Chapter 5: This World Has Gone Mad

Chapter 5: This World Has Gone Mad

Half an hour later.

The "mother" that had not found its target carried away the corpses of the monsters on the ground.

Only when the footsteps faded, the vibrations ceased, and they confirmed it had moved far away did the few "locals" hiding in the hall finally relax.

The bonfire was rekindled, the sealed windows flung open, and air tinged with the mother's lingering stench rushed in, yet it brought Chen Jian a few steps back from his daze.

The scene captured by the drone just moments ago had already shattered the limits of his understanding; even knowing he had crossed over, he could scarcely, in such a short time, accept the existence of a monster so utterly at odds with basic natural law.

A monster three or four meters tall was not exactly bizarre; a large brown bear standing on its hind legs could approach three meters.

But twenty meters?!!

A creature of that size appearing on Earth would have to be traced back to the Cretaceous, wouldn't it??

Chen Jian furrowed his brow, turning to the guide beside him, who happened to be walking toward him at that moment.

"I-I'm Du Hu, I'm a hunter!"

"It's safe now, the mother's patrol is over, it's over."

Hearing his words, Chen Jian gave a slight nod and asked:

"How often does such a patrol occur?"

Du Hu stared for a moment, apparently surprised by Chen Jian's question.

In this world, is there still someone who doesn't know the timing of the mother's patrols?

If they don't even know that, how have they managed to survive?

His mind brimmed with questions, yet recalling the formidable combat prowess the stranger had displayed on the street, he felt he had nothing to conceal or fear.

Thus, he answered honestly:

"It comes out to feed roughly every five days, but if the mantises—if too many mantises die—it emerges to collect the corpses."

"Where do you come from? You don't, you don't know about the mother?"

Chen Jian's expression shifted slightly.

I don't just not know the mother—I don't even know where this place is!

Theoretically, I've only been here two hours, all right?

What could you expect me to know?

Watching Du Hu's expectant face awaiting his reply, Chen Jian exhaled softly and spoke candidly:

"We've just arrived here; we know nothing."

Upon hearing his words, every local in the hall froze in place.

Their expressions were complex—beyond surprise lay a faint disappointment.

Du Hu still wanted to press further, but a short-haired woman stepped forward, patted his shoulder, and cut him off.

Then the woman turned to Chen Jian and asked:

"You're not the Holy Blooded, yet you come from the north—are you followers of the Machine God?"

What the hell?!

The woman's two sentences left Chen Jian utterly bewildered.

Holy Blooded, Machine God.

Those two religion‑laden terms struck him with an impact comparable to the giant beast, even making him wonder whether he was still on Earth at all.

But the moon and stars do not lie, and a sextant certainly does not.

Thus he posed a crucial question:

"What year is it now?"

The woman looked at Chen Jian, bewildered, and countered:

"What do you mean by 'what year'?"

It's over.

Even the most basic calendrical system has collapsed; one can imagine how dire humanity's survival conditions are in this world.

Chen Jian drew a deep breath and continued:

"How long ago did this world become like this?"

The woman shook her head again and replied:

"No one knows; it was already like this when I was born."

"But back then we still had many people."

"Later, monsters grew more numerous while people dwindled; we once numbered over a hundred, now only five remain."

There was no need to press further.

Judging by the ages of the four healthy individuals in this small outpost, they must be second‑generation, possibly even third or fourth‑generation, born after the apocalyptic wasteland.

With the population plummeting, most information vanished before it could be passed on, so from their mouths we could hardly obtain any useful details about the catastrophe's origin.

Thus Chen Jian decisively skipped the topic.

He had intended to ask more specific questions, but at that moment the carcass of an unknown animal on the bonfire was cooked, and it was mealtime for the locals.

The man in charge of the barbecue respectfully invited Chen Jian's squad of four to eat, but out of caution Chen Jian waved him off, merely sitting at a relatively distant corner from the fire, eating his remaining emergency rations. The two groups eyed each other from afar, sizing one another up.

One side was a special‑ops team armed to the teeth; the other, struggling survivors.

Each side held what the other desperately needed, so despite the suspicions and doubts laid bare, they nevertheless maintained an unspoken, relatively friendly contact.

Only Chen Jian did not know how long such amity could last.

At that moment, the intelligent terminal had compiled all the intelligence, and the four of them, munching on compressed biscuits, discussed their next steps.

"We can now be fairly certain that we are in a post‑apocalyptic world."

"The main threat to humanity is those monsters, but the monsters are absolutely not the cause that drove humanity to this state."

"There must be some greater force majeure at work—perhaps a virus, perhaps something else."

"That force majeure should have already waned, for the woman just said that the decline in her settlement's population was due to the monsters, not some incomprehensible factor."

"The problem is grave. What do you think?"

Upon hearing Chen Jian's words, Shen Yue responded:

"First and foremost, we must solve the survival problem."

"Our food and water have been exhausted, and our ammunition is down to one base unit."

"Fortunately we brought plenty; otherwise we'd already be out of ammo and food."

"I still have half a base unit."

He Shuo interjected.

Youdistribute some 7.62 to Shen Yue; in this situation, the machine gun's role is far greater than that of a sniper rifle.

Understood.

He Heshao nodded and continued:

"There's another crucial point: the 'mother body'; that mother body is clearly far stronger than the so-called 'mantis,' but we cannot determine what relationship exists between them."

"There is still too much missing intelligence; we must maintain contact with this refugee squad."

"I think the same."

Chen Jian nodded and added:

"Our long-term objective moving forward should be to seek out larger settlements."

"The larger the settlement, the greater the amount of information."

"As for weapons and ammunition, if we cannot resupply in the short term, we should avoid unnecessary combat as much as possible."

"They can survive with cold weapons alone; with limited use of firearms, we should also be able to survive."

"Understood."

"Received."

The team members answered one by one, gulping down their emergency rations.

Meanwhile, the refugees opposite had finished their grilled meat.

Chen Jian observed their actions with a hint of curiosity, trying to discern how they survived in this apocalypse.

This would serve as excellent material for his squad's future operations.

—

However, something happened that left him completely bewildered.

Apart from the "mutant" named Du Hu, the four normal people all took off their clothes.

Then, three women and one man, utterly unashamed, began doing those indescribable things in the spacious hall.

No one made a sound, there was no expression of pleasure, and not even any extraneous movement.

The scene was eerily bizarre to the extreme, lacking any sensual feeling and even causing Chen Jian to feel a physical nausea.

The reason is simple.

While doing this, those people were not like humans, nor even like beasts.

They were like insects.

They had no emotion, no physiological feedback, merely parasites on this land, insects controlled by an extreme, pure reproductive instinct.

Chen Jian turned his head and, with difficulty, said:

"Damn it, this world has gone mad."

(End of chapter)