Apocalyptic Crazy Kitty

Chapter 35: The Azure Abyss

“Meow—” The Orange Cat tumbled and struggled through the air, its face filled with panic; it looked just like a kitten being treated roughly, and in the blink of an eye, it had landed right in front of Zhao Meng. Just as Zhao Meng stood there in utter bewilderment, a row of bony claws, each over ten centimeters long, suddenly extended from the Orange Cat’s paws. Its long tail, adorned with spiral bone spines, sliced through the air—its murderous intent fully exposed! “Thud…” A muffled sound like a blade cutting through flesh echoed as the Orange Cat pushed off Zhao Meng’s chest and pounced onto the shoulder of an Evolutionary standing nearby, its claws piercing his carotid artery. At the same time, its long tail lashed out, driving the bony spike at its tip into the eye socket of a third Evolver! “You’re… Huh… Huh huh…” Zhao Meng managed to utter just two words in his shock before blood began running from his injured throat. Blood was also streaming down his chest—the Orange Cat’s kick moments earlier had pierced his heart and lungs! The Orange Cat spun in midair and landed lightly; only then did the bodies of the three Evolvers collapse, still twitching. Erzi, Mo Xiaoqing, and the others suppressed their shock and charged at the remaining ordinary soldiers. After a devastating melee, they wrapped up the fight in just over ten seconds. These ordinary soldiers stood absolutely no chance against the Evolvers in close combat. Zuo Chen raised his paw and smashed the signal transmitter on Zhao Meng’s back, then began to search him leisurely. The main reason he’d had Erzi toss him over to launch a surprise attack was because he feared that signal transmitter—he was worried Zhao Meng would immediately contact the Divine Presence Organization. At this stage, it was best to keep their existence a secret from the Divine Presence Organization’s higher-ups. Soon, Zuo Chen found an energy detector in Zhao Meng’s backpack—exactly the same as the one Triangle Eyes had used to detect system fragments. “Go through it thoroughly and see if there’s anything else,” Zuo Chen wrote. Mo Xiaoqing no longer had the slightest doubt about Zuo Chen’s combat prowess. She scampered over and began searching Zhao Meng’s person, looking like a total sycophant. She was now utterly in awe of the Orange Cat before her. Not only was he cute and smart, but the sweet potato he’d just eaten had given her a steady stream of energy, which only deepened her admiration. Soon, Mo Xiaoqing found a map in the sleeve pocket of Zhao Meng’s combat uniform. To her surprise, it was a city map—apparently a detailed plan of the city’s buildings and roads from peacetime—though she had no idea which city it was. In the center of the map, a circle had been drawn around a building resembling a school, with a line of small text inside it reading: “Location of energy fluctuation point.” A bandit named Lü Xinwei froze for a moment upon seeing the map, then quickly wrote on the ground: “This is Weicheng, and this building is Weicheng High School!” Since Lü Xinwei was originally from Weicheng, he immediately recognized the map as a detailed plan of the city’s buildings and roads. Zuo Chen nodded. It seemed that the members of Squad 87 had more than just the mission to track down Evolvers… Both the map and the energy detector were clearly intended to locate the energy fluctuation point in Weicheng. Team 93 had previously used that energy detector to locate the System Fragment—I wonder what’s inside that energy fluctuation point in Weicheng? Could it be another System Fragment? Zuo Chen stuck out his tongue and licked his front paw, lost in thought. So far, he’d only obtained a portion of the Dark Energy Cookbook—basically recipes for ingredients below Level 30—which was far from complete. It seemed he’d need to make a trip to Weicheng to see what was really going on there. Suddenly, the roar of a flying machine cutting through the air came from the distance. In the blink of an eye, it drew closer, the roar growing louder—it was clearly traveling at an extremely high speed. The cat and the eight humans used some branches to bury the bodies of Zhao Meng and the others, then headed straight into the thicket. In small groups, they climbed up one large tree after another, hiding in the dense canopy as they gazed up at the sky. In the western sky, they saw dozens of fighter jets flying in formation, trailing long contrails like a swarm of arrows piercing the sky as they roared past! At the center of this formation, flanked by the other fighters, were three fully loaded bombers, gleaming in the sunlight. When the biohazard crisis first broke out, the military had deployed troops to maintain order and protect the public, and many fighter jets had flown overhead—usually to bomb large-scale horde of zombies and protect