Chapter Forty-Six: Breaking Through the Red Mist

A piercing scream rang out, and Shen Lie seemed to hear the shattering of glass in the void. Then the scene before his eyes split like a spiderweb. When he steadied himself again, the world had completely changed.

No arched bridge remained, no cauldron of soup, and the old woman was nowhere to be seen. Beneath his feet was still that black, raven-built bridge; around him was still the crowd fleeing for their lives; and before him, a shaft of light!

The long-lost light filled Shen Lie with wild joy. Thinking of nothing else, he charged straight toward it.

Seven kilometers outside East Wind Town, a winding line of survivors stopped there like a giant dragon. At a glance, the end could not be seen, and by rough estimate there were at least twenty thousand people.

This was a survivor convoy evacuated from Black Province. At first there were one hundred thousand people, and with those who had joined intermittently along the road, the number had once peaked at three hundred thousand.

They were protected by the military forces of a full division. It was precisely because of this military escort that these survivors could be gathered together. By now, the regions north of Liao Province had basically been occupied by monsters, and it was impossible to cross layers of danger alone to reach the survivor settlement in Sun City.

Even so, not many survivors had remained by the time they got here. Setting aside the spider monsters and other mutated creatures they might encounter at any moment, they had also run into repeated bizarre events, slowing their journey; after nearly three months, they had only just managed to reach northern Green Mountain Province, still a long way from Sun City.

They had suffered too many disasters along the way, and supplies such as food and water were desperately scarce. Combined with those who had split off for one reason or another, the population had fallen by more than ninety percent. The military had also suffered grievous losses, shrinking from eight thousand organized troops at the start to fewer than two thousand now. Their weapons were nearly exhausted, and the soldiers' fighting spirit had been worn down to almost nothing.

A month earlier, the military had stopped overseeing the distribution of food. Aside from still providing some protection to the followers when facing monsters, everything else was left to each person’s own devices. Life and death were to be determined by fate.

"Division Commander, the situation ahead is too strange. I think we should take a detour," said a haggard young officer as he put down his binoculars and looked at the division commander in front of him.

"Heh. Have we encountered few strange situations on this journey? If we detour, it won't be a small one. To the left, toward Hong City, there’s a monster tide. To the right, we’d have to cross a tributary of the Pine River. You know what the Pine River is like now. How could we possibly get through?"

The division commander’s face was equally grim. They had just barely broken through one monster attack and thought the rest of the journey might be easier, but now this had appeared before them as well. The red fog that blotted out the sky lay ahead like a crimson sea, leaving him trapped between advance and retreat.

A gunshot suddenly rang out from the rear ranks. The division commander merely arched a brow, neither speaking nor asking questions. With danger looming at every moment and supplies in short supply, the nerves of the survivors were stretched to a breaking point, and it was inevitable that people would sometimes do excessive things. He had no choice but to issue a kill order to his subordinates: anyone deliberately causing trouble would be shot in public as a warning to the rest.

"Division Commander, I still think crossing here is not a wise choice. Or perhaps we could send an Awakened ahead to scout?" The young officer, seeing that the commander had no intention of withdrawing, proposed another idea.

"No. The Awakened are the key to our safe arrival in Sun City. Every one we lose means greater danger for us. Besides, our number of Awakened is limited, and we still need them to keep Gu Chengfang and the others in check." After only a slight hesitation, the division commander rejected the suggestion.

"But if we send ordinary soldiers instead, who knows how many more will have to die this time? I truly don't know how many of us will still be left when we reach our destination." The young officer sounded somewhat agitated.

"Born into this era, no one can predict what tomorrow will bring. Charging forward is death; not charging forward may not mean survival either. I never believed in luck before, but now I can only hope ours will be a little better."

"Gu Chengfang and the others are truly going too far. They occupy the best supplies yet always stand behind us. How can people like that become bloodline Awakened? Heaven is blind!" The officer wore an indignant expression, though it was tinged with envy.

"Heh. Xiao Hu, remember this: the age has changed. The future world belongs to the Awakened. Right now we can still rely on rules to control them, but once we reach Sun City, I'm afraid the situation will be entirely different. By then, perhaps both you and I will have to take orders from them."

"Impossible. Division Commander, don't say that. We will definitely defeat those monsters and restore order!" The young officer called Xiao Hu spoke with firm conviction.

Looking at the youth's immature face, the division commander could not help but shake his head. He gazed into the distance and let out a sigh.

"Report! Eagle Eye has sent word that human traces have been discovered on the left side of the red fog ahead, and someone is even coming out of the fog!"

"What? Let's go take a look!" The division commander was momentarily stunned, then immediately waved his hand and headed toward the camp.

Shen Lie passed through the shaft of light and realized that he had already left the red fog zone. Around him were quite a few people, including Professor Liu and Du Lili, as well as Yang Weiguo and several of his men. However, Zhang Jing, Tao Tao, and the other familiar faces were nowhere to be seen.

"You're out?" Du Lili greeted him first upon seeing Shen Lie. Professor Liu nodded as well, and then they shifted their attention to the place where he had just emerged.

Shen Lie took in the surroundings and found that he was indeed outside the red fog. The air and sky were clear beyond measure, and the distant view was full of life.

"So we've made it out?" Shen Lie exhaled softly, joy appearing on his face.

"Yes, we've made it out. But far too few people have come out," Professor Liu said, withdrawing his gaze from the luminous passage with a sigh of emotion.

Shen Lie glanced at the passage of light and saw that its glow was gradually fading. No one knew what kind of mutation had occurred inside, but once the passage was completely sealed, the chance of anyone still within emerging would be extremely slim.

From the more than one thousand people who had set out before evacuation, only thirty or forty remained now. The attrition rate was so high it was almost unbearable. Shen Lie looked once more at those who had come out, confirmed that Zhang Jing and Tao Tao were not among them, and a trace of sorrow surfaced in his eyes.

"Let's go. No one else will come out." Seeing the light on the verge of extinguishing, Professor Liu had no choice but to accept reality and said this desolately.

"Ah!" Suddenly, two figures, one large and one small, burst out of the passage, which had been reduced to a mere slit, drawing gasps from everyone present.

"Zhang Jing? Tao Tao!" Shen Lie was instantly overcome with surprise and delight when he saw who had emerged. When he noticed Tao Tao's eyes, now turned violet, his joy deepened even further.

"Is there anyone else behind you?" Professor Liu and Yang Weiguo asked at the same time, but the only answer was Zhang Jing shaking her head.

"The crows have already scattered!" Zhang Jing said, still shaken with lingering fear.