Dawn of a New Era-Chapter 426 - 401: A Weight Lifted

The night is murky.

The wind is biting cold, and snow is swirling in torrents.

The highway is covered in grimy snow, like a layer of cold, slick jelly, thoroughly slippery.

The soles of Chen Shouyi’s shoes had long worn out, leaving only the shoe tops strapped to his feet.

His bare feet stepped on the icy ground, yet he felt no chill whatsoever; steam rose from his entire body, his skin flushed red, radiating a scorching heat.

From time to time, steam trucks sped past on the road, making a whistling noise.

At that moment, he suddenly slipped, tried to regain his balance, but his feet were already numb and unresponsive. Stumbling, his high-speed forward momentum carried him seven or eight meters away, crashing heavily into the icy dirty snow, sliding continuously for dozens of meters.

Having run non-stop for over thirty minutes, covering nearly 150 kilometers, even Chen Shouyi had reached the limits of his physical and mental endurance. He stood up with difficulty, resting his hands on his knees, his chest heaving like a bellows.

"Damn it..."

His clothes had been worn to ragged strips, and his whole body was soaked, ice-cold to the bone.

Once he caught his breath, he hurriedly picked up the briefcase that had fallen in front of him, unzipped it, and fished out the Shell Lady: "Are you alright, Little One?"

"Little One almost got crushed to death by you." The Shell Lady said with grievance, tears nearly falling.

"It’s all my fault!" Chen Shouyi comforted her: "Hold on a bit longer, it’s almost over."

"Little One wants to be outside!" The Shell Lady said.

In the briefcase, she had been rolling around, bumping here and there. Although she was tough-skinned and didn’t feel pain, her head was spinning.

"Okay, then be careful not to get thrown off." Chen Shouyi agreed.

"Little One won’t be thrown off!" The Shell Lady said defiantly.

Chen Shouyi placed the Shell Lady on his shoulder, then picked up the arrows scattered on the ground one by one, putting them back into the quiver.

After resting for a few minutes, the numbness and soreness in his feet had completely disappeared, and his strength was somewhat restored.

The talent ability of Natural Healing not only allowed him to heal quickly from injuries but also to rapidly recover from slight muscular damage, swiftly eliminating physical fatigue.

He resumed running.

This place was already in Changshan District, under Hedong City’s jurisdiction, and was very close to the Hedong City Safety Zone.

As a peak Martial Artist, if truly unconcerned about his physical strength, undertaking a long-distance charge, there was hardly any vehicle outside of planes that could compare.

Chen Shouyi’s keen ears could faintly hear the distant sound of gunfire, like muffled thunder.

He strained to look in the direction the sound came from.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t see anything.

These sounds were probably dozens of kilometers away; he couldn’t even see a faint glimmer of fire.

His heart was anxious, as if a heavy stone was lodged in his chest, making it difficult to breathe.

"I hope mom, dad, and sister are alright... No, they definitely won’t be harmed!" He silently prayed in his heart.

Vehicles ahead were already stuck, with a long line of trucks forming an endless convoy, blocking the whole highway thoroughly. Many drivers stood by the roadside in groups, chatting while waiting to pass.

Although communication had been partially restored, it was only via landlines.

For drivers on the highway, they were completely unaware of what was happening in Hedong and couldn’t hear the distant gunfire either.

Formerly, Chen Shouyi would have stopped to convince these drivers to leave, but at this moment, he didn’t have the energy.

Moreover, even if they did leave, where could they go with the highway completely blocked?

Chen Shouyi continued running at high speed.

Visibility was very low in the dark, and the nearby drivers only felt a gust of wind as a figure flashed by, thinking they had seen a ghost, scared out of their wits.

...

A few kilometers ahead, a chain collision had occurred among a dozen or so trucks, forming a cluster and thoroughly blocking the highway; several steam trucks had their boilers ruptured, spewing scorching high-pressure steam, shrouding the entire road in fog.

It is worth mentioning that nowadays all cars are steam-powered; not only are they slow but they also lack lights, making night driving always cautious and seldom prone to accidents.

Such chain collisions are almost unheard of.

Chen Shouyi passed through the fog to see countless charred wreckage scattered all over—the remnants of a plane crash. He saw a broken wing lying on the highway.

The exploding bombs on the plane triggered a violent blast, creating a crater with a diameter of six or seven meters in the ground. The resulting shockwave warped the metal barriers over twenty meters away from the crater, and the nearby barriers were twisted like pretzels, completely shattered.

Chen Shouyi’s heart sank further.

The fierce bird he saw in Dongxing City had clearly reached Hedong as well.

Dongxing is less than 200 kilometers from Hedong in a straight line; even for him, it would take less than an hour, not to mention the fierce bird flying at two to three times the speed of sound, covering 200 kilometers in just a few minutes.

He looked up at the sky, snow blowing down thickly like goose feathers.

He couldn’t see a single aircraft, nor hear the roar of any planes. Except for the faint sound of gunfire, the sky was silent.

Hedong City had already lost air supremacy!

Chen Shouyi’s heart was heavy. He disregarded his body’s fatigue, quickening his pace to continue onward.

