“The world is changing; how could they not change?” Pang Zi took a deep breath and re-stabilized his emotions, “So, what’s your plan?”
“Umm… I want to go to the military base with Qing Shui. If possible, we will follow the patrolling troops because it would be much safer.” Chang whispered, “But it can only be the five of us, since it will be too noticeable if more people go. Are you coming?”
“Yes,” Pang Zi nodded. “I don’t have any other options since I don’t know everyone else in the room. I’m going with you guys.”
“Good then, stay low key. Pack some food and weapons. For the food, don’t take anything perishable. I have medication in my backpack.”
“Sure.” Pang Zi was a chubby man, so his backpack was also bigger than others. He threw away some daily necessities and stuffed in some canned food. Then, he met up with Chang and Qing Shui.
“Are you guys ready?” Qing Shui picked up a slicing knife, Pang Zi held onto an iron bar and Chang held a scalpel. They checked each other’s weapons and backpacks and confirmed that they didn’t miss anything.
Although the two girls didn’t have any weapons, they carried backpacks filled with food and some over-the-counter medication.
They merged into the dark and dense red fog as they walked out of the convenience store.
Just when they stepped onto the street, Jing who was closely following Chang whispered, “There are four level 5 organisms fifty meters away.”
“Level 5?” The others showed a confused look when they heard her. Only Chang spoke softly and anxiously, “I don’t have time to explain. We need to get around this place, and if they’re aware of us, we will only barely be able to fight against the four level 5 organisms with these knives and bars.”
As he said so, he led the group to a narrow valley and hastened towards the military base that was at the edge of the city.
“What does level 5 mean?” Trotting quietly through the valley, Qing Shui asked again curiously.
“It means that the creature’s vitality is 5 times stronger than an average human.” Chang replied.
“Does that mean they’re mutated?” Pang Zi asked.
“Maybe.” Chang said, “It’d be wise to not get into fights with these creatures. After all, we’re not playing a reality game where we kill others to level up. Fighting against them isn’t beneficial to our survival in any way. Even if we can beat them, I still don’t want to get into fights that might injure us, especially knowing that any injury could be fatal to us now.”
“I see,” Qing Shui nodded. “It’s very likely that for wounds that become infected, even if we’re lucky enough to have antibiotics, the smell of blood would give away our location to other organisms. Though I didn’t expect this kind of ability from her, we’ll have a greater chance of surviving as long as she’s alive…”
As Qing Shui continued talking, Jing interrupted him abruptly.
“A large group of level 0.5 organisms is coming toward us. Should I report this kind of information as well?”
“0.5?” Pang Zi frowned, “Are they a group of kids?”
“No, it’s something flying in the sky; they’re extremely fast.”
“Flying in the sky…” Chang tiptoed and looked as far as he could. Seven or eight meters away, a massive black lump of insects rapidly approached them. “F*ck! Get down! Get down! Hornets!”
Chang shouted as soon as he saw them without shouting too loudly. He then swiftly crouched into the grass. The others reacted immediately and crouched uniformly into the grass as they saw Chang’s actions.
Subsequently, an ear-piercing buzz made everyone’s scalp tingle. A group of hornets as dense as a dark cloud flew over them.
They raised their heads and peeked at the situation; what they saw stunned them completely – level 0.5 meant a hornet the size of an infant, and there was a group of them.
These hornets were equipped with dark and shiny poisonous stingers that were a bit longer than a dagger. If someone were to get stung–more accurately, poked by the stingers–even if the victim was a level 10 creature, it still would have a high risk of death.
“It seems like this danger index only tells a part of the story.” Only after the buzzing of the hornets had completely disappeared to the far end of the fog did they stand up with ashen faces.
“Jing, please remind me if any large group approaches us, even if their individual danger index is 0.1, okay?” Chang still had the jitters.
“Sure,” the little girl nodded seriously, and then asked, “What about 0.01? There is a huge group of them though.”
“0.01?” Chang frowned.
“Yes, there’s an extremely large group of organisms rushing from the west side of the valley. If we don’t move away now, we will get in their way.”
“0.01? What could that be?” Pang Zi stood there in place for a moment.
“Whatever they are, let’s just move away first. Our priority is to be cautious,” Chang ran aside with Jing.
Jing’s perception range was 100 meters, so the moment they left, the level 0.1 group passed where they stood.
It was a group of black ants, and each of them was the size of a human palm. Their body armor was shiny and black, and their mandibles were sharp; anyone who saw this group could easily imagine how much damage they could do.
“That’s 0.01?” Pang Zi’s face was covered with cold sweat when he stared at the ants that were three meters away.
“Each of them is about a pound, if you dare try to catch one,” Jing stubbornly said so.
“Hmm… well, regardless of what their danger level is, as long as they’re in a large group, just tell me about it.” Chang rubbed his head and sighed, “The world is too dangerous.”
“I will,” Jing nodded gently.
“We should move quickly; don’t you remember that ants are omnivores? We could’ve been their prey if they were starving.” Qing Shui pulled Lin over, “We were lucky that they weren’t aggressive towards us, otherwise we would’ve been chewed up. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.” Chang also noticed that their antennae pointed towards them; apparently, the ants knew of their existence. However, these ants seemed to have something more important to do than hunting, so they only stayed alert as they passed by Chang’s group.
“Well, let’s just not mess with them. I don’t want to be gnawed and become a skeleton.” Chang held Jing’s hand again and with Pang Zi, they followed Qing Shui.
They resumed their journey, with danger constantly looming over them.
