Chapter 57

Chapter 57

An Zhe refused to accept this assessment. Lu Fen believed he lacked the capability to infect the entire Eden, and An Zhe felt that Lu Fen was once again emphasizing his weakness – this wasn't the first time the man had said such things.

Although what the colonel said was true – he indeed couldn't infect the entire Eden, not even a single person – An Zhe couldn't accept that his deception had been exposed due to his weakness rather than the inadequacy of his lies. He comforted himself, perhaps only Lu Fen didn't believe his words.

Only Lu Fen was despicable.

He said, "You're not allowed to sleep here."

"Hmm?" Lu Fen responded.

An Zhe grumbled, "Not allowed."

Lu Fen asked, "Why?"

An Zhe faced away from him, burying himself in his coat. Initially, he intended to remain silent and forcefully evict the colonel from his territory, but after some internal struggle, he still earnestly explained the reason, "There's a chance of non-contact infection."

"Oh," Lu Fen's voice was soft. "Bees are alive."

An Zhe: "…"

Then he heard Lu Fen ask, "If they're alive, why are they unconscious?"

This time, An Zhe wouldn't open his mouth even if his life depended on it. With Lu Fen, all it took was a tiny hint for him to figure out the whole situation.

But the colonel didn't push him tonight. He said, "I'll keep watch."

An Zhe softly acknowledged with an "mm-hm." He then asked, "Are you cold?"

Lu Fen replied, "Not at all."

Only then did An Zhe close his eyes. He had somewhat overextended himself emotionally tonight. Clutching the badge, he curled up and fell asleep swiftly.

However, halfway through the night, he woke up shivering.

Due to the magnetic field accidents these past few days, solar winds had wreaked havoc, causing the atmosphere to thin out. The temperature difference between day and night had become terrifyingly extreme.

An Zhe shivered, his eyes snapped open as he sat up, instinctively searching for Lu Fen's figure around him.

He easily spotted the colonel not too far away. Lu Fen leaned against a strangely shaped stone, eroded by the wind, with a neatly arranged pile of shrub branches in front of him, forming a conical shape.

An Zhe rubbed his eyes and walked over, clutching Lu Fen's coat. The colonel had used it as a pillow for him, leaving himself with only the undershirt of his uniform.

Handing the coat back, he asked again, "Are you cold?"

Lu Fen toyed with a lighter in his hand.

"Put it on yourself," he said. "I thought you could sleep a little longer."

An Zhe responded, "...Huh?"

Lu Fen tossed the lighter into An Zhe's arms. "Come help me gather firewood."

So, the colonel had known that he might wake up from the cold and was planning to start a fire.

And when he said, "I thought you could sleep a little longer" – An Zhe translated the colonel's rare indirectness and concluded that what he really meant was, "You're more delicate than I imagined."

An Zhe: "."

For a moment, the only sounds in the air were their footsteps, the wind, and distant, faint howls of monsters. They walked outward, passing by sporadic shrubs that had withered and dried under the solar wind, perfect for kindling a fire.

An Zhe asked, "Have you been looking for branches?"

"No," Lu Fen replied coolly, "There are monsters around. I can't venture too far away."

An Zhe softly hummed in acknowledgement. He wanted to tell Lu Fen that many of the monsters had no interest in him, the mushroom, but he quickly realized that Lu Fen was protecting him. This realization made him feel a subtle sense of happiness.

He kept close to the colonel.

Suddenly, Lu Fen paused in his steps.

An Zhe halted as well.

—He had heard it too.

In the quiet wilderness, an unfamiliar sound suddenly echoed.

"Shushhh."

"Shushhh."

"Shushhh."

The eerie sound echoed irregularly across the wilderness, low yet distinct, as if whispering right beside one's ear. The intervals between the first two were immensely prolonged, while the last one came swiftly after.

"Shushhh."

When the sound echoed again, Lu Fen pressed An Zhe's shoulder down, and the two of them crouched on the sandy ground, hiding behind a layer of shrubs.

"Ssshhhh."

Beneath the aurora, a colossal shadow materialized on the horizon, outlining itself against the undulating dunes. Its form approximated an ellipse, with an indistinct body structure and a rugged, uneven skin that resembled a mass of decaying flesh roughly clumped together. A smooth, bulging tumor adorned its midsection, covered in eyes of various sizes - this was its head. From beneath this massive form sprouted countless limbs, some thick, some thin, resembling the hind legs of a reptile, others the pincers of an insect, and still others the arms of a human.

- Its limbs pulsated, enabling it to trudge heavily across the rugged terrain, leaving behind a wave-like trail over five meters wide on the gravel-covered ground. It approached the wreckage of the crashed aircraft in an eerie, parallel manner. With every movement, a rustling sound emanated from its surface, dispersing evenly outward. Perhaps, that was the source of its vocalization.

An Zhe held his breath, staring at the indescribable, ineffable monster as a gaping maw split open in its midsection, revealing a dense array of jagged spines and razor-sharp teeth within.

"Snap!"

A grating metallic sound echoed, followed by chaotic clashing, breaking, chewing, and swallowing noises.

It was devouring the wreckage. Despite living in the Abyss for so long, An Zhe had never known any creature that could feed on metal. There were abandoned armored vehicles and shattered gun components in the Abyss, but no monster showed interest in them. Perhaps this creature wasn't after the metal, but rather the two pilots' corpses within the ruins. It was conceivable that to this bizarre organism capable of crunching and swallowing alloy, human flesh and bones would be as soft and malleable as mud.

However, it didn't immerse itself in feasting on the remains of the explosion and fire. It only took a few bites.

"Sss."

As its mouth closed, the sound emerged again. It turned around and saw the still-sleeping Black Bee about a hundred meters away.

Snap.

Black Bee's entire head vanished into its body. An Zhe watched as one end of its body extended, a pair of translucent, metallic wings drooping down. They fluttered slightly, producing a rustling sound akin to leaves dancing in autumn winds.

"Sss."

In the next moment, all the eyes on its head turned towards the direction where An Zhe and Lu Fen were.