Crossing the wilderness to survive, starting with a broken kitchen knife.

After a fight, the female beast's body surface was riddled with holes. Ge Dalong sent down a blizzard of ice and snow, freezing all the flesh and blood on its skin. Zhang Shi stepped on it lightly, and large pieces of flesh and blood turned into broken ice, cracking into pieces and falling to the ground.

The female beast howled incessantly, its wounds deep enough to reveal the bone. It shook violently, attempting to throw Zhang Shi off. Zhang Shi did as she wished, using his Shadow Step to distance himself. Then, he unsheathed his compound bow and fired continuously, each arrow aimed squarely at the female beast's eye sockets. The severely wounded female beast had no power to resist. After more than a dozen arrows, she fell heavily to the ground, motionless, and dead.

At the same time, the swarm of insects crawled towards the depths of the ruins as if under command. There were only a few insects left at the entrance. Seeing this, Zhang Shi hurriedly called on everyone to catch up.

They followed closely behind the insect swarm, passing through the winding passage formed by connective tissue, each step filled with uncertainty and danger. Pipi remained close to Zhang Shi, its senses extremely sharp in the darkness, constantly alert to possible threats lurking around.

As they went deeper, the light inside the ruins gradually became brighter, and a faint red light was reflected on the rock walls. Zhang Shi found that they had come to a spacious underground hall. There was a huge pool in the center of the hall. The water in the pool was crystal clear, but upon closer inspection, some strange creatures could be found swimming in the water. They emitted a faint fluorescence and were somewhat similar to the worms before, but they were more slender and more agile.

"It seems that this is the breeding pool for worms." Zhang Shi said in a low voice, his eyes scanning the surroundings, looking for a possible exit or more clues.

Suddenly, Pipi let out a low roar, its eyes fixed on the side of the pool. Zhang Shi followed its gaze and saw a hidden cave entrance, surrounded by moss and vines. If you don't look closely, it's hard to find its existence.

"Everyone be careful, there may be an ambush." ​​Zhang Shi reminded. He slowly approached the cave entrance, with the weapon in his hand ready to deal with any possible danger.

As they entered the cave, they were struck by a sharp chill, as if they had instantly entered another world. The cave was filled with ice crystals, and every step was accompanied by a crisp sound. They walked along the ice-crystal-covered passage and soon arrived at a huge ice cave.

In the center of the ice cave, there was a huge ice platform, on which lay a giant ice egg, emitting a soft blue light. This ice egg was completely different from the blood-red cocoon seen in the insect nest before, giving people a sense of tranquility and mystery.

"This is..." Zhang Shi looked at the ice egg in front of him in surprise. He realized that this might be a completely new life form, or it might have some connection with the worm mother beast, or it might be a higher-level existence.

As they gathered around the ice egg, examining it closely, it suddenly began to vibrate, its surface a dazzling blue light. Then, with a crisp cracking sound, the shell of the ice egg began to crack, and a tiny, faintly fluorescent insect slowly crawled out.

This small creature was completely different from the worm, with a more delicate body and a brighter fluorescence. It looked around curiously and then quickly ran deeper into the ruins.

"It's at the artifact level, but I can't tell its level."

Zhang Shi whispered, his eyes showing both surprise and awe.

They decided not to disturb the mysterious creature and quietly exited the ice cave. When they returned to the underground hall, they found that the insect swarm had disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.

……

At the same time, in the transit station shelter, Zhao Feng was leading a hundred soldiers to build defense facilities in preparation for a possible zombie beast attack. Unexpectedly, they encountered another group of people marching towards the transit station. There seemed to be a total of 500 people. The heavy rain blocked the view. Although the faces and equipment could not be seen clearly, it could be distinguished that these people were alive. They should be the troops of a certain force, and they came with ill intentions.

Zhao Feng quickly gave orders to the soldiers, asking them to stand guard on the wall, while he sent a message for help to Zhang Shi. Unfortunately, the three people in the shelter were exploring the underground ruins at the moment and did not notice the system's private chat.

Seeing the other party getting closer and closer, and Zhang Shi not responding, Zhao Feng had no choice but to steel himself and prepare for the fight.

This coalition of 500 people came from the Dragon Tiger Alliance and the Brotherhood. If Zhao Feng looked closely, he should be able to recognize his old acquaintance - Chen Beipan.

In order to fight against the Eagle Group, the two groups united and recruited troops on the partition channel. Chen Beipan seized the opportunity and became a guest of honor in the alliance with his abundant resources, and he didn't care about backstabbing his former ally.

After forming an alliance, they gathered their strength and did not immediately attack Bell's castle. Instead, they concentrated their manpower to retake the branch shelter at the transit station first. However, they did not realize that they had made a mess of things and had chosen the wrong opponent.

"Last night, wild beasts attacked the wilderness again. All the survivors are exhausted after a long night of hard work. Today is a good time to attack."

Chen Beipan, wearing a straw raincoat, acted as a military advisor, giving advice to the two leaders.

The leader of the Brotherhood, Xie Dong, was not impressed by Chen Beipan. He just walked forward with a cold and expressionless face, as if he had a lot of objections to this surprise attack.

However, Brother Long, the leader of the Dragon and Tiger Alliance, came out with a smiling face to smooth things over.

"Brother Chen, you've taken the lead in overcoming the enemy's preemptive strikes and have made every possible effort. If we win this battle, you'll be credited with the primary achievement."

Despite his impulsive actions, Zhao Feng knew the transit station was the pivot point for their outward expansion and could not afford to lose it. Therefore, despite his inner anxiety, Zhao Feng maintained a calm and resolute demeanor, not wanting to shake the morale of his troops.

First, he quickly adjusted the deployment of his soldiers, dividing the one hundred soldiers into three groups: one group was responsible for frontal defense, using existing fortifications and simple bunkers to resist; the second group was composed of cavalry, who left from the back door in advance and hid on both sides, ready to surprise the enemy from the side at a critical moment to disrupt their offensive rhythm; the third group served as a mobile force, ready to support various locations or pursue the fleeing enemy at any time.

Zhao Feng then ordered his soldiers to set simple traps and tripwires, exploiting the terrain to increase the enemy's difficulty and casualties. He also organized his men to gather all available supplies within the shelter, including Molotov cocktails and improvised explosives, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at a critical moment.

"It's a pity that we didn't bring the cannons, otherwise we wouldn't be afraid of more people coming."

The soldiers sharpened their swords and guns, ready to go. They looked at the troops slowly approaching from afar, pointing their guns at them. As long as Zhao Feng gave the order, they would pull the trigger without hesitation to stop any creature that wanted to attack the transit station.