Otherworldly Desert Dust

They arrived at the dark door of the bomb shelter.

Wu Hen intentionally got close to the thick door, listening carefully to check if there was anyone or anything dirty on the other side.

After confirming there was no danger, Wu Hen opened the heavy door and walked into the bomb shelter.

After closing the door, Wu Hen discovered that it was actually a hidden door.

He stared at the door intently to remember its appearance.

His sister Yu Yu, standing beside him, felt speechless. She patted Wu Hen's shoulder, signaling him to stop trying so hard; she had it memorized.

"You not only need to remember the roads and doors but also observe the surroundings!" Yu Yu said with some disdain.

"I know, why are you so loud?" Wu Hen retorted unhappily.

Does this little girl need to teach her brother how to do things?

Yu Yu's big, sparkling eyes widened, and her sign language got confused.

"This way." Yu Yu pointed, indicating the direction for Wu Hen to go.

"Is your little dog nose still so sharp? Smelled the air from the exit?" Wu Hen asked.

Yu Yu rolled her eyes and pointed at a sign on the wall that was clearly marked with fluorescent material—EXIT!

"You're loud again, show some respect!" Wu Hen walked forward with big strides.

The outside wind seemed to have stopped.

Wu Hen no longer heard the howling wind.

The bomb shelter was almost empty; there was no water or food here, staying would be no different from waiting to die.

Wu Hen passed through the bomb shelter tunnel via the school and entered the Shangxia shopping area nearby.

The Shangxia shopping area was relatively complex, with roads crisscrossing, and nearby subway evacuation routes and flood doors. It was pitch black; if Wu Hen were walking here alone, it would indeed be like a maze.

"Is this the place?" Wu Hen asked.

Yu Yu nodded.

"I'll go up first, you get your weapon ready." Wu Hen instructed.

Yu Yu nodded again and took out her compound bow.

Though Yu Yu looked delicate, her archery skills were extraordinary; she had even participated in a youth professional competition.

Wu Hen's archery skills were decent but not as precise as his sister's.

Now it didn't matter; just get on with it, unlocking wasn't such a big deal.

They entered the underground level of Shangxia. The elevator was out of order; they walked up the stairs to the large shopping mall. The sixth to the ninth floors all belonged to a private hospital.

There were already quite a few refugees in the shopping mall. After days of unrest, some level-headed people started to stand out, forming factions and groups to ensure some basic rules were followed in the absence of official order maintenance personnel.

At this moment, the shopping mall's lobby was particularly noisy. It seemed like two groups were confronting each other, much like gangs fighting for territory in the past century.

Wu Hen walked out from the stairs and glanced down from upstairs, noticing that one group wore matching black shirts, each holding regulated blades and homemade incendiary bottles.

The other group, mostly in business attire, appeared to be residents or workers from this shopping mall. They huddled closely, showing no fear of the Black Shirt Organization's invasion, ready to fight back if provoked.

"Another bunch of Black Shirt scum!" Wu Hen cursed.

He wished he could quickly find a Gatling gun and open fire indiscriminately at the Black Shirt Organization from this high vantage point!

"The authorities don't care about us civilians. Those in power have already moved into the Silver Dome. If we abandoned folk don't unite, we'll all end up dead..." said a man with an eye tattoo on his forehead from the Black Shirt Organization.

"We can unite, but why should we follow your lead?" asked a man in a vintage Tang suit from the business faction.

"Some of you have fallen into the otherworldly realm, right? They're unconscious. Don't you want to find a way out of the otherworldly dust? Can you guarantee you won't fall in yourselves? Do you know how to survive if you do? Our Black Shirts can share information, ensuring that you and your families survive if you fall in," the eye-tattooed man said.

"We..." The man in the Tang suit hesitated.

In fact, many of their companions had fallen into the otherworldly dust and had not returned alive.

"Spirit Awakener, do you know what a Spirit Awakener is?" The eye-tattooed man's smile widened.

The business faction members shook their heads in unison.

"See, the authorities won't tell you. In our world, there are Spirit Awakeners. They have extraordinary perception and combat abilities in the otherworldly realm. Only by following them can you greatly increase your survival rate. Unfortunately, most Spirit Awakeners have been recruited by the authorities."

"I might as well tell you, we Black Shirt Organization also have our own Spirit Awakener!"

Spirit Awakener??

Some in the business faction had relatives who were recruited as Pioneers and had disclosed some fragmented information.

So, when the leader of the Black Shirt Organization mentioned this, the business faction immediately became restless.

"Right, without a Spirit Awakener, we're all doomed!"

"We know nothing about the real world. We might be fine now, but who knows when it'll be our turn."

"Maybe we should listen to them?"

The eye-tattooed leader of the Black Shirt Organization grew more confident, scanning the increasingly wavering business faction with a superior demeanor.

"Can we consider it?" The man in the Tang suit's tone noticeably changed.

"Fine, but we urgently need medicine right now. Our leader is injured," the eye-tattooed man said.

