Chapter 83: The Emergence of the Super Rift

The entire floor was plunged into a heavy silence. The old man’s words had been exceptionally clear and logical, and everyone knew that their truthfulness was at least ninety percent. All of them became utterly crestfallen. The shrieking of the monsters outside formed a terrifying wave—under the siege of so many beasts, who could possibly hope to escape?

Yet, if they failed to escape and reach a location beyond the blast radius of the nuclear strike, the very moment the bomb detonated would be the moment of their deaths.

No one could blame the person who issued the order for the nuclear strike. In this era, conventional weaponry possessed pitifully weak lethality, while the monsters were far too formidable. If not nuclear weapons, what else could be used? Perhaps even nuclear weapons might not be as powerful as imagined, for the ubiquitous gray mist possessed the ability to weaken all thermal weaponry!

"Break through, or hide and wait for death?"

Both choices led to a dead end. Death either way—horizontal or vertical. Should they rush out in a magnificent, blood-pumping struggle, or cower in some dark corner awaiting the arrival of the nuclear blast?

Shen Lie suddenly realized that even the manner of one's death was agonizingly difficult to choose.

"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! This is impossible, how can this be? My second uncle is a high-ranking official! He knew I was in Yang City; how could he ever agree to such an order? No, you old man must be lying, you're lying!"

In another group, a young man suddenly pointed at the old man and screamed at the top of his lungs, his expression so agitated he was nearly convulsing. He lunged viciously toward the old man, as if eliminating him would somehow prevent the nuclear strike from ever arriving.

"Young Master Chu! Young Master Chu! Hold him back, quick!"

A burly man in military uniform with thick eyebrows grabbed the young man. It was Chief of Staff Han, the very person who had fawned over the young master all the way here. The youth was none other than this Young Master Chu. Their group, which had numbered three to four thousand at the very beginning, had dwindled to fewer than forty survivors by the time they reached here. Aside from Chief of Staff Han and a few Awakened ones, almost all the ordinary soldiers had perished, and even several Awakened ones had died.

"He's lost his mind!" An Awakened person beside Chief of Staff Han struck the back of the young man's neck with a heavy palm, knocking Young Master Chu unconscious.

"Lost his mind? Heh, lost his mind? Ha, he's actually lost his mind? He sacrificed so many of my men, and the son of a bitch has lost his mind? Hahahahaha—"

Chief of Staff Han stared at the young man collapsed on the ground, suddenly feeling like a utter clown. He had abandoned all his dignity and sacrificed every last one of his soldiers just for this outcome? What had it all been for? What was the point, and what meaning was left in staying alive?

Chief of Staff Han suffered a mental breakdown as well. Elder Long’s words were simply too shocking. Several others found them equally impossible to accept immediately, though none reacted as violently as those two. Aside from a few people softly sobbing, the rest were overwhelmed by a daze and despair, completely unsure of where to go or what to do.

"Old sir, according to your estimation, when will the nuclear strike take place?" Shen Lie hesitated for a moment, but finally could not resist voicing the question.

"Even this old man cannot know for certain. While I was still in Yang City, I was able to maintain contact with the authorities in the capital. At that time, the capital already had the intention to launch a nuclear strike, though the original target was set at the border between Liaoning Province and Qingshan Province, primarily to wipe out those colossal monsters. However, after the drastic upheaval in Yang City, the target area was changed to this region."

The old man made no attempt to conceal anything. The spider monsters downstairs had not yet launched their attack, so clarifying the situation now was as good a time as any.

"My last contact with the capital was around the time Yang City fell, at which point I received the news that the nuclear strike target had been placed here. However, because there were large groups of refugees in Yang City at the time, the timing of the strike was postponed to allow survivors a window to evacuate. But I doubt this grace period can last very long—at most, half a month. If someone fails to escape the nuclear blast radius within half a month, the probability of surviving becomes practically negligible. Yang City fell three days ago; barring any unforeseen accidents, about ten days from now will be our final deadline."

Ten days!

