Half an hour later.
The "mother" that couldn't find its target took away the corpses of those monsters on the ground.
It wasn't until the footsteps vanished, the vibrations ceased, and they confirmed it had gone far away, that the few "locals" hiding in the hall finally relaxed.
The bonfire was rekindled, and the closed windows were opened, letting in air mixed with the lingering stench of the mother, which brought Chen Jian out of his daze.
The scene captured by the drone earlier had already exceeded his understanding. Even knowing he had traveled through dimensions, it was hard for him to accept the fact of such creatures defying basic rules existing in a short amount of time.
Monsters three or four meters high weren't that strange; a large grizzly bear could reach nearly three meters when standing upright.
But 20 meters tall??
For a creature of that size to appear on Earth, it would have to be back in the Cretaceous period, right??
Chen Jian frowned deeply, turning his head to look at the guide beside him, who happened to be approaching him as well.
"I... I am Du Hu, I'm a hunter!"
"It's safe now, the mother's parade has ended..."
Hearing his words, Chen Jian nodded slightly and asked:
"How often does this parade occur?"
Du Hu was taken aback, seemingly surprised by Chen Jian's question.
Are there still people in this world who don't know about the timings of the mother's parade?
If they don't even know this, how have they survived?
The questions filled his mind, but recalling the formidable combat abilities the other had shown on the street, he felt there was nothing to hide or fear.
So, he answered honestly:
"It comes out to hunt about every 5 days, but if too many mantises die, it will come out to collect the bodies."
"Where are you from? Do you not, not know about the mother?"
Chen Jian's expression changed slightly.
Not only do I not know about the mother, I don't even know where this place is!
In theory, I've only been here for two hours, okay?
Can you expect me to know anything?
Looking at Du Hu, who was eagerly awaiting his response, Chen Jian exhaled softly and spoke candidly:
"We just arrived here; we don't know anything."
Hearing his words, all the locals in the hall were stunned.
Their expressions were quite complex, filled with surprise and an underlying disappointment.
Du Hu wanted to ask further, but a short-haired woman who stepped forward patted his shoulder, interrupting him directly.
Then, the woman asked Chen Jian:
"If you're not Holy Blood, but coming from the north, then are you... Mechanical God Sect?"
What the hell?!
The woman's two sentences left Chen Jian completely dumbfounded.
Holy Blood, Mechanical God Sect.
These religiously charged terms hit him as hard as the giant beast had, making him wonder whether he was still on Earth.
But the moon and stars do not lie, and neither does the sextant.
So, he asked an extremely critical question:
"What year is it now?"
The woman looked puzzled towards Chen Jian and countered:
"What do you mean by what year?"
It's over.
Even the most basic calendar system had collapsed, which showed how difficult human survival was in this world.
Chen Jian took a deep breath and continued to ask:
"How long has it been since this world became like this?"
The woman shook her head again, answering:
"No one knows. It was already like this when I was born."
"But back then, there were many of us."
"Over time, the monsters increased, and the people decreased... We originally had more than a hundred people, but now only... five are left."
There was no need to ask further questions.
Judging by the ages of the four normal people in this small outpost, they were likely born in the second, or even the third or fourth generation of the post-apocalyptic era.
As the number of settlements dwindle, most information couldn't be handed down before disappearing, so it's almost impossible to get any more useful information about the disaster's origin from them.
Therefore, Chen Jian decisively moved past this topic.
He initially intended to ask more specific questions, but by this time, the unknown animal's carcass on the bonfire was cooked, and it was time for the locals to eat.
The man responsible for grilling respectfully invited Chen Jian's team to eat, but out of caution, Chen Jian declined with a wave of his hand, opting to sit at a relatively distant corner from the fire, taking out the remaining emergency rations to satiate his hunger.
The two groups watched and assessed each other from afar.
One side was an armed-to-the-teeth special operations team; the other was destitute survivors struggling to live.
Each held items the other desperately needed, so even though suspicion and distrust lay apparent, there was an unspoken agreement to maintain relatively friendly interaction.
But Chen Jian didn't know how long this friendliness could last.
At that moment, the intelligent terminal had compiled all the information, and while chewing on compressed biscuits, the four discussed their next plan.
"It's essentially certain now that we are in a post-apocalyptic world."
"The main threat to humans are those monsters, but they aren't the reason humanity has come to this point."
"There must have been a stronger, unavoidable force—perhaps a virus, or something else."
"This force should have already dissipated, because the woman just said that the reason her settlement's numbers dwindled was monsters, not other inexplicable factors."
"The problem is severe... Do you have any thoughts?"
Hearing Chen Jian's words, Shen Yue responded:
"First, we must solve the survival problem."
"Our food and water are depleted, and ammunition is down to its last count."
"Luckily, we brought enough this time, or we'd be out of supplies by now."
"I still have one and a half counts left."
He Shuo interjected.
"Allocate some 7.62 to Shen Yue; given the situation, a machine gun is more effective than a sniper rifle."
"Understood."
He Shuo nodded and continued:
"Another critical point is the 'mother'. It's evidently stronger than the so-called 'mantis', but we can't determine what the relationship is between the two."
"There are still too many missing pieces of intel, so we must maintain contact with the refugee team."
"I agree with that."
Chen Jian nodded, supplementing:
"Our long-term goal should be to seek out larger settlements."
"The larger the settlement, the more information we'll obtain."
"As for weapons and ammunition... If replenishment isn't possible in the short run, then we should avoid unnecessary battles wherever possible."
"They survived with cold weapons; we should also manage with limited weapon usage."
"Understood."
"Roger that."
Team members replied one by one, swallowing down the emergency rations.
By then, the refugee group across had also finished their grilled meat.
With some curiosity, Chen Jian observed their actions, wanting to understand how they survived in this apocalyptic land as much as possible.
This would also be excellent material for his team's subsequent operations.
----However, what utterly bewildered him occurred.
Except for the "mutant" named Du Hu, all four normal people took off their clothes.
Following that, the three women and one man, without a care, started engaging in those indescribable acts in the empty hall.
Nobody made a sound, there were no expressions of pleasure, not even any extra movement.
The scene was bizarre to the extreme, devoid of any amorous feeling, it even made Chen Jian physically nauseous.
The reason was simple.
During these acts, they didn't seem human, nor even like beasts.
They... seemed like insects.
Emotionless, void of biological response, merely insects controlled by the ultimate, pure instinct for reproduction, parasitizing this land.
Chen Jian turned his head, struggling to speak:
"Damn it, this world is insane."