Catastrophe

"Keep going!"

Alan followed behind the two children. As he could not interfere with this world, he could only silently cheer them on.

The tunnel wasn't long, and soon, the two children emerged with bread in hand.

This seemed to be the back of a bakery, but in their excitement, their movements became a bit too enthusiastic, knocking a small wooden board, producing a slight noise.

In an instant, the expressions on the boy's and girl's faces turned pale.

The boy let out a yell, probably something like 'run quickly', and pushed the girl.

Behind them, the terrifying monster was already chasing madly, its tentacle-like arms growing wildly, directly piercing through the wooden board.

Terrifying, bursting through the wall!

Alan wanted to do something, but there was no way.

These two children had no way of surviving under such a terrifying monster!

At this moment, a loud noise suddenly sounded from the side!

Whoosh whoosh!

With the loud noise, several flying stones hit the monster, diverting its attention.

A lithe woman, resembling a female cheetah, who was a scavenger, quickly approached and pulled up the two children, retreating swiftly.

Clearly, the loud noise from the side was just bait.

"Very good...It seems not everyone in this world has gone mad, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in races..."

Alan followed behind the woman, carefully observing her.

The woman was very young, probably in her twenties, wearing sturdy and durable clothing, though a bit dirty, much like a scavenger.

She had Germanic features with blonde hair and blue eyes, a tall and strong build, and a bronzed facial outline filled with a determined expression. She was currently running without saying a word.

During her movements and jumps, her footsteps were very light, barely making any noise, seemingly having undergone special training.

Though holding two children of different sizes, she did not show any sign of strain, quickly running out of the city to a human camp.

It was a mill established by the river, now fully militarized, with iron fences full of thorns and dark blood and flesh fragments on the railings.

Several people emerged from within the building, holding weapons and looking very vigilant. Only when they saw the woman did they break into smiles.

"Very good, a gathering point."

Alan followed inside the building, finding it was not large, only housing about twenty people, but the material reserves were quite ample. He immediately decided to stay and gradually learn their language and writing.

After all, for them, an invisible ghost didn't make much difference.

Soon, Alan saw the woman arguing with her companions regarding the two children.

After all, in such an apocalyptic world, adding two burdens was no easy task.

Fortunately, the outcome was good, and the two children were eventually accepted.

The scavenger woman initially gave a can, which seemed to be some kind of meat can, to the two children, speaking to them softly.

After the children finished eating, she even took out a book, pointing at the content and slowly reading.

To Alan's surprise, the woman hadn't forgotten about education even in such circumstances, perhaps teaching the children how to read!

How fast can someone learn a language?

Alan knew that some genius minds could learn the local lingua franca just by taking a flight and before landing.

He, equivalent to a controlled hypermnemonic genius, took ten days!

It wasn't due to his lack of learning ability; it was entirely because he could only passively acquire knowledge, which slowed down his progress.

Relying on his photographic memory, the conversation among the people in the gathering point, and most importantly, the learning of the two children, Alan could finally understand the alien world's language and roughly read their writing.

At the same time, he knew the name of the scavenger woman - Shu!

As for the two children, the older boy was named Ike, and the younger girl was Lin.

The technology in this world was evidently more advanced than in the Green Forest; at least Alan saw flintlock guns used for defense.

During this period, Alan frequently heard the term - 'catastrophe'!

This was how the humans of this world referred to the solar cataclysm and the ensuing series of events.

One day,

the alarm bell from a trap outside the mill rang.

Everyone hurriedly grabbed their fire guns, pointing them in the direction where the trap was triggered.

Even Ike, holding a small knife in his hand, firmly protected his sister behind him.

From the direction of the bell, a figure quickly emerged.

"Aunt Shu!"

Lin cheered, and Ike put down his weapon, but his face changed in the next moment because Shu had a wound on her arm, constantly oozing blood.

"She's injured and needs treatment!"

A woman in her forties from the survivors shouted.

"No...Shu! You can't come any closer."

A man raised his gun, "Who knows if your wound is infected, if you'll turn into one of those monsters? A normal hunter wouldn't trigger their own trap! You've set off the bells...Can't you control yourself anymore?"

Shu stopped outside the mill, showing a helpless smile, "I am still conscious, should not go mad immediately. For safety, I'll stay outside the mill!"

She stopped, leaning against the mill wall to rest, "Sorry...Encountered a very dangerous monster and couldn't bring back food."

Ike remained silent, suddenly stepping forward and taking out a bandage to wrap Shu's wound.

Shu smiled, pinching Lin's cheek.

"How can they do this?" Ike felt bad for Shu, knowing most of the food in the refuge was gathered by her.

"Don't blame them, ever since the catastrophe, everyone has gone mad!"

Shu lit an unfiltered cigarette, slowly puffing, her voice heavy, "Yes...Actually, we're also mad, just potential madmen. Everyone's madness varies, the most insane ones mutated into monsters first, those less insane became cruel, bloodthirsty, cold, apathetic, insane...A small portion of survivors are slightly better, with increased anxiety, compulsiveness, tension, paranoia...But we still risk falling into the abyss, turning into monsters—when wounded, infected or overly emotional. Therefore, caution and carefulness are your survival rules for the future...And don't trust people easily!"

She was passing on survival experience, her voice growing faint.

Ike's eyes were filled with tears, though he held them back from falling.

In the following days, Shu's condition remained stable, neither turning into a monster nor having her wound infected.

But at the same time, there was bad news: the monsters around Saro's Port had grown stronger and more agile.

After the repairs, several groups of scavengers met with misfortune, and one team did not return at all!

The heavy dark clouds weighed down on the heads of every survivor.