Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 132 Entering the Mountain
On the desolate plains, the scorching sun beats down relentlessly.

The parched mud was already cracked, and the Blue Knife Gang's convoy sped across the bumpy ground.

"Attention! There's something big at the ten o'clock position!"

The sentry on top of the truck saw billowing smoke on the horizon through his binoculars, and dozens of enormous creatures were charging toward them.

That was an imperial mammoth.

Their bodies are covered with thick, long fur, and a ring of half-meter-long sharp teeth surrounds their nostrils. Combined with their pair of huge, curved fangs, ordinary beasts dare not approach them.

"Coming for us?"

"Turn! Turn! Avoid them!" the third brother shouted, grabbing the communicator and directing the convoy to the right.

But soon, the sentry realized something was wrong.

"Wait...they're running for their lives!"

The mammoths ignored the caravan, their eyes filled with terror, and desperately charged past them from the flank.

Behind them, the earth trembled slightly.

Rotten arms slowly emerged from the dry cracks in the ground, then crawled out in dense numbers, converging into a grayish-brown wave.

A zombie horde.

"Damn it! We've stepped into the territory of the Corpse Queen!" the third brother cursed into the communicator.

The collective stampede of the imperial mammoths, coupled with the roar of the caravan, disturbed even more of the slumbering zombies underground, causing them to burst forth from the ground.

A large number of zombie monsters emerged from the horde of zombies. They were ferocious and huge, but their running speed was not affected at all, and they caught up with the convoy in the blink of an eye.

"Watch out! The zombie is catching up!"

"boom!"

Some even leaped up and climbed onto the hedgehog-shaped vehicle.

But as soon as they landed, their bodies were pierced by the iron spikes welded all over the car body.

“Da da da da da—!”

Machine guns mounted on the vehicle opened fire wildly, splattering blood and flesh. Monsters kept jumping up, only to be driven back and crushed by the wheels.

The convoy barely managed to escape the horde of zombies.

But along this journey, there were far more than just walking corpses.

Ahead appeared a ball of grass tumbling in the wind.

"Damn it! It's tumbleweed again!"

The third brother shouted, "Be careful and go around it!"

These migratory tumbleweeds are among the most eerie creatures in this wilderness, even hordes of zombies avoid them.

A hedgehog-shaped vehicle was unable to avoid the tumbleweed and was overturned. The people inside quickly climbed out and tried to right the vehicle.

However, the horde of zombies had already rushed in from behind, and screams echoed throughout the wilderness.

Brother Lan looked down out the car window, his face gloomy. Before he could speak, he saw another hedgehog car suddenly go out of control, its front end sinking into a pothole.

"Help!"

The people inside the car were just about to climb out when they were dragged back in by lizardmen emerging from the depths of the pit.

The vehicles behind couldn't provide any assistance in time and could only watch helplessly as the car was swallowed up.

"Watch out! There are lizardmen digging a hole nearby!" The third brother directed the convoy the whole way, equally terrified.

Many of the bandits in the Blue Blade Gang have been hanging around the coastal city for years, and they are quite good at bullying refugees, but they lack experience in long-distance travel.

If it weren't for Lao San directing the route, the Blue Blade Gang would probably have been wiped out on the way.

The terrain ahead became increasingly rugged, with endless earthen slopes narrowing the field of vision. Several hedgehog vehicles accidentally crashed into the territory of the Scorpion Clan.

As the scorpion-man watched several mud huts collapse, he let out a piercing shriek: "Humans, you're asking for death!"

Suddenly, hundreds of scorpion-men surged out from both sides of the earthen slope. They all had a pair of huge pincers, and the tips of their long tails gleamed coldly, making them look like menacing creatures.

"Huh! Huh!"

Several exposed machine gunners fell to the ground, black poison needles stuck in their necks.

"Brother Scorpion, we're sorry, we didn't mean to!"

Several hedgehog-shaped vehicles panicked and sped away, their bodies covered in flying venomous spikes.

As the Scorpion Man hissed, giant scorpions the size of small cars crawled out of the burrow, brandishing their massive pincers and charging fearlessly toward the convoy.

Threats from the sky followed one after another.

A flock of dark brown, hooked-beaked vultures circled above the convoy.

They were clever enough to maintain a safe distance from the convoy and never blindly swooped down to attack.

All they do is throw feces from high places.

"laugh--"

A clump of white feces landed on the steel plate of the hedgehog-shaped vehicle, instantly corroding a small pit that emitted white smoke.

"Maleg, why are you targeting us like this?!"

A machine gunner was unable to dodge in time, and his arm was splashed with a little splatter, causing his skin to ulcerate immediately.

