The sun slowly rose again from the horizon, the dawn glow on the sky becoming more and more intense.
Lu Heng stood on the city wall, gazing at the surrounding situation. Since occupying this place, he hadn't truly examined the terrain and environment.
He took a drone from his spatial storage and controlled it to capture the surrounding scenery from high in the sky.
Further away from [Fallen City], there were also scattered houses, likely villages from before the apocalypse. Those villages lacked extensive walls, making them unable to resist zombies, and they were gradually abandoned.
Even further away, the drone couldn't reach. However, Lu Heng devised a plan. He tied a camera to the golden eagle's body. As long as the golden eagle flew high enough, zombies or ordinary ability users below wouldn't be able to attack it.
...
Meanwhile, dozens of kilometers away from [Fallen City].
A group of exhausted people had just woken up. They had chosen a farm. The population in this area was small before the apocalypse, so there weren't many zombies around or within the farm when they arrived.
Most of this group were ability users, though their ability levels weren't very high. After killing the zombies, they decided to temporarily spend the night here, planning to rest for a night before continuing their search for a safe haven.
These people had previously lived in an abandoned factory. However, the number of zombies around the factory was considerable. They had persevered for a long time, and as resources in the vicinity became increasingly difficult to obtain and the environment became less conducive to survival, they chose to relocate.
"Damn it, didn't I tell you not to make a fire? It's early in the morning, are you trying to die?" A man kicked a woman and then used his ability to create a water column, extinguishing the fire that had just been lit.
Another old woman quickly helped the kicked woman up and said to the man who had injured her, "Qiangzi, her child is too young, and all the boiled water is gone. She just wanted to boil some water for the child to drink."
"Hmph, if that useless brat dies, it dies. Keeping it is just a burden. If its crying attracts zombies later, we'll all be finished," Qiangzi said, looking at a bundle next to the woman.
The bundle contained an infant, so thin it was deformed. Its skin was sallow and shriveled, looking completely inelastic.
If it weren't for the slight rise and fall visible on the cloth wrapping the child, one might mistake it for a stillborn infant at first glance.
Even with the commotion, the child hadn't woken up.
The woman was in pain from the kick but bit her lip tightly, refraining from making a sound.
The child was born before the apocalypse, and just after its hundredth day, the apocalypse descended. It was a fair-skinned and chubby little darling when born, and very healthy during its confinement.
Initially, the woman had milk to feed the child, managing to keep it alive for half a year. Later, people's food became scarcer, and everyone often went days without a full meal. Consequently, the woman no longer had milk to feed her child, and the child could only subsist on rice gruel.
"My son doesn't cry much. Look, he hasn't cried much for so long," the woman wiped away her tears, grabbed her child, and held it in her arms, saying with a choked voice.
She was afraid these men would suddenly kill her child.
"Heh, maybe your child is mute. I really haven't heard him cry. How about you give me another one?"
Another man looked at the woman lewdly. Even though this woman had already had a child, in times like these, who could be picky?
"Watch your mouth, damn it. Her man is out looking for supplies. He'll fight you when he gets back."
"Stop making fires. I don't care what your reason is. This is the wilderness. If you attract zombies or other people, none of us will be alright." Qiangzi tugged at the lewd man, then warned the woman again before turning to leave.
"Damn it, I was just saying..." The lewd man glanced at the woman before following Qiangzi, who was on patrol, away.
"Sigh, look and see if anyone else has any boiled water. Borrow some first. I've been drinking cold water," the old woman said, sighing as she looked at the child in the bundle after the two men left.
In these times, it was hard for adults to survive, let alone this infant, a full-term child. It looked like a premature baby.
...
The golden eagle flew for about half a day. To ensure the recorded footage was clear enough, it didn't fly too fast.
Lin Yu and Lu Heng watched the footage brought back by the golden eagle together. There were quite a few small towns nearby, more than ten of them at a distance. However, judging from the camera footage, those places showed no signs of human activity.
"It seems everyone has already hidden in the bases built during the apocalypse to survive," Lu Heng said after watching.
"Yes, after we were captured by those bad people, they took us to live in some sturdier houses or certain subway tunnels. But as more and more people were infected and the survival resources nearby became scarcer, those people then took us to live in various small bases," Lin Yu recalled, staring at the paused image.
"Later, with the emergence of this Fallen City, they brought us here to sell us openly."
Lu Heng patted Lin Yu's shoulder, "It's alright now, it's all in the past."
"Yes, Brother Lu, I'm fine. If it weren't for this, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet you. So, in some ways, I have to thank those people for capturing me."
This was indeed the case. If they hadn't been merchandise for those bad people, given Lin Yu and the others' pampered lifestyle, they would most likely have been scratched and assimilated by zombies when encountering them.
"Tomorrow morning, we'll head in that direction. I saw smoke rising over there earlier," Lu Heng adjusted the image forward, pointing to a spot on the screen.
The golden eagle hadn't flown in that direction. The earlier footage was only captured for a moment. Looking at the golden eagle's flight path, it should have changed direction after flying nearby.
"Master, where is the smoke? I didn't see it when I was flying," the golden eagle also leaned over to look at the screen.
"It's fine, we'll know when we go see tomorrow."
...
The next day, just as dawn was breaking.
Lu Heng and his group drove towards the direction they had mentioned yesterday.
Driving at full speed, Lu Heng and his group saw a group of people gradually approaching in the distance not long after.
Lu Heng signaled Lin Yu to stop. The group opposite also noticed them, after all, his car speeding through the wilderness made quite a bit of noise.
"There are quite a lot of people, must be a few thousand," Lin Yu said with a slight gasp, looking at the crowd in the distance.