It was early spring, the second month, during Awakening of Insects.
This should have been the season when "all hibernating creatures hid in fear, while plants stretched freely in every direction," yet the earth was lifeless and utterly devoid of vitality.
On a desolate street, a sewer manhole cover shifted slightly before a hand lifted and moved it aside.
Luo Yan poked half his head out of the opening and cautiously surveyed his surroundings.
Everywhere he looked, there were broken walls, ruins, and rubble.
The city had once been bustling with traffic, its streets flowing endlessly.
Now, the noise was gone, and the prosperity had vanished without a trace.
Only dust, scraps of paper, bloodstains, and dry bones drifted everywhere.
Dust and grime covered everything, filling the air with an atmosphere of decay and heaviness.
This was the third year since the Giant Beast Calamity.
After those enormous, unidentified creatures descended from the sky and appeared in this world, less than half a year passed before the world fell into ruin and order completely collapsed.
The survivors had lived in hell ever since.
Hoo.
The wind began to blow.
The wind tousled Luo Yan's jet-black hair. He quickly climbed out of the sewer and left the cover ajar.
A rope was fastened beneath the cover, tied with a series of nonslip knots, swaying ceaselessly in the wind.
Luo Yan's clothes were tattered, his body covered in grime, and a sturdy waist pouch hung at his side.
Every part of his body that would be exposed to the air was wrapped in layers of waterproof cloth.
Only a pair of crimson eyes remained visible.
At that moment, thunder rumbled across the sky.
It began to rain.
Luo Yan liked rainy days because the rain diluted his scent.
He also hated rainy days because the rain caused a toxin called Red Poison to accumulate in large quantities, increasing the risk of infection and worsening the illness.
Red Poison was brought by the life-forms people called "Giant Beasts."
When Giant Beast blood came into contact with the air, it released this toxin.
It caused irregular red patches to appear on the surface of people's bodies and dyed the eyes of the sick crimson.
When that crimson spread across the entire pupil, it meant the patient was not far from death.
Just like Luo Yan.
The crimson in his eyes had already nearly occupied both pupils.
Splash, splash.
The rain washed over the earth, stirring up a muddy, fishy smell.
Luo Yan had long since pulled down the diving goggles on his head to protect his eyes.
He also put on a waterproof helmet. That made him "immune to a hundred poisons."
After that, Luo Yan skillfully made his way through the streets and alleys.
He passed a ruined hotpot restaurant and walked by a collapsed cinema.
Suddenly, his eyes burned. He hurriedly stopped.
At that moment, Luo Yan's gaze became dazed, as if it had lost its focus.
In his vision, the street suddenly grew somewhat dim.
At the intersection ahead, he saw several hazy gray clusters of light moving forward. They would soon appear at the intersection.
This miraculous "vision" had appeared after the Giant Beast Calamity.
Before the disaster arrived, Luo Yan had bought an Ancient Book called the Foundation Establishment Art online.
According to the seller, it was a treasure he had dug out of an ancient tomb at the risk of his life.
It was a lost cultivation method.
A Visualization Technique.
Luo Yan had once been obsessed with such things.
After buying it, he had actually practiced according to the contents of the Ancient Book.
But it had produced no results.
Yet after the Giant Beast Calamity, Luo Yan clearly sensed that this so-called Visualization Technique had begun to take effect.
Every time he practiced, he could feel traces of warmth flowing into his body. Not long afterward, streams of warmth would surge toward the top of his head.
Before long, he discovered that he could sometimes see strange phenomena.
He could see the gray light emitted by humans, Giant Beast parasites, Giant Beasts, and other creatures.
Just like now, this allowed him to detect danger in advance.
Luo Yan immediately lightened his steps and silently slipped into the trunk of a nearby car.
Only a narrow gap remained.
A moment later, several creatures about the size of wolfhounds passed by.
They looked like ticks, with wolf-like heads, pointed mouthparts, and protruding snouts.
Four or five of them passed through the nearby streets, occasionally stopping to observe their surroundings.
They were extremely vigilant.
These were Wolf Ticks, one of the parasites found on Giant Beasts.
Over the past two years, Luo Yan had crossed paths with them many times.
He knew that they had keen hearing and were drawn to the smell of blood.
