Why are you hitting people again?!
The reason Ston recognized the barren tract of land before him as a “park” was because he had once seen AI-restored footage in school of parks that had truly existed on the surface world decades ago.
Parks back then were filled with lush, verdant greenery and brilliantly colored flowers; some of the larger parks even featured diverted or artificial riverscapes alongside rolling hills.
On fine, sunny days, people would take their families out to enjoy themselves at the parks. Young couples would whisper sweet nothings by the riversides, while carefree children laughed and raced across the lawns.
Visions of those idyllic, AI-restored scenes flashed through Ston’s mind, yet what greeted his eyes in stark reality was this withered, decaying, desolate, and dismal landscape.
Ever since the Great Catastrophe, nuclear radiation had rapidly spread across the globe from the primary nuclear warfare zones via the atmosphere, waterways, and other channels. Within less than a month, it propagated lethal contamination on a global scale with world-ending momentum.
Living organisms perished en masse, while those that survived began rapidly mutating, spawning numerous entirely brand-new species within an extremely brief timeframe.
Yet as the contamination spread, the surface of the earth grew exceptionally arid, day lengths shortened while nights lengthened, and the maximum diurnal temperature swing could reach an astonishing eighty or ninety degrees Celsius, rendering the terrestrial environment increasingly uninhabitable for mankind.
Following the construction of the subterranean cities, the Federation screened humans who had yet to mutate and admitted them to live within, leaving the pollutants on the surface to fend for themselves.
Consequently, children born in the subterranean cities could only learn about the former world through AI restoration technology.
Ston was one of them.
They had never laid eyes upon true sunlight or the moon, nor witnessed unbroken tracts of forest or authentic rivers, nor beheld rolling mountain ranges and mysterious caverns, nor gazed upon migrating flocks of birds and schools of fish swimming upstream against the current.
The only things that accompanied them as they grew up were the cold walls of the subterranean city and the temperature-devoid LED lamps overhead.
A grandiose yet tragically bleak sense of desolation washed over Ston’s heart, plunging him into a momentary trance until Zhuang Xingyu walked up behind him, snapping him back to reality.
“Though I’d rather not admit you’re right, this place indeed lacks any sense of safety.” Without knowing when, Zhuang Xingyu had already risen to his feet and arrived behind Ston, joining him in cautiously scrutinizing the surrounding environment.
“…” Feeling a sudden surge of speechlessness at being rudely yanked back to the cold reality, Ston retorted sarcastically, “If you hadn’t batted away my gun, we’d at least have a weapon for self-defense right now.”
Though it was merely a sidearm of minimal firepower, having something was infinitely better than nothing.
Choked up by the remark, Zhuang Xingyu offered an awkward, dry cough before snapping back defensively: “That pea-shooter of yours couldn’t even bag a bird having it or not makes virtually zero difference!”
Ston shot Zhuang Xingyu a disdainful glare, too lazy to engage in further verbal sparring, and directly strode forward.
He intended to search the vicinity for some sturdy tree branches or similar objects to utilize as a makeshift defensive weapon. Yet before he had taken even two steps, his uniform hem was yanked backward by Zhuang Xingyu.
Because all the buttons on his uniform had already sacrificed themselves earlier, Ston’s judicial coat currently hung draped across his shoulders like a cape. Ordinarily, walking with any speed caused the wind to buffet both sides open, exposing a vast expanse of his pale, bare chest. Now, yanked with such forceful momentum by Zhuang Xingyu, the garment was pulled downward by more than half, exposing even his cold, white shoulders.
Ston’s expression darkened instantly. Lifting his elbow, he deflected Zhuang Xingyu’s hand, then delivered a punch straight into his abdomen.
Dodge as he might, Zhuang Xingyu failed to evade completely, taking the impact of Ston’s fist squarely against his belly and wincing fiercely: “Why are you hitting people again?!”
“Who told your hands to wander and grab my clothes?” Coldly turning his back, Ston forcefully tore off the tattered front lapels of the shirt damaged by Zhuang Xingyu, tied the two front pieces together into an improvised belt, pulled his uniform jacket neatly back into place, and secured it at his waist with the makeshift sash.
Though the result looked somewhat bizarre, it at least provided adequate upper-body coverage, sparing him from flashing everything to the open air.
Having “dressed” himself with a darkened countenance, Ston prepared to resume his march forward. Yet that shameless scoundrel Zhuang Xingyu reached out once more to grab him by the arm, hastily shouting an explanatory warning right before Ston could throw another punch: “We’re heading this way!”
The two of them walked side by side through the park in a single direction. Unable to distinguish directions and with his compass-equipped timepiece crushed into powder by Zhuang Xingyu, Ston had no alternative but to follow along.
Zhuang Xingyu evidently possessed professional surface-survival training, as he navigated past various surface predator beasts multiple times along the route by reading environmental markers, advancing more than ten kilometers without major incident.
Lacking a watch for timekeeping, Ston could only estimate by feel that the two of them had marched briskly without rest for nearly four hours. Based on that timeline, evening must have arrived.
Temperatures began dropping precipitously. Despite maintaining continuous physical activity, Ston distinctly felt the creeping chill.
After walking for another dozen minutes or so, the pair arrived at an abandoned cluster of townhouses. The lawns of yesteryear had transformed into barren dirt, and the exterior walls of the townhouses were smothered in decaying black dead-vines. Doors and windows were battered and shattered some completely missing, while others hung precariously crooked in their frames, fluttering in the wailing wind and producing rhythmic clack-clack echoes.
