Chapter 38

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The buildings in small towns seldom had basements installed.

Shen Cong moved the rocks around with his strength (three bulls worth of it!), and unless he ran into large rocks, nothing could stop him.

2Bang!

Shen Cong lifted a broken reinforced floorslab to reveal the room underneath it. It looked like a teahouse, and there were quite a number of tea leaves packed in cans there. Shen Cong never did any research on tea leaves before, so he only drank tea like mineral water. He thought about it before he moved the floorslab back to its original place to cover it. If they were useful, he could come back next time, or just leave it for other survivors.

1He moved stones around to scavenge for goods, but he did not actually find anything good. After all, it was just a small town, and it had never had a lot of good stuff to begin with. Besides, this place was now reduced to ruins after the baptism from the apocalypse.

Shen Cong only managed to find a few ruined monitor screens and wrecked computer chassises. He dismantled them to get some spare parts.

The town had also suffered through the thunderstorm, since the computers had definitely been soaked in water. Shen Cong did not know whether the spare parts could still be used, but he was in a hurry to repair the display system in Titan, so he needed any spare parts he could find.

1With a bag in hand, he continued wandering among the ruins, but he made sure that Titan was always within sight.

He also paid close attention to any movements around him.

Suddenly, he noticed something special when he lifted his binoculars and looked into the distance.

A group of humans dressed in rags had just appeared at the other end of the street around. They were 500 m away from him.

‘Survivors!’

Shen Cong’s heart thumped loudly against his chest, but it wasn’t because of him looking forward to meeting them. He had run into the survivors too suddenly, and it caught him slightly off guard. He hid himself behind broken walls, and his wariness instantly took control over his thoughts. He used his binoculars to carefully observe the survivors.

There were seven of them.

They were all adults, and the group consisted of five men and two women. The oldest was a man a lot older than Shen Cong. His hair was already greying.

The seven people were all lean and haggard. Their clothes were dirty, and their hair was messy. Each of them carried a nylon polybag and held a metal rod in their hands.

‘They’re not mutated survivors. They’re still communicating with each other, so they’re normal.

‘The two ladies are sentries, and the five men are tasked to scavenge in the ruins. They’re a small group of survivors.

‘The metal rods in their hands are their weapons, right? It’s a very simple weapon. Their clothes are really tattered, and they don’t have any semblance of defense. It seems like the living conditions of these survivors aren’t really good…

“Hmm? They have wounds on their bodies. That means they had run into mutated monsters, right?

‘Their strength isn’t great, and they can’t walk steadily. They don’t look like they have been strengthened by Activity.’

While Shen Cong observed the group, he also made continuous judgments of their situation based on the details he could see.

He did not go to them rashly, even though the group looked like survivors who retained their sanity and were unlike the survivor he met previously. That one had been like a wild beast.

HIs main thought was that as long as he remained careful, he could survive for a long time.

He had been prepared for a situation like this since a long time ago, and the appearance of other survivors did not cause him too much shock. If he could rely on Titan to survive, others could rely on other things to shield themselves.

The closer the people were to the city, the higher their chances to survive were. Since Yinpingzhen was just a few kilometers away from Juchao District, it was completely normal for the survivors from the city to come over.

Running into normal survivors allowed Shen Cong to sigh in relief. He had been really worried that all humans had mutated.

If all of them turned out like the female survivor he met earlier, then humankind would not be too far away from destruction. It would degenerate into wild beasts from its position as the master of civilization.

That would be truly tragic.

Fortunately, it had not happened just yet.

*****

‘If I can just grab one survivor and ask them for some information…’ Shen Cong slowly formed his plan while hiding behind the broken wall.

For the time being, he did not want to meet the whole group. He had to understand the situation of the survivors in Yinpingzhen and Juchao District so that he could make some detailed analysis and know how he should deal with the situation.

He was alone while the other survivors were in a group.

The thought of how he should protect himself occupied the most important position in his heart.

At that moment, one of the people in the group of survivors said something to the others. The person who looked like a leader answered and waved his hand in impatience. The first man then left the group and went to a wall not far away, which hid him from the other people’s sight.

Shen Cong could clearly guess that the survivor had gone to relieve himself. By that, he meant that the survivor went to poop.

‘This is a good chance!’

Shen Cong instantly came to a decision. He used the ruins to hide him and quickly ran to the pooping survivor. His Drastically Modified Battle Armor’s parts were better connected than before, so when he moved, he did not cause a huge ruckus.

When Shen Cong was near the pooping survivor, he slowed down. A layer of rubber was wrapped around the bottom of his metal boots (also a part of the Drastically Modified Battle Armor). This was a design Shen Cong had made to reduce the sound of his footsteps.

At that moment, once he slowed down, the sounds he made were immediately reduced by a large margin. Then, Shen Cong hid himself behind a broken wall at the path the survivor would have to take to return to his group.

Fortunately, the ruins had been preserved pretty well, which meant that Shen Cong had enough objects to hide him, or else, he would definitely have been exposed.

