Chapter 2039: Beginning Destruction

Biohazard dungeon.

Scorching sun, Banji.

The sky was dry and hot, the air seeming like twisted dough.

Inside the small gathering place, the survivors, like dehydrated corpses, sat weakly under the wooden eaves.

On the street, buzzing flies swarmed like a bee colony, seeking flesh to bite.

The survivors here seemed already accustomed to living with flies; one sees a thin old man like firewood lying dazedly on a cutting board, his arm shaking as he reaches for a fly on his eyelid, lightly pinches it, and sends it into his mouth to chew vigorously.

His lower leg had rotted; under the rolled-up pant leg, that section of shin resembled a wind-dried beef leg, and at the bowl-sized wound, countless white specks drilled in and out of the moist flesh.

But perhaps the old man's flesh was too tough; aside from the rotting meat at the wound that could still be penetrated, these maggots, after burrowing in, exerted too much force and popped out with a slap, falling to the ground.

"Little Kaqi, your grandfather is still holding up pretty well, even at this time he has the mind to eat."

"We agreed, once this leg is cut off, it will be mine."

Behind the counter, a thin man wearing a dirty smelly apron looked at the little boy beside the counter and smiled.

As he spoke, he turned his wrist, and a notched boning knife rose high, aiming at the old man's joint.

In his view, cutting off a leg wasn't particularly shocking. The few idle survivors watching the scene even teased the boy:

"Little Kaqi, why do you still bother with this old man?"

"Why not each take a share? Maybe a caravan will come, and we could trade for a few cans."

Hearing the adults' nonsense, the little boy with a water jug larger than his head on his head simply shook his head firmly; his face darkened by the sun, his eyes anxiously fixed on his grandfather.

"Grandpa Ke Luo, go ahead and cut; I can support my grandfather!"

As his words fell, Little Kaqi yanked hard at the cloth strips tied around the old man's feet, worrying that there might be too much bleeding later. Although, the old man's body might not have much blood left.

On the counter, the old man remained unresponsive; even as his leg was about to be cut off, to him it felt like chopping firewood.

He merely mechanically pinched up the flies and fleas on his body, tossed them into his mouth, accompanied by a few crisp 'ga-lang' sounds, like eating broad beans.

Perhaps feeling Little Kaqi's hand trembling, the old man struggled to swallow the flea, then suddenly, as if recalling something, with some effort grabbed a handful of wriggling white maggots from his wound and turned to offer them to the boy.

"Little Kaqi... eat... Grandfather is useless..."

"Don't be afraid... tighten the cloth strips a bit more, and Grandfather can live a few more days... the maggots raised that way... can be many..."

"Remember... eat more liver... liver contains iron... you still need to grow..."

"Ha... ha... ha..."

The old man hoarsely laughed, his smile terrifying, as stiff as a corpse; but in Little Kaqi's eyes, his grandfather's eyes were full of kindness.

"It won't happen...! Grandfather! I won't eat you...! You won't die!"

Hearing his grandfather begin to teach him how to survive using his body, Little Kaqi could no longer hold back and burst into a wail.

He had nothing left, only his grandfather.

Zombies ate his father, his mother was taken by a caravan.

If his grandfather died, he wouldn't want to live either.

The boy's crying sounded harsh in the dead-silent gathering place; people merely remained unmoved, calmly and blankly watching him, no one offering a word of comfort.

The ten-year-long apocalypse had almost worn people down into another kind of zombie.

It's hard to imagine, but they are actually still fortunate, kind. They don't eat the living, and still retain a last shred of humanity.

They are a scientific expedition team; the man responsible for cutting off the old man's shin was, before the apocalypse, their team's finest surgeon.

"Pa!"

Hand rose, knife fell, not even a few drops of blood spattered.

Only a gurgling sound was heard, and a thin leg rolled to the boy's feet.

"Little Kaqi... my... good child..."

"Take it and let's all cook and eat it together..."

High above, Zhang Tie watched the scene below with a somewhat heavy heart.

He should have acted long ago, but after separating from Lin Dui's team, he hesitated already at the first stop.

What happened in the town wasn't particularly moving; it was merely the most common norm under the apocalypse.

"Lin Dui, are we really going to kill everyone?"

Zhang Tie couldn't help but ask Lin An; he wasn't pedantic, nor a saint, but having to kill anyone still made him feel somewhat uneasy.

Especially...

This world, it's vast.

"We're not trying to kill them; we're not killing people."

"We're just ending this place, letting it restart. Zhang Tie, they're merely NPCs."

As if anticipated, Lin An's calm voice instantly sounded.

Almost as he finished speaking, a deafening explosion suddenly came through the comms.

Zhang Tie's heart jolted; with his perception, he naturally realized that Lin Dui had already begun to act.

Only then, a flash suddenly illuminated the horizon behind him.

"End this place... not counting as people..."

"Ah..."

With a sigh, Zhang Tie shook his head, full of complex feelings, and simply stopped thinking further.

The next second, he drew a deep breath and slammed a fierce punch straight into the ground!

Earthquake!

"Boom!!!!"

Immense force and spiritual energy instantly generated a high-energy quake, but in the blink of an eye, even the land surrounding the gathering place shattered like a wave.

Perhaps out of reluctance, when he destroyed this place with a single strike, Zhang Tie even wasted a lot of spiritual energy to sweep through first, only hoping to let the people here die more painlessly.

Bang...!!!

The aftershocks of the explosion continued nonstop.

Seeing the gathering place beneath his feet turn into a deep pit, Xiong Hanzi let out a long sigh, secretly feeling apologetic.

"It would be better to die painlessly; being forced to eat one's own kind just to survive, and then endure endless reincarnation..."

"Old Zhang here, I'll just help you be freed..."

Whoosh—Boom!!

No longer thinking further, after making up his mind, Zhang Tie simply imitated Lin An's style and flew at supersonic speed just above the ground.

The humans of this world are weak; the sonic boom produced by his flight alone is enough to kill most of them. Out of sight, out of mind, they are also in a hurry.

But for some reason, in a daze, Zhang Tie recalled the former Alien Species.

Those monsters had done the same before.

A thousand meters underground, there was a hive.

A sudden burst of red light flashed.

Only seeing, after a red laser swiftly scanned and projected, a virtual projection wearing a red dress instantly opened its eyes.