Epoch of Twilight

The strange call for help sounded kind of ethereal on the empty street. The dead silence gave everyone goosebumps.

This was definitely not a victim.

As the sound got closer, the group turned another corner, and suddenly found a woman standing alone in the middle of the moss-filled street.

The woman or creature was standing lively in the middle of the road, completely naked. She had snowy white, soft skin, a perfect figure, straight long thighs, and very long hair. Her black smooth hair hang all the way down to her plump ass, somehow not matching the extreme circumstances of the apocalypse.

If not for her hands, they would have mistaken her for a real human, a beautiful woman who could make one’s blood boil.

However, from a short distance of thirty meters, everyone could clearly see her overly long fingernails. They were about five or six centimeters long. The nails of normal humans would start to bend and roll up when they exceeded one centimeter. However, the woman’s nails were strangely straight and sharp, just like daggers.

As they got closer to her, she seemed to sense something, and her call for help stopped abruptly. Her head twisted slightly without a warning, and she suddenly turned and looked in their direction.

There was a wicked, yet drowsy smile on her face as her eyes looked over at them slow-wittedly. They did not seem capable of emotional changes. They looked just like a puppet’s eyes.

The abnormal phenomenon had everyone watching it trembling. Zhao Yali, who had always been timid, suddenly paled. Her body started shaking and she almost fell to the ground.

Huang Jiahui held the gun in her hand tighter.

The Giant Lizard, on the other hand, looked very calm. It wasn’t moving at all. Maybe it just wasn’t used to seeing things like that.

The woman looked straight at them for quite a while, but did not do anything. It looked like she was considering something. That smile on her face still hung there wickedly.

After they’d been confronting each for a few seconds, something strange happened. The woman suddenly raised her head, opened her mouth and screamed without making a sound. At first, Luo Yuan thought it was some kind of sonic wave attack, but other than everyone feeling a suppression on their chests, there was nothing unusual about it.

Luo Yuan felt a little off, like something invisible and dangerous was approaching.

He believed in his own instincts though, so he made a fast decision and shouted at Huang Jiahui, “Fire!”

Huang Jiahui hesitated shortly before she pulled the trigger. A well-trained gunner like her could not miss from such a short distance. The bullet shot through the woman’s skull, leaving a bloody hole on her head.

Everyone held their breath.

No matter what creature this was, as long as it was vertebrate, its skull was its killing point. Once that was destroyed, it had almost no chance of survival. However, the woman seemed to be unaware of the gunshot as she continued to shout soundlessly. Huang Jiahui’s face turned pale as she watched her. She kept pulling the trigger.

The woman’s head already looked like a beehive. Sometimes it was not a good thing if the penetration of the bullet that was too strong. If Huang Jiahui had been using a normal, large bullet, just one shot would have been enough to blow the creature’s head off. However, synthesized bullets could only leave two parallel holes. By the time Huang Jiahui was out of bullets, the woman’s head still stood right there. There were just a few small holes in it.

Brain matter mixed with blood slowly flowed out of the holes. At last, the creature could not stand anymore. Her body shook as if she was drunk, and she turned around on the spot, her mouth opening and closing, the soundless sonic wave going on and off.

Suddenly, she fell to the ground, her limbs still struggling non-stop. She kept standing up and falling down again.

Her strong vitality shocked everyone.

Out of the blue, the Giant Lizard suddenly snorted and raised its head.

Luo Yuan noticed the Giant Lizard’s unease. His heart turned cold with an obscure instinct as he hurriedly said, “This is not normal. We have to leave this place right now.”

“What’s wrong?” Wang Shishi asked curiously. She did not seem to understand.

“It’s too dangerous here. Fast, grab all the luggage. I will explain later!”

The Giant Lizard started to get irritated and kept stomping its four limbs anxiously. Anyone would be able to sense the danger getting closer.

