Epoch of Twilight

“Zhidong, get someone into my tent. There’s still a cannon there. Zhao Wu, you and the others blend into the crowd the with guns but don’t shoot unless absolutely needed,” Zhu Hao instructed quickly.

He was a dominant person; never the type to leave his fate in the hands of others and always had a backup plan in mind. But no matter how strong a person was, he would have his own set of weaknesses, like everyone else around him.

He asked while carefully analysing the situation with Luo Yuan, “How many grenades do we have left?”

“I didn’t...didn’t count, but there’s still about 15 boxes left,” said one of his men, after much thought.

As they had cleared all military weapons from the fortifications around them, shortage of firearms and weapons were no longer an issue.

“How many times have I told you to record all the weapons with individual serial numbers? Never mind, we’ll talk about this next time...”

He looked towards Luo Yuan again, now stricken with panic. A platinum pistol was aimed at him, not moving the trigger. His back was drenched in sweat; his arm pulling one of his subordinates closer instinctively.

It was useless.

The gun had fired, a dark blue level bullet catapulted through the air and shot through the body without any obstacles, embedding a hole right through his forehead.

Zhu Hao’s eyes widened with disbelief, succumbing to the ground, shuddering.

Up to the point of his death, he could not understand why the person who killed him was not Luo Yuan, not three of his useless men, but the woman who stopped Luo Yuan from killing loudly earlier.

Luo Yuan turned over, looking at Huang Jiahui in shock, feeling touched, “You...”

“No more time to lose, bring the woman with you, and run,” Huang Jiahui said without emotions, pulling the trigger continuously at the few men around Zhu Hao.

Zhu Hao’s death caused another bout of chaos in the campsite, which was just regaining its peace. A few men with a much quicker reflex action had already brandished their pistols, some running towards the cannons.

Luo Yuan was alarmed but he immediately reacted. He made the lizard crouch a little lower and shouted, “Everyone get onto the lizard, we’re leaving this place.”

The group snapped out of their bewilderment, and did as they were told.

Immediately after, Luo Yuan was already charging towards someone who was just about to fire his pistol, and slaughtered him into half. Without delaying, he then advanced towards another gunman on the left. The man did not even have a chance to react as he lost all consciousness with a slash of Luo Yan’s blade.

With a turn of events, Luo Yuan no longer restrained himself from slaughtering another.

Letting loose of his 14-point Dexterity, not a single soul with their guns out survived in those few short seconds. Ultimately, everyone was scared and naturally kept their guns in their pockets.

Luo Yuan turned to see that everyone was already on the lizard, except Huang Jiahui, who was still shooting away.

“Leave quickly, I’ll catch up,” Luo Yuan shouted.

Huang Jiahui did not decline as she knew Luo Yuan’s capabilities very well. She retreated step by step, before turning to run towards the lizard. In a flash, Luo Yuan hacked an accelerating bullet aimed towards Huang Jiahui into half, with the help of Sensory Perception.

Before he least expected it, Luo Yuan picked up a stone and threw it towards the gunman but his poor excuse of a long-distance aim had the stone shooting past the person’s ear instead, but that too, was enough to scare him half to death.

In Zhu Hao’s tent, a machine gun was propped up, the long bullets forming a small golden hill as the muzzle aimed towards Luo Yuan from the hole of the tent. Both machine gunners witnessed the situation outside with bated breaths and cold sweat dripping off their foreheads, while watching the increasing number of deaths.

“When do we fire?”

“I don’t know...We might die if we fire... and if we don’t, then it’s guaranteed we won’t die. Which one do you choose?”

“I want to stay alive,” the person stuttered, after some hesitation.

“Me too.”

Zhao Yali was already scared, dumbfounded by the gory scene in the campsite, only reacting with a scream when she was thrown onto the back of the lizard.

Feeling its master’s fear, Lao Huang was enraged, wanting to charge over but once it saw Zhao Yali on the lizard’s back, it stopped in its tracks. The earlier battle had left an impact on him.

Luo Yuan retreated with caution and jumped onto the lizard promptly. The lizard seemed to have noticed Luo Yuan’s impatience with his forceful tap, as it growled lowly in obedience before running away.

Lao Huang paced the ground restlessly while seeing its owner getting further and further away from him but decided to follow suit, without much thought. It roared at the lizard along the way, its voice echoing long and deep, reverberating through the air.

A soft, gentle breeze blew by.

Zhao Yali sat on the back of the lizard with a straight face.

