Chapter 134 - Square-shaped Building
Xia Fei sat on a mountain peak and had his breakfast as he admired the morning sun gradually lighting up the huge, ancient ruins below him.
Most of the buildings within City 02 had already been reduced to rubbles, and even those edifices that had managed to retain their shapes were all riddled with holes under the intense firepower from the robot army. They were barely still standing and seemed as if all it would take was a light touch to bring them all crumbling down.
The only structure at the city center that could be considered intact was a square building. It was large and angular, with dozens or so already destroyed large cannons on its roof. The cannons looked like dead tree branches, bent and twisted as they dangled from above.
There was a layer of shiny silver metal on their surface. Despite experiencing the elements all year round over all these years, the metal remained gleaming under the sunlight. That should be where the core organization of City 02 resided. Its resistance against attack was simply beyond belief; it was nothing short of a miracle that it could remain standing and not succumb to the relentless onslaughts of the elements.
Xia Fei had a simple breakfast, composed of two cans of beef and peach, two liters of milk, twenty pieces of dense bread, and one each of White Dew and Snake Eye Berry. Xia Fei had a shockingly big appetite, and everything that he had just eaten only made him half full.
No one could eat their fill when in battle. He needed to keep himself on the edge of hunger, so he would be able to find his strongest explosive combat strength within. It was akin to someone heading off for a job after filling their stomach with food. Not only would he feel lethargic, but his stomach would also be unable to take the exertion.
A real experienced warrior would never let themselves be at ease. They needed to use hunger and pain to stimulate the biological instincts that had already deteriorated in humans, so that they could rely on their beast-like abilities to hunt, battle, and survive.
He tried to construct a mental image of how the city looked back in its heyday, attempting to integrate himself into this city in a way that he had higher possibilities of locating the places where he might find valuables.
That huge and square-shaped building at the city center evidently came to mind as one such possible location. There were also those mansions on the west side of the city that the wealthy had lived and the local garrison. Finally, there was that upscale business hub, which could potentially be worth searching.
Xia Fei walked on the road leading to the city center, slowly making progress toward that huge building.
All of a sudden, Xia Fei became keenly aware of a distinct aura coming from that building ahead. This aura was thick and violent, like what one would sense from a ferocious tiger deep in slumber. Though it was asleep, fatally carnivorous sensations still strongly permeated the air around the area.
Phantom coincidentally appeared beside Xia Fei at this time, his eyes also trained on that silver-colored, square-shared building.
“You’ve felt it, too?” Xia Fei asked.
Phantom nodded. “Its aura is formidable, something an insectoid possessing extremely high combative strength can give off.”
Xia Fei furrowed his brows. “Indeed, and the fact that the creature isn’t even trying to mask its aura means it’s very confident of itself.”
High-ranking insectoids usually gave off two auras: One was maniacal savagery and violence—a murderous aura that clearly indicated the insectoid’s ferocious and combative nature.
Two was none—cunning insectoids were very careful to let their auras be felt by others, and some would even try to make themselves appear harmless.
Apparently, the insectoid currently hiding in that building was the former, the ruthless type that possessed formidable strength.
Going by Bosingwa’s initial introduction, the insectoids living on this planet ought to be of the lowest ranks, so why would there be such a unique insectoid here?
Xia Fei did not give this further thought and followed along the decrepit walls of the surrounding edifices as he fast approached that square building, hoping to catch a glimpse of the insectoid with his two eyes.
Killing a high-ranking insectoid would reap him plenty of benefits, and the carcass could be sold to science institutions. This would be a very lucrative haul, which was why Xia Fei had decided to venture deeper in all by himself. He would kill it if he could, and if he could not, he would rely on his speed to beat a hasty retreat. There hardly posed any danger with his plan.
He spread his body backward and got into a stance, ready to take off.
Pumping strength to his two legs, Xia Fei applied top speeds as he dashed toward the wall in front of him, and just as he was almost upon the metal wall, with a mere 0.5-centimeter distance away from slamming on it, Xia Fei abruptly lifted his right leg and used the force to send his entire body skyward as if he were spiderman.
His leg stomped on the surface of the wall as he continued to use the force from his acceleration to scale the wall. The moment the force weakened, Xia Fei would begin to fall off that shiny wall.
There was a hole on the fifth floor of this building created by the blast of an explosive shell. Just as the impetus of his sprint was able to ebb, Xia Fei’s two arms managed to grab hold of the hole’s edge, then he pulled himself up and climbed into the building.
Because it was apparent that a ferocious insectoid resided in this building, Xia Fei did not choose to enter the place via conventional routes but utilized his speed ability’s advantage instead to get himself to the fifth floor at once.
It appeared that he had ended up inside an office of sorts. There was an old map hanging on a nearby wall, and several alloy desks were piled at a corner in a disorganized fashion. The explosive shell had, once upon a time, come from outside the building, creating a circular tunnel that bore through one wall after another along its trajectory.
Xia Fei surveyed this messy room, then took a deep breath, venturing further to the core of this huge building.