A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

Zhang Xi continued along the highway, the faint sounds of gunfire from the city center drifting in. This was expected; he had come to the suburbs, far from the city center, to avoid the military.

Amber gave another clue, and Zhang Xi searched all the way, finally confirming the location of the crack in a flower greenhouse plantation.

At one end of the plantation, there was a temporary prefab house where the caretaker lived. Zhang Xi quietly crept over, only to find that the prefab house was empty.

The black dot reappeared, and Zhang Xi quickly hid around a corner of a greenhouse, preparing to launch another sneak attack. This time, a fissure appeared with a diameter of nearly 5 meters, capable of withstanding forces no higher than the Bronze Realm.

The ripples reappeared, and Zhang Xi decided to take advantage of the time difference, rushing over before the monster appeared.

The monster that had been tumbling out of the crevice was enormous. It stood a full three meters tall, its muscles bulging, its body covered in thick, black hair as thick as steel nails. Its legs, with their reversed joints, had hooves instead of feet. Most striking were its massive head and the enormous bull horns atop it. And on its shoulder slung a huge wooden stake, engraved with runes—its weapon.

Upon seeing that the monster had emerged from the rift, Zhang Xi, who was leaping into the air, nearly popped his eyes out and his brain short-circuited for a moment.

Minotaur! How is that possible!

The weakest adult Tauren is no less than the Silver rank, while the strongest can reach the Gold rank.

This doesn't make sense! A 5-meter diameter crack couldn't possibly withstand a minotaur passing through!

In a flash, Zhang Xi's thoughts raced through his mind. He didn't care about logic or not; the deed was done, wasn't it? Saving his life was the priority.

He roared and swung his hand axe through the air. Without caring whether the axe had any effect, he turned and ran as soon as he landed.

As Zhang Xi turned to flee, the minotaur had just recovered from the dizziness of the teleportation. However, its reaction was off, and it was struck squarely by the hand axe. It let out a sharp screech and also turned to run.

The scream stopped Zhang Xi, who had already fled far away. He had fought minotaurs before, and those monsters could never make such a sound. He calmed down, seemingly realizing a possibility, and turned back to chase after them.

After chasing for three kilometers, following the trail of blood on the ground, Zhang Xi saw a strange orc he had never seen before.

This is a tiny orc lying on its back on the ground. Its appearance makes it difficult to determine its species, as it resembles a human more than a wild animal. It looks like an adorable little cosplayer.

It has an adorable chubby face like a human child. However, its eyes are fiery red, and it has a few whiskers like a cat's whiskers around its mouth. Its equally fiery red hair is fluffy and messy.

It was even wearing clothes made of unknown animal hides, and under its rear end was a large, squirrel-like tail that was about a third of its body length. It was just as bright red and fluffy. In short, it was a very cute little creature.

Zhang Xi felt somewhat embarrassed. Although he knew the other party was an orc, an enemy, he still felt he had done something terrible in front of such an adorable creature. Because the creature's large, fiery red eyes had lost their luster, its pupils were dilated, and it looked like it was about to die.

Its abdomen was almost completely ripped open, and its internal organs were severely damaged. The hand axe that had struck it was pulled out and tossed aside. Judging from the little orc's wounds, the hand axe had been lodged in its ribs.

The little orc glanced at Zhang Xi, seemingly startled once more, and then breathed its last. A long-absent voice echoed in Zhang Xi's mind again: "Soul energy of corresponding strength detected. Soul energy absorbed. Corresponding seal lifted." A red ace of hearts flew out of the deck of cards, transforming into a stream of light that entered Zhang Xi's head. A new notification sounded: "Soul capable of being materialized detected. Materialize?"

"Yes!" Although he didn't quite understand, it was clearly the pace of a harvest, and Zhang Xi made the decision without hesitation.

As Zhang Xi spoke, a small orc, identical to the little creature lying on the ground, appeared beside him. The orc glanced at the corpse, then looked at Zhang Xi with resentful eyes.

Zhang Xi glanced at the dead creature on the ground, then at the living creature staring at him, pointed at the corpse, coughed awkwardly, and said, "Are you it?"

"Yes and no." A very pleasant child's voice.

"What do you mean? Explain!" Zhang Xi observed the little beastman and was surprised to find that it had the strength of a first-tier bronze beast!

"This is my first time dying, and you brought me back to life. It's also my first time dying and coming back to life. I'm a little confused about what's going on." The little beastman clearly didn't know much more than Zhang Xi.

Zhang Xi patted his head and said, "Okay, let's change the subject. If I kill you, will you hate me?"

The little beastman looked at Zhang Xi with its big, watery eyes: "Oh right, you killed me, but I don't hate you. I don't know why, but I still like you a lot! Just like I like my mother! By the way, there are some good things inside me, you'd better dig them out." After saying this, the little beastman was stunned for a moment. It actually wanted the person who had just killed it to dissect its body and dig out its treasure!

Zhang Xi was even more embarrassed. What a lovely little thing, so adorable! Although he realized that the little beastman's actions might be due to its becoming his summoned creature after being materialized, he was still somewhat moved. But despite his feelings, he said to the little beastman, "Then turn around." Before it could fully turn around, Zhang Xi's eyes glowed green as he charged towards the corpse.

The little orc who had just turned around suddenly shivered!

……

Twenty minutes later, Zhang Xi was riding his bicycle towards the rented house. On the back seat was a small child, the same little beastman, but the beastman's tail and whiskers were gone, and his hair and eyes had turned black, making him a completely human little boy.

Zhang Xi waited in front of the rift for another ten minutes, but this time he saw nothing. However, he did gain a general understanding of it through chatting with the little orc.

The little orc is a very rare type of orc, the cat-raccoon. So rare, well, Zhang Xi, this seasoned mercenary, had never seen one before. He'd only heard about them from a merchant a few years ago when he was delivering goods.

The cat-like creatures aren't good at fighting, but they possess an incredibly powerful talent: transformation. They can not only change their appearance to anything, but also disguise their aura and strength level. Zhang Xi was initially terrified by its disguise as a high-level silver-rank minotaur and fled in panic. However, this cunning mercenary swung an axe before escaping!

After waiting for a while and seeing that there were no more monsters, Zhang Xi saw that it was getting late and he should go back. So he burned the raccoon's corpse and headed home.

Tanuki is the new name Zhang Xi gave to the little beastman.

"Tanuki! Are you male or female?" Zhang Xi asked, bored while riding his bike.

"I am male."

"Don't you orcs distinguish between male and female?"

"I'm a boy!" Tanuki clearly didn't like the concept of male and female. He hugged his short arms, turned his head and looked curiously at everything on the roadside, listening to the sounds of gunfire near and far.

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