Chapter 41: The Ant Eggs Lose Their Activity

Shen Cong had tested his strength before and learned that he could crush granite with a single hand. It meant that he was much stronger than someone who could shatter a brick with one punch.

With the balanced increase in his speed, agility, jumping ability, and stamina as well as the martial arts he practiced before the apocalypse, he could be considered as a cheap version of a superhuman.

Of course, when it came to barehanded or close-quarters fights, Shen Cong was very confident that he could win. But if he faced guns, he was not sure whether Drastically Modified Battle Armor could withstand them.

If a bullet shot through a crack and pierced his flesh, no matter how strong he was, he would still fall. That was the reason why it was necessary for him to temporarily avoid the evolved humans. Firearms could close the gap between individual strength, after all.

He could not afford a single mishap.

It was only because China banned the people from owning guns that evolved humans had such a great advantage over the normal people.

Or at least, that was the case in Chengnan. The evolved humans occupied the top spots in the city, and the normal survivors were all exploited laborers who existed at the very bottom of the food chain.

If the country had allowed the people to carry guns like in America, the normal people could also have weapons, and the evolved humans would have to think twice before they did anything.

‘If I’m getting stronger continuously, the other evolved humans should also be getting stronger as well. Perhaps there will come a day when firearms will no longer be able to kill an evolved human.’

While thinking about this Shen Cong wrote down a few words on the white piece of paper.

[Bonemetal, evolved humans, mutants, half-orcs, ironfolk, evolved beasts, evolved fish.]

Shen Cong could somewhat acknowledge evolved humans and evolved beasts, but the other new words were very farfetched and grating to the ears.

But he still forced himself to accept them.

When it came to descriptions, mutants could be used to describe mutated people, and half-orcs could be used to describe those who failed in their mutation. Such descriptions were very vivid. It also made sense to use ironfolk to describe the people who formed a connection with a metallic vehicle.

‘Once I finish strengthening Titan, I’ll try my best to go and take a look at Hefei. Since it’s ruled by the military, reconstruction should have started. If Hefei is also in chaos, I’ll head to Nanjing.’

He hung the white sheet of piece which was now filled with all sorts of ridiculous nouns and messy symbols on the wall of the truck compartment and spent quite some time reading it quietly.

*****

In the afternoon, Shen Cong picked out five fat second-generation mutated larvae from the cubicle at the end of the truck. He had managed to get quite a number of steel bars from the ruins in Yinpingzhen, and they would be perfect for fishing.

He ground the bent metal rods into fish hooks, used Dyneema to tie them, and tied the other ends to fishing rods made of steel bars.

He hooked a larvae onto each and placed them in the water.

Then, he stuck the fishing rods in the cracks between the stones by the lake. All that was left then was to wait quietly and see whether any mutated fish would bite the bait.

Based on what Zhang Youhai said, there were mutated evolved fish in the water, and they varied in size. If there were any in the lake, they would at most be small evolved fish.

In the end, Shen Cong found no evolved fish in the lake.

This was a conclusion he came to in the evening. All five baits remained untouched. The second generation mutated larvae continued squirming around on the fishing hooks, showing just how strong was their vitality.

‘Based on the map, if I move further ahead, I should reach the fork of Yuxi River. I’ll go and fish over there tomorrow.’ He put away the fishing rods with some disappointment.

If he was truly unable to get any fish, he would have to spend time hunting.

He had already finished eating the fried ant legs, and the pork had started rotting, which meant that he could no longer eat them. Even though there were still a lot of chocolate and canned food in his storage, meat that was full of Activity was the only thing that could replenish the amount of Activity he spent, which meant that it also provided him with enough Activity to work.

Slap.

Shen Cong threw the last piece of tumor pork that was on the verge of rotting to the fugly cat. “Eat up and become fatter. If I can’t find any mutated mons—evolved beasts, I’ll have to rely on you to be my source for Activity.”

