Chapter 219 Demonic Monster

Yves arrived quickly, with almost no delays on the way.

To be honest, he was very curious about the team that suddenly appeared in his sight and quickly completed a small profitable business for him.

Yves couldn't quite explain why he was so curious. Maybe it was the overly young age of the team leader, maybe it was those white-level Warblades, or maybe it was the confidence in their eyes and their clean appearance. As a headhunter, Yves sometimes relied on his instincts to judge people.

He felt that they were very capable. Most importantly, they might be helpful to him.

Yves relied on the speed of the convot to bring William the food he needed.

The first thing he saw was piles of zombie corpses not far from the gate. Someone was drawing gasoline from some abandoned vehicles and pouring it on the corpses, then setting them on fire.

Yves's face showed no expression, but he was shocked.

This group of people had occupied Cloud Peak Manor in such a short time and had started clearing the surrounding zombies. Their efficiency was astonishing.

In fact, William was also a bit surprised by Yves's arrival; that guy moved very fast.

Because of their brief cooperation last time, they were somewhat familiar with each other, making it easy to discuss matters. After William checked the food Yves brought, they quickly agreed on the price. Yves's fondness for this straightforward and non-petty buyer grew more and more.

Yves said, "Mr. Wright, several forces around here are planning to go to a place recently. I wonder if you're interested."

William didn't pay much attention at first. Things like that happened all the time, whether it was alliances or mutual attacks; it was quite normal in the apocalypse.

He figured Yves had that idea because he had seen that William's team had some strength.

William wasn't very interested in matters like that, at least not now. Even in peaceful times, interests were the source of all evil, and it was even more so in the apocalypse. Joining forces with several emerging powers could be risky. Some people might become a burden, slack off, or even stab you in the back. William didn't want to participate in such joint operations for now, unless it was necessary.

However, after Yves detailed the target , William's expression changed dramatically, and he didn't speak for a long time.

Yves was a bit at a loss. He didn't know what he had said to make the young leader's expression change.

William asked, "Are you sure that place is occupied by a group of creatures with greenish-blue skin, no eyelids, sharp teeth and claws, and no Magic Crystals?"

"Of course!" Yves said firmly, his eyes filled with confusion. "We've known about that place has been known for a while, but those creatures are about 3 feet tall, there are many of them and they move quickly. Each one poses a significant threat to a one-star Evolving person. So even though everyone knows there are many weapons and Magic Crystals there, few dare to go. These forces have made a big decision. The more people go, the better. It would be best to overpower those creatures with strength, which would make it much safer."

Some team members went outside to oversee the laborers, while others sat around in the house, like Michelle, David, and Camilla. Their attention was now on William because his expression was unusually serious. They had rarely seen him like this.

Could the place Yves mentioned be some kind of trap? If it was really dangerous, they just wouldn't go. What was the meaning of that expression on William's face?

The creatures Yves mentioned were gathered in the armory he had previously told William about. Yves had been lucky before, grabbing some weapons when the creatures first arrived, but most of the weapons were still there. It wasn't that he didn't want to take them, but he didn't have the chance afterward.

Later, the place had gradually became known, and some people tried to get something from there, but few returned.

Thus, the place's terrifying reputation spread.

Those greenish-blue-skinned creatures were very ferocious. Their individual strength was almost comparable to a one-star Evolving person.

They ate humans and zombie-mutated life forms, so the armory they occupied was filled with the remains of their meals.

They ate meat but didn't eat Magic Crystals, so the Magic Crystals were left shining brightly. If one could occupy that place, they could get many weapons and a large number of Magic Crystals, killing two birds with one stone.

That didn't even take into account the assets left behind by many survivors who ventured there and never returned.

A place like indeed tempted many forces , even including the major powers in Accraville City.

"Mr. Wright, although you're new here, I've seen your strength. If you're willing to join, I can guarantee you'll be part of this expedition and get your fair share," Yves said confidently, patting his chest. "Although the Black-clad Convoy isn't the strongest around here, we have the best reputation and the most connections. All the leaders show me some respect. If you want to go, I'll handle the rest."

William glanced at Yves and subtly pursed his lips.

Yves seemed very confident they could take over that place with just the surrounding forces. He couldn't even guarantee the outcome and was already thinking about dividing the spoils, which was sheer ignorance.

Those were Demonic monsters!

Even ten years later, they were still a nightmare for survivors.

William didn't think that he would hear about Demonic monsters nearby on the first day of choosing this place as a base.

