Qiu Shi had encountered very few animals in the wild. Especially around Yun City, where the concentration of refugees was high, most animals had long been eaten—rabbits, squirrels, wild boars, and wolves. That was about it.
He recognized a bear, though.
From books. From a photography collection. And from an old stack of plastic learning cards that the “ancestors” once used to teach their children words.
Bear.
Below it was written: bear.
He knew this creature was large—much taller than a human when standing upright.
But judging from Lin Sheng’s reaction, who as a bioroid had theoretically seen a bear, the one in front of them was clearly far beyond the normal size range.
The bear’s blood-red eyes were almost identical to those of the infected, only much larger. It looked like some kind of night-dwelling monster.
This was a bear infected by the fungus and had either intentionally or unintentionally mutated.
The bear stood upright, lowering its head to glare at Qiu Shi. A low growl rumbled from its throat.
The sound wasn’t loud, but the vibrations seemed to resonate deep inside Qiu Shi’s body, making his heart tremble along with it.
Then, with a casual swing of its paw, the bear shattered the trunk of a nearby tree. As the tree toppled toward Qiu Shi, the bear lunged forward, raising its massive claw to strike him.
Qiu Shi could already see Xing Bi and Xiao Zuo perched on the trees to either side. As long as the bear lunged forward, they could land on its back.
“Come on, little bear, come here!” Qiu Shi shouted as he swiftly retreated, making sharp “ts-ts-ts” sounds to provoke it.
The bear’s paw struck empty air and immediately lunged again.
Xing Bi and Xiao Zuo leapt from the trees, simultaneously plunging their knives into the back of the bear’s neck.
The bear didn’t fall.
It only roared in pain and violently shook its massive body, reaching its claws backward in an attempt to grab the attackers.
Xing Bi and Xiao Zuo dodged the claws, while Lin Sheng jumped onto the bear’s back from behind and drove a third knife deep into its spine, aligning the blades along the vertebrae.
Even with three knives embedded in its neck, the bear didn’t lose its mobility.
It let out a deep, muffled roar and suddenly stood upright, slamming its back against a tree.
The three men jumped off in time, avoiding the impact.
Qiu Shi pulled out his knife and, with a swift motion, hurled it at the bear’s throat.
The blade pierced its neck.
The bear went berserk, swinging its claws wildly in all directions. Trees snapped and collapsed as the team was forced to retreat.
But the bear seemed particularly fixated on Qiu Shi, who possessed a human body. After tearing down several trees, it charged toward him once more.
The swinging claws sliced through the air with terrifying force.
Qiu Shi dodged between two trees, narrowly avoiding the attack.
“Hold steady,” Xing Bi’s voice came from behind.
“F*ck your ancestors,” Qiu Shi cursed, instinctively shifting his footing.
With a solid push off a rock, Qiu Shi stabilized his stance as Xing Bi stepped onto his shoulder and launched himself into the air.
Xing Bi soared straight toward the bear’s head, driving his knee into its nose while simultaneously stabbing both knives into its eyes.
As the bear thrashed in agony, Xing Bi grabbed its ear and flipped onto its back. He clenched his fist and drove it into the back of the bear’s neck, his entire forearm sinking into its flesh.
Qiu Shi heard the sickening sound of flesh tearing and the dull crack of bones snapping.
As the bear momentarily froze from the impact, Lin Sheng and Xiao Zuo seized the moment, grabbing its thick fur and leaping onto its shoulders. They mimicked Xing Bi’s attack, driving their fists deep into the bear’s neck.
After three consecutive strikes that pierced its neck, the bear remained frozen for over ten seconds before finally tilting forward and collapsing to the ground with a thunderous crash.
Snow flew up, forming a cloud of white powder.
For the next few seconds, none of them spoke.
They simply stared at the massive corpse on the ground.
“Is it dead?” Qiu Shi cautiously approached.
“Dead,” Xing Bi confirmed.
