A Post-Apocalyptic Journey to Another World

Zhang Xi and his group of fifty men split into two groups and cautiously advanced through the woods. Zhang Xi, Long Wenzhang, and Xu Liang led several soldiers to form the advance reconnaissance team, while Xue Gang led the remaining forty-odd men to follow several hundred meters behind. The reconnaissance team passed through a dense man-made forest and reached the edge of a road, where a huge billboard stood: "Welcome to Malingshan Scenic Area!"

Zhang Xi asked Long Wenzhang: "Squad leader, do we have a detailed map of this scenic area?"

Long Wenzhang fiddled with the instrument in his hand for a while and said, "This place is not in our combat plan, and there is no detailed combat map, but I found a civilian map!"

"That works too. Let's transfer it to everyone's helmet combat system." As soon as Zhang Xi finished speaking, a data transfer notification sound came from the helmet, demonstrating how proficient Long Wenzhang was in these tactical techniques.

The reconnaissance team did not go onto the highway, but instead followed the edge of the highway, advancing through the woods towards the scenic area.

Maling Mountain is less than 1,000 meters above sea level, but it is already one of the highest mountains near Pingyuan City. In addition, the scenery on the mountain is pleasant, making it a good place to watch the sunrise. Moreover, there are many natural karst caves at the foot of the mountain, making Maling Mountain a famous scenic spot.

The Malingshan Scenic Area had long been abandoned. The once majestic gate was now dilapidated, the automatically retractable iron fence was rusted beyond recognition, and the banners and lanterns on the pillars on both sides of the gate had rotted into strips of brown rags hanging on the wall.

The guardhouse on one side of the main gate was also deserted. But that's not entirely true. Through his rifle scope, Zhang Xi saw a wolf descendant sitting idly on the floor of the guardhouse, while several gray werewolves wandered around the gate.

Long Wenzhang was also observing. After watching for a while, he put down his binoculars and said, "Odor remover!"

The group behind them took out a small spray bottle, one of the gadgets developed by Gao Longzhi's team, which could mask odors. They sprayed the spray on themselves for a while, and then Long Wenzhang said, "Recording Magic Stone!" The group then took out the Recording Magic Stone.

They discovered that the Recording Stone was an excellent recording tool. Unlike a camera, it was not cumbersome; simply by carrying it with them, the Recording Stone could automatically record everything within a 50-meter radius. This continued until the energy from a single charge was depleted. Furthermore, the Recording Stone had a very large information capacity; Gao Longzhi's tests showed it could hold hundreds of grams.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Long Wenzhang said, "Everyone, pair up and conduct reconnaissance. Zhang Xi is free to act on his own! If you encounter danger, you are allowed to retreat on your own. Is that clear?"

Everyone agreed, and then dispersed into several groups, disappearing silently into the jungle.

Zhang Xi raced through the mountains towards the summit, his speed astonishing yet utterly silent—a skill honed over many years. While he might not claim exceptional fighting prowess from his previous life, his ability to conceal himself was unparalleled. It was precisely because he focused all his energy on hiding himself that he was able to survive so long in the apocalypse. But it was also because of this that, despite his long struggles in the apocalypse, he remained merely a lowly ant at the Silver Rank.

While keeping a close eye on everything around him, Zhang Xi recalled information from his previous life. In his previous life, he had always been in school and hadn't even participated in military training, so he was unaware of the distribution of monsters on the outskirts of Pingyuan City. However, after escaping Pingyuan City, he learned from conversations with fellow sufferers that the beastman army that had conquered Pingyuan City had emerged from Maling Mountain.

However, judging from the map, Mount Maling is only a few hundred meters high, with only seven or eight peaks in circumference, and its area is not large. Moreover, although Mount Maling is not high, it is very steep, with cliffs hundreds of meters high visible everywhere. Based on Zhang Xi's limited military knowledge, this mountain could easily support a few hundred people in guerrilla warfare, but it could not possibly conceal an army of tens of thousands.

Could the army be hiding in caves? That doesn't seem right either. While there are caves within the Maling Mountains, they are complex, dark, and damp, making it difficult even for orcs to survive. The most crucial issue is that such a large army requires extensive logistical support. This means the invading orc army would need to construct a portal across a massive, stable spatial rift, with a diameter of at least tens of meters.

That was a truly colossal object; such a thing could only be hidden in a valley to avoid being easily discovered. Zhang Xi's purpose in this trip was to find this portal he suspected existed.

The closer they got to the mountaintop, the more treacherous the terrain became, and the more monsters patrolled and roamed around. Zhang Xi had already passed through patrol circles of a group of gray werewolves and a group of golden-maned lionmen. Along the way, he also encountered a leopard cat-man running around, which almost made it give a warning, but fortunately, he managed to kill it without any serious harm.

Deeply venturing into enemy territory for reconnaissance is extremely exhausting. Reaching this position, once discovered, even a silver-level cultivator, let alone a bronze-level one, would be doomed. The intense mental strain had drained Zhang Xi of his stamina. He spotted a rock halfway up the mountain, and with a light leap, his body arced through the air as he disappeared into its shadow. He sat down, took out a piece of chocolate, and popped it into his mouth to replenish his energy.

Zhang Xi had reached the halfway point of the mountain and was making good progress, but the others encountered trouble. Long Wenzhang and Xu Liang lay anxiously in a thicket of bushes. Not far in front of them, a group of gray werewolves were patrolling a mountain path.

In Zhang Xi's view, the patrolling gray werewolves were incredibly foolish; he could simply bypass them when they weren't looking. But for others, it wouldn't be so easy. Due to his inaccurate understanding of the gray werewolves' habits, hearing, and judgment of distance, Long Wenzhang found it difficult to time his detours.

They had tried several times already. The first time, even though the werewolves had gone quite far, their movements immediately attracted the attention of the werewolves in the distance, almost leading to their discovery, forcing them to retreat. The second time, they waited until the werewolves had gone further before acting, but before he could even cross the path, the werewolf patrol returned. This time it was even more dangerous; he was trapped directly in a patch of grass beside the path. Having suffered repeated setbacks on this route, the patrolling werewolves were already quite agitated; they couldn't be provoked any further. Long Wenzhang decided to turn back and find another route up the mountain.

Meanwhile, at a temporary assembly point on the outskirts of Maling Mountain, Xue Gang was organizing more reconnaissance teams to go up the mountain. Suddenly, the scouts on guard duty at the rear delivered a warning signal indicating danger.

Xue Gang connected the call to the soldier's walkie-talkie. He didn't initiate conversation but waited for the other soldier to speak first. This was the script prescribed in the tactical regulations. Because the commander didn't know the specific situation the reconnaissance soldiers were facing—the enemy might already be very close to the frontline reconnaissance soldiers—making a call rashly could expose them. Therefore, after the connection was established, the commander left the decision of whether and when to speak to the reconnaissance soldiers.

Soon, Xue Gang heard a scout's voice through his earpiece: "Report! We've spotted a group of unidentified armed men following us!"

"What!" Xue Gang was stunned. "Not monsters, but armed personnel?"

(P.S.: I think I've said too much, but I still need votes. If there aren't enough recommendation votes, the website won't give it a recommendation slot. I'm asking those who have added it to their favorites to support me with a few recommendation votes.)