They were skilled at sucking blood, fierce and ruthless, and usually moved in groups of three to five. They rarely traveled alone.
Luo Yan was not surprised to encounter Wolf Ticks.
That was because, deep within this city, in the area that had once been the city center, a Giant Beast was lying in wait.
A living, breathing Giant Beast!
It had a sheep's face and a human body, tiger teeth and human claws, and a voice like an Infant Cry.
Whenever someone heard a baby crying at night, it was that Giant Beast calling out.
It had used the sound of a baby crying to lure prey into its grasp more than once.
Inside the car's trunk, Luo Yan waited until all the Wolf Ticks had left before cautiously departing.
Not long afterward.
He crawled out through a ventilation shaft.
The other end of the ventilation shaft was a supermarket.
Most of the supermarket had collapsed, but the area containing the food section had miraculously survived.
It had thus become Luo Yan's "secret food storehouse."
However, because the only passage in and out was the supermarket's ventilation duct, Luo Yan could not carry out too much food at once.
He was unwilling to, either.
Doing so would arouse suspicion and attract attention, bringing him deadly trouble.
There were no police to maintain order anymore.
If he wanted to live, he had to rely on himself for everything.
At that moment, Luo Yan's waist pouch already held seven or eight individually packaged loaves of bread and sausages.
Although the food had expired, the preservatives had allowed it to remain edible.
As for whether eating it would make him sick, no one cared about that anymore.
Having something to eat was enough!
On the way back, the rain stopped.
Luo Yan's steps grew lighter as well.
The bread and sausages would be enough to last him a week.
Thinking of this, Luo Yan felt a wave of satisfaction and happiness.
Unfortunately, happiness came quickly and left just as quickly.
When Luo Yan reached the intersection where he had spotted the Wolf Ticks, his eyes grew faintly hot again.
He then saw a human-shaped gray shadow appear inside a bus with its roof caved in beside the road.
Luo Yan turned and ran without hesitation.
"Damn, this kid's pretty sharp." Someone cursed inside the bus, and a burly man charged out.
He had a massive build, with hideous scars covering his hands and face.
He immediately blew a whistle.
Two more men ran out of an Internet café ahead whose main doors had disappeared.
One held a knife, while the other carried a club.
Both were armed.
The three men blocked Luo Yan's path from both front and back.
Luo Yan narrowed his eyes slightly and pulled an automatic pistol from behind his waist.
He disengaged the safety and chambered a round.
With his body slightly crouched, Luo Yan assumed a standard shooting stance and slowly retreated.
"Wait, wait. We can all make money in harmony."
The burly man, clearly the leader, raised both hands and forced a smile. "We've long heard that Brother Luo knows the area inside out. You know where there's food and where to find medicine."
"Don't worry. We brothers know the rules. We won't ask where those places are."
"It's just that the three of us have been hungry for several days. Seeing how bulging your pouch is, you must have had a great haul."
"How about this? Share a little food with the three of us."
"From now on, we brothers will follow your lead, Brother Luo!"
As the burly man spoke, the other two men intentionally or unintentionally moved behind him.
One of them, a Horse Face man, quietly pulled out a pistol.
He had intended to use the burly man as cover and kill Luo Yan by surprise.
But at that moment.
A cold glint flashed in Luo Yan's eyes.
The burly man immediately realized something was wrong and shouted, "Get down!"
Bang!
The gunshot rang out.
Even though he was gripping the pistol tightly with both hands, Luo Yan's arms were still flung uncontrollably into the air. He felt as if his hands were about to tear away from his body!
But that shot left a bullet hole in the Horse Face man's forehead, while the back of his skull exploded completely.
Blood, brain matter, and hair-covered scalp splattered across his companion's face.
The man immediately wet himself.
Luo Yan turned and ran.
He rushed toward the sewer entrance he had come through.
Only then did the burly man climb to his feet. He first picked up the pistol the Horse Face man had dropped, then shoved his remaining companion forward. "Get after him! Don't you want food?"
The man came to his senses, wiped the blood from his face, and chased after the burly man.
The burly man fired.
Unfortunately, his shooting was terrible, and he missed Luo Yan.
Luo Yan had already reached the sewer entrance.
He immediately climbed inside.
At the same time, he grabbed the rope tied to the manhole cover.
