Chapter 10

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The service area was full of people and snoring. Lin Qing also closed his eyes and fell asleep. He was tired from working all day.

Although the bodies of Motorbots did not experience fatigue, their minds were still human.

In the morning, the ground was still dim at the first glimmer of dawn. Suddenly, the sound of the ground shaking woke everyone up. Then they saw dozens of tanks rumbling as soldiers with guns followed behind.

Other than a few thousand soldiers, there were also thousands of civilians. It was an enormous group that was impossible to see the end of.

After waking up Huang Quan, Lin Qing carried Yang Feng, and they secretly slipped away.

On the highway, Huang Quan asked in confusion, “Why are we running? We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Do you want to stay behind and work with dozens of tanks facing you?”

“Damn. Surely not, right?”

“It’s not wrong to be more careful. Anyway, I’ve already rested. We have to leave even if you don’t want to.”

The early stages of the Cataclysm didn’t belong to the Motorbots. Instead, the empire still reigned supreme. With a fleet of rocket launchers, tanks, and armed helicopters, would the empire be afraid?

The empire’s approach was to collect all the Motorbots they encountered. What, you wanted freedom? Then they would talk using anti-tank rocket launchers.

When an armor-piercing shell exploded, it would reach a temperature of more than a thousand degrees Celsius. When such missiles hit early-stage Motorbots, it would usually result in a basketball-sized hole through their bodies.

Shenbei City was the provincial capital. It was 150 kilometers away from Ping’an City and had a population of five million people. Although it was a third-tier city, its economic development and various aspects were much better than Ping’an.

At noon, Lin Qing stopped at Shenbei. The sky was still dark, but the temperature was colder than yesterday.

Yang Feng got off Lin Qing’s truck to get supplies. He also wanted to find some food and clothes to wear.

“When are we leaving?” Huang Quan asked curiously when he saw Lin Qing squatting on the ground and studying the bus stop sign.

“Old Huang, do you still remember owing me dozens of crystals?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“If you help me, you don’t have to return those crystals to me.”

Huang Quan simply couldn’t believe that Lin Qing would say that he didn’t need to return the crystals. “Tell me. I will definitely help you.”

With his current strength, there were very few things that he couldn’t accomplish.

Looking at a certain place at the bus stop, Lin Qing said, “I want to find someone, so we might need to stay here for a few days.”

Huang Qian looked around guiltily. “Exactly how many days are we going to wait for?”

There were many people in cities like this, and the animals here were also fierce. If he remembered correctly, North Spirit Mountain Park was in Shenbei City. The mountains in the park that was full of wild monkeys were very famous in the country.

He had gone sightseeing there when he first arrived here. Other than the monkeys that could be seen everywhere, there was also a zoo, a lake, a bird park, and so on. There was a large and rather complete collection of large animals there.

“I don’t know. Maybe ten days, half a month, or even maybe a month. But I’ll leave today if I’m certain that he’s dead.”

“Sure. It’s my fault for owing you crystals.”

“Thanks. When Yang Feng comes back, we’ll go look for that person.”

More than ten minutes later, Yang Feng came out of a clothing store wearing a green military coat and a hat on his head. He had wrapped himself up tightly.

When Lin Qing told him that he wanted to find someone, Yang Feng was straightforward and even said that he would help.

After walking a short distance, they saw a running crowd and a Motorbot fighting with steel beasts.

“Lin Qing, protect Little Feng. I’m going.”

Huang Quan was extremely hungry, so he couldn’t help but want to look for steel beasts to eat. He transformed into his 20-meter mecha form and rushed forward. Then with a light tug, he tore a steel beast apart.

His hunger only disappeared after eating over a dozen crystals.

“Where is the person you’re looking for?” In the truck, Yang Feng asked Lin Qing as he looked enviously at Huang Quan killing everything around him.

“He’s at Yalong Titanium Condensation Research Institute, one stop before North Spirit Mountain Park.”

