Epoch of Twilight

The burning campfire seemed to move cheerfully in the dark beneath the pot.

"So were there a lot of people who departed before the earthquake?" asked Luo Yuan.

"Yes, the train was originally supposed to be carrying goods, but the signs of the earthquake were really obvious, so they changed their minds," a middle-aged man said quietly as he hugged his daughter. He had been fortunate enough to survive the tragedy.

The girl in his arms looked about three or four years old. She was already tired and falling asleep. When she finally did, her brows were furrowed and her body was tense. It seemed like she was having a nightmare.

Luo Yuan looked away and asked, "Do you know how many people escaped from Desert City?"

"I’m not sure. It was pretty hectic at the time. Time was wasting, and the train was seriously overloaded. There must have been twenty or maybe thirty thousand people on it," the middle-aged man said, remaining silent for a while. His name was Cui Weichuan. Before the earthquake, he had been a basic level government employee. When the migration had taken place, almost all civil servants had been required to maintain order, so he had somewhat understood the situation.

There was a total of nine survivors rescued, including the children. Fortunately, aside from an unlucky person whose left arm had been cut off by a rock that had collapsed, the rest of them were not injured. Luo Yuan used his Will to heal the injured survivor. The man had stopped bleeding, but his left arm was not going to grow back.

"The soup is ready, let’s have it first," Huang Jiahui changed the topic. She and several other women served each person a bowl of soup.

"Thank you!"

"Thank you!"

The survivors accepted the soup with a look of gratitude. After drinking it, their faces quickly flushed and they started to look less tired. Luo Yuan talked to them for a while before he gave them two tents so they could rest.

...

Late at night, Luo Yuan was lying in his tent with his eyes open, staring ahead of him blankly.

From their conversation, he had gathered that the situation was better than expected. Assuming that the train had departed at eight and the earthquake had happened at four, that eight-hour gap should have been enough for them to escape the impact of the earthquake.

This meant that at least one-fifth of the people had managed to flee from the catastrophe, including students, researchers, engineers, and the part of the military that had maintained order.

Luo Yuan was slightly relieved. At least Zhong Chujiang and Deng Chao would not have died, but the status of Huo Dong, Cao Lin and Mo Wenwen was still unknown. He admired Mayor Song’s decision and the fact that the majority of the public servants had chosen to stay back and face the earthquake.

"Do you think we would still have survived if we’d never escaped?" Huang Jiahui asked suddenly.

Luo Yuan was silent for a moment before he said, "Don’t think too much. Go to sleep while it’s still early."

"I can’t sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, those familiar faces appear in my brain, except now they’re corpses. We don’t know whether Huo Dong and Cao Lin are still okay or not," said Huang Jiahui with sadness in her voice. As she uttered that last sentence, her voice sounded choked.

Luo Yuan sighed and said, "This is the apocalypse. We have been through a lot these past few days."

"But we are in the Reconstruction Area," Huang Jiahui said weakly.

"We were, but now it’s collapsed," Luo Yuan said with a heavy heart. "Go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow."

...

The vast grassland was restless. Countless mutated beasts were running around. After a while, two giant mutated beasts gradually appeared on the horizon, quickly walking towards their destination.

It had been four days since their last departure. As there were a few more survivors added to the team, including injured adults and children, their speed had diminished by a lot. However, despite the delay, they had almost reached their destination. According to the map, they should be able to arrive at Hope City before nightfall.

The impact of the earthquake on Hope City had been minimal. There was no sign of destruction in the area. A large number of construction vehicles and heavy trucks were driving on the grassland, raising a big cloud of dust. Beside the grassland was the construction site and a huge gantry. There were a lot of construction workers underneath it. It seemed like there were thousands of them creeping on the ground like ants. There were a lot more construction sites like this in the area. Luo Yuan could see at least seven or eight of them. Several giant fortresses already had a foundation, and the workers were now building their upper framework. Apparently, the Reconstruction Area had been evacuated in order to rebuild its defense.

Before Luo Yuan could go closer, a military vehicle drove quickly towards them and stopped five meters away from them. A man with an intense expression shouted using a speaker, "My friend, this is the military powerhouse! Please don’t come any closer! Go somewhere else!" It was very rare to see such huge beasts, even on a battlefield. Anyone who could sit on them had to be an extraordinary person. However, they still had to stop them, as this was a construction site and most of the people working there had only had minimal military training. If any of those beasts came closer, they would create chaos and fear. No one wanted to take responsibility if there was an accident.

