dusk.

Blood-red sunlight filtered through the vines and fell from the mouth of the pothole, illuminating a tiled floor riddled with cracks and sand.

The middle-aged man shivered and exhaled, grabbed his left arm that was cut off in half, and tried to swallow a few groans. The blood smeared the dirty cloth to almost black, and gradually formed a black and red lake on the tiles whose colors were unclear.

The rush of adrenaline didn't give him the strength to stand up again.

The man raised his head vigorously, crossed the edge of the pothole, and looked at the orange-red sky dyed by the setting sun.

Here you can barely see the spires of high-rise buildings not far away. There are no regular floors and spires in memory, the shiny metallic geometry twists and turns bizarrely, and it just feels a little chilly in the warm sunlight.

It was no longer human territory.

Limbs started to get cold. The man coughed twice, trying to feel the hemostatic gel in his pocket. It's a pity that when touched it, only found a few energy tanks. He mechanically rubbed the icy jars, the rapid loss of blood blurred his vision, and the things in front of him became a blood-red mass.

There was the sound of heavy objects falling not far away, and the scratching sound of hard objects rubbing against the ground was getting closer.

That's too late. After a long chase, the thing finally caught him.

The man shook off the sweaty hair on his forehead, clenched his cheeks tightly, took out all the energy cans in his pocket, and spread them out beside his thighs. Then he shivered and squeezed a button bomb out of his chest pocket.

There is also an emergency can with the bomb.

The cans are no bigger than the palm of your hand, with a thin layer, a bit like an old candy flat box. Each explorer in the sanctuary can be assigned one. Unlike homemade weapons and energy tanks, they are precious relics from before the destruction of human civilization - delicious taste, high energy value, mixed with enough water, enough for an adult to last for a whole week.

But people prefer to use it as some kind of amulet over food. This is the forest, and they always get something to feed their stomachs, usually no one has the luxury to use such a precious resource.

The canned food that was distributed by him still carried a little blood from its previous owner, and now it will become a "relic" again.

The pain and weakness made his consciousness gradually hazy, and for some reason, he suddenly felt like crying. He sniffed fiercely, but the man didn't even look at it, he threw the small can behind him, and let it roll into the depths of the ruins.

The ugly thing finally got close, and the stench and damp breath hit me. The man grinned weakly, ripped open the sealed bag of the button bomb with his teeth, activated it, and threw it next to the energy canister.

"Bah, neither of us wants to eat today." He spat in front of him with the last strength.

The blazing white light exploded, and the impact of the explosion of the energy tank almost collapsed the underground corridor not far away.

The vines at the entrance of the cave were instantly burned to ashes by the high temperature, and the middle-aged man disappeared, leaving only a large brown-black pit in place - the human body at the center of the explosion was directly turned into meat foam. The shapeless corpses of the monster were scattered around the pothole, and the charred flesh had a lot of gray blood vessels on its cross-section, and it was still twitching slightly.

The blast stunned nearby birds. After the smoke cleared and the last piece of gravel lay firmly on the ground, a few black birds fluttered their wings and approached, and began to peck at the minced meat near the cave.

However, everything did not return to calm.

The sparse sound of rubbing stones resounded again, and the corridor that had collapsed for the most part was shaken, and a metal container full of scratches and rust slid out of the ruins.

The mud-stained operation panel struggled to flicker twice, and finally went out. The explosion just now clearly activated something. Even if it is covered by dust, the blue light path on the metal surface is still conspicuous.

The blackbirds stopped pecking and looked vigilantly at the gleaming metal guy.

The explosions and bumps made it cratered, and the lids, which had been tightly seamed, twisted horribly. The viscous liquid kept pouring out along the gap, like blood from a wound.

The liquid gave off a faint blue halo and did not seep into the soil. It rolled over stone chips and dirt, meandering down, and gradually gathered in a depression.

It looks like drops of water falling on lotus leaves, or mercury scattered on the ground. After the last liquid drained from the metal container, it gathered on the dirty tile fragments into a flat circle less than two meters in diameter and about half a meter in height.

