Chapter Fifty-Seven: Chaotic District D

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A place not marked on any map, the most perilous edge of the main city.

Everyone yearns for the glamour and brilliance inside the three great cities, yet few realize that the main city is also the most dangerous; its surroundings conceal countless places unknown to ordinary people, such as the Radiation Zone.

The Radiation Zone is a blanket term for areas polluted by large-scale nuclear and other radiological weapons. Over the past hundred years, people have gradually divided the Radiation Zone into five levels: S, A, B, C, and D.

If the main city where the Three Kings reside is considered humanity’s S Zone, then the S Zone of the mutants is much the same. Each S Zone hides many secrets, home to the mutant kings and the highest concentration of power. Apart from the Three Kings themselves, perhaps no other human could enter an S Zone.

The A Zone resembles the nine great cities, possessing supreme strength and guarding the entrance to the S Zone—a true gateway.

The remaining B, C, and D Zones are far more chaotic. These three regions may be the most disorderly and unimaginable places in the world: bloodthirsty mutants battle monsters several times their size for scraps of meat, while mad “scientists” create creatures beyond imagination.

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A stark line between yellow and green appears deep within the forest. It is hard to imagine, amidst the dense greenery, a place more barren than a desert—nothing alive exists here, and the world seems dead.

“Ling’er, how much longer until we reach the nearest guard station?”

Ye Bai walked ahead, swinging his long blade through grass taller than a man to clear a path for the three. In the middle was Yao Ling, her eyes fixed on the map displayed by the smart brain, occasionally glancing at the sun to check their direction.

“About an hour left.” Yao Ling measured the distance with her pinky nail, then mentally calculated the time based on the map’s scale.

The sun and nighttime stars are forever the best guides. Since the onset of the Age of Darkness, the Earth’s magnetism has become as fickle as a newborn, west one moment, east the next.

Early in the Age of Darkness, someone tried using a compass to escape, only to wander in circles. If not for someone stumbling upon him, he might never have left the forest. He insisted he was heading toward Y City in the south, but his rescuer simply placed the compass on the ground. Within five hours, the direction of south changed five times.

At the rear walked Cao Xiaoseng, burdened with bags large and small. Ye Bai carried his own, while Cao Xiaoseng shouldered both his and Yao Ling’s.

They had been walking for three hours. The Radiation Zone is hidden; no vehicles reach it directly. Each person tasked with a mission here must travel on foot to the guard station for supplies. Though the area near the main city lacks formidable mutant beasts, they still encountered a few entry-level ones along the way. Ye Bai intended to quickly end the fights.

Unexpectedly, Yao Ling asked to handle them herself, seeking to hone her combat skills.

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On the smart brain, a red dot flashed continuously, inching closer to the yellow dot marking their destination. Strangely, the nearer they got to the guard station, the smaller the surrounding plants became, until Ye Bai no longer needed to clear a path.

Gradually, the green vegetation faded to pale green, then yellow, and finally disappeared almost entirely.

“Is this the guard station?” Ye Bai asked in surprise.

“Yes.”

In this direction, there was only one guard station, built to repel the mutants from the other side.

Ye Bai stared at the guard station, larger than his childhood home city of Muyang, rendered speechless. When did guard stations become grander than cities?

This was undoubtedly the largest guard station Ye Bai had ever seen—one could call it a city. The side facing the Radiation Zone bristled with laser cannons, and the entrance was studded with steel spikes. The walls and ground were stained with blackened, dried blood; no one knew how many human warriors or mutants had died here. “Iron Fortress”—the phrase sprang to Ye Bai’s mind.

Entering the guard station was not complex; perhaps the status of Purple Star Academy played a role, or maybe the station master had prior knowledge of their mission. They entered the central command room with ease.

“Haha, you’ve finally arrived! True heroes in their youth,” the station master greeted Ye Bai and his companions with a smile.

“Station master, you flatter us. Without your efforts defending against the mutants, our lives would not be so peaceful. You are the one who deserves the highest praise.”

Ye Bai stepped forward to echo the station master’s words. Mutual flattery exists in every era, every field.

The station master clearly appreciated Ye Bai’s compliment, his smile deepening. His acknowledgment was their greatest encouragement, and after some friendly exchanges, they got down to business.

“Station master, what’s happened? The mission was issued by you—what’s going on here?” When it came to serious matters, Ye Bai’s smile vanished, replaced by earnestness.

“Ah, around this time every year, mutants riot for a period. Sometimes it’s large-scale, sometimes small. Small outbreaks are handled by our soldiers; larger ones must be reported to the main city.” He then called to a staff member seated nearby: “Xiao Wei.”

Xiao Wei understood immediately, and with a flick of his finger, brought up video footage of mutant assaults from the past week.

The video first showed a mutant smaller than a typical human slowly approaching the guard station, followed by a mutated beast of unknown type, its body the size of a house. More and more mutants emerged from the D Zone.

At first, the guard station showed no signs of attack. Hundreds of mutants had appeared already; evidently, the station intended to wait until they were closer before opening fire, increasing accuracy.

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When the mutants were about a hundred meters from the station, the laser cannons atop the walls began to fire. Blue streaks of light swept through the mutant ranks, carving clear paths amid the chaos.

A centipede’s resilience persists even after death, and these mutants, infected by radiation, are far tougher. As long as their heads remain intact, they ignore all injuries, charging forward with reckless abandon.

The walls had two levels: the upper held the laser cannons, while the lower was manned by soldiers wielding pulse rifles, and above them, some clung to even higher vantage points with weapons known as mini-lasers—powerful enough that only entry-level Star Core warriors could withstand the recoil; anyone weaker risked shattering their shoulder bones with a single shot.

The guard station’s soldiers were clearly veterans; nearly every shot struck down an enemy, and those wielding mini-lasers targeted the massive mutants.

Ye Bai watched as the mini-lasers left meter-long streaks of light in the air, flashing and piercing mutant skulls. Unlucky mutants were skewered, sometimes killing two or three at once.

But sheer numbers could not be overcome with mere guns and cannons. The mutants kept advancing. As they neared the wall, about a dozen swift mutants burst from the edge of the D Zone, reaching the base of the wall in the blink of an eye.

The soldiers atop the wall had no time to lock onto them; those with mini-lasers saw only blurred figures through their scopes.

No one atop the wall fled. The swift mutants plunged their long claws into the wall, scaling it with ease. Soldiers tried to shoot them, but the mutants moved faster—a single sweep of black claws severed heads, and dozens of soldiers died in an instant.

Only then did six middle-aged men emerge from within the guard station, clearly entry-level Star Core warriors. Two of them carried nets reminiscent of those used for fishing, rushing toward the mutants.

Once ensnared by the nets, the mutants lost their speed and were easily dispatched by the soldiers. The ordinary mutants below, serving as cannon fodder, were nearly wiped out, with a few lucky ones reaching the gate only to be skewered by steel spikes.

Clearly, this attack was just a probe.

The dead would not return; the living continued to defend the guard station. Their names may be forgotten, but the blood they shed for humanity will never be.