“Holy sh*t,” Qiu Shi let out a breath. “An animal that even bioroids struggle to kill…”
“I could barely locate the bones,” Lin Sheng said. “The skin and fat were too thick.”
“Could this thing be something the symbionts created?” Qiu Shi asked. “Was it controlled by a host?”
“No,” Xing Bi replied. “But it’s unlikely this mutation occurred naturally. Animals are far more sensitive to the fungus than humans. They would normally avoid it.”
“So why create something like this… without control?” Qiu Shi frowned. “They lost control of it?”
“Let’s keep moving.” Xing Bi wiped the blood off his arm against the snow. “There’s definitely a nest ahead.”
“If we run into another one of these, can we use guns?” Qiu Shi asked.
They had avoided using firearms to prevent alerting other symbionts, but this thing was nearly impossible to kill without heavy firepower.
“We still need to stay quiet,” Xing Bi said.
“What if two show up?” Qiu Shi asked, concerned.
“Then we run,” Xing Bi replied.
“…Fair enough,” Qiu Shi muttered.
“One Team, status report,” the command room’s voice came through the headset.
“We encountered an infected, mutated bear,” Xing Bi reported. “It’s been neutralized. We’re moving deeper now.”
“Is it safe?” the command room asked. “Team Two has reached the target location and is currently investigating. If there are no anomalies, they will proceed to your position.”
“It’s safe for now,” Xing Bi replied. “Team Two can proceed at normal speed.”
“Copy that,” the command room responded.
“Let’s go,” Xing Bi glanced at Qiu Shi, “Qiu Shi.”
“Hmm?” Qiu Shi responded.
“You even tease a bear that big,” Xing Bi said. “Do you tease everything you come across?”
“But it still came over, didn’t it?” Qiu Shi replied. “I tease everything, and they all fall for it.”
“He even calls that thing ‘Little Bear,’ so teasing it makes sense,” Lin Sheng added.
“Damn,” Qiu Shi chuckled. “I don’t even know what to call it. Bear? Big Bear? Giant Bear? None of them sound as intimate as ‘Little Bear.’ What if it ignores me because I call it something too distant… Have you noticed that it’s been trying to attack me this whole time?”
“It’s probably hungry,” Xing Bi said. “Your flesh is edible, clean, and free of fungal contamination.”
“Fu-ck its ancestors,” Qiu Shi muttered.
This nest might not actually be a nest. The previously discovered nests, including the one in the northwest, were never surrounded by barbed wire like this one.
“Should we try climbing over from above?” After walking for a while, Qiu Shi looked up at the barbed wire. There didn’t seem to be any traps or mechanisms.
“Where there’s a top, there’s a bottom,” Xing Bi replied. “Our primary mission is reconnaissance, not combat.”
“Got it,” Qiu Shi responded.
After another twenty minutes of walking, the surrounding pine forest thinned out, and the ground became rockier, with many loose stones.
Qiu Shi noticed a blank spot on the map.
“Hold on,” he stopped. “It’s empty up ahead.”
“A rift?” Lin Sheng asked.
“Possibly,” Xing Bi continued forward and gestured for Qiu Shi and the others to stay behind. “I’ll go check.”
Xing Bi only advanced about thirty meters before stopping. “It’s a rift.”
The others followed. The blank spot on the map gradually expanded until half of the map was empty.
It was a wide crevice. They stood at the edge, like standing on the brink of a cliff, with the bottom shrouded in darkness.
The barbed wire also turned at this point, following the rift westward.
“There must be something around that bend,” Xing Bi leaned forward and looked down the cliff. “Let’s follow along the cliff face.”
According to the map, this section stretched over 300 meters, and the western side of the forest was not visible.
“Can Qiu Shi handle it?” Lin Sheng asked.
“He can,” Xing Bi answered.
Qiu Shi was about to say he wasn’t sure, but he could give it a try. If he couldn’t make it, he could just cling to the cliff and wait for them to come back.
But Xing Bi had already boasted on his behalf, so Qiu Shi could only nod.