A few minutes later, he left the highway and soon encountered numerous scattered tanks and armored vehicles, some split apart, parts strewn around, others overturned with cannon barrels twisted.

Additionally, there were many corpses.

The ground looked as if it had endured an earthquake of magnitude eight, severely damaged and deformed, with several surrounding buildings partially collapsed.

Looking at the scene that seemed like a natural disaster, Chen Shouyi couldn’t help but slow his steps, feeling cold all over, his hands and feet chilled.

This God of Hunting is a hundred times more terrifying than the God of Courage from before, and more knowledgeable about humans. Under such a sudden attack, no army can resist. Hedong City’s powerful defenses, in the face of such an existence, are as fragile as a thin piece of paper, easily pierced.

The street was dead silent, obviously, the citizens had already taken shelter in nearby bunkers.

"Such a giant, Little One is so scared." Shell Lady tightly grabbed Chen Shouyi, trembling all over.

There was still a faint trace of Divine Power lingering here; the God of Hunting had obviously just left not long ago.

"Good, don’t be afraid! It’s okay." Chen Shouyi croaked, his words were as much to comfort Shell Lady as to comfort himself.

Just then, a sharp screech pierced the sky.

It was like metal clashing, making his eardrums faintly resonate.

"It’s that terrifying vicious bird!"

His heart chilled, the light of ferocity flickered in his eyes as he picked up the War Bow, drew an Arrow, and aimed at the sky, quietly aiming for a long time, but he couldn’t see any sign of the opponent, clearly, it had already flown far away.

Chen Shouyi withdrew the bow and continued on.

Before long, the Safe Zone was already in sight.

Looking at the ruined buildings in the distance, his heart dropped, disregarding the fact that his physical strength was already pushed to the limit, he burst with strength and sprinted wildly, the snowflakes in the air were stirred into a whirlwind by the gale.

The once bustling Safe Zone was now littered with ruins.

All the windows on the roadside were shattered, some buildings had completely collapsed into rubble, and the trees were all slanted like they had been swept by a storm. Chen Shouyi even saw a helicopter crash into a building, the whole thing embedded outside.

Numerous soldiers’ bodies lay sprawled on the ground, buried under thick snow, with occasional hints of crimson visible.

Death.

Everywhere his eyes fell was death.

Chen Shouyi quickly ran towards his home.

He discovered his home’s front door was wide open, and he swiftly walked inside.

"Dad, Mom! Xing Yue!" Chen Shouyi shouted loudly.

He received no response.

He hurried to his parents’ bedroom on the third floor, found that the door was also open, and the inside was empty.

Then, Chen Shouyi went to his sister’s bedroom, but no one was there either.

The basement was likewise empty.

"There won’t be any trouble, leaving in such a hurry, they must have gone to the nearby bunker!" Chen Shouyi muttered to himself, his eyes red.

"Good giant, what’s wrong? Are you going to cry? Don’t cry, Little One is very good, the good giant should be good too!" Shell Lady comforted.

Chen Shouyi glared at her and said in a deep voice, "Too much talking, get back in the bag first!"

"Okay!" Maybe seeing Chen Shouyi’s grim face, Shell Lady obediently answered.

Chen Shouyi grabbed Shell Lady and stuffed her into the briefcase, then walked out the door.

The villa area had a bunker, although Chen Shouyi had never been there, he knew where it was, not far from here.

A few seconds later, he arrived in front of the bunker.

The iron door outside was already closed tightly.

He stepped forward and knocked hard on the door.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The thickness of the iron door was astounding, issuing a dull sound.

"Is anyone there, open the door quickly." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

After shouting for half a minute, Chen Shouyi heard a lot of footsteps approaching.

"Who is it?" a wary voice came from inside.

"I am the Chief Security Adviser of Jiangnan Province, Chen Shouyi!" Chen Shouyi said in a deep voice.

Often, stating one’s identity in advance is the easiest way.

Sure enough, with the sound of chains being pulled, the iron door soon opened quickly.

Inside were five fully armed soldiers, who immediately saluted upon seeing Chen Shouyi.

These soldiers seemed somewhat familiar to Chen Shouyi, they should be the regular patrol of the villa area.

The leading lieutenant officer looked a bit excited upon seeing Chen Shouyi, and asked hopefully, "Chief Adviser, do you know what the situation is outside right now?"

Chen Shouyi hesitated for a moment, shook his head, "I don’t know either, but Chenggan District and the Safe Zone are gone. Are my parents and sister here?"

The lieutenant officer’s expression dimmed upon hearing this, but soon regained his spirit and said, "Please rest assured, they are all here, they’ve all been brought over!"

Chen Shouyi immediately let out a long sigh of relief, the heavy stone in his heart finally settled: "Quick, take me to them!"

He was not surprised at how the other party knew about his parents and sister, as the officer guarding the villa area, it would be strange not to know about his family. In fact, he had long noticed that the patrol around his home was stricter and the guard force stronger than elsewhere.

"Yes, Chief Adviser!"

ps: Tomorrow there will definitely be two Chapters, otherwise I’ll eat shit, I’ve realized that one needs to give themselves a push in life.