"But... can he still upgrade without the ring?"
"Everything we have now, you could say, was bestowed by the ring. So, once the natives strip us of the ring's abilities, we'll be like cripples..."
Shirley still harbored resentment about the past incident and, at the same time, expressed her worries about the young boy's future.
"I don't think so. Even though the boy doesn't have a ring, he can adapt to this world's gravity. This indicates his physique from birth is far superior to ours!"
"As for the specifics, we'll only know the answer once we find the boy!"
"I reckon the progressive faction has already started sending people to capture the boy, so we need to hurry too!"
Zhang Chen glanced at the shooting location attached to the email.
The location was Bingyuan City, 1000 kilometers away from here.
The email mentioned it was forty-odd days into the apocalypse, indicating that the third phase of the apocalypse hadn't arrived when the boy was discovered.
Now, it was the third day of the third phase of the apocalypse.
Calculating this, Zhang Chen's progress was at least 3 days ahead of the progressive faction. He hoped those survivors could withstand the pressure and hold on until he arrived.
"Let's go, we need to get back quickly. If Luoyide travels without rest, he can reach Bingyuan City before midnight tonight!" Zhang Chen said.
"Understood, Master!"
Shirley quickly followed Zhang Chen out of the laboratory.
As the two left, Qingfeng finally slipped out from the corner and stealthily entered the laboratory.
He looked at the bloody scene inside the laboratory, and in the rooms where survivors were originally held, he saw broken restraints that suppressed the abilities of轮回者 (lunhui zhe), handcuffs, and a river of blood.
The blood and the sprayed water merged, deep enough to submerge his calves.
This showed how despairing the scene must have been.
Qingfeng's hands trembled as he rummaged through the blood for a moment and indeed found a hairpin.
It was the hairpin of his junior sister, Hu Ruolin, a gift he had given her after arriving in the apocalypse, and the only gift he had ever given her in this life.
Now that the hairpin was here, his junior sister was likely in grave danger.
Qingfeng was unwilling to give up and searched the other rooms one by one, hoping to find any trace of his junior sister.
However, a photograph plunged him into complete despair.
The woman in the photograph was his junior sister, but apart from her face, which could barely be recognized, her body was unrecognizable.
Her death was gruesome, a fate more tragic than being eaten by monsters.
Seeing her stomach burst open and malformed monsters growing out of it – how despairing and repulsive that must have been.
Before her death, his junior sister not only endured physical torment but also mental anguish.
Qingfeng couldn't bear to look at the photo any longer. He desperately tore the photo apart, along with all the other photos and documents in the room.
Still not appeased, he fiercely smashed a wall and began to vent his inner pain and anger with unmethodical fists.
After a while, Qingfeng slowly calmed down.
"A life for a life!"
He gritted out those four words between his teeth.
Although Qingfeng was blinded by revenge at that moment, his reason told him that with his current strength, it would be difficult to contend with the man with the suitcase.
He had to learn to use his opponent's strength against them, like in Tai Chi.
Qingfeng's heart suddenly stirred. He thought of the man he had just seen.
That man's strength was definitely above his own, and his presence here suggested he might also have a grievance with the man with the suitcase.
An enemy of my enemy is my friend!
That's how it would be!
Qingfeng decided to travel to Bingyuan City overnight and wait there for Zhang Chen to appear to discuss cooperation and alliance.
As he left the laboratory, a chill suddenly surged through him.
Whenever powerful monsters appeared nearby, Qingfeng would feel this sensation.
"Hmm? A powerful monster?"
Qingfeng instantly darted into the shadows of the moonlight to hide.
He saw the giant trees in the distance shake violently, and with a crack!
A colossal tree, ten meters in diameter and over a hundred meters tall, was snapped in half!
Countless severed branches and massive blocks of wood rained down from the sky, making deafening noises.
Then, a super spider, so enormous it seemed boundless, rapidly moved forward under the moonlight.
Any vegetation or structures in its path were like fragile things before the giant spider, being directly smashed and crushed.
A massive shadow enveloped the land, and then everything around plunged into complete darkness, and Qingfeng's heart sank with it into the abyss.
Such a colossal creature passing before his eyes, filled his heart with shock and terror. He was so aghast that he stood frozen on the spot, his legs feeling like they were filled with lead, unable to move. His body couldn't help but tremble.
Facing such a behemoth at such close range, not wetting oneself would be considered having strong psychological resilience.
Rumble, rumble!
The giant spider walked further and further away, soon disappearing into the night.
"Fortunately, I reacted quickly. If I had been a moment slower and this thing had discovered me, I would be dead!"
"Speaking of which, isn't this the Savage Beast phase? How can there be such an absurdly large creature..."
Qingfeng muttered with lingering fear.
After recovering for a while, his heart no longer pounding so violently, Qingfeng finally steadied his nerves and sped towards Bingyuan City!
...
At midnight, Luoyide, utilizing its size advantage, indeed arrived at Bingyuan City as scheduled.
Standing on the rooftop of the office building on Luoyide's back, he looked out at Bingyuan City not far away, as if he were in an airplane overlooking it, taking in everything.
Zhang Wenwen and others, lacking enhanced vision, could only see a dark expanse. Within the hazy city cluster, faint specks of light were visible, hinting at the presence of survivors.
The temperature in Bingyuan City was seven to eight degrees lower than in Tianyang City, approaching zero degrees Celsius.
Much of the surrounding vegetation had withered and died, with only a few trees still clinging to yellowed leaves, presenting a desolate scene.
Zhang Chen further enhanced his vision and could vaguely see bonfires burning within the city center's building clusters.
People with bows and arrows and cleavers were patrolling on the city walls built around buildings and trees.
He could vaguely make out that they had yellow or black hair, fair skin, resembling people from Xiong Country.
"It seems we've made good time. I didn't expect the progressive faction's actions to be so slow; we've already overtaken them!"
Zhang Chen said with a hint of strangeness.
Given that the explosive news of a newborn should have prompted swift action from the progressive faction, they shouldn't have been so leisurely. This was a major event concerning humanity's destiny.
Could it be... that the progressive faction had already been here but was defeated?
Could轮回者 (lunhui zhe) defeat natives?
Zhang Chen drew a large question mark in his mind.