Chapter 314 The Owner of the Dark Red Ring

"Oh, Dad, Xiaobai hasn't had enough fun yet!" Xiaobai pouted and complained. "We're about to reach the station, we can't play anymore!" Zhang Chen said softly, stroking Xiaobai's soft, smooth hair. The train continued to move forward for several hundred meters due to inertia. Suddenly, a gust of fresh air hit them. Then, a small bright spot appeared in front of them; it was the exit of the tunnel. However, due to the damaged control panel, the train could no longer start. "It's less than a kilometer away, we can just walk out!" Zhang Chen said, then leaped directly out of the broken windshield. Er Pang and Xiaobai followed closely. Finally, the perfectly synchronized 99 clones followed. The group slowly emerged from the tunnel. It was already dusk. The setting sun was like blood, casting a golden-red hue over the entire city. The buildings in this city, like those in the interface city, were all well-preserved. However, the surfaces of these buildings lacked energy defense grids. Plastic bags and waste paper were occasionally rolled up by the wind on the streets, dancing in the air for a while before slowly falling. This gave a sense of desolation and decay. Zhang Chen looked back at the clone army. They followed behind with expressionless faces, showing no reaction. It was as if there were no infected in this city. Otherwise, they would have sensed it first. Zhang Chen nodded. Indeed, with so many puppet warriors guarding the tunnel, ordinary infected might not be able to break through. After all, the terrifying aspects of infected were their ability to infect survivors and their powerful offensive capabilities. All their skills were almost designed to hunt survivors. However, puppet warriors were not living beings, so they wouldn't attract the attacks of infected. Secondly, they wouldn't die, and under such slaughter, no infected could escape unscathed. This place was likely an empty city! And Zhang Chen was the first batch of survivors to land in this city! "Everyone spread out and search the surrounding buildings for useful supplies. We'll gather at the plaza over there!" Zhang Chen said, looking at a stone statue not far away. The stone statue was a sculpture of Tang Houde. He wore glasses, holding a book in his left hand, and his right palm was facing up, with a messy carving on it. It was unclear what it represented; it could be a symbol of technology or the image of a classic scientific research product. At the base of the statue was a large plaza. Five roads converged here. This was a location with extremely wide visibility. Setting up camp here would make it difficult to be ambushed! Although there were no infected here, this was still an unfamiliar place. Moreover, after this long journey, Zhang Chen realized that the Progressive Faction was not to be trifled with. The mutated creatures outside were indeed powerful, but the scientific products of the Progressive Faction were not to be underestimated. It would be quite troublesome if he accidentally triggered something. Caution was paramount! The clones, in pairs, began to disperse towards the surrounding buildings. Zhang Chen then took Xiaobai and activated his portable manor next to the statue. In an instant, a small city appeared before Zhang Chen. It almost filled the entire plaza. The manor was surrounded by five-story high city walls, with one city gate and one rear gate. Upon entering, there was a street, with warehouses on both sides and some reserved open spaces, which might accommodate new buildings and functions with upgrades. Further ahead was a fountain, followed by a six-story main building. Behind the building was a ten-mu farm, currently only one mu was planted, and the rest were empty. "Wow, Dad, this new house is so beautiful!" Xiaobai exclaimed sincerely. "Well, this will be our new home from now on. You can pick any room you like!" Zhang Chen said, then took out the villa and placed it inside the portable manor. With the portable manor, the 99 clones beside him would have a place to live. In no time, the clones returned one after another from the surrounding buildings. They were all empty-handed, having found no supplies. Zhang Chen was not angry at this situation; instead, he became exceptionally excited! According to the communication results from the clones through telepathy with Zhang Chen, the surrounding buildings seemed to have been thoroughly searched beforehand. The supermarket shelves were empty, and torn packaging bags were scattered on the ground, suggesting that someone, while searching, couldn't resist eating some items on the spot due to hunger. In the shopping malls, bedding, clothing, shoes, and any other useful supplies imaginable had vanished without a trace. There was a thin layer of dust on the shelves, but the places where goods were originally stored were almost dust-free. This indicated that these places were also searched recently. Infected and mutated creatures wouldn't be interested in food or daily necessities. The only explanation was... there were other survivors in this city?! Given that Zhang Chen, as the world's top fighter, had struggled immensely to fight his way into the interface city and then to Bengkou City... Zhang Chen had strong reasons to believe that the inhabitants here could only be of two types: survivors who were incredibly lucky and time-traveled here at the very beginning of the apocalypse. The other possibility was that they were original inhabitants who had just awakened! Zhang Chen leaned towards the latter. If they were survivors who time-traveled here from the beginning of the apocalypse, then their collection of supplies would have been completed thirty days ago. The new phase of the apocalypse seemed to have shifted the entire apocalyptic process forward by three years. Logically, if the supplies in a building were cleared out three years ago, then no more supplies would appear three years later. However, the traces on the shelves indicated that these supplies were taken away just a few days ago. It was now the seventh day of the new apocalypse phase. Analyzing all the above circumstances, it seemed only the second possibility was plausible! There were original inhabitants who had just awakened here! It had to be! Zhang Chen excitedly opened the "Survivor Detector," a recently acquired item. "Use!" Sizzling! The indicator light of the Survivor Detector flashed twice. "Ding! Bengkou City Survivor Heatmap has been saved to the electronic minimap. Please check it yourself!" Hu. Zhang Chen took a deep breath. Original inhabitants, this was something he had been looking for since he time-traveled and discovered Xu Ruina. "Looking for something everywhere, and finding it without even trying..." Was he about to encounter them here?! Just as he was about to open the electronic minimap to check, a man suddenly descended from the sky, landing gracefully on the city wall of the portable manor. "Hello there, fatty!" The man greeted Zhang Chen with a smile. Fatty? Zhang Chen frowned and sized up the man. Suddenly, he noticed that the man was wearing a dark red ring on his finger!