Era of Disaster

Chapter 150: Foreign Team

After a period of time, Bai Yi finally finished inspecting the changes to his body.

Breaking out of a cocoon to become a butterfly, it really was breaking out of a cocoon to become a butterfly (TN: An idiom that meant getting a new life and walking out of desperate straits). Due to his injuries before, his body started to transform itself. The substance drawn away from his wings formed a defensive web inside his body, which could help him resist impacts to a great extent. If Bai Yi wanted to fly, he had to actively pull the thin threads out from his body and reform the wings. However, he would lose the powerful defensive ability once he did that, so there were pros and cons to doing so.

It took 5 days to fully extend his wings the first time he tried to do so. Bai Yi himself didn't know why was he so determined, but he just had a feeling.

Although it didn't take as much time to extend and withdraw his wings after that, it still took more than a day to do so. It obviously wasn't efficient or practical to take such a long time to move between the two states, so Bai Yi had a lot more to practice before he could master it completely.

In the end, Bai Yi chose to keep the thin threads inside body. This state could not only increase the defence of his body greatly, but it was also the state that he was in when he broke out of the cocoon, so he was more used to this state. However, the most important factor was that Bai Yi didn't know how to fly now even if he had wings, so this pair of wings were purely a burden to him.

The thin threads in his wings slowly returned inside his body, and his wings turned into two soft pennants that hung from his back. Bai Yi folded his wings and wrapped it halfway around his neck, which made it look just like a scarf made from unique materials. Unless the person knew beforehand, nobody would probably be able to guess that this 'scarf' was actually Bai Yi's wings.

Breathing out lightly, Bai Yi rubbed his temples.

It was really too tiring, he had to be in a state of constant concentration to form or retract his wings. However, Bai Yi would never imagine that his so-called 'tiredness' now was many times easier than what the people he would meet in the future had to go through. Bai Yi was fortunate in that he managed to spread his wings while his physical state had not completely stabilized yet, forming a 'bodily memory' of this state and turning it into an instinctive ability. If not, he would have to wait to gain the ability to influence his physical form far into the future to control these countless thin threads and spread his wings again.

After he discovered the changes in his body, Bai Yi did many more tests on himself. Such as how much force his body could endure, the ability of his body to resist cutting type attacks, the strength and durability of a single thread, if the threads could be retracted back into his body if his wings got damaged in his winged state, and what influence would there be if he retracted them back into his body under such conditions. All aspects and details of his body had to be figured out, and none of this could be skimped on.

Bai Yi knew what kind of world they would have to face in the future, this was a Devil Island full of dangers. There would definitely be countless battles they would have to face in the future. To acquire the advantage in battle, one of the most essential factors was to grasp and understand every ability that they had. Then, they had to use these abilities suitably to tackle various situations.

However, these tests could be slowly done while they were on the road. After retracting his wings and resting for a night, they finally set off again.

Bai Yi took the cloak that Momo passed to him and put it on, rubbing Momo's head with a smile on his face. Beside Momo was Sharpei. In the half a year that Bai Yi didn't see him, Sharpei's other head had grown out completely, and he became a two-headed dog. However, most of the time, Sharpei's other head would retract inside his body and only a few sharp fangs at the edge of his mouth would be revealed on the exterior.

Bai Yi stretched out his right hand and Sharpei immediately licked it, coating Bai Yi's hand with his saliva.

"This guy…" Bai Yi scolded laughingly. Then, he hung Red Kiss on his waist and looked toward everyone else. All of them had already finished their preparations and were waiting for Bai Yi's instructions.

"Let's go!" Bai Yi said, as he raised his head and stared ahead.

……

Bai Yi's team now had to urgently find other evolved humans and figure out what had happened to all the evolved humans in this half a year. However, New Zealand had a low population density to begin with, and people were even sparser now. They came to the initial city of Picton, but they couldn't find any other evolved humans. Only the few mottled vestiges hidden underneath the dust and vegetation could prove that this place used to be a city where people lived in.

However now, this city was just like a ruin that was abandoned hundreds of years ago, silent and empty.

"Based on the map, Picton should a have a small gathering of humans here. Where's everybody?" Woolf asked.

"Who knows, it's already been half a year. Maybe all of them already died," Raymond said boisterously. Honestly speaking, Raymond felt very stifled over this half a year. Based on his personality, he wasn't somebody who could stand staying on that bunch of islands for a long time. However, he still had much integrity. Since he had already joined this team, he had no plans to abandon it. Also, the most important thing was that after getting hit by Bai Yi's Reverse Flower Eyes back then, he seemingly held some reveration for Bai Yi from then on.

