Chapter 975: Giant Insect

Tap」

「Tap」

Passing through the city entrance, what came into view was a circular plaza.

Compared to other cities, the remote Aerospace City has excellent greenery.

At the city's entrance roundabout stands a metal statue over six meters tall, depicting a saluting astronaut.

Cast in bronze, the oversized astronaut helmet looks like a bald tumor in the darkness.

Weeds overgrow, and the surrounding circular flower beds are filled with vegetation as tall as a person.

Red or purple flower clusters are mixed among the shrubs, artificially arranged to form slogans.

But due to long-term lack of trimming, the originally formed slogans have become deformed, like a child's random scribbles.

One can barely make out that it seems to read "Welcome to Aerospace City"...

Steady footsteps echoed.

Tranquil, dead silent.

As they went deeper.

Buildings rose everywhere, like silent giants quietly watching the three.

Leading the way, Lin An, with a mental power barrier spreading around him, was like holding up a blue energy sphere, a faint glow illuminating his surroundings.

A mechanical compass floated before him, and the True Eye opened.

Under the threefold detection methods.

Compared to ordinary Awakened Ones, the abilities Lin An mastered could almost discern everything; information gathered, he scanned every blade of grass and tree around him inch by inch.

"Lin Dui, this creepy place is a little too quiet..."

Walking to Lin An's side behind him, perhaps affected by the environment, Xiong Hanzi rubbed his belly while looking around and whispered:

「There's nothing at all, not even bone fragments... 」

「Where did all the dead people go... 」

Accustomed to facing hordes of living corpses upon entering a city, with corpses filling the streets.

All the way here, not even a bird feather in sight, he momentarily felt unaccustomed.

Clean, too clean...

Even he could clearly sense the abnormality here.

Lin An, walking at the front, nodded without changing expression, silver light representing his skill constantly flashing in his eyes.

Exactly.

The entire city not only had no corpses, no zombies.

Not even insects or mice.

Whether on the ground or in underground pipes, the mental power he released found no trace of any living creature.

The whole city was like a tomb made of concrete and steel.

If it weren't for the many tire tracks left on the ground, he would even suspect the city had been abandoned for over ten years.

Vigilance heightened.

As they gradually went deeper into the city, Lin An continually compiled and analyzed the information he saw.

The abnormality here is unlikely to be caused by mutants.

Even a third-rank mutant couldn't have devoured the entire city so cleanly.

Although those monsters are extremely bloodthirsty and will eat most creatures they see, under normal circumstances they wouldn't even eat insects and mice.

Mutants mainly feed on humans.

If it were a supernatural incident, they would have entered the range where corpses disappear, and they should have encountered something by now.

But little Mo Ling has so far felt no trace of any spirit's aura.

A meme, or perhaps a special event?

「Lin An, look at that! 」

「There are drag marks there! 」

Hearing the voice, they looked over.

Following Mo Ling's finger direction, on the glass curtain wall of a street-facing shop, a human-shaped gap had been blasted open, and drag marks of blood crawled along the road toward another direction deep in the city.

On the road's stone edges, bloody handprints were faintly visible.

Unlike the long-buried traces outside the city, these bloodstains inside the souvenir shops all pointed unmistakably toward the same direction.

Slightly left of center?

Lin An stared intently to examine.

Although the bloodstains scraped on the cement had been washed away somewhat by rain, the flesh fragments scraped from the stone cracks were enough to show the desperation of the one being dragged.

Toward...

West, perhaps?

Lin An's eyes twitched slightly, and he instinctively looked toward the building complex west of the central statue.

The most conspicuous among them was a lecture hall, with a red star hung high above it.

「Come on! Get closer! 」

At the command, Lin An immediately led Zhang Tie straight toward the lecture hall.

If there's any problem, it's likely to be there...

「Ee.. 」

A faint muttering sound slipped into the ears.

The closer they got, the clearer it became.

Following closely behind, Xiong Hanzi held a half-person-tall executioner's blade and asked Lin An somewhat hesitantly:

"Lin Dui, it sounds like someone is speaking."

He quickened his pace and nodded.

Lin An stared intently at the tightly shut ceremonial hall; the steps beneath the heavy doors showed a deep reddish hue.

He also heard it.

That voice sounded like a dying old man, hoarsely squeezed from the throat, intermittent.

"Hunger..."

"Hunger!!!"

The closer they got.

As the distance rapidly closed, the sounds from inside the ceremonial hall gradually became clear.

Feeble, longing low growls came from inside the hall one after another, making one's hair stand on end in the midnight.

Any living people?

His expression slightly furrowed, and his mental power quickly spread out.

After a moment, Lin An's gaze gradually grew solemn.

The closer they got, the clearer their perception became.

It reeks...

A rich stench of decay permeated the air, like a poisonous miasma, enveloping the area around the hall.

Recognizing the smell, Lin An clearly realized it came from fermenting corpses.

Enveloped by mental power, the presence inside the hall seemed like a smoldering fireball, lying motionless within.

Apart from that ball of 'fire' showing signs of life, there was nothing else in any other direction.

Without Hesitation.

After setting up another Mental Power Barrier to conceal their aura, the two quickly approached the bronze door.

It was apparent that this was a hall used for patriotic education propaganda, with many signs such as 'demonstration base' hanging on the outer walls.

"Hunger..."

"Hunger!!!!"

The dissatisfied low growls grew louder.

Standing outside the door, Lin An's eyes seemed to see through it as his mental power continually probed outward.

Behind him, Zhang Tie raised the executioner's blade high, ready to charge in at any moment.

Something problematic... is inside!

Those painful low growls made his scalp tingle.

What the hell keeps calling out...

Taking a deep breath, under Lin An's signal, Zhang Tie and he each took a side and slowly pushed the bronze door open a crack.

From the mental probe results, the source of the voice showed no spiritual energy fluctuations; for a moment, Lin An could only regard it as some special existence.

"Squeak"

The heavy bronze door was pushed open, revealing a glimpse.

Lin An focused his gaze; in the empty hall, a pallid flesh-colored expanse occupied most of his view.

This is...

Maggots!?

At the same time, waves of hungry low growls seeped in with the opening door.

"Hunger..."

"Hunger!!"

In the center of the hall, a pink giant worm resembling a maggot writhed continuously.

Its back faced the three of them.

It kept sucking and licking a severed arm.

On the highly rotted arm, the flesh, like braised chicken skin, was sucked into its mouth.

"Slurp"

Greedily chewing, the pink, infant-like giant worm sucked the flesh into its mouth, then gnawed on the bones with a crunching sound.

"Hunger.."

After the dissatisfied low growl sounded again, Zhang Tie, hiding behind the door, couldn't help but peek out to see clearly.

Moments later, his face instantly fell.

At a glance, the white surface on which the pink worm lay turned out to be a mountain of human bones.

The bones were stark white, as if meticulously cleaned, smooth and orderly, with not a trace of flesh.

"Hunger!!"

In an instant.

The worm that had been licking the corpse seemed to have noticed their spying.

The giant worm suddenly contracted and writhed; its head, which had been facing away from them, abruptly turned toward them.