The immense shock to their minds left Wen Qingtian only with curiosity, and he let down his guard.
Gong Que, having been seconded here and worked for half a year, found everything familiar upon revisiting the place, and also forgot to be on guard.
Moreover, it was quiet, with no sense of danger, so the two felt very safe.
They thought that the army stationed here must have been redeployed after the apocalypse.
Because there were no people, and the zombies had left to find blood food elsewhere, this was an empty city.
"This is a city? Fantastic!"
After entering, Wen Qingtian would exclaim every so often as they walked.
Inside, it stretched as far as the eye could see, a vast space with streets crisscrossing in all directions.
If not for not being able to see the sky overhead, it would have been like being in a city.
"The zoning here is very well done. This is the residential area, and there's also a work area, a leisure area, and the engineering area is at the very back.
The engineering area has a large reserve of energy, capable of generating its own power. The houses in the residential area have water and electricity.
Various pipes are installed underground for the disposal of domestic waste and wastewater.
It's just unknown if the water here can still be drunk after the environmental changes.
I remember the engineering area has a water purification system. Let's go see if it's operating."
Thinking about the water issue, Gong Que pulled Wen Qingtian and walked towards the depths of the mountain.
Because the generators inside were operating automatically, and there was a lighting system on the cave ceiling, although it wasn't brightly lit, it was enough to see the way.
Wen Qingtian had already fallen in love with this place. It was a paradise, a utopia in the apocalypse!
So, he enthusiastically followed Gong Que through the streets towards the engineering area.
"Something's wrong, Gong Que, do you smell that foul odor?"
Wen Qingtian twitched his nose and asked Gong Que. He hadn't noticed it earlier due to his excitement, but the smell here was off.
And the deeper they went, the stronger the stench became, like the smell of decay from rotting corpses.
"It must be that the army stationed here had someone turn into a zombie and kill their comrades. Over time, the bodies rotted."
Gong Que didn't pay much attention, turning back to explain to Wen Qingtian. In the apocalypse, where were there no corpses? They could clean it up once their team moved in.
"Careful."
Wen Qingtian suddenly shouted, startling Gong Que. Then he felt himself being lifted into the air and thrown out by Wen Qingtian.
The moment he was airborne, he felt wind blades whizzing past him, launched by Wen Qingtian.
After landing, he looked back. Good heavens!
A dog as tall as a first-floor building was retracting a paw. Its eyes emitted green light like searchlights, staring at him and Wen Qingtian.
Scattered on the ground were dog hairs as thick as a finger, precisely what Wen Qingtian's wind blades had cut off. Looking at the dog's paw, as large as a millstone, Gong Que felt a chill of fear.
If Wen Qingtian hadn't noticed in time, thrown him out, and used wind blades to block this mutated dog, he would have been flattened into a meat patty by the dog's paw.
"Run!"
Taking advantage of the dog's moment of stunned silence, Wen Qingtian shouted again. He had just spotted a huge dark shadow appearing, about to attack Gong Que.
While throwing Gong Que out, he had unleashed his highest-level, seventh-grade wind blade, but it only managed to cut off a few dog hairs.
It had caused no damage to the mutated dog, proving that the dog's level was likely above eighth grade.
It was not something they could handle, so their only path to survival was to run, to leave this place quickly.
Wen Qingtian unleashed his wind ability to its maximum, pulling Gong Que, and they sprinted towards the city gate.
He was gambling that the mutated dog's massive size would be hindered by the buildings, preventing it from catching up to them.
His gamble paid off; the dog didn't pursue them, and the steel city gate was already within sight.
But then the light dimmed, and he heard movement overhead and rustling sounds from all directions.
Looking around, Wen Qingtian stumbled, nearly pulling Gong Que down.
Above them, countless giant bats, like a dark cloud covering the sky, were flying towards them.
And from the surrounding buildings, the figures of mutated animals began to appear, all rapidly converging towards them.
Among them were snakes as thick as water vats, rats the size of calves, and rabbits over three meters long.
Wen Qingtian cursed inwardly. This was no paradise, no utopia in the apocalypse; it was a dragon's den, a tiger's lair.
Despite his thoughts, escaping was paramount, and their feet didn't stop.
As long as they could escape the mountain's interior, with Wen Qingtian's speed, they still had a chance of survival.
But how could these mutated animals let them escape so easily?
Before they even got close, they began launching their abilities, all of them level six or higher.
Countless wooden spikes, ice arrows, and wind blades flew towards them.
They crisscrossed densely, obscuring their vision and making it impossible to see the path.
Gong Que conjured an earth shield to protect their bodies, deflecting the continuous barrage of attacks.
But the attacks were of no low level; the earth shield was shattered repeatedly, and Gong Que gritted his teeth, constantly reforming it.
Seeing Gong Que's strength waning, Wen Qingtian suddenly exerted himself, his wind ability surging.
Like a bolt of lightning, he dashed towards the light, dragging Gong Que out of the city gate.
He had intended to press on without stopping, to rush down Yunmeng Mountain directly, but he slammed on the brakes, halting his advance.
Because on the plaza in front of the city gate, an uncountable number of zombies had surrounded them.
Seeing them burst out of the city gate, the zombies merely surrounded them without attacking. A chill ran down their spines.
Based on their experience, such a reaction from a zombie horde indicated the presence of a Zombie King among them.
These zombies were controlled by the Zombie King, waiting for orders and coordinating their actions according to the King's plan.
With zombies blocking their path ahead and mutated animals in pursuit from behind, escape was impossible for now.
The two could only stop and prepare for battle. Gong Que activated his earth ability.
The bluestone slabs on the plaza lifted one by one, forming a makeshift fortress around them.
They hid within, observing the movements outside, searching for the Zombie King.
If they could catch it by surprise and kill the Zombie King, they could use the brief confusion of the zombie horde to escape.
After a thorough search, they pinpointed the target. It was quite obvious.
Standing in the middle of the path down the mountain was a tall zombie wearing camouflage. The other zombies maintained a distance from him, clearly afraid of him. He was likely their king.
At this moment, the mutated animals also chased out of the city gate.
Wen Qingtian and Gong Que's hearts leaped with hope, praying that these animals and zombies would attack each other, allowing them to escape in the ensuing chaos.
But strangely, the animals rushed directly towards the Zombie King, all prostrating themselves before him, including the mutated dog as tall as a first-floor building.
"Could it be that the Zombie King can control not only zombies but also mutated animals? Are they all in cahoots?"
A bad premonition struck them. While their minds were racing with speculation, they heard the Zombie King let out a strange cry, and all the zombies and animals launched an attack on them simultaneously.