Selecting a townhouse whose exterior appeared relatively intact, Zhuang Xingyu came to a halt at the threshold, tilted his head to glance at Ston, and announced, “We’ll bunk here for the night.”
Ston offered a silent, noncommittal nod.
Thus, moving in tandem with makeshift “weapons” each had foraged along the trail, the two men cautiously advanced toward the townhouse entrance.
This entire row of townhouses consisted of two-story structures, and the one chosen by Zhuang Xingyu possessed relatively well-preserved doors and windows.
Halting before the heavy front doors of the townhouse, each gripping their respective weapons—two sturdy, sharpened wooden stakes they listened intently for any movement inside.
Aside from the howling, wailing wind, absolute silence.
Exchanging a glance with Ston, Zhuang Xingyu took the initiative: “I’ll take point; you cover our rear.”
Such an arrangement caught Ston somewhat off guard. Although Zhuang Xingyu, as a former special task force captain, presumably possessed an ingrained, bone-deep instinct to charge forward when facing unknown peril, under the current circumstances, entrusting one’s back to an adversarial party who displayed constant hostility and sought an opportunity to escape was hardly a prudent tactical choice.
Zhuang Xingyu raised an eyebrow, seemingly reading Ston’s thoughts instantly. With a swaggering flourish of his left wing, he half-threatened and half-warned, “You aren’t as fast as me.”
So, don’t harbor any crooked thoughts about running away.
“…” Rolling his eyes in silent speechlessness and choosing to spare Zhuang Xingyu any verbal engagement, Ston directly kicked the townhouse front door wide open, gestured toward the interior, and extended a polite hand in a “please” motion.
“…”
Failing in his bid to look cool and getting countered instead, Zhuang Xingyu had no choice having uttered those words, he couldn’t slap his own face now. Gritting his teeth around his wooden stake, he slipped defensively inside the townhouse.
Stepping across the threshold, they were instantly assaulted by a thick, pungent, suffocating stench of mildew and dust. Following closely behind Zhuang Xingyu, Ston exercised immense willpower to suppress the violent nausea rising in his throat and stifle a cough.
Surface environments inherently suffered from poor illumination; as dusk approached, the townhouse interior plunged into pitch darkness, obscuring details from view.
Fortunately, trailing directly behind Zhuang Xingyu allowed Ston to step precisely into the cleared path without worrying about colliding with unseen obstacles.
Zhuang Xingyu’s scarlet pupils grew increasingly luminous and bizarre within the darkness, resembling two pools of dangerous Asura blood ocean, radiating primal oppression.
The furniture and electrical appliances inside the townhouse remained largely intact overall. Stripped of heavy dust and the scattered debris caused by unknown pollutants crashing through, the space qualified as a relatively secure resting shelter.
At the very least, it offered superior protection against the wind and cold compared to sleeping unprotected out in the open wasteland. With surface diurnal temperature swings reaching extreme levels, Ston was already experiencing sluggish circulation and freezing extremities.
Having cleared the ground floor, Zhuang Xingyu climbed the staircase to inspect the second floor. Although they planned to rest downstairs for the night, basic protocol dictated sweeping the upper level for residual hazards.
The wooden staircase groaned and shrieked with every step under the weight of years of neglect, generating goosebumps across their skin.
Enduring the physical discomfort, Ston followed Zhuang Xingyu up to the second floor and began inspecting the rooms one by one.
There were four rooms in total upstairs. Upon checking the first three, Ston and Zhuang Xingyu discovered zero anomalies, even uncovering wearable heavy clothing and thick coverlets inside the wardrobes.
Though neither Ston nor Zhuang Xingyu uttered a word throughout the sweep, a long-absent trace of relaxation subtly settled over both men.
The door to the final bedroom remained shut tight. Exchanging a tacit look of mutual understanding, Ston and Zhuang Xingyu flanked the doorway on either side. Ston watched silently as Zhuang Xingyu offered a subtle nod, whereupon Ston gently rotated the door handle and pushed the door open.
Zhuang Xingyu slipped inside, yet failed to broadcast the “all clear” signal after a prolonged stretch. Frowning slightly, Ston leaned forward to peer into the room.
Right in the center of the bedroom’s large bed lay an incongruous, oversized bird’s nest, within which rested four enormous eggs, each roughly matching the body volume of an eight- or nine-year-old boy.
A bird’s nest of this scale, housing eggs of this magnitude, served as undeniable proof that the room had been preemptively claimed by a massive avian pollutant.
Turning his head, Zhuang Xingyu met Ston’s vigilant gaze. After staring at one another for a beat, Ston spoke first: “The house you picked is truly remarkable.”
“…” Choking once more, Zhuang Xingyu stubbornly defended himself: “It’s fine indeed! At the very least, dinner’s sorted. Eggs this massive one each will leave the two of us stuffed.”
“…” Staring speechlessly at Zhuang Xingyu, Ston projected a look that clearly communicated: You’d better be joking.
“Alright, alright,” Zhuang Xingyu scratched his head in irritation, “then let’s go scout another room. But the exterior temperature has dropped drastically; you’d better head over to the next—”
Before Zhuang Xingyu could finish suggesting Ston utilize an adjacent room to change into warm clothes before the giant bird returned, a piercing, desolate shriek echoed from outside, cutting his sentence short.
Exchanging a rapid glance, the two men communicated intentions clearly without exchanging a single syllable: step outside to assess the situation before determining their next move.
Thus, they backed away from the bedroom and retreated swiftly along the second-floor corridor toward the stairs.