Chapter 156 South City Camp Again
Zhao Yimin was not fearful, but he carried a strong sense of discomfort, even after so many apocalyptic battles.
This time, he still felt uncomfortable, a feeling of extreme eeriness.
"Take me there."
The bodies were found within the residential complex, not on the first floor, but between the complex's rooftop and the first basement level of the parking garage.
Zhao Yimin, following routine, entered to clean up the complex's resources and search for survivors.
Everything seemed normal in the first complex, with scattered monsters in the hallways and rooms, which they dealt with one by one.
The usable resources were all cleared out, and survivors hiding in the rooms were found and temporarily detained for questioning.
But as they got to the second complex, they quickly realized something was wrong. Although there were still monsters, there were no signs of human activity.
As they inspected building by building, they discovered a significant problem.
The three of them walked along the streets of the complex, reaching the entrance to the underground parking garage, where guard personnel had already been positioned.
"It's inside, the smell is quite strong."
Inside the parking garage, the Ancient Tree Crystals had been arranged, so it wasn't particularly dark.
As they walked in, their footsteps echoed in the silent garage. Cars parked on both sides were covered with a thin layer of dust.
As they reached the depths of the garage, a dark, twisted object shockingly came into view, accompanied by the pungent smell of charred flesh and gasoline. A strong sense of shock and nausea surged.
It was a twisted giant 'sculpture' of corpses, with four or five human-shaped charred bodies serving as the base, arms chopped off, faces turned outward, bodies pierced and held together by thick wires through the shoulder blades and spine.
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Their compact bodies were gathered together like a pillar, supporting the entire eerie ensemble.
Above were similarly compactly arranged, stacked mummies without limbs, resembling human swine.
There were three layers in total, the top having just one mummy, while the chopped arms were haphazardly stuck on top of the corpse column, twisted and flaring, as if begging for something.
Disgust, coldness, oppression
This sinister pillar of corpses gave people an overwhelmingly twisted, disgusting feeling.
It definitely wasn't the work of monsters.
That was everyone's first impression. Despite the sculpture's distorted shape, the ceremonious horror, and the strange symbols drawn in blood on the floor, now turned pitch black, all suggested it was man-made.
"Damn it, who the freak did this?"
Zhu Xiong cursed fiercely, his brows furrowed deeper than ever, such actions having crossed the line of humanity.
"Is the rooftop situation similar?"
Su Han seemed slightly calmer, but his expression was also unsightly.
Zhao Yimin nodded, "Yes... but that one was a woman."
"Search for them. I want to see if this group is still around. If they are, they're getting sent off."
His tone was extremely cold, for anyone who could deal with their compatriots so ruthlessly, regardless of the reason, was definitely not normal and would only cause trouble.
However, contrary to their wishes, during the search, they only found more signs of humans being slaughtered, even remains left from cannibalism, but they never found their whereabouts.
"Madness, there are plenty of resources on the streets... yet they resort to cannibalism."
Zhu Xiong felt a fire burning in his chest, feeling a chill, dealing with a group that had gone mad and was still wandering in the apocalypse.
Su Han's face was stern as he said, "If we encounter them in the future, finish them. Be careful during your scouting missions."
"Yep," Zhu Xiong nodded heavily, then added fiercely, "If I find them, I'll scatter their ashes."
In the apocalypse, not only were there monsters, but under such terrifying pressures, any twisted person would gradually emerge.
Sometimes, twisted thoughts and will could gather people far more than terrifying regimes.
Having discovered such incidents, Su Han didn't leave first this time but waited until Zhu Xiong and Zhao Yimin had finished gathering some of the resources before heading back together.
Zhu Xiong didn't rest long upon returning before he pulled together Gan Xinglei and a large group of people to move all the resources back.
Metal plates, iron frames welded into chassis, Vine Giant Rats pulling carts, along with several trucks deployed in a grand scale towards the zoo area and the neighborhoods of the previous complexes to collect all the resources.
Although the main goal this time was to eliminate the Chang Beasts, the yield in resources was substantial.
The proliferation of Chang Beasts had attacked and killed many humans and monsters in the area, so many resources were preserved, not in small amounts.
Old cars, road metal fences, and so on were turned into half-ton metal cubes by the Scorpion Spider Demon, nearly a thousand large and small; transferring them all wasn't a one or two-trip job.
There were also some other miscellaneous resources requiring time.
However, Su Han was relatively at ease, because several Second-order Contractors going out together were enough to handle many dangers.
The Fusion progress of the Mother Nest Ancient Tree was somewhat slower compared to the Blood-winged Alligator Dragon; when Su Han returned, it had only reached 87%.
