Chapter 71: The Life-Saving Benefactor

After talking for a while, Shen Lie learned that the woman’s name was Xia Ke and that she was a painter. According to her, she had enjoyed a modest reputation in the country and had won several major awards. If not for the sudden catastrophe, he would never have had the chance to rely on her for anything.

Unfortunately, in the world as it now stood, painting was no longer useful. Singing, acting, playing the piano—all of those skills had become worthless. Even if Picasso were resurrected, he could not trade his talent for so much as a bowl of food.

“How many days has it been since you last ate?”

Hearing the rumbling in her stomach, Shen Lie rummaged through his backpack and took out a can of Eight-Treasure Porridge, handing it to her.

The can instantly tore away all of Xia Ke’s remaining dignity. She snatched it from him, flipped open the lid, and poured the porridge straight into her mouth without even using the spoon. In only a few gulps, she had emptied the entire can, then looked at Shen Lie once more with pleading eyes.

Shen Lie was not short of food, so he did not begrudge her more. He took out a packet of biscuits and handed it over, along with a bottle of soda. In the present world, such a thing was an absolute luxury, comparable to a bottle of pre-cataclysm Lafite.

Without watching the ravenous woman eat, Shen Lie focused on sorting through the information she had given him. According to Xia Ke, the fall of Yang City had been extremely sudden. The city had been breached almost overnight, and the cause was the abrupt appearance of a massive spatial rift within its boundaries.

Yang City had been designated one of the major survival bases as soon as the first signs of the catastrophe appeared. Its military strength and overall conditions were exceptionally powerful; calling it impregnable would not have been an exaggeration. In fact, that had indeed been the case. Over the past several months, neither the spider monsters nor the various mutated creatures had been able to do anything to Yang City. At most, nearly a hundred thousand monsters had once attacked the city, only to be driven back by its overwhelming firepower.

Moreover, Yang City had possessed a vast population. It had already been home to four or five million people, and after survivors from all over the country were relocated there, its population had peaked at twenty million. With such a huge population base, even at a ratio of one awakened person per thousand, there would have been more than twenty thousand Awakened.

With so many Awakened, plenty of highly awakened individuals were bound to emerge—perhaps even some stronger than Du Lili. With the government providing support, their strength would surely have increased rapidly. It was even possible that some had ignited their third or fourth nodes.

With that many Awakened, combined with powerful conventional weapons, missiles, tanks, and other heavy armaments, it should have been perfectly normal for Yang City to hold off the spider monsters.

But the world could no longer be judged by common sense. The defenders of Yang City had made precisely that mistake. No one had imagined that a massive spatial rift would suddenly materialize in the very center of Yang City, an area already confirmed to be safe. The rift had formed with astonishing speed, without the slightest warning.

Even more terrifyingly, no one knew where the rift led. What emerged from it was no longer spider monsters, but a kind of terrifying flying creature that was stronger than anything anyone had ever seen.

Countless gigantic insect monsters surged through the rift, catching the defenders of Yang City completely off guard. Because the fighting took place inside the city, heavy weapons such as rockets and missiles could not be used. Awakened without long-range attack abilities could only watch helplessly. Their fighting strength was reduced by at least two-thirds.

After a desperate and bloody struggle, the authorities were forced to announce simultaneously that the city had fallen and began organizing the surviving civilians into scattered escape groups.

The news was both good and bad for Shen Lie.

The bad news was that Yang City had now become a sea of monsters. Besides the spider creatures, countless giant insect monsters had taken up residence there. According to Xia Ke, the glowing orb monsters she had encountered earlier were also numerous within the city. They had appeared at the time of its fall as well, and the fleeing survivors had nicknamed them Lantern Monsters.

With so many monsters gathered in Yang City, the odds that any survivors remained inside were vanishingly small. Shen Lie also lacked the ability to charge alone into such an enormous horde. Forget entering Yang City—even approaching it would have been nothing more than a fantasy.

But there was a positive side. Yang City had not been completely massacred. A vast number of survivors had escaped. That meant his cousin and her family might still be alive. Perhaps they were even traveling with one of the fleeing groups.

After analyzing the situation from every angle, Shen Lie’s desire to go to Yang City weakened somewhat. Even so, he was unwilling to give up. He wanted to observe the city from a closer distance, and the fleeing survivors had surely scattered in all directions. If he was lucky, he might even run into them.

Shen Lie had clearly lost his sense of proportion. He actually believed that searching for a needle in such a vast haystack might succeed. After taking out more food for Xia Ke, he rose and climbed onto his motorcycle, intending to continue toward Yang City.

This time, however, he was not planning to enter the city. He intended to search the surrounding area for groups of survivors who had escaped.

“What are you going to do?”

The moment Xia Ke saw Shen Lie mount the motorcycle, she lowered the drink she had just raised to her lips and nervously grabbed hold of the bike, refusing to let go.

“I’m going to Yang City. Given your condition, you shouldn’t follow me into danger. Let’s part ways here. There’s still some food and medicine in the bag. Consider it my thanks for saving my life. If we meet again someday, I’ll make it up to you properly.”

Seeing the woman’s anxious expression, Shen Lie assumed she had not eaten her fill. He simply tossed the backpack to her. After all, he still had plenty of food in his dark-green gourd, so this amount meant nothing to him.

“You’re going to Yang City? You still intend to go?”

Xia Ke looked at him as though he were an idiot. She had explained the situation so clearly, yet he still wanted to go. Was he eager to die, or was there simply something wrong with his head?

“I have reasons I must go, so I’m afraid I can’t travel with you. Take care of yourself. You’d better smear something disgusting-looking on your face so you won’t attract any more lechers.”

She had already told him why she had been lying naked in the grass. An awakened lecher had kidnapped her and injured her leg.

Just as the lecher was about to assault her, Shen Lie happened to come roaring down the highway on his motorcycle. The bike made an enormous racket, immediately drawing over the previously invisible Lantern Monsters. To the attacker’s misfortune, they discovered him and swallowed the wretched man alive.

As for Xia Ke, she had been extraordinarily lucky. Not only had the Lantern Monsters failed to notice her, but through a twist of fate she had also saved Shen Lie’s life. He had consequently taken her to a safe place and given her a large quantity of food.

In truth, the woman possessed both cunning and courage. Otherwise, she would never have fired that arrow when Shen Lie was being devoured by the Lantern Monsters. She knew that if she did nothing, she would die anyway. If she fired, she might save Shen Lie—and Shen Lie was an awakened person. If he survived, she would become the savior of an Awakened.

Indeed, Xia Ke herself was not awakened. Her ability to flee all the way here had depended not only on luck, but also on her wits. Many Awakened had not managed to escape as far as she had. Sometimes brute force mattered, but intelligence mattered just as much.

“I saved your life. You’re not really going to abandon me now, are you?”

From the way Shen Lie had handed her the backpack, Xia Ke had already discerned his temperament. She immediately put on a feeble, pitiful expression and spoke in a soft, helpless voice.