He had really bad luck.

Yves and the others didn't know what Demonic monsters were, so they viewed them like zombies. Although they thought they were taking them seriously, William knew it wasn't enough. You couldn't be too cautious with creatures like that.

In his previous life, it had basically been confirmed that Demonic monsters were humans mutated by radiation through a series of unknown and mysterious processes.

Demons, ghosts, gods—these terms often represented terror in the minds of survivors, so these creatures were called Demonic monsters.

Demonic monsters were powerful, so powerful that ten years later, they existed as a distinct race. Demonic monsters, Insectoid Beings, beasts, zombies, and mutated plants and animals—these five creatures always oppressed humanity. Each one made survivors tremble in fear.

Among them, Demonic monsters and Insectoid Beings were undoubtedly the most feared by humans.

Demonic monsters were humans mutated by radiation and had completely lost their humanity. They had become bloodthirsty monsters, and everything was food to them. Moreover, they were terrifyingly strong.

Yves didn't know that, but William did. You could tell the level of those Demonic monsters without Magic Crystals. Their strength could be gauged by their height. At about 3 feet tall, they were equivalent to a one-star Evolving person. For every additional 7 inches in height, they equated to another level of human evolution. A 16-foot-tall Demonic monster was equivalent to a nine-star Evolving person.

Although Demonic monsters had no skills and relied entirely on their bodies, they could push their physical capabilities to the extreme. Their bodies, from skin to internal organs, from hair to toes, every part of them, even every cell, was exceptionally strong. Defense, attack, speed, strength, recovery ability, agility—all were at their peak. An Evolving person without a good profession or skills would likely die when encountering a Demonic monster of the same evolutionary level.

Without Magic Crystals, they had nothing valuable for survivors to use, yet they were extremely powerful. No one wanted to mess with them because the cost and reward were disproportionate.

And what was even more terrifying was that these Demonic monsters could reproduce, and their reproductive ability was very strong!

They could capture human females, and even female zombies, to impregnate them and reproduce!

William vividly remembered his shock when he had first heard that.

Many people felt the same way he did, thinking this was utterly unreasonable and made no sense. At a time when the survivor birth rate was extremely low and the rate of raising children to adulthood was even lower, Demonic monsters could reproduce with both humans and zombies.

For humanity, the existence of such creatures was the ultimate nemesis.

There was a time when all the survivors of the apocalypse were frantically killing these monsters because they had realized that if these creatures continued to exist, the danger of human extinction was imminent.

However, the results were poor. In fact, it could be said that humanity ultimately failed. In the end, humans couldn't stop Demonic monsters from becoming a race—a dangerous race that could wipe out humanity at any moment.

Later, humans began to study these monsters and gradually discovered their origins and some of their secrets. But William couldn't possibly know what exactly they were, not even in his previous life. He had only vaguely heard that they were also created by "those gods."

William took a deep breath and formally declined Yves's proposal, which surprised Yves. After all, such a good opportunity was rare in his eyes. If the convoy hadn't wanted to maintain relative independence and uniqueness, he would have wanted to go himself. He even secretly hoped William would agree, so he could join in the fun. After all,  their combined strength should be enough to deal with those monsters, with East Hill Village calling on his convoy and William's team, plus the Lowe Family and Hungry Tiger Knight.

Why not take advantage of this?

Yves didn't understand.

But it was William's choice. They talked a bit more, discussing a list of items needed for Cloud Peak Manor. Yves left with a hint of regret but more joy from the prospect of making money.

"You seem to be very wary of these monsters," Michelle said while writing something in a notebook, watching William, who had been deep in thought since Yves left.

"Those things are called Demonic monsters. They're very powerful," William said as he took out a cloth and began to wipe his Warblade, a habit from his previous life.

David and Camilla listened carefully, knowing what he said might be very important.

William began, "It's been over a month since the apocalypse began. There have been large-scale organized rescue operations, and we even saw a missile fly by before we left the city, right?"

Michelle and David nodded. They had seen it that day.

William continued, "But have you ever wondered why, at a time when the human race is on the brink of extinction, no one has used those large-scale weapons of mass destruction? Like nuclear bombs, for instance."

The three of them were stunned. They had occasionally thought about it but had never paid much attention.

"Maybe they were used, but the areas where they were used were far from us, so we didn't feel it," Camilla said, waving The Grip of Neutralization.

David nodded too. "That's possible. And the apocalypse came so suddenly, without any warning, so maybe many places capable of launching weapons like that were overrun, so they never got used."

