A First Look at the Ruins

After checking his armor and weapons again, Su Mo called Oreo to open the shelter's wooden door, then walked out.

There were still Survival Points left, more than enough to upgrade his weapons and armor once.

However, Su Mo's purpose this time wasn't to fight.

Among all the information about the ruins collected from yesterday to today, not a single person had mentioned what the monsters inside looked like.

The unknown was always the most terrifying thing.

"If there's no danger in the ruins, someone would have explored deeper inside long ago."

"The biggest reason no one's mentioned what's inside is probably that everyone who went in has already died. Even if I upgrade my equipment, with my current combat ability, there's no need to take that risk!"

A wise man knew his own limits.

Although he exercised regularly, Su Mo didn't think his current combat ability could compare to that of a special forces soldier.

When all was said and done, he was just an ordinary person with a little extra strength.

"I have to be extremely careful. I can't get injured. Oreo, come here."

The mist around the ruins looked like a mosaic. Even after approaching to within a hundred meters, it still blocked his vision.

Su Mo crouched down and waved to Oreo, who was looking around, smiling warmly.

"Woof, woof!"

Seeing Su Mo's gesture, Oreo ran over affectionately, burrowing into his arms and rubbing its head against him.

The serious, dignified expression it had been maintaining instantly collapsed. With a hint of playfulness, it began licking Su Mo's chin.

"All right, all right. After we enter the ruins, I have a task for you."

Heaven knew Su Mo absolutely didn't think Oreo was acting so clingy because of his influence.

Well. Absolutely not!

Hearing Su Mo, Oreo perked up its ears and put on an expression of serious attention.

"After we go in, don't stray too far from me. Stay within five meters of me. If you sense danger, warn me immediately. Then we'll retreat along the path we came in on. Understand?"

Oreo tilted its head. After two seconds, it nodded to show that it understood.

"Good boy! We may encounter other creatures after we go in. Remember, they're enemies. Don't foolishly run over and get yourself killed."

With that, Su Mo stood up, took the Beech Spear from his inventory, gripped it in his hand, and strode firmly toward the ruins.

He walked for another dozen meters.

Only then did Su Mo finally see the structure inside the ruins clearly.

The low earthen walls were roughly two or three meters high, and the gray-black scorch marks on them made it look as though they had endured the flames of war.

This strange situation didn't dispel Su Mo's doubts. Instead, it made him even more curious.

Judging from the information available so far,

the civilization level inside the ruins probably wasn't very high. At the very least, there was nothing beyond his understanding.

Tightening his grip on the spear, Su Mo called Oreo to his side, steeled himself, and plunged headfirst into the mist.

"The smell... is a little strange."

As soon as he entered the mist, Su Mo's vigilance peaked. He focused completely on observing his surroundings.

Record: You have entered the ruins.

Record: The Game Panel's appraisal function has been sealed. Please exit the ruins before using it.

The abrupt system voice startled Su Mo. At the same time, the mist seemed to receive a signal and began dissipating within a radius of five meters.

Not daring to venture deeper, Su Mo began circling along the outskirts of the ruins. After estimating that he had walked for about twenty minutes, he still hadn't reached the place where he had started.

"This ruin is actually this huge?"

Quietly committing that fact to memory, Su Mo began retracing his steps.

Surviving in the apocalypse wasn't like being in a novel. Charging in recklessly was a privilege reserved for novel protagonists. He didn't think he had the courage to recklessly charge into the unknown.

Only after walking back to his original starting point did Su Mo begin advancing forward.

The yellow earth beneath his feet was like a country path, uneven and difficult to walk on.

Following the earthen wall, he walked all the way to the corner at the end. The view suddenly opened up.

Something resembling a ceremonial archway stood on the ground not far ahead.

Looking up from below, Su Mo's excellent eyesight let him immediately make out the characters in the middle of the archway, faintly visible through the mist:

"Liangfang... Town?"

"Town?"

Seeing the familiar Chinese characters didn't give Su Mo the warm feeling of meeting a fellow countryman. Instead, a chill shot straight up his back.

Oreo seemed to sense a great threat as well. It had been bounding around and sniffing here and there, but the instant it saw the archway, it suddenly dropped to the ground and glared furiously ahead!

The sight made every hair on Su Mo's body stand on end. Staring into the depths of the mist behind the Liangfang Town archway, he instinctively sensed that something was wrong and decisively retreated along the path.

In the apocalypse, seeing a scene that looked like a ghost town surrounded by mist—

how many people would actually dare to force themselves inside and explore it? Su Mo didn't know whether the ruins others had found looked like this hellish scene, but he was certain that searching inside with his current equipment and combat ability would be extremely dangerous.

As Su Mo left the corner, the mist behind him began slowly closing up again, gradually burying the archway.

As he walked along the earthen wall, Su Mo began entertaining another idea.

Since the town looked so dangerous and he couldn't enter it, he might as well find a way to break through the earthen wall and see what was inside the farmhouses by the roadside.

"Oreo, keep watch for me."

After calling out, Su Mo cautiously returned to where he had come from and began examining the structure of the earthen wall.

It was just like the walls made by plastering mud bricks together in ordinary rural villages. Su Mo poked it with the Beech Spear, and a small chunk immediately fell off.

This could work!

Seeing that it wasn't as sturdy as he had imagined, Su Mo grew excited. He took out an iron axe and began chopping at the earthen wall again and again.

Every heavy blow struck the wall with a resounding clang. Watching chunks of earth fall away, Su Mo worked with full vigor.

The wall was about half a meter thick. In less than five minutes, it collapsed with a rumble.

A gap large enough for three people to pass through at once had opened in it.

Looking through the gap, he could vaguely see brick-and-tile houses in the style of an old rural village.

There were three tile-roofed houses, arranged symmetrically on the left, center, and right.

"Oreo, have a sniff and see if there's any danger nearby."

Crouching atop the earthen wall, Su Mo curiously surveyed the inside of the buildings.

Each room was locked, making it seem as though the owners had gone out. There wasn't the slightest sign of life.

After studying the outside of the buildings, Su Mo turned his gaze to Oreo.

Oreo's ears stood up as it listened for a while. Then it lay on the ground and sniffed around wildly before finally shaking its head, indicating that it couldn't smell any living creatures inside.

Putting away the Beech Spear, Su Mo held the iron axe and stepped into the courtyard, his instincts on high alert.

Although it had looked as though he had been glancing around aimlessly, he had actually already measured out his escape route.

The distance from the courtyard to the outside of the ruins was roughly thirty meters, judging by the distance he could cover on foot.

An adult's running speed in this terrain was about five meters per second. Even while exploring the buildings, if anything went wrong, he could leave the ruins in no more than ten seconds.

Step by step, Su Mo moved extremely cautiously toward the center of the courtyard, his eyes sweeping across the three rooms beside him.

Whoosh! A black shadow flashed past and slammed into Su Mo's Pottery Armor, knocking him to the ground.

As a low growl rang out, Su Mo lifted his head in horror and discovered that an extraordinarily terrifying wolfdog had appeared in front of him!

Thanks to Ren Sheng Zai Shi Neng Ji He for the 600-tip donation, to Knowledge Circle for the 1,500-tip donation, and to An Hei Guang Ming De Meng Yan for the 588-tip donation. Thank you to the three distinguished readers. Your support is what gives me the motivation to keep writing!