The blood of the Chang Beast surrounding it had already been cleanly fused by the vines, and it had gradually started to use the monster corpses stored in the roots.
However, these corpses were not numerous; fortunately, Zhu Xiong began to transport the monster corpses Su Han had killed to the campsite.
In this way, the Fusion progress of the Chang Beast seed gradually increased, reaching 100% in the afternoon.
[Chang Beast seed Fusion complete, Mother Nest Ancient Tree gains skill: LV1 Tree-born Blood-winged Tiger]
As the tree's body grew with the Fusion, the vines spread an additional hundred meters, and its aura also strengthened further.
However, compared to these accumulations of power, Su Han had a look of surprise as the skills brought by the Chang Beast seed turned out to be of a flying unit lineage.
He carefully sensed the skills, and before long, he had specific data: "Operational range 2000 meters, quantity 20, but with strength level around First-level Intermediate."
Even though the number was smaller, Su Han revealed a smile. This was a flying unit—having aerial forces versus none was a tremendous difference.
He was somewhat impatient and immediately began to control the Mother Nest Ancient Tree to cultivate the Blood-winged Tigers, actively manipulating the skill which multiplied the consumption of the Ancient Tree; it was this rapid consumption that satisfied the quick cultivation of the Tree-born lineage.
Su Han was unconcerned about the quantity consumed, as there was still a large amount of monster flesh and blood being transported here.
Soon among the vines, dark tree pouches began to droop down, twenty in total, each larger than the pouches of the Vine Giant Rat.
As he continuously activated the LV1 Blood-winged Tiger skill, a vast amount of Spiritual Energy was transferred into the tree pouches, one by one, the monster flesh was devoured by the vines of the Mother Nest Ancient Tree.
After about half an hour, the tree pouches finally swelled significantly, and then with a crackling sound, they split open.
"Roar"
The roaring sound erupted as a blood-red tiger burst out from within the tree pouches, flapping its wings and diving from a height of several tens of meters, before swiftly climbing and circling in the air.
In total, twenty membrane-winged Blood Tigers circled for a while before immediately landing on the ground.
Su Han focused his gaze and immediately showed a satisfied expression.
The Blood-winged Tigers, shoulder height taller than a man, were nearly four meters in length, completely blood-red interwoven with black patterns, somber and cold; their eyes green and emitting a chilling light, vines extended from the base of their wings down their backs, gently swaying, signifying their Tree-born identity.
At his mental command, the Blood-winged Tigers immediately dashed toward the pile of metal cubes nearby.
As they dived, the vines on their backs quickly spread out, binding several of the cubes.
With wings flapping, they ascended, dragging three cubes up into the sky.
Though the action was slightly sluggish, the three cubes together weighed 1.5 tons. Although not as much as the load of the Vine Giant Rat, as aerial units, this load was already impressive.
In the area of the ring belt, those on patrol and guard duty quickly spotted the crimson creatures and hurried over, shocked to see more than ten identical beasts in front of Su Han.
Some wanted to lend a hand but were stopped by an elder of the camp.
"Team leader, shouldn't we, shouldn't we help the leader?"
"Help with what? Those are the offspring of the leader's Angel Envoy."
The man addressed as team leader slapped the head of the young man beside him, then said, "We might be in good fortune soon."
His eyes conveyed respect— the more powerful Su Han became, the safer the camp would be. As long as they closely followed the leader's steps, everyone would grow stronger.
"Whir"
In flight, suddenly a giant Bat Wing Beast rapidly approached, and Su Han's eyes narrowed as he saw Ye Kailing behind it.
The Bat Wing Beast swiftly landed, and Ye Kailing dismounted, her eyes catching sight of the Blood-winged Tiger and showing a look of astonishment.
"Kailing, what's the matter?"
Ye Kailing snapped back to reality and immediately said, "People from the South City camp have arrived, and they've been temporarily arranged to rest in the Summer Garden Mall. Do you want to meet them?"
Su Han showed a look of surprise; they had actually braved such a dense fog to come here.
It had been quite some time since the last incident at the Bei Qing Grain Warehouse, and Su Han was also curious about recent events at the South City camp.
After thinking, he asked, "How many people came?"
Ye Kailing responded, "More than twenty, led by Zhao Yaqian and Cheng Zhenyong. Cheng Zhenyong is already Second Order, not weak in strength."
"Not bad."
Su Han smiled and then said, "In that case, tell Meiyu to arrange it, directly host a banquet at the Summer Garden Mall to welcome them and also to see what their purpose is this time."
They were all old acquaintances, and the two camps had established cooperative relations; hosting was indeed in line with common sense.
Ye Kailing nodded and said, "Then I will go contact Meiyu right away."