Survival Guide in the Age of Cataclysm

Chapter 90 Ambush in the Forest

As the black mist surged out, the surrounding light dimmed.

Countless light-absorbing solid particles tumbled around, their surfaces covered by a dark gray-black layer that was almost imperceptible under a microscopic structure.

Without a second thought, Ma Yue assumed it was just ordinary black mist. In an instant, his palm, accompanied by a trembling sonic wave, struck Qi Mingxuan in the back.

Bang!

A muffled thud.

Qi Mingxuan lost his balance for a moment, but immediately used the impact of being thrown backward to run away into the distance, fleeing into the forest without looking back.

Just as Ma Yue was about to give chase, he suddenly stopped.

He looked at his palm.

At this moment, a piercing pain came from my right hand, as if it had been splashed with concentrated sulfuric acid, and some black lines were rapidly spreading from my palm up my arm.

A fierce glint flashed in Ma Yue's eyes.

With his other hand, he ripped the black arm off completely.

……

On the other side, in the dense forest.

Qi Mingxuan kept spitting out blood. He suppressed his voice, took a step down, and silently rushed into the space where several large trees could be embraced, where he collapsed to the ground.

At this moment, the skin on his back melted into black water, sticking to his clothes and making a sizzling, corrosive sound.

Even from just a small patch of skin, mixed with light-absorbing particles, the energy released made him feel like his entire back was about to dissolve.

And there was Ma Yue's palm strike earlier.

The tremor penetrated directly through the body's surface and reached the internal organs, which were probably in complete disarray at this moment.

But... he survived.

Qi Mingxuan gritted his teeth and moved his body, leaning against the tree trunk.

He just needs to rest for a while, just a little while, until he catches his breath, and his body will be able to carry him away from this awful place.

He closed his eyes and murmured softly.

"Ministry of Foreign Affairs... I'll remember that..."

"You can't remember."

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice rang out from beside me.

Qi Mingxuan suddenly turned his head and saw a pair of gold-rimmed black eyes and a somewhat... familiar face.

In an instant, he fell into a state of unconsciousness.

A tall, burly figure appeared beside Qi Mingxuan, his right leg muscles clenched, and he swung it like a stone pillar, smashing it down—

Bang! ! !

The shinbone crushed Qi Mingxuan's face with an unprecedented force.

In an instant, his eyeballs burst open under the pressure, his entire face twisted and shattered, turning into splattered pieces of flesh, while the back of his head was pressed against the rough tree trunk, squeezed in by the force.

Finally, the entire tree, which required two people to hug, collapsed with a crash.

Xu Yang stood still, head down.

As a result of this attack, his right calf was completely blown open, but the muscles and bones were restored the next moment as [Regeneration] was activated.

That attack was practically his limit; if that didn't kill Qi Mingxuan...

Xu Yang looked at the body embedded in the tree trunk.

Human corpses

[A severely damaged male corpse, with multiple ruptures to its muscles and internal organs, its back corroded by energy, and its brain shattered into a pulp inside its skull.]

[Note: Did he confess?]

……

"This physical strength..."

Xu Yang was somewhat surprised.

He looked at Qi Mingxuan's head, the part that had been directly hit by the kick, and it hadn't been shattered; in fact, the skull was still mostly intact.

"If he had gotten away, I'd probably be dead if I ran into him alone in the future. Luckily, I found him."

Xu Yang breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes flashing back to what had happened several tens of minutes earlier—

Among the convoy members who were squatting with their heads in their hands, a man in a round hat stood up shakily.

"Don't kill me! I know, I know where the boss is!"

……

Xu Yang walked to Qi Mingxuan's body, squatted down, and after groping around for a while, he shook his head in disappointment.

At least the other party's strength was enough to be considered a person of some importance, so how come he had nothing on him? He was even worse than the bandaged man, Camo, who at least gave him a fungal beast.

……

time flies.

Dusk falls in the makeshift camp.

A rich aroma of meat filled the air.

Xu Yang sat by the campfire, with a tin pot on the flames, stewing some synthetic meat—the legacy of his deceased teammates.

A sudden sound of footsteps approached, and Xu Yang, alert, looked up instantly, then felt a sense of relief.

It turns out it was Ma Yue.

He walked over, looked around, and asked with some confusion, "Where did that guy named Camo go? Didn't he go with you to chase the monster?"

Xu Yang shook his head and said honestly, "I don't know, I didn't see it."

Ma Yue frowned and sighed, "Sigh, forget it. He might have escaped, but he'll get what's coming to him. But if that's the case, then you'll be the only one left in this whole area. I'll talk to Lao He for you and ask him to transfer two more people over."

"What if the fungal beast escapes during this gap period?" Xu Yang asked.

"Let them go if they've run away. There's nothing we can do about it. We can always chase them later. Besides, we only need to stop most of the fungal beasts. The rest is not our concern," Ma Yue said casually.

Xu Yang nodded.

Even with members stationed in the areas where the fungal beasts cross the border, there are always various situations in the quarantine zone, making it impossible to completely prevent the fungal beasts from entering the safe zone.

It's unrealistic to place all our hopes on them; there must be a safety net.

As he was thinking, Xu Yang suddenly realized something was wrong:

"Wait, why are they transferring two people, not three?"

Ma Yue smiled faintly: "And me, I'm human too."

Xu Yang was silent for a moment, then let out a soft breath.

This is a good thing.

Each person guards a different area, and Ma Yue can only send messages to himself. Although there may be many messages—too many to read—he can choose not to read them.

Moreover, he can ask the other party about plugins and mutations, as the other party should be more experienced than him. Furthermore, if he encounters a tough enemy later on, he will have a powerful ally to rely on.

Thinking of this, Xu Yang banished the memory of joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from his mind and calmed down. He then turned to look at the other person's empty sleeve.

"By the way, is your hand alright?"

Ma Yue shook his head, a hint of frustration in his eyes: "A little medicine will do the trick, but that guy got away. I still have to figure out how to explain this to Lao He. It's a real pain."

"Perhaps the other party has already died from their injuries," Xu Yang said with a smile.

"Thank you for your kind words."

There was a few seconds of silence in the air.

Ma Yue walked over to Xu Yang and squatted down by the campfire as well. Suddenly, he spoke up: "Oh, right, let me tell you, before I..."

Xu Yang's smile froze.

……

into the night.

The campfire had gone out, and only a thin layer of grease remained in the iron pot beside it.

Finally, after sending Ma Yue away under the pretext of guarding the area, Xu Yang walked into the tent in a daze.

He sat on the clean sheets, patted his face, took a few deep breaths, and calmed down.

Then, Xu Yang took out seven plug-ins from his pocket and placed them one by one in front of him.

A smile spread across his face as he looked at his spoils.

Unexpectedly, by sheer coincidence, these plugins ended up in his hands.

Moreover, only three of these plug-ins are energy storage modules; the others all have certain functions, making them truly high-quality.

Xu Yang browsed through them all, and finally focused his attention on one of the plugins.