When Yang Feng heard the words ‘research institute’, he was curious as to how Lin Qing knew such a person. But he didn’t ask and simply nodded.

The closer they got to North Spirit Mountain Park, the fewer people there were and the more steel beasts they encountered. There were lions, tigers, elephants, jackals, leopards, birds, and so on. In the end, even Huang Quan couldn’t withstand the steel beasts, so Lin Qing could only join the battle.

When they were two kilometers away from the research institute, they saw a few people hiding in the parking lot below. Lin Qing said, “It’s not far from here. I’ll run over to take a look. Wait for me here.”

“Okay, be careful.” Huang Quan didn’t object. Although his strength was great, his speed was slow, and he was not as agile as Lin Qing, so he had no advantage in running.

…

“Professor Chen, let’s go. We can’t hold on here.”

“I will not leave. This place is half of my life’s work. Even if I die, I will die here.”

“Old Chen, as long as there’s life, there’s hope. If the laboratory is gone, we can rebuild it. But if there’s no one, there’s really nothing left.”

“We can’t build it anymore.” Chen Chong was a man in his seventies in the research institute. He was wearing a white lab coat and had a head full of silver hair. At this moment, he had lost all hope. “The empire invested billions of yuan into this project. We’ve been researching for more than ten years, and all our efforts are here.

“Once we leave, I don’t know how badly we’ll be ravaged by those monsters. I plan to bury myself here with these tools. You can leave now. Don’t worry about me.”

“Teacher, with your reputation, the empire won’t give up on you. I believe that they have already sent people to save you. You must persevere.” Wang Xiaoming, a researcher in the lab, tried to persuade him.

He had a sparse beard and messy shoulder-length hair. He wore a pair of rimless glasses and seemed to be an ordinary man in his thirties. From his appearance, it was hard to imagine that he was Chen Chong’s proud disciple.

Only those who knew him would know how capable he was. In terms of the ability to condense titanium, Chen Chong was the only person in the lab who could surpass him.

This technology was heavily supported by the empire and would be used in the military once it was complete. It was a considerable breakthrough.

There had been more than 200 people in the lab, but less than half of them were left. Someone said in panic, “We’ve lost contact with the satellites, and we can’t get through over the phones. There are so many monsters outside. Is there really hope?”

“Old Zhang, Little Jia, and the rest have turned into Motorbots and ran away. If we stay, we will be sending ourselves to our deaths. Furthermore, the capital is thousands of kilometers away. By the time they arrive, our ashes would have turned cold.”

“I think we should retreat. From my observations, those monsters seem to be evolving. They have grown in size and become much stronger in the span of one day. If we continue to drag this out, I’m afraid we won’t be able to wait for the empire to rescue us.”

“Without food and water, we will die if we go out, but we will also die if we stay here. What should we do?”

“It’s a matter of leaving or staying. Someone, please come up with a solution. We can’t afford to delay any longer.”

“All of you, shut the f*ck up!” Looking at everyone with bloodshot eyes, Wang Xiaoming growled, “This place is close to the park, and there are the most monsters here. If we head out, we definitely won’t be able to survive. My suggestion is to stay here and wait for reinforcements from the higher-ups.”

“Wait, wait, wait. You told us to wait yesterday, but the monsters have mutated several times in a day. I don’t want my life to depend on uncertain reinforcements. I want to leave. Who’s coming with me?”

“Me.”

“I don’t want to wait any longer either. Let’s escape from this street. There are plenty of Motorbots nearby, so it should be safe to follow them.”

“Alright. Follow me if you want to leave.”

A blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner led the way as around 80 people pushed open the door of the research institute and ran out. After a few steps, blood-curdling screams rang out as a group of steel wolves rushed out and tore them apart.

Wang Xiaoming’s pupils constricted, and he hurriedly closed the bulletproof glass door before taking a few steps back instinctively.