Chapter 81: Pursuit and Flight

At first, the sounds were merely sporadic, but by the time Shen Lie stepped out into the courtyard, the distant roar of gunfire had grown intensely fierce and seemed to be heading in the direction of the town.

"Shen Lie, what's going on?" Xia Ke had hesitated for a long time over how to address Shen Lie, ultimately deciding to use his given name directly, believing it would be beneficial for their future relationship.

"I don't know. We need to find somewhere high up to get a look around." Shen Lie cared not at all about forms of address, and at this moment he had no spare capacity to ponder her inner thoughts; he scanned left and right, searching for a taller building.

However, the two of them had already reached the outskirts of the town, where single-story houses dominated. The tallest structure was nothing more than a modest two-story building, so Shen Lie quickly scaled its roof and pulled out his binoculars to survey the area.

"Ah, what is that? Why are there so many monsters coming?" Xia Ke never parted with the compact binoculars and firearm Shen Lie had given her, and now she too pulled them out to peer into the distance, instantly letting out a panicked shriek at the sight.

Shen Lie's heart hammered wildly against his ribs. Within the field of view of the binoculars, a sea of overwhelming spider-monsters turned the entire horizon pitch black, accompanied by a considerable number flying low in the air—presumably the green spiders they had just encountered earlier.

Without looking too closely, Shen Lie could estimate that the number in this ocean of monsters was well over ten thousand. With such a quantity, no matter how strong an individual's combat prowess might be, it would be useless; once trapped within it, there was no other choice save death.

Ahead of the spider swarm, four or five military trucks and two off-road jeeps were fleeing frantically. The soldiers aboard kept firing small cannons and submachine guns backward into the horde, but this level of assault was little better than a tickle to such a colossal mass of monsters.

For some unknown reason, one of the trucks suddenly stalled in its tracks. Before the soldiers could leap out, it was instantly engulfed by the surging wave of massive monsters.

The triumphant thrill of having slain a few spider-monsters just moments ago turned instantly icy cold. Abandoning all composure, Shen Lie let out a frantic roar, "Son of a bitch, run!" and bolted toward the stairs.

Xia Ke was utterly bewildered by this point; her hands trembled so violently that she dropped the binoculars, which shattered in half upon hitting the ground. Only then did a jolt of realization snap her to her senses—Shen Lie was her sole lifeline, and come what may, she had to cling tightly to him!

By the time Xia Ke reached the ground floor, Shen Lie had already retrieved the off-road motorcycle from his spatial gourd, its dual exhaust pipes puffing out plumes of blue smoke. At a time like this, everything else took a backseat; only flight offered hope!

Xia Ke scrambled onto Shen Lie's motorcycle like a madwoman. She had a gut feeling that if she were even a single step behind, this man would undoubtedly ditch her without a second thought and flee alone. In moments like these, gratitude for saving her life meant nothing; only her own survival mattered above all else!

The motorcycle roared as it sprinted like a flying beast deep into the town. Disregarding everything else, Shen Lie sped along the asphalt road cutting through the town's center toward the opposite direction.

Yet when Shen Lie emerged on the far side of the town, he saw that here, too, massive swarms of spider-monsters were driving survivors toward the town center.

Without a second word, he immediately altered his course. Not until he had scoured the remaining two directions did he have to accept a grim reality: the small town where they were located had been entirely surrounded by spider-monsters!

"What should we do?" The tension reached a fever pitch, which paradoxically calmed the two of them. Seeing Shen Lie park the motorcycle beneath a relatively tall building, Xia Ke inquired.

"Nothing we can do. Let's hide for now; surviving this situation will come down entirely to luck." Facing such an overwhelming horde of monsters, Shen Lie was equally helpless and could only pin his hopes on sheer fortune.

"Regretting coming with me now, aren't you?" Shen Lie pushed the motorcycle into a concealed spot, pretending to hide it while actually stowing it away into his gourd space. If such a massive object vanished right before Xia Ke's eyes, her curiosity would likely burst to the limit.

"No. Even if I hadn't come here with you, where else could possibly be safe?" Xia Ke possessed a resilient mindset; she tossed her hair back and continued to follow closely behind Shen Lie.

"Let's head upstairs. These monsters aren't adept at climbing high; let's hope this building isn't a shoddily built structure." Shen Lie glanced up. It was an office building bearing the name of some corporation on its facade; its former owner might well have been a prominent figure in this small town!

The screeches of the spider-monsters and the sounds of gunfire had already penetrated the town. Shen Lie even caught sight of the off-road vehicles that had frantically broken in from the south. He delayed no longer, yanked open the front doors of the office building, and slipped inside.

The interior decor of the building was quite tasteful and featured an elevator, though without power, it was entirely immobilized. The two of them began climbing the stairwell, ascending all the way to the rooftop on the ninth floor.

The height of nine stories exceeded the typical flight ceiling of those green spiders. Shen Lie figured that as long as the building wasn't knocked down or targeted by white giant worms, they could hold out here for a period of time. As for how long they could hold out, or what to do when things reached that final point, Shen Lie chose not to dwell on it.

As long as one is alive, there is a chance. Even surviving for one more second is the distance between life and death. Regardless of what the future held, they would endure one day at a time.

The entire ninth floor consisted of a conference hall and three offices, all of which had already been scavenged by previous survivors. Shen Lie had no time to re-inspect them and walked straight to a window to peer outside.

By this time, binoculars were no longer necessary; the spider-monsters were visibly choking the intersection at the town's entrance, endlessly pouring further into the town.

Screams rang out unceasingly, uttered by survivors fleeing in terror from the monsters. The military truck convoy he had seen earlier had also charged into the town, and the people inside tumbled out frantically to run into nearby buildings.

However, the very last truck was caught by the spider-monsters. Before the soldiers on board could jump clear, the entire vehicle was violently struck by a twin-stripe spider-monster, flipping it over onto its side in an instant. Both the truck and the soldiers atop it were swallowed up by the monsters in the blink of an eye.

"Shen Lie, look—who is that?" Xia Ke asked suddenly, pointing toward a specific direction from a window on the opposite side.

Following her indication, Shen Lie looked over and saw that it was none other than Elder Long's group. At this moment, this faction was in an equally wretched state, chased like stray dogs by monsters from another direction, entirely devoid of their previous composure.

What left Shen Lie somewhat speechless, however, was that their running route was also directed straight toward this very building. Moreover, he spotted the students from Yangcheng University among the crowd; these two separate factions had actually converged, and it appeared they had been driven right back by the monsters the moment they left the town.

Suddenly, Shen Lie's eyelids twitched wildly. He saw that the convoy of off-road vehicles being closely pursued by the monsters was likewise barrelling straight toward the base of their building. The moment they reached the entrance, the occupants poured out in a swarm, rushing directly into the structure!

"What the hell!"

Seeing this development, Shen Lie cursed silently in frustration. He truly didn't know what to say. His original intention was to hole up on the rooftop with Xia Ke for a while; after all, his spatial gourd contained plenty of stored rations—he could easily survive half a year without worrying about starvation. He refused to believe these spider-monsters would permanently squat here; once they realized no human survivors remained to be hunted, the horde would naturally disperse, at which point he could make a leisurely escape.

Yet despite all his calculations, he never expected so many survivors to run back here, and the tragic part was that they had all chosen this very building as their hiding spot. Wasn't this pure sabotage? With so many people inside, the spider-monsters certainly wouldn't give up easily now. Had he known, any random roadside shop would have been better than this place!