Chapter 43

The gas station was to the south of Yinpingzhen. Shen Cong had actually passed by it once, but at that time, it was already evening, and he did not stop to search through it. Then, on the second day, he had unfortunately run into survivors, and he did not manage to free up time to search through it.

Besides, gas stations in the towns were built around farms. There was nothing that could shield them from the apocalyptic storm, so the possibility of them possessing diesel was slim to none.

The gas station was at the outskirts, so Shen Cong first returned to Titan and drove it in the direction of the gas station. After searching through the area, he finally became certain that one particular pile of debris was the gas station. Titan lowered its bulldozer blade and dug around the ruins a little to clear up a path so that Shen Cong could enter.

Once he was certain that the area was quiet and there were no living creatures around, Shen Cong left the truck and started searching through the pile of debris.

But he was soon disappointed. The underside of the debris was dark, the sign of it being burnt. It seemed like a huge fire had raged in the place before. There were also the wreckages of two small cars. Their frames were burnt to a crisp.

The gas station seemed to have suffered an explosion or was razed by fire during the apocalyptic storm.

The diesel and gas were all gone in the fire.

With disappointment in his heart, Shen Cong drove Titan back to the small lake.

‘I’ll have to hunt in the area for a while, which means that Titan cannot go on without diesel. Perhaps I can go to the scavengers and ask them to help me think of something.’

He set up the fishing rods in the river bend located at the fork of Yuxi River before returning to Yinpingzhen. His current sense of safety was enough for him to leave Titan for a short moment of time and venture outside to do some tasks. It had to be said that strength was the true source of confidence among people.

While walking along one street, Shen Cong did not find any scavengers.

But that was to be expected. After all, the number of survivors who would come to this place to scavenge goods was low. Yinpingzhen was a few kilometers away from Chengnan. Unless the scavengers were in a desperate situation, they would not walk so far.

Shen Cong did not know whether Zhang Youhai and the others (the scavengers he met yesterday) handed over the card he played to the evolved humans.

Logically speaking, since they were living in Wang Gen’s territory, they should tell Wang Gen about him, and once Wang Gen obtained news about him, he should bring his subordinates to search for him and contact him.

Then, through the cards they played, Shen Cong could easily deduce what sort of attitude the other party had toward another evolved human who also happened to be a stranger. This was why he did not want to come into contact with Wang Gen and the rest directly but preferred to put on a mysterious facade and used such an elaborate strategy.

Those suffering from persecution complex would usually think of a problem differently from a normal person.

They loved to think about things in a roundabout manner. And because of it, a completely meaningless act from the other party would swiftly stomp on their sensitive nerves. Then, they would start letting their imagination run wild and end up terrifying themselves.

Shen Cong had to plan something that might appear completely meaningless to others just to satisfy the delusions born from his persecution complex.

He sold his houses and spent six years just to create an apocalyptic war truck. Before the apocalypse came, no matter who saw him, they would call him a lunatic and a loser who spent all his parents’ money.

But the apocalypse actually came. The huge apocalyptic storm destroyed the formerly prosperous human civilization. The Activity brought by the meteor shower also caused humankind, animals, and plants to mutate.

The systems in the past were now hiding in the corner, struggling for their last breath.

Shen Cong was supposed to die with all the other normal people in Wuwei, but because of his apocalyptic war truck, he managed to survive and started walking down the path of mutation, even though he did not know whether it was good or bad for him.

His former weakness was suited for the dangerous world after the disaster.

Shen Cong cast a glance at the silent ruins of Yinpingzhen before he put away his binoculars. Then, as he found the situation regrettable, he turned around and returned to his truck.

He did not find any firearms, fuel, or survivors.

He just wasted his entire day.

*****

Shen Cong’s emotions were not actually affected that much. If everything worked the way he wanted during the post-apocalyptic world, it would not be known as the post-apocalyptic world. But sometimes, certain things would just refuse to appear when you were in a hurry to find them, yet when you did not look for them, they would appear.

The fugly cat was dead.

Shen Cong saw through the binoculars that a huge creature resembling a water buffalo was munching on the fugly cat’s carcass. The water buffalo’s two huge horns stood on its head in an incredibly unbalanced fashion.

It was supposed to be a herbivore, but now, it was eating meat.

‘A cow-type evolved beast.’ Shen Cong lowered his body and moved over cautiously. The mutated water buffalo was almost the size of an elephant. Clearly, it was a dangerous fellow.

But it was also a great prey.

When Shen Cong was only 70 m away from it, he stood up and took his time watching it for a minute. He thought about how he should hunt it and soon came to a decision.

He should just kill it!

He grabbed the Activity-fueled fang javelin, took a deep breath, relaxed his body, raised his elbow, and took aim.

Then, he turned his waist, raised his arm up high, bringing the fang javelin with him, and, with a posture comparable to that of an athlete, tossed the fang javelin forward.

A piercing screech followed the javelin as it flew through the air, moving like lightning toward the mutated water buffalo. Compared to when Shen Cong was unable to hit the unspayed poodle and tumor pig more than a week ago, he had grown much more accurate. After he practiced it multiple times and his physical constitution improved, it was very easy for him to find the technique that would allow him to generate enough power to toss the javelin.

Squelch!

The water buffalo could only look up before the lightning-fast fang javelin struck its back. Then, it came out through the other end—its stomach.

“Moo!”

The water buffalo cried out in pain, but did not die. Instead, it turned around, and with blood gushing everywhere, it rushed at Shen Cong.

They were just 70 m away from each other, so with the water buffalo’s speed, it could reach Shen Cong in six seconds.

But Shen Cong was not someone easy to deal with. After he threw the fang javelin, he immediately grabbed the handheld crossbow, and a crossbow bolt made from the tip of a fanged wolf’s fang was swiftly loaded.

Almost at the moment he lifted the crossbow, he completed his first shot.

Shick!

The fang bolt was much faster than the fang javelin. With a loud squelch, it stabbed into the water buffalo’s forehead, and blood flew everywhere.

Then, Shen Cong grabbed another bolt made from yet another fang, loaded it into the crossbow, brought it up, and shot once more.

Shick!

The bolt stabbed into the water buffalo’s left eye. Since they were now close to each other, Shen Cong’s accuracy with the crossbow was even greater than before.

“Moo!”

The great pain from having one of its eyes shot made the water buffalo stumble a little. It nearly fell, but it still insisted on charging at Shen Cong.

After firing two crossbow bolts, Shen Cong jumped and left where he originally stood. He was just as fast as the water buffalo, and even more agile. Besides, he was not injured. He casually moved around the water buffalo.

The third crossbow bolt was fired.

It struck the water buffalo’s neck.

After Shen Cong hit it, he started running again and moved to the water buffalo’s other side before he fired again.

Boom!

The water buffalo was no longer able to persist and fell with a bang.

With a fang javelin and four bolts made from fangs, Shen Cong was able to kill the mutated water buffalo.

He looked around himself before he quickly went to the water buffalo’s side. He used a normal crossbow bolt to fire twice at the water buffalo, because it had not breathed its last just yet. Both were targeted at its eyes.

“Moo!”

The water buffalo’s final, weak cry faded away with the wind, and it died.

Shen Cong pulled out the javelin and crossbow bolts, then dragged the water buffalo by its hind legs in Titan’s direction.