Chapter 19

At this moment, Xiangcheng City was completely enveloped in an atmosphere of death.

From the earthquake that preceded the apocalypse to now, it had been only fifteen hours, but to the residents of the city, it felt like a long century.

That night, no one could sleep. They huddled in various corners of the city's ruins, vigilantly listening to the slightest sounds around them. At the slightest hint of movement, they would feel as if they were on the brink of a precipice.

At this point, everyone knew that the rulers of the city were no longer humans, but those monsters. These monsters not only killed people but also ate them.

Many people who did not believe in the evil had already turned into scattered limbs by the night before, and it was uncertain whether any bones remained.

After one night, nearly two million people in Xiangcheng City, with half a million of them not seeing the sun of the second day. Bloodstains could be seen everywhere on the ruins of Xiangcheng City, and the sight was one of utter desolation.

However, after a night of hiding, most people were now ravenously hungry. After all, most of them had not eaten anything the night before, and with a sleepless night, it would be strange if they were not hungry.

At this moment, everyone knew that this was not an ordinary earthquake. It had been over ten hours, and there was no news from the outside world. If it were a real earthquake, it would be impossible for there to be no news, at least rescue helicopters should have arrived at the disaster site first. But now, not to mention helicopters, not even the daily flights that could be seen before were in sight.

Now they faced a difficult decision: how to find food in the ruins filled with monsters.

Currently, some of the monsters were beginning to gather, and the number of newly spawned monsters was gradually decreasing, giving some of the bolder people an opportunity. They slowly crawled out from their hiding places among the ruins, observing the surroundings while carefully searching the ground for anything edible.

At this moment, plundering and killing not only occurred between humans and monsters but also among humans themselves. To survive, the ugliness of human nature was revealed without reservation.

Fortunately, some people were still restrained. They gathered together, helping each other, and sought a glimmer of hope in this desolate wasteland.

As more and more people emerged from their hiding places, someone finally saw the huge dome-shaped light barrier in the center of the city. No one thought the light barrier had appeared for no reason; it might be an opportunity.

Especially the tall statues inside the light barrier, which emitted a glow that made everyone feel a sense of closeness from the bottom of their hearts, as if this thing could bring them hope.

Some people, from a high vantage point, saw that the inside of the light barrier was completely empty, with no monsters moving around inside. However, the outside of the light barrier was densely packed with various mutated creatures. They were divided into different groups based on their species, each occupying a territory without infringing on each other.

It looked peaceful outside the light barrier, but in the eyes of humans, it was like hell. Everyone knew that once these monsters saw humans, they would immediately pounce and kill them, then eat them or store them as food.

However, news of the light barrier quickly spread throughout Xiangcheng City. People began to think of ways to rush into the light barrier, but they soon realized that all their plans were like paper tigers in the face of absolute power. If they had enough weapons or usable materials, such as gasoline, they might be able to successfully rush in.

But with the initial earthquake, almost all the supplies were buried underground, and what remained on the surface were only some foods left in supermarkets. This was the basis for their survival to ensure they would not starve to death in the short term.

...

It was already past eight in the morning. After eating breakfast, the large bag of food that Cheng Yang and his group had was already more than half gone. It seemed they would really have to grill some meat for lunch.

This time, Cheng Yang brought Liu Hao, Niu Bing, and Pang Shan, along with Li Wanshan and ten other combatants. Yu Kai and the others remained at the base. According to Cheng Yang's instructions, Yu Kai would be in charge of the base while he was away, and the others must follow his orders.

This was not because Cheng Yang was suspicious or did not trust the others. It was the end of the world, and Cheng Yang did not want to put himself in a situation from which there was no return.

The group of fifteen people quickly moved south along the road. They encountered several groups of mutated creatures along the way, which they swiftly eliminated.

After walking about seven or eight hundred meters, Cheng Yang suddenly noticed a small porcelain bottle emitting a faint white light on the road ahead.

"Pretty good luck!" Cheng Yang's face showed a hint of a smile as he quickly walked to about ten meters in front of the porcelain bottle and began to observe the surroundings.

Suddenly, Cheng Yang raised his staff, and a magic missile shot straight toward a tree trunk on the left. With a "bang," the magic missile hit its target, and a half-meter-long lizard fell from the tree.

