?” Huang Jiahui said as she continued coughing.

Luo Yuan shook his head. He also had the feeling of wanting to cough as his lungs felt like they were on fire. It was difficult to endure. He noticed more and more volcanic ashes falling to the ground and said, “We can’t stay here! We must get out of here as soon as possible.”

“But...But...Ahem... ... Where can we go? The road is broken.” Huang Jiahui replied while coughing. She then continued, “The only path left is through the jungle.”

Due to the giant tree collapsing, a large number of roots were pulled out from the ground causing the road to stretch and crack. Therefore, they are unable to use the path on the road.

“Most of the mutated beasts have fled, so perhaps the jungle may be safer to enter.” Luo Yuan replied.

Luo Yuan noticed the outpost had disappeared. His facial expression changed when he realized that their luggage was gone. There were a lot of resources inside, but the most important ones were the tent and drinking water. There was also salt in their luggage and without any salt, over a long period of time, their bodies would become weak. He could accept if everything else had disappeared but the salt was vital for their survival.

He quickly asked, “Did you find our luggage?”

Huang Jiahui shook her head and said, “During the earthquake...cough...cough...There was a deep crack in the ground...Everything fell into the cracks and I could not find it anymore.”

“Take me there and let me have a look. I might be able to retrieve it.” Luo Yuan was being unreasonable because the luggage was too important to him. Even if it was deep inside the cracks, he still intended to get it back.

Luo Yuan went to observe the crack. In his desperation, he found it impossible for them to escape. The crack was huge and wide! It was dark and bottomless, so he threw a stone down to check its depth. The sound of the stone colliding with the rock walls echoed. Even though Luo Yuan has good hearing, the echoing sound grew softer and softer until he could not hear it anymore. He could not tell where the bottom was! The only way was through the jungle, but without tents or drinking water, Luo Yuan simply could not imagine what kinds of threats they would encounter next.

He wanted to scream out loud but manage to suppress it. The crowd behind him were coughing uncontrollably to the point where Wang Xiaguang even started coughing out blood. Everyone was coughing with tears coming out of their eyes, frightened, with a strong scent of death.