Is the Compass broken?
No, Wen Xishu trusts Ding Dong's skills. Ding Dong is truly someone who survived the hands of Scorpio. Scorpio accomplished the mission of killing Ding Dong—
And Ding Dong also achieved self-redemption.
Anyone who can face the Twelve Constellations and come up with such a perfect solution is naturally not simple.
Wen Xishu began to observe every passerby.
The expressions on the passersby's faces varied, everything seemed normal, showing no changes.
He could also see some old men, some leisurely people.
Not to mention quite a few children, who weren't very old. The oldest being around twelve or thirteen.
Wen Xishu meticulously scanned half the city with binoculars and suddenly realized—a whole age group was missing.
This is really not easy to notice... because people from this age group don't usually appear on the streets.
But after careful observation, Wen Xishu thought, there shouldn't be none at all, right?
Simply put, Wen Xishu found that the oldest children were around twelve or thirteen, but those around thirteen to eighteen... he didn't see a single one.
Wen Xishu suddenly felt a chilling fear upon closer thought.
Could it be that this enormous city...
A terrifying thought emerged.
Every adult he observed clearly appeared to be an adult, whether complaining or laughing, you could see that they were in their twenties, most in their thirties with visible signs of age.
These two age groups aren't exactly old, but compared to those twelve or thirteen-year-old children, or even seventeen or eighteen-year-old kids, they obviously looked different.
Of course, Wen Xishu had already noticed, there were no seventeen or eighteen-year-olds.
The ones he saw, under the category of children, were no older than thirteen.
Older than that started at at least twenty-five or twenty-six, with a direct age gap in between.
So where did these people go?
Wen Xishu tried to establish contact with the Compass.
"I already know the surroundings are filled with danger... can you find a path that will take me far from it?"
Sirius couldn't believe it when the Compass needle slowly stopped, trembling as it pointed in a direction.
"This thing is strong. With this, I don't need to hint at anything to you."
Wen Xishu said:
"It's from Phoenix, also something that belongs to your siblings."
Sirius was suddenly enlightened:
"I see... it's the Phoenix that was taken by the people of Longxia Country at a young age."
"He's still alive?"
Wen Xishu shook his head:
"No, he's dead. More precisely, he's out of the game."
Wen Xishu spoke, crouching, cautiously walking. He sensed the environment around him and headed outside.
Wen Xishu had just turned eighteen not long ago. At least after crossing into the Bunker, his age was that of someone just over eighteen.
Which means, in this city, Wen Xishu was an anomaly.
Because there were no people of his age group in this city.
After thinking it over, Wen Xishu decided to wear a mask before going out.
He slicked his hair back, changed into a suit from the wardrobe, and then left the room.
In the corridor, an old man was sweeping the floor.
In a place with no sunlight... the old man swept the floor, saliva dripping from his mouth.
The reason was simple: a family next door was celebrating a child's twelfth birthday.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."
The tune of the birthday song was different from Xishu's past life, but the lyrics hadn't changed, and they were quite cheerful.
Just as Wen Xishu was about to go downstairs, he glanced unintentionally and saw the old man sweeping, with saliva dripping, revealing a set of horrifying teeth.
But the old man still smiled at Wen Xishu.
Then, the screams from the child echoed, followed by the sound of flesh being torn and chewed.
Sirius's voice appeared in Wen Xishu's mind.
"Unexpected..."
"Everything is an illusion."
Indeed, Wen Xishu never imagined that it would be such a scene.
He immediately quickened his pace.
Fortunately, after deliberately disguising himself, he was not recognized.
In the elevator, many with terrifying fangs, who appeared human but weren't... crowded into the elevator.
Wen Xishu dared not squeeze in with these creatures; he opted for the stairs.
Throughout this journey, Wen Xishu quickly realized...
This city is one where monsters mimic humans... these monsters have evolved into something even more grotesque.
They possess human technology and intelligence... showing no abnormalities in sunlight.
But they eat people.
They eat children no older than twelve or thirteen.
What is supposed to be a beautiful city is essentially... a giant infernal dining hall consuming human children.
Is the future really this terrifying?
Even though he hasn't encountered any immensely terrifying monsters, he doesn't know how powerful these monsters are...
This future, however, is utterly dispiriting.
What's become of humanity now?
Did they remain in the Bunker, but the Bunker got breached? Hence humanity was herded inside the Bunker?
Or were they deceived and led out of the Bunker?
Wen Xishu dared not think too much; he only knew that he needed to change this future and find a way to take Sirius away.
The outside scenery is beautiful, yet the more beautiful it is, the more unsettling Wen Xishu finds it.
Fortunately, throughout this journey, his mentality is strong enough, and he wasn't discovered by anyone.
He finally reached the "escape point" indicated by the Compass.
It was inside a massive mall.
A sign outside the mall read, No Minors Allowed.
From afar, the mall sold clothes and various daily necessities.
But upon entering and taking the elevator to the second floor... the scene changed.
The heads of children, pierced by chains, hung on chains with price tags attached.
The scene was too ghastly, leaving Wen Xishu physically uncomfortable, but he managed to endure it.
His will was strong enough to face even more bizarre scenes.
Soon, Wen Xishu arrived at a supply room.
On the wall of the supply room was graffiti, drawn by an unknown person.
The graffiti was crooked, depicting an eye.
When Wen Xishu touched the eye, he instantly felt an incredible power...
The power of space-time sucked him in instantly.
...
...
The first time travel ended.
The second time travel began.
Still an unknown timeline, Wen Xishu only felt a bit of a headache, like a needle piercing a nerve.
Traveling through turbulence requires extremely high physical qualities.
An ordinary person could never handle time travel.
Wen Xishu wiped away the nosebleed and began to observe his surroundings.
He suddenly realized he was in a dim underground tunnel.
All around, there were many people.
Everyone proceeded slowly, afraid of alerting the monsters above ground.
Of course, even in such an environment, many people communicated, though in hushed tones, there was no doubt that fear engulfed them, and to share their emotions, conversations naturally grew loud.
"Hey... do you think Wind City will really take us in?"
"I don't know, I even doubt Wind City is truly a human refuge."
"But we have no other choice... the tragedy of Deep City, we don't want to experience again. Also, we can't go to Hujiang, can we? There might be some livable places there, but it's still war-torn."
"Wind City is our last hope."
Listening to these words, Wen Xishu felt more and more surprised.
Wind City, isn't that the city he governs?
A dark tunnel leading to Wind City?
It seems that in the future, my Wind City has become a human refuge?
This is undoubtedly a good thing.
However, which timeline is this compared to just now?
In the dark tunnel, he couldn't clearly see people's faces.
But faintly, he could sense quite a few Eastern faces.
Were these people... from the Bunker?
Wen Xishu's heartbeat slightly sped up, if these were people from the Bunker—
How did they get here?
Through a login device? Or... was the barrier between the Bunker and the Three-Tower Battlefield breached?
Wen Xishu took a deep breath and touched the person's shoulder in front of him:
"Brother, where are you from?"
That person suddenly stopped, glanced back at Wen Xishu, clearly an Eastern face:
"What a strange question, aren't we from the same place?"