Chapter 759: Chapter 215 The Only Way Out (6K Words for Monthly Pass)
After some questioning, Xu Shu managed to gather some scattered pieces of news.
He collected the information, wrote it down on paper, and after comparison, he had some clues.
First off, the Star Tower had indeed fallen at noon, which was consistent with his own judgment.
And, fortunately, when the Star Tower fell, all the demons in the densely packed black blood vessels seemed to have disappeared, not one appeared—which was undoubtedly a huge relief. Otherwise, given the number of demons Xu Shu had seen at that time, the safe zone would have been blood-washed by now.
Next, the upper echelons of the safe zone had decided to hunker down in response to this catastrophe.
According to Tang Ying, the city’s main force was now forming a defensive line on the city walls, fending off the creatures.
The booming sounds of gunfire that Xu Shu had heard earlier were actually the garrison’s strategy: they were laying down a barrage of fire and essentially encircling the entire safe zone.
Loose ends were dealt with by those who were originally assigned to be part of the city-wide defense, sniping and cleaning up—this plan, originally intended to mislead and confuse, had unexpectedly returned to its original purpose.
"Hunker down in the safe zone and wait for rescue?"
Xu Shu shook his head repeatedly.
That was a completely inane choice.
Not taking advantage of the daytime, a relatively safe time to evacuate, but instead waiting until nightfall, that made it even harder to leave.
At first glance, it seemed quite safe with the imposing city walls, but this was just a slow death because the Star Tower could not be resurrected.
But then, reconsidering, Xu Shu fell silent.
Defending the city... seemed to be a strategy chosen out of no other options.
Compared to mobilizing the masses to venture into the ghastly, eerie wilderness for the deeply uncertain "human migration action," it was obviously safer and more acceptable for people to wait for rescue within the city.
After all, for many years, humans had relied on the Star Tower, and only Transcendents were able to move between safe zones through the Star Tower’s teleportation array, while ordinary people hardly ever left the border area.
Moreover, following the Great Catastrophe, the Earth’s surface had undergone drastic changes, and the original maps had long been rendered useless.
On the wilderness between adjacent safe zones, there were simply no clear roads to speak of for ground travel.
In other words, the idea of mobilizing citizens on a "pioneering survival" venture was utterly fanciful.
They would not even consider the option of leaving the safe zone.
Defending the city might be a slow death, but it was the only choice right now, as well as one that had to be made.
"...is the Promotion Drive operational?"
After a prolonged silence, Xu Shu suddenly asked. He tried to access the Promotion network by tapping on his hip, but found it was still inaccessible.
Tang Ying shook her head, "No, the previous mission was arranged by Bai Ju using radio for broadcasting."
"I see, strange. The sea has already disappeared, so why can’t we access the Promotion network? Could there be something else obstructing the signal? It shouldn’t be..."
Xu Shu frowned, not quite understanding what was happening.
But he had a bad hunch, which was that the Star Tower also served as a signal tower.
So with the Star Tower gone, this area was directly cut off from the signal.
This was quite possible, although the Promotion Drive signal was unaffected in the wilderness, it seemed there was a certain distance restriction, such as needing to be within a certain distance of the border line.
If that was the case, the signal problem would be unsolvable.
Another thing worth mentioning is that it seemed Tang Ying and the others hadn’t encountered that most feared Divine Chosen again—Sarquis.
He was no longer a Divine Chosen; he had advanced even further to become the Son of the Evil God: Paimon.
Maybe they saw that things weren’t getting done and simply retreated?
Xu Shu didn’t dwell on this and instead asked, "Bai Ju? Which Bai Ju?"
"Bai Sanxiang," Tang Ying replied matter-of-factly.
"He’s still alive?"
Xu Shu was somewhat surprised; he had thought Old Bai was dead.
"Take me to see him."
"Sure!" After being saved once again, Tang Ying became quite obedient and without further questions, immediately left the room and headed east with Xu Shu.
Knowing that Xu Shu, though taking the path of a Warrior, was exceptionally fast on his feet, she decided not to drive but instead to run at full speed.
After running less than five kilometers, Tang Ying saw Xu Shu standing in front of a tricycle that had been crushed under a wall for a long time. Not understanding why, she nevertheless waited quietly.
Clearing away the wall, the ground revealed a carcass that had been eaten down to the bone, long dead, with various types of cakes scattered all over the ground.
The corpse was clutching a wrinkled photo, blurred by bloodstains, but one could barely make out that it was a family portrait of three.
"I told you not to come out today; you just wouldn’t listen."
Xu Shu sighed, picked up a piece of relatively clean green bean cake from the ground and chewed on it.
Delicious and fragrant, not sticky to the teeth, it tasted marvelous.
Xu Shu casually dug a hole and buried the vendor’s body, then continued on without delay.
Before long, they encountered a group of colleagues struggling with urban warfare, a common 1+11 squad.
Their enemy was an incredibly agile... human, only this person had mutated, laughing maniacally while eating the infant in his hands, with formidable combat strength, having already caused several deaths on the spot.
The two did not turn a blind eye to death but joined forces to help deal with the invading monster.
They then encountered several more monster invasions within the safe zone, some slaughtering inside homes, others already cornered and killed by security personnel.