A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

Xiangzhuang is located between Pingyuan City and Liaocheng. It has a lot of land, but no rivers flow through it, and there are not many high-yield fields. Therefore, the locals prefer to plant a lot of fast-growing forests such as poplar trees.

From the air, Xiangzhuang appears to be situated almost entirely within a forest. Although the temperature has dropped below zero, the forest remains lush and green, overgrown with waist-high wild grass. This scene in the dead of winter is incredibly eerie to everyone who witnesses it.

But Zhang Xi didn't care. He carried a spear and a hand axe, and quietly searched the woods. Amber's small body was completely hidden in the grass, and because of its small size, even Zhang Xi couldn't find it unless he looked closely.

This time, Zhang Xi didn't plan to use firearms. Firstly, the noise would be too loud, attracting trouble and possibly scaring away the prey. Secondly, in the following years, ordinary firearms gradually became awkward accessories, and even some enhanced special firearms could only play a supporting role in future battles.

Therefore, Zhang Xi was far better at using cold weapons than firearms. In close combat alone, he was still better with a hand axe than with a gun. Amber ran ahead, and Zhang Xi followed behind. This little guy, Amber, was a natural hunter. Even when running through the grass, he was silent. If it hadn't deliberately touched the wild grass around it from time to time, Zhang Xi would have had to spend a lot of energy looking for it.

Amber would touch the grass with its body every so often, making it easy for Zhang Xi to find it. This alone shows that Amber's intelligence in many aspects is no less than that of humans, which made Zhang Xi very happy.

A person and a dog walked through the woods. This artificial forest, affected by the invading elemental energy, grew very lushly, giving people the illusion of walking in a desolate wilderness.

Amber quickly found her first target: a gray werewolf. Werewolves look very similar to kobolds, but are much larger and have longer muzzles. The most obvious difference is that the werewolf's tail is not as long as the kobold's; it is only about one-third the length of the kobold's tail.

But these aren't the real differences, Zhang Xi knew. The biggest difference between werewolves and kobolds was intelligence. Unlike kobolds, which are humanoid beasts, werewolves possessed more human-like attributes.

Grey werewolves are the most numerous type of werewolf, and their noses are incredibly sensitive. However, Amber is even more extraordinary; the little guy led Zhang Xi upwind, so until now, this werewolf has been completely unaware of the nearby danger.

Despite having the advantage, a surprise attack on a werewolf, a species with highly acute senses, was almost impossible. So Zhang Xi simply picked up his hand axe and walked straight toward the gray werewolf.

The gray werewolf, who had been dozing by a tree root, finally noticed Zhang Xi. The human's closeness clearly surprised it. The mane around the werewolf's neck stood on end, and a bloodthirsty light flashed in its gray-green eyes. With a low growl, it charged towards Zhang Xi.

Zhang Xi maintained his steady pace, the two men locked eyes. Zhang Xi's gaze was utterly calm, as if he were taking a leisurely stroll after a meal. This look caught the gray wolf off guard and thoroughly enraged it. It charged even more fiercely, the wild grass behind it bending to either side as if cut by a knife, forming a straight line.

This show of force did not help the werewolf win the battle. When the two sides clashed, Zhang Xi suddenly sprang to his feet, passing the werewolf with even greater speed. He ducked to avoid the claws aimed at his face, and at the same time, his hand axe swung upwards, cutting a long gash in the werewolf's abdomen.

As he passed by, he grabbed the gray werewolf under the armpit with one hand, used the momentum to swing his body in a circle, turned around, and delivered another axe blow to the back of its head.

The battle ended in almost a second. Normally, gray werewolves are only at the first to third rank of bronze, so they shouldn't have been so easily defeated by Zhang Xi, who was at the eighth rank of bronze.

Zhang Xisheng's strength lay in his thorough understanding of his enemy; he was more familiar with the werewolves' three basic attacks than they were. The moment a werewolf made a move, Zhang Xisheng knew what it was going to do next, making his kills effortless.

Next comes collecting the spoils. Grey werewolf hide is an excellent material for making leather armor; it is tough and breathable, and can even completely withstand bullets from a police pistol.

However, Zhang Xi didn't have the means to obtain the skin, nor did he care for it. He first dug out the magic crystal, and then reached out towards the werewolf's abdomen.

Zhang Xi was certainly not a pervert; he was actually going to rummage through the pockets of the gray werewolves. These werewolves' fur was strong enough to withstand the cold, so except for a few werewolves with high status in the tribe, they generally did not wear clothes.

They have a pouch on their abdomen, similar to a kangaroo's, where each werewolf keeps their most important possessions. Those unaware of this often miss out on good loot.

The gray werewolves were nearly two meters tall, with massive builds and huge bags. Zhang Xi searched for a long time but only found a pale green stone the size of an egg. Upon seeing the stone, Zhang Xi was stunned: "A Recording Magic Stone?"

The Recording Stone is a recording tool with a wide range of uses, somewhat similar to a video recorder. It's rare to see a Grey Werewolf carrying a Recording Stone.

Zhang Xi took out an energy crystal from his storage space and brought it close to the recording magic stone. The originally milky white energy crystal slowly turned into a transparent, glass-like crystal, indicating that the elemental energy within the crystal had been drained.

After the magic stone absorbed the elemental energy, its surface glowed green, and then an image floated about ten centimeters above it. It was a partial 3D map of a city!

Upon seeing this, Zhang Xi was startled. Unlike the kobolds, who were social beasts, the gray werewolves were a primitive civilization with a strict social structure. Moreover, they were a plundering civilization, with everyone serving as a soldier.

Zhang Xi suddenly realized that the werewolf he had killed was a spy, conducting preliminary reconnaissance for the raid on the city! His heart tightened; he had to find more spies and more Record Stones to figure out which city they were targeting!

In his past life, Pingyuan City remained impregnable until the Great Cataclysm, but Zhang Xi dared not be careless. He didn't know if history would repeat itself exactly as he had experienced in his previous life. Then again, his rebirth was a change in itself.

For the next two hours, Zhang Xi kept killing gray werewolf scouts, sometimes even encountering three or four at a time, which he dealt with quite well despite some effort.

Zhang Xi discovered that after being reborn, his skills seemed to have improved significantly, much like a student retaking the college entrance exam. After this second chance, his level of understanding seemed to have risen to a new level; sometimes he could make connections and gain new insights into things he previously didn't understand.

As more and more magic stones were collected, the city's appearance gradually became clearer, and it could now be confirmed that it was not Plains City. The city was significantly smaller in size.

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