Luo Yuan ordered the lizard to lie down, but the beast was in a state of rage and would not listen to him. The scales all over its body had rolled up into a serrated shape, its huge, long tail swaying nonstop in the sky. Its wrinkled lips revealed its dreadfully messy teeth while the lizard growled with a thunder-like sound.

Lao Huang, who was neither friendly nor aloof to the team, was also trotting along behind them. It had red fur filled with some kind of transparent, light red flame. The moss on the road turned into smoked char after being stepped on by it. It stopped more than one hundred meters from the Giant Lizard. It kept an eye on the beast while it looked at Zhao Yali and turned its head in concentration to stare in the distance.

Looking at Lao Huang’s horrifying behaviour, Zhao Yali, who had been excited and ready to shout, turned pale and shut her mouth.

The two beasts seemed ready for a fight, yet they were not each other’s opponent.

The suppressed atmosphere diffused among the team. Everyone’s heart felt like it was being pressed by a huge rock. Nobody spoke anymore. Even Luo Yuan could feel the strong pressure.

From a distance, they heard bright voices. A few seconds later, there was a sound like a dull thunder rolling in the sky. The sound moved towards them like waves in the sea. It felt like there were countless creatures running towards them from every direction.

“Current Mission: B Level Mission, Escape to the sky, Mission Goal: Save at least four people.”

A system message suddenly appeared in his mind. Luo Yuan was finally presented with a big chance. A chilling feeling rose from the bottom of his heart and spread all over his body.

He was not just worried about the B Level Mission. If it was any normal mission, Luo Yuan would not have been this nervous. Considering his abilities now though, he could not complete a B Level Mission.

What was making him more nervous though, was that this kind of mission set survival as a goal. It did not look easy. In fact, it was the hardest kind of mission, and the most dangerous and uncertain mission difficulty level. Plus, he could reject normal missions. Even if he rejected this mission though, they would still not be able to escape.

He had only experienced this kind of situation once, during the beast attack on the highway. That mission had been almost ninety percent gone. lt would have taken only one mistake for the whole group to be wiped out. If he had not discovered his evolving ability by accident, he would have died right then and there.

The only fortunate thing compared to that incident on the highway, was that his level had been upgraded in the meantime, and his abilities had changed drastically. Not just his, but the Giant Lizard’s as well. Lao Huang’s ability had also reached a dark blue level and Chen Xianfeng could definitely withstand a fight, so maybe this time would not be like the last.

Luo Yuan felt relieved at the thought.

“Don’t stand at the crossroads. Move to the street in front,” he told everyone as he observed the terrain.

The crossroads was accessible from all directions. It provided them with a wide field of vision, but at the same time it also ran the risk of getting attacked from all directions. When it came to beast attacks, the less chance there was to get into a fight, the safer it would be for them.

Soon, everyone had occupied the intersection of the road. There were tall buildings on both sides of the street. Although some were collapsed, the lower floors all remained intact. Luo Yuan cleaved the plants on the exterior of a building and broke a man-sized hole into it for emergency purposes. Just in case they encountered some kind of danger and needed a place to hide.

The building had been corroded severely and could not withstand more than a few hits. Once it fell down, there would be no way to escape. Otherwise, Luo Yuan would have just hidden inside it.

A box of bullets was thrown on the ground. Lin Xiaoji and Huo Dong put down their rifle guns and blocked the street. Wang Xiaguang was also holding a handgun and aiming with perfect posture. Her performance was very steady. She was even better than the rest.

Zhao Yali had wanted to hide, but when she saw the other women all raising their guns, she hesitated and took out a gun as well. Her hands kept trembling, and she forgot to pull the safety. Her performance was the polar opposite of Wang Xiaguang’s.

Luo Yuan sighed. He knew Wang Xiaguang looked soft on the outside, but her personality was very strong, and she was extremely loyal. Once she had decided to do something, even bulls could not hold her back. Her independent personality and overall toughness made people think that she did depend on others. From this perspective, she was not like Zhao Yali at all.

