Chapter One: The Beginning Unfolds

  Looking at these refugees who are almost comparable to those fleeing famine in ancient times, Liang Jing's mood became inexplicably difficult. He wasn't someone who was easily moved to emotions, but seeing this scene still made him feel a sense of sadness. The former master of the world, the undisputed king of all living things, had fallen to such a state, and it couldn't be said that the world hadn't changed quickly.

  Looking at the survivors with dull expressions and dim gray eyes, Liang Jing didn't know how they got through such a long cold dark night; without tents to block the cold wind and chill of the night, still hungry, just thinking about it is terrifying...

  Due to the large temperature difference between day and night, thick warm clothing and down quilts are essential items for these refugees. Otherwise, they might not even be able to get through one night, let alone without the danger of mutated monsters!

  This has greatly increased the difficulty and burden of their escape. Just look at the temperature above 38 degrees during the day, carrying thick clothes and quilts, how many more items can they carry? This includes self-defense weapons, food, and various daily necessities; It's easy to imagine that these refugees' days are so hard to get by, even drinking water is a problem, no wonder everyone looks dull and confused. From this, Liang Jing can also infer that the speed of these people's migration is very slow.

  It is said that there are still troops in the rear delaying the progress of the mutated monsters, and Liang Jing thinks that if these pursuing mutated monsters cannot be thoroughly eliminated, this so-called delay will be a futile sacrifice. It's unknown how long the army can hold on, knowing that there are over 200 kilometers to N City, with many detours and dangers to avoid along the way. The number of days it takes is unpredictable, and considering the current state of these people, how far can they walk each day? The difficulty is imaginable.

  Li Jing led the crowd to turn around in the crowd, and as they walked deeper into the crowd, the situation of these people improved a lot. At least in terms of food, clothing, and spirit, they were not comparable to those outside; no matter what time it is, humans can always be divided into three six nine grades.

  As Liang Jing and his team of over a dozen elite soldiers strolled through the crowd, they attracted the attention of most people with their presence. This was evident from the way they carried themselves, despite their disheveled appearance, tattered clothes, and bloodstains. Their eyes gleamed with an extraordinary sharpness, even Wu Aimin, the 'head chef' with a jovial face, had undergone a drastic change in demeanor after killing two henchmen of major factions.

  Does everyone feel a different kind of feeling when a murderer is in front of you?

  Of course, what's more important is that they all have knives and guns. Each person has a silver-white short knife over half a meter long on their waist, and the handguns they are equipped with are not intentionally hidden. At this time, it's hard for them to avoid drawing attention in the crowd of survivors, after all, carrying the huge "Baroque Sorrow" and wearing the extremely fierce-looking "Ghost Face" is too special. Moreover, among so many survivors, they also need to show some strength to avoid unnecessary trouble, exposing their strength to intimidate others; Of course, at this time, in the eyes of outsiders, the most intimidating thing is still the four 81-type automatic rifles and two 56-type semi-automatic rifles.

  Therefore, although Liang Jing and his team attracted a lot of attention, no one came forward to provoke them, after all, in this world where danger and bloodshed are everywhere, people are no longer as harmless as they were in the previous stable and peaceful society, and no one is so foolish as to offend a powerful force without any certain benefits.

  "Let's set up camp here." Liang Jing stopped in her tracks and said, casually putting down the canvas bag on her shoulder.

  After roughly turning around and understanding the basic situation of these survivors, Liang Jing returned to the outer layer of the crowd that had just entered; at this time, they didn't want to fight with others for a safe place either. Now on the outer layer of the crowd, even if there were variant monsters attacking, it didn't matter to them. Weak and small variant monsters came, which was even better, just what Liang Jing wanted, could get the monster's life source. Powerful variant monsters couldn't be beaten by themselves, but they couldn't escape either? Wasn't there a saying that running away didn't need to outrun the pursuer, as long as you ran faster than others who were also running away? For himself, whether in the outer layer or the inner core, it was about the same. Hmm, the outer layer could directly contact danger and have an advantage.

