Radiant City Incineration Corps

"Pant... pant..." Shen Feng sprinted down the deserted, ruined streets with his weapons and ammunition.

The blast from earlier had been far too powerful, and the Brain Apes had yet to detect his trail.

At the same time, the appearance of over a thousand ape cavalrymen immediately startled the wild animals living in this urban jungle. Rats, rabbits, foxes, deer, and other creatures scattered everywhere, flushing flocks of birds into the air. The ruins of Radiant City erupted into chaos, further concealing Shen Feng's movements.

Shen Feng even encountered a fox running alongside him. They glanced at each other without attacking, then each fled for its life.

This showed that, in a sense, the Brain Apes had already taken humanity's former place as the dominant species.

Before long, Shen Feng arrived in front of the Radiant City Epidemic Prevention Center.

After Stone Statue Disease broke out, epidemic prevention became the focus of everything. Every city's Epidemic Prevention Center had undergone massive renovations, and their internal structures and layouts were largely similar.

Shen Feng's arrival immediately caught the attention of several Skinners inside the Epidemic Prevention Center building.

Just as he had expected, every city's Epidemic Prevention Center had become a nest for the Skinners.

Without hesitation, Shen Feng gathered materials on the spot and made several huge torches. He tightly wrapped them in rags that had been soaked in fuel beforehand, then stuck them all over his chest and back, making himself look like an oversized candied hawthorn skewer.

Then he lit every torch with a match, took a deep breath, pushed open the doors of the Epidemic Prevention Center, and charged inside.

The moment they saw Shen Feng, the dozen or so Skinners hiding indoors roared and rushed toward him, wanting to tear this human apart.

But before they could even touch Shen Feng, the flames scorched them. They cried out miserably and retreated.

Fire was far more intense than sunlight. To these Skinners, it was simply the most agonizing thing imaginable!

The flames around him roasted Shen Feng until sweat poured down his body, but they also put his mind at ease.

Just as he had thought, these Skinners were terrified of fire!

These creatures looked horrifying, but they had a fatal weakness. As long as he targeted it, they were nothing but a bunch of pushovers.

Using boiling water before had been rather stupid of him.

The thought of being roasted after having one's skin stripped off was enough to make his scalp go numb.

"Kill... me..."

"...Die..."

A group of Skinners surrounded Shen Feng, letting out mindless wails, yet none dared approach him.

This guy who had suddenly appeared was like a porcupine. They had no way to get at him!

Shen Feng swiftly bypassed the Skinners and rushed to the elevator.

Unlike the one at the Qi City Epidemic Prevention Center, the elevator in the Radiant City Epidemic Prevention Center was actually still running!

He just did not know whether, after so many years without maintenance, it would fall halfway up...

Screw it!

Shen Feng gritted his teeth, opened the elevator doors, and rushed inside.

There was a pretty stone statue inside the elevator, seemingly a former elevator attendant. A professional smile still lingered on her face, though her clothes had long since become tattered.

Shen Feng sighed, took a towel from his bag, and draped it over the elevator attendant's stone statue.

The elevator rattled and swayed, its lights flickering constantly. After nearly a minute, it reached the top floor of the twenty-story Epidemic Prevention Center.

The elevator doors opened, and Shen Feng immediately stepped out.

Several Skinners wandering around the top floor saw Shen Feng and charged at him. Once the fire scorched them, they screamed and retreated again.

Shen Feng ignored them and walked straight to a metal door at the very center.

According to the Epidemic Prevention Center layout he had seen before, this should be the core laboratory of the entire center. A vast amount of research data was stored in the computers here.

It could be said that what was preserved here was humanity's most cutting-edge research on Stone Statue Disease. The security measures were also the strictest.

Before Shen Feng stood an alloy door twenty centimeters thick, enough to withstand artillery bombardment.

More and more Skinners gathered in the corridor. These former incinerators still subconsciously felt attached to the Epidemic Prevention Center, so they had made it their nest and wandered through every floor.