Using the weight of his body, he pulled downward!
The cover slammed shut.
The burly man ran over, cursing, threw away his pistol, and reached for the manhole cover.
Suddenly.
He heard a strange sound.
Rustle, rustle, rustle—
His expression changed. When he turned around, he saw four or five Wolf Ticks hurtling toward him.
Those creatures had eight legs and ran incredibly fast.
The burly man's face went pale. He shouted, "Brother Luo, open the cover and let us down!"
"We were wrong."
"We shouldn't have tried to rob you."
"You're the bigger man. Please give us a way to live!"
Beneath the manhole cover, Luo Yan's expression remained calm and emotionless.
As if he had not heard the burly man, he continued gripping the rope tightly without letting go.
He even flipped upside down, bracing both legs firmly against the two sides of the manhole cover.
Using all his strength, he kept the cover pulled shut, giving it no chance to open.
Very soon.
Screams rang out above, along with curses and gunshots.
But those sounds quickly vanished.
All that remained was the gurgling sound of something being drained away.
Luo Yan knew that the Wolf Ticks were sucking the blood of the two men.
It did not matter that the previous shot had failed to kill the Horse Face man.
Luo Yan had fired mainly to draw the Wolf Ticks over.
Those things could never miss even the slightest disturbance nearby.
And once they smelled blood, they would go berserk, lose all reason, and instinctively attack their prey.
As long as the Wolf Ticks were lured over, those two men would have no hope of survival!
A moment later, the Rain Water flowing down through the drain holes in the manhole cover gradually mixed with a trace of blood.
Only after he could no longer hear the slightest sound from above did Luo Yan release the rope and climb up from the well ladder to the surface.
Luo Yan pulled a flashlight from his waist pouch, switched it on, and walked forward.
After making his way along the passage, he reached the surface through another exit.
He still had to make a trip to a pharmacy.
He needed to find some painkillers. Otherwise, when the Red Poison flared up, he would suffer terribly.
As he headed toward his destination, he suddenly felt the earth tremble.
It seemed a giant beast was on the move!
Luo Yan hurriedly hid inside a shoe store.
A moment later, he did not see any giant beast.
Instead, he saw a convoy!
The convoy had three heavy trucks that could completely be called "monsters." Their cargo compartments were almost as huge as buildings, and no one knew what they were carrying.
Every wheel was nearly as tall as Luo Yan. To enter the cab, one even had to climb a ladder almost two meters high.
They were the main cause of the ground's trembling.
Besides the three "monster"-class heavy trucks, there were also several armored vehicles whose roofs were covered with antennas and radar equipment.
But there were even more SUVs equipped with mounted anti-aircraft machine guns.
This was an army!
Luo Yan could not help feeling excited.
An army meant organization.
And with organization, there might be an antidote for the Red Poison!
Luo Yan absolutely did not want to die!
Moreover, he knew that he did not have much time left.
He might have another six months to live.
Perhaps even less!
The convoy rumbled past nearby.
An armored vehicle fitted with a huge metal ram led the way.
It guided the vehicles behind it deeper into the city.
Luo Yan hurried after them.
Fortunately, this metropolis, once known as Flower City, was now full of obstacles, making it extremely slow for the convoy to pass.
Otherwise, Luo Yan doubted whether he could keep up.
Judging from the direction the convoy was traveling in,
Luo Yan boldly guessed that they were heading for the city center, toward the area around Galaxy Stadium!
But a giant beast was lurking there.
What were these people going there for?
Could they be planning to exterminate the giant beast?
Luo Yan found that hard to believe.
After the Giant Beast Calamity, Flower City's survivors had all hidden underground to live.
That sheep-faced humanoid giant beast had built its nest in Galaxy Stadium, but as long as no one approached that area, nothing would happen.
Of course.
The threat in the city was not limited to that giant beast.
There were also all kinds of parasites the giant beast had spread throughout the city.
Even so, the survivors still did not want to leave the city.
Because things were even worse outside.
With long-distance transportation in such short supply, if they encountered a giant beast parasite outside the city—or simply ran into a giant beast—
their chances of survival would approach zero.
Luo Yan shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate more.
Using his Mystic Vision, he tracked the gray light clusters representing life and followed far behind the convoy.