"I'll do it!"

The machine gunner cursed and quickly ducked behind the firing port, firing wildly into the sky in an attempt to drive away these annoying beasts.

"Hold on, full speed ahead! We're almost there!" the third brother kept urging the team to stay on track.

The convoy struggled to move forward amidst constant harassment.

When the convoy finally drove smoothly through a deserted ruin, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Brother Lan wiped away a bead of cold sweat: "I knew it, the sun always shines in the wind..."

"The wind's getting strong, let's get out of here!" the sentry suddenly shouted urgently.

In the distance, a dozen or so small black dots suddenly appeared in the sky.

The black dots quickly enlarged, revealing themselves to be more than a dozen combat airships painted with nuclear symbols.

They were lined up in battle formation, their engines humming low, their approach menacing and menacing.

The third brother only glanced at it before his heart sank.

"Drip-drip-"

The team's public communication channels were forcibly accessed.

A chilling voice rang out: "Warning! The convoy below must stop immediately and be investigated!"

"Repeat: Halt! Any act of resistance will be considered an act of force!"

Brother Lan frowned and looked at the third brother.

The third brother suppressed his unease, grabbed the communicator, and cautiously announced his name and the vehicle's location:

“Friend, I am the leader of the Blue Blade Gang. We have an official mission in Linhai City.”

He tentatively said, "I wonder why our friends from the Nuclear Corporation stopped us? Your actions could easily lead to misunderstandings."

On the airship, the nuclear operations director stared expressionlessly at the convoy below.

"We don't need to know your mission."

He responded coldly, "We have received instructions to investigate some matters, and you must cooperate now."

The third brother turned off the public chat, his face grim. "Big brother, this is no friendly visitor. They're showing absolutely no respect."

"What exactly are they trying to do?" Brother Lan scratched his hair in frustration.

"Big brother, didn't we secretly steal nuclear supplies last month? Will they come to settle accounts with us?"

"fart!"

Brother Lan immediately shook his head, "We did a very clean job that time! They don't know it was us! Even if they investigate thoroughly, there will be no evidence!"

"Big brother, are you stupid?!"

The third brother panicked: "Do we need evidence for this? They're from the Nuclear Corporation! Once they catch us, they'll use every method imaginable—memory scraping, hypnosis, truth serum… how could they not know?"

Brother Lan didn't dare to speak.

"Moreover, these conglomerates have always acted in such an overbearing manner. If they really investigate, even if we are innocent, we will still be skinned alive!"

The third brother looked at the airship getting closer and closer outside the car window, his face growing worried: "Boss, you may not have heard, but recently the nuclear powers have been capturing people everywhere to use as experimental monkeys. They're definitely after us."

Lan slammed his fist on the table: "Damn it! Are you kidding me?! Do you really think we're easy to bully?"

"We're easy to bully, like stray dogs."

"What should I do?"

Brother Lan's hand trembled as he gripped the bottle. "If we can't win, surrendering is the same as dying..."

"Keep them calm first."

A ruthless glint flashed in the third brother's eyes. "We'll pretend to cooperate, buy time, and then give them a loud bang!"

"And then?" Brother Lan asked urgently.

"Then……"

The third brother's gaze fell upon the distant, rolling mountains. "Everyone, head into the mountains!"

"Damn it, how did it end up like this!"

Brother Lan slammed his fist on the carriage wall, "Are you really going to become a mountain king...?"

"Alright, shut up. Let's focus on surviving first!"

The third brother picked up the communicator again and adopted a more respectful tone when speaking to the nuclear-powered individual:
"Commander, we are happy to cooperate, but this place is unsafe; it's teeming with zombies. Could we drive up ahead and stop for investigation?"

On the airship, the nuclear operations director looked at the biosignals that were indeed present on the radar and nodded slightly.

"Sure, but don't try anything funny."

For the operations manager, it would be best if the other side were willing to surrender; his task was simply to detain them.

The nuclear airship maintained its altitude, closely following the convoy, but without any hurry.

It's like a cat teasing a mouse; no matter how much the toy bounces around in its paws, it can't make a ripple.

But soon, the supervisor realized something was wrong.

Instead of slowing down, the Blue Blade Gang's convoy floored the accelerator.

"They're speeding away!"

"Stop immediately! This is the final warning!" The nuclear director's warning became stern.

"Whoosh—Boom!"

Two missiles were launched from the airship and landed precisely 100 meters in front of the convoy, kicking up a huge cloud of dust as a warning.

But the explosion was a signal for the convoy to retaliate.

"Do it!" the third brother roared.

