Epoch of Twilight

Chapter 187: Acquaintance

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The dormitory had no lights, but the corridor was lit, so everyone was able to see.

However, not long after entering, several people’s expressions turned to dismay.

All upper bunks were basically occupied, and the lower bunks were littered with trash.

The smelly skins, tattered cloth sacks, pots and pans, and mouldy, dirty clothes made the whole dormitory exude an unidentified, unusual odour.

The soldiers had left the survivors completely to themselves, without any proper management, and as a result there were no available beds now.

Luo Yuan had long since noticed the situation, but had chosen not to make a fuss about it. However, Huo Dong and Lin Xiaoji looked increasingly unhappy about the situation.

Seeing that the two of them were agitated and about to start a fight, Luo Yuan quickly stopped them, saying, "Well, it’s already really late. It would be hard to communicate, so let’s just move some stuff to the floor and get some rest.”

It was not that Luo Yuan was afraid of trouble. He was just too lazy to be bothered. They were mentally exhausted from the day they’d had, and that in combination with his intense earlier fighting had left him tired and fatigued. He was totally ready to have the night off. Plus, causing any problems in the military base would only mean trouble for them, so it would be better to let it pass.

At Luo Yuan word’s, the two men held back their dissatisfaction. However, their seething annoyance was still evident through their rough actions.

As the trash was put on the floor, some noise was inevitable. In the middle of the night, noises sounded particularly deafening, and were able to awaken even the most soundly asleep survivors.

Barely a few seconds later, a tall figure jumped down from an upper bunk, the man’s face filled with anger as he began to spill out profanities, "F*ck you, what are you doing? My words seem to have fallen on deaf ears! You want to get beaten up, don’t you?”

The man who was cursing had a towering figure, slightly taller than two meters, possibly around two point two, and his entire body was ripped with muscles. Perhaps he had once been a bodybuilder. His head was shaved bald, but the uneven shaving made his scalp appear patchy.

Apart from him, the rest of the survivors remained still. Perhaps this person was a troublemaker, or perhaps the rest of them preferred to stay out of trouble.

Before Luo Yuan could react though, the following comical scene made Huo Dong and Lin Xiaoji’s jaws drop.

Before the apocalypse, the towering man with the aggressive, vicious attitude would have probably belonged in a prison cell. He met all the criteria for a most wanted criminal, and he would no doubt have been the best candidate for the position of a crime lord. Barely a second later though, the man’s facial expression changed dramatically. He looked almost unnatural as he said, "You... are you Brother Luo?"

Luo Yuan looked at him in confusion. He looked rather familiar, but the memory of the man’s image and the person before him were vastly different. Luo Yuan asked, "And you are?”

"I am Fatty Xie!" The guy calling himself Fatty Xie scratched his head and shyly said, “I’m the man that ran the illegal trading business by the Hedong City dump site. Don’t you remember?”

“You... you are Boss Xie? How did you become like this?" Although Luo Yuan was stunned by the changes in the man’s appearance, there was undeniably still some resemblance to Boss Xie. However, Boss Xie had previously been only 1.70 meters tall, and so stout that he hadn’t even able to run a few steps without needing to catch his breath. Now his body was two meters tall, and his muscles were as defined as a body-builder’s. It really was a big transformation.

"Please call me Fatty Xie. That’s what my friends call me. If I didn’t say anything, no one would even recognize me now.” As he said this, the man looked helpless. "I am like this is because of the evolution process. If it wasn’t for these changes in my appearance, I would not even have survived this long.”

Meeting someone familiar was always a pleasant occurrence, especially now when they didn’t even know how many of their acquaintances were still alive. Luo Yuan was no longer in a hurry to go to bed. “How did you get here? When did you arrive?”

“It’s a long story. When Hedong City was attacked, I first headed to East Lake. Later, when my business friends told me that East Lake was unsafe, I followed a group of people to Hucheng City. However, Hucheng City was not able to hold off the attacks either. Besides, I was not familiar with the people or the place. I basically had no connections, and money is of no use there. You know that I wasn’t some important person. I was only doing some light trading, so I was not eligible for the first retreat mission, nor for the second one. The third mission came too late. Hucheng City had already collapsed, and the mission was delayed.”

