Epoch of Twilight

After Luo Yuan left the area, he did not even take his backpack that he left somewhere nearby. Instead, he ran at full speed and only stopped after ten kilometers. He chose a tree hole and immediately drilled into it.

Apparently, this tree hole had an owner. There was one low level mutated beast taking a nap in it. It was a bit stunned when it saw the uninvited guest in its territory. Just as it was about to warn him, Luo Yuan released his force field. The mutated beast immediately perished and was left limp on the ground.

Luo Yuan stepped forward to grab its neck before throwing this half-ton mutated beast out of the tree hole. He was in a good mood today, so he had no intention of killing anything. Of course, the main reason was that he did not want to make a bloodbath out of this tree hole.

He sat in the tree hole for about ten seconds. His shortness of breath was getting better but his heart was still racing.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, before lifting up his underwear to remove the Demonic Horseman’s mane. Without the coverage of the plasma underwear, the tree hole was immediately surrounded with numerous vortex, and small cyclones began to appear in the air. The tree hole acted as an entrance for the wind, with turbulent air surrounding it.

The color of the mane had now turned a few shades darker, compared to the time before he pulled it off. It was not as colorful as before and was restored to its original black color. The illusion that it produced was a world of a difference, and almost incomparable to when it was still on the Demonic Horseman. He had already expected such an outcome. After all, this amount of mane paled in comparison to the quantity of the mane on the Demonic Horseman. The power held within it would be greatly diminished after leaving the body.

Fortunately, its powers had not completely disappeared. Luo Yuan’s size was so much smaller than the Demonic Horseman, thus this amount of mane was more than enough to produce material for his suit.

Although he was excited, he still needed to restrain his impatience to process the mane, to avoid hidden dangers. A level eight material was different from any normal material. This material had a very strong Will embedded into it. Just like how the Zhanmadao was with Luo Yuan, the Demonic Horseman would have a similar kind of bond with its mane, regardless of its intensity.

Removing the original Will and imprinting his own were the necessary steps to be completed in order to avoid any potential danger. It also enabled him to use the material more comfortable.

Fortunately, this mane was too insignificant to the Demonic Horseman, as the Will imprinted was far too inferior. It was not only incomparable with the level eight power chip, even the black knife was much better than this mane. Each of the Will marks was almost negligible, once he had imprinted his own Will, the original one was immediately expelled.

It helped Luo Yuan to complete the process more efficiently, as the mane were processed in under ten minutes. He was slightly relieved and thought that even if the Demonic Horseman stood right before him, it would not be able to sense its own mane anymore.

Of course, the mark of such a Will was still very weak and might be dissipated anytime. If he wanted it to be as handy as the Zhanmadao being an extension of his body, it would require a much longer time to polish and grow every day.

He took off his jacket and trousers and started the synthesis. He was all too familiar with this process. As the mane disintegrated into powder, the camouflaged combat uniform gradually turned black and an invisible force was fluctuating in his clothing.

Once he completed the synthesis for a new set of clothes, there was still one fifth of its mane left. Luo Yuan looked at his soft-soled running shoes. These shoes were synthesized by the skin under the feet of a level seven mutated beast. It had only one capability which was the Silent Walk.

He hesitated for a while and decided not to change it. The Silent Walk was quite useful for fighting. It would be a waste to get rid of this ability. He decided to keep the remaining mane to use it as a belt instead.

"Air Vortex Combat Uniform"

"Material: Demonic Horseman’s Nylon Mane."

"Rarity: Light Purple"

"Weight: 0.4 kilograms"

"Defense: 38-45"

"Additional Abilities: Speed +6, Whirlpool Force Field Deviation"

"Equipment requirements: None."

"Remarks: This is a combat uniform that can deviate and split air resistance. It creates a resistance-free air when you run. The level eight material makes it an extremely robust and durable combat uniform."

...

"Air Vortex Combat Trousers"

"Material: Demonic Horseman’s Nylon Mane."