The wind wasn’t particularly strong that day, but as they descended the rocky cliff and entered the rift, the gentle northern breeze turned into a howling gale.
Qiu Shi glanced down and felt his calves cramp. He had climbed cliffs outside the city since he was young, but he had never scaled a rift or cliff so deep that the bottom was invisible.
The cliff was full of cracks and crevices. As long as he avoided looking down, climbing wasn’t too difficult. Lin Sheng led the way, followed by Xing Bi, then Qiu Shi, with Xiao Zuo bringing up the rear.
Lin Sheng scouted the route ahead. The others just needed to follow his handholds and footholds.
“What’s that?” Qiu Shi looked up and saw a metallic object above them.
Xing Bi clung to a rock, leaned back slightly, and looked up.
The sight made Qiu Shi nervous. “Don’t lean back like that! One loose rock, and you’re done for!”
“I know what I’m doing,” Xing Bi replied.
“My old man used to say, ‘The ones who drown are the ones who know how to swim,’” Qiu Shi muttered.
“It’s a piton,” Lin Sheng said.
“Huh?” Qiu Shi was confused.
“You asked what that was. It’s a piton,” Lin Sheng explained.
“A piton?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Used for rock climbing,” Xing Bi added. “You hammer it into the rock as you climb and attach a safety rope to it.”
“Someone climbed up from below?” Qiu Shi was surprised.
“Yeah, but the piton is old,” Xing Bi said. “Someone climbed up from below a century or two ago. The other pitons probably fell off long ago, leaving only this one.”
Qiu Shi fell silent, staring at the piton. He suddenly felt the weight of time.
The rift they were risking their lives to explore for the sake of war was once just a playground for climbers from long ago. Those climbers probably never imagined that, a century or two later, people would pass by their last remaining piton in the middle of a war.
And soon, this piton would disappear into the void of time as well.
Humans are so damn insignificant.
The rift stretched east to west, gradually turning northwest.
Against the howling wind, they moved about a hundred meters forward. At the edge of Qiu Shi’s map, on the other side of the pine forest, a deep black area emerged.
“It’s a nest,” he whispered.
As they continued to climb forward, the black area expanded, and a few wandering infected appeared within the pine forest.
However, the location of this nest was puzzling. They were still inside the rift, yet the large nest ahead seemed to be either above the cliff or…
Lin Sheng, leading the group, halted. “Xing Bi, this seems…”
Xing Bi jumped across the rock crevices and swiftly leaped ahead of Lin Sheng. The sight made Qiu Shi’s fingers tingle with anxiety, especially when Xing Bi leaped past Lin Sheng from behind. Qiu Shi was worried that if he missed his grip, he would drag Lin Sheng down with him.
“This isn’t a nest,” Xing Bi’s voice brought him back to reality. “It’s a camp.”
“What the hell?” Qiu Shi immediately climbed forward and even imitated Xing Bi’s jump.
Lin Sheng was startled and turned to glance at him.
Qiu Shi was about to make a joke, but the moment he saw the scene ahead, he fell silent.
After turning northwest, the rift suddenly widened like a trumpet mouth, revealing a massive pit two to three hundred meters below ground level.
On this side, the pit was bordered by a high cliff. However, beyond the breach, the opposite cliff gradually sloped downward, resembling a broken bowl.
If they were to attack from this side, it would be difficult. But for those inside the camp, retreating would be relatively easy.
“Can we move a bit further?” Qiu Shi asked. “We could gather more data from the map.”
“It’s dangerous,” Lin Sheng stopped him. “They’ll have patrols.”
“Let’s head back,” Xing Bi said. “Some people might know about this place.”
Qiu Shi paused. “The Black-Blooded?”
“Yeah,” Xing Bi replied. “They’ve been actively seeking out fungal zones for years. Being able to gather over two hundred people here means they must be familiar with the terrain.”
Li Feng’s strategy of uniting all possible forces was starting to show its advantage.
“Let’s go find the old man,” Qiu Shi said as he followed Xiao Zuo back. “He should be able to contact Deng Yeye and her dying squad member.”
