"You... are you by any chance a survivor from a previous wave of crossing?"
Sigman asked, his face filled with terror.
But before Zhang Chen could answer, he immediately negated his own thought.
"That can't be right. The leader of our reporter camp said he'd seen survivors from the previous wave. They all had yellow rings on their hands!"
"He specifically warned us back then to stay away from any survivors wearing yellow rings!"
"Those people are all demons who kill without blinking!"
Sigman muttered to himself in a low voice.
But no matter how soft his voice was, it couldn't escape Zhang Chen's sharp senses.
Every word Sigman spoke entered Zhang Chen's ears.
"Good heavens, no need for interrogation. If we chat a bit longer, he'll spill everything."
"I know!"
Sigman suddenly shouted.
His shout startled Er Pang in the distance, causing him to perk up his ears and stand up.
Seven or eight clone soldiers immediately rushed over.
"Cough, cough..."
Sigman, realizing his voice had been too loud, quickly covered his embarrassment with a cough.
Then he said in a low voice:
"I know, you must be a survivor from the previous batch of crossing, right?"
"I knew it. There weren't just two waves of people crossing here, not even three. There might be more in the future..."
"Hiss..."
Speaking of which, Sigman shook his head again and mumbled softly:
"That's still not right. Survivors who crossed two waves earlier than us... are there beings like 'evolved ones' among them? We're already at the bottom of the barrel in our own wave... this... shouldn't be the case..."
Zhang Chen hadn't asked anything.
Sigman had revealed a lot of useful information, giving Zhang Chen a deeper understanding of this world.
At the same time, a terrifying guess formed in his mind!
If his guess was correct, they themselves should have been summoned by some means through the 'Progressive Faction'.
This means should be the 'great weapon' mentioned in historical records.
And when this method was activated, no survivor, infected, or mutated creature could escape its rules.
This included powerful existences like the Spider Queen.
This rule was the so-called 'reincarnation'.
It suppressed the power of the entire world into several stages.
In each stage, there would be survivors, infected, and mutated creatures corresponding to their respective strengths.
But by doing this, would the natives solve their own survival problems?
Weren't they afraid of these newcomers taking over?
Also, would these natives also enter the cycle of reincarnation?
If so, just how strong were they?
Every time a doubt was resolved, more doubts arose.
Now, Zhang Chen was even more curious about this world, the suppression of the next stage, and the strength of other survivors.
"It seems I won't get the answers I want from you. You can die now!"
Zhang Chen said, slowly raising his hand.
"Wait, wait, I... I have important intelligence!"
Sigman, terrified, crossed his arms in front of his face and said with a trembling voice.
"Speak quickly. It's getting dark, and I don't have time to waste with you!"
Zhang Chen said coldly.
"I... I roughly know who has the 'Lighthouse Key' you mentioned! One of the survivors who woke up with us before, named Zuo Nan, insisted on going to the interface city against my objections. He probably went to steal the key!"
"I told him many times that this opportunity should belong to the survivors of the next wave, and we shouldn't seize it!"
"But he wouldn't listen. I sent puppet warriors to intercept him, but it didn't work... sigh..."
Sigman's acting skills were in full bloom, his tone and expression perfectly matched.
Zhang Chen didn't care about the embellishments. He said slowly:
"Zuo Nan?"
"Yes, it must be Zuo Nan. We're the only survivors in this city, and only he left! Who else could it be?!"
Sigman was doing his best to smear Zuo Nan.
Since he wasn't doing well, Zuo Nan shouldn't be doing well either.
Zhang Chen secretly remembered the name Zuo Nan.
He had a survivor tracker that could locate survivors by name.
But this thing would definitely be ineffective against Zuo Nan.
Because he simply didn't exist in the database of Zhang Chen's current wave of survivors.
It was the same reason Zhang Chen couldn't use the skills on people like Sigman.
Only resources and items collected in this world later could be shared.
"The information you provided is useless. I can't verify the truth of your words, and you can't prove that what you're saying is definitely correct!"
"All of that is your conjecture. To use something like this to save your life, aren't you being too naive?"
Zhang Chen said expressionlessly.
"Wait, wait, I... I have one more important piece of intelligence!"
"But you'll have to trouble yourself to come with me. I haven't told anyone about this discovery!"
"I believe you'll be satisfied with this intelligence!"
Sigman hesitantly stood up. Seeing no one stopped him, he slowly walked forward.
He knew that with Zhang Chen's speed, he couldn't escape.
So he obediently walked ahead, and didn't play any tricks along the way.
This piece of intelligence was Sigman's last trump card. Sigman believed that Zhang Chen would recognize his loyalty through this matter!
Soon, Sigman led Zhang Chen to the back alley of the hotel.
Here, on the ground, lay a man in slumber, also wearing a dark red ring on his hand.
If there was any difference between this man and Sigman, it was mainly in his skin and demeanor.
Although Sigman had changed into clean clothes, his demeanor constantly revealed caution and flattery.
Moreover, his skin was covered with bruises and scars, and he could see the brand of the letters 'SPV' on his neck.
Usually, only livestock or slaves were branded with symbols.
It could be inferred that Sigman and the others were actually the weakest existences among the survivors of the previous wave, a group of slaves.
And this person in front of him, with no brand on his neck, was likely someone on the side of the 'slave owners'.
"His name is Xisile. He's the overseer who watches over us slaves. He's the weakest among all the overseers!"
"I discovered him by chance. He hasn't revived yet, but I feel that since he can appear, he's very likely to awaken in the second stage of the apocalypse!"
"His strength is at the first stage of a high-level evolved one, with a rare talent. If he awakens, he will definitely pose a threat to you!"
Sigman said with a look of seeking credit.
Zhang Chen took a closer look, and soon a prompt appeared:
[Awakening Progress: 99%, Estimated Awakening in 1 minute and 43 seconds!]
At the same time, the last rays of the sun were completely blocked by the buildings, and the entire city plunged into darkness...
Night had fallen!