I am getting stronger and stronger in the world of demons and monsters

Shelter 35

Gene Warrior Training Hall, Captain's Office.

A rugged-looking girl with thick eyebrows, small eyes, full lips, wearing a tight vest, and bulging muscles stood in front of the desk, staring blankly at a handsome man holding a knife standing in the ruins on the wall. Beside this handsome man holding a knife in the ruins, there was a fat and long strange beast coiled at his feet. Further away, there were dozens of source beasts with incomplete bodies. Most of the source beasts had lost their heads, and some of them had even lost half of their upper bodies.

The office door opened, and a tall, strong woman in a security team uniform walked in carrying some steamed buns. She glanced at the girl and smiled:

"Xiao Ling, are you looking at photos of your idol Li Wu again?"
"Alas, it's a pity that Li Wu, the Void Devouring Worm manifested gene warrior who once shone brightly in a foreign land, was feared by the gene powerhouses of Yunqin Kingdom because of his extremely powerful Void Devouring Worm manifested talent, and died early in the siege of numerous gene warrior powerhouses!"

The tall, strong girl named Xiaoling ignored the woman and continued staring at the portrait. After a moment, she wiped her mouth and then spoke:

"The death of a person can be heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather. Even though Li Wu has sacrificed himself, how many people can forget the victories that this handsome man once swept away countless source beasts? Hmph, if Li Wu were still alive and continued to grow stronger, the so-called source beast disaster probably wouldn't even have a chance to break out. No matter how many source beasts come, they will all become food for Li Wu's powerful Void Devouring Worm!"

The tall, strong woman shook her head and sighed, "Yes, the former captain of our shelter greatly admired Li Wu, the Void Devouring Insect manifested gene warrior who repeatedly helped Tang Kingdom fight against the attacks of the Source Beast hordes. It is said that Lin Haoyun, the strongest man in Tang Kingdom back then, personally received Li Wu and presented him with a priceless fifth-tier Source Beast Source Stone Crystal. As a result, countless people in Tang Kingdom have heard of the name of Li Wu, and many young men and women take this genius from an ordinary background as their role model!"
Unfortunately, even though our Captain of Shelter No. 35 admired Li Wu so much, he still couldn't fight the Source Beast horde alone like Li Wu. Instead, he took his more than one hundred Dragon Elephant Gene Warriors and left Shelter No. 35, abandoning tens of thousands of refugees here!
Fortunately, Zhu Ling, while you were gathering supplies, you discovered dozens of YZMM gene serums left in a corner of the warehouse. After injecting them, five gene warriors reappeared at our Vault 35! Unfortunately, with only five Dragon-Elephant gene warriors, all at the early stage of the ninth tier, protecting Vault 35 in this ruined Stone City is practically an impossible task! Especially since you don't have enough time to grow; a large horde of source beasts might attack Vault 35 at any time!

"Let alone large hordes of Source Beasts, even five Dragon Elephant Gene Warriors, along with the remaining less than a hundred automatic machine guns in Vault 35, would have a very, very difficult time dealing with a medium-sized horde of Source Beasts!"

Upon hearing this from the tall, robust woman, Zhu Ling's rugged face couldn't help but show a somewhat somber expression.

However, she quickly regained her composure, then raised an eyebrow and said:

"Auntie, the situation at Shelter 35 has reached this point, there's no point in saying anything more!"
Furthermore, five of us have awakened and become Dragon Elephant Gene Warriors, which is better than having none at all. Besides, what if a few of us can grow stronger and one or two become eighth-tier Dragon Elephant Gene Warriors in the future?
Moreover, Auntie, didn't you say that a few days ago, during reconnaissance, you discovered that an armored convoy had repelled several medium-sized source beast hordes that attacked Vault 33, and escorted tens of thousands of refugees from Vault 33 all the way to Vault 36?

Who knows, Vault 36 might send people to rescue Vault 35 at any time!
As long as we haven't become food for the source beasts and we're not dead, we can't give up now; there's still a lot of hope!