Every city had once had tens of thousands of incinerators, which meant tens of thousands of Skinners.

They also seemed especially fond of the top floor. Nearly a hundred Skinners had gathered around Shen Feng. If they had not feared the scorching flames, they would have charged him long ago.

The torches stuck into his body had already burned much shorter, even singeing his hair, yet the laboratory door remained shut!

Although nearly ten years had passed, the laboratory's electronic access control system was still faithfully operating.

Shen Feng's head began to ache. He turned his gaze toward the surrounding Skinners and quickly examined the remnants of clothing on their bodies.

Incinerators were not merely burners or janitors. Senior incinerators also participated in the decision-making of the entire Epidemic Prevention Center.

In some ways, they were more like an army.

Therefore, some of the highest-ranking incinerators also had authorization to enter the top-level laboratory!

Soon, Shen Feng's gaze settled on an incinerator wearing a tattered white lab coat.

A badge still hung on this incinerator's clothes, bearing the title "Commander of the Radiant City Incineration Corps."

You'll do!

Shen Feng quickly drew his pistol, wrapped it tightly in clothing, and charged toward that Skinner.

Before the other party could react, Shen Feng instantly pulled the trigger.

"Thump!" The gunshot muffled by the clothing was incredibly dull, like a sledgehammer striking the ground.

The Brain Apes probably had not searched this area yet, so it would not draw their attention.

The bullet instantly pierced the Skinner's heart. It slowly collapsed, and a flicker of relieved joy passed through the depths of its muddled consciousness before it fell silent for good.

Without pausing for even a moment, Shen Feng drew the dagger at his waist. Gritting his teeth and hardening his heart, he gouged out the Skinner's eyeball and placed it against the access scanner on the laboratory's alloy door.

A green beam shot out from the sensor and began scanning the iris.

"Identity verification in progress. Radiant City Incineration Corps, Shi Changlei. Authorization level: Level One."

The alloy doors, sealed for years, opened with a thunderous rumble. Shen Feng immediately slipped inside.

The moment he entered, the doors closed again, blocking the watchful Skinners outside.

The torches stuck into Shen Feng's body suddenly went out.

He could not help but think that had been close. The flames had dried all his sweat earlier, but now it rapidly poured out again, soaking him through.

He pulled out a plastic water bottle, dropped the eyeball into it for safekeeping, then finally collapsed onto a chair and let out a long breath.

Running all the way while carrying a heavy load, enduring the scorching torches, and facing that life-or-death tension had exhausted him to the point of collapse. Right now, he did not want to move even an inch.

Looking up, he saw a huge laboratory filled with electronic screens and all kinds of incubators.

More than a dozen stone statues in white lab coats stood in various places, frozen in different poses, their faces still wearing the expressions they had held at the instant they turned to stone.

From the way they looked, it was as though they had been conducting some experiment and could start moving again at any moment.

Shen Feng pulled out a bottle of water and gulped down half of it. He knew that he was temporarily safe.

His purpose had never been to clash with the Brain Apes, but to find the reason they had appeared.

After resting for a while and regaining some strength, Shen Feng got up and walked to an electronic screen. He pressed the dust-covered power button, and the system that had slumbered for years immediately began operating again.

The stone statue standing before the screen was an elderly man wearing glasses, clearly the person in charge of the Epidemic Prevention Center.

Shen Feng used the man's ID card to log in, and the entire Radiant City Epidemic Prevention Center database was immediately laid out before him!

As all kinds of data and files appeared on the dust-covered screen, Shen Feng's breathing quickened.

Perhaps this time, he could even complete part of the main quest.

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat..." Just then, a burst of crisp gunfire rang out from the street below, exceptionally piercing!

Shen Feng frowned and immediately rushed to the window, looking down through the gaps in the blinds.

Dozens of ape cavalrymen had appeared on the street outside the Epidemic Prevention Center, spraying bullets at the Skinners inside the surrounding buildings!