Chapter 29: A Comfortable Night, Han Ya

Night was as dark as ink.

Without electricity, this city that once blazed with lights all night now lies in dead silence and icy darkness.

Yet, amidst this endless darkness, the existence of Xuanwu City became a unique sight.

In the central district of Xuanwu City, before the two-story building just formed from condensed earth and stone, a bonfire burned brightly.

Orange-red flames licked the wire mesh above it; on the mesh lay several slices of canned luncheon meat, sizzling "hiss" under the heat, fat dripping into the fire and bursting into tiny sparks, the rich meat aroma instantly spreading, making mouths water.

Lin Yue and Wang Gongtou sat around the fire, each holding a cup of hot tea brewed from purified water.

"Fragrant! So fragrant!"

Wang Gongtou turned the meat with an iron skewer, greedily inhaling the smoky, meaty air; his cloudy eyes reflected the firelight, full of emotion and satisfaction.

This was probably the most secure and luxurious meal he had eaten since the apocalypse began.

"Before the apocalypse, I ate fish and meat every day until I was sick of it; who would have thought that one day, just being able to eat a hot bite of canned meat and sip a cup of clean hot tea would bring such immense satisfaction!"

As he muttered, he slipped a piece of luncheon meat, grilled golden on both sides, into Lin Yue's bowl.

"Little Lin, try it quick—my grilling skills were second to none back at the workplace!"

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Lin Yue laughed, picked up the scorching meat, blew on it, and took a big bite.

The meat's salty fragrance, mixed with the unique smoky taste of charcoal, exploded on his taste buds instantly.

"Delicious!"

Lin Yue praised it sincerely.

Wang Gongtou wasn't boasting—his skill was genuinely good; before the apocalypse, opening a barbecue shop would have been no problem.

He lifted his head and looked around.

Not far away, the recently leveled thousands of mu of fields, though now just a bare expanse, would soon yield tens of thousands of catties of grain; adding the meat from hunting (Xuanwu can purify the toxins, radiation, and harmful microbes in mutant beast meat), feeding a hundred people for half a year would be no problem.

Calculating with two harvests a year, Xuanwu's current size alone could support a hundred people in self-sufficiency.

This is only Xuanwu at level 3; once its level rises, the number it can feed will only multiply.

Lin Yue gazed at Xuanwu's massive form, his anticipation for Xuanwu City's future growing ever stronger.

"Little Lin, you say… this really isn't a dream, is it?"

Wang Gongtou took a sip of hot tea, gazing at everything before him, his voice still tinged with unreality.

"A few days ago I was still waiting to die in the acid rain… now I'm sitting here eating grilled meat and drinking hot tea… the change is too fast, too fast for this old man to keep up."

"Old Wang, from now on just focus on your construction here."

Lin Yue placed the remaining half of a sausage on the grill,

"Leave the outside affairs to me and Xuanwu."

"Good, good, good!"

Wang Gongtou nodded repeatedly, the wrinkles on his face blooming into smiles,

"Starting tomorrow I'll begin planning phase two of the project! The wall's height needs to be increased! We also need a complete drainage system! And the residential area—right now just the two of us, these two small buildings are enough, but once more people come, we'll have to replan!"

The more he spoke, the more excited he grew, as if he could already see Xuanwu City bustling with people and lights, a prosperous scene.

Lin Yue merely smiled and listened, not interrupting him.

He knew that this old man had placed all his hopes for humanity's future upon Xuanwu City.

And that hope, for him, was both motivation and a heavy responsibility.

"System, open the status panel!"

Lin Yue murmured it in his heart.

【Pet: Xuanwu (Level 3)】

【Species: Great Earth Xuan Armor Turtle (Mature)】

【Body Length: 150 meters】

【Height: 30 meters】

……

【Required for advancement to Level 4: 2312/energy points.】

Still lacking seven thousand seven hundred energy points…

The road ahead is still long.

However, with the shelter providing intel on mutant beast gathering grounds, Xuanwu's evolution should proceed much more smoothly.

Just as Lin Yue and Wang Gongtou were enjoying this rare peace, they didn't know that a pair of eyes several miles away was staring unblinkingly at everything here.

……

Several miles from Xuanwu City, the top floor of a forty-story office building.

This was once one of Hangcheng's landmarks, now only a ruined shell; the howling night wind poured in through empty windows, emitting wails like ghosts and wolves.