The tall, strong woman sighed, walked to Zhu Ling's side, stood on tiptoe, and stroked Zhu Ling's thick, black hair. A rather gratified smile appeared on her face as she spoke:

"You've always been an optimistic and cheerful girl. It's rare to see someone still so optimistic even in this situation!"

"Hmm. When you were little, you always said that when you grew up, you would grow to be 1.9 meters tall, taller than me, your aunt. Now that you've awakened and become a Dragon-Elephant Gene Warrior, you really are much taller than your aunt, almost a head taller!"

Zhu Ling laughed, "I still have a long way to go. Look at those late-stage ninth-tier dragon-elephant gene warriors in our shelter number 35 before, weren't they all over two meters tall? That damn captain who abandoned our shelter number 35 was a full two meters and four inches tall! Just wait, Aunt Lu Yun, when I grow to two meters and four inches and stand in front of you, you probably won't be able to touch the top of my head even if you stand on tiptoe, hehe!"

"Hehe, no matter how tall you get, you'll still have to call me Auntie!"
Besides, what's the point of a girl being so tall? She looks like an elephant; she might never get married!

When the tall, strong woman Lu Yun heard Zhu Ling say this, she couldn't help but shake her head and laugh.

Zhu Ling chuckled, "I don't want to get married! My idol is Li Wu, the Void Devouring Worm manifested gene warrior. I've been in love with him for a long time! In this world, there's probably only someone like Li Wu, the Void Devouring Worm manifested gene warrior, who is so powerful, talented, and worthy of respect. It's said that he personally saved more than 100,000 people back then. He's incredibly handsome. In this world, who can compare to him!"

"You little girl, you're only eighteen, how could you understand so many things in this world! Speaking of which, you idolize this Void Worm manifested gene warrior, Li Wu, not because he's handsome, but really because he's saved so many people? I bet you'll change your mind when someone with a better temperament and more handsome looks comes along!"

“How could that be! How could anyone be more handsome than Li Wu, the Void Devourer manifested gene warrior? His handsomeness isn’t just about physical appearance. Aunt Yun, you don’t understand!” Zhu Ling shook her head repeatedly, strongly disagreeing with the tall and strong woman Lu Yun’s statement.

The tall, strong woman, Lu Yun, stared at the rugged young girl, Zhu Ling, for a long while before sighing again. Her expression turned serious, and she said, word by word:

"Zhu Ling, you must remember that in this era of the Source Beast Disaster, survival is the most important thing! Whether you want to visit the grave of Li Wu, the Void Devouring Worm manifested gene warrior, or become a hero like Li Wu, who can save tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people, there is one prerequisite: you must be able to survive in the ruins of this Stone City and survive in this era of the Source Beast Disaster!"
Therefore, you must remember that if our Vault 35 is ever attacked by a large horde of Source Beasts, and if we cannot withstand their attack, you must retreat without hesitation. As long as you survive, you can always rebuild! Your current strength is not yet sufficient; you cannot be like Li Wu, the Void Devourer manifested gene warrior back then!

"Aunt Yun, it's me."

Upon hearing this, the rugged young woman Zhu Ling frowned, about to say something. Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside, followed by a rather tall and thin man stumbling into the office, panting as he shouted to the rugged young woman Zhu Ling and the tall, strong woman, "Captain Zhu Ling, Aunt Yun, something's happened! Something terrible has happened! It's mortal danger! I just saw from the reconnaissance post that there are over two hundred canine-type source beasts heading towards our shelter number thirty-five!"
That was clearly a large herd of Source Beasts, and their destination was very clear. Furthermore, within that large herd were many enormous canine Source Beasts, more than twice the size of the other canine Source Beasts!

As soon as the rather tall and thin man finished speaking, both the rugged young girl Zhu Ling and the tall and strong woman Lu Yun's expressions changed, and the two of them quickly ran out of the office.

After a while,

The rugged young girl Zhu Ling and the tall, strong woman Lu Yun, along with dozens of auxiliary security team members, stood on the rooftop of a residential building, looking out into the distance.

now,

Even without using binoculars, they could already see the long, large herd of canine beasts through the gaps between some tall buildings and ruins.