Suddenly, the roofs of more than a dozen hedgehog-shaped vehicles and trucks all opened, and the bandits poked their heads out, carrying launchers on their shoulders.

"Whoosh whoosh-!"

More than thirty rockets were launched at the airship formation at the same time.

"Enemy attack! Take cover!"

The operations manager glared angrily, never expecting that these bandits would dare to attack first, and so decisively at that.

"Boom! Boom!"

Fireballs exploded in the sky, and three or four airships that were closest to the target were hit and forced to make an emergency landing amidst black smoke.

At this point, the Blue Knife Gang's vehicles were completely scattered, and each member escaped using their own abilities. They would be safe once they reached the mountains.

The machine guns on the vehicle continued to fire into the sky, attempting to suppress the airship.

"Bastard!"

The operations manager was furious; his bonus for the year was definitely going to be docked.

"Keep the command vehicle in the middle! Destroy the rest!!"

The pulse cannons on the hull fired first, and invisible ripples swept across the area rapidly.

"Zi la..."

All the vehicles' electronic equipment malfunctioned instantly, but these wasteland punk-style cars were primarily mechanical, sturdy, and durable, so the impact was minimal.

Then, machine gun fire rained down, and missiles began to bombard the area repeatedly.

"Boom--!"

The Blue Blade Gang's convoy was quickly decimated by half under overwhelming firepower.

"Stop fighting! We surrender!!"

The last few hedgehog-shaped vehicles were filled with despair as the people inside climbed out, raising their hands and waving white flags.

But the operations manager was already enraged: "No need for prisoners, wipe them all out."

The airships turned their fire on the surrendering vehicles, blowing them and their vehicles to pieces.

"Holy crap! They don't take prisoners!"

"Boss! Wait for your loyal little brother!"

They scrambled to start their vehicles and, disregarding everything, followed Brother Lan's convoy into the rugged mountainous region.

The vehicle couldn't go far on the rugged mountain road, which was full of trees, and it was soon smashed to pieces.

"Get off the bus! Everyone get off the bus and head into the mountains!"

Brother Lan hid the most important pieces of gold in his pocket, then jumped off the truck with the third brother and hid in the deep mountains and forests.

"Run separately! Run separately!"

The other bandits understood immediately and scattered to save their own lives.

On the airship, the operations manager frowned slightly as he looked down at the dense, shadowy trees. "Manager, the fog in the mountains is thickening, severely hindering our thermal imaging and optical visibility."

A sinister glint flashed across the operations manager's face. If they couldn't catch the people, they would at least make sure they were all killed.

"Then burn them. No need for survivors. Drop incendiary bombs like a carpet bomb and set all these mountains on fire."

"Yes!"

A dozen or so airships were lined up in a row, their bottom launch ports opened, and incendiary bombs were dropped one after another.

Soon, the entire mountain area was engulfed in flames, with fire raging everywhere.

Countless bandits were burned alive amidst screams of agony.

Brother Lan and Lao San, along with the remaining dozen or so people, struggled to escape through the gaps in the inferno, the scorching air making their skin burn.

"careful!"

Brother Lan quickly grabbed the third brother, dodging a collapsing, burning giant tree, and the two of them fell to the ground.

But that's it.

"Boom-bang!"

A bizarre bomb suddenly exploded dozens of meters above them.

There was no violent explosion, only countless white, viscous sparks that flew out, as brilliant as fireworks.

"It's a white phosphorus bomb!"

White sparks splattered all over the third brother's back and arms, his skin was quickly charred, and thick smoke billowed out.

"what--!!"

The third brother truly shielded his elder brother from disaster this time, letting out a heart-wrenching scream and rolling on the ground in agony.

"Third brother!!" Brother Lan's eyes widened in fury.

Several other bandits were also covered in white phosphorus, and the more they tried to extinguish the flames, the stronger the white fires burned.

"River! There's a river ahead!"

Fortunately, they had already escaped to the edge of the river.

After the third brother jumped into the water, the white flames still clung tightly to his skin, making a hissing sound.

White phosphorus has a low melting point, and with wildfires raging nearby, the river water temperature continued to rise, making it impossible to extinguish the white phosphorus.

"Don't show yourself!"

In a panic, Brother Lan jumped into the water and held him underwater for a while before the white flames gradually died down.

He smelled the smoky aroma of roasted meat, which was coming from his brother.

The third son was on his deathbed at this point.

The skin on his entire back was charred black and leathery, and the white phosphorus toxicity had penetrated deep into his bone marrow, causing liver and kidney failure.

"Boss... I can't go on... Use your brain and don't do anything stupid... Take good care of him..."