Back at the site where they had killed the giant bear, Team Two, led by Ji Sui and Sang Fan, had arrived and was silently observing the bear’s corpse.
“Is this their new weapon?” Ji Sui asked.
“Not sure,” Xing Bi replied. “It’s too big to bring back…”
Before he could finish, Sang Fan had already pulled out the axe from her waist and swung it hard at the bear’s neck. The bear’s neck already had three puncture wounds, and with just a few strikes, Sang Fan severed the bear’s head.
“Take the head back?” Sang Fan looked at Xing Bi.
“…Sure,” Xing Bi nodded.
Sang Fan grabbed the bear’s ear, stuck the severed head onto the front of the vehicle, and hopped on. She tilted her head toward Xiao You, “Get in.”
Xiao You got on her vehicle.
Everyone boarded their vehicles, and after notifying Team Three led by Xu Jie to return directly to Xima Town, they also began their journey back.
After some time on the road, Qiu Shi spoke in the team’s channel, “Sang Fan’s pretty violent, huh.”
“Yeah,” Xing Bi chuckled. “If people didn’t know, they’d think she was your apprentice.”
“Bullshit,” Qiu Shi retorted. “Am I that violent?”
“You are,” Xing Bi said.
“F**k,” Qiu Shi cursed but then laughed.
In the past, he indeed preferred solving problems with violence. For him, life outside the city was something that could and often had to be solved through force.
But now, he felt he had become much calmer.
Though this calmness mostly came from the helplessness of being unable to change too many things.
Upon returning to Xima Town, the command room had already compiled the mission data and sent it to Li Feng.
Qiu Shi briefly reported the situation to Captain Yang.
“The samples from today must be frozen and sent back to Yun City overnight,” Qiu Shi said.
“It’s already being arranged,” Captain Yang replied. “Hu Xiaoling is taking two men to deliver them.”
“Good,” Qiu Shi raised an eyebrow. These people were already adapting to life in Xima Town.
“The terrain we discovered today…” Captain Yang frowned. “Whether we attack directly or try to flank them, it will be difficult.”
“For now, report this only to Team Leader Li,” Qiu Shi said. “I need a detailed list of the soldiers currently stationed here—excluding the new recruits, only those with prior training.”
“Understood,” Captain Yang nodded.
On the way to find the old man, Li Feng called.
“Are you certain it’s a camp, not a nest?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Qiu Shi replied. “No nest has ever needed trap mechanisms around the perimeter. The infected get lured in and die outside. Use your brain.”
Li Feng chuckled. “Never thought I’d be lectured by you one day.”
“I’m heading to find the old man now, see if I can contact those believers,” Qiu Shi said. “They’ve been active in this area for a long time and might know the terrain.”
“Alright,” Li Feng responded. “Once you confirm the weapons you need, let me know immediately. Transporting them from Yun City takes time.”
“Got it.”
The old man was still living in that small underground chamber. He was an odd one. He once lived in a small room on the second floor of Dayan for twenty years, and now he’d been in this small chamber for months. He looked like he could stay there for another ten years, like a plant that never needed to move.
“I can reach them,” the old man said. “They’ll arrive before dawn. Just wait here.”
Qiu Shi sat on the ground and grabbed a bag of supplements from a nearby box. He glanced at it and put it back down.
“Eat,” the old man said. “It’s more effective than canned food.”
Qiu Shi said nothing. Although he didn’t shy away from enhancing himself, he still preferred eating like an ordinary human—meat cans, vegetable cans, the usual.
Xing Bi pulled two cans from his pack and placed them beside Qiu Shi.
“Where’d you get these?” Qiu Shi was surprised.
“What kind of question is that?” Xing Bi replied. “Rations. I stole them.”
Qiu Shi laughed. “I mean, what made you bring these out now?”
“I was hungry earlier,” Xing Bi said. “Figured you’d be too, so I grabbed them.”
