A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

But staying by that madman's side means he'll be taken away sooner or later anyway.

"If it can't withstand scrutiny, then don't bother scrutinizing it," the boy suddenly straightened his back and said coldly.

"It's time to go. Have you rested enough?"

I've used the restroom, found some wild fruit, and my magic has recovered a little. I'm almost ready to continue my journey.

We don't know what's following us, so it's good to leave early.

"I understand, I understand." The man shrugged and got into the car.

Luo Shiqi gave this man a ride for two reasons: first, he felt that it was impossible for a child like him to survive outside the safe zone; second, he knew that his magic-powered vehicle alone could not run continuously.

Suddenly, the ground trembled slightly.

"Run!!! Hurry!" The man suddenly shivered and then roared.

He saw a figure, about the size of a house, walking slowly and steadily from a very, very far distance away.

It's quite far, probably one or two kilometers.

But that... might be a demigod... this distance still makes one uneasy.

Demigods are dangerous, really dangerous.

The two people, one big and one small, on the magic vehicle have witnessed countless people whose concepts have been distorted.

The good news is that the demigod wasn't close to them, so they could just slip away quietly.

The important thing is not the distance of one or two kilometers, but not to attract the other party's attention.

Like an ant, the best course of action is to quietly slip away from the demigod's feet.

Although it's hard to guarantee that the other party won't suddenly have a bad idea and kill them on a whim, at this point everything depends on luck.

In this chaotic wasteland, luck is also a factor in survival.

Luo Shiqi didn't say anything, but drove off after the man got into the car.

Hoping they won't be noticed by the demigods, and hoping there won't be any monsters along the way—these are the only two things the two can do right now.

Running nearly 100 kilometers and still alive is nothing short of a miracle.

You should know that after the original safe zone was destroyed... 99% of the people died on the way to find the new safe zone.

Then, nine out of ten died not far from the original safe zone.

"Looks like it's safe now... It's quite far away." The man breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the enormous figure recede into the distance.

"And there are monsters... We only made it over a hundred kilometers by sheer luck." Luo Shiqi poured cold water on the man's enthusiasm.

"Don't say such discouraging things," the man said helplessly.

"But how did you grow up like this? You're only thirteen years old, and you're already so monstrous." In the man's eyes, Luo Shiqi was capable of everything and was also quite strong; he was truly a monstrous existence.

He felt like he had wasted the last twenty-odd years of his life.

"It's just to survive." Luo Shiqi answered calmly, without any pride.

With the Black Iron civilization destroyed and the world turned into a wasteland, the people who face the greatest hardship in survival are the children without parents.

Children don't have enough ability to seize resources, and no one will voluntarily give up resources at this time.

Without sufficient resources, the children's plight would be unimaginable.

Many security zones lack the well-functioning security and systems of the Imperial Capital Security Zone, making children the natural "victims."

Most children without special skills can only survive by stealing, lying, or becoming someone else's "tool".

As a thirteen-year-old kid, Luo Shiqi understood this better than anyone else.

Long ago, the world began to lack compassion, and few people had the capacity to care about the life and death of others.

Right now, nobody even knows if they'll see the sun rise the next day.

Luo Shiqi was originally just an ordinary child from a family that moved from the Eastern Continent.

Until the events of more than two years ago, everything changed, and the fate of everyone in Capra was twisted on that day.

There are actually quite a few madmen in the world, but it's rare for a madman to have an episode in a stable world.

But when all constraints are gone...

Without realizing it, he increased the speed of the magic chariot.

Although that cannibalistic guy may have given up on chasing me long ago, who can be sure?

Perhaps the other party is enjoying the feeling of hunting down prey and then savoring it.

---

“Brave, this!” Levy stood in front of Bray, holding up a huge mattress, seemingly wanting to take credit.

She forcefully removed the mattress from a complete bed and ran to Bray.

Although this is normal for Levy's strength, it still feels a bit incongruous to see her holding something twice her size.

“No…” Bray shook his head. Sure enough, there weren’t any particularly good beds in the outer city.

What exactly constitutes a good bed? Is it something that looks very luxurious or high-class?

But that's not necessarily true. There might be gangsters or similar figures in the outer city who could enjoy the same treatment as nobles.

The local bully was doing much better than most people would imagine.

Levy was dejected. If she weren't at home, she probably would have curled up in a ball and been depressed for a while.

"It's okay if we can't find it today," Bray said, offering words of comfort as he looked at Levy's dejected expression.

"Oh..." Unfortunately, this comforting words were useless; Levy still wanted Nia to lie on the big bed.

Why is Levy so insistent on having a four-year-old child in a big bed...? This is something Bray finds very strange too.

Of course, Bray didn't examine why he was also fixated on this point.

"The outer city is indeed where the most people died," Bray remarked, looking around.

The middle city and the outer city were actually in about the same state of destruction, not much different from a junkyard.

But the number of skeletons buried beneath the ruins of the outer city is definitely several times greater than that of the inner city.