The nearby blackbirds began to jump vigilantly, throwing away the minced meat in their mouths, and took a few steps away from the ruins swallowed by the shadows.

Mutation mutation.

As if the colors were condensing, or hatching. The outside of the huge "water droplet" gradually became transparent, and the color gathered towards the center of the liquid mass, becoming more and more turbid. After a while, with a clatter, the entire liquid mass collapsed to the ground. The unnatural sound finally startled the black bird, leaving only the pecked corpse.

The last feather fell to the ground, and the no longer viscous liquid seeped into the cracks in the tiles, leaving only the thing condensed in the center lying wet prone, surrounded by charred bones, smashed tissue fragments, and stone chips.

It was the body of a young male.

At first the body was motionless, like a dead thing. A gust of wind swept through, and a few broken leaves stained the pale skin, and it shivered.

Ruan Xian was a little cold.

The brains were like cement mixed with cement, the thoughts solidified into a ball, and the whole head was terrifyingly heavy. The chill instantly enveloped him, as if someone had torn off the quilt during a high fever, and he could only clasp his arms groggyly.

His bare skin brushed against the rough stone chips, and he vaguely realized that something was wrong.

There was no soft fabric underneath, and he wasn't on any bed. This touch is not the smooth and hard ground of the laboratory. He has fainted several times in the laboratory before, and he can't go wrong.

The first is to restore the sense of smell. The burnt smell of the explosion, wrapped in dust, rushed into his nose, so thick it was suffocating. The next moment, the wind brushed against the wet skin, and the gravel on his arm rubbed his skin. Numerous perceptions smashed into his brain at the same time, and Ruan Xian almost fainted again.

Not right.

Although his mind is still not clear, he can be sure that this is definitely not a normal way of perception. His sense of smell and touch has become countless times more sensitive, and the chaotic brain cannot process such a huge amount of information for a while.

Ruan Xian did not dare to move, trying his best to squeeze a little sanity out of the excessively magnified perception, and opened his eyes carefully.

The supposedly soft glow almost blinded him.

The stimulated tears poured out of his eyes, and Ruan Xian forced himself to open his eyes wide until he got used to the strong light he hadn't seen for a long time, and the scene in front of him changed from blur to clear.

Perhaps too clear, he thought dazedly.

After seeing the scene in front of him clearly, Ruan Xian would rather just faint again. In this way, when he wakes up, he might be able to return to the familiar bed. Even a hospital bed and an IV bottle in front of you are 10,000 times better than scorched earth and corpses.

But it's no use closing your eyes. The smoke dug into his nostrils persistently, and the chirping of birds and the scraping of leaves gradually became deafening, pinning his consciousness firmly in place. It seemed to be a warm evening, but the wind blowing through his skin was like a blade embedded in a knife. Ruan Xian's head was sore from the pain, and he only felt that he had been slapped on a red-hot iron plate.

The touch is too real, not like a dream, let alone a hallucination.

Ruan Xian gritted his teeth and took a breath. Whether there are still some burning traces of the explosion, or the corpse of an unknown creature, it is not like something that should appear in a peaceful area.

It's not peaceful here.

Although the confusion of the early awakening is still there, this is definitely not a good time to lie down and reminisce about life. Gotta find a place to hide first. Resisting the feeling and pain that was pressing down from all directions, Ruan Xian concentrated and quickly judged the situation in front of him——

He was lying on the edge of a pothole that was enlarged by the explosion, and not far away was a half-collapsed underground corridor. There were plenty of fresh corpses and odd carapace fragments scattered about, and judging by the damage, the creature was likely the target of the explosion.

The explosion itself should have occurred not long ago, and the residual heat of the land is still there. The power is not small, but the outbreak is concentrated, and the scope of the spread is not large.

Ruan Xian took a breath, tried to contract his muscles, and jerkily found a way to control his limbs. Perhaps it was because he hadn't moved for a long time, not to mention his legs that he hadn't used for many years, it took Ruan Xian a lot of effort to regain control of his arms.

