Chapter 6: The Moment of Life and Death

In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

---

In the street, three fiery red monsters were engaged in a fierce battle. According to the experts upstairs, the military had named these monsters "Red Beetles." They belonged to the insect family, had extremely strong defensive and offensive capabilities, and their saliva had a highly corrosive effect!

Fortunately, there were tanks and armored vehicles on the street. After paying a heavy price, the military seemed to have killed the three Red Beetles. However, there were no cheers of victory or cries of sorrow; everything returned to a calm state.

Starting from the next day, the food supply in the neighborhood began to drastically decrease. The experts upstairs worriedly told Chu Yunsheng that due to the large-scale attacks by Red Beetles in various places, the transportation of supplies was no longer safe or regular.

The military might eventually have to abandon this area. It was said that in a nearby location, these beetles kept emerging in increasing numbers, and the military could no longer control the situation.

The experts upstairs' predictions soon came true. About 7 to 8 days later, Red Beetles began to frequently appear in the vicinity.

With the arrival of the dark age, people referred to the previous era with the sun as the "Sunlight Era" and the current era as the "Dark Age."

Behind Chu Yunsheng's neighborhood, a building, which by the standards of the Sunlight Era would be in the middle of the night, emitted a terrifying scream. This was followed by the sharp cries of Red Beetles. At first, the military would come to handle such incidents, but as time passed, they no longer responded.

The cries of Red Beetles could be heard from time to time around the area. Shencheng was no longer a safe place, with dangers lurking everywhere. Chu Yunsheng spent one sleepless night after another, his heart pounding with fear and anxiety as he practiced his cultivation.

Soon, the first batch of military units began to withdraw from the streets, protected by a large number of tanks and armored vehicles. A long convoy of private vehicles followed the military, slowly driving past. According to the experts upstairs, the first few batches to evacuate were all important figures, protected by elite forces. However, they did not know where they were being evacuated to, perhaps to better military bases.

A week later, the military no longer came to distribute food in the neighborhood, and the security forces were also decreasing, leading to a chaotic situation. The wife of the expert upstairs was almost raped at the doorstep, but fortunately, Chu Yunsheng threatened the attacker with a gun and saved her.

The expert upstairs was very grateful to Chu Yunsheng and, as a token of gratitude, revealed a secret to him. It was said that in three days, the last batch of important figures and their families, protected by well-equipped elite forces, would be evacuated. The expert upstairs had been temporarily added to the evacuation list, although it was the lowest level. He had three family members, so he could not give the spots to Chu Yunsheng.

Chu Yunsheng knew he did not qualify for special treatment from the military. Three days later, the family on the third floor, who had saved the daughter of a wealthy businessman, received the businessman's gratitude and gained the right to be evacuated, along with the expert upstairs.

Chu Yunsheng believed that the ancient book in his home was the true savior of the woman, but he did not dare to tell anyone, and others might not believe him. However, it seemed that the businessman still had some conscience. Despite this, Chu Yunsheng decided not to seek help, as explaining the situation might bring even more trouble.

However, Chu Yunsheng did not expect that the evacuation on the third day would be severely compromised. Under the cover of darkness, the heavily armed military convoy had only moved a short distance when it was blocked by a large number of civilians. People who felt abandoned by the military were indignant about the unfair treatment. The streets were congested with a large crowd, and the people were emotionally charged, denouncing the military's discriminatory policies.

Chu Yunsheng did not go downstairs; he was very worried about the Red Beetles that might appear at any moment. He opened the small steel plate on the window and saw that the area below was completely blocked. The military's vanguard had already passed several streets, and from his home, he could only see the vehicles that were blocked behind. The angry crowd, who did not have evacuation quotas, even threw objects at the military vehicles to express their strong protests!

According to the expert upstairs, the general command had issued an order: any person who obstructed the military's mission could be shot on the spot by the troops without reporting to higher authorities. This was known as the use of severe punishment in times of chaos.

However, when the 126th Regiment encountered the blockade by tens of thousands of civilians, even the military command did not dare to order the troops to open fire. There were too many people, all ordinary civilians, and no one dared to give the order. Reports were quickly sent to the general command.