"There's some upstairs, you can send a few people to get it?" The man in the Tang suit suggested in a negotiating tone.

"Alright, but you'd better think it over. If you go against us, we won't be this polite," the eye-tattooed man nodded.

With their numbers, attacking head-on would result in heavy casualties.

The eye-tattooed man agreed to this compromise.

...

Useless!

The man in the Tang suit, Wu Hen had thought you had backbone, but you turned out to be weak.

After hearing the conversation, Wu Hen immediately realized that time was running out for him.

He grabbed Yu Yu's hand and quickly ran toward the sixth floor.

They had to find the medicine, or it would be taken by the Black Shirt Organization!

"This way!"

Yu Yu pointed in a definite direction.

They entered the sixth floor, but the medicine cold storage was on the ninth floor. The stairs and elevator leading up were inside the hospital; the main elevator and stairs of the shopping mall couldn't reach the ninth floor directly.

"What a flawed design, we will definitely run into the Black Shirt Organization when we come down after collecting the medicine."

"Never mind, let's gather the medicine first."

"If worse comes to worst, I'll use the Death Sword!"

Little Yi?

Adoptive father?

Holy Father, are you there?

Wu Hen knew a fierce battle was inevitable this time; he needed to ensure Little Yi was on standby, not in sleep mode.

Wu Hen's right hand quickly responded, but instead of the Black Divine Death Sword, the compound bow he had recently absorbed appeared!

What's going on?

Was there a cooldown time for the ultimate move?

Why couldn't he sense the Black Divine Death Sword at all? Previously, in the otherworldly dust, although Wu Hen didn't know how to use it, there was always a sense of it in his soul...

At this moment, Wu Hen felt his connection with the Black Divine Death Sword was blocked.

"Could it be the Nuwa God End?"

"Does it indiscriminately block all overly powerful forces?"

"That must be it. Otherwise, if a being like Zai Wu infiltrated the Nuwa God End, humanity would be wiped out!"

Reasonable, very reasonable.

There was no other way, he had to rely on his exceptional wisdom. After all, surviving until now, that's what kept him going!

"Brother, it's in that room." Yu Yu patted Wu Hen.

Yu Yu walked ahead quickly.

Wu Hen observed the surroundings, noting the locations of the elevator shaft and the emergency stairs, and then hurried to catch up with Yu Yu.

"You move quickly, I'll keep watch here." Wu Hen said.

Yu Yu deftly entered the cold storage, where a large amount of medicine was stored.

In these times, antibiotics were the most crucial resource, as various bacteria, viruses, and epidemics were pervasive. Falling ill had become a terrifying event; without antibiotics, most people wouldn't survive.

Antibiotics, anti-allergics, anti-parasitic drugs, as well as pain relievers, hemostatics, universal blood packs, saline solutions, and glucose...

Two large backpacks were filled to the brim, the heavy weight making Yu Yu's petite frame stoop.

Wu Hen came over and immediately took the backpacks onto his shoulders.

"They're coming. Let's hide and stay silent." Wu Hen used his listening sense, planning to perfectly avoid the Black Shirt Organization members.

Yu Yu nodded, and she and Wu Hen carefully hid in the storage room opposite the cold storage.

Chaotic footsteps echoed, and soon five people appeared in the cold storage drug room.

Among them were three in black shirts, led by the man with the eye tattoo on his forehead.

The other two, one being the man in the Tang suit and the other a female nurse, seemed to have worked here before.

Yu Yu evidently recognized the nurse and remembered her name, Feng Dong.

"This is the only hospital in the area. Besides the stockpile at the school, all the medicine in the area is here," said Nurse Feng Dong.

"That's great, very great." The eye-tattooed man grinned.

"Take what you need." The man in the Tang suit said.

"I never said I needed to take anything, only to bring me to this storeroom..." The eye-tattooed man's tone suddenly turned sinister.

As soon as he spoke, white frost-like fungal filaments began to seep from the man's palm, growing densely.

In no time, these filaments intertwined, spiraled, hardened, and ultimately turned the man's palm into a white spike!

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

The next moment, the man with the eye tattoo struck with superhuman speed, piercing the necks of everyone around him in an instant!!

It happened as fast as lightning. The two Black Shirt members and the man in the Tang suit had no time to react and were instantly killed, with no chance of resistance.

Blood sprayed like mist, pooling together to form a conspicuous puddle.

"Ah!!!!" Nurse Feng Dong screamed from a distance.

But the eye-tattooed man caught up to her like a ghost and slashed her neck with the white spike.

The young nurse also met the same fate, collapsing to the ground.

As blood continued to gush from Nurse Feng Dong's neck, the eye-tattooed man, without even a glance at her, coldly spoke into his chest-pin communicator:

"Fan Mountain District, medicine source destroyed, only the school district remains."

With that, the eye-tattooed man piled up all the medical cotton and set it on fire, burning down the entire medicine storage!