Chapter 205: Quicksand Town and the Man-Hunting Butcher

(PS: Sorry, I had set a timer, but I don't know why this chapter didn't release on time. I will double-check next time I schedule an update. Sorry for keeping everyone waiting.)

According to Li Muxia and the others, a 'Super Soldier' is a super-evolved soldier—that is, a human.

There is still no consensus on the biochemical beast phenomenon. Some researchers believe it's a super-virus, others think it's a strange radiation, and some even suggest it's nanomachines. But none of these guesses have been proven; all biochemical beast phenomena remain hypotheses and speculations.

However, some things are generally accepted. For instance, almost everyone believes the biochemical beast phenomenon is indeed a form of evolution, just one that has left the biological realm—a twisted combination of inorganic matter and technological power.

But there are exceptions. All biochemical beasts, as well as all original world machinery—warships, airplanes, etc. —are evolutions of half-machine, half-flesh. This is the source of all current biochemical beasts. Super War-machines are different; they are pure mechanical evolutions. They involve no flesh or organic matter. However, these machines cannot be replicated or fully analyzed.

Creations like the fresh water-powered engine require biochemical beast flesh and parts to function, whereas the original components of a Super War-machine do not; they are all pure mechanical parts. Yet their function, power, and defensive capabilities far exceed the limits of these metal materials.

From this, some people have developed an idea, or rather, a speculation.

Since there is a pure inorganic Super War-machine evolution, could there also be a pure organic human super-evolution?

Similarly, without involving the combination of organic and inorganic matter, could a super-evolution produced purely by human organic tissue be born?

This is the Super Soldier—Super Evolved Soldier, or to use another term...

Superman!

Wu Pifu finally understood what a Super Soldier was. A 'Super War-machine' refers to a super tank or vehicle produced by the influence of biochemical beasts, while a 'Super Soldier' refers to a super soldier or super human who might be born under the same influence. One is a pure inorganic evolution, the other a pure organic evolution.

The legend of the Super Soldier has existed for a long time. In the last decade, as the human situation became increasingly difficult, many people rumored that once a Super Soldier appeared, they would inevitably save all of humanity and become the savior. However, after decades of various devastations, many people had long since lost this hope and didn't believe Super Soldiers truly existed, so they took it quite calmly.

Li Muxia and her group were like this. Although they thought Wu Pifu was likely the legendary Super Soldier, they felt that despite his strength, he still couldn't compare to a Super War-machine based on his performance.

"... In the last dozen years, the talk of Super Soldiers has become increasingly rampant. Many vicious people have used biochemical beasts to experiment on themselves, turning themselves into something that is neither human, ghost, beast, nor machine. But their strength is terrifying. They now occupy the north, frequently attacking towns and villages, capturing humans to be their slaves, test subjects, or even food," Li Muxia said.

Big Brother also shouted an explanation, "They all call themselves Super Soldiers, which has given the name a worse reputation in recent years. So, you'd better not easily expose yourself as a Super Soldier."

Wu Pifu was naturally not a so-called Super Soldier. All his strength came from his own training, life-and-death battles, and some from the Main Brain's upgrades. How could he compare to those Super Soldiers who relied entirely on luck to evolve?

Of course, there was no need to tell the four of them this.

At the same time, Wu Pifu learned from them that this world had no organization like 'Azure,' nor even any similar substitute. There were only several large organizations entangled with each other, both hostile and allied: the Mercenary Society, the Researcher Society, and the Security Society. These were human organizations on the side of order. On the side of chaos, there were the Plunderer Organization and the Man-Killer Organization.

Therefore, the Third War in this world had dragged on, and the biochemical beast tide had stabilized. It wasn't that humans could fight the beasts, but that the beasts were killing each other. More accurately, 80% of the fighting came from other biochemical beasts; the conflict with humans was more like a minor skirmish.

This was the Dream World Wu Pifu heard about from the four. Its trajectory was not like the Third War in the real world, where Azure emerged to unite all of humanity to fight the enemy, eventually leading to human revival and the extinction of all biochemical beasts, ending the tide.

The pickup truck drove for nearly two hours. The desert storm gradually subsided, and the ground beneath the truck changed from sand to gravel as they moved from the desert region into the Gobi. In the distance ahead, a small town with walls made of wood and iron appeared before their eyes.

"Quicksand Town."

This was the town where Li Muxia and her group currently operated.

If viewed from a map of Earth, Quicksand Town was located somewhere between the Middle East and Europe.

The old civilization was destroyed in the initial biochemical beast tide. At that time, the beasts were not yet stable and began to go on a rampage almost as soon as they were born. The first wave destroyed almost all major cities in the world. Then, before the survivors could catch their breath, a second, larger wave of biochemical beasts landed from the sea. Various giant beasts over a thousand meters tall swept away everything. The closer an area was to the sea, the more thoroughly it was destroyed.

