under hope

The miserable white moonlight shone on the streets littered with corpses, and the protective shield had been destroyed.

Sand beasts roam the streets, crawling through paths made of human corpses and staring maliciously at every closed door.

There are still survivors in the city. They all stay at home and dare not go out easily.

It's really lucky that sand beasts are afraid of lights. As long as the lights are on, they won't dare to break in.

But sooner or later, it's only a matter of time before they figure out that the lights need electricity to shine.

In the city at night, every house is brightly lit, but bright red blood flows on the streets.

The pioneer walked carefully along the roadside, and the blood on his hands told him that all this was true.

As soon as he went out, several sand beasts quickly smelled his scent, and it took a lot of effort to kill those guys.

He is still not good at one-to-many, and having multiple monsters rushing towards him at the same time will always make him confused.

"Convenience store, convenience store..."

He muttered the sign on the other side of the road, looking for his target.

"Tsk, it’s my first time in the capital and I’m not familiar with it."

"If I had known earlier, I would have asked the robot."

The pioneer scratched his hair impatiently.

"Why don't you find someone to ask?"

"There are so many lights around here."

He thought this.

After confirming that there were no sand beasts around, he gently knocked on the wooden door of a house.

"hello i ask…"

"Get out of here! I won't open the door!"

A string of sharp female voices interrupted him.

"No, I just want to ask…"

"Get out of my way!"

The owner of the house didn't listen to him at all, he just screamed.

"ah?"

He was very puzzled, so he had to leave that house and turned around to knock on the door next door.

"I want to ask how to get to the convenience store."

This time he directly stated the purpose loudly.

"From where I am, I can see a red sign in front of me. Just turn left at that place and go straight."

This time it was a thin-sounding male voice, but the other person spoke very quickly and his voice was a little trembling.

The pioneer turned his head and looked ahead. There was no red sign, only a bitten and pulpy corpse lying there. in front of

"Sorry, I didn't see any red signs"

"Can you go out and help me point it out? It's safe here."

He turned around and asked

"Haha...I knew it. fraud!"

The other party's emotions suddenly became excited.

"Very safe."

In order to prevent himself from running out of words like last time, he deliberately shortened his words.

"fraud! Get out of here! You cheated on my lover! Isn't this enough?"

The other party's voice was filled with tears, and he shouted hysterically at the pioneers.

"I really just want to ask for directions."

He knocked on the door again

"Get out of here!"

This time there was only anger in the other person's voice.

"Sigh..."

He sighed and knocked on someone else's door again.

"Hello, I..."

This time he brought a greeting and spoke faster, but unexpectedly he was interrupted by the other party.

"Hey, hello, I heard everything just now."

It's a slightly tired young male voice.

"I'm not a liar, I just want to ask for directions."

In order not to repeat the same mistake, he quickly explained

"Yes, sir. Are you coming from another city? Maybe you don't understand the situation here."

The other party is very calm, which makes him feel at ease a lot.

"Sir, a great disaster has occurred in this city!"

"The protective shield was destroyed, and those monsters had attacked many people."

The pioneer looked up at the sky and replied:

"yes it's very bad"

"Sir, I don't know how you got here, but I ask you to leave as soon as possible, it is very dangerous here."

The other party's attitude sounded very sincere.

"Well, this is it. I may not be able to leave for a while."

Recalling the commission of the female robot, he was a little troubled.

"That's it... Sir, recently we had a woman knocking on doors asking for help."

"Everyone who opened the door for her was taken away by her and never came back."

"So sir, please don't blame them. Losing a family member is always painful."

The other party explained to him the reason for the abnormal mood of the people just now, and even spoke for them.

This reminded the pioneer of his father, who was also such a kind and calm person.

"So that’s it, that woman is really hateful."

He smiled, although the other party couldn't see his expression at all.

"Just turn left at the second intersection ahead of the convenience store. The distance is not very close, so please be aware."

The other party told him the direction of the convenience store.

"thanks!"

He bowed to the door and then set out on his journey

"May the Holy Emperor bless you and keep you safe."

The other party prayed for him sincerely.

In this quiet and dangerous night, the Holy Emperor did not bring significant protection to people.

However, the belief has lasted for too long, and this prayer has become a daily prayer for people's peace.

In this era of supremacy of science, everything about the Holy Emperor is just people's comfort for themselves.

The journey is indeed not short. He has been walking for a long time, but he has not seen the first intersection yet. In fact , he has already passed by There are many convenience stores, but there are corpses lying in all those stores.

"Maybe only the convenience store far away is still intact."

He told himself.

The sand beast rushed towards him again. He pulled out the blade and used the serrated side to smash the beast's bones.

These mutated products with beasts as hosts have a fatal weakness - the waist. The bones are very fragile.