He waited for another minute.

The survivor finished pooping and wiped his butt before turning around to return to his group. When he went past the ruins where Shen Cong hid, Shen Cong shot out and quickly covered the survivor’s mouth. He also grabbed his neck.

The series of movements were done swiftly. After all, Shen Cong’s physical constitution had been increased to the point that he was as strong as three bulls. He could now do many difficult moves that surpassed the limits of his original body.

But he did not expect that because of a minor negligence, he would kick a small pebble.

Tap.

The group searching through the ruins nearby heard the sound, and the two sentries immediately shouted, “Old Zhang, is that you?”

Shen Cong cursed under his breath and immediately hissed coldly into the survivor’s ear. “Tell them that you’re fine, or die. You can only choose one, do you understand?”

The survivor instantly bobbed his head up and down. Compared to Shen Cong, he was very weak, and he could not move at all.

Shen Cong slowly removed his hand. The survivor then did as he was told and answered his team, though he stuttered. “It’s me. I-I have a stomach ache. Just wait a bit.”

“These lazy bums just poop and piss a lot, huh?” one of the survivors grumbled.

The other was not yet convinced. “What did you do just now? I heard something.”

The survivor lied under Shen Cong’s gaze. “It’s nothing. I just threw a pebble.”

“Stop fooling around and hurry up! If you lure a half-orc over, you’ll just cause everyone trouble!” The person who had asked the question before did not sound very polite.

“I know.”

Once the survivor covered all the loopholes in his lie, he immediately looked at Shen Cong anxiously.

Shen Cong did not say much. He just tore off a strip of cloth from the survivor’s shirt and blindfolded him. “You don’t have to be nervous. I’ll just ask you a few questions. Once I do, I’ll release you.”

Then, he lifted the survivor and circumnavigated the area. He fully intended to return to Titan.

But he did not want to expose Titan.

1*****

“Um, Bro, are you an evolved human as well?” While they were on their way back, the blindfolded survivor asked Shen Cong a question.

Shen Cong ignored him.

The survivor refused to give up and continued asking and spoke in a really obsequious tone. “Bro, are you the leader of Dragon Slayer or the Secret Organization? We’re scavengers from Chengnan. Lee, our leader, has already paid taxes to Zhang Tianshen. We’re just scavenging peacefully. We didn’t do anything.”

Shen Cong frowned, but still said nothing.

By evolved humans, the man probably meant mutated humans, and half-orcs were probably the humans who were like the female survivor.

But what sort of crappy names were Dragon Slayer, the Secret Organization, and Zhang Tianshen?!

“Bro, where are we going?” The survivor was silent only for a little while before he opened his mouth to ask another question.

Shen Cong still remained quiet. He only paid attention to moving forward as quickly as possible. After ten minutes, he finally returned to Titan. He threw the survivor into the truck compartment and shut the external armor. Then, Shen Cong coolly sized up the survivor for three minutes before he finally composed himself and started asking questions.

“What’s your name?”

The survivor’s eyes were covered and his hands were bound, so he could only answer honestly. “I’m Zhang Youhai, and I’m from Chengnan, Juchao District. We couldn’t fill our stomachs in the city, so Old Lee led our group to Yinpingzhen. Old Lee already paid taxes to Zhang Tianshen before we came here.”

“Who is Zhang Tianshen?” Shen Cong asked.

Zhang Youhai was very surprised. “Bro, you don’t know Zhang Tianshen?”

Shen Cong made sure his voice remained deliberately cold. “Just answer whatever I ask. No nonsense, understand?”

“Y-Yes. I’ll answer whatever you ask me, Boss.”

Zhang Youhai was a middle-aged man, so he should be a slick and sly person, considering his age. He showed no anger when Shen Cong rebuked him and just answered cooperatively.

“Zhang Tianshen is a mutant and leader of Dragon Slayer. They originally conducted their activities in Juchao District, but half a month ago, they were chased out of the place by the firefighters. Since they can’t win against Chengnan’s Mister Wang Gen, they came over here to set up a station. Those who come here to scavenge goods have to pay taxes to him.”

“What are mutants?”

“You don’t even know mu— Ah, mutants are the evolved humans. You should have watched X-Men before, right? Those with supernatural abilities in there are all known as mutants. During the disaster, they were lucky enough to evolve, but their appearances changed a little. That’s why the became known as mutants.”

“What about half-orcs?”

“They’re also evolved humans, but their evolution failed. They didn’t retain their sanity, and they’re as dangerous as wild beasts. They even eat humans. That’s why everyone calls them half-orcs. There is another type of evolved humans, and they’re like Chengnan’s Mister Wang Gen. They look normal, but it seems like they can control metal, just like Magneto from X-Men. We call them the ironfolk behind their backs.”

Mutants, half-orcs, and ironfolk.

Shen Cong’s grew thoughtful. Clearly, the female survivor was a half-orc, while Shen Cong himself should be an ironfolk. As for mutants, he still did not have a clear idea as to what they were.

‘Evolved humans, huh?’