Versatile Mage - Chapter 281

Chapter 281

The journey ahead of them would involve traveling across mountains and rivers, and breaking through brambles and thistles .

Some who were following the latest hits hummed along the journey as they slowly advanced, following the railway . A few were immersed in thoughts about their future, but they eventually felt uncertain when they collected their thoughts, knowing that they were still in the midst of a dangerous adventure . None of them were in the mood to enjoy the pleasant scenery, as they knew they were in the demon beasts’ territory .

Apart from the relatively thrilling experience at the tunnel, the journey had been rather peaceful . They had not encountered any similarly large groups of beasts since then .

With their current strengths, they did have the ability to look after themselves against ordinary demon beasts .

——

After spending more than ten days traveling, Jinlin City was finally visible in the distance .

They came up to another hill, which also had a tunnel the railway was leading into . This time, they decided to take an alternative route instead of going through the pitch-black tunnel .

They immediately saw a spacious basin when they arrived at the top of the hill . Plenty of foothills could be seen leading in the distance toward their destination .

In the north was a river with many bends and curves, eventually ending up running alongside the remains of a city, now overgrown with plant life . The river continued to extend into the distance and bent towards the east, towards the hill that the group had just crossed .

“That would be Jinlin City . It’s only been fifteen years . How did it end up like this?” Zheng Bingxiao wondered, staring at the distant desolated city .

“It’s pretty much expected, since the beasts were using it as a habitat . The houses, streets and roads would be in utterly destroyed . The plants are intaking their waste as fertilizer, so they can grow very fast . You will find the whole place crawling with moss, vines, and weeds,” Qingqing said .

“Come, we should scout the outer area first and count the beasts roaming around,” Song Xia suggested .

The periphery of the city was a big open plain surrounded by woods, and also one of the key places to be investigated . If there was any point in reconstructing the city, they had to know if the perimeter was occupied by the beasts .

Fortunately, they were not sent here to wipe out every single beast from Jinlin City . It was big enough to be described as a second-grade city . Even the perimeter alone was more spacious than they could have imagined, let alone the city that was now a den for the beasts . It would be quite impossible to restore it to a human habitat without a few army brigades .

—

After spending some time investigating the woods, the group was surprised to find out that they only saw a few individual demon beasts searching for food, instead of moving in groups .

In the end, the investigation around the city’s perimeter was carried out smoothly . They marked the map grids with green ticks, implying that there were only a few beasts roaming in them .

“Let’s head inside . We should finish our task and head back earlier . I feel quite uncomfortable staying out here,” Luo Song proposed .

In fact, Luo Song had toned down significantly over the past ten days . Either way, he did not want to suffer any longer by staying outside of the safe zone .

“This kind of investigation will take quite some time . Besides, the places we are investigating are extremely huge . We have already marked the spots on the map, unless we are splitting up…”

“Splitting up isn’t a rational decision . ” Song Xia shook her head .

If the seventeen of them could stick together, they still stood a chance against beasts that were inclined to move in groups . It would be a completely different scenario if they were to split up .

“We’ll check one spot out at a time . ”

——

The seventeen people made their way into the desolated city . The road that was meant to be used for transportation into the city was fully blocked with rusted, abandoned cars . The way they had ended up was enough to illustrate how the people decided to abandon their cars to flee for their lives during the incident .

Things like cars were quite useless in a large-scale calamity, since they relied heavily on roads .

—

They began to see remains of houses after passing along the highways .

The main road had been broken apart . The cracks spread throughout the entire road, with plants growing in the gaps . It felt like the life force of the trees alone was enough to drill across the road .

The houses were entirely covered in dust, stacked densely together . Vines continued to climb upward and into the windows, growing thickly and leaving the inside in a total mess . The trees everywhere lacked someone looking after them, and seemed to be shrouding the heavens .

Currently, the students from both the Imperial College and the Pearl Institute were walking on the main road . They could hear occasional animal cries in the distance, explaining their alert expressions .

This residential area was the first place they needed to investigate . Judging from the data, it was highly possible that this area was previously the territory of beasts, as most of rooms had animal droppings piled up in a corner .

“I can’t imagine what happened here . This used to be a city . ” Bai Tingting seemed to be quite sentimental as he sighed .

When a city was at its end, when you could not find a living person on the streets, a person would feel quite lonely and devastated . It was something that they had not experienced before .

Desolated was surely the best way to describe this city .

“We should find somewhere save to settle ourselves,” Shen Mingxiao proposed .

“We finally arrived at the city . We have to make sure we can escape easily . It should be near the edge, with some great defense…” Lu Zhenghe said .

“So where should we pick as our place?” Song Xia asked .

“Inside a building, we should use one as our base . Some of them are connected to the others, allowing us to escape easily,” Lu Zhenghe went on .

“That’s right, the taller buildings would also grant us a greater field of vision, which would be better for us when standing guard . Otherwise, it will be hard to tell if a large group of beasts is approaching . ”

“I think that one’s not too bad . ” Mo Fan pointed at a building in the distance .

A large, blocky building stood firmly in the distance . It did not look too filthy, as if it had been occasionally washed by the rain .

Most importantly, the building seemed relatively fine compared to the other buildings . Not only did it have many floors, it had a magnificent aura to it, too .

“You do know how to pick the place…” Song Xia let out a smile as she identified the building on the map . “That used to be the city’s Administration Hall!”