The convoy's chosen campsite for tonight was a restaurant on the street that sold sliced fish.

Sliced fish was a local specialty snack in Fog City. It cost twenty yuan per person, and aside from the fish, you could add as many vegetable dishes as you wanted and drink as much as you liked.

Often, it was people with tighter budgets who enjoyed this kind of snack.

Three or five friends would sit around a table. In the summer, the entrance of a sliced fish restaurant would often be packed with people. The clinking of glasses and the lively atmosphere was the very essence of human warmth and bustle.

In the winter, these sliced fish restaurants would be even more steamy and warm. You'd enter the shop covered in wind and snow, and your glasses would instantly fog up.

But now, the hustle and bustle of the past seemed exceptionally silent, even somewhat eerie.

Three vehicles were parked in front of the shop.

The survivors carefully explored their way into this now-deserted restaurant.

The empty restaurant only had some tables and chairs arranged inside.

Captain Chu Che walked to the center of the restaurant. He had found a wooden stick from somewhere and poked it against the restaurant's tiled floor.

The stick plunged deep into the ground.

A transparent hemisphere descended from mid-air, directly enveloping the entire sliced fish restaurant.

After doing this, Chu Che said nothing, turned around, and walked away looking utterly exhausted.

Clearly, moving through the city took a heavy toll on Captain Chu Che.

Xue Nan, holding a loudspeaker, spoke sternly, "Today, no one is allowed to leave this protective shield. Even if you need to use the bathroom, hold it in!"

His severe words, combined with that terrifying, ugly face of his, left no one daring to object.

It had to be said, in just these few short hours, Xue Nan, this convoy supervisor, was already starting to look the part.

The convoy assistant, Xiao Fu, began arranging for people to set up tents.

Others went over and closed the restaurant's main door.

The inside of the room instantly became even darker.

Fortunately, someone soon brought out tables and chairs from the restaurant and lit a bonfire.

The bonfire dispelled the thick fog inside, making the indoor environment a bit clearer.

Lighting a fire indoors, if it were before the apocalypse, would get you reported and cyberbullied online in minutes.

But now, no one cared at all. In fact, everyone thought it was perfectly normal.

Other survivors took out supplies and started cooking.

Iron Lion was still sleeping, and no one disturbed him.

Chen Ye glanced over. Good grief, the half of Mad Lion's head that was missing had already regrown most of the way. It probably wouldn't be long before it was completely restored.

And that severed arm, the elbow had already grown back.

Chen Ye took some supplies and handed them to a forty-year-old woman named Zhang Yanping.

This woman was relatively well-maintained among the group of survivors. She had previously been hanging around with that old man who drove the low-speed electric vehicle.

When that old man was around, this woman managed to get a lot of good stuff from him and lived quite comfortably.

After the old man was gone, the woman lost her source of income, and her life became much harder.

That Auntie Qu who had helped Chen Ye and the others cook before didn't make it out of the Second Elementary School.

So, this woman volunteered and took on the job of cooking for the Superhumans.

She was a very proactive woman, and she knew how to seize opportunities for herself.

Thus, Chu Che agreed.

Zhang Yanping obsequiously took the rice and sausages from Chen Ye's hands, her face wearing an extremely ingratiating expression.

Chen Ye ignored her and instead looked towards Chu Che not far away.

He still remembered that Chu Che had Wonders that hadn't been distributed yet. According to the rules, the firearms obtained from the encounter with the small group from Fog City earlier also counted as supplies.

The two of them were supposed to split them.

And there was a high chance there were Wonders among them.

However, Captain Chu currently looked utterly haggard, as if even saying one more word was exhausting.

Chen Ye hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself that he'd wait until after dinner to bring it up.

Besides, his machete had just finished upgrading, and he hadn't had a chance to check it yet.

That was a Wonder with a serial number within the top two thousand. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Chen Ye found a slightly darker corner, pulled out a Huazi cigarette, and lit it on the bonfire.

The woman named Zhang Yanping began bustling about nearby.

Only then did Chen Ye take out the machete from behind his waist.

The first thing that caught his eye was the machete's appearance.

The machete's handle was still wrapped with willow branches, but the sheath had undergone a significant change.

The previous sheath was a simple leather one that came with it when he traded for it from Sun Qianqian back then.

Now, however, the sheath had turned into a blood-red leather. Just looking at this blood-red sheath gave one a hair-raising feeling.