But most ordinary people can't hit that part directly, so they still pose a big threat.

The pioneer took out the red crystal inside the beast, shined it in the moonlight and put it in his pocket.

"The color is quite dark, and it looks like he has lived a long time."

Along the way, he has accumulated a lot of red crystal stones in his pocket, which will bring him a lot of wealth in the future.

Thinking of this, he was actually a little excited.

After killing two or three more sand beasts in a row , he finally arrived at the first intersection.

The traffic light at the intersection had broken and fell on the road, but strangely, there were no sand beasts around.

There was a small clinic on the right side of the intersection, and there was a window with a flashing light. From time to time, someone's figure flashes by.

Great, the doctor in the clinic must need these ruby ​​​​stones, maybe they can be exchanged for some medical supplies.

In emergency times, medical supplies are far more important than money, and he is not a miser.

Come to the clinic In front of the door, he bent his index finger and knocked lightly on the wooden door of the clinic.

"Hello, I have some red crystals here."

He said this

"Oh, you're a pioneer, that's great! I just need these crystals."

It's a mature-sounding female voice.

"So let’s talk about price."

He stated his purpose straight to the point.

"Of course, it's an equal exchange."

The other party is a knowledgeable doctor, which makes the conversation between them much easier.

In fact, after scholars concluded that red crystals have strong medicinal properties, many doctors did not accept it.

They believed that the sand beast Crystals in the body will only bring worse results

"I need five light red crystals"

"I can trade you ten packs of medical bandages."

The other party proposed the transaction content

"Is it just a bandage?" he asked

"These bandages come with potions."

The other party then added

"How do I know if you put any medicine on it?"

He continued to ask questions, hoping to learn more details about the other party.

"Please rest assured that I will not lie about medical treatment"

"This is about my dignity as a doctor"

"These potions can heal wounds caused by sand beasts."

The other party said a lot of things in succession, and his tone was very serious. It didn't sound like he was lying.

"Okay, it's a deal."

When he lowered his head to pick out the ruby ​​​​stone from his pocket, the other party opened the window a crack.

"for you."

He put the ruby ​​​​stone on the other person's hand wearing white gloves.

"This is a bandage. Can you wear it?"

The other party handed a bundle of plastic-wrapped bandages out of the gap.

"Don't worry, my coat is just for carrying things."

He cut the binding rope with the blade of his knife and stuffed the individual packages of bandages into various pockets on his coat.

"Well, happy trading."

He waved to the other party, turned around and left.

"Mr. Pioneer."

The other party stopped him.

"how?"

He turned his head

"Please take the time to come to my place in the future. I really need these crystal stones."

This is undoubtedly an attempt to achieve long-term cooperation. He thought about it carefully and replied:

"Let's talk about it, if I can come to you next time."

He also wants to leave this city as soon as possible, but he doesn't know how things will develop later, so he can only answer this first

"Well, I'll look forward to seeing you, Mr. Pioneer."

The other party closed the window.

He started to move towards the second intersection, and there seemed to be more sand beasts on the road.

These damn beasts had even climbed on the walls, trying to break through the barriers made of masonry.

They kept He roared and scratched the wall with his sharp claws, which caused the survivors in the house to scream.

He picked up the stones on the ground and smashed them hard against the ugly guys.

The sand beast noticed his presence and borrowed the opportunity. He jumped towards him from the wall.

To be honest, he didn't expect the sand beast to do this, so he had to pull out his weapon hastily and pointed the sawtooth side at the sand beast.

Fortunately, this one happened to be the only one in the area. If it happened again, Moving forward, he was afraid that he would be lying on the ground again.

The sharp fangs bit his shoulder, and he endured the pain and embedded the saw teeth into the beast's waist.

"Go to hell!"

As he pulled harder, white turbid blood continued to splash on his body.

The monster was cut in half amidst the screams. He did not hesitate and immediately chopped open its head after the monster let go.

"Oh my gosh, it came in handy so quickly."

He slapped himself, scolding himself for his carelessness, and then took out a pack of medical bandages from his pocket. After taking away the ruby ​​​​stone, he went to a more hidden corner, took off his coat and applied it to the wound. Bandage. As expected, the bandage is stained with cool liquid, and the whole arm becomes numb after contact with the wound.

As the wound fully absorbs the medicine, the numb feeling slowly disappears, and the arm can move normally again.

"The doctor did not lie, the effect was quite good."

He moved his arms a few times to confirm that there was no problem before embarking on the road to the second intersection.

Suddenly, a loud scream sounded from the front, which seemed to be accompanied by huge and heavy footsteps.

There seemed to be more hidden things ahead. The fearful monster clenched the weapon in his hand and continued to move forward uneasily.