My Post-Apocalyptic Territory

Tang Yu walked down the path halfway up the mountain with extreme caution. This place was outside the territory's monitoring range, and every now and then a demonic beast would suddenly fly out... only to be smashed into mincemeat by Number One.

In front of the hotel was an open space where many makeshift sheds had been erected, occupying most of the square, but now those sheds have all collapsed.

Number One was killing the demonic beasts that had been attracted by the sound, while Tang Yu cut open the heads of the dead demonic beasts to check if there were any source crystals inside.

Before long, he had several shiny source crystals in his hand.

"I feel like I get more Source Crystals from killing monsters than from searching the residences of those Awakened Ones." Tang Yu couldn't understand it. Those Awakened Ones were really too poor. The Awakened Ones in an entire villa area only contributed a little over a hundred units of Source Crystals. That's too pitiful.

After clearing out the surrounding demonic beasts, Tang Yu directed Number One as he followed closely behind into the hotel.

Suddenly, a dark shadow appeared on the ceiling. Before he could see it clearly, he heard a loud bang, accompanied by a strong tremor. When the dust settled, what appeared before him was the corpse of a mutated beast, its features indistinguishable and reduced to a bloody pulp.

Tang Yu swallowed.

It's hard to say whether they were frightened by the mutated beast or by Number One's violence... But Number One, you're so violent, what if you demolish the whole building?

Thinking this, suddenly, Number One gripped his spear tightly with both hands, the tip pointing upwards at an angle, faintly pointing into the distance.

Tang Yu also became vigilant.

This is Number One's state of alert. Entering this state means that Number One is ready to unleash his full power, which is a sign that danger is approaching! Even back then, when facing those three obviously troublesome demonized beasts, Number One clearly held back his strength.

Following the direction of Number One's vigilance, a red figure quickly magnified in his pupils.

…………

Inside the cold storage.

The survivors, barely clinging to life, gasped for breath.

"Are we... saved?"

"Very good!"

"Let's get out of here quickly!"

"But what if that demonic beast is still outside—"

boom!

Another loud bang, this time with an even stronger tremor, as if a demolition crew was working on the upper floors. Some survivors stumbled and fell to the ground.

The deafening roar was just the beginning; the sounds of shattering and booming echoed incessantly. The survivors, pale-faced, felt the earth tremble, as if the hotel would collapse at any moment.

What happened?

What happened?

What should they do?

The survivors did not understand.

Chen Haiping's expression was solemn. He had some vague guesses in his mind, but he himself found it hard to believe.

The tremors didn't last long and soon subsided.

The survivors stared at each other, unable to bring themselves to say anything more, having just said they wanted to leave. They were all afraid that the demonized beast might return.

At that moment, there was movement at the entrance of the torn-open gate. Several survivors held their breath and stared wide-eyed.

…………

On the battlefield.

Blue and red light intertwined, causing walls to collapse and the ground to crack wherever it passed.

Tang Yu stared intently at the battlefield, preparing to remotely order Number Two to come and help. Suddenly, he noticed that the blue light and shadow on the field had gained the upper hand. Although he couldn't see the movements of both sides with his eyesight, the blood splattered on the field told him that the demonized beast was injured!

As a high-level puppet specializing in combat, Number One possesses extremely high combat instincts. Seizing the opportunity, the tip of its spear suddenly began to spin, and the surrounding air seemed to freeze for a moment. The wind was whipped up, and smoke and dust filled the air, resembling a small tornado.

The next moment, the wind stopped.

Number One retrieved his spear. The crimson demon beast lay on the ground with a hole in its forehead from which bright red blood flowed.

"It's finally over."

Tang Yu breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the mess on the ground, the hotel which had been smashed through in several places and was probably a dangerous building.

This crimson demonic beast was arguably the most powerful demonic beast he had ever encountered. Fortunately, Number One was capable. Tang Yu also realized that this demonic beast was not much weaker than Number One in terms of strength and speed. Fortunately, Number One, as a puppet, possessed heaven-defying defense and endurance. Clearly, these two aspects completely overwhelmed this crimson demonic beast.

