Insect-Eyed Half-Human

They arrived at the hidden door of the air-raid shelter.

Wu Hen leaned in close to the thick, concealed door, listening intently to see if there was anyone—or anything foul—on the other side.

After confirming there was no danger, Wu Hen opened the heavy door and stepped into the shelter.

Closing the door behind him, he realized it was a camouflaged entrance.

He stared at the door intently, trying to memorize its design.

Beside him, his younger sister Yu Yu was speechless. She patted Wu Hen on the shoulder, signaling him not to waste his effort; she had already memorized it.

"When you're memorizing a route or a door, you can't just stare at the path or the door itself. You have to look at what's around it!" Yu Yu said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I know, I know. Why are you being so loud?" Wu Hen retorted, sounding grumpy.

Does a little girl like you really need to teach your brother how to do things?

Yu Yu widened her sparkling eyes, her hand gestures becoming frantic.

"Go this way." Yu Yu pointed, signaling Wu Hen to head in that direction.

"Your little puppy nose is still as sharp as ever. Did you sniff out the scent of the exit?" Wu Hen asked.

Yu Yu rolled her eyes and pointed at a sign on the wall, where the word "EXIT" was written in large, fluorescent letters.

"You're being loud again. Where are your manners?" Wu Hen took long strides and headed forward.

The gale outside must have died down.

Wu Hen could no longer hear the whistling of the wind.

There was no one in the air-raid shelter; there was no water or food here, so staying behind was no different than waiting to die.

Wu Hen passed through the school via the shelter's tunnel and entered the commercial district next to the school.

The commercial district was complex, with roads branching out in every direction. There were also subway evacuation tunnels and floodgates nearby, all pitch black. If Wu Hen were walking here alone, it would be no different from a maze.

"Is this the place?" Wu Hen asked.

Yu Yu nodded.

"I'll go up first. You get your weapon ready," Wu Hen instructed.

Yu Yu nodded again and took out her compound bow.

Don't let her soft, delicate appearance fool you—her cheeks might look like they'd drip water if pinched, but her archery skills were extraordinary. She had even participated in youth professional competitions.

Wu Hen's archery wasn't bad either, but he wasn't as precise as his sister.

It didn't matter now; it was already open, and a small lock didn't count as a cheat.

The two of them entered the basement level of the commercial building. The elevators were out of commission, so they followed the stairs up into the mall. The sixth through ninth floors housed that private hospital.

There were already quite a few refugees inside the building. After several days of unrest, some level-headed people had gradually stepped up, spontaneously forming factions and groups in the absence of official law enforcement to ensure basic rules were followed in the area.

At this moment, the lobby of the commercial building was exceptionally noisy. It seemed two groups were in a standoff, carrying an atmosphere reminiscent of two gangs fighting over territory in the last century.

Wu Hen stepped out of the stairwell and glanced down from above. He discovered that one of the groups was wearing uniform black shirts. Each of them held controlled blades, and some clutched homemade Molotov cocktails in their hands.

The other group consisted mostly of people in professional attire—likely residents from the neighborhood and employees of the building. They huddled tightly together, showing no fear toward the intrusion of the Black Shirt Organization, looking as if they would fight to the death if the others dared to act out.

"It's these Black Shirt tumors again!" Wu Hen cursed.

He really wished he could find a Gatling gun right now, stand up here on this high vantage point, and open fire indiscriminately on the people from the Black Shirt Organization!

"The higher-ups don't care about the lives of us civilians at all. Those with power and status have long since moved into the Silver Dome. If we abandoned civilians don't unite, we'll end up dead without a whole corpse sooner or later..." A man with an eye tattoo on his forehead said from within the Black Shirt Organization.

"Unity is fine, but why should it be on your terms?" a man in a vintage Tang suit among the white-collar workers replied.

"Some of you have fallen into the Otherworld, haven't you? Are they in a coma? Don't you want to know the way to escape the Otherworld Desolate Dust? Can you guarantee you won't fall in? And if you do, do you know how to survive? We, the Black Shirt, can share information to ensure that you and your families can survive there if you fall in," the eye-tattooed man said.

"We..." The man in the Tang suit hesitated.

In fact, many of their companions had fallen into the Otherworld Desolate Dust, and to this day, not a single one had returned alive.

"Awakened, do you know what an Awakened is?" The eye-tattooed man curled the corners of his mouth and asked with a smile.

The white-collar faction shook their heads one after another.

"See? The authorities won't tell you that our world actually has Awakened. They are people with exceptional perception and combat power in the Otherworld. Only by following them can you significantly increase your team's survival rate. It's a pity that the vast majority of Awakened have been conscripted by the authorities."

"I might as well tell you, we in the Black Shirt Organization have our own Awakened!"

Awakened??

There were likely people among the white-collar group whose relatives had been conscripted and become Pioneers, and they had leaked some fragmented information.

So, as soon as the Black Shirt Organization leader said this, the white-collar group immediately fell into a commotion.

"That's right, if we don't have an Awakened, we'll all die in the end!"

"We know nothing about the real world. We're fine for now, but who knows when it will be our turn?"

"How about we just listen to them?"

The eye-tattooed leader of the Black Shirt Organization smiled even more confidently. His gaze swept over the white-collar crowd, who were beginning to waver, his expression already showing a sense of superiority.

"Allow us to consider it?" The tone of the man in the Tang suit had clearly changed.

"Fine, but we are in urgent need of medicine right now. Our leader in the Black Shirt Organization has been injured," the man with the eye tattoo said.

"There is some upstairs. Why don't you send some people up to retrieve it first?" the man in the Tang suit suggested in a conciliatory tone.