Moving his arm felt like pulling a box of iron with a string, and the pain from the friction made him sweat almost instantly.

Ruan Xian knew his physical condition. His skin was fragile. If the pimples on his arms were rubbed off in such a ghost place, the risk of infection would be enough for him to drink a pot.

Too bad he had no choice.

Ruan Xian subconsciously looked at the arm that moved into the field of vision, but what caught his eye was not the familiar dark red lesion, but the normal smooth skin.

This time he was completely awake.

In his life, Ruan Xian has never seen healthy skin grow on his body.

Unfortunately, in the face of the pie that fell from the sky, Mr. Ruan didn't have the chance to taste it slowly. Not far away, something was puffing up, sliding on the ground, and moving quickly in this direction.

The sound of friction pierced into the skull through his overly sensitive hearing, and he shivered.

The comer is not like a good stubble. Whatever the hell is going on right now, just live. There is an air of desolation everywhere, and it doesn't look like a place where people will pass by. Blindly calling out for help when the other party is approaching is definitely not a good idea.

Ignoring the pain, Ruan Xian propped up his arms, gritted his teeth, and crawled toward the half-collapsed underground corridor.

While moving awkwardly, Ruan Xian tried his best to raise his head, his eyes swept roughly to the destination - a few falling concrete slabs propped up a half-person-high entrance, which looked very stable. Unless a tap-dancing elephant suddenly falls from the sky, its structure is strong enough to survive another mini-explosion.

As long as you don't go deep, just hide at the entrance of the cave for a while, there won't be much problem.

A small cracking sound came from the depths of the ground, which was not normal. But given its weight, range of motion, and crackling noise, it shouldn't cause much trouble.

The body that has not exercised for a long time is abnormally heavy, the muscles seem to be stuffed with coals, and sweat quickly seeps out. Having been in a wheelchair for so long, he has long forgotten how to manipulate his legs, and only his arms can barely exert a little strength, which makes him not much faster than a snail.

What is approaching is obviously much faster.

The hoarse howl exploded not far away, and Ruan Xian, who was still panting, made a decisive decision, held his breath completely, and stopped his movements—the hole used for refuge was more than 20 meters away from what he said, and the time was definitely too late. . Right now, he can only reduce his sense of existence first, and then pray that things not far away do not have the ability to locate by temperature difference.

A monster that has never been seen before is wandering more than a hundred meters away, and its appearance is close to a huge queen ant dragging a deformed abdomen. However, in front of the translucent abdomen more than one meter high, it is not a harmless "ant", but an alien with black walking feet like hermit crab legs and can't see where its mouth is.

From this angle, it can only be seen that it is slowly looking for the body on the other side of the pothole. The creepy chewing sound was very regular, and it came from the tangled footsteps. It ate slowly, as if not interested in Ruan Xian who was playing dead not far away.

Ruan Xian obediently lay on the spot, the edge of the broken tile under him scratched his chest, but he didn't dare to shake it.

His heart was beating wildly under his ribs, and sweat was running down his skin. Fear licked down his spine like a barbed tongue, leaving a trail of ominous stings. Not to mention that the body is still unable to move normally, and there is not even a branch around him that can be used as a weapon.

Now he can only hope that the uncle of the monster not far away will eat and drink enough soon, and he is too disdainful to give himself a meal of human flesh.

It's a pity that things don't always go as planned. After the monster master gnawed the corpse around him, he turned around a few times. Ruan Xiangang was about to secretly change his breath, but he turned his head without warning, shrank his strange steps, and jumped directly towards this side.

However, the expected pain came a little later.

As soon as the monster landed, the dull sound of collapse sounded immediately, and Ruan Xian just realized that he was falling, and slammed into the deeper ruins on his back.

Another wave of severe pain struck, as if a hammer had been hit in the brain, or the nerve had been soaked in sulfuric acid—a small piece of steel bar had pierced his abdomen, and blood was gushing out from the wound. Ruan Xian finally couldn't hold back, and groaned a few times in a low voice.

... On the bright side, at least it's not going to get any worse. he thought with a grin.