Following the corridor down, Tang Yu arrived at the underground cold storage, which was originally used by the shelter to store food.

At this time, the cold storage door had been destroyed, and the pile of miscellaneous items behind the door, which looked like garbage, were also destroyed and in ruins.

In the dim light, Tang Yu heard heavy breathing.

He is alive, a survivor!

Tang Yu was also stunned for a moment.

…………

"They're human, not mutated beasts!"

The survivors breathed a sigh of relief upon spotting the newcomer.

Chen Haiping observed more carefully. One of the two men was a young man dressed casually and excessively clean, while the other was completely covered in armor, obscuring his face, with bloodstains all over his armor.

He had a suspicion that the commotion above was likely due to someone fighting a demonized beast. Upon seeing the two people, his first thought was that someone had dealt with the terrifying demonized beast—although this guess was quite exaggerated. In his view, such a terrifying demonized beast could probably only be dealt with by heavy weapons. But now, based on the situation, this was the most likely scenario.

However, upon seeing the two of them, Chen Haiping's initial suspicions began to waver.

Neither the clean-clothed young man nor the warrior with bloodstains on his armor could he sense any aura of an Awakened being. Neither of them were Awakened, nor were they relying on heavy weapons; no matter how he thought about it, these two couldn't possibly be a match for that terrifying demonic beast.

Was it because the demonic beast happened to be away and didn't run into it?

He voiced the question that had been bothering him.

Upon hearing this, Tang Yu frowned. "A terrifying demonic beast? You mean the one outside? Of course it's dead."

died?

The other ordinary survivors gasped in shock, followed by an overwhelming sense of joy.

Chen Haiping ran out of the cold storage and came to the basement. At first, he was very careful, but when he got to the lobby, he saw the crimson demon beast covered in wounds and had lost all signs of life.

His eyes widened in disbelief, completely at a loss for words.

Then, thinking of the mysterious warrior in armor, carrying a long spear on his back with blood on the tip, doesn't that perfectly match the fatal wound on the forehead of this demonic beast?

"Could they really have been the ones who did it?"

Looking at the mess everywhere, with cracks in the lobby floor and collapsed walls, he would have been worried that the entire hotel might collapse at any moment if the load-bearing pillars were still intact.

No wonder the tremor was so violent just now. Just by looking at the scene, Chen Haiping knew that the strength of that crimson demon beast was far beyond his expectations. But wouldn't the two people who were able to kill the crimson demon beast be even more terrifying?

He no longer believes that Tang Yu and the other person are just ordinary people. How could ordinary people have such strength!

Chen Haiping was aware that the strength of awakened individuals was also divided into different levels.

More precisely, once an Awakened One absorbs and refines soul power to a certain threshold and breaks through, their physical attributes will experience a significant improvement. Someone like him, already considered above average among the Awakened Ones in the original sanctuary, is still only a Level 1 Awakened One.

This means that although his strength is slightly greater than that of ordinary awakened individuals, he still hasn't reached that critical point. However, he knows that the strongest one in the original sanctuary has already broken through two critical values ​​and reached the third level of awakening.

In the entire shelter, and even among all the Awakeners he had ever heard of, there was only this one person who had reached the third level of Awakening. That person had already perished in the demonic tide, but Chen Haiping had witnessed the destructive power that person had unleashed, and even then, it wasn't this powerful.

So, those two are actually more powerful Awakened Ones?

Chen Haiping was frightened by his own guess. Only this possibility could explain it. Similarly, because the difference in strength between him and the two was too great, he could not sense the aura of awakened beings from those two experts at all, which is why he mistakenly thought they were ordinary people.

Furthermore, if he wasn't an extremely powerful individual, how could that young man's clothes be so clean? Only an extremely powerful individual could roam freely in the wilderness without getting dirty.

That must be it!