Chapter 5: This World Has Gone Mad

Half an hour later.

The "Matriarch" that had failed to find its target had taken away the carcasses of the monsters left on the ground.

Only when the sound of footsteps faded, the vibrations ceased, and they were certain it had moved far away, did the few "locals" hiding in the hall finally relax.

The campfire was rekindled, and the sealed windows were opened. Air, tainted with the lingering, putrid stench of the Matriarch, flooded in, yet it helped pull Chen Jian from his daze.

The scene captured by the drone earlier had pushed the limits of his comprehension. Even knowing he had transmigrated, he struggled to accept the reality of such monsters existing, as they completely defied the basic laws of nature.

A three or four-meter-tall monster was not entirely absurd; the largest brown bears could stand nearly three meters tall.

But twenty meters?

For a creature of that size to appear on Earth, one would have to look back to the Cretaceous period.

Chen Jian frowned. He turned to look at the guide, who happened to be walking toward him.

"I... I’m Du Hu, I’m a hunter!"

"It’s safe now. The Matriarch’s patrol has... it has ended."

Hearing this, Chen Jian nodded slightly and asked, "How often do these patrols happen?"

Du Hu froze, seemingly surprised by the question. In this world, was there anyone who didn't know the schedule of the Matriarch’s patrols? If they didn't even know that, how had they survived?

His mind was filled with questions, but recalling the formidable combat prowess the other man had displayed on the street, he felt there was nothing to hide or fear.

So, he answered honestly, "It comes out to forage about every five days. But if the Mantises... if too many Mantises die, it will come out to collect the bodies."

"Where do you come from? You don't... you don't know about the Matriarch?"

Chen Jian’s expression shifted slightly.

*I don't just not know about the Matriarch; I don't even know where I am! Theoretically, I’ve only been here for two hours, okay? What do you expect me to know?*

Looking at Du Hu, who was waiting with anticipation for his answer, Chen Jian let out a soft breath and said candidly, "We just arrived here. We don't know anything."

Upon hearing his words, all the locals in the hall stood frozen. Their expressions were complex; beyond surprise, there was a sense of faint disappointment.

Du Hu wanted to press further, but a short-haired woman stepped forward and tapped him on the shoulder, cutting him off.

The woman then looked at Chen Jian and asked, "You aren't Blood-Bound, but you came from the north. Are you... the Church of the Machine?"

*What the hell?*

The woman’s two questions left Chen Jian completely stunned. "Blood-Bound," "Church of the Machine"—the impact of these two religiously charged terms was on par with that of the giant beast, making him wonder if he was even still on Earth.

But the moon and the stars would not lie, and neither would a sextant.

He asked the most crucial question: "What year is it?"

The woman looked at Chen Jian, confused. "What do you mean by 'what year'?"

*It’s over.*

Even the most basic calendar system had collapsed. One could only imagine how difficult the survival conditions were for humans in this world.

Chen Jian took a deep breath and continued, "How long ago did this world... become like this?"

The woman shook her head again. "No one knows. It was already like this when I was born."

"But back then, there were still many of us."

"Later, the monsters kept increasing, and the people grew fewer... We used to have over a hundred people. Now... there are only five of us left."

There was no need to ask further. Judging by the ages of the four normal people in this small outpost, they were inevitably the second, third, or even fourth generation born into this post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the population of the settlements having plummeted, most information had perished before it could be passed down. It was almost impossible to obtain useful intelligence regarding the origin of the disaster from them.

Chen Jian decisively bypassed the topic. He had intended to ask more specific questions, but at that moment, the carcasses of unidentified animals on the campfire were roasted, and it was the locals' dinner time.

The man in charge of the roasting respectfully invited Chen Jian’s four-man team to eat, but out of caution, Chen Jian waved him off. He sat in a corner further away from the fire, pulling out his remaining emergency rations.

The two groups watched each other from across the room. One was a special operations team armed to the teeth; the other was a group of scavengers struggling to survive.

Each side held something the other desperately needed, so even though suspicion and distrust were evident, they maintained a tacit, relatively friendly contact.

Chen Jian just didn't know how long such friendliness could last.

By now, the smart terminal had synthesized all the intelligence. As the four men chewed on compressed biscuits, they discussed their next plan.

"It is now basically confirmed that we are in a post-apocalyptic world."

"The main threat to humanity is those monsters, but the monsters are definitely not the reason humanity reached this point."

"There must be a stronger, irresistible force—perhaps a virus, or something else."

"That force must have already dissipated, because the woman just said the reason their settlement's population plummeted was the monsters, not some other incomprehensible factor."

"The situation is grim... Any thoughts?"

Hearing Chen Jian, Shen Yue replied, "First, we must solve the survival issue."

"Our food and water are nearly exhausted, and we only have one load of ammunition left."

"It’s fortunate we brought extra this time; otherwise, we’d be out of everything by now."

"I have another load and a half," He Shuo interjected.

"Distribute some 7.62 to Shen Yue. In this situation, the machine gun is far more useful than the sniper rifle."

"Understood." He Shuo nodded and added, "There is another key point: the 'Matriarch.' That Matriarch is clearly more powerful than the so-called 'Mantises,' but we cannot determine the relationship between them."

"There is too much intelligence missing. We must maintain contact with this scavenger squad."

"I agree," Chen Jian nodded. "Our long-term goal should be to find a larger settlement."

"The larger the settlement, the more information it will hold."

"As for weapons and ammunition... if we can't replenish them in the short term, we must avoid unnecessary combat."

"They survived using cold weapons; if we use our weapons sparingly, we should be able to survive as well."

"Understood."

"Received."

The team members replied one by one, swallowing their emergency rations.

Meanwhile, the scavengers across the room had finished their roasted meat. Chen Jian observed their actions with curiosity, hoping to understand how they survived in this wasteland. It would be an excellent lesson for his team's future operations.

----Then, something happened that left him completely bewildered.

Aside from the "mutant" named Du Hu, the four normal people stripped off their clothes.

Immediately after, the three women and one man, as if no one were watching, began to engage in those indescribable acts right there in the open hall.

No one made a sound; there were no expressions of pleasure, not even any unnecessary movements.

The scene was eerie to the extreme. It lacked any sense of sensuality and instead made Chen Jian feel physically nauseated.

The reason was simple.

In doing this, those people did not look like humans, nor did they look like beasts.

They... looked like insects.

Devoid of emotion, devoid of physiological feedback, they were merely insects parasitizing this land, controlled by the ultimate, pure instinct to propagate.

Chen Jian turned his head away and said with difficulty, "Damn it, this world is insane."