Inside a room on the top floor, there was not a glimmer of light; it was freezing and piercing to the bone.

An extremely frail girl who looked no older than sixteen or seventeen lay prone before the shattered floor-to-ceiling window, continually scanning the building's surroundings for movement.

Her name was Han Ya.

Her body, from cold and hunger, trembled uncontrollably; her lips were dry and cracked, her face a sickly pallor from never seeing sunlight.

But her eyes shone astonishingly bright.

"Sis… I'm cold…"

Behind her came an extremely weak, sobbing child's voice.

Han Ya snapped her head back and hurried to the corner of the room.

There, a makeshift nest cobbled from a few rags and cardboard scraps held a boy who looked about seven or eight, curled up inside, his little face flushed red, his whole body burning hot, his teeth chattering nonstop.

Xiao Yu, it's not cold, older sister is here.

Han Ya quickly crouched, took off her own thin, already faded-white outer garment, and covered her brother with it, then used her icy hand to gently stroke his scorching forehead.

Water…… sister, I want to drink water……

The little boy murmured deliriously.

Han Ya's hand movement involuntarily stalled.

Water……

They have been without water for a full day already.

The last half-bottle of water had already been given to Xiao Yu to drink an hour ago.

But that bit of water, for a child with a relentless high fever, is merely a drop in the bucket.

"Han Ya…… did you…… see it?"

In the corner, another weak voice sounded.

In this survivor squad, besides the two siblings, there were two other people, a young couple.

The man was called A Qiang, the woman Xiao Hui.

At this moment, they leaned together, sallow and thin, eyes dull.

"What did you see?"

Han Ya swallowed the bitterness in her heart and turned to ask.

"Fire……"

A Qiang pointed toward the window, his voice hoarse,

"There's firelight over there……"

"So what?"

Xiao Hui said weakly,

"So far away, even if there were fire and food, what does it have to do with us? We barely have the strength to go downstairs now."

Yeah, it's irrelevant.

Han Ya's heart sank.

Rather than staring at that unattainable hope, it's better to conserve strength.

She was about to lower the binoculars, but at that moment, in the binoculars' view, beneath that point of firelight, an enormously huge outline, unimaginably large, flashed by in the occasional flicker of the firelight.

What was that?

A mountain?

Impossible! This area of Hangcheng has no mountains at all!

Han Ya's heart clenched sharply; she adjusted the binoculars' angle and focus, trying to see more clearly.

Finally, aided by the faint moonlight, she finally saw it clearly.

That wasn't a mountain.

It was the outline of a creature!

A…… creature as huge as a mountain range, with a carapace!

"Hiss——"

Han Ya sucked in a breath of cold air; a chill shot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head, making all her body hair stand on end.

"Monst…… monster……"

Her lips trembled, she could barely hold onto the binoculars.

"Monster?"

A Qiang and Xiao Hui, hearing that, lost the last trace of color from their faces.

Just as Han Ya felt fear, through this old binoculars she also discovered the situation in Xuanwu City.

How could that be?!

Someone…… was actually leisurely barbecuing on that monster's back?!

This scene was so absurd it left her mind blank, her heart racing uncontrollably.

Since the apocalypse descended, she hadn't seen such a scene for a very long time.

Does this also mean that the monster is under human control?!

"Han Ya…… what's wrong?"

A Qiang watched her ever-changing expression, his unease growing.

Han Ya didn't answer; she just stared fixedly at the binoculars, her heart pounding as if it would burst from her throat.

At the same time, a crazy thought flashed through her mind: I want to go!

But reason told her it was far too dangerous.

The monster seemed not far away, but in reality the distance between them was at least ten-odd kilometers.

If that ten-odd kilometer distance were placed before the apocalypse, it wouldn't be a problem.

But now they are in the apocalypse, with mutant beasts everywhere; a moment's inattention would make them the beasts' food.

Furthermore, even if they were lucky enough to get through safely, no one can guarantee that the other side would be willing to lend a hand.

But staying here, watching her brother's temperature rise bit by bit while she could do nothing……

Han Ya's gaze slowly moved from the binoculars to her dazed brother beside her.

She saw her brother's cracked lips, and his eyes deeply sunken from dehydration.

Finally, she made a decision.

Rather than sitting here waiting to die, she might as well…… take a gamble!