After walking around the city for half a day, they thought that there was really nobody else that remained here. Suddenly, Sharpei walked toward the side and sniffed around.

Eh?

The rest of them immediately followed after Sharpei. Ater more than a kilometer of walking, Sharpei brought everyone in front of a building. Woolf and the other large-sized people couldn't fit in through the collapsed door and could only wait outside. Bai Yi and Heloise walked in and discovered what Sharpei had smelled.

Cans!

These weren't any special cans, but just the canned food that humans brought along with them normally. Inside the room was also a fire that had just been extinguished not long ago and a few empty cans by the side. Inside the cans were still two colourful bugs a few centimeters long crawling around, sucking the juice inside the can.

"So, there were people here," Heloise said.

"Something's not right." Bai Yi picked up a can. He looked at the manufacture date on it, and squinted his eyes.

"There's nothing special about these cans, but do you think there would still be any canned food left in New Zealand now? Look at this date, this was only made a few months ago. Apparently, this couldn't possibly be made in New Zealand. Outsiders left behind this fire,." Bai Yi said.

Heloise immediately stared at the can carefully after she heard his words. Then, she looked at Bai Yi.

"Let's get out of here first." Bai Yi took the empty can with him to the rest of them waiting outside.

"What happened, did you guys find anything?" Vala couldn't help but ask, as she looked at Bai Yi's expression.

"En, we found some things and an extinguished fire that people used to keep warm before. Based on my estimations, they probably left 2-3 days ago. However, this isn't the important point, the important thing is that we found a few empty cans beside the fire. The manufacture date of these empty cans are quite recent. That is to say, this fire was left behind by people who came from the outside." Bai Yi passed the empty can to Vala, and she saw the manufacture date printed at the bottom of the can.

"People from outside came to New Zealand?" Everyone immediately became serious.

"Actually, didn't we already meet people like that once before? Maybe it's the same this time," Bai Yi said.

"What's their purpose coming here?" Vala asked.

"This I don't know, but I'm very curious. Just what is it that can make the people outside risk their lives to come into this Devil Island? New Zealand was the heart of the research in activated cells back then, maybe there's something valuable that was developed here long ago. This thing may very possibly be the thing that we need as well. After all, we have to research the activated cells too," Bai Yi slowly said. Everyone's faces became serious, as they looked at him.

"Sharpei, can you smell the direction that these people moved toward?" Bai Yi asked.

"Woof!" Sharpei barked and sniffed around in the air. Then, he walked a few rounds seriously in the area. This group of people had already left for 2-3 days, so their scents had already more or less disappeared in the air. It wouldn't be easy for Sharpei catch onto their scent again either. After walking in circles for a while, Sharpei finally started running in a certain direction.

The rest of them saw Sharpei moving and immediately followed. While Bai Yi ran beside Sharpei, he observed the rest of the team at the same time. Vala and the few other newcomers hadn't joined the team for long and didn't have much strength back then, but now Bai Yi realized that they could actually keep up with Sharpei's speed. Although Sharpei didn't really run too fast, this also meant that Vala and the other newcomers had trained diligently in the past half a year.

Bai Yi revealed a slight smile on his face.

After half an hour of running, Sharpei abruptly increased his speed and Bai Yi knew that Sharpei had definitely found something.

"Woolf, Raymond, you guys stay at the back with everyone else. Heloise, follow Sharpei with me," Bai Yi said. Then, he started to accelerate as well. At this time, the difference in speed was shown, as Vala and a few others could no longer keep up anymore. Actually, Woolf's speed wasn't too good either, so he immediately slowed down after he heard Bai Yi's words. He then stayed behind and ran with Vala and the others.

Very quickly, Bai Yi followed Sharpei, and they found a few blood-stained pieces of fabric scattered in the forest. Looking at the greenish pieces of cloth, Bai Yi could immediately tell that it was the color of the special forces' uniform.

However, special forces? Those special forces made up of normal humans were probably at the bottom of the food chain on Devil Island.

"Stop running. We'll wait for the rest to catch up and move together. Just don't lose their direction," Bai Yi said to Sharpei.

Sharpei barked in response and stopped. After that, Bai Yi carefully searched around the area for any traces left behind by the team that came from the outside. He could tell that this squad came prepared. Although they didn't assimilate with the activated cells, they were still the elites within normal humans. Moreover, the weapons that this squad carried with them were probably more powerful as well, so they should be specially equipped to deal with evolved lifeforms. Bai Yi had already seen a few big holes in the ground from explosions and various metal fragments.

Just who were these people?