That time could not exactly be called insufficient. If they were to set off toward the capital right now, ten days would be plenty of time to run beyond the reach of the nuclear shockwave. Yet, given their current condition, forget about evacuating—even making it downstairs was a pipe dream. Give them a month instead of ten days, and it would still be useless.

"There's no use dwelling on it. If we can't find a way to evade these monsters, we'll probably starve to death long before those ten days are up, never mind getting the chance to wait for a nuclear strike." A voice rang out from the other side—crisp and devoid of fluctuation, causing everyone to turn their gazes in that direction.

Shen Lie looked over as well and discovered that the speaker was a girl, and a beauty at that—an absolute stunner whose striking radiance remained undiminished despite being covered in dust.

Unfortunately, at a time like this, no one cared about such trivialities. After taking a couple of extra glances, everyone sank back into silence. The girl was right; during their flight, food and water supplies had been virtually exhausted. Very few people still carried food on them, and it was utterly impossible for it to last ten days.

With no food, countless spider monsters waiting outside, and the threat of an impending nuclear strike hanging over them, three sharp swords swung above everyone's heads. Any single one of them was enough to kill them countless times over. Despair could no longer describe the mood of these people; a heart as dead as ashes was a true portrait of their state.

Shen Lie actually had quite a bit of stored food, but he had no intention of taking it out. He was not someone who gave up easily; until the very end, he must never lose his composure. Perhaps some kind of turning point would manifest.

People naturally possessed a herd mentality. If it were just one person, they would have broken down and committed suicide under such pressure long ago. Yet there were fully sixty or seventy people gathered in the vast hall, and the comforting illusion that others would accompany them in death temporarily counteracted their terror.

Following a round of discussion, these individuals temporarily formed a coalition, and Elder Long was deservedly elected as their leader. Everyone decided to hold their ground here for two days. If they could not hold out or if the spider monsters showed no signs of leaving, they would seize an opportune moment to risk a desperate breakthrough. Success or failure aside, it was still better than sitting here waiting for death; even if only a single person managed to escape, it would be considered a net gain.

Although a temporary combat squad had been formed, the supplies and weapons of the respective groups were not pooled together. Because the issue of breaking through involved selfish motives within each faction, everyone knew that when the breakout actually happened, the more supplies one possessed, the higher the probability of surviving.

Just as everyone was still discussing the minute details, the spider monsters downstairs finally lost their patience and began surging up the stairwell of the ground-floor lobby. Two Awakened individuals on guard duty immediately discovered them and raised the alarm.

"It's fine. The narrow terrain of the stairwell means we don't have to worry about being swarmed by a massive horde. Our offensive Awakened members will take turns defending the stairwell. We must not let a single monster up!" Elder Long remained calm, taking the lead by sending his own Awakened subordinates to the front lines to intercept the charging monsters.

The stairwell was indeed an excellent place for killing beasts. When it was Shen Lie's turn, he could handle the situation practically by himself. One man could hold the pass against ten thousand; bolts of lightning flashed outward one after another, and each attack effortlessly obliterated an ordinary, foolishly charging spider monster as if he were squashing ants rather than beasts.

Even those double-striped spider monsters could be handled by Shen Lie with complete composure. A scaled-down version of the Annihilation Hammer would instantly smash those creatures—which other Awakened feared like the plague—into a pulp of flesh and blood. Eventually, the corpses of the spider monsters piled up and choked the stairwell, preventing the monsters in the rear from pushing through.

However, spider monsters were low-intelligence creatures that understood cooperative warfare. After a short while, other monsters would arrive to clear away the corpses and resume the assault upward.

Each defensive team consisted of two people, as any more would leave no room to maneuver. Coincidentally, the person assigned to Shen Lie's team was that breathtaking beauty who had struck a chord within him!

This girl was the sole survivor among the second-generation official clique of five, excluding Young Master Chu. She also held the highest status among the five—she was none other than the "Miss Ruobing" whom the arrogant Young Master Chu had spoken of: Xu Ruobing.