My Post-Apocalyptic Territory

In the dim light, Tang Yu slowly opened his eyes, a wave of soreness spreading through his body.

He struggled to sit up, dust mixed with small pebbles falling from his body.

"Am I... still alive?"

In my memory, a tidal wave of demonic beasts breached the sanctuary's defenses, and countless survivors perished amidst screams, turning the world into a blood-red expanse.

This is the end of the world! It started a month ago.

He was nearing graduation and had already found a job, just waiting to start officially, but unexpectedly, disaster struck.

Crimson mist filled the sky, and huge cracks appeared in the earth. Creatures named Demonic Beasts crawled out of the abyssal fissures and began to slaughter humans.

This is a deep rift, a sign that the end times are coming!

That day, Tang Yu happened to be at the school and witnessed the earth crack open, swallowing an entire building. The teachers and students around him were completely terrified, and one by one, they were torn to pieces by the demonic beasts amidst screams. At that time, he was still relatively far from the abyss rift, thus avoiding the first wave of slaughter by the demonic beasts. He was also extremely lucky to encounter a large group of fleeing survivors. After several twists and turns, he finally arrived at his current location, a small shelter.

The number of mutated beasts was endless, and even with the full force of the army, they were no match for them. Humanity suffered repeated defeats and could only barely defend some important areas.

And shelters are humanity's last line of defense.

This small shelter, built on the foundation of a resort, houses several thousand survivors and is the safest place within a radius of ten to twenty miles. Although not as safe as a large shelter guarded by the military, this shelter has guns and ammunition, strong human warriors, and is located far from the abyss rift. Even if a demonic beast occasionally attacks the shelter, it will be quickly dealt with.

That was his original thought. But when the demonic tide surged and submerged the shelter, he suddenly realized that even in such an apocalyptic world, the shelter was so... fragile.

Tang Yu looked around.

On either side, the collapsed houses formed beveled corners, preventing him from being buried and allowing him to escape unscathed. Reaching out to touch his hand, he found it covered in blood. This wasn't his own blood, but rather the blood of a nearby unfortunate man whose chest and lungs had been pierced by an iron pipe, staining the ground red.

This is not the only one.

Through the crack, Tang Yu could see the corpses scattered all over the ground outside. Compared to the unfortunate man who had been pierced by the iron pipe, the deaths of those people outside were even more tragic.

Tang Yu felt a pang of sorrow.

He survived by sheer luck, but it was of little use. As an ordinary person, without weapons and not an awakened being, even the weakest of the demonic beasts would have been enough to take his life.

"If only I were an Awakened One..."

Those with good aptitude will naturally awaken upon waking up, while those with slightly less aptitude may awaken under the pressure of adversity and become awakened individuals capable of self-preservation in the apocalypse.

Some people, with average aptitude, cannot awaken on their own, but that's alright; the shelter possesses a special awakening aid device that can help survivors awaken. However, Tang Yu is in a predicament; his aptitude is the lowest, and he doesn't qualify for awakening at all.

There are many people like him; once they encounter danger, it's almost equivalent to being sentenced to death.

"So, all I can do now is slowly wait to die?" Tang Yu muttered to himself, feeling unwilling but seemingly resigned to his fate.

Suddenly he was jolted awake.

"Ding-dong! The Final Lord System has been activated. Lords, please build your lord's castle and establish your territory as soon as possible."

What's that sound?!

He must have heard something just now. Could it be that the demonized beast discovered him, or was he hallucinating?

"Ding-dong! Lord, please build your castle as soon as possible..."

The voice came from his mind, and this time, Tang Yu was certain that the mysterious voice truly existed.

The voice was mechanical, just looping in his mind over and over again. He quickly discovered that he could either block out the voice or ask it questions in his mind. Although the information he got was limited, at least he knew what it was.

system!

Tang Yu remembered the name "End Lord," a game he played to pass the time before the apocalypse. He was excited. He was no stranger to systems; in fact, he was quite familiar with them, able to easily recall hundreds of novels featuring systems.

In an instant, he thought of the plots of these novels, then philosophy, life, and finally this game.

The Last Lord is a third-rate strategy game, set in a Western fantasy post-apocalyptic world. It tells the story of a world on the verge of destruction and the extinction of humanity. The castle built by the player preserves the last embers of humanity's existence, and the player must...