Chapter 151: Encounter

Very quickly, the rest of them caught up since their speeds weren't much slower. Bai Yi was examining the vestiges of the battle when the others caught up. The group of them looked at what Bai Yi was examining and could tell with a look that two people were killed and eaten there. Their weapons and equipment scattered all over the ground.

"This is?"

"They met an evolved lifeform. This group of people are quite unlucky," Bai Yi joked. How could he describe this? Although he didn't see those normal people as enemies, he still didn't have much amiability toward those countries outside. They did not help New Zealand in the least since it changed. He wouldn't feel this way about normal people, but Bai Yi did not feel much compassion for teams like this that chose to come here and seek death.

"Let's go in front and see if this group of people managed to escape," Bai Yi said and gestured for Sharpei to lead the way.

The group followed Sharpei, and they gradually headed forward in a straight line. They could tell that this group of people were already in too much of a panic to choose their route. They saw even more scenes of destruction as they moved, but it abruptly stopped toward the end. One of them had probably ignited a grenade when they were in desperate straits and sacrificed himself to save the rest. Bai Yi and a few others checked the surroundings of the explosion and found traces of small bits of flesh lying around, but most of it had already been eaten by other lifeforms.

Sharpei brought the group of the forward slowly and finally stopped after walking for more than half an hour. All of them knew that the squad was not far ahead of them, and this group of people also seemed to have learned the dangers of New Zealand by now. The humans in that squad could probably fight against 10 times their numbers in the normal world, but running around recklessly in New Zealand now was just basically looking for death.

Bai Yi walked beside Sharpei. He looked at the flat valley in front of them and slowly walked toward it.

……

At this time, in a rundown house in the valley, a group of 5 people was silently bandaging their wounds. Other than that, there was still an old man holding an apparatus and fiddling about. Vegetation had covered this house long ago. If they really met with some evolved lifeform, this place probably wouldn't offer much protection. However, humans were just this strange. Although they knew this fact clearly, they still chose to desperately hide in this defenseless tortoise shell.

"Damn it! I knew coming here would just be sending ourselves to die. If not for No. 7 activating his grenade, we would all probably be eaten!" shouted one of the special forces soldiers with a camouflaged face and lifeless eyes. Actually, they were all veterans of countless battles outside, but the lifeforms in New Zealand now weren't something they could understand with their common sense.

"Ok, that's enough. Don't talk about it anymore." The guy that looked like the leader didn't blame him but just tried to console him.

"I'm sorry, I dragged all of you into this! My enemies forced me to this place. This caused you guys to come here and throw your lives away for nothing." The old man that fiddled with the apparatus said after hearing their words. His beard shook, as he spoke.

"But, soldiers really don't have human rights after all, you guys just do whatever the higher-ups tell you guys to do. Or was it that you guys offended somebody in your forces as well, and got sent here together? You guys really don't seem too likable from the journey so far." The first half of his words still felt quite consoling, but the latter half almost left the few special forces soldiers utterly speechless.

What did you mean by offending people and not being likable! You damned old bastard was the most unlikeable here!

They immediately wanted to swear at him, but apparently, this old man wasn't completely wrong either. The people here really did not have many connections. Being thrown into this place, executing their mission was just putting it nicely. In reality, they were just sent here to die. The most furious one among them immediately stood up and anger flashed in his eyes.

"Sit down!" The squad leader immediately stood up as well and held that guy down.

"Dr. Ji, mind your words as well. No matter what, our journey here is for the sake of protecting you!" said the squad leader to that old man.

"Heh, did I say anything wrong?" The old man called Dr. Ji laughed mockingly and extracted a syringe of a faint red solution from the apparatus.

"It's complete, make your choice now!" From the start till now, even if he was talking, his hands had never stopped moving. At this moment, his expression was incomparably solemn.

"What choice?"

"This!" Dr. Ji gestured to the thing in his hand. "This is the blood source serum extracted from the evolved lifeform that chased after us. This blood serum contains activated cells in them. Although the activated cells level can't possibly be the highest LV9, that guy didn't seem weak either. Its level of activated cells probably wouldn't be low. Even though you guys would be later than these lifeforms by almost 2 years, you might still be able to make it out alive after assimilating with this if you are lucky enough." 

"What?!" The 5 special forces soldiers apparently did not understand him fully.

"Assimilate with the activated cells. What, which part don't you understand?"

"What kind of joke are you making old man! Who wants to become that kind of ugly monster?!" One of them immediately understood and scolded the old man on impulse.

"He's not joking!" Suddenly, a faint voice came from the outside.

They proved that they were worthy of being called special forces, as all of them instantly picked up their weapons upon hearing this unfamiliar voice. One of them even fired immediately, and a bullet flew toward the door with a 'bang!'. After firing, that guy immediately realized in his heart that he was too anxious. Although it was an unfamiliar voice, at least it was still the human language. Why did he fire so recklessly? However, in the next instant, what they saw stunned all of them. 

