Night of the Apocalypse

“It’s trouble; the three people in front are from the Red Alliance, and the five behind them look like they belong to the Gray Alliance. From their actions, they seem to be elite soldiers,” Shen Qiu whispered.

“Yeah, they’re armed and heading this way. What should we do now?” Tang Kexin asked quietly.

“Do nothing. Just keep an eye on them,” Shen Qiu replied calmly.

The group cautiously approached the building where Shen Qiu was hiding and took refuge in a tall building diagonally opposite.

Seeing this, Tang Kexin said to Shen Qiu, “It looks like they have the same idea as us.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Shen Qiu’s gaze kept shifting as time passed and the sky gradually darkened.

While keeping an eye on the people across the way, Shen Qiu occasionally surveyed the surrounding buildings, searching for clues to help them return.

At that moment, three cleaner robots appeared at the end of the street on the right. Their camera-like heads rotated continuously, scanning the nearby buildings.

When they found a relatively intact building, they entered to conduct a search.

“A team of searching robots has arrived,” Tang Kexin calmly warned Shen Qiu.

“It’s fine; the building we’re hiding in is a collapsed structure, and the stairs are blocked. They won’t be able to come up here. Besides, their infrared sensing devices shouldn’t be very advanced, so they can’t see through walls. As long as we don’t stick our heads up and get spotted, we’ll be okay. The real concern is for those people; we’ll just wait and adapt,” Shen Qiu reassured Tang Kexin.

In fact, Shen Qiu was right. Inside the building directly across from them…

A man with a face full of flesh anxiously said to the lead man, “Brother Rahan, a team of searching robots has arrived. If we hide here, we’ll probably get discovered.”

“Why panic? They’re just simple-minded robots. I have my arrangements,” Rahan said, his eyes flashing with a gleam of cunning.

“Okay.”

The other four companions relaxed a bit upon hearing Rahan’s words.

Rahan turned to look at the two men and one woman who were being held captive and raised his gun, pointing it at the head of a young man wearing glasses.

The young man immediately felt weak in his legs and pleaded in terror, “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”

It was no wonder he was so afraid; he had witnessed this guy kill someone.

Rahan revealed a sinister smile and said to the bespectacled young man, “Do you want to live?”

“Yes!”

“Good. I’ll give you a chance. You go outside and run towards that alley over there as fast as you can.”

“Brother, please spare me! There are robots outside!”

The young man pleaded continuously.

“Think carefully: do you want to take a risk and maybe find a way to survive, or should I send you on your way right now?”

Rahan threatened with a menacing grin.

“Don’t kill me, I’ll run!”

The bespectacled young man agreed in terror.

“That’s more like it. Don’t try anything funny; I’ll be watching you from behind,” Rahan said, lifting his hand to pat the young man’s face, smiling as he threatened.

As the cleaner robots got closer, the young man in glasses desperately dashed out, racing towards the alley on the other side.

His actions were immediately noticed by the cleaner robots, which promptly gave chase.

Hiding in the unstable building, Tang Kexin watched this scene and quietly said, “They’re using the hostage as bait to draw the enemies away.”

Shen Qiu remained silent, calmly observing everything.

At that moment, a rare fluctuation appeared on Shen Qiu’s face. He shook his head and then closed and reopened his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Tang Kexin asked, puzzled.

Shen Qiu immediately replied, “Look to your left; is there an afterimage appearing about three hundred meters ahead?”

Following Shen Qiu’s suggestion, Tang Kexin carefully moved forward and showed a hint of surprise on her face.

“That’s right; an afterimage has appeared. Should we try to sneak around from the back?”

Tang Kexin said to Shen Qiu.

“Wait, enemies are coming,” Shen Qiu said in a low voice.

Upon hearing Shen Qiu’s warning, Tang Kexin turned her head to look and saw three more cleaner robots appear not far away.

“This is a bit troublesome.”

“Don’t panic yet.”

Shen Qiu replied, keeping his composure as his eyes glanced at the building diagonally opposite.

The people hiding across the way seemed to have also noticed the afterimages.

They hurriedly made their way down to the first floor.

Before long, Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin saw a man and a woman being driven out.

The two immediately took off running, prompting the three cleaner robots to chase after them as if they had been activated.

Just when Shen Qiu and the others thought the enemies had been drawn away and were about to move, the entire square, along with the buildings, began to tremble slightly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin turned their heads to look, their faces twitching violently.

On the left side of the square stood a terrifying figure: a four-meter tall war machine covered in thick alloy armor, equipped with four mechanical spider legs at the bottom. Its upper body was armed with two 9MM Gatling guns, a 16-round rocket launcher, a 125mm main cannon, and various targeting and locking devices.

Emblazoned on its chest was an unintelligible model number: LZ-01 War Guardian, Spider.

“What should we do? Hiding here might not be enough to evade its scanning and searching,”

Tang Kexin asked calmly.

Shen Qiu’s expression shifted several times before he pulled out a slingshot and marbles from his backpack, speaking in a low voice.

“It’s simple; let’s make someone else take the blame.”

“Okay!”

Tang Kexin’s eyes instantly lit up.

Shen Qiu drew back the slingshot and aimed at the glass of the building across from them.

Whoosh!

The marble shot out instantly, hitting the glass with precision!

Crash!

The glass shattered immediately.

Those hiding at the bottom of the building, anxiously watching the spider machine, were instantly stunned.

At that moment, the upper body of the spider turned sharply, and the main cannon aimed at the building where Rahan and his group were hiding, firing a shot.

Rahan and the others dashed out!

Boom!

The entire building was instantly demolished.

“We’re leaving! Let’s go around from the back.”

Shen Qiu led Tang Kexin to climb down from the window at the back of the building.

The two circled around and sprinted toward the area with the afterimages. They could clearly hear the terrifying sounds of gunfire echoing down the street.

Shen Qiu was confident that even if those people managed to dodge the first round of bombardment, their chances of survival were slim.

“250 meters left!”

“200 meters!”

“We’re almost there!”

Tang Kexin kept counting down the distance, her tone gradually becoming more excited.

Just as the two of them were getting closer to the afterimages, suddenly, about 70 meters ahead, with a loud rumble, a collapsed building was smashed open, and a spider machine emerged with a group of cleaners, blocking Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin’s path.

“Not good, run back! There’s no chance now!”

Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin immediately turned and ran back frantically.

Boom!

A shell whistled in, instantly hitting the building next to Shen Qiu!

Rumble!

The entire structure collapsed by more than half.

Seeing this, Shen Qiu quickly grabbed Tang Kexin and ran toward the right side of the street, trying to avoid being seen.

Soon, a barrage of bullets rained down behind them.

Clang! Clang! Sparks flew everywhere.

After the first round of attacks missed, the spider machine instantly displayed its terrifying agility.

Clang! Clang!

It pursued Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin.

Shen Qiu could clearly hear the sounds growing closer behind him; his legs simply couldn’t outrun it.

His heart raced up into his throat, pounding furiously.

At that moment, the spider machine violently crashed through the building, quickly locking onto its targets. Its rocket launcher lifted up menacingly.

Whoosh!

Three rockets shot out, heading straight for Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin.

It’s over!

That was Shen Qiu and Tang Kexin’s first reaction.