The sheath's color was an unsettling, dark red that seemed wet and sticky, as if it had just been freshly peeled.

The sheath was made from that Flayed Ghost's scalp.

The surface of the sheath had some complex patterns, looking very mysterious and eerie.

When he reached out to touch the sheath, it actually felt like human skin.

The previous black leather sheath was nowhere to be found.

Chen Ye tried to pull the machete out of its sheath.

He then saw that the inside of the sheath was filled with countless blood vessels, fine as down.

These blood vessels seemed reluctant to let the machete be drawn, actually forming stretchy strands between the two.

Only when the blade was completely drawn out did these blood vessels reluctantly retract back into the sheath.

It was like a sentient object.

Seeing this, even Chen Ye was somewhat astonished.

Although he didn't know what these blood vessels were for, they looked incredibly eerie and powerful!

As the blade left the sheath, a strange sense of oppression emanated.

The woman cooking nearby, Zhang Yanping, shuddered all over, glanced fearfully in Chen Ye's direction, and even her movements became somewhat stiff and unnatural.

Chen Ye couldn't care less about her reaction. Under the bonfire's light, he examined the machete carefully.

It seemed sharper than before.

The divine wonder of a Wonder couldn't be seen with the naked eye.

Chen Ye sheathed the machete again.

Only then did the woman let out a huge sigh of relief.

Chen Ye then began to check all the information about this machete.

【Hatred: 「Serial Number: 2001」】

Wait, when did it become serial number 2001?

Could it be that new Wonders had appeared during this time, and they were within the top two thousand?

Did that push this newly born machete down to serial number 2001?

And the name had changed too. It used to have a 'Machete' suffix.

Now, even the suffix was gone.

Chen Ye stroked the blood-red sheath while continuing to examine the information about this machete called Hatred.

【Review: A living curse blade that feeds on pain, resentment, and bloodline taboos. Powerful but costly, it is a tragic song of slaughter co-written by the user and the countless resentful spirits dwelling within.】

Just reading this review alone gave one an overwhelming sense of darkness.

【Ability ①: Damage against Anomalies is increased. Exerts a suppressing effect on low-level Anomalies. Suppressive force against high-level Anomalies is significantly enhanced.】

Just this single line made Chen Ye's expression improve considerably.

Enhanced suppression against Anomalies was an ability everyone desperately needed right now.

Previously, the machete could only shred those Fog Slaves but didn't cause any substantial damage.

He wondered how the machete would perform against those Fog Slaves now.

【Ability ②: The willow branches act like activated tentacles, with a maximum extension of fifty meters. 「Upgrade Effect: Doubled under the blood moon.」】

The second ability wasn't enhanced much.

【Ability ③: Absorbs environmental resentment to accumulate grudge energy. Grudge energy condenses within the blade.】

【Primary Stage (Wailing): Grudge energy is abundant. Blade sharpness and damage against Anomalies are significantly increased.】

【Intermediate Stage (Bitter Wailing): Grudge energy reaches a critical point. Can actively consume a large amount of grudge energy to launch one powerful attack, swinging out a slash accompanied by a shockwave of countless agonized human faces.

After activation, grudge energy drops back to the primary stage. The human faces on the blade briefly materialize, emitting bitter wails that cause a mental shock to the surroundings (affects both friend and foe).】

【Advanced Stage (Eternal Curse): Requires extremely harsh conditions to achieve. Hatred temporarily "awakens," gaining more powerful unknown abilities.】

Damn, this one ability was equivalent to three skills.

Especially the final skill, Eternal Curse, where Hatred could temporarily "awaken" and gain more powerful, unknown abilities.

This was probably the reason for its serial number 2001.

Chen Ye looked at the final ability.

【Hidden Edge: The blood sheath continuously absorbs the grudge energy drifting in the air.

The internal "blood vessel down" continuously secretes a special essence of resentment, forming an extremely thin, constantly self-honing "grudge-energy blade edge" on the blade's surface.

The longer the blade remains sheathed, the sharper the edge becomes.

Accumulated to a certain degree, Hatred can automatically elevate its serial number ranking!】

When Chen Ye saw this last ability, he was shocked.

This meant that this Hatred machete could evolve automatically? It no longer needed to be used in combat to absorb grudge energy?

Didn't that mean that, given enough time, Hatred could even rise to the top ten in serial numbers?