The woman, clutching the child, sat sideways on the windowsill.
Seeing this, Chen Yuan could no longer remain a passive observer. He had originally thought that even if someone died outside his door, he wouldn't open it. But now, truly faced with this situation, his heart wouldn't allow him to remain cold and indifferent.
He ripped open the window and shouted across the alley, "Don't be impulsive!!!"
Perhaps because his voice was loud enough, the woman on the other side froze.
Chen Yuan let out a small sigh of relief and continued to wave his hands, shouting, "Don't jump! Don't jump! I have..."
He hadn't even finished his sentence when he saw the woman fall, clutching the child.
Hiss...
Chen Yuan instinctively turned his head away, unable to bear watching what was about to happen.
THUD!!!
A muffled thud echoed through the alley, and the entire world fell silent.
Chen Yuan collapsed onto the floor, his mind a complete blank. Three living beings, gone, right before his eyes. He felt a wave of frustration and turmoil wash over him, with no idea what to do.
Time ticked by, second by second. It wasn't until the frigid outside air had aggressively breached the warmth of his window and washed over him that he shivered back to his senses.
"Fuck! This goddamn apocalypse!"
He got back to his feet and peered down again. With just one glance, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
The bodies that had been lying in a pool of blood were gone!
Gulp...
Chen Yuan couldn't help but swallow hard, his eyes rapidly scanning the entire alley. There were no footprints. No other bloodstains.
But where were the bodies?
"What... what the hell happened?" he muttered to himself, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Only ten minutes had passed. How could the bodies have just vanished? They weren't covered by snow; they were well and truly gone. But the bloodstains on the ground were still there, frozen solid!
The sight made his entire body tremble.
Were they rescued? The thought popped into his head only to be immediately dismissed. The hospitals were all empty; who would be coming to perform first aid? And even if it was a rescue, how could they have made no sound?
His mind felt foggy, a thousand questions swirling within it. At a certain moment, it felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his brain. An absurd thought suddenly burst forth.
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became. With trembling hands, he reached for the window and slowly slid it shut. After pulling the curtains, a cold sweat streamed down his forehead.
He tiptoed back to the sofa, put on his thermostatic suit, tucked the Flame Dagger into his belt, and sat there, clutching his axe with both hands, his eyes fixed on the front door. If anything suddenly burst in, he would fight it to the death.
He waited like that until dawn, but not another sound came from outside.
He scratched his head in frustration, dark circles under his eyes, and went into the warehouse. The only thing that brought him any comfort was the sight of the Apocalypse Store. It had successfully upgraded.
Its external appearance hadn't changed, but the display was now in color, and it had many more functions.
「Apocalypse Store 2.0, Touchscreen Edition」
Looking at the title, Chen Yuan began to study it seriously. The interface was now divided into three sections: Production, Upgrades, and Blueprints.
Production was the function he had used before: throw materials in, get items out.
Upgrades was a new function. He could choose to strengthen or modify items he put inside. In other words, he could now upgrade Tiedan.
The last function, Blueprints, wasn't so much a function as a database. Chen Yuan tapped it, and a small smile touched his lips. The blueprint section was just like a crafting recipe book, detailing all the materials needed for production and upgrades. With this, he no longer had to randomly throw things in. He could just follow the recipes to get exactly what he wanted.
After the events of last night, Chen Yuan desperately needed something to protect himself. He scrolled through the blueprints, found Tiedan's upgrade path, and saw the required materials.
「Upgrade: Industrial Mechanical Arm. Materials required: Iron 1kg, Aluminum 0.5kg, Copper 0.25kg」 「Upgrade: Offensive Mechanical Arm. Materials required: Iron 2.5kg, Steel 1kg, Copper 0.5kg, Rubber 0.25kg」 「Upgrade: Endurance. Materials required: Wood 5kg, Glass 1.5kg」 「Upgrade: Load-bearing & Towing Capacity...」
...
There were many upgrade paths for Tiedan, more than a dozen in total, from endurance to adding mechanical arms. But for Chen Yuan right now, the Offensive Mechanical Arm was what he needed most.
"Iron, steel, copper, rubber..." Chen Yuan frowned in thought, and an idea came to him.
Since it was still early, he slung his backpack on, and set out with Tiedan. Every step he took was exceptionally cautious, his senses on high alert for any movement in his surroundings. When he got downstairs, he saw that the once-crimson ground was now covered again by a fresh layer of snow. His heart began to pound with anxiety again. He didn't know what happened last night, but it definitely wasn't anything good.
Tiedan still cleared the path ahead. Chen Yuan, gripping his axe tightly with both hands, followed slowly behind.
When he reached the main road, the situation was the same as yesterday, only the snow on the cars was thicker. The materials to upgrade Tiedan could be found on these cars. The wiring harnesses contained copper, the doors and hoods were iron or aluminum alloy, and the tires contained rubber.
With his material list clear, Chen Yuan began to work quickly. Due to the low temperature, the metal was brittle. The axe from the store was very effective; after a few powerful swings, he managed to tear a car door off. The percussive thump, thump echoed down the road, shaking snow from the treetops. But Chen Yuan couldn't be bothered with that now. He gathered the materials as fast as he could and then hauled them back.
After a flurry of activity, it was already noon. He had managed to tear off four car doors, a hood, a trunk lid, and four wheels, plus countless wiring harnesses.
Sitting in the warehouse, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. With no time to rest, he began to dismantle the materials. To maximize their utility, he still needed to remove the decorative panels and glass from the car doors. The tires were another matter; he could only throw them in whole.
He swiped through the upgrade interface on the store and selected the Offensive Mechanical Arm. He didn't know how strong it would be, but having it was better than not.
After making his selection, he began to feed in the materials. The final step: he pushed Tiedan into the insertion port.
He reached out and pressed the red button.
「Upgrading Offensive Mechanical Arm. Materials inserted. Upgrade in progress...」 「Upgrade time: one hour.」
Seeing the prompt on the screen, Chen Yuan finally felt a glimmer of hope.
He returned to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa, his whole body aching. They seemed like simple materials, but it had taken every ounce of his strength to gather them.
He gripped his Flame Dagger, his eyes fixed on the front door. Without Tiedan's help, he needed to be completely focused. If there was any strange movement, he had to react instantly.
Time ticked by, second by second. Just as Chen Yuan was about to take a sip of water, a sharp thump, thump sounded from the front door.
"Who is it?!"