Epoch of Twilight

The giant lizard stepped back. Feeling insecure, it began to roar softly.

Luo Yuan began to worry, as King Kong made him feel stressed. To be safe, he scanned King Kong’s loyalty. He was relieved when he did not see any changes.

After a while, King Kong recovered and tried to walk and jump around slowly. At first, it was not able to walk properly, just like a baby learning how to walk for the first time. However, its posture soon became more stable, and it could eventually move faster.

When Luo Yuan walked towards it expressionlessly, King Kong quickly stopped and looked down. It stared at the ground like a kid who had just done something naughty. This behavior did not match its size and it made people feel strange.

Luo Yuan did not bother it though. Instead, he walked towards the disfigured carcass about 10 meters away.

Even if he did not use his identification technique, Luo Yuan would still have known that it was a green level mutated bug. That kind of creature was valuable, as its flesh was rich in active energy. It was attractive enough to make Luo Yuan drool.

Ever since the last time he had gotten severely injured, the energy in his heart had been fully drained. Although he had recharged it, low-level flesh could not supply sufficient energy for him. Until now, it had still been as tiny as a sesame seed, which was vastly different compared to the size of a green bean, when Luo Yuan was at optimal condition.

Perhaps that energy could only prevent him from starving when he was doing well. However, it could also save his life when he was severely injured.

The green level mutated bug looked pitiful with its cracked shell and bones. Its abdomen was broken, and a lot of its internal organs had flown out along with a greenish fluid, forming a puddle of disgusting liquid on the ground.

Luo Yuan did not care though. To him, there were only two types of mutated carcasses. One was edible, and the other was poisonous.

However, after removing the internal organs, he discovered that the bug was not as they’d imagined. There was actually a lot of muscle inside it, especially in its abdomen. There were also a lot of muscles in its chest, which had about 48 square meters of surface area. The tiniest muscle fiber was as big as a human thigh, and it looked strong and elastic.

Luo Yuan estimated that the muscles could weigh up to a few tons.

King Kong realized that Luo Yuan would not bother it and secretly ran away. It was so excited that it began to run around and howl.

Luo Yuan looked at it and then moved his focus back to the dead mutated bug. Luckily, King Kong had broken all its bones and saved him the time it would have taken to clean it. He just threw away the bones and began to cut the meat of the bug.

He definitely could not take all its meat with him. It was too heavy for him, plus meat rich in active energy got spoilt easily, especially in such hot weather. It would not last long, even if they tried to preserve it.

In the end, Luo Yuan cut only about 300 kilos and then stopped. He hadn’t wasted too much of it. Right after he left with the meat, the giant lizard walked up to the carcass. It sniffed it for a few seconds before it began to feast on it.

Compared to the days when it used to go crazy every single time it smelled green level meat, the giant lizard had better eating manners after evolving. Apparently, green level food was no longer that attractive to it.

...

Luo Yuan had been thinking of departing right after their meal, but he had not expected that incident to delay them so much. Most of the food needed to be processed immediately to preserve its quality. Huang Jiahui and many of the others wanted to help, but Luo Yuan told them to get some more rest. He could see that they were exhausted.

Of course, Luo Yuan did not treat the guys as nicely as the ladies. Zhang Wu, Yang Zhiqing, and Yan Mengjun have been instructed to work like dogs.

That area used to be a safe zone previously, so lots of hay had been cut by the previous rulers. They only needed to look through the bushes to find the stacks of hay. It was very dry and highly flammable, as it had not rained for a long time.

However, 300 kilos of meat was not a small quantity by any means. It would be noon by the time they finished smoking it.

The atmosphere filled with the delicious smell of food. Zhang Wu and the others drooled as they watched Luo Yuan put the smoked meat in his backpack and stuff some into his mouth every once in a while.

Luo Yuan was not stingy, but the meat was too hard to bite. Although it smelled good, it was as tough as latex. No matter how hard they try to bite on it, they could not break it. Still, the meat was of higher quality than the soft internal organs. They could not help it though, as they did not evolve by gaining energy.

In the end, they could only borrow Luo Yuan’s sword and cut the meat before cooking it in the pot. The meat only became harder after draining the water. Three hundred kilos of meat fit in only two backpacks. Luo Yuan zipped the bags up and waited for the soup to get ready for Huang Jiahui and the other girls.

After drinking the soup, they were on their way again.

The train was finally there around 1 pm. The sound came from afar and yet it felt so near to them, before it passed by. That was the first return train. It had come a day later than Luo Yuan had estimated. Apparently, it had not been a smooth journey.

Luo Yuan felt depressed. This meant that the great migration of Desert City had been delayed. This was definitely horrible news for them, as an earthquake could occur at any time.

The worse thing was that the resources had yet to be transported. According to Mayor Song’s plan, the train would have to go one more time, which would cause an even bigger delay.

It was a choice between life and resources. Luo Yuan could not decide which one was more important, and he had no right to decide anyway. There were many people still trying to find valuable things in the abandoned site, and lots of people trying to save them.

The beautiful Northern Lights appeared at night.

It was the third time Luo Yuan had seen them. They were a portent of disaster. They had appeared before the volcano eruption in Hedong City and the rainstorm in the Kunlun Alps, both unforgettable times.

"Is an earthquake coming?" Wang Shishi asked softly.

Luo Yuan remained silent before he eventually said, "I’m not sure, but we’ll be fine."

Everyone looked panicked.