As dusk approached, with the sun about to set, Xiang Yang eagerly opened the iron door and entered the safe house.
Seeing clearly that it was Lu Ren, he let go of the sword hilt and continued his training.
Noticing Lu Ren's silence, Xiang Yang couldn't help but speak excitedly: "Do you know what I saw outside?"
"What?" Lu Ren asked, quite casually.
"Humans, living humans, people who haven't been turned into polluted organisms by the energy!!"
She exclaimed with delight: "I didn't expect there to be traces of human survival in Haizhou City."
Lu Ren said calmly: "Aren't you curious why after three years of exploration, finding no signs of human survival, suddenly in the last day or two humans appear?"
Xiang Yang was startled: "Are you saying those people are possibly mutated polluted organisms?"
"Not exactly, I'm just reminding you, if you engage with these people, please be cautious."
Xiang Yang puzzled: "Why be cautious? With so few people left, with humanity on the brink of extinction, do we still need to scheme against each other?"
Lu Ren: "Never underestimate human nature; sometimes it can be more frightening than polluted organisms."
Lu Ren looked at Xiang Yang meaningfully.
Xiang Yang looked confused: "I don't understand."
"Only through experience will you understand, though the process may bring you some unpleasant memories."
Seeing that Xiang Yang wasn't taking it seriously, Lu Ren didn't elaborate further. He had said what needed to be said; whether the other party could heed it was no longer his concern.
Lu Ren's goal was clear.
Stay out of trouble, survive the seven days, and then return to the real world.
As for Xiang Yang's state of mind, Lu Ren understood; after not seeing a fellow human for three years, the excitement was inevitable.
After resting a bit, Xiang Yang finally calmed her excitement, took a flashlight out of her backpack, and said: "Let's not talk about this for now, let's go to my base!"
"Into the night?"
"Don't worry, the sewers are safe! There, the black fog can't reach, and supplies are abundant, safer than here."
That sounds good!
Lu Ren nodded slightly: "You lead the way."
The issue of the black fog meant he had to cooperate with Xiang Yang. Having survived here for so long, she could certainly find a better environment than he could.
Once sure nothing was left behind, Lu Ren and Xiang Yang left the safe house and headed deeper into the sewer.
Along the way, aside from the faint sound of footsteps, the only other light was the flickering of Xiang Yang's flashlight.
On both sides of the sewer, there were paths for people, with a dry flow path in the middle, where, due to the absence of sewage for years, only congealed black chunks adhered to the walls.
The air lacked unpleasant odors, allowing Lu Ren's tightly knit brows to relax.
"You seem quite tense?"
"Haha... is that so? This is merely maintaining sufficient vigilance during the journey!"
Lu Ren glanced at Xiang Yang, her face filled with tension, and slowly placed his hand on the sword hilt to ensure he could counter any sudden situation instantly.
If only he had a gun.
At least, with the polluted organisms he had encountered, a gun would make things much easier.
Lu Ren believed that if given a chance to train, he might develop a skill akin to weapon expertise.
Thinking about how over the years of cooking instant noodles, he had not developed a life skill on the panel...
After walking for about five kilometers, twisting and turning several times, Lu Ren suddenly stopped.
Xiang Yang, seeing this, asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"
Lu Ren squinted slightly, looking ahead into the dark passage, only seeing a vague outline under Xiang Yang's flashlight.
"There's movement."
"Movement?!"
Xiang Yang froze for a moment, then switched the flashlight to high beam mode, illuminating the front.
Other than some indistinguishable debris, there was nothing else.
Xiang Yang perked up her ears and listened for a while, confused: "No, did you overreact?"
Lu Ren: "You mentioned that the special energy from the Alternate Space polluted ninety percent of the global organisms, right?"
"Yes."
"What about rats? Were they polluted?"
Before Xiang Yang could answer, Lu Ren's pupils narrowed, and from the front sewage pipes, many rats, larger than cats and some as big as medium-sized dogs, suddenly swarmed out.
The moment they emerged, they surged like black waves towards the two, with eyes glowing red under the flashlight, sending chills down one's spine.
"Squeak squeak..."
The dense rat squeaks could make one's head spin.
Xiang Yang was stunned: "How could this be? Rats were not supposed to be polluted by the black fog... someone verified this before."
"Run!"
Without a second's hesitation, Lu Ren grabbed the dazed Xiang Yang and ran.
A delay of even a few seconds, and they might be devoured by those red-eyed and seemingly starving rats.
Lu Ren had no doubt those sharp teeth could easily tear through flesh.
Xiang Yang also reacted, speeding up, panic-stricken: "Heavens, I've been sleeping next to these disgusting things for nearly three years."
As they frantically escaped, Lu Ren spotted an extensive network of passages ahead and took a deep breath before speaking: "We can't outrun these rats; we need to head to the surface immediately."
"I, I know! Follow the direction I tell you."
Forcing herself to calm down, Xiang Yang responded as she picked up the pace.
"Left."
"Right!"
"..."
After taking ten or so turns, Lu Ren glanced back, seeing the rats just under ten meters behind them—one mistake and they'd be engulfed by the swarm.
Noticing Xiang Yang's labored breathing and faltering strength, Lu Ren asked: "Do you want to watch yourself being gnawed away by rats, possibly with nothing left but bones?"
Jolted, Xiang Yang found a burst of energy, running so fast it almost seemed she'd kick her shoes off, shouting: "There's a ladder about twenty meters ahead — climb it and open the manhole cover!"
In the span of a few breaths, Lu Ren sprinted to the ladder, not pausing, grabbing the ladder with one hand and tossing Xiang Yang up with the other.
"Knock the manhole open!"
The attributes from data-based skills were incredibly strong in enhancing physical abilities. If the stats said you could lift something over a hundred pounds, then it wasn't false.
This ladder to the surface was five meters tall
Xiang Yang barely managed to respond, grabbing onto the ladder instinctively, using one hand's strength, feet bracing the steps, head butting with the shoulder to fling open the forty-kilogram manhole cover.