Night of the Apocalypse

The bizarre creature became increasingly agitated after missing its attack, emitting a gurgling sound as it accelerated to chase Shen Qiu.

Shen Qiu could clearly feel that he was about to be caught; the sound of pursuit was growing louder, and it was evident that the creature’s explosive power surpassed his own. Continuing to run like this would definitely lead to his demise.

At that moment, Shen Qiu scanned his surroundings and made a decisive decision. He suddenly turned to the side and ran around the two-story square building next to him.

The creature, in its eagerness, overshot and lost its target. By the time it turned back around, Shen Qiu had managed to create some distance.

The creature quickly regained speed and continued to chase after him. Shen Qiu, meanwhile, accelerated and kept circling around the dilapidated building, carefully observing its structure. His keen eyes caught sight of the damaged wall on the west side of the building, and his gaze sharpened.

One lap! Two laps!

As he completed the third lap, the ugly monster burst out from the corner but immediately lost sight of Shen Qiu.

It grew even more furious and ran faster, circling the building in frustration.

At this moment, on the roof of the building, Shen Qiu lay low, holding his breath as he quietly watched the creature.

Just a moment ago, Shen Qiu had taken advantage of the damaged wall on the west side of the building, quickly climbing up to evade the monster.

From the current outcome, his plan seemed to have worked well. However, Shen Qiu didn’t let his guard down; the danger was not yet over.

He didn’t know the creature’s characteristics. If it had a keen sense of smell or high intelligence, it could become a real problem.

Thus, Shen Qiu remained ready to escape at any moment.

Fortunately for him, it seemed that the ugly creature wasn’t very lucky. After frantically running in circles for over ten laps, it angrily left the area.

“Phew~”

Shen Qiu watched the creature’s retreating figure and let out a long sigh of relief.

He then turned his attention to the four-story building not far away. Taking a deep breath, he climbed down.

Once on the ground, Shen Qiu cautiously made his way toward the building.

This time, he managed to enter the building without any issues. The lobby on the first floor was quite well-decorated, filled with toppled furniture and damaged appliances.

It was clear that the owner of this house was more affluent than the previous one he had searched.

After briefly observing the layout of the first floor, he quietly made his way into the kitchen.

The kitchen was in a state of chaos, with broken dishes and utensils scattered everywhere.

Shen Qiu reached out and picked up a twelve-centimeter-long fruit knife, swinging it a few times.

To be honest, if his previous steel pipe hadn’t been bitten in half, he wouldn’t have chosen this fruit knife. Such knives wouldn’t do much against machines or monsters.

Remaining calm, Shen Qiu began to rummage through the cabinets, but unfortunately, he didn’t find anything valuable.

He quickly abandoned the kitchen and started searching other areas.

Forty minutes later, Shen Qiu found himself on the fourth floor, where he encountered a pile of items.

There was an unknown material clock-shaped backpack with excellent resilience, a wristband with a broken screen, two books with complex patterns, and a yellow, unidentified gemstone ring.

As Shen Qiu looked at the items he had found, his expression grew increasingly grave; he still hadn’t found the weapon he wanted.

Moreover, while searching, he realized something troubling: he hadn’t found any food or water.

Shen Qiu couldn’t determine whether it was just his bad luck or if the city had none at all.

Feeling a bit weary, he gathered the pile of items and stuffed them into the backpack. He leaned against the wall, preparing to rest for a moment.

The frantic escape earlier had left him somewhat exhausted.

City in Clear Skies

West Lin Street Guard Bureau

Ding ding~

Almost immediately after being placed down, all the phones in the Guard Bureau started ringing.

The on-duty personnel, sweating profusely, answered the calls one after another.
“Here is the West Lin Street Guard Bureau. How can we assist you?”

“Ah? You also have missing persons over there?”

“Where did they go missing? How long have they been missing? How many people are missing?”

“We will send personnel as soon as possible.”

At this moment, a middle-aged man in a high-ranking guard uniform, with a scar across his face, paced back and forth anxiously while listening to the calls reporting missing persons.

“Director, what should we do? We’ve received thousands of reports of missing persons, especially along the Tianqing Canal, where the situation is the worst!”

“What are you telling me? Just have Ah Tai investigate!”

“Uh, that Ah Tai is also missing, and we can’t get in touch with him.”

“What did you say?”

Zhang Lu was also taken aback.

“Actually, it’s not just Ah Tai who is missing. Many of our colleagues have also disappeared. We were already short-handed, and now it’s even worse. What should we do?”

“Calm down all the callers reporting missing persons and escalate the situation! This is beyond what we can handle.”

Zhang Lu’s expression changed as he spoke.

“Understood!”

—

Red Alliance – Hall of Sacred Words

Council President Long Yan sat quietly in the main seat while the members below, all wearing white mechanical masks, reported anxiously.

“Within the Red Alliance, the current statistics show that the number of reported missing persons has reached 53,211 cases, and the numbers are still increasing explosively.”

“The personnel we dispatched to the scene have not found any clues; those people seem to have vanished into thin air. Moreover, the situation is even worse than we imagined because the missing persons are not just ordinary civilians. There are also soldiers, wealthy merchants, officers, and even three members of our council are missing.”

“Communication Department has reported that all networks have been temporarily shut down to prevent the situation from escalating and causing nationwide panic.”

“In the administrative area of Red Alliance District Seven, incidents of civilians being attacked and casualties caused by unidentified creatures have been reported.”

Long Yan listened quietly to all the reports before rasping, “From the intelligence we have so far, it appears that almost all incidents began around 6 PM, correct?”

“Yes,” replied the reporting council member with a nod.

“Hmm, let’s not panic. The priority is to search for the missing persons. If we can find even one, the situation will become clear.”

“You are right, Council President,” many of the attending council members nodded in agreement.

Long Yan then slowly stood up and spoke in a deep voice. “I have one more thing to announce. In response to various unexpected bizarre incidents, I will propose to extract elite personnel from various departments of the Red Alliance to form a new special response organization, the KPI Department! If anyone has objections, please speak up; if not, we will proceed directly due to the urgency of the situation.”

The numerous council members looked at each other, and no one objected.

“Since there are no objections, the KPI Department is officially established.”

Long Yan finalized the matter.