Chapter 49

As they approached the entrance of the cave, Jiang Baimian stopped and turned to Long Yuehong, who was wearing an exoskeleton device.

"Stay here and keep watch," she said.

After a moment's thought, she added, "Pay extra attention to the outside of the small forest. If the jeep is gone, it won't matter much to me and Bai Chen, but you'll have a lot to 'enjoy.' Many things, if done step by step, humans can accept and adapt to, but if thrown directly into hell mode, most creatures will collapse."

"Yes, Team Leader!" Long Yuehong was not disappointed about not being able to enter Black Rat Town; instead, he felt relieved.

From the bodies of the Black Rat Town residents who had died outside, he could already foresee the gruesome scene inside the cave, fearing it would cause a strong psychological impact and leave lasting trauma.

After instructing Long Yuehong, Jiang Baimian turned, bent down, and entered the cave entrance, which was about 1.4 meters high.

Bai Chen and Shang Jianyao each held their weapons, following behind her, one bending more severely, making it difficult to walk, the other relatively better.

They didn't observe the surroundings outside as the training manual suggested, confirming the situation before entering. Instead, they fully trusted the team leader's ability to sense weak electrical signals.

In this regard, Jiang Baimian had already demonstrated sufficient reliability.

At the cave entrance, there was still some natural light, allowing them to see the surroundings clearly. The deeper they went, the darker it became, until it was pitch black.

At this point, Jiang Baimian had taken out a silver-handled flashlight with a grainy texture and turned it on.

A yellowish beam of light shot out, illuminating a certain area ahead, and combined with the natural light near the entrance, Shang Jianyao got a preliminary view of the scene:

The cave was relatively spacious, but the deeper areas were still shrouded in darkness, with no end in sight.

Originally, there were naturally formed stone pillars, but they were now all broken, with large amounts of rocks, moss, and dust falling from the ceiling and covering the ground.

From the center where Jiang Baimian's flashlight illuminated, circular burn marks radiated outward.

In the innermost pit, there were no intact remains, only countless pieces of charred and red flesh mixed with rocks and soil.

In the middle circle outside the pit, numerous small bodies lay on the ground, their surfaces charred and broken, with extremely tragic deaths.

As Jiang Baimian's flashlight moved, Shang Jianyao saw the situation at the edges near the cave walls:

There were also bodies of Black Rat Town residents lying in various states, but their bodies were mostly intact, with only some burn marks and coarse black hair remaining.

Some showed no obvious external injuries, while others had terrible wounds on their backs and chests from bullets, and many were without clothing.

In the part of the cave that Shang Jianyao could see, nothing was left except for shattered ceramic, earthenware, and clay bowls.

This scene required no explanation; Shang Jianyao and Bai Chen instantly understood the truth:

Black Rat Town had been completely massacred.

Jiang Baimian silently surveyed the area and sighed, "It might have been a thermobaric bomb launched from a shoulder-fired weapon...

"Those who didn't die instantly were finished off with bullets.

"Very professional."

A thermobaric bomb is a combination of a high-explosive bomb and a fuel-air bomb, primarily used to kill enemies in confined spaces like caves and underground shelters.

When a thermobaric bomb explodes, it consumes all the oxygen in the surrounding area, releasing a large amount of energy and creating a rapidly expanding fireball. This fireball, accompanied by a high-pressure shock wave, sweeps through the confined environment, maximizing the destruction of enemies and equipment.

For a place like Black Rat Town, with an entrance only 1.4 meters high, rushing in and fighting the residents who were adapted to this environment would be unwise. The best approach would be to launch thermobaric bombs and other explosives directly into the cave.

"Not many teams have such bombs, and some major forces don't even have them," Bai Chen tried to remain calm and responded briefly.

Although she was an experienced former wilderness wanderer, accustomed to battles and killings, this was the first time she had witnessed the direct massacre of an entire town or settlement.

The ground was littered with bodies and charred flesh, even though they were sub-humans, the scene was filled with indescribable shock and horror.

Regardless, the residents of Black Rat Town, except for their height, nails, and body hair, were almost indistinguishable from normal humans.

Bai Chen had seen massacred settlements before, but only long after the tragedy, with only a few remaining bones and abandoned, dilapidated houses, and all other traces long gone.

Jiang Baimian nodded, "Take out your flashlights and search for clues.

"Perhaps, perhaps there are still a few survivors?"