Michelle agreed, "Right, it's also possible that even if they had the capability, they were very cautious about using such indiscriminate weapons."

William shook his head. "Since humanity was on the brink of extinction, there's no way they would be that cautious."

"It was those," William said, pointing to the sky. Everyone understood him after a moment—the golden warships that had appeared in the sky after the apocalypse began. "During the attack that day, those weapons were all detonated."

The three of them opened their mouths, wanting to argue. However, given William's understanding of the apocalypse, they felt it was probably true.

William explained, "Demonic monsters are humans mutated by radiation, a terrifying kind of creature with great strength. From Yves's information, it seems there are hundreds of them near the armory. If that's the case, even if we went, we would..."

He didn't finish, but the others knew he meant they would lose.

Camilla might not feel it deeply, but David and Michelle, who had followed William from Hope Base, had seen him repeatedly turn danger into safety and kill his way through. He had never lost and had never even retreated.

The team was invincible; when had they ever lost?

But now, were those Demonic monsters really so terrifying that even William was afraid?

Actually, what William wanted to say wasn't about defeat.

If there were only a hundred or so Demonic monsters, he could bring out his most powerful items and, with the cooperation of others, still have a certain degree of confidence in clearing them out.

But now, he had a base, which was still in its early stages of construction and needed a lot of improvement. What he needed to do was to build it into an impregnable fortress, gather resources, and ensure some level of security to prevent others from targeting it.

This base had seven roulette wheels, something everyone would want to get their hands on.

If he used all his strength on that place and only ended up with some weapons and equipment, it would be a bit of a loss in William's view.

Even if Demonic monsters became the enemy of all humanity, William wouldn't be foolish enough to take them on alone! His previous life had already proven that these things couldn't be completely eradicated.

In the future, when he was stronger, he wouldn't mind gradually eliminating these tumors. But for now, the construction of the base was the priority.

So William had refused Yves.

William pushed the shadow cast by the sudden appearance of these monsters to a corner of his mind and began planning for the base.

"The golf course over there doesn't need to be touched for now. Collect abandoned cars from around and pile them there. Autumn has arrived, and winter is coming. By next spring, this area needs to be cultivated into farmland to grow the food and vegetables we need."

As evening approached, William gathered the team members along with Brian and Clarissa, pointing at a spot on the map.

"This circle," William said, drawing a line around the perimeter of the manor, "is where we need to build the city wall, enclosing the entire base."

"That's quite a large project," David said, rubbing his chin. The area encompassed by the circle was vast, which made the length of the wall astonishing.

"Do we have the capability to do that on terrain like this?" Michelle was doubtful, considering more of the technical aspects.

"One of Mr. Collins's men is a construction engineer, quite a famous one. He's stuck in the manor now, so he can handle the technical side. But we don't have construction machinery, building materials, or enough people. Those are the real headaches," Candice reported with her arms crossed and brows furrowed. As the one responsible for registering technical personnel, she knew there was someone who could help, but it would still be a problem if they only had technical support without other resources.

"We'll discuss that later," William said, circling a few more spots on the map. "In the next couple of days, we need to thoroughly clear out the surrounding area. Michelle and Candice, you two need to establish a sentry system. These spots must have sentries, and you can decide on the rest. Mr. Chambers and your assistants, you need to set up as many traps as possible around the area. Until the wall is built, this will be our primary defense."

David nodded in understanding. Since William had taught him how to make various traps, he and his four assistants had been studying them whenever they had free time. Since they were highly educated, they had even improved many of the traps, much to William's surprise. He marveled at the intelligence of the future father of Magic Crystal, even innovated traps.

William went on, "Natalie, Cecil, your task is to go to the base of Cloud Peak Mountain with enough people to protect the person who drew this map. You need to map out the surrounding terrain in detail. This will be very useful to us."

The two of them nodded immediately.

William announced, "Jack, you're in charge of training the combat personnel. You can set the plan yourself and use any free time outside of combat. If you see any talent among the laborers, you can select them, but make sure there are no issues."

"Got it, Mr. Wright," Jack replied immediately.

"That's it for now. Let's get back to the earlier issue, which is building the wall," William said, pulling out another map, this one of Accraville City. "Here and here are the first places we need to attack after clearing the surrounding threats."

Everyone's eyes fell on the map, looking at the two locations: Accraville City First Heavy Machinery Plant and Sunshine Building Materials Market.