The third brother wanted to say a few last words, but his gaze became increasingly unfocused, his head tilted to the side, and he was gone.

"Third brother!!"

Blue Brother looked up to the sky and howled in despair. He hated nuclear weapons and the Apocalypse Cult to death.

Just then, a crack appeared in the rock strata next to them, slowly revealing a dark cave.

Lan Ge and the others were taken aback.

A werewolf covered in gray fur poked half its head out of the hole and cautiously surveyed its surroundings.

"You lot, come in if you want to live!"

Survival...

Brother Lan glanced at the charred third brother, then gritted his teeth and put him down. He and the others scrambled into the hole.

After pushing the rock door back, the werewolf raised his torch and looked at the group: "What have you done to deserve being chased by nuclear weapons?"

"us……"

Just as Blue was about to speak, the werewolf waved his hand, "It's not important, you're going to the Demon Capital, right?"

Blue Brother was stunned. He had heard of Demon City, which was said to be the capital of mutants, but he knew nothing about it.

The werewolves assumed they agreed and continued:

"Don't bother with the selection. Our Brother Zhang's route is the most affordable and absolutely safe. It's 10,000 gold coins per person, and we guarantee we can get over this mountain."

"You definitely can't get over it on your own. Those robots in the south city are watching and patrolling every day. Countless mountain climbers have died there."

Lan Ge's eyes were filled with sorrow. In any case, all four of his good younger brothers were gone, and he was completely numb.

"How about it? Have you thought about it clearly?"

Blue Brother snapped out of his daze and tossed him a piece of gold:
"Take us there."

"Row."

The werewolf weighed it in his hand and smiled with satisfaction: "However, there is one more thing you need to do before you enter the Demon Capital."

Blue frowned: "What?"

"A legal mutant identity—we can help you with that; you mutants will have to figure it out yourselves."

Blue Brother's heart sank: "Humans can't enter?"

"Humanity?"

The werewolf grinned and let out a sneer, "I advise you not to, or you'll die a horrible death and become fertilizer the next day. Poor people definitely rely on mutation."

Blue Brother glanced at his few remaining subordinates and finally gritted his teeth, saying, "Fine, we'll mutate."

“A smart choice. We offer many packages at different prices for different ethnic groups.”

The werewolf deftly produced a price list:

"Lion-man, tiger-man, bear-man, these are all ferocious beasts. Their combat power is strong after mutation, and their status is also the highest. It only costs 10,000 gold coins, and the success rate is more than 50%."

"The cheapest are the cat people, which only cost a thousand gold coins. Although their status is low, they are also very good at making money."

He added, "But I must remind you that the success rate of cat people is extremely low, less than ten percent."

Brother Lan voiced everyone's question: "Excuse me... what does this success rate mean? What happens if it fails?"

"It failed..."

The werewolf shrugged nonchalantly, "So what? Just another ordinary zombie."

"Ah, a living dead?"

Seeing the sudden change in expression on Lan Ge's and the others' faces, the werewolf smiled and reassured them: "Don't worry, this is a deliberate mutation, so even if you become zombies, you will retain most of your intelligence."

Even a zombie that retains its intelligence doesn't seem much better... Blue Brother and the others shuddered.

"Alright, let's do it!"

Blue Brother pulled out all the gold bars from his pocket. "We want lionmen, tigermen are fine too!"

The werewolf accepted the money and grinned, saying:
"To ensure your mutation success rate, I will arrange for a dozen tiger-men and lion-men to spend some time with you to guide the mysterious fog."

How long will you spend together?

"It's hard to say, it depends on the extent of the mysterious fog infection in each of you."

The werewolf explained slowly, "If things go quickly, it will take at least five or six days, and if things go slowly, it will take a month."

Blue Brother glanced into the darkness deep within the cave; there was no turning back.

"Alright! I'll go and make a name for myself in the demon capital!"

He wiped the blood from his face, a morbid excitement flashing in his eyes, "Damn it, I'm going to become the King of Nanling!"

The werewolf paused for a moment after hearing the title, then greeted him warmly.

"Hehe... Yes, yes, King of Nanling, please take your men inside."

……

The remnants of the Apocalypse Church also withdrew.

Hua Xin and a group of cat people followed silently.

The Apocalypse believers did not retreat too far, but moved to a valley not far to the west and hid in a deeper cave.

Hua Xin did not get too close, but instead set up a sentry post on a distant high ground and sent people to keep watch in shifts, rotating every half day.

Meanwhile, Cole led his soldiers back to the battlefield.

Sunlight illuminated the devastated land, littered with shell casings and bones.