Chu Yunsheng heard a man's voice, amplified by a loudspeaker, shouting from a distance:

"Comrades! Comrades! Please listen to me! I am Qin Gang, the political commissar of the 126th Regiment. Please rest assured, the general command will not abandon any of you. The military's evacuation plan absolutely includes all of you. Please believe me!"

...

"You're lying!"

"Rubbish! You're all leaving, so what about the evacuation?"

"They are people, and we are not? Is your people's army only for a few people?"

...

The crowd was emotionally charged and not swayed.

Qin Gang raised his voice and shouted:

"Comrades! Do not be deceived by some lawless individuals. The military will not abandon any of you. I, Qin Gang, am willing to stay and evacuate with the last group of civilians. Please believe me. A large number of troops are still defending the front lines. We are not the last batch. Evacuation needs to be orderly; otherwise, we will be easily attacked by the monsters. We must ensure the minimum loss!"

...

"Don't listen to this bastard's lies!"

"If that's the case, why do the officials and the rich get to leave first, and we have to leave later?"

"In this era, money is useless. What's the point of having money? It's all just waste paper!"

"You don't know anything. The rich have connections and backgrounds. They are all related to government officials. In this nepotistic system, we common people are nothing!"

"Let the bugs eat them all, damn it!"

...

The situation was extremely chaotic, and the crowd showed no signs of dispersing; instead, it grew larger. A nervous soldier accidentally fired a shot, causing an explosion in the crowd.

...

"Murder!"

"The military is killing civilians!"

"Let's fight them!"

...

Qin Gang turned to his subordinates and shouted angrily, "Who the hell fired the shot? I'll shoot him!"

The soldier who fired the shot was already swallowed by the surging crowd. Just as they were about to rush the military vehicles, someone suddenly screamed, "Bugs! Bugs! Monsters!"

One, two, three, at least fifty to sixty fiery red Red Beetles were quickly approaching along the walls of the buildings on both sides!

The entire crowd was terrified. The people who were almost rioting a moment ago scattered in a panic. With over fifty Red Beetles, who wouldn't run?

Without communication, the commander of the 126th Regiment shouted through the loudspeaker:

"Prepare for battle! 2nd Battalion, 3rd Battalion, 7th Battalion, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, and artillery ready!..."

With the roar of heavy machine guns and the whistling of rockets, the crowd trampled each other as they fled to the nearest neighborhood.

Under the intense firepower, the Red Beetles still advanced at high speed. Except for a few that were hit by rockets and thrown off, the others, despite being hit by heavy machine guns, only had a few dents or holes in their shells. The losses among the Red Beetles were minimal.

When they cut into the crowd like death gods, the terrifying screams of the dying people echoed continuously.

The agile Red Beetles easily dodged a rocket and a tank shell, rushing into the military convoy. Standing on a tank, one of the Red Beetles immediately spewed green liquid, quickly corroding the tank's outer shell.

This Red Beetle let out a high-pitched cry, emitting a red glow, and used its blade-like front legs and pincers to tear open the tank's shell, which had been corroded by the acid. It then bit to death the tank soldier who was desperately resisting with a pistol.

Chu Yunsheng was very impressed by the fighting spirit of these soldiers. If he were one of those tank soldiers, he would probably have been too scared to do anything but run.

Taking a deep breath, he decided to immediately seal the Cold Soldier Yuanfu onto the powerful crossbow he had bought three months ago. According to the annotations in the ancient book, this modified crossbow could harness the elemental energy of the earth and sky, firing powerful ice arrows that would effectively counteract the fire-based Red Beetles.

Unfortunately, at the time, he did not know what kind of monsters would appear, so he wasted a lot of elemental energy creating Fire Soldier Yuanfu, which was less effective against the Red Beetles. Therefore, he had been working hard to create the Cold Soldier Yuanfu over the past two days.

He now urgently needed to seal the Yuanfu onto his weapon because he had discovered that three Red Beetles were following the crowd running towards Building 8, and they were already approaching his building!

Unless the ancient book glowed again, the three Red Beetles would definitely follow the crowd up to his building!

Chu Yunsheng had no idea when the ancient book would glow, so he could not rely on it and had to depend on his own preparations.

If he had to fight the bugs at close range, unless the ancient book glowed again, his chances of survival would be zero!

Therefore, he had to defend against the enemies at the door, and the modern crossbow was the best choice!