Chapter 182: The Great Darkness

When they realized the man before them had truly saved them, the two women's gaze at Wang Wu naturally changed as well.

As a monster, Wang Wu has perfect looks and figure, and with this life‑saving debt, there's no doubt his favor rating spiked instantly.

"Spiked" may be exaggerated, but just looking at Catherine's current eyes on Wang Wu, there's nothing wrong about it.

This woman, whether a born fanatic or what, became fanatically devoted to Wang Wu the moment he rescued her from that place.

She immediately offered to become Wang Wu's slave, which left Wang Wu speechless.

"I don't need slaves, or servants." Facing the woman's self‑recommendation, Wang Wu shook his head, then looked toward the passage they were in.

"Where is this place?" he asked Catherine.

"This is the anti‑aircraft passage of the third survival base in the North Light District." The one answering Wang Wu's question was not Catherine but the just‑regained‑consciousness Ling Luo.

Giving her a glance, Wang Wu found that the woman's eyes toward him were also full of excitement.

Though he didn't know why the two women were so excited.

Both women are not weak; Wang Wu could sense extraordinary power in them—though not high‑level, it's at the entry level of the True Realm in the Tianyuan Realm.

To say the truth, a few years ago the True Realm was an unattainable height for Wang Wu.

But now that level is already "not high" in his eyes.

He can only say Earth martial arts are indeed awesome; the supplements from his masters really work.

Of course, it also isn't without the masters' private lessons, and most importantly, his own relentless effort.

Without his own relentless effort, no matter how good the conditions, he could never have become today's Wang Wu.

"Damn it, what are you saying? Why won't you take her! Take her now! I want to see!!"

A woman's angry voice rang in his ears, but Wang Wu remained unmoved, continuing his conversation with Catherine and Ling Luo:

"What's wrong with this place, this planet?"

He was the first to enter this passage; at the time it was swarming with monsters, hard to say what they were, but by nature they resembled the "ghosts" from his home world.

They were tangible ghosts with some bizarre traits.

The passage was filled with these monsters, plus some silent, odd beings standing there. When Wang Wu descended, those previously statue‑like oddities sprang to life instantly.

However, before they could flash a few times, Wang Wu's pure Vajra power annihilated them all.

Though he usually uses Master Li Li's Yin‑style Mirror‑Flower Water‑Moon technique for teleportation, dealing with these ghosts required Master Qin Xiang's Jitian Vajra Gate method, which was far more effective.

After a brief pause, the Geng‑metal qi burst forth, spreading in all directions.

In an instant, every ghost and monster in the passage was erased the moment they touched that Geng‑metal qi, leaving no trace.

A sweep of golden light passed, and only the pitted, jagged bones remained in the passage.

All of this happened within a mere five seconds.

"I don't know what the problem is either," Ling Luo shook her head. "When I was born, the world was already like this. People lived in the last fortified city on this planet; outside was a pitch‑black wasteland teeming with monsters and oddities."

"Monsters, oddities?"

Because they were using barrier‑free communication, Wang Wu naturally understood what those terms represented.

"Monsters" referred to the corpse‑devouring ghosts in the passage, while "oddities" were the strange beings there.

Compared with those oddities, this world's "ghosts" piqued Wang Wu's curiosity more, since there's nothing like them in the Tianyuan Realm.

This place isn't some other‑world, other‑universe; it can be called an other‑world, after all, since an alien world counts as such.

It should be another star system within this universe, though the Dark God Li Zheng, enraged by his own neglect, refuses to tell him exactly where this place is.

Yet, based on his knowledge of his masters, even just guessing, Wang Wu can infer that this place isn't far from the galaxy where his home lies.

It must be a nearby star system.

"So, Master, the star system this planet belongs to should be the one where the alien‑cultist killed by Master Qin Xiang came from, right?"

After getting a rough picture of the planet from Ling Luo, Wang Wu asked Yin Shenli.

"Ha, figure it out yourself." Yin Shenli snorted coldly.

"Is that right?" Wang Wu asked again.

"Hehe."

"Alright, I got it, Master, I love you."

Yin Shenli fell silent.

Although Yin Shenli seemed very experienced, in fact the woman was unexpectedly pure… uh, nothing.

While most girls can't stand the phrase "I love you," it's rare to see such a strong reaction as Yin Shenli's.

Only the three sisters of the early Wang Gu Lin—Zhu San Niang, Wu Er Niang, and Shu Niang—reacted this strongly to Wang Wu's words.

As for the other four, their reactions were also strong but not as exaggerated as the three demon‑girls.

Yin Shenli's lack of experience isn't limited to this; she's also clumsy in other matters, like interface… uh, nothing.

And things like mouth and that foot… of course, she's more familiar with those now.

After all, she can't cheapen Wang Wu too quickly, yet she can't be unreasonable either, so she rewards him in other ways.

As a super‑warrior with a super brain, the Earth martial‑arts top‑tier powerhouse learns anything extremely fast.

"So this place is already a post‑apocalypse world?"

After a brief exchange of curses with his master, Wang Wu's attention returned to the two women before him; he looked at Catherine and Ling Luo and asked:

"Post‑, post‑apocalypse world?"

Wang Wu's term was abstract; the "definition" he gave was equally abstract, leaving the two women a bit confused.

"Um, never mind, you don't need to know. It's a sci‑fi style, post‑apocalypse—that is, a world where the original civilization collapsed and became wasteland."

"Just think of it as the world after the end of days; that's basically it."

Both women's minds aren't slow, so they understood immediately after his explanation.