The fugly cat’s bone spikes had grown, and they were now 30 cm long. They were incredibly bothersome, making the cat stumble when it walked. Once it bit down on the pork, it immediately growled at Shen Cong, as if it was warning him to not get closer to it. But it did not understand that to Shen Cong, it was just fresh meat he reared.

The sun soon set and disappeared behind the horizon. Night fell.

The ruins of Yinpingzhen in the distance were swallowed by endless darkness. When Shen Cong climbed to the roof of the truck, he glanced at the brilliant, starry sky above his head. His heart was as calm as water.

A day ago, he had thought that he was the only person in the quiet night, but now, he met the scavenging team and learned of the situation in the city.

Everything had changed.

Shen Cong did not want to think about what sort of emotions he had for other survivors, because regardless of whether he wanted to or not, the power setup of the survivors was still there, right in front of his eyes.

‘I already guessed that there would be survivors. The city doesn’t seem to be dangerous. There may be different factions, and they might be fighting, but it’s not too bad…

“Based on how it looks like right now, the city is in a dire need of resources, and a huge part of the reason is because of evolved beasts. I can hunt them, and I still have a pile of resources in the truck as well.’

He had already made his move. Now, he just had to see how the party reacted.

‘As long as I am strong enough to protect myself, the survivors will be excellent trading partners. But I can’t guarantee how trustworthy small organizations are, and they might not have the items I need… The places governed by the military should be my first choice for trading. In fact, they might know the secrets behind Activity as well.’

At the end of the day, Shen Cong was still deeply concerned about Activity, and he eagerly wanted to know about its inherent secrets.

And based on what Zhang Youhai said, the evolved humans in Chengnan were low grade and did not conduct a lot of research regarding Activity. They were content with retaining their authority in the city, so the possibility of them running into evolved beasts was rather low. Their knowledge about the evolved creatures was much lower than Shen Cong’s.

Hence, there was only one path in front of him: treating Juchao District as a station to replenish his supplies. Once he was done, he could head to Hefei. Zhang Youhai mentioned that the people from the provincial army had come to Juchao District and taken away most of the evolved humans, so they must have already examined evolved humans in detail.

Shen Cong needed the information from their research.

Once he obtained it, he would know what Activity truly was and whether it was harmful or beneficial to humans. Then, he could face it calmly. If it were harmful, he would try his best to search for the possibility of a cure. If it were good, then he would continuously walk down the path of evolution!

The post-apocalyptic world was large, but with Titan as a companion, Shen Cong’s confidence was as great as the world itself. He could go anywhere he wanted.

It could be said that Shen Cong had already freed himself from the feeling that the post-apocalyptic world was full of danger. The strength of three bulls, his steel war truck Titan, and Drastically Modified Battle Armor Sky Lifting Pillar served as pillars of strength. Aside from evolved beasts like the dog crocodile, who were abnormalities, no evolved beast could injure him severely.

It was a fact that he suffered from a persecution complex and was always paranoid, thinking that someone was out there to hurt him, but he was not a coward. Or else, he would not have the courage to wander outside alone. He was highly wary of other people, but that was because humans were too schemeful for their own good.

If he were the slightest bit careless, he would be swallowed whole. But he was only nervous about whether he could win against evolved beasts, because they possessed no intelligence.

Once he was certain that aside from the dog crocodile, no current normal evolved beast could cause him any harm, he fell in love with the feeling of wandering through the wilderness by himself.

Of course, this did not mean that he lowered his guard.

“Being careful will allow you to survive for long.” This was one of Shen Cong’s beliefs.

*****

He enjoyed the feeling of the night breeze against his skin for a while. Then, with boundless enthusiasm and passion, he threw himself into his nightly tasks.

The six second-generation mutated larvae were still eating and showed no signs of reaching the pupal stage. Mutated Green-headed Fly 1 also just ate and pooped. It remained the size of a fist.

What caused Shen Cong to frown was that the three ant eggs he intended to hatch had started showing problems one after another.

‘Their Activity radiation is weakening. Are they dying?’

When Shen Cong sensed that the Activity radiation from the ant eggs was beginning to become weaker, he scowled.