At that moment, he saw densely packed gray light clusters appear on a side road to the left of the avenue ahead.
A swarm of Giant Beast parasites!
A question immediately rose in Luo Yan's mind: Should he follow or not?
Following might get him killed, but he would have a chance to obtain the antidote.
If he did not follow, he could retreat and enjoy temporary safety.
Almost in an instant,
Luo Yan had made his decision.
"A fierce tiger fears no ravine!"
His gaze firm, he not only failed to stop but quickened his pace.
When the distance between him and the convoy had been reduced by half, gunfire suddenly rang out!
Bang bang bang bang!
The thunderous gunshots made Luo Yan's eyes narrow. He immediately dropped flat on the ground.
Then he saw them.
Countless parasites crawled out from the streets, from gaps in the buildings and doors and windows, and from beneath vehicle chassis.
They gathered into a black tide that surged toward the convoy.
The anti-aircraft machine guns mounted on the convoy's SUVs roared.
The smell of gunpowder immediately filled the air.
The black tide was obstructed. Incessantly, insects were knocked into the air by bullets, blasted apart into pieces.
At that moment, some parasites resembling mites, but with human faces growing on their bodies, frantically leaped onto the "monster" trucks.
They were Human-faced Mites, one type of Giant Beast parasite.
These things were extremely tenacious.
Once they latched onto prey, they would "settle down," fixing themselves to the target with sharp, barbed legs.
Then they would release intensely corrosive biological acid. In roughly ten seconds, they could dissolve a fully grown person.
Now, large numbers of Human-faced Mites clung to the cargo compartments of the heavy trucks.
These basin-sized insects rapidly released biological acid, dissolving the compartments.
However,
the convoy clearly had a countermeasure.
A cloud of smoke suddenly sprayed out from around the heavy-truck compartments.
After the smoke dispersed, the insects clinging to the compartments froze and fell off.
Luo Yan inhaled sharply.
He was glad he had not acted recklessly. Otherwise, he would have been the one frozen into an ice block.
Suddenly,
Luo Yan saw that the cargo compartment of a heavy truck toward the rear of the convoy had already been dissolved, leaving an irregular opening!
The swarm around it was almost completely dead!
His chance had come.
Luo Yan patiently suppressed his impulse and waited until the two SUVs near the truck had cleared away the remaining insects.
Only when they headed toward the front of the convoy to provide support did Luo Yan rush out!
He passed over a ground littered with insect corpses and reached the slowly moving truck.
With all his strength, he leaped.
He grabbed the bumper bar two meters above the ground.
Then he climbed up.
Just as he was about to climb through the opening,
suddenly,
a black shadow leaped over from the ground.
It was a Human-faced Mite!
Luo Yan could see its soft, sponge-like abdomen.
He watched as it frantically waved seven or eight legs.
A cold glint flashed through Luo Yan's red eyes.
He hurled his dagger with all his strength.
The dagger turned into a streak of Black Threads and pierced the Human-faced Mite's soft abdomen, making it squeal as it fell to the ground.
Luo Yan did not dare relax. He hurriedly climbed up and slipped through the opening into the cargo compartment.
The instant he entered the cargo compartment, his vision suddenly blurred, and several indistinct flashes of light passed before his eyes.
His heart pounded.
A strange feeling arose within him.
It made Luo Yan tumble to the floor.
Fortunately, there was no one inside the compartment.
Otherwise, the commotion alone would have been enough to attract attention.
He quickly raised his head and surveyed the compartment.
The space inside was unbelievably vast.
At the front was a colossal object covered by a waterproof tarp and secured with ropes to keep it from being blown away.
Luo Yan hurriedly hid himself.
He was just congratulating himself on his success when a shrill alarm suddenly sounded inside the compartment.
Luo Yan thought he had been discovered.
Unexpectedly,
the compartment's broadcast sounded at the same time: "Attention! Attention! A Spatial Shockwave has been detected approaching the critical point!"
"Jambu Realm Space will open in three seconds."
"Three, two, one..."
"Jambu Realm Space has opened!"
"Giant beast deployment imminent!"
"Enter Level One Combat Readiness!"
"All mecha transport bays, deploy."
"Mecha startup preparations complete!"
Before you continue