Night of the Apocalypse

On the other side, after resting for more than half an hour, Shen Qiu got up and walked to the window to observe the remaining buildings outside. He carefully scanned the area and his gaze landed on the large building directly across the street.

If he continued searching the ruins of the residential area, Shen Qiu felt the chances of finding firearms were very slim.

The street-side building might hold some hope, but relatively speaking, the danger would also be higher, and it would be easy to attract those mechanical soldiers.

However, Shen Qiu was never one to shy away from danger, and he quickly made a decision.

He slung his backpack over his shoulder, gripped the fruit knife, and carefully headed toward the back door of the street-side building.

After a few minutes, he successfully reached the back door, which was slightly ajar.

Shen Qiu gently pushed the door open and peered inside through the gap. The interior was very dim and quiet, with no signs of abnormalities.

Confirming there was no danger, he slowly sidled into the building.

He carefully observed his surroundings; the first floor seemed to be a restaurant, with damaged tables and chairs scattered everywhere, along with stains on the floor. Shen Qiu’s eyes brightened slightly, and he turned to look around. With the help of the faint moonlight, he quickly locked onto the back kitchen.

Without hesitation, he made his way over, entering the kitchen with high hopes.

However, Shen Qiu was very disappointed. The entire kitchen was a mess; everything that could be broken had been destroyed, and there were signs of gnawing everywhere, with absolutely no food in sight.

Frowning, Shen Qiu backed out of the kitchen and searched other rooms and the hall on the first floor.

Unfortunately, he still found nothing, so he headed for the stairs to go up to the second floor.

When he arrived on the second floor, he saw a series of private rooms.

Disappointment flickered in Shen Qiu’s eyes; although he hadn’t searched yet, he already had a bad feeling.

At that moment, a sudden noise came from the first floor.

Shen Qiu’s expression changed, and he immediately hid in the nearest private room. He then partially closed the door and pressed himself against the wall behind it.

There were three possibilities: either it was a robot, or a monster, or perhaps some survivors had entered.

Thinking this, Shen Qiu slowly crouched down and pressed his ear to the floor to listen carefully to the sounds below.

Tap, tap.

Soon, he heard faint footsteps, and it was a pair of footsteps.

After a few minutes, Shen Qiu slowly got up, still tense. From the erratic rhythm of the sounds, he could confirm that the noise downstairs was likely from two other survivors, just like him.

However, this didn’t necessarily mean it was a good thing. Given the current situation, fellow humans might not be any safer— they could be more dangerous than monsters.

If he was caught off guard, it could lead to trouble.

Shen Qiu quickly sorted out his thoughts. He didn’t plan to approach the two people downstairs; he prepared to hide and see if he could avoid them.

Of course, if he did run into them, he wasn’t necessarily afraid.

However, the noise from downstairs gradually faded away, and Shen Qiu raised an eyebrow, as if he had thought of something. He leaned over to the window to look down.

After a short while, he saw two young men, one holding a metal rod, quickly rushing toward the building across the street.

Shen Qiu squinted; his judgment was correct—there were indeed two people. Moreover, from the weapons they carried, it could be determined that firearms were not easily obtained, as they hadn’t found any.

As for the building across the street, Shen Qiu took a closer look; it seemed to be a bit more upscale than the one he was currently exploring.

This was likely why the two had abandoned this building after failing to find food and took the risk to move on.

Shen Qiu then shifted his focus back to the private room he was in. The tables and chairs were all shattered, but there were still some storage cabinets in the corner.

He walked over, crouched down, and gently pulled open one of the cabinets, which contained broken glass shards and some miscellaneous utensils like forks and knives.

Shen Qiu patiently searched through the mess, and to his surprise, he actually found something useful: a square metal lighter with a wave pattern stamped on it.

He tried it out, and it still sparked—its quality was indeed excellent.

Shen Qiu put the lighter away and left the private room to search for the next one.

Although he felt it was unlikely he would find a weapon, since he was already there, he still planned to look around.

More than two hours later, in a disordered room on the third floor, Shen Qiu leaned against the wall, contemplating whether to give up on his search. He couldn’t afford to keep wasting energy.

Despite appearing to be in a decent situation, he knew better than anyone how dire his circumstances really were.

He had no food, no water, and no weapons.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he would lose his ability to act.

Just then, he heard a series of low, clanging footsteps coming from the street.

Shen Qiu’s nerves suddenly tightened. He reached for the window and peeked outside, where he saw a cleaning robot patrolling the street in the distance.

With a camera-like head, it was constantly scanning the area for suspicious individuals.

Shen Qiu’s expression grew increasingly grim. These machines really were relentless. Just as he was about to pull away from the window, he suddenly noticed two figures peeking out from the entrance of the building across the street.

Shen Qiu narrowed his eyes and continued to observe. He realized that the two men were furtively watching the approaching cleaning robot.

Seeing this, Shen Qiu immediately understood what the two were planning. These two guys had some nerve; they actually intended to ambush the robot.

It seemed they had been desperate after failing to find any weapons.

However, their actions were like a gift from heaven for Shen Qiu.

He could personally verify the strength of this mechanical weapon.

With that thought, Shen Qiu held his breath and watched closely, waiting for the right moment.

Clang!

The cleaning robot continued to approach, getting closer and closer.

The two men quickly nestled behind the wall at the entrance, their expressions extremely tense, their hands gripping the iron rods soaked in sweat.

However, both of them had excellent mental fortitude and managed to stay calm. As the cleaning robot drew near, it didn’t detect their presence.

When the cleaning robot passed by, the two men were overjoyed.

They cautiously stepped out, tiptoeing closer and closer.

As they reached a certain range, both men suddenly burst into action, dashing forward at incredible speed.

Just from their stance, it was clear that the two had practiced before.

Before the cleaning robot could react, they had already rushed up from behind, swinging their iron rods forcefully at the back of the robot’s head.

Clang!

Immediately, the cleaning robot stumbled forward but did not fall, quickly stabilizing itself.

“Not good!”

At this moment, one of the men, who was relatively stronger, charged forward and wrapped his arms around the cleaning robot.

The other companion followed closely behind, moving to the side, and brought his rod crashing down onto the camera-like head of the robot.

Just then, the cleaning robot suddenly raised its firearm with its right hand!

Click!

It directly blocked the descending iron rod.

Before the attacking young man could react, the cleaning robot swung its firearm right hand, slamming it hard into him. The young man was thrown three meters away, crashing heavily onto the ground.

The intense pain left him unable to get up for a moment.

At this time, the cleaning robot forcefully turned around while bearing the man who was still hugging it, raising its gun at the fallen young man.

“Be careful! Run!”

The man clinging to the cleaning robot shouted at the top of his lungs while trying his best to restrain it.

Bang!

A single shot rang out, landing a precise hit to the young man’s head!

Blood splattered!

At this moment, the man clinging to the cleaning robot had a look of sheer terror on his face, but he dared not escape; if he let go, he would surely die.

So he desperately clung to the cleaning robot, trying to hide behind it.

Unfortunately, the cleaning robot extended its left hand and directly grabbed the man’s arm, twisting it violently!

Crack!

The entire arm snapped cleanly.

Ah~

A piercing scream instantly echoed through the street.

The cleaning robot then yanked the man closer, pointing its gun at his head.

Bang!

The execution was swift and decisive.

Seeing this scene, Shen Qiu’s face twitched slightly. This mechanical weapon looked quite rudimentary, but its power was completely beyond his imagination.