Epoch of Twilight

Wang Shishi could not stop crying when she arrived at Luo Yuan’s side. She saw how much he was suffering and it was killing her. Luo Yuan appeared severely injured and his body was as hot as boiling vapor. It looked a bit pinkish with a strong smell of blood. Apparently, the blood inside his body was circulating very quickly which caused many of his capillaries to burst and clot under his skin.

Luo Yuan forced out a smile when he saw Wang Shishi rush to him. He threw up some blood and uttered, “Don’t... worry... I’m... fine.”

“Help me get up.” Luo Yuan said.

How could he still be fine when he was clearly in agonizing pain? Wang Shishi was crying even more at that stage but she quickly wiped away her tears and said, “Wuwuuuwuuuu... You don’t move.”

She then sat on the ground and lifted Luo Yuan’s head and shifted it to her lap. He was actually fine but he was just over exhausted after using too much of his strength. The reason he vomited blood was probably due to injuries to his internal organs. Luo Yuan was having a very serious body ache and his muscles were very tight. However, that kind of injury was not really serious to him as he would recover after a few days even without receiving any treatment.

About one minute later, his physical strength slowly recovered. He slowly sat up and spat out some blood again which had accumulated in his lungs earlier. He was not used to being hugged in a little girl’s arms, especially with that added piece of flesh on her chest. Her breasts were covering his face as her body was trembling in shock. He found it very arousing for some reason.

“Lie down, please.” Wang Shishi said as she saw Luo Yuan trying very hard to get up. She forgot to use her hand to support him as she was still crying from the nightmare that they just got out from. Luo Yuan looked at Wang Shishi and felt that her actions were both adorable and amusing. Also, the fact that she rushed to his side without being concerned of her own safety was quite heart-warming.

He said, “I’m fine, I wasn’t hurt. I am just very exhausted. Let’s go, we need to leave this place. Please, help me.”

This was certainly not a safe place. The giant snake was still trying to attack even though it looked like it was going to die soon. Most of the trees were damaged and the buildings nearby had collapsed as well. A few giant rocks which weighed about a few tons flew past Luo Yuan’s head. One would definitely die if they get hit point blank by these boulders. Of course, the probability of that occurring is not that high. However, if those stones fell like rainfall it could really hurt them. Luo Yuan got hit by a few small ones earlier. Fortunately, the stones were not powerful enough to hurt Luo Yuan who is relatively strong. Otherwise, he would have died earlier.

Despite her state of shock, Wang Shishi was still able to listen to his instructions. She wiped away her tears and helped to support Luo Yuan to his feet. She was also utilising her telekinesis power to protect him. Luo Yuan tried to get up from the ground with her aid but struggled. This time, he had used too much of his strength and his muscles were extremely sore. He felt as though his limbs were paralyzed to some extent. Luo Yuan’s injuries looked more serious than the ones he got from his previous battle and he did not know whether his will could help to him to recover quickly this time. Apparently, it was not a good time to do any treatment.

He smiled with pain and slowly walked forward. After taking a few steps, Luo Yuan was surprised that a few people were running towards him. It was Commander Xia and a few soldiers. Some of them brought the first aid carrier along with a bulletproof jacket.

Along the way, some stones had hit a few soldiers who then fell to the ground. They quickly picked themselves up and continued running. Unfortunately, out of the blue, a soldier got hit by a huge rock while he was running and then fell on the ground and died. However, none of them stopped to check as everyone was busy running for their lives.

“Let us carry him.” Commander Xia and three soldiers rushed to them and said to Wang Shishi who was still gasping. The four of them were the only soldiers who survived the battle.

Luo Yuan looked really tired with numerous wounds all over his body. He was surprised and touched by the actions of the soldiers. He would not have had any hard feelings even if they did not offer to help or just watched him walking slowly. After all, he killed the giant snake to save himself instead of rescue them. He would have run away if he could. Luo Yuan would help if he can, but he definitely would not sacrifice his life to help someone else though that will never restrict him from respecting those who are willing to sacrifice their lives to save other people.

“You, you guys...” Luo Yuan took a deep breath as he tried to utter something.

"You’ve saved our lives, this risk is nothing compared to what you have done for us." One of the soldiers said to Luo Yuan.

“We need to leave this place first.” Commander Xia urged them.

Luo Yuan felt guilty and nodded. He said to Wang Shishi, “Shishi, please lookout for those rolling boulders and flying stones.”

Her telekinesis power is actually ideal to protect them from the stones as long as the momentum was not too high. Wang Shishi nodded and a few of soldiers carried Luo Yuan and ran towards a safe place. Luo Yuan quickly rested and hoped he could recover as soon as possible. He realized he could now focus his will properly. It was just as simple as drinking a cup of water. That was a good thing and allowed him to focus on healing.