“Thanks.” Qiu Shi opened the can, devoured the vegetable can in a few bites, then moved on to the meat can. After a few more bites, he polished that off as well.
Wiping his fingers on Xing Bi’s pants, Qiu Shi asked the old man, “Do you know Deng Yeye’s companion?”
“Yeah,” the old man nodded.
“What kind of person is he?” Qiu Shi asked. “Can we trust him?”
“He’s…” The old man hesitated. “He’s trustworthy, but… he’s…”
“He’s your father?” Qiu Shi clicked his tongue. “Why’s it so hard to say? Do you owe him money?”
“He’s a first-generation bioroid,” the old man said. “A dying one.”
“What?” Qiu Shi was stunned. He glanced at Xing Bi, then back at the old man. “He’s really a bioroid? How do bioroids age? Is it due to instability?”
“Instability is part of it,” the old man sighed. “But he sabotaged his own system. His biochemical reactions slowed, causing his body and organs to deteriorate until eventual death.”
“Why?” Qiu Shi asked.
“For love,” the old man’s voice suddenly grew emotional.
“…What the hell?” Qiu Shi was stunned. He glanced at Xing Bi again.
“Love,” Xing Bi echoed.
“I know it’s love!” Qiu Shi said. “I’m asking why he’d do that for love?”
“He wanted to grow old and die with his lover,” Xing Bi replied.
“A shame,” the old man sighed again. “Even after the degeneration began, the process of a bioroid dying is painfully slow. His lover passed away many, many years before him.”
Qiu Shi felt an indescribable emotion—part sorrow, part awe, mixed with a profound sense of loneliness and helplessness.
He glanced at Xing Bi.
Xing Bi pressed his lips together and smirked slightly. “What?”
“Nothing,” Qiu Shi replied.
Deng Yeye and her companion arrived over an hour later. Xing Bi went out to the main gate of Xima Town to bring them in.
This was the advantage of having official status. In the past, they would’ve had to sneak people in through the southeast forest.
When they entered, Qiu Shi took a glance. The man was an elderly, white-haired gentleman who looked quite energetic. Deng Yeye pushed him in a wheelchair. If Qiu Shi hadn’t known in advance, he would never have believed this man was a bioroid.
Qiu Shi stood up.
“Stay seated,” the old man said.
Qiu Shi sat back down.
“Let’s get straight to the point,” the old man said. “I don’t have much time left.”
“You seem fine,” the old man from the chamber commented.
“My organs are already failing,” the elderly bioroid replied. “It won’t be long.”
“How should we address you?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Forget the name,” the old man replied. “Just call me Grandpa. I like that title.”
“Alright, Grandpa,” Qiu Shi didn’t press further. “I’m Qiu Shi. We need information.”
“Is it about that massive pit to the south?” Grandpa asked.
“Yes,” Qiu Shi nodded. “It’s now the symbionts’ camp. The entire pit is covered in fungus. We want to know if there’s another route besides descending the cliff.”
“Of course,” Grandpa replied. “Otherwise, how do you think they’re planning to march on Yun City?”
Qiu Shi released his pet drone, projecting the topographic map Lin Sheng had created onto the wall. “Where is it?”
Grandpa pointed to the northern forest. “There’s an old flood drainage tunnel here.”
“Can vehicles and heavy weapons pass through?” Qiu Shi asked.
“Not easily,” Grandpa replied. “It’s filled with boulders and cracks carved out by water. Symbionts can move through it with ease, but for humans, it’s nearly impossible.”
“This route is too far,” Xing Bi observed the map. “We’d be spotted before reaching the target.”
“Exactly.” Grandpa nodded.
“Then how do we attack?” Qiu Shi asked. “Blow it up directly?”
“There’s another way,” Xing Bi glanced at Qiu Shi. “We’ve actually tried it before.”
“Hmm?” Qiu Shi froze for a moment, then suddenly realized, “F**k!”
The terrain, the altitude difference, and the wind speed within the valley…
“You mean we fly in?” Qiu Shi said.
Thank you so much for the update!