The other ranged combatants followed suit, and the lizard, which had not yet recovered from the fall, was quickly killed by Cheng Yang and his group.

Cheng Yang was certain there would be mutated creatures here because of the small porcelain bottle. It was a potion or pill, a game item.

In the game-like world, game items could be obtained not only from shops but also had a small chance of appearing in the wild. However, each item placed in the wild was guarded by a mutated creature. Relatively speaking, obtaining items in the wild was easier than in dungeons, as the guarding creatures were not very powerful.

Cheng Yang picked up the small porcelain bottle, which clearly read: "Magic Energy Potion (Small)."

Not only that, but when Cheng Yang focused on the Magic Energy Potion for two seconds, a message entered his mind: "Magic Energy Potion (Small): A small recovery potion. Restores 10 points of magic energy to combatants in one go, then restores 2 points per second for 10 seconds."

A simple sentence clearly explained the function of the item. In essence, it was a blue potion in the game, which restored magic points.

In a regular game, whether it was a health potion or a magic potion, it was considered junk and could be purchased anywhere. But in this real game-like world, potions were incredibly precious and could even save lives at certain times.

"Let's continue forward!" Cheng Yang said with a smile. "I hope we can find a few more items like this."

Cheng Yang himself knew that saying this was just a way to comfort himself. Indeed, various items were scattered around the world, but their numbers were extremely scarce. Finding a Magic Energy Potion on the second morning of the apocalypse was already considered good luck.

When they were about a kilometer away from Luofeng Village, they had already killed about twenty mutated beasts. Cheng Yang estimated that they were only four or five hundred meters away from Huimin Town.

Huimin Town was a large town. Before the apocalypse, they could already see the tall buildings of Huimin Town from there. But after the earthquake, Huimin Town had also become a wasteland, and it was hard to find even a single intact building.

"Yangzi, why is this earthquake so strange? Look, the terrain has completely changed, but how are all these trees still intact?" Liu Hao said, puzzled, as he walked.

Cheng Yang gave a bitter smile and said, "The world has already become like this. Why are you still talking about whether it's strange or not? Are the monsters not strange? There will probably be more strange things in the future. The most important thing now is to improve our strength, and don't get caught up in other things."

Liu Hao looked at the sky and said resentfully, "This damn sky, how did it become like this?"

If before, Liu Hao had hoped that the world would become like a game, now his only wish was for this era to end as soon as possible. He would rather live in the dull and boring university campus than in this life where one's future was uncertain. But now, everyone had no choice.

Li Wanshan, who was walking in front, stopped and said, "There's movement ahead!"

Cheng Yang immediately stopped and listened carefully. Indeed, there were noisy footsteps coming from not far ahead.

"Be careful, the number of these monsters is probably not small," Cheng Yang said, his face turning serious, and he raised his staff.

As he spoke, a group of large wild boars rushed out of the forest, numbering no less than twenty. Were these still wild boars? They were more like tigers.

"Damn! Steel-haired wild boars. Everyone, retreat quickly!" Cheng Yang shouted, then instantly darted forward, blocking the front.

Although the others were not yet clear on what was happening, they knew it was urgent after hearing Cheng Yang's shout and turned to run back the way they came. The twenty or so steel-haired wild boars were clearly not something they could handle.

Cheng Yang fired a magic missile, hitting one of the steel-haired wild boars, which let out a惨叫.

The other steel-haired wild boars, stimulated, not only showed no fear but charged even more fiercely. Cheng Yang dared not linger for a moment and quickly followed the group, running back toward Luofeng Village.

The journey was chaotic, with newly spawned mutated beasts just opening their eyes, only to be hit by a series of magic missiles and arrows, turning them into corpses before they could even show their presence.

The speed of the steel-haired wild boars was no slower than that of humans running at full speed. If they ran too slowly, there was no chance of survival.

Fortunately, everyone had undergone class changes and enhancements, and their stamina was far superior to before. They managed to run back the more than a kilometer. Of course, their success was also due to Cheng Yang, who stayed at the back, firing magic missiles at any steel-haired wild boar that got too close. His magic energy had reached 73 points, enough to fire fourteen magic missiles, significantly improving his endurance.

PS: We are 60 collections short. Can we reach the goal by tomorrow morning? Brothers, let's go...