“That night, when I was not paying attention, my wife took our kids and jumped off a building.”

“I drifted around for some time, eating whatever I could find. I even ate drain rats. Every day I hid myself, until inexplicably one day I suddenly evolved. If I hadn’t, I would have been inside the stomach of a mutated beast by now. About ten days ago, I saw a helicopter fly by and I followed it all the way here.” Fatty Xie wiped his face, spit a little phlegm, and pointed at Luo Yuan with his thick finger. “But enough about me. What about you?”

Although Fatty Xie was not gentle by any means, at least he was friendly. He was smiling at everyone and he had good manners. It seemed that the apocalypse had changed him a lot.

“No one wished for this. Otherwise, they would not have come here. " Luo Yuan sighed as he thought of the tragic deaths of Huang Yuying and Ning Xiaoran. Then he looked at Deng Wei and Zhong Chuqiang. The two tough children were trying hard to stay awake by the corner, despite the fact that they were yawning nonstop. Luo Yuan said, “It’s late now. Let’s talk more tomorrow. We still have plenty of time.”

"Alright, you guys can choose whichever bed you want and throw everything onto the floor. These people are a bunch of cowards. They wouldn’t mess with me, even if you gave them the courage. I’m going back to sleep,” said Fatty Xie roughly, completely oblivious to Lin Xiaoji’s disdainful face.

He turned his body swiftly on the bed, and the metal frame suddenly gave out an agonizing groan. Fatty Xie got comfortable, completely oblivious to everyone else’s comfort.

Luo Yuan noticed that the others had not moved an inch. It was as if they had not heard anything. It seemed that he fit in really well there.

Luo Yuan chose a relatively clean bed, threw the trash onto the floor, spread the sleeping bag, and got into bed. Suddenly, his mind and heart felt calmer. The military base gave him a sense of security. There was no need to worry about unexpected danger or remain half-asleep. Most importantly, they didn’t have to worry about where they would go the next day, or whether there was anything terrible waiting for them.

Luo Yuan did not even take a look at his completed task. He fell into a deep sleep right away.

The next morning, he was awakened by the noise of other people waking up. When he opened his eyes, he no longer felt sleepy. Instead, he felt surprisingly better. Just a few short hours of sleep had completely replenished his energy.

“Brother Luo, you’re up! Let’s go have breakfast together," said Fatty Xie loudly as he jumped down from his bed.

“There’s breakfast?” Luo Yuan asked curiously.

“Of course there is. Before the apocalypse, they had stockpiled large amounts of food here. The supplies are still not finished," said Fatty Xie casually while giving Luo Yuan a strong pat on the shoulder.

Since the beginning of the apocalypse, no one had dared pat Luo Yuan’s shoulder. He felt a little odd, but he adjusted to the change quickly. He did not shy away. He allowed Fatty Xie to put his hand on him, and slightly lowered his shoulder to diffuse the force of the impact. “Haven’t eaten a normal meal in a long time. I don’t even remember what it tastes like. But I still have my friends with me. Let’s wait until everyone is up before we go.”

Surprise flashed across Fatty Xie’s face. Although he had not used his full force, a normal person would still have struggled under this strength. He had expected Luo Yuan to not even be able to budge, let alone shrug his pat off so casually.

In fact, he had known right from the start that Brother Luo was no ordinary man. Otherwise, he would not have been such a popular figure within the dump site community that even Fatty Xie himself would have to call him Boss Luo. Yet, Fatty Xie was not the guy that he used to be anymore. He was no longer the smiley Fatty Xie. Ever since he had evolved, his strength had increased tremendously, and his defence had gotten so abnormally strong, that even in his normal form he could still tear a third rank mutated beast apart. He had even killed a fourth rank beast when he had been in his special form. Luo Yuan’s earlier skills and strength were insignificant in his eyes, which naturally gave him a contemptuous attitude.

Fatty Xie laughed raucously as he said, "Are they your little brothers and sisters?”