"Rarity: Light Purple"

"Weight: 0.3 kilograms"

"Defense: 35-42"

"Additional Abilities: Speed +6, Whirlpool Force Field Deviation"

"Equipment requirements: None."

"Evaluation: These combat trousers can deviate and split air resistance. It creates a resistance-free air when you run. The level eight material makes it an extremely robust and durable combat uniform."

The system’s notification flashed through his mind.

After the synthesis, the whole set of combat uniform became a lot lighter as the fiber was now more compact. The jet black outfit was glowing slightly under the light. However, the glow was very weak and could not be seen by average human beings.

Luo Yuan put on the combat uniform and tied the remaining mane around his waist. He walked out of the tree hole to put it to the test.

First, he walked at the speed of an ordinary person. With this speed, it was no different as it was before the synthesis. He could still feel the breeze in the air and the turbulence surrounding it seemed to have no effect.

However, when he sped up, the effect became more obvious. A strong wind was supposed to appear, but it was deviated by the turbulence, and the strong air stream was gushed out by the whirlpool.

The more he ran, the faster the turbulence surged, even more violently under the intense air pressure, creating more swirls. No matter how fast he ran, he could only feel the breeze.

Luo Yuan stopped slowly and looked surprised. After the training of New Capital City, he had widened his eyesight. When he looked at the turbulence surrounding him, he discovered that the mane of the Demonic Horseman had an extremely delicate and complex air pressure balancing system. The mane only triggered the turbulence; it had not much strength but the air pressure was the real power that pushed and drove the system.

If the principle of this mechanism could be applied to crack the cottage crack and onto the aircraft, human beings would have probably conquered a territory in the sky already.

But then again, this was easier said than done. The development of technology was always gradual; it could not be improved overnight. There were many level eight mutated beasts that were killed in the Reconstruction Area. If it was this easy to clamp down their abilities, the Reconstruction Area would not be in such a difficult situation.

...

Luo Yuan did not return to the initial place immediately to look for his backpack. In fact, he was still somewhat nervous to face the Demonic Horseman. He stayed in the tree hole for the night and only adjourned back carefully the next day.

The Demonic Horseman was gone, and the tree had also completely damaged. The whole tree was lying on the ground with bare branches, after being devoured by the Demonic Horseman. Luo Yuan was relieved. However, just as he wanted to look for his backpack, it was no longer there.

Luo Yuan frowned and cursed in his heart.

Other things in the backpack were insignificant, but the satellite map was of great importance. Without the help of the satellite map, he would not be able to locate any destination with his own sense of direction.

However, although he was anxious, he did not run around like a headless chicken looking for it.

He recognized the smell of the backpack. After he sniffed the air a few times, he immediately detected the familiar scent. It was only missing for one night, so the smell was still very apparent. He started to track by following the trail of its scent.

The more he tracked, the further he went, and soon, he found himself climbing a hill. It was already more than ten kilometers away from where he first stood.

Luo Yuan noticed that there was no debris of the backpack on the road along the way. This was undeniably good news to him. It indicated that the mutated beast did not bite or tear it along the way; depicting that the map was still safe, at the very least.

He continued to walk for a few minutes and gradually felt the scent getting more and more concentrated. Finally, he stopped and looked up at a big tree.

Luo Yuan pleasantly found that the backpack was being hung on the tree. However, the strange thing was that there was not a single mutated beast nearby, and he did not see any habitats of mutated beast anywhere around the vicinity.

Luo Yuan guessed that the mutated beast had lost interest in the backpack, thus throwing it away. He immediately jumped up onto the tree to retrieve his backpack.

When he opened it for a check, everything was intact, but it seemed to have been rummaged through by someone.

Deep in his thoughts, he suddenly sensed a peep behind him. He quickly turned around only to find that there was a shadow fleeting more than 100 meters away, shaking the branches along its way. This distance was not within his range of senses. When he decided to have a look, a medium-sized mutated insect suddenly sprung out from the leaves of a tree.

Luo Yuan looked back but he was still suspicious.