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  "Halt, don't run! ——"

  "Can you still run after being seen by Lord Gao?"

  Listening to the loud shouts of the pursuers behind, the crowd around them was originally watching a few men who didn't look like good people chasing after two long-haired girls in broad daylight without letting up. The person who was about to frown and loudly intervene at the sight of this, upon hearing the words "Tou Gongzi", immediately wilted, and their face which was originally about to scowl with anger suddenly transformed into a flattering smile, voluntarily making way for them. If it weren't for the fact that there were people watching all around, these men might have directly lent a hand in catching the two girls ahead.

  Although no one dares to offend the so-called Tu Gongzi, it can also be seen that he is not popular and even hostile in his heart, but just doesn't dare to show it.

  "Oh no! It hurts so much."

  At this time, one of the girls who was running away in front, a relatively short girl, about 1.6 meters tall, seemed to have tripped and fallen to the ground, frowning and crying out in pain.

  "Mei Jie hurry up and run quickly."

  Another girl who escaped together was a bit taller, about 1.65 meters or so, saw her friend Mu Yu fall to the ground and hurriedly went forward to pull up the opponent, with a clear and tender voice anxiously saying something.

  Her face was smeared with mud, and for a moment it was impossible to see what she looked like. At this time, she pulled Yu sister up and wanted to run away, turning her head to look at the crowd of people chasing behind, her expression extremely tense.

  "Heh heh! —— See where you can run now."

  "Get out of the way, you're delaying Lord Tu's business! None of you will come to a good end!"

  "You're still running? Do you really think you can escape? Hurry up and follow us to meet Master Tu, when the time comes, you'll be enjoying good food and drink, what's the point of being so stubborn and looking for trouble?"

  "Yu Ting, you run quickly, don't worry about me."

  The girl who fell to the ground got up, covering her knee with her hand, in great pain, and at this time advised the taller girl to run first.

  "Let's go, don't say anything more."

  Yu Ting, a taller girl, helped her opponent up and ran away, never intending to put her down and escape on her own.

  To the shouting of the pursuers behind her, she didn't even bother to respond, thinking that if you believe in ghosts, there must be ghosts. That Tou Gongzi is a pervert and a madman with mental illness, and now the entire group of fugitives knows that any woman who is caught by him will not have a good ending, but will instead be subjected to his cruel and twisted torture, and after being played with for a while, if she hasn't died, she'll be handed over to his subordinates to continue playing with. Just thinking about this can make the women in the group of fugitives feel desperate and terrified.

  Su Yuting is 17 years old, and since childhood, she has been a child prodigy in the eyes of others, excelling in both academics and appearance. She is considered the perfect princess among her classmates. This year, she was admitted to S City Jiaotong University along with her classmate and fellow villager Mu Xiang. However, before completing one semester, she encountered a terrifying monster and the apocalypse in S City. While escaping with her teacher and classmates, she relied on her physical appearance to get by, making her difficult journey slightly more bearable due to the care and attention from her seniors, classmates, and even teachers. But everything changed when she was spotted by the notorious villain Gou Gongzi a few days ago. Her nightmare began as he intimidated all her seniors and classmates, causing them to disappear from her sight, leaving her feeling betrayed by the world. The only one who remained by her side was her fellow villager and good sister Mu Xiang. Without anyone else's help, the two girls struggled to survive, carrying heavy loads and eating less food each day, making their lives extremely difficult. Despite this, Su Yuting still refused to give in to the evil Gou Gongzi.

  Unexpectedly, the other party lost patience today and wanted to forcefully capture her; fortunately, she was clever and first dispersed them for a while, then applied mud to her face, quickly rushing into the crowd to hide and escape. However, the other party did not give up on capturing her at all, mobilizing many powerful forces to catch them, so somehow they were soon recognized by people, leading to this incident.

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