Book 6 Chapter 39.9 - Silent
It was already late into the night, the southern continent gradually entering a stillness. In the lush primitive forest, many nocturnal creatures began to forage for food, while large scale mutated creatures had already eaten their fill, lazily sleeping. The villages scattered at the edge of the rainforest also became quiet, everyone long entering a land of dreams. Night in the southern continent was extremely dangerous, only the best hunters would move at night.
It was now summer, apart from corn that was close to harvest, there was enough food that could be found in the rainforest as well. Food was not a problem in this region, because the number of humans had never erupted like in the olden era. Plagues, venomous insects, mutated creatures, harsh weather, any one of these was enough to take human lives at any time. This night was especially dangerous, countless hidden undercurrents flowing outside the perception of ordinary people. They didn’t know where the danger came from, but it actually had nothing to do with them either. In this era, the only use ordinary humans served at the crucial juncture of an era was at most being spectators, while most people didn’t even have the qualifications to do this. It was because when the shift in events happened, they wouldn’t be able to detect anything at all.
Under the cover of night, the mountain range of the southern continent’s western region was shaking slightly, many mutated creatures roused awake, fleeing from their homes in panic, escaping from the source of the quaking. They only knew fear, not knowing what the source of this fear was. However, if they looked carefully, they would discover that in the pitch-black night, there were actually mountain peaks that were slowly moving! Moreover, it wasn’t just a single peak that was moving!
The northern continent’s night wasn’t calm either, but compared to the southern continent, it was still much more peaceful. This was only because after the purge, there already weren’t many large scale life forms left. Moreover, even though it was winter, large amounts of corpses that hadn’t been dealt with and buried were still starting to rot. As a result, many of the fortunate creatures who managed to survive died after eating the rotten corpses.
Life in the entire northern continent was already extremely scarce, no matter how active bugs and mice were, they couldn’t restore the past liveliness.
In Arthur Family’s territory, scenes of renewed life after calamity could be found everywhere. Because they managed to hold out under the mechanical bug swarm’s attacks to the end, which was why the territory’s few important facilities could still be used, the number of survivors was as many as five hundred. This was because there were many who hid in sturdy bunkers, and as such, the mechanical bug swarm didn’t have the extra time to deal with them. Even though it was late into the night, vehicles could still be seen driving back and forth in the family’s territory, the warehouse and factories all brightly lit, people busying about like ants, completely forgetting that this was when they should be sleeping.
After the mechanical bug swarm passed, there were less than fifty soldiers left in Arthur Family, the various permanent and half-permanent military installations almost completely destroyed. The weapons and food production factories had long been blasted to the ground, because the limited military strength had to be used to defend energy facilities and the bunkers family members were hiding in. On a mountaintop with a magnificent view, O’Brien, Eileen, and Persephone were currently standing, overlooking this bustling scene under the curtain of night. Early next morning, the loading trucks would set out for Dragon City, which was why they had to pack up all of the family’s most important things. Everything that was secondary would be left behind.
After experiencing the terror of a mechanical army of ten thousand, everyone understood that the family’s power alone definitely couldn’t stop the next attack. All of the heavy firepower had pretty much all been destroyed, so forget about a few million combat units, even if a single million came, they still wouldn’t be able to resist. As a result, O’Brien immediately decided to move the family, head to Dragon City where the remaining forces of the human race gathered. Through his dazzling performance in both the civil war and mechanical bug swarm battles, O’Brien already basically accepted the authority to lead the family from his father’s hands. Even if a few elders still felt some unwillingness towards this, before O’Brien’s strength that was equivalent to eleven levels, they could only shut their mouths, let alone the fact that Elieen and Persephone were standing behind him. In this era, especially one enveloped in the flames of war, all qualifications and seniority had to move aside for military strength.
While watching the family members busy about, O’Brien’s brows furrowed tightly together, not looking happy. Even though they were now far from Arthur Family when it was at its peak, their numbers only a third of the original, compared to other families, they were far better off. The William Family who was also one of the three great influential families had already been completely wiped out, less than ten individuals from their family surviving.
However, his worries weren’t only for his clansmen, but rather that not long ago, a heart shaking feeling was suddenly transmitted. This was an omen similar to an ocean roar or volcanic eruption. In that instant, O’Brien’s heart seemed to have stopped beating, to the extent where he couldn’t make any movements. If it wasn’t for this feeling being extremely short, O’Brien even suspected that he might have just died. Back then, it wasn’t only O’Brien, Eileen and Persephone both felt it as well. Persephone’s reaction was even a bit stronger, almost fainting. When they recovered, they gave each other a look, knowing that something definitely happened. It might be a natural phenomenon, might be a man-made disaster.
It was precisely because of this extremely horrible feeling that O’Brien immediately gave the order to speed up the family’s relocation process. Everyone had to work through the night, everything that couldn’t be removed and transported to be abandoned. They were going to leave at the crack of dawn.
A wave of cold night wind swept over. O’Brien couldn’t help but cough, his originally pale face becoming entirely red, body also convulsing. Eileen held him, gently patting his back to help alleviate a bit of his suffering. Even though she was fully deserving of her title as a Magic Domain master, she knew nothing about the treatment of another. Meanwhile, Persephone’s treatment skills far surpassed Eileen’s, but she was also completely helpless before O’Brien’s condition. She had long examined O’Brien’s body, knowing that her younger brother’s internal organs were practically all rotting to death. He suffered too many injuries, reaching the point where his body couldn’t endure it at all. New injuries were placed on old injuries, being able to live to this day completely a miracle in itself. O’Brien was quiet and weak, giving off a bit of a poet’s melancholy feeling. However, he was constantly igniting his own body and life, relying on this type of method, relying on the blazing life force to barely maintain his body’s operation. Even so, no one knew how long this type of state could be continued, perhaps it was a few years, perhaps only a few days.