We're All Fighting to Stay Alive

When the underground city encountered a "crisis," people outside also encountered a crisis.

When the "crisis" in the underground city was over, people in the outside world were still struggling to survive.

Faced with the parasites further amplified by the power dissipated from the evil god's consciousness clone, the hunters fought and retreated, soon their bodies were covered in red and green blood, not only from the monsters but also from their own.

Two unlucky individuals even died; despite their increased strength through the Zane Dungeon, they still couldn't survive without a bit of luck.

"Fortunately, blood is still attractive to them!"

As Fan En raised his weapon to block the monsters' lashing claws, he shouted, "Use the remaining blood bags to lure them away!"

Since the construction of these passages began, people have carried small bags of blood extracted from their own bodies, which they would throw out in case of an accident to lure away monsters—essentially a weaker version of a nosebleed cocktail.

People responded to his suggestion, and bags of blood were thrown out. As the blood blossomed, a large number of monsters were instantly attracted away.

Taking advantage of this rare respite, Fan En opened the map and looked at it. He then looked up and shouted, "Head southwest! The nearest safe zone for Pearl is there. Let's go there to defend!"

Having a place to hold off is much better than wandering aimlessly through the streets. The safe zone has walls that can be used as temporary barriers. Once you get there, you should be able to shake off a lot of monsters, greatly reducing the pressure.

They have recently opened up some safe zones in two other districts, but they are frequently destroyed by parasites and have to be rebuilt repeatedly.

However, just as people were about to run towards the safe zone, a large number of parasites that still retained their original appearance suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked their retreat. Some people did not have time to dodge and were immediately picked up and bitten by the parasites.

"Snap!"

Before the man could react and scream, Fan En, wielding his transformed weapon, charged forward with lightning speed, slashing and pulling him out of the way after he had been bitten several times by the parasites. His speed and agility were beyond that of ordinary people.

"We'll have to go to the other side!"

He immediately changed direction, breaking through the area where there weren't many parasitic monsters, and ran deeper into the Pearl District.

Hopefully, the parasites in the Pearl District will have largely disappeared after these days of intense dungeon raids, and it would be best if they could find a place to rest temporarily.

There are about ten people following him now, all of whom are injured to varying degrees. He doesn't know how the other teams that went out today are doing; he can only hope that they are safe and sound.

"Get out of my way!"

Yi Sha fired two shots, blasting the head of the parasite blocking her way. Her marksmanship became increasingly refined, and even her eyesight became sharper, often able to spot the hidden weaknesses of her enemies.

"Drink it!"

Another hunter wielding a large axe leaped up, using the force of his fall to cleave the monster in front of him in two from head to toe. As he turned, he quickly transformed his weapon, swiftly slashing down the monsters that surrounded him with two strikes, and then stomped on the fallen creature twice to finish it off.

Fan En was responsible for leading the way, breaking through the parasites' defenses, and finding the best direction. The rest of them followed closely behind him, eliminating all the invading enemies. After a long battle, they cooperated so well that people would believe them if they told outsiders that they belonged to the same adventurer team.

Fan En would occasionally glance at the people's situation, and seeing their valiant fighting, he couldn't help but smile; he really liked this feeling.

As people ventured deeper into the Pearl District, they encountered fewer and fewer parasites, no longer at the same density as before.

After killing the last batch of parasites, looking back at the path they had come from, they found it littered with corpses and stained with blood, making it easy to spot. Fortunately, they were still alive.

"Using the dungeon to clear out the parasites really worked!"

People felt a long-awaited surge of excitement. The parasites inside the Pearl District had already swarmed toward the portal to the underground city. Those who hadn't had time to enter the underground city were lingering around the border between the Pearl District and the Fishing Port District. No wonder there were the most enemies there, while the depths of the city were deserted.

This is a very good momentum. If it continues like this, they will be able to sit by the river and watch the enemy's corpses flow down.

Fan En stood on the roof of a building, overlooking the area. The sounds of people celebrating made him feel relaxed. The building below was a large museum, which was said to have been built with donations from a wealthy businessman and contained records of the history of Savis City.

But when he turned to look back at the road he had come from, he frowned, feeling that something was amiss.

Why did they come here? There's no safe zone at all.

That's right, it was to avoid the parasites' encirclement that I broke through the weak points all the way, and finally came here. It's empty, and there's not a single parasite in sight.

It wasn't that he was paranoid, but it looked like the parasites were deliberately leading them here.