As for island nations, island cities, and even small landmasses like Australia, they were almost completely wiped out.

According to the four, the Researcher Society had explored regions like Oceania, the Americas, and Australia, finding that these areas were long devoid of human life and had become lands ravaged by biochemical beasts. Both North and South America were the same. The Researcher Society had deduced the process: unlike the Eurasian-African continent, these two Americas were surrounded by giant beasts landing from both the Atlantic and Pacific, making it almost impossible for any humans to remain.

Now, all of humanity was basically concentrated in the middle of the Eurasian-African continent. The further inland one went, the more human villages and towns there were, while the closer one went to the sea, the fewer humans there were, until eventually, there was no human life at all.

The pickup truck drove to the entrance of Quicksand Town. Big Brother took out a metal plate from the truck, and the personnel at the checkpoint scanned it from a distance. Only then did the gate slowly open, and Big Brother drove the vehicle into the town.

To Wu Pifu, the town's technological level wasn't actually low. There was electricity, lights, and he even saw a giant neon billboard with recruitment ads for things like the 'Super War-machine Corps.'

"Don't look at that. That's for cannon fodder. It's a recruitment ad for the Security Society. Once you go in, you're just cannon fodder. Do you think they'd let you drive a Super War-machine?" Li Muxia said with disdain.

Wu Pifu naturally didn't care. It wasn't like a super robot or anything; he didn't think tanks were cool, so he had no intention of driving a so-called Super War-machine.

Are you kidding? How could those unreliable things made of metal compare to his own body, tempered through thousands of trials?

The pickup truck drove directly to the most complete and tallest building in the small town. This building even had floor-to-ceiling glass walls, though it was an eyesore that it had over a dozen shell craters.

Li Muxia took her two underlings, Wang Wang and Tizi, and dragged the shark teeth into the building. Within seconds of entering the lobby, a crowd of mercenaries rushed over. It wasn't to snatch the teeth, but to help drag them. They looked very excited; even though they hadn't hunted them and wouldn't get any reward, their excitement couldn't be hidden.

Big Brother whispered to Wu Pifu, "Mercenaries look out for each other because no one knows when they might need help to save their lives. Besides, these bounty targets are a huge threat to us. No one knows if they'll be ambushed and die, so if someone can hunt them, it's naturally something everyone is happy about."

Li Muxia took her two underlings to exchange for water tickets. This was the money of this world, which could be exchanged for pure fresh water at any time at the locations of the three major societies.

!

Wu Pifu wandered around the lobby. Although he was a stranger here, he found this worldview, with its slight punk feel and apocalyptic flavor, quite novel.

In the lobby, there was a giant front desk with over a dozen rows of seats. Mercenaries were accepting or returning missions. At this moment, almost all the mercenaries in the lobby had run to the front desk to watch the giant shark teeth, while staff behind the desk began to inspect and confirm the situation to ensure that what was brought was indeed the remains of the bounty target.

Taking advantage of the lack of people around, Wu Pifu began to look at the bounty target posters on the wall. Some were photos, some were abstract drawings, and some were just text descriptions. There were over thirty in total. One of them was a photo of the shark-submarine, and some bounty items had a large red 'X' marked on them, proving that the target had been eliminated.

The bounties for these targets were usually not high, generally around a few hundred. The shark-submarine was already one of the top three, ranking third. The second-ranked bounty target was called the 'Moving Village.' There was no photo, no abstract drawing, only a description. It was said to be a village that only appeared at night. It looked normal on the outside, but once you entered, you would be swallowed and turned into a humanoid that moved forever with the village. The bounty was as high as twenty thousand tons of water.

As for the first-ranked...

Wu Pifu looked at the first-ranked bounty target, his eyes narrowed, and he stood still in front of it.

"... Bounty: fifty thousand tons of pure fresh water..."

Big Brother had been watching the appraisal at Li Muxia's side. Seeing the appraiser confirm that these were indeed the shark-submarine's teeth, he breathed a sigh of relief. He then saw Wu Pifu standing at the bounty list and walked over. After glancing at the target, he sighed and said, "The Man-Hunting Butcher, bounty fifty thousand tons of pure fresh water. No way, this is truly impossible. It's far to the north, though in recent years it occasionally runs to the south to slaughter and plunder..."

Wu Pifu silently placed his hand over the photo of the bounty target, then turned around without a word and walked toward the front desk with Big Brother.

Only Chiu Chiu poked her head out of Wu Pifu's pocket, looking very confused.

She didn't understand why this half-cyborg called the Man-Hunting Butcher looked so much like...

Amida?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 206 =====