"Alright, but you had better think carefully. If you make an enemy of the Black Shirt Organization, we won't be this polite next time!" The man with the eye tattoo nodded.

The white-collar group had strength in numbers; a direct assault would certainly result in heavy casualties.

The man with the eye tattoo agreed to this compromise.

What a loser!

I thought you had a backbone, man in the Tang suit, but I didn't expect you to be such a pushover.

After hearing this conversation, Wu Hen immediately realized that he didn't have much time left.

He grabbed Yu Yu's hand and rushed toward the sixth floor.

He had to find the medicine quickly, or the Black Shirt Organization would clear the place out!

"This way!"

Yu Yu pointed in a precise direction.

The two of them entered the sixth floor, but the cold storage for the medicine was on the ninth floor. The stairs and elevators leading further up were inside the hospital section; the main elevators and stairs of the commercial building could not directly reach the ninth floor.

"With a ridiculous design like this, we're bound to run into the Black Shirt Organization's group once we come back down with the medicine."

"Never mind that, let's just gather the medicine first."

"At worst, I'll just Open the Heavens with a Single Sword!"

Xiao Yi?

Righteous Father?

Holy Father, are you there?

Wu Hen knew that a fierce battle was unavoidable, so he began to ensure that Xiao Yi was in standby mode rather than powered down or dormant.

Wu Hen's right hand reacted quickly, but what appeared before him was not the Black Miracle Death Sword; it was the compound bow he had devoured not long ago!

What is going on?

Does the ultimate move have a cooldown or something?

Why couldn't he sense the Black Miracle Death Sword at all? Back in the Desolate Dust, even though Wu Hen didn't know how to use it, he had always felt a lingering connection to it in his soul...

At this moment, Wu Hen felt the connection between himself and the Black Miracle Death Sword had been blocked.

"Could it be the Nuwa Divine Terminal?"

"Does it indiscriminately block all powers that are too strong?"

"That must be it. Otherwise, if beings like Zai Wu could just slip into the Nuwa Divine Terminal, humanity would have been wiped out long ago!"

It made sense, perfectly reasonable.

Well, there was no other way. He would just have to rely on his own exceptional intellect. Besides, that was exactly how he had survived until now, wasn't it!

"Brother, it's inside that door," Yu Yu said, patting Wu Hen.

Yu Yu quickened her pace and walked ahead.

Wu Hen observed his surroundings and realized that this ninth floor was actually quite large. After noting the locations of the elevator shaft and the emergency stairwell, he immediately followed Yu Yu.

"Hurry up, I'll keep watch here," Wu Hen said.

Yu Yu skillfully entered the cold storage, which was stocked with a large quantity of medicine.

In this day and age, antibiotics were the most vital supplies. Bacteria, viruses, and animal-borne diseases were everywhere; falling ill had long since become a terrifying prospect. Without antibiotics, most people wouldn't be able to pull through.

Antibiotics, anti-allergy medication, anti-parasitics, and beyond that, painkillers, hemostatics, universal blood bags, saline solution, glucose...

Two large backpacks were already stuffed full, their heavy weight causing Yu Yu's petite, delicate frame to hunch over.

Wu Hen walked over and immediately hoisted the backpacks onto his own shoulders.

"They're coming. Let's hide first and don't make a sound." Wu Hen utilized his heightened sense of hearing, intending to perfectly evade those people from the Black Shirt Organization.

Yu Yu nodded, and she and Wu Hen carefully hid in the storage room directly across from the cold storage.

Messy footsteps rang out, and soon five people appeared in the cold storage pharmacy.

Among them, three were wearing black shirts, and the leader was the man with the eye-shaped tattoo on his forehead.

The other two were a man in a Tang suit and a female nurse who had likely worked here in the past.

Yu Yu clearly recognized the nurse and remembered her name was Feng Dong.

"This is the only hospital in the vicinity. Aside from some stock at the school, all the medicine in this area is here," the head nurse, Feng Dong, said.

"That's great, truly excellent," the man with the eye tattoo grinned.

"Take what you need," the man in the Tang suit said.

"I didn't say I wanted to take anything; I just wanted you to bring me to this storeroom..." The tone of the man with the eye tattoo suddenly changed, revealing a sinister nature.

As soon as the words fell, a substance resembling white frost or fungal hyphae suddenly seeped from the palm of the man with the eye tattoo, growing in dense clusters.

In a split second, these sprouting white fungi intertwined, spiraled, and hardened, eventually transforming the man's palm into a white conical spike!

"Shua! Shua! Shua!"

The next moment, the man with the eye tattoo struck with speed that surpassed any ordinary human, piercing the necks of the several people beside him in an instant!!

The scene was as fast as lightning; the two members of the Black Shirt Organization and the man in the Tang suit perished in a heartbeat, without even a chance to resist.

Blood sprayed like mist, and the pools of blood flowing from the three living people merged into one striking, large puddle.

"Ah!!!!" Feng Dong, the head nurse who was standing a bit further away, screamed outright.

But the man with the eye tattoo had already pursued her like a specter, drawing the cold white spike heavily across her neck.

The young head nurse did not escape the same fate, collapsing limply to the ground.

Blood continued to gush from the head nurse's neck, yet the man with the eye tattoo didn't even bother to glance at her. He simply lowered his head and spoke coldly into his brooch communicator:

"Fanshan District, the medicine source has been destroyed. Only the school district remains."

After saying this, the man with the eye tattoo piled all the medical cotton cloth together, lit a fire, and set the entire medicine warehouse ablaze!