Wang Shishi pouted, keeping the ball in her court, and ignoring Luo Yuan. Huang Jiahui lowered her head in silence; she wasn’t in the best of moods either. Wang Xiaguang who was beside her looked equally upset.

The tension kept everyone silent but Huo Dong and the others were filled with curiosity to gossip, despite being well-aware that is was not the appropriate time.

The giant lizard sloshed its way through the mud, calf-deep. Luo Yuan did not realize that it had chosen to go through the seabed, but since the mud was not too deep, he decided against asking the lizard to detour.

Luo Yuan looked at the grey clouds above and sighed softly. He had killed a lot of people since the dawn of apocalypse, but not one had caused him to be this restless like today’s, not even when he had murdered for the first time.

He would always be able to find an excuse for himself each time he killed someone, but this time round, he was at a loss.

He had no reason and no right to blame Huang Jiahui too. It would be a lie to say that he was not the least bit delighted when Huang Jiahui murdered Zhu Hao earlier. No man would not want to eliminate their competition in the name of love; a universal truth for as long as one was a man.

Huang Jiahui did not state anything explicitly, but he knew she did it for him. She was part of the police force, thud her sense of justice would always be much stronger than Luo Yuan’s insincere kindness. Although she had stopped him from killing another, but she would kill for him the very next moment.

“You’re so stupid,” Luo Yuan could not help but to utter, looking at Huang Jiahui.

Huang Jiahui kept quiet for a bit before she turned and said, “I don’t want to see you dead because of a woman.”

With her character, the light ridicule in front of everyone was enough to decipher her extreme discontent.

Zhao Yali remained emotionless at the side, as if it she wasn’t the subject of their conversation.

Luo Yuan laughed dryly and diverted the topic to loosen the mood, “It’s already noon now and we haven’t eaten. They wouldn’t be chasing after us now. Why don’t we continue our journey after eating?”

“Let’s eat first then,” Huang Jiahui knew she couldn’t pressure him too much especially when Zhao Yali was around. So, she relented. Besides, everyone had not had a bite since morning.

The lizard halted as the group slid off its back. Zhao Yali lost her bearings as she got down, but pushed Luo Yuan’s hands away when he tried to help. She deliberately slowed her pace and ran towards Lao Huang once Luo Yuan’s attention was off her.

As he saw Zhao Yali run away just as he was putting down the luggage, he pursued her, rather unhappily.

Zhao Yali could not help but beckoned her pet as she saw him chasing her, “Lao Huang, pick me up quickly.”

The creature stood up right away when it heard her voice, encouraging the woman to run without looking back.

Too bad Luo Yuan had already caught up with her just as she spoke.

Lao Huang hesitated and paced around for a while, and decided not to go any closer, as he was still afraid of the lizard.

“Let go of me, you monster,” Zhao Yali punched Luo Yuan violently.

“Where are you going?”

Her struggles were like mere scratches to Luo Yuan, as he could effortlessly drag her back.

“I’m going back to the campsite, I won’t leave with you, even if I die.” Zhao Yali struggled again, but could not free herself, “You’re hurting me, let go, let go of me!”

“If you dare go back there, I’ll kill everyone else there,” Luo Yuan threatened her as he let her go.

“You, you murderer. You’re crazy.” Zhao Yali shook in anger, feeling threatened. Consumed by guilt, she sobbed, “Why are you doing this to me? I’ve been living just fine. Just as I met you, you killed my boyfriend and taken so many other lives. How could you do that?”

Luo Yuan did not clarify that he was not the one responsible behind Zhu Hao’s assassination, but the sobbing Zhao Yali brought him to say gently, “Because you’re mine.”

She looked at Luo Yuan in despise, “Then why didn’t you come for me much earlier? You’re abducting me only now, when I’ve finally forgotten about you? What do you think I am?”

Luo Yuan had nothing to retort. He laughed dryly, “Stop it. We’ll talk about this later. Everyone’s waiting. Let’s have something to eat first.”

After that, he tried pulling Zhao Yali closer, but was cast away by her again.

Zhao Yali wiped her tears away, smudging the pigments on her face and headed back reluctantly, not running away anymore.

Zhao Yali and Zhu Hao just started courting, so they had not developed deep feelings for each other yet. What she was furious about was how Luo Yuan could just bring himself to kill him out of a sudden. After all, Zhu Hao did treat her well and took good care of her. However choosy she was, she would still harbour feelings for him, even after a long time.