Looking at the large group of source beasts, which consisted of more than two hundred ninth-order source beasts and dozens of eighth-order canine source beasts, the rugged girl Zhu Ling, the tall and strong woman Lu Yun, and the dozens of auxiliary security team members on the rooftop all turned deathly pale.

Leaving aside the terrifying dozens of eighth-tier canine predator source beasts, the more than two hundred ninth-tier source beasts alone are far beyond the capabilities of the five early-stage ninth-tier dragon-elephant gene warriors and less than a hundred automatic machine guns currently in Shelter 35. They are even beyond the capabilities of Shelter 35 at its peak a few days ago, given the sheer number of canine source beasts! Even though canine source beasts are only considered of average individual strength among the thousands of discovered source beast races, they are still far more destructive than ordinary dragon-elephant gene warriors without awakened special gene abilities, and there are more than two hundred of them!

"It's over, it's over, Vault 35 is completely finished this time!"

One of the auxiliary security guards trembled, his legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.

Another auxiliary security team member was also trembling, his lips were white, and he said in a trembling voice, "Even if all the gene warriors from the three shelters that set off together a few days ago were combined, it would be impossible to fight against such a pack of canine source beasts. There are nearly thirty predator source beasts. I'm afraid that a single charge could completely collapse the formation of three hundred dragon-elephant gene warriors!"

"What should we do? What should we do? Captain Zhu, should we notify all the refugees in Shelter No. 35 and tell them to evacuate now?" A slightly more rational auxiliary security team member looked at Zhu Ling with a panicked expression.

Now, Zhu Ling, due to her higher genetic compatibility and faster growth, coupled with her rough personality and good character, has become the new captain of the leaderless Shelter No. 35, and has become the hope for the abandoned refugees and the security team members of Shelter No. 35.

But can such early-stage ninth-tier dragon-elephant gene warriors truly become a source of hope amidst the ruins of Stone City?

Most of the refugees in Shelter 35 knew very well that it was impossible! It was just that the refugees in Shelter 35 were like drowning people, clinging desperately to even the smallest straw!
"Escape? Where can you escape to at this time?"
Without armored vehicles or armored buses, how could they escape the pursuit of the canine beast pack on foot?

Although the individual strength of these canine source beasts is only considered average among the more than three thousand source beasts, their sense of smell is enough to detect the scent of any life they want to hunt from ten kilometers away or even tens of kilometers away!
"Damn it, it's all that damned Reicher's fault! If he hadn't rallied all the gene warriors in Vault 35, Vault 34, and Vault 33 to abandon the refugees, Vault 35 would still have at least a hundred Dragon Elephant gene warriors, several Tier 8 Dragon Elephant gene warriors, and a considerable number of heavy machine guns!"

Another Dragon Elephant Gene Warrior, who had only recently awakened his powers, spoke with a face full of resentment.

"Hurry up and make a decision, Captain Zhu Ling! At the speed of this large pack of canine beasts, even if they don't charge at full speed and just come slowly, they will reach Shelter No. 35 within fifteen minutes. At that time, all the refugees in the shelter will have no way to survive!"

Another auxiliary security team member couldn't help but speak up.

The tall, strong woman, Lu Yun, looked at Zhu Ling with a worried expression, then shook her head and whispered, "Ling, don't forget what I just told you. Remember, if you want to become someone like your idol, Li Wu, what should you do, what choices should you make, and how should you grow?"

Zhu Ling glanced at the large canine-type source beast in the distance, then at the tall and strong woman Lu Yun and the auxiliary security team members, before her gaze shifted to the residential buildings of Shelter No. 35.

At this moment, many of the residents in the No. 35 shelter seemed to have discovered something, especially those living on higher floors. They all stood in front of the windows, looking towards the direction of the large canine beast pack in the distance. Every resident who saw the situation clearly turned pale, and their eyes were filled with despair.

Clearly, after witnessing the sheer size of the massive canine-type source beast horde, none of the refugees in Shelter 35 believed they could repel them, nor did any of them think they had any hope of surviving such a massive horde of source beasts! (End of Chapter)