cities that hadn’t yet fallen. However, since then, Zuo Chen had never seen fighter jets appear in the skies over the wilderness and ruins again—he never expected to encounter them once more today. Bai Biao quickly flashed a “36” gesture toward Zuo Chen, followed by a “20,” then a “3” and a “10,” Thirty-six J-20 fighter jets and three H-10 bombers. Everyone was secretly startled. Even in peacetime, this force would be considered extremely powerful—it would rank among the world’s top air forces and would even be capable of wiping out the defenses of some small countries. Given the remnants of human society’s current capabilities, this was all the more astonishing. Where were they headed? Watching the contrails stretch toward the southwest, Zuo Chen carved the character “Qing” into the tree trunk. The group realized: the direction of the ruins of Qingcheng! Heading further southwest, the only destination left was the ruins of Qingcheng. But that place is nothing more than a pile of ruins—why go there? Mo Xiaoqing quickly wrote: “The Abyss of Qing—the mightiest of all Abysses!” The Qingcheng Ruins were currently occupied by an Abyssal Being—one who had long been hailed as the strongest of them all. It is said that within the first year after the outbreak of the biohazard crisis, three Abyss Beings appeared in the Qingcheng Ruins. All three had evolved through relentless combat amidst tens of millions of zombies, but they eventually engaged in the most brutal battle imaginable—a conflict so fierce that even two Beast Kings were drawn into it. In the end, only one Abyssal survived in the Qingcheng Ruins, becoming the overlord of the ten million zombies there. It is for this reason that it is known as the strongest Abyss: the Azure Abyss! After the swarm passed, the area grew quiet. The group jumped down from the trees and began packing up to leave. Having just eliminated the members of the 87th Shennu Squad, they expected the other Shennu to come after them soon, so it was best to leave as quickly as possible. Just then, a series of violent explosions rang out from the sky to the southwest. Clearly, the fighter squadron had encountered the enemy and was now engaged in battle! The roar of explosions filled the air, but Zuo Chen paid it no further attention. All of this was too far removed from him—he was just a cat and had no time to worry about such matters. After digging up quite a few sweet potatoes and various other ingredients and stowing them in his storage space, the group began heading toward Weicheng. With members of the Divine Presence Organization present, they couldn’t take the highway, and to reach Jicheng, they had no choice but to pass through Weicheng. Zuo Chen slumped against Mo Xiaoqing’s shoulder, the scent of the young girl lingering around his nose. He casually opened his multidimensional information communicator and began searching the network for information on the ruins of Weicheng. At the very beginning of the apocalypse, Weicheng had briefly cleared the city center of zombies and held off the zombie hordes. The city’s administrative structure managed to survive for nearly half a year, but no one could have anticipated that, on a stormy night, a zombie would evolve into an Abyssal Being right in the city center, instantly wiping out the defending troops and unleashing a massive slaughter. In the end, the 29th Division of the Eastern Theater Command, which had remained behind, fought desperately to hold back the Abyssal One, allowing the majority of the population to evacuate Weicheng. However, every soldier of the 29th Division was killed in action, composing a tragic and heroic ballad. Had this Abyssal not just completed its evolution and been relatively weak, it is unlikely anyone would have made it out alive. From then on, this Abyssal Being was known as the “Abyss of Weicheng” and the “Butcher of the Rainy Night.” Due to that close-quarters battle, it can be said to be one of the Abyss Beings relatively well-known to human society. According to records, the Abyssal of Wei possesses a unique mucus ability, capable of spewing mucus of varying viscosities—mucus so potent it can even dissolve steel. At the same time, its physique has undergone inhuman evolution, with far more limbs than ordinary zombies. In the footage that remains, the Abyssal of Wei was seen in battle with six legs, eight arms, and three heads—it’s anyone’s guess how it grew them. Zuo Chen couldn’t help but furrow his brow. “That looks so gross, meow.” Just then, Mo Xiaoqing seemed to muster her courage, turned her head, flashed an innocent smile, and asked softly, “Great King, do you think I’m cute?” By now, they had arrived at an abandoned town not far from Weicheng, and the numbing effect of the Bigen Potato had long since worn off. “Are you cuter than me, meow?” Zuo Chen rolled his eyes, licked his paw, and asked.