Tang Yu jerked his head away. Even at this critical moment, he still had the mind to think about the game's background!

"System, since it's a system, shouldn't it at least let me awaken?"

"cannot."

"Give me a few bodyguards, or summon a group of subordinates?"

"cannot."

Tang Yu: "..."

At least give me a solution to the current crisis!

"Ding... Ding dong, two puppet guards are included when you build your lord's castle, which can resolve your current crisis."

"That's settled then! Get it built right away, immediately!"

"Ding! To build a lord's castle, the lord needs to select a location and pay 100 units of Source Crystals. The lord does not have enough Source Crystals and cannot build the lord's castle."

"..."

He has something he's unsure whether he should say or not!

Other systems give out a newbie gift pack first, but this crappy system is different. It doesn't give you anything at all. You even have to build your own main base, and it doesn't even come with any resources. I've never seen anything like this in all my years of playing strategy games!

Now, where are we supposed to find a hundred units of source crystal?

Source crystals are extremely precious strategic resources. There is a small chance that they can be condensed in the bodies of demonized beasts. It is also said that there are naturally formed source crystal veins in the wild. These are not easy to obtain. Only elite combat personnel or even awakened individuals can possess them. Tang Yu is just a low-level survivor. He has never even seen a source crystal, let alone possessed one.

Under normal circumstances, he would never be able to get it.

but now……

Tang Yu thought about it and realized there was indeed a sliver of hope... The shelter had been breached, so there should be some source crystals left behind in the place where the awakened ones used to live.

He didn't know if his guess was correct, nor did he know if there were a hundred units of the remaining source crystals, but for this glimmer of hope, he had to fight!

Taking a deep breath to clear his jumbled thoughts, he thought, "The Awakened Ones and the shelter's higher-ups all live in the villa area halfway up the mountain, which is in the central part of the shelter. When I escaped, I was planning to flee inwards, and now I'm close to the center of the shelter, not far from the villa area. That's an advantage, but a disadvantage..."

Tang Yu gave a bitter smile. His body was already very weak, and he had no weapons. It was a terrible start. The only thing he could rely on was the system, which was currently useless.

He then patted his cheeks, his eyes hardening.

Fortunately, the buried area was not completely covered by stones. Tang Yu searched around and observed the surrounding environment before finally finding a relatively large gap and crawling out.

Ahead was an open space that had originally been filled with makeshift houses and tents, but now it was in complete disarray. Many corpses were torn to pieces, with only a small portion remaining, and the strong stench of blood filled the air.

Tang Yu knew that the entire shelter was almost powerless against the demonic tide and was breached. However, the corpses of the demonic beasts were rarely seen.

Holding his breath, he groped his way forward, checking the path several times after each step.

Under the blazing sun, sweat trickled down his nose, dripping onto the ground and quickly evaporating. Tang Yu carefully breathed, and fortunately, there were fewer demonic beasts than he had imagined. Along the way, he had only seen one or two demonic beasts in the distance, their heads bowed, seemingly munching on something.

Bypassing the ruins and hiding in the grass, Tang Yu did his best to avoid the demonized beasts. Fortunately, the entire shelter had just experienced a massacre, and the bloody smell on the ground effectively masked his scent, depriving the demonized beasts of their most effective tracking weapon.

As we walked step by step, the villa area gradually came into view.

…………

Near the villa area, the surrounding environment is even more chaotic, with destroyed houses everywhere.

The dark marks left by the explosion, the bullet craters, and the ruins all indicate that a fierce battle had taken place here.

Tang Yu saw many corpses, including awakened humans and demonized beasts, all mixed together like a battlefield.

He cautiously approached and crouched down in front of the corpse, groping around.

The pungent smell filled his nostrils, and his hands were covered in blood, but Tang Yu didn't care. He searched frantically and calmly.

A Type 54 pistol.

There are two more magazines.

Adding to the short knife he found along the way, these were the best-preserved weapons he could find. He knew these weapons wouldn't be very effective against the mutated beasts, but the cold touch of the gun still gave Tang Yu a greater sense of security.

He also spotted some guns and weapons in the distance, all in good condition, but they were in relatively open areas, making it dangerous to acquire them. Adhering to the principle of caution and prioritizing the source crystals, Tang Yu did not want to take too many risks.