"Rumble, rumble—"

The moment that thought crossed his mind, the enormous museum beneath his feet began to tremble.

Fan En's eyelids twitched. Could it really be such a coincidence that things were developing exactly as he had guessed?

The roof beneath their feet suddenly cracked. Although they didn't have time to dodge, the height was not high enough to kill them; they could fall steadily.

But the museum was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. And at the moment of falling, an extremely strong smell of blood rushed into their nostrils, violently assaulting everyone's brains.

"Where are you?" The only light that Fan En could see was a few beams of light leaking through a gap in the roof, and these pitiful lights were quickly disappearing as darkness fell.

But the dim light was enough; it illuminated the museum's supposedly tidy marble floor, which was now piled high with one blood-red sphere of flesh after another.

Not only were they piled up there, but at his feet, beside him, and throughout the entire museum, these pure, compressed spheres of flesh were piled up.

They were like people who had just opened a sealed can and were finally able to smell what was inside.

"What is this?!"

Fan En was taken aback; he had never seen anything like it anywhere else. He forced himself to pick one up despite feeling nauseous.

The fleshy ball was covered in a sticky substance, and when you picked it up, it was stringy and felt heavy, like a large lion's head.

Suddenly, a dark shadow darted out from the ball of flesh. He quickly grabbed it; it was a relatively large parasite, and its appearance was different from ordinary parasites, gleaming with a sophisticated crimson color.

Fan En suddenly had a hunch that if these strangely-looking parasites were to burrow into his body, they probably wouldn't die instantly like the ones before, but would instead torment him.

Inside each of these fleshy lumps are even stronger parasites?

Fan En crushed the parasite, but the remaining half of its body was still alive. It suddenly darted into its own fleshy ball and began to devour it greedily.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the parasite's size exploded, growing from the thickness of an index finger to about a meter in length. It even began to wriggle and take shape with human-like hands and feet. This disgusting sight made Fan En quickly draw his weapon.

With a flash of light, the parasite, which hadn't even completed its transformation, was cleaved in two and killed. This is the consequence of not having a transformation period of invincibility.

"The skin is tougher than ever before," he said, watching the wisps of corroded smoke rising from the Saw Cleaver. "Even bodily fluids have a corrosive effect."

I've never seen parasites like these before. What changes have they undergone during this time? Is this museum actually the parasites' lair?

The meatball emitted a peculiar smell. Fan En twitched his nose, suddenly swallowed, and then slapped himself.

This bizarre ball of flesh actually contained nutrients that made him instinctively craving it; he had just wanted to take a bite!

What is this made of?!

Before he could think further, the several fleshy balls in front of him suddenly began to shake. He quickly stomped them to death, a bad feeling rising in his mind. He called out the names of his companions as he ran towards the area with fewer fleshy balls.

His companions didn't respond at all, making the atmosphere even stranger. But what really made Fan En freeze in place was a deep tunnel.

On one side of the museum, a tunnel appeared on the ground, its destination unknown. One after another, parasitized beings, mutated into the shape of carts, were carrying fleshy balls into the tunnel, completely unaware of Fan En not far away.

Where are they going to send these fleshy balls?

The Pearl District is already on the edge of Savis City; beyond that lies the wasteland. If the tunnel proceeds in a straight line, then just keep going in this direction...

Fan En paused for a moment. If he kept walking in this direction, he would eventually arrive at the capital!

The capital of Switzerland!

I think I've discovered something incredible.

However, the more bizarre the things that appeared inside the museum were, the more they confirmed his earlier conjecture: perhaps he and his group had been deliberately led here, and what led them there was definitely not well-intentioned.

"Once you find everyone, get out of here immediately!"

In this situation, it is even more important not to panic. Fan En searched around for his companions and finally found a figure. The person was crawling among a group of fleshy balls, his body trembling slightly.

In the pitch black, it was impossible to tell who the other person was. Fan En moved closer and closer, and the other person noticed his movements and slowly stood up.

Two meters, no, it's three meters tall.

It was a humanoid monster made up of a large number of parasites, like Maggot Man wandering in Cathedral of the Deep.

As it stood up, most of the human remains fell to the ground. Fan En looked closely and saw that it was one of his companions who had been following him!

A surge of anger welled up inside him, and with a cold look in his eyes, he drew his weapon. Just then...

The monster swayed its body.

With a "plop," several bloody meatballs were freshly made.