Bai Yi directly stretched out his right hand and reached for the bullet.

With a 'pu!', the bullet stopped in the center of Bai Yi's palm. The impact of a bullet was also a type of blunt force, just that a normal human's body was too weak and easily penetrated. Although they couldn't tell from Bai Yi's current appearance, the toughness of his body wasn't something an ordinary human could understand. The moment the bullet came into contact with Bai Yi's palm, it collided with the thread web below his skin. Although the area of contact was tiny, all the webs in his body seemed to be affected in an instant, and his entire body was used to cushion the impact. Then, the impact spread throughout all the webs in his entire body and the final effect on Bai Yi was pretty much insignificant.

"This isn't how you should treat your guests," Bai Yi said mockingly.

Humans!

Although Bai Yi's face had colored fur on it, and he had caught the bullet with his bare hands, they could immediately tell that Bai Yi was one of the evolved humans that survived luckily in New Zealand. However, at this moment Sharpei's figure appeared at the door as well, poking his head inside to take a look. That sinister and terrifying head of his immediately caused the foreigners to raise their caution to the limit after they had relaxed a tiny bit.

"Don't be impulsive and put down your weapons. Otherwise, I can't guarantee what may happen later," Bai Yi said with a smile.

Not knowing why, the few of them immediately felt that Bai Yi's words were right and wanted to put down their weapons. However, in the next moment, two of them within the special forces squad suddenly woke up. These people were the elites among the normal humans, and they had undergone hypnosis resistance training normally as well. Bai Yi looked at the two of them with slight surprise. However, things did calm down between the two groups after this small commotion.

……

"Let me introduce myself. I am Bai Yi, an evolved human."

After the two groups settled down, Bai Yi started to introduce himself. The two groups sat separately on opposite sides, and the special forces squad were obviously on tenterhooks. None of the people sitting opposite them even seemed remotely normal! There would obviously be some fear in their hearts when they sat with a bunch of monsters. However, after the old man heard Bai Yi's name, he became stunned for a moment. Then, he looked at Bai Yi excitedly and ran toward him.

"You are Bai Yi?"

"En, why?" Bai Yi got a fright from this old man's sudden friendliness.

"So you are Bai Yi! Did you know you are really famous now? I saw the unfortunate encounter you had at Cook Straits that time! Although your team managed to escape in the end, you never appeared again after that and many people thought you were already dead," Ji Hua Qing said with great excitement and circled around Bai Yi to observe him. However, his eyes looked at Bai Yi as if he was looking at a lab rat. This action made Bai Yi very irritated.

"Hey!" Bai Yi creased his eyebrows.

"Can you tell us why did you guys come to this place?" Bai Yi's Reverse Flower Eyes activated, intimidation! The Ji Hua Qing who was initially overflowing with interest in Bai Yi immediately got a fright and retreated a few steps backward. The people opposite him instinctively tightly gripped their guns as well. That instant of intimidation caused all them to instinctively feel fear.

"So this is the Reverse Flower Eyes, it really is magical." Ji Hua Qing blanked for a few seconds and came close to Bai Yi again, as he wanted to see Bai Yi's eyes up close. From Ji Hua Qing's words, they knew that New Zealand had indeed stayed in contact with the outside world. Bai Yi's Reverse Flower Eyes had already spread to the outside.

Seeing this old man approaching him again, Bai Yi drew Red Kiss at a moderate speed and placed it in front of him. When he saw the dark red longsword that would pierce his throat if he took just one more step, the old man finally woke up a bit. Moreover, Bai Yi's eyes at this time were really too cold and apathetic.

"Talk. What is your purpose in coming here this time? Don't tell me you are here on holiday. What I want to know is, what are the plans of the outside world toward New Zealand, and what are you guys doing here?" If it was before, then maybe Bai Yi would still ask them in a friendly manner. However now, Bai Yi gradually became cold and callous. This way of questioning that did not allow for any objections left them with no room to fall back.

"I'll talk, I'll say everything. Can you sheath your long sword first?" Ji Hua Qing immediately raised both his hands in the air. At this time, he finally woke up completely. Although he didn't show much hostility when they first met, the man before him right now was Bai Yi, who was famous even in the outside world.

"Is this alright? Telling them our mission." The team leader immediately questioned.

"What bullshit mission! Are you guys still in denial over getting scammed to come to this place?!" Ji Hua Qing old man swore and started to talk about the reason why they appeared in this place.

***

TN: 5/7 of the owed chapters