Stone Statue Disease: Stage One Symptoms

Shen Feng's eyes sharpened. He ducked into a newsstand beside him, gently closed the door, and locked it from the inside.

All he had was a lousy little fruit knife. If the wolf pack spotted him, he was as good as dead!

He hid beside the newsstand owner's stone statue and peered outside through the cracks in the surrounding wooden walls. The sika deer had already rushed past the newsstand in a flash.

More than a dozen massive wild wolves followed close behind. Each one was two or three meters long—genuine ferocious beasts!

Just as the sika deer was about to dash across the street, two more wild wolves suddenly appeared at the other end, blocking its path!

The first wolf lunged from the side, but only left a scratch on the deer's body.

Though it had evaded the first attack, the sika deer's speed abruptly dropped. The second wolf pounced onto it in an instant and viciously bit down on its neck.

The sika deer did not even have time to cry out before it was knocked to the ground. The dozen wolves behind it swarmed forward and began tearing into it frantically.

Clearly, this was the wolf pack's tactic!

The moment the sika deer had been driven into this street, it had fallen into their trap!

When humanity's world was destroyed, the animals reclaimed their homeland in the vast urban wilderness, becoming the only masters here once more!

The sounds of flesh being torn and bones being crushed rang out continuously, accompanied by the wolves' low growls. The air was thick with the stench of blood.

Shen Feng tried his best to hold his breath. He knelt on one knee without moving, clutching the fruit knife tightly in his hand.

The newsstand's door had long since rotted beyond repair, and its wooden walls leaked air from every direction. A hard shove might knock it open. He absolutely could not let the wolves discover him.

The pack quickly devoured more than half of the sika deer, leaving behind a bloody skeleton.

Apparently, the wolves had not been very hungry to begin with. More than a dozen of them had eaten a single sika deer and were already full.

One well-fed wolf gave a low growl and slowly wandered over to the newsstand. Its nose kept twitching as it looked toward the stand.

It had caught Shen Feng's scent!

Shen Feng held his breath and stared at the wolf through nothing more than a crack in the wall, not daring to move at all.

If it discovered him and called the pack over, his fate would not be much better than the sika deer's!

Just then, something like a black scarf suddenly fell from the newsstand owner's stone statue, landing squarely around Shen Feng's neck.

"Hisss..."

A cold, smooth sensation brushed against him, slowly wriggling.

It was a snake!

Every hair on Shen Feng's body stood on end in an instant. He swallowed frantically, his heart pounding like a drum.

The snake was on his neck. Its head rose slightly as it stared at his face.

From the corner of his eye, Shen Feng saw its triangular head and the mottled black markings on its body. He immediately recognized it as a highly venomous viper!

If it bit him, he would undoubtedly die without a burial place!

Sweat quickly seeped from his forehead, slid down his cheeks, and dripped from his chin.

The snake actually flicked out its tongue and licked the bead of sweat on his chin.

Wolves outside, a venomous snake inside—Shen Feng felt as though his heart were about to leap out of his chest, yet he did not dare move in the slightest.

If he startled either side, he would die!

The wolf outside sniffed around for a while, then slowly approached the newsstand's rotten wooden door, seemingly intending to come inside.

"Awoo—"

A wolf howl rang out. The largest alpha wolf stood atop a rusted SUV and howled, immediately prompting all the other wolves to howl along with it.

Afterward, the alpha wolf turned and left, and the pack immediately followed close behind. The wolf outside the newsstand no longer cared to investigate what was inside and turned to follow the pack.

The wolves came quickly and left just as quickly, soon vanishing around a street corner overgrown with weeds, leaving behind only the bloody deer carcass.

The viper around Shen Feng's neck was also startled and slowly crawled down his body toward the ground.

The instant the viper's head touched the ground, Shen Feng—who had been waiting all along—swung his knife-wielding right hand downward, viciously driving the fruit knife through the snake's head and pinning it to the ground!

The viper struggled desperately, but Shen Feng gripped the knife handle with both hands, preventing it from breaking free.

After a while, when the snake's body had completely stopped twitching, Shen Feng finally went limp and collapsed onto the ground.

His back was already soaked through with sweat.

Only now did he truly feel the horror of the apocalypse. Once humans were separated from society and became isolated individuals, their lives were in danger at any moment!

Compared to the various types of apocalypses he had known before, Stone Statue Apocalypse was considered a relatively low-intensity apocalypse, yet it was already this dangerous.

After resting for a few minutes and making sure there was no movement outside, Shen Feng picked up the motionless snake and carefully walked out of the newsstand.

