Once he completed his mission, he would have to leave this world and return to his own. He couldn't be the golden retriever's master long-term.
Besides, for the dog, becoming the king of a wolf pack in this free world was clearly a better choice.
The golden retriever seemed to sense Shen Feng's resolve. It let out a whimper and barked at him a few more times.
Shen Feng hesitated no longer. He turned, climbed into the armored vehicle, started the engine, and accelerated onto the highway.
The golden retriever watched the armored vehicle drive away, then looked at the wolf pack behind it. It didn't bark again, simply watching in silence as Shen Feng departed.
It was an extremely intelligent animal. At that moment, it felt as if