She slowly stood up, and from sitting too long a wave of dizziness nearly made her collapse to the ground.

"A Qiang, Xiao Hui,"

She turned around, looking at the couple in the corner,

"Do you want to keep living?"

The two lifted their heads in confusion, not understanding why she asked that.

Han Ya looked at them and said, word by word:

"Get ready, we'll go over and take a look."

"Go……go over and take a look?"

A Qiang and Xiao Hui's faces were filled with shock, as if they had heard an Arabian Nights tale.

"Han Sis, are you crazy?!"

Xiao Hui's voice turned sharp from fear,

"That's a monster! So huge! If we get close, we probably wouldn't even be enough to stuff between its teeth!"

"Yeah, Han Sis!"

A Qiang also urged, his voice hoarse from weakness,

"We barely have the strength to go downstairs, how could we go over? And outside everywhere are mutant beasts—we'd likely die on the way before getting halfway!"

Han Ya fully understood their worries.

But now they had no retreat, only a desperate fight.

"Staying here is also death."

Han Ya's voice was unusually calm, calm to the point of being almost cruel.

She walked to her brother Han Yu, curled up in the corner, and gently stroked his burning cheek.

"Xiao Yu's temperature keeps rising,"

She lifted her head, her gaze sweeping over A Qiang and Xiao Hui,

"We have no medicine, nor clean water to lower his fever. At most we can hold out another day; he'll die from high fever and dehydration. Then it'll be our turn."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it struck like a heavy hammer, slamming hard into their hearts.

Yeah, staying here means only a dead end.

They all knew this cruel reality, but had merely been deceiving themselves to avoid it.

"But……but after all, it's a monster……"

Xiao Hui's lips trembled, tears streaming uncontrollably,

"I don't want to be eaten by a monster…… I'd rather…… rather just starve to death……"

"Monster?"

Han Ya's lips suddenly curled into a meaningful arc,

"A Qiang, Xiao Hui, do you know what I just saw through the binoculars?"

A Qiang and Xiao Hui stared blankly at Han Ya, not understanding what she meant.

Han Ya took a deep breath and related what she had seen, word for word.

"What?!"

Those words left A Qiang and Xiao Hui utterly stunned.

"That monster, as big as a mountain, is actually controlled by humans?"

"How is that possible?"

"I know this sounds incredible, but it's the truth!"

Han Ya looked at their shocked expressions, her tone growing ever more resolute,

"Whoever can control such a monster must possess power beyond our imagination!"

She stood up, walked to the broken window, and let the icy night wind blow against her frail body.

"Power means resources. It means they have food, clean water, and even……medicine!"

"Rather than wait to die here, I'd rather take a gamble!"

Her voice suddenly rose,

"Even if there's only a one-in-ten-thousand chance, I want to try it for Xiao Yu!"

A Qiang and Xiao Hui were overwhelmed by the power in her words, for a moment unable to utter any rebuttal.

They looked at this Han Sis who had always protected them, and a faint hope rekindled in their hearts.

"Han Sis……"

A Qiang struggled to his feet, picked up a rust-streaked steel pipe from the wall corner, and gripped it tightly,

"I……I'll follow you! Even if I die, I accept it!"

"I……I'll go too!"

Xiao Hui wiped her tears and also rose to her feet.

She was terrified, scared to death.

But what she feared more was waiting to die here.

"Good."

Han Ya nodded heavily, a flicker of relief flashing in her eyes.

She said no more, immediately launching into action.

From an old backpack she pulled out her most precious weapon—a military combat knife only twenty centimeters long.

The blade was covered in nicks, yet the edge still flashed with a cold, icy gleam.

This knife is the last relic her father left her.

Her father had once been a special forces soldier; in the early days of the apocalypse, to protect them siblings, he perished together with a Mutant Beast.

From that day on, she took on the responsibility of protecting her younger brother.

She slipped the short knife back into its waist sheath, then checked the already worn-out tactical vest on her body.

This set of equipment is her sole means of survival in this apocalypse.

She walked to her younger brother Han Yu's side, carefully placed him on her back, and secured him tightly with cloth strips.

The boy's scorching body pressed against her back, further strengthening her resolve.

"Let's go."

She led the way toward the door.

A Qiang and Xiao Hui exchanged a glance, then closely followed behind her.

As they walked out of the room that had sheltered them for nearly a month, everyone's hearts rose to their throats.