The corpses are not kept overnight; they are devoured by scavengers in a very short time.

Soldiers were busy dismantling abandoned power armor parts. At the edge of the battlefield, they also discovered two dying saber-toothed tigers.

They were covered in bullet wounds, and although the eerie mist was slowly healing their wounds, they could no longer stand up.

Three more iron-horned rhinoceroses had their abdomens blown open, lying in pools of blood convulsing and breathing heavily.

At that moment, Zhuang Fan's communication came through.

"Cole, collect all the rhinoceros horns."

"Yes."

Cole took out a chainsaw and easily cut off the hard horn from the rhinoceros's head. He then cut off several large pieces of tender meat from its belly, refrigerated them, and loaded them onto the truck.

He didn't spare the two saber-toothed tigers either, having their signature long teeth pulled out and their complete skins slung off.

All the loot was taken back to base.

When Hua Xin returned, he could smell a strong aroma of barbecue meat from a distance.

"Huh, are they roasting tiger meat?" She perked up and quickly walked to the backyard.

Beside the campfire, Zhuang Fan and his companions were turning over a large, sizzling piece of tender meat.

Wow, tiger meat smells so good!

"It's not tiger meat."

When Zhuang Fan saw Hua Xin coming over, he smiled and said, "It's the belly meat of an iron-horned rhinoceros."

After taking a bite, Hua Xin's eyes lit up: "These clumsy creatures have tough skin and hard horns, but their meat is actually so tender!"

Zhuang Fan cut off a small piece with his dagger and blew on it:

"The harder the shell and the thicker the flesh of this kind of big animal, the more tender and juicy the meat inside, and the richer it is in terms of fat. It tastes good no matter how you cook it."

Not far away, Xiong Da couldn't wait any longer.

He sat on a rock, holding a roasted, golden-brown rhinoceros hind leg, gnawing on it with his mouth full of oil.

"Mmm...delicious!" Xiong Da grumbled.

"Then... what about tiger meat?" Hua Xin persisted.

"Sabertooth tigers don't taste good."

As Zhuang Fan wiped his dagger, he said, "I only had Cole bring back a small piece of belly meat. Never mind... you'll know once you try it."

"Thank you." Hua Xin still held a sliver of hope.

She took the piece of roasted tiger meat, put it in her mouth and chewed it a couple of times. Her expression changed drastically, revealing an indescribable bitterness.

"Pooh!"

She immediately spat it out, exclaiming, "This is so awful! It's dry and tough!"

"Is it really that exaggerated? I've never tried it."

Seeing this, Mao Shanwang became even more curious and tore off a small piece and put it in his mouth.

He vomited the next second too.

"Damn... what disgusting stuff! It smells so fishy and pungent!"

Zhuang Fan looked at the two disgruntled cats and said with a smile:
"Just think about it, these top predators are all muscle fibers, tough and with very little fat, not even a bit of oil, so they naturally don't taste good."

Finally, Xiong Da took the whole piece of tiger meat and sat in the corner, happily munching on it.

"Bear, how can you eat this?" Hua Xin stared at him with wide eyes.

As Xiong Da chewed, he said, "It tastes awful, but there's a lot of meat, so it's not bad."

Upon hearing this, everyone showed a complex expression of admiration.

From now on, if there's any meat in the base that's hard to cook or handle, just hand it over to Xiong Da, and it won't go to waste.

Cole had cleaned the six enormous rhinoceros horns thoroughly, making sure there was no blood left.

Zhuang Fan said to Mao Shanwang, "When you leave, take these to the gray geese."

"What is she going to do with this thing?"

Mao Shanwang looked disgusted. "They're useless now. Those noble lords haven't been collecting these things for a long time."

"It's not for resale."

Zhuang Fan explained, "She said it can be ground into powder and used to repel insects, and I heard it's very popular among the Tree People."

Mao Shanwang said thoughtfully, "Oh, I remember that the Grey Goose has many Tree People friends."

In the afternoon, everyone stayed at the base to rest, and the scavenging team also took a day off.

As usual, Xiong Er monitored the intranet on the terminal.

Suddenly, his expression hardened, and he quickly walked to Zhuang Fan's side, lowering his voice:
"Boss, the secret sandbox has been updated with data."

He added, "I didn't see it."

The hidden sandbox on the nuclear intranet contains evidence of crimes committed by hundreds of senior executives, collected by Xu Lanshan, and is currently accessible only to Zhuang Fan.

"Okay, I see."

Zhuang Fan nodded, went into the room, turned on the terminal, and sure enough, found an update.

Moreover, it was sent to him specifically by Xu Lanshan.

(End of this chapter)