Luo Yuan did not have a lot of feelings for Wang Xiaguang, but he liked Zhao Yali. Men always liked soft, loveable women. Zhao Yali’s soft personality always made him feel more masculine.

Luo Yuan’s mind flashed, his consciousness highly keyed up. He looked at Chen Xianfeng seriously and said, “You stand outside and block the beasts.”

Chen Xianfeng growled in agitation. Huo Dong, who was standing beside him, got scared and backed off a few steps. Only when he realized Chen Xianfeng had just screamed and made no further motion, did he move back to his original position.

Luo Yuan noted that he had not said no, but he had not said anything else either. He turned and faced Wang Shishi. “Shishi, you have the strongest ability here. I want you to stay behind. Don’t take any action yet, just protect everyone else.”

Looking at Luo Yuan’s dignified gaze, Wang Shishi finally felt Brother Luo pay some attention to her again. She nodded heavily, a serious expression forming on her tiny face.

Suddenly, the motion from afar became louder, and the ground started to shake slightly. The Giant Lizard and Lao Huang slowly stepped back, moving towards the noise. As the two of them got close to each other, the Giant Lizard growled deeply in warning. However, Lao Huang’s attention was diverted. It did not seem to care as much.

A few seconds later, several creatures started to appear sporadically.

It was really strange. Instead of mutated creatures, most of the creatures were human, and all of them were naked. Male, female, old and young. There was even a three year-old kid. Everyone’s facial expression was the same. That ever unchanging drowsy smile and blank gaze making their heads almost burst.

“What’s going on? Why are they all like that?” Zhao Yali said as she shivered. Her body was shaking like a sieve. The gun in her hand fell to the ground, the scene before her eyes almost causing her a mental breakdown.

This wasn’t just one or two people, but ten; plus, there were a lot old people and children among them. They were no longer human. Their actions were as swift and brisk as some agile mutated beast’s. They did not differ much from one.

The people walking at the front stopped suddenly, not moving at all. Those at the back followed them and stopped as well.

Luo Yuan’s face changed. An idea suddenly flashed through his mind and he made a signal at Huo Dong.

Huo Dong nodded nervously. He raised the rifle, aimed at one of them and pulled the trigger with force.

The rifle produced a loud noise, much like a raging thunder in the sky, and its strong recoiling power paralyzed Huo Dong’s arm. The bullet cut a man into half, but that was not the end of it. It kept moving, separating five men’s upper bodies from their lower bodies as they stood in a row. It only stopped when it finally drilled into a building.

Luo Yuan was impressed by the rifle’s power, but this was not the time to think about it.

He noticed that after the shot, the group only remained in chaos for a short moment before everything returned to normal. The people who had been hit by the bullet were still struggling in the middle of the street. A woman who had lost her lower body was using her every last bit of strength to turn herself around and sit on the ground. She still had that drowsy smile on her face even though she was bleeding and her organs were all over the road.

It felt like the street had been muted. No howls of pain, no attacks, not even a single reaction. The people who had been hit by the bullet were still trying to stand up, but they looked like they were dead.

There were more and more humans and mutants heading their way. The crossroads had been blocked and there was nothing to do about it. The humans and mutants seemed to be controlled by an invisible force.

There were few powerful mutants among them. Except for the humans, all the remaining creatures were no taller than five or six meters. The longest one was a gorgeous twenty-meter long colourful, snake-like creature no higher than a dark blue level.

How did Luo Yuan feel about this?

He thought it was no wonder that the city was so peaceful. There was no strong, powerful creature there. After all, these creatures were not living things. They were just puppets.

“There are mutants behind us, too. We’ve been surrounded,” said Cao Lin suddenly in a taut, high-pitched voice.

Luo Yuan turned around and took a look. Before they had realized it, the several-hundred-meter long street had been filled with countless mutants.

“We have to go. The longer we stay, the more danger we’ll be in. We must break through,” said Luo Yuan with a dignified expression.