He initially thought it was only light injuries to his internal organs and muscles but he was completely mistaken. Most of his muscle fibers had been torn and a significant amount of his capillaries had burst; most of his internal organs were severely injured and even his bones were shattered which caused serious internal bleeding.

A normal person would have succumbed to his injuries if they were as serious as his. At this rate, it might take more than 2 days to recover. To make things worse, he had already utilized a lot of his will earlier in the battlefield. He could only do some simple treatments based on the will he had at the moment and then he would have to wait for his will to be revitalized in order to resume. The only positive was that he was surprised that his treatment process was faster than ever. The torn muscles began to connect when his will scanned through the fibers. He was amazed and then focused on the treatment.

The muscles were reconnected and the clogged blood in the capillaries had been unclogged. Even the cracks in his bones had recovered in just a few minutes. He suddenly opened his eyes as he was shocked by what he had just experienced. He was sure that his will was revitalized and was still healing him even though it should be depleted by now. He quickly opened the status panel and realized he had overlooked a notification.

“Your will has hit the upper boundary and upgraded under the threat of death. Will +1”

Luo Yuan was delighted and he was particularly attracted to the words, “will has hit the upper boundary.”

He was in deep thought reflecting on what had just happened. His most recent battle was definitely the most dangerous one of them all. Despite having killed many light green level mutated beasts, most of them were actually marine-based monsters which had lost some power upon rising to the land. Based on this experience, he learnt that it was actually the ground-type mutated beasts which he had to be more careful of. He was aware of his own power and classification which is between light green and green level. A green level mutated beast could easily kill him just as easily as he could easily kill dark blue mutated beasts.

Previously, he could simply kill the mutated beasts with his high level of dexterity but it was not enough to fight with the giant snake as he could not even follow the actions of the snake. He knew that he could not escape in time which drew him to the conclusion that his power, dexterity, as well as his physique, were weaker than the giant snake’s.

He had only a 30% chance of killing the giant snake even when it was distracted by the bombs. It was not difficult to imagine how stressed he was as he was struggling so hard to survive the battle. It was as if he entered into a different world when he met with the giant snake. Nothing else was in his eyes except the target and his blood was boiling throughout the whole process.

The surroundings were very quiet and Luo Yuan’s vision was blurry. Every single step he took consumed a lot of his energy and his body felt as if it were floating in the air.

“There must be something to do with the will.” He thought.

“My will is the most mysterious among the properties. I must have increased my speed and power subconsciously under the threat of death. The need to survive possibly helped with breakthroughs in my abilities and hence allowed my body to perform extremely well.” He wondered.

Luo Yuan then questioned himself, “But why couldn’t I do that previously?”

He knew it was quite common for people to perform better during critical times even before the start of the apocalypse. For example, if a woman’s son was stuck under a car, she would somehow be able to lift the car and save her son. The car is definitely heavy and under normal circumstances the woman would not be able to lift it. However, due to the anxiety and stress she was facing upon seeing her son in danger, she will try her very best to move the car by focusing all her energy and strength.

Even a normal person could do it but Luo Yuan could not make it happen until today. There must be something else behind his powers. His will is too important to him as it could be very helpful to kill green level mutated beasts if he could master it.

Although he almost collapsed after using his will (and the fact that it only worked for a short time), it was better than waiting to die. He realized his ability to focus and concentrate on his will is actually weaker than normal people’s. Even though normal people could only focus their will for short periods of time, it is very powerful. The challenging part for Luo Yuan was that this skill is not something he could easily master through practice.

Luo Yuan soon realized that he could not hurt himself because that action is going against his subconscious ability to protect himself. In order to experience a breakthrough, Luo Yuan needs to neglect the injuries to his physical body.

“Oh! My subconscious...” Luo Yuan sighed. He wondered if he should learn to hypnotize himself. Although he has never tried it before, it was probably a good idea if he needed to control his will to utilize his super strong power. This was especially useful in extremely dangerous situations like the one they just encountered. Luo Yuan smiled sadly at that thought and prayed that he will never get to be in that type of dangerous situation again. Suddenly, he felt groggy. The soldiers put the carrier down on the ground but he did not get up; instead, he continued lying on top of the carrier.

Luo Yuan has a relatively good understanding of social interactions. He knew that it would be quite bad if he immediately gets up and acts like he was totally fine once they put him down on the ground. After all, a soldier lost his life just to make sure Luo Yuan could be delivered back safely. What would the soldiers think if he just gets up from the carrier and looks like he is perfectly fine?

Although their thoughts would not affect him much, he did not want to hurt those soldiers who tried their best to protect him along the journey by risking their lives.