Shang Jianyao immediately took out his flashlight and the standard "Ice Moss" pistol from his equipment belt, using one hand to light the way and the other to hold the gun as he walked to the edge of the cave.

He didn't think there would be any survivors in the center of the explosion or the surrounding area.

As he examined the bodies, Shang Jianyao saw a woman lying on her back, her body curled up, as if tightly hugging something under her.

Her body still had clothing, and her limbs were drawn in, as if she was tightly embracing something.

The back of her body, with visible coarse black hair, had a wound with congealed dark red blood, clearly a gunshot wound.

Bending down, Shang Jianyao used the flashlight as a stick to turn over the body of the Black Rat Town resident.

As the light beam flickered, Shang Jianyao saw a little girl.

She was wearing a very old but partially clean white dress, tightly held in the adult woman's chest, seemingly unharmed at first glance.

Shang Jianyao put the flashlight on the ground and tried to examine the little girl, but he couldn't pry the adult woman's hands apart.

Abandoning this instinctive attempt, Shang Jianyao noticed that the little girl's face was cyanotic, and there were traces of dark red blood where she was pressed against the adult woman's chest.

He then used his fingers to check her breathing and feel her body temperature.

After a few seconds, he slowly withdrew his hand.

Because the two bodies were tightly pressed together, Shang Jianyao quickly noticed, with the help of the flashlight, a depression at the intersection of the cave wall and the ground, extending inward, with visible scratch marks from nails.

Seeing this depression, Shang Jianyao imagined the scene:

During the attack, a Black Rat Town woman was urgently using her digging ability to create a shelter for her child.

Unfortunately, the bomb came too quickly.

Shang Jianyao touched the depression and found a small natural cavity, inside which there was a cold, unknown object.

He took it out and, with the help of the flashlight, saw a rectangular black device slightly taller than a middle finger.

The device had a small LCD-like screen at the top, several buttons in the middle, and a speaker covered by a grid at the bottom.

Shang Jianyao, who studied electronics in college, easily recognized what this old, worn-out device was.

It was a voice recorder from the old world, repaired and modified by the Black Rat Town residents.

Perhaps it had fallen into the cavity before the explosion, or perhaps it was far from the explosion center and shielded by a human body, so the electronic device was not damaged.

Shang Jianyao knelt on one knee, studied it for a moment, and pressed a button:

Amidst the sounds of gunshots and chaos, a young, frightened, and confused voice asked, "Mom, mom, why are they killing us?"

A slightly hoarse and trembling voice replied, "Because we are sub-humans."

The young voice asked again, "What are sub-humans?"

The hoarse voice paused for a few seconds before answering, "They are, they are sick people."

The young voice became even more confused, "But, mom, just because we are sick, they want to kill us?

"I, I can repair electronic devices, I am very useful..."

The sound of a gunshot suddenly came closer, as if it had reached the cave entrance, followed by the sound of something falling, and the recording abruptly ended.

Shang Jianyao listened in silence and then refocused his gaze on the two bodies:

Neither the adult woman nor the little girl had coarse black hair on their faces, clearly showing signs of having been shaved, looking clean and tidy.

This was similar to many female employees of "Pangu Biology."

The recording was quite loud, and Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen, who were walking deeper into the cave, could hear it clearly.

They also became unusually silent, not speaking or moving for a long time.

After a while, Jiang Baimian slowly exhaled, "Continue searching for clues."

Shang Jianyao solemnly put the voice recorder in his pocket, picked up the flashlight, and stood up, bending over.

As the light beam moved, he saw some words on the cave wall.

These words were in Ash Soil language, clearly very old, with many parts already blurred, clearly not left by the Black Rat Town residents during the attack.

Shang Jianyao moved the flashlight closer and carefully examined for about ten seconds, finally recognizing a few words:

"...visited here..."

"...Jin and... forever together..."

At this moment, Jiang Baimian seemed to have seen something similar, moving the flashlight and saying with a sigh, "This place was apparently a tourist attraction before the old world's destruction? Who would want to come to such a low place?"

After saying this, she stared at the cave wall for a long time.

After a while, she finally moved her gaze and continued searching for possible clues.

About ten minutes later, the three of them met again at the cave entrance where there was still some natural light.

Jiang Baimian said with regret, "The people of Black Water Town had already dug two escape tunnels, but the thermobaric bomb or similar bombs came too quickly."

"The attackers left no clues," Bai Chen responded.

Jiang Baimian shook her head, "They didn't leave no clues, but after the battle, they deliberately spent time to cover their tracks."

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