Night of the Apocalypse

Although many people feel that the Red Alliance is restrictive, with rules here and constraints there, just look at the people who have entered the overlapping world. After losing their restraints, they have all become a mess.

However, Shen Qiu also knew that while there may be some truth to this, very few people actually put it into practice.

At this moment, Yun Xiaoxi felt like she had said a bit too much and apologetically said, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have told you so much. Don’t take it to heart.”

“It’s fine,” Shen Qiu waved his hand and replied.

Just then, a sudden, dull bell toll echoed through the gray mist.

Upon hearing the bell, Yun Xiaoxi exclaimed in shock, “Oh no! I completely lost track of time.”

“What happened?” Shen Qiu asked quickly, seeing her so anxious.

“Come with me, quickly!”

Yun Xiaoxi immediately extended her fingers, grabbed Shen Qiu’s sleeve, and started running toward a nearby residential area.

“What exactly is going on?” Shen Qiu asked, his expression serious, as he jogged to keep up with her.

“It’s midnight; the church bells in the center of Fog City are ringing. The sleeping monsters in the city are about to awaken! If we’re discovered by them, it’s going to be bad. At least a million monsters are sleeping in this city.”

Yun Xiaoxi said this simply.

Hearing her words, Shen Qiu’s expression changed immediately.

“What should we do?”

“Find a place to hide!”

Yun Xiaoxi looked around and chose a nearby two-story building.

She rushed over, pushed open the door, and after they both entered, she quickly closed the door behind them.

After glancing at the first floor, Yun Xiaoxi pulled Shen Qiu and shouted, “Go upstairs!”

Without hesitation, Shen Qiu followed Yun Xiaoxi as they ran up the stairs.

As Shen Qiu looked at Yun Xiaoxi in front of him, a strange expression crossed his face.

It seemed that Yun Xiaoxi was indeed a woman of her word; she said she would protect him and was genuinely holding onto him, afraid he might fall behind.

When they reached the second floor, they saw two rooms and a living room.

“Stand here and don’t move; I’ll take care of the rest!”

After instructing Shen Qiu, Yun Xiaoxi dashed into the first room on the left.

Shen Qiu turned to look and saw a red coffin in that room. The coffin was shaking, and Yun Xiaoxi pushed the lid open.

Suddenly, a male corpse dressed in a white shirt and a red formal coat sat up.

Before the male corpse could react, Yun Xiaoxi reached out and violently grabbed the back of its clothing, pulling it out forcefully and slamming it to the ground.

Next, Yun Xiaoxi raised her sword and cleanly plunged it into the corpse’s chest.

Crack!

Thick black blood oozed out.

“Ah~”

The male corpse immediately let out a pained howl and then fell lifeless.

Yun Xiaoxi swiftly withdrew her sword, ran out of the room, and headed toward another slightly ajar room.

However, when she pushed the door open, she was momentarily taken aback, stopping at the doorway.

“What’s wrong?”

Shen Qiu leaned over to take a look; the room was a storage room piled with a mess of items, and there was no coffin inside.

“This is bad! There’s only one coffin. Forget it, there’s no time.”

Yun Xiaoxi tugged at Shen Qiu’s sleeve and ran back to the coffin in the first room.

“You’re not going to make me hide in there, are you?” Shen Qiu said, frowning at the somewhat moldy coffin.

“Exactly, hurry up and get in!”

Yun Xiaoxi urged him.

With no other choice, Shen Qiu could only take off his backpack and place it on the ground before climbing in and lying on his side.

A wave of putrid odor immediately hit him in the face.

Shen Qiu felt his stomach churn, but he managed to suppress it. The smell was just as bad as durian mixed with canned herring—particularly overwhelming.

Yun Xiaoxi wasted no time and climbed in after him, lying down opposite Shen Qiu, extending her hand to pull the red coffin lid back over them.

In an instant, the entire world was engulfed in darkness.

The space inside the coffin was very cramped, but fortunately, Yun Xiaoxi wasn’t very tall and was flat-chested, so they could barely squeeze in.

Even so, Shen Qiu and Yun Xiaoxi’s bodies were nearly pressed together, and they could hear each other’s breathing.

Shen Qiu also felt a bit awkward, and to ease the tension, he lowered his voice to ask,

“Why are we hiding in the red coffin? Is it really safer this way?”

“You may not realize this, but not all of the mutated natives here are as weak as the one I just killed. Many of them possess special abilities, including various scouting capabilities, such as enhanced smell and hearing. Hiding in the red coffin has two benefits. First, the coffin has a certain level of sealing, which reduces the chances of our presence being detected. Second, the foul smell inside the coffin can mask our scent. Of course, it’s not the only hiding place; sewers or similar locations would work too. But it’s important to note that just because you’re hiding doesn’t mean you’re completely safe; there’s still a chance of being discovered, but it’s relatively safer.”

Yun Xiaoxi explained the reasons to Shen Qiu.

“How did you learn all this?”

“After being chased a few times, you just naturally start to figure it out.”

“That makes sense. So how long do we need to hide? Until dawn?”

“No, we need to stay hidden for twelve hours, from midnight until noon the next day, using the bell tolls as a reference.”

“Twelve hours? That’s quite a long time.”

“Yeah, but as long as we get through this period, the remaining time will be relatively safe. As long as you don’t actively provoke those sleeping monsters, you should be fine. If you really think about it, this Mist City is actually less dangerous compared to other overlapping worlds.”

Yun Xiaoxi answered almost every question without a hint of impatience, her tone very gentle.

Shen Qiu pondered for a moment and realized that Yun Xiaoxi was right. Although the monsters in this Mist City were numerous, as long as one understood their patterns, it was like heaven compared to the Mechanical Ruins City, with a significantly higher survival rate.

However, it was precisely because of this that the guys from the Scorpion Brigade dared to hunt newcomers so recklessly by setting traps.

“Um…”

At that moment, various chaotic sounds echoed from the street outside.

“Shh!”

Yun Xiaoxi reminded Shen Qiu.

Shen Qiu swallowed the words he hadn’t said and listened carefully.

He saw that on the fog-shrouded street, the doors of buildings were being pushed open.

One by one, the indigenous people, resembling marionettes, swayed as they walked out of their homes.

In the blink of an eye, the originally empty street was filled with eerie figures, like a gathering of a hundred ghosts, making one’s hair stand on end.

At that moment, a group of indigenous people appeared, dressed in coarse linen clothes, with disheveled hair, towering at three meters tall, and their heads elongated with deformed skulls. They swayed as they held kerosene bottles.

They walked under the light of the kerosene lamps and stiffly poured the contents of their kerosene bottles into the lamps.

After filling one lamp, they proceeded to the next.

On the street, those ordinary-looking indigenous people with withered faces wandered in confusion for a while before all facing the direction of the cathedral in the city and slowly kneeling down.

They brought their hands together in front of their chests, their mouths slightly open, producing indistinct sounds.

As for those indigenous people dressed in more luxurious clothing and wearing white gloves, they staggered as they made their way step by step toward the cathedral in the city center.

Upon closer inspection, the indigenous people in poorer clothing instinctively avoided those dressed more extravagantly.

The invisible class distinctions remained intact, existing even in death.