"Post… apocalypse?" Wang Wu's word seemed to trigger something in Catherine; she muttered the term and fell into thought.

"You said earlier the North Light District was breached—was it breached by those monsters?" After answering the two women's question, Wang Wu asked again.

"Yes, that's right." Lingluo nodded, her face now showing sorrow, "My hometown no longer exists."

Though they had looked ragged in the True Realm, now that they emerged their clothing was of high quality.

This was unsurprising, since they were True Realm‑level transcendants; although early True Realm cannot normally reach supersonic speed, subsonic speed is no problem.

Moreover, this is an Otherworld, and perhaps in this world's power system the early True Realm can achieve supersonic speed.

"Let's go out first." Wang Wu stopped the conversation, looked toward the end of the passage—or rather, its entrance.

The two must have come in from that spot.

"You came down from over there, right?" Wang Wu pointed to a direction in the passage and asked Catherine and Lingluo.

"Yes, sir." They both nodded simultaneously.

"Then let's go out first and see the situation."

Having said that, Wang Wu withdrew his hand and walked that way.

The passage was long; it was an air‑raid tunnel. Wang Wu didn't know where it led, but the other end was already blocked.

It was a dead end; the far end had been blown up, so the only way out was to turn back the same way.

The whole tunnel was extremely dark and very long—over ten kilometers.

Though the distance meant little to the two women, walking beside Wang Wu they still felt some fear.

Inside the tunnel it was silent; no sound could be heard, nor the eerie whispers that had been heard when they first came down.

At this moment the only sound in the tunnel was the wind.

Exiting the tunnel led to a huge subway station, which was also pitch‑black.

A strong smell of blood filled the air, irritating the nose and nerves.

The place seemed to have many residents; abandoned railways were dotted with houses.

But at this moment only corpses and the wandering Yao Mo Gui Gui remained in the station.

The metallic Qi of Geng‑metal surged within Wang Wu, annihilating all the ghosts and monsters roaming the station.

He pressed on, followed by Lingluo and Catherine.

Wang Wu was the only thing the two could see in this dark subway station, and the girls' current spiritual pillar and lifeline.

This place was no longer within the city; the station's protective field had long failed, and even transcendants like them would mutate if exposed to such an environment for too long.

Darkness is humanity's greatest enemy in this world.

It is an ink‑like darkness that even light cannot penetrate.

In such darkness ordinary lighting methods are useless; only special illumination can reveal objects.

This is also a dark, twisted world— even darker and more twisted than the Tianyuan Realm.

At least in the Tianyuan Realm most of the planet's regions have become demonic domains, and people can only live in a very small area.

But at least in the safe zones, ordinary people do not face such extreme survival pressure.

From the passage to now, and then to the wasteland above, Wang Wu's divine sense had spread over a radius of four to five hundred kilometers, yet he sensed no trace of life.

Only darkness, only death, only the gluttonous monsters, and the aimless aberrations.

Nothing else existed.

"Why are there corpses everywhere?" Wang Wu frowned.

The city lay some twenty‑plus kilometers outside this subway station.

This station was outside the urban area, clearly not part of the city's circle.

Most of the corpses in the subway wore simple clothes, a stark contrast to the attire of Catherine and Lingluo.

The houses were either metal containers or very crude shacks.

"How long has the North Light District been fallen?" After scanning and finding no sign of life, Wang Wu asked Lingluo.

"When we were pulled into the True Realm, the North Light District had already fallen for about two hours."

Catherine answered.

Wang Wu nodded, said nothing more, and continued outward.

Leaving the subway station, the outside world was equally black, empty.

Only silhouettes hidden in the darkness and monsters seeking flesh.

Monsters were not a problem for Wang Wu; he expanded his divine sense further and, nine hundred kilometers away, saw some humans.

It was a massive city surrounded by towering walls, much like the already fallen metropolis.

Even conservatively estimated, the city's population must be in the tens of millions.

"Sir, what should we do next?"

At this point Lingluo spoke up to Wang Wu.

"Go to the city," Wang Wu replied, "to the nearest fortified city."

Wang Wu didn't intend to leave immediately; even a quick glance would be too fast at this pace.

In any case, we have to stay here a while longer and experience this…

*cough cough*, nothing much.

"About nine hundred kilometers from here is another city," Wang Wu said, "the situation there is decent, and the settlements outside the city are mostly fine."

Though no hope could be seen on people's faces, many moved like walking corpses.

But at least that place was relatively safe.

"Let's go." After leaving that remark, Wang Wu stepped forward again.

Though he could fly and teleport, at this moment he chose to walk.

It wasn't urgent anyway; even if there's no scenery, watching monsters is fine.

He opened his phone, glanced at the time, and saw that it was 10:30 a. m.

From morning to noon, and then to evening.

At midnight, on this desolate plain filled with blood and death, a campfire flared up.

The night was already getting deep, yet some people were still awake, such as Wang Wu, and also Catherine.

She stared at Wang Wu, her gaze blazing, as if she could swallow him whole.

"What's up?" Wang Wu asked, looking at the sleepless Catherine.

In the next moment, a jacket was thrown onto the floor.

"Sir." Catherine knelt before Wang Wu and said:

"I am your most loyal servant; if you have any orders, please tell me at once."

Looking at the woman kneeling before him, Wang Wu felt a bit embarrassed.

Embarrassment aside, Wang Wu still reached up and lifted her chin.

When Wang Wu made that move, Catherine's whole body trembled.

But it wasn't from fear; it was…

Um, excitement.

(End of chapter)