He had a very good memory and could remember the specific place of each item in the backpack. Even if the backpack had gone through some tumbling when it was dragged around, it caused the items to be slightly haphazard, but it would not be turned upside down, and the map would neither be folded nor stained. It might be rummaged by some kind of creature before zipping it back up.

He also examined if there were any bite marks on the surface, but he found nothing.

This indicated that this mutated beast had a pair of flexible claws, or hands, and had a certain level of wisdom. Luo Yuan estimated that its size should not be too big and was almost human-sized, or else it would not have been able to delve through the backpack.

Other than the primitive kind of mutated beast, it might also come from a more intelligent species.

Suddenly, his face lit up. The prying eyes appeared again and it was still from the same direction, with only a deviation from its position.

He moved his body quickly, accompanied by numerous cyclones nearby. He instantly moved like a flash and immediately reached 100 meters away in a blink of an eye. Suddenly, a branch above snapped, and a blue shadow fell down from the top, resulting in a loud scream.

It was a humanoid creature, about 167 centimeters tall. Beneath the black hair unveiled a pretty face. Other than the snake-like pupils and a body that was completely covered with blue scales, this creature looked no different from a human being.

Luo Yuan took a look and his heart was shaken. He stopped the subsequent attack.

Before that woman fell onto the ground, she flexibly turned over with surprising agility. After landing, she rapidly stepped back and looked at Luo Yuan intently with constricted pupils, and screamed fiercely as if to warn.

When she crouched down, she revealed a long slender white gold necklace with a delicate heart-shaped pendant, which kept swinging between her breasts.

This necklace had proven her identity. She was a mutated human, without a doubt.

Luo Yuan heart sank. The mutation allowed her to survive in this terrible environment but also cost her her human identity. He did not know if she was considered fortunate or not.

Luo Yuan sighed, inserted his knife into the sheath and turned back. He picked up the backpack by the road side and continued his walk. However, after a few steps, he stopped in his tracks.

Possibly curious about Luo Yuan or wanted revenge, the mutated woman had been surreptitiously following him. When she saw Luo Yuan stopping, she quickly stopped and hid in the bushes. Luo Yuan helplessly shook his head and began to pick up his speed.

He found out that this mutated woman was not slow too. She was probably used to living in the forest, which trained her to act fast and quick. She grabbed the vine to help her move faster in the chase, making her look like an ape swinging from tree to tree.

Luo Yuan could not stop her from following him but hoped she would stop eventually when she grew tired.

However, she was still tailing him until noon.

...

Luo Yuan cut off its head, peeled off the skin and cleaned the internal organs up. After simply mildly processing the prey, Luo Yuan grilled the prey over a fire. After a while, yellow grease gradually seeped out and the air was filled with an enticing aroma.

Luo Yuan helplessly looked at the mutated woman, who stood not too far away. It seemed like she was persistent enough to keep following him.

A mutated beast was already torn off by her sharp claws, and now she was gobbling down its meat.

At this very moment, she seemed to smell the aroma and subconsciously stopped what she was doing. The aroma of cooked food seemed to have triggered some of her memories of being human. She loosened her throat and her face was slightly stunned.

Luo Yuan pretended not to see it. After he grilled it until it was medium rare, he stepped on the flame and tore off the thigh, then disregarded the heat and started to eat.

It was still fine at first, but soon, he felt a little bit uncomfortable. His eye sight was too poor, even his sharp ears could clearly hear the sound of non-stop swallowing.

Luo Yuan ate a few bites, stopped and turned around. He asked, "Do you want to eat?"

After all, he was a man who enjoyed admiring svelte appearances. Although the vertical pupils and scales frightened others, she had an enchanting face and a stunning body figure. If she had a vicious look, Luo Yuan would have killed her or would not care enough to bother her.

When Luo Yuan looked at her, she immediately became alert and emitted a hissing sound.

The mutation had destroyed her vocal cords. No one would know what she was trying to say, except for herself.

Luo Yuan smiled. He tore another thigh and threw it towards her direction. She probably did not care at all whether the food was dirty or not.