Chapter 363 - 174: Monster

Chapter 363: Chapter 174: Monster

That evening, Xu Mo sat by the window drinking coffee, a long-lost sense of peace settling over him.

Ever since leaving Jiang City, he had been constantly on the move, constantly fighting, constantly on guard. All sorts of monsters, attacks from other survivors, the encounter in Mori Town, the high-intensity battles in Luochuan City... Each one was exhausting and nerve-racking.

Now, he could finally relax.

This town was safe. He could get a good night’s rest without having to be on edge.

After finishing his coffee, Xu Mo took out his map and examined his current location by lamplight.

Soon, Xu Mo found his current position—Liulin Town!

It was an ordinary name. Xu Mo located it on the map, then used a ruler to measure the distance from Liulin Town to Ming Pearl Port. It was only about seventeen hundred kilometers.

’Seventeen hundred kilometers,’ Xu Mo’s finger tapped lightly on the map. ’Not too far, but not exactly close, either. At my current speed, if the road conditions are good, I can cover two to three hundred kilometers a day. That means I could reach Ming Pearl Port in as little as seven or eight days.’

But that wasn’t the point. The point was, this distance reminded Xu Mo of what Old Zheng had said.

Old Zheng had said that the Ming Pearl Port combat unit they encountered had passed through this area on its way to clear out the zombies in Jiangzhou.

’How far is Jiangzhou from here?’ Xu Mo wondered, looking at his map. The straight-line distance from Liulin Town to Jiangzhou was also over four hundred kilometers.

’In other words, a year ago, Ming Pearl Port was capable of dispatching a combat unit of several thousand people to travel over a thousand, almost two thousand, kilometers to carry out a cleanup mission.’

’What did that imply?’

’Jiang City’s current range of control is only about a five-hundred-kilometer radius. Beyond that, it’s impossible to guarantee supplies and support.’

’And yet Ming Pearl Port could dispatch a unit from nearly two thousand kilometers away. This shows that a year ago, Ming Pearl Port’s strength far surpassed Jiang City’s. Both its range of control and its military might were far greater.’

’But the question is, why would a shelter as powerful as Ming Pearl Port be unable to even respond to Jiang City’s messages within just one year?’

’The satellite Jiang City launched crashed in under an hour, but during that time, they made contact with Dragon City, Dawn, Steel Barrier, Deep Blue, Kunlun, and Yundian City. Only Ming Pearl Port and Starfire never responded.’

Xu Mo didn’t know why Starfire Shelter had gone dark. ’But how could a shelter like Ming Pearl Port, one capable of sending an expeditionary force of several thousand, completely lose contact in just one year?’

’Unless...’

A thought flashed through Xu Mo’s mind. ’Unless... that unit was wiped out in Jiangzhou. And in its search for them, Ming Pearl Port sent out second and third waves of troops, only for them all to vanish without a trace. In the end, Ming Pearl Port’s own power was so depleted that it could no longer maintain contact with the outside world.’

’Or maybe something went wrong inside Ming Pearl Port itself. Could it be...?’

"Ugh!"

Xu Mo shook his head, casting the dark thoughts from his mind.

’There’s no use thinking about it now. Whatever the truth is, it will all come to light once I get to Ming Pearl Port.’

Putting away the map, Xu Mo lay down to sleep.

The next morning, Xu Mo had a simple breakfast and then continued on his way.

Before setting off, Xu Mo made a point of cooking himself a good meal. After all, who knew when he’d get the chance to cook a proper meal for himself again?

After his lavish breakfast, Xu Mo took out his map and drew a circle around a location farther away.

It was the name of a city—Linchuan City, a small city.

Linchuan City was located about three hundred kilometers southeast of Liulin Town. Xu Mo figured that if the combat unit from Ming Pearl Port really had passed through this area a year ago, then they must have gone through Linchuan City as well. ’Perhaps they stopped there to rest and left some traces behind.’

’If I go take a look, I might be able to figure some things out. At the very least, I’ll know for sure whether the Ming Pearl Port combat unit actually passed through here a year ago.’

The SUV pulled out of Liulin Town, continuing southeast along the dilapidated highway.

Along the way, Xu Mo noticed a few strange things.

There were signs that the road had been worked on, and the bridges had been repaired. This wasn’t simple maintenance, but actual patch-work. Though the repairs weren’t very sophisticated, they were clearly man-made.

Seeing this, Xu Mo was almost certain: the combat unit from Ming Pearl Port had indeed passed through here a year ago.

’Only a large-scale military force would need to repair roads and reinforce bridges. They’d have a massive amount of vehicles and equipment, so they’d have to ensure the roads were passable.’

’Small squads of lone survivors would never bother with this. They just need to find a road they can use. If the road is bad, they detour. If a bridge is out, they find another one.’

Because the roads had been repaired, Xu Mo made much faster progress than usual. By evening, he had covered more than two hundred kilometers in his SUV.

If he hadn’t decided to rest up and be in peak condition for Linchuan City tomorrow, he could have even spent the night there.

However, after some consideration, Xu Mo decided to play it safe. He would spend the night out here and head into Linchuan City tomorrow.