...Discovery...Static...Humans...

Once he completed the mission, he would have to leave this place and return to his own world. He simply could not remain Golden Fur's master for long.

Besides, for it, becoming king of the wolf pack in this free world was clearly the better choice.

Golden Fur seemed to sense Shen Feng's resolve. It let out a whimper, then barked at Shen Feng several more times.

Shen Feng hesitated no longer. He turned and climbed into the armored vehicle, started the engine, and accelerated onto the highway.

Golden Fur looked at the armored vehicle speeding away, then at the wolf pack behind it. It did not bark again, merely watched Shen Feng leave in silence.

It was highly intelligent to begin with, and now it felt as though the last stone weighing on its heart had finally been lifted.

Seeing that the wolves had not followed, Shen Feng was equally relieved. He floored the accelerator and began charging recklessly forward.

There were not many abandoned vehicles on the highway itself, and several stone statues sat inside each one.

Whenever he encountered an abandoned vehicle blocking the road, Shen Feng simply stepped on the gas, rammed it flying, and continued onward.

Crashing, crushing—everything blocking his path was run over by the massive road wheels and left behind.

With this armored vehicle, Shen Feng had basically become invincible in this desolate apocalypse, and he finally relaxed.

When civilization had completely vanished, its remaining remnants were enough to let one human become king.

Shen Feng suddenly discovered that the armored vehicle actually had a music playback system connected to the onboard speakers. It had clearly been modified by the incinerators from the epidemic prevention center.

He casually pressed the play button, and a rousing yet desolate song, "Highway Song," drifted from the speakers:

"Where are dreams?

Why are they always so alluring?

I walk the road without regard for anything,

All so I can come to your side.

Drive south,

Keep driving south,

Keep driving south,

Keep driving south..."

Swaying to the rhythm, Shen Feng drove the armored vehicle at top speed, racing down the ruined highway and into the vast wilderness.

He drove on without stopping.

According to the map, Qi City was roughly thirteen hundred kilometers from the capital.

The armored vehicle had a maximum range of five hundred kilometers. He would need to refuel twice along the way to reach it safely.

At the Defender-3 armored vehicle's speed of one hundred kilometers per hour, if all went smoothly, he could even reach the capital before nightfall!

After all, traffic jams no longer existed.

Then, all he had to do was charge straight into the National Academy of Sciences, kill every Skinner entrenched inside, obtain the Stone Statue Disease research materials and the perfect vaccine, and the mission would be completely finished. He could leave this world.

Come to think of it, though this was the apocalypse, there were not actually that many real dangers. Perhaps this was what they called a low-intensity apocalypse.

Once one possessed powerful equipment, one could stand undefeated in this world where civilization had faded away.

Shen Feng drove while listening to music. Other than stopping once to take a piss, he drove the entire time.

He passed the ruins of more than a dozen cities, large and small. They were all utterly silent. Only the occasional birds and beasts darting out from the roadside brush let him feel the lingering vitality of this world.

Around noon, the fuel was nearly exhausted. Only then did Shen Feng stop the vehicle, sling the shotgun over his back, and carry out two fuel cans to refuel.

Diesel poured steadily into the armored vehicle's tank, like a thirsty giant beast drinking deeply.

As he refueled, Shen Feng warily watched the forest by the roadside.

Just then, two bursts of static suddenly came from the onboard radio, followed by a strange, halting, muffled voice:

"...discovered...static...humans...hoo...static...discovered hu...mans..."

The voice sounded like a foreigner who had only just learned to speak. It carried a heavy nasal tone, sharp and strange, indescribably eerie.

Shen Feng immediately stopped refueling and lunged toward the radio, listening carefully.

Could there still be people alive!?

Had not every human in this world turned into a stone statue!?

If that was true, many of his plans would need to be revised immediately.

Yet according to all the records he had seen before, no one was immune to Stone Statue Disease. Even after being here for only two or three days, signs of petrification had already appeared on his body.

How had those people escaped it?

No matter what, Shen Feng still felt faintly excited at suddenly encountering humans.

After all, in an extinction event like this, humans clearly would no longer kill one another. Resources were abundant; what they lacked most was population.

If he could find these surviving humans, he should be able to receive help as well, making this mission much easier.

As Shen Feng was still puzzled, another voice came through the radio. It was clearly not the same speaker as before, much deeper:

"...static...hoo...vehicle discovered...highway...static...prepare to...hoo...static..."

The signal was unclear, and the final two words dissolved into static.

Shen Feng frowned. Prepare to do what?

Fortunately, the voice came again:

"...static...hoo...prepare to...hunt!"

Shen Feng's eyes widened. Before he could think further, he immediately restarted the engine and shut the hatch.

The instant the hatch closed, several gunshots rang out. A few bullets struck the hatch!

Someone was attacking!

Then came the dull sound of hoofbeats, orderly and powerful, like a cavalry unit passing through.

On the armored vehicle's internal screen, Shen Feng saw dozens of fully armed riders charging out from the tall grass in the wilderness on both sides of the highway.

When he saw what those riders looked like, Shen Feng froze, almost unable to believe his eyes.

The creatures riding the horses were actually a group of chimpanzees!

The chimpanzees wore police harnesses, had their feet in modified stirrups, and held firearms of varying lengths. They had already formed an encirclement!

The leading chimpanzee was powerfully built and actually wore a pair of glasses. Its eyes shone with the unique gleam of an intelligent being. Less than a hundred meters from the armored vehicle, it waved its hand, and dozens of chimpanzees on horseback pulled their triggers at once. Bullets rained down!

Dense bullets struck the armored vehicle's outer hull like raindrops. To Shen Feng, it sounded as if he had entered the center of a torrential downpour.

What the hell was this!? Rise of the Planet of the Apes!?

With no time to think, Shen Feng immediately took control of the armored vehicle's external machine gun, aimed at the herd of horses charging from the left, and prepared to open fire.

The moment the machine gun swung around, the lead chimpanzee let out a "hoo." The chimpanzees on horseback twisted their bodies and hung from beneath their horses' bellies, while scattering their formation and continuing to charge at Shen Feng.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat... The armored vehicle's external machine gun sprayed out a metallic rain of death, hitting more than a dozen galloping horses.

The warhorses neighed and collapsed, but the chimpanzees hiding beneath them were unharmed.

The moment those chimpanzees hit the ground, they vanished into the tall wormwood grass.

This delay allowed the frontmost chimpanzees to close to within fifty meters of the armored vehicle!

"...static...grenades...static...rockets...prepare..."

The hoarse commanding voice came through the onboard radio again. Shen Feng now understood that this channel was the chimpanzees' command channel!

Then the charging riders suddenly split to both sides. Four chimpanzees raised grenade launchers from horseback and pulled the triggers!

Boom boom boom... Several grenades fell from the sky like black acorns, landing on the armored vehicle and exploding instantly!

BOOM— The deafening blast made Shen Feng feel as if he had nearly gone deaf.

More than half the external cameras had been destroyed. At the same time, Shen Feng saw two anti-tank rocket launchers poking out from the grass nearby, their army-green bodies glinting in the sunlight!

Fuck your mother!

Shen Feng's eyes went wide. He slammed the engine into motion and reversed.

With two sharp whooshes, two rockets skimmed past the place where the armored vehicle had just been and flew into the distance.

One of them directly hit a chimpanzee rider on the opposite side, instantly blowing both chimpanzee and horse into a spray of blood!

~

(In an apocalypse, music is indispensable spiritual support. I made a "Real Doomsday Game" playlist on NetEase Cloud Music and will slowly add songs to it. Interested readers can give it a listen.)