"We are from Desert City, so we are not clear about the situation here. Could you show us the right way, sir?" Luo Yuan quickly jumped down and went over to talk for courtesy’s sake.

"You are from Desert City?" the officer asked curiously. He was relieved when he saw Luo Yuan walk over. "I heard that that area was close to the epicenter and the entire city collapsed during the earthquake."

"The situation was more serious than you think. It’s really hard to describe. Did any people from Desert City come here during the past two days?" Luo Yuan did not want to say anything further, so he changed the subject and asked for information.

"I’m not sure. You can go to Hope City and find out," the officer said. "Your battle beasts might affect our construction workers though, so you’ll have to take a detour. Come with me."

The military vehicles led the way, followed closely by the two giant beasts. The two beasts were ten meters tall, but their walking speed was no slower than the military vehicles’ in front of them. They passed most of the sites before the military vehicles finally stopped. The officer stuck his head out and guided them enthusiastically, "You just need to walk for 200 more kilometers, and then you will see Hope City."

They thanked the officer and kept heading in the direction he had pointed.

...

"Lately, the sun has been too hot and my skin had been peeling."

After entering this area, everyone had relaxed visibly.

Wang Xiaguang rubbed the back of her hand as she complained. Both her back and face were full of wrinkles and shedding dead skin. She looked kind of scary. The others were not any better. After the earthquake, the sky had finally cleared and it had been sunny for several days. Everyone had been happy for the sunny weather after escaping from the dark shelter. However, their joy did not last long. The sun was too hot, so in just a few days’ time everyone’s skin had been burned dry.

"Should we have stayed indoors and not exposed ourselves to the sun for too long?" asked Huang Jiahui. She turned and looked at Luo Yuan and Chen Jiayi with envy. Everyone’s skin had been burned badly except for these two’s, who had experienced no impact at all.

Luo Yuan was fine because he had a powerful physique, so he did not have to be afraid of ultraviolet rays. As for Chen Jiayi, she had been parasitized by moss, so she fared well in that kind of situation. She actually looked even better than before. Her skin was radiant and shining.

Luo Yuan seemed okay when Huang Jiahui looked at him strangely, but he actually had something in his mind. Young Chen Jiayi was as restless as a frightened rabbit. She quickly pulled back the moss on her head and blushed slightly before she explained, "We haven’t exposed ourselves to the sun for too long. It’s just that the sun is bigger now."

"But we haven’t been feeling any hotter. It’s actually better than the time after the thunderstorms," Zhao Yali joined the conversation. Women always had a lot to say on any topic.

"This is what the moss in my body is telling me. I’m not sure either," Chen Jiayi said timidly.

"It should be because of the strong ultraviolet rays," Zhang Wu suddenly said. Those days he had relieved a lot of his tension. "Before the apocalypse, I had traveled for a long period of time. I was running around all over the country, Tibet included. The temperature was not high there, but the ultraviolet rays were really strong. While I was there, my skin peeled off several layers."

Luo Yuan scowled as he heard what they were talking about. This area was not at a high altitude with thin air. It was a grassland, and after the rise of the sea level, the altitude there was no more than 1,000 meters. Plants grew luxuriously now, and the animal population had been growing significantly. Besides, the concentration of the air was much higher than before the apocalypse.

He looked up at the sky. Ever since the end of the world, the sky had become as blue as a sapphire. Now it seemed a little darker though. They could even vaguely see the stars in the sky during the day.

In fact, long before the influx of insects, Luo Yuan had been feeling a little strange. The environment he had been familiar with seemed to be changing gradually. Although the changes were so small every day that they were barely visible, things had still been shifting constantly.

Perhaps the insect influx and the earthquake were connected to these changes.

Such significant changes could not have escaped the attention of the management of the Reconstruction Area, yet they had kept it a secret. Even Mayor Song from Desert City had seemed to have no idea about it. The only speculation that Luo Yuan could make was that the consequences of these changes would be far more challenging than he expected.

...

The group continued their journey until three in the afternoon when a magnificent fortress city appeared before them.