The outer city was already densely populated, and it was among the first to suffer when the Silver Clan razed the capital.

It is also the furthest from the inner city safe zone.

It's almost a miracle that they survived.

For the first six months, the exposed water pipes in the outer city would still leak water, but after another six months, those pipes dried up completely.

The cloth hanging on the rusty iron plate is still there after all this time, only now it's covered in mold.

This wasn't the first time Bray had expressed such sentiments.

But no matter how many times you lament, it's useless; the past cannot be reversed, at least not by him.

Bray cleared away the clutter blocking his way little by little and walked to a certain spot.

After arriving at his destination, he casually peeled off the collapsed section of the wall.

"Swish, swish, swish—" As soon as the lid was lifted, countless insects swarmed out from the shadows.

They were all startled by a small gesture from Bray.

Scorpions, spiders, and even maggots that were supposed to be the dinner of the insects in front of you.

However, Bray didn't even raise an eyebrow when he saw this scene; many things become less nauseating once you get used to them.

When he first started out as an adventurer, he felt nauseous when he saw the gruesome corpses in the earliest ruins.

Even though I'm not afraid, I still feel nauseous, and I almost threw up my stomach back then.

Gradually, I got used to many scenes, bloody, disgusting, and gloomy.

By now, many things have become part of the scenery.

Occasionally, Bray would wonder if he was becoming numb after treating these things as mere scenery.

"Phew!" Levy casually spat out a mouthful of the seedlings, cooking all the insects.

Unfortunately, the firepower was too strong, leaving only charred remains.

Levy always couldn't resist spitting fire at this thing whenever she saw it. This thing couldn't be cooled with ice; it had to be roasted clean with fire, otherwise she would feel uncomfortable all over.

"Levy... turn the fire down." Bray's lips twitched. Levy's fire had roasted the corpse he was looking for along with it.

The originally grayish-white bones were roasted until brown marks were left, and the cloth was burned clean.

Thankfully, this guy was already dead beyond any doubt...

Normally, you wouldn't be able to tell who the person was from the corpse, but the order form in Bray's hand contained some details about the person.

That detail is the wedding ring on the ring finger of her left hand.

"The person who commissioned this is really persistent..." Bray's seemingly random remark left Levy puzzled. There are many kinds of missing person requests: some are looking for their children, some for their parents, some for their spouses, and even quite a few for their friends.

Even if they know in their hearts that the person they are looking for has long since died, they will still persistently issue commissions, just wanting to know the result.

Perhaps everyone prays with that one in a million chance.

But now, what should people pray to? They can probably pray to anything, just for some psychological comfort.

Because Bray is shrewd, he would scan the area with his radar when collecting things outside, so this kind of commission wasn't particularly difficult for him.

Therefore, I would often take on commissions as a matter of course.

The commission Bray took on this time was posted by a woman who wanted to find her husband.

Even if it's just his belongings, she wants to know where her husband is.

The couple were not locals from the capital; they were tourists from out of town who happened to be caught in the disaster.

Of course, at that time, it didn't really matter where you were in the world.

This information was written very clearly by the woman, showing that she wanted to increase her chances of finding her husband as much as possible.

“No wonder it was in the outer city.” Bray raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at the exquisite wedding ring.

The ring was exquisite; it didn't seem like the kind of high-end item people from the outer city would wear.

However, it makes sense if we consider that the client came here as a tourist, as there are quite a few people who start their sightseeing from the outer city.

Only a minority of people travel on a budget, and those who can afford to travel are probably not that poor.

However, there is a dilemma: Bray doesn't know what to do with the skeleton.

Dragging the skeleton out seems a bit disrespectful to the deceased.

Moreover, he also had to remove the ring from the skeleton as proof to show to the client, which was a real headache.

Should Bray take the remains back to the safe zone, or just bury them nearby and set up a screen...?

He couldn't help but rub his temples and begin to sigh.

Just as Bray was in a state of extreme distress, Levy's ears suddenly perked up, and her small body straightened up a bit.

"Boom!"

"Bang!!!!!"

A series of strange sounds rang out, and Bray couldn't help but look in the direction of the sound.

There was no trace of silver-grade aura, so what exactly is this noisy thing...? It's so noisy.

"Oh—" Looking at the overturned magic vehicle rolling down the slope like a roller not far away, Bray exclaimed, "I see."

And the people on the bus seem to be screaming very pitifully. Are they alright?

"Aaaaaah!!!!" The man on the magic vehicle screamed in agony.

"..." Luo Shiqi, who was driving, also looked very unpleasant and held back from crying out.

The rusty magic vehicle lost its balance, tipped over on its side on the slope, and then rolled away.

Ultimately, the magic car collapsed because it was going too fast.

It wasn't that Luo Shiqi was driving so fast on purpose; it was just that a group of wild dog-shaped monsters were chasing him from behind.

After running 100 kilometers, the entire route was so safe that Luo Shiqi and the man mistakenly believed that the area outside the safe zone was a safe place.