"You could say that," Luo Yuan said casually, his attention fully focused on the mission board. The previous day, he had been too relaxed and had neglected to check it. When he did this morning after he woke up, he discovered that his level had increased. Not only had he levelled up, but the giant lizard had also followed suit.

“Current Mission: B Level Mission; escort a group of soldiers to the Hucheng City secret military base”.

”Mission Requirement: The number of soldiers, including Zhou Yicheng, should not be lower than six.”

“Time Limit: One Week”

“Mission Status: Completed”

“Evaluation: Good”

“Character: Luo Yuan”

“Level of Completion: 90%”

“Basic Reward EXP +9,600*90%!”

“Evaluation: Excellent, EXP +4,800*90%!”

“EXP: 5,520/76,800!”

“Battle Beast: Giant Lizard”

“Level of Completion: 10%”

“Basic Reward EXP +9,600*10%”

“Evaluation: Good, EXP +4,800*10!”

“Experience: 1,140/19,200!”

The giant lizard had not contributed much to this task, so the majority of the experience gained had gone to Luo Yuan, allowing him to level up with an excess of 5,000 points, which had made the level-up a lot smoother.

Looking at his remaining Attribute Point and 6 Skills Points, he suddenly felt his emotions surge. Now that he had finally levelled up, his strength would increase once again.

He looked at all his attributes; the majority were higher than 14 points. Only his 13-point Strength and Intelligence caught his attention. He glanced at his Intelligence before immediately looking at his Strength. The weakness of his Strength had been evident during the last battle, consequentially affecting his 14-point Dexterity, which was not able to be fully utilized. He had always felt that this attribute was unnecessary. Therefore, he had long decided that the next increase would be in his Strength.

Perhaps he had been contemplating it for a long time, or perhaps his state of mind was more relaxed that day, but Luo Yuan automatically added the points.

Suddenly, Fatty Xie felt an oppressive aura in the room. As if by instinct, he quickly turned to Luo Yuan, who was now emanating the aura of an enormous, terrifying beast. Everyone’s faces turned pale. Some people retreated carefully, while others slumped down on the floor, unintentionally soiling themselves and producing a smelly odour. The people that were still lying in bed seemed paralysed. They were unable to move their bodies. All they could do was shout.

Being the closest to him, Fatty Xie was affected by the full force of his aura. He felt a great weight pressing down on him, and his forehead started to break out in cold sweat. Step by step, he retreated on the cement dirt beneath his feet. With every step he took, he left a heavy footprint on the floor. His whole body felt like a balloon being pierced. He was losing weight at a rapid pace. Meanwhile, his body released a layer of white substance, allowing himself to stabilize.

When Luo Yuan finally noticed his soaring strength and the power unconsciously emanating from his body, he quickly tried to control it. It was too late, though. The scene had become chaotic. The whole room was reeking of an unpleasant odour, and everyone was looking in Luo Yuan’s direction, their eyes avoiding direct eye contact as they retreated in fear.

Fatty Xie had recovered fast. There was an unpleasant expression on his face, and his lips were trembling slightly as he stammered, “Boss Luo, you hide your abilities really well, but you’re still as powerful as ever. It looks like I was being too arrogant yesterday.”

Fatty Xie thought that the sole purpose of that incident was to intimidate him. He didn’t dare call Luo Yuan brother anymore. Instead, he went back to calling him Boss Luo. Nonetheless, only he alone knew what he was thinking. After the conversation, he strode out right away, too ashamed to stay in the room.

Luo Yuan did not know what to say, so he just let him leave. He was only an acquaintance after all, so he wasn’t feeling too guilty about the whole incident.

The commotion had disturbed Huo Dong and Lin Xiaoji, who had woken up. The two children were also in a state of shock. However, they had been sleeping in the middle section of the room, so the effect on them had not been too big, unlike the effect on the people nearby, some of whom had even soiled their pants.

After they got up, Luo Yuan went to the women’s dormitory and told Huang Jiahui and the others to come out. When the whole group was assembled, they asked for directions to the cafeteria, and headed in that direction.

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