After checking his surroundings, he rushed toward the remains of the sika deer.

The deer had been disemboweled, its organs completely eaten. The fatty areas around its hind legs and rump had also been picked clean, but plenty of meat remained on its ribs.

Its head was still relatively intact as well.

When beasts had ample food and were not especially hungry, they became picky eaters. After consuming the most nutritious organs and fat, they would still leave plenty behind.

Shen Feng immediately used his fruit knife to cut several strips of meat, each weighing roughly four or five pounds, from the deer's ribs. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the deer's head as well, then quickly left the area and ran along the upwind street.

If this city had truly become a jungle, then the food scraps left by the wolf pack and the heavy smell of blood would attract other predators. Besides scavengers, there might even be powerful carnivores.

It was still dangerous here!

Sure enough, after Shen Feng had completely left the block, chaotic footsteps and howls sounded behind him. It seemed that animals like wild dogs had appeared, while several birds of prey descended from the sky as well.

Shen Feng had already found a rundown restaurant. He pushed open its rust-covered door, stepped inside, and barred it behind him before finally letting out a long breath.

It was a large supermarket. Through the thick glass windows, he could see outside, and there was a back door through which he could leave. It was a decent place to eat.

Behind the fast-food counter in the supermarket stood several stone statues. Some still held food that had rotted into lumps of black charcoal, their faces frozen in shock.

Several customers were seated in the dining area as well. Some were even still eating.

It seemed the final stage of Stone Statue Disease had erupted in just an instant. Many people had not even had time to react before they were completely petrified.

Shen Feng found several clean towels in the back kitchen and spread them over a table. He placed the deer meat and deer head on them, then began searching through the supermarket.

Nearly several dozen stone statues stood scattered throughout the store, clearly shoppers who had been buying things.

Needless to say, everything in the produce section had rotted away who knew how many years ago. It was blackened and completely inedible.

Most of the other vacuum-sealed foods had expanded, leaked air, spoiled, and rotted as well.

Shen Feng found some canned food, but after opening them, he found they all smelled strange and did not dare eat any of it.

Fortunately, there were still things like compressed biscuits. Though they were hard as stone, they should still barely be edible.

What truly caught his attention were the bottled mineral water and large jugs of water.

Some had turned green and spoiled, while much of the water had evaporated, but most of it still looked drinkable.

Of course, it would have to be boiled and sterilized again.

The only things that had not spoiled at all were salt, alcohol, and some dried seasonings.

After pushing the squeaky shopping cart around the store, Shen Feng had filled it to the brim and returned to the fast-food area by the supermarket entrance.

He first used two bottles of water to scrub a large iron pot clean and set it up, then placed dozens of candles beneath it.

Shen Feng poured several large boxes of matches onto the table and began testing them one by one.

Some of the matches had become damp, but fortunately, most still worked. He struck a small flame and hurriedly used it to light a candle.

Once the flame was going and all the candles had been lit, Shen Feng poured several large bottles of water into the pot and brought it to a boil.

After the water boiled, he sterilized several iron skewers in it. Then he used an axe found in the supermarket to chop apart a few wooden stools, piled them into a small campfire, and lit it. Only then did he place the skewered venison over the flames, turning it as he grilled and sprinkling it with salt and cumin.

There were not many seasonings, but as long as there was salt and cumin, grilled meat had a soul.

While grilling the meat, Shen Feng casually washed several plates and teacups he had just found, then brewed himself a cup of aged pu'er tea.

Before long, the meat was done. Shen Feng took a fragrant strip of roasted venison from the fire, examined the glistening meat carefully, blew on it lightly, and took a gentle bite.

The aroma of venison instantly spread through his mouth. It was tender yet pleasantly chewy, while the savory meat and the fragrance of cumin intertwined into a symphony of deliciousness.

Delicious!

He took another sip of pu'er tea. The golden brew was rich and lingering on the tongue. Shen Feng leaned back in his chair, so comfortable that his eyebrows nearly flew off his face.

Pu'er tea only tasted better with age. In this apocalypse, all pu'er tea was aged pu'er tea.

He had grilled nearly two pounds of venison in total. Shen Feng devoured every last bite in one go, drained his cup of tea, and patted his stomach contentedly.

Finding joy amid hardship—that was me, wasn't it...?

Then he stretched lazily, and his entire body crackled and popped as if his bones had hardened.

Shen Feng's face instantly turned deathly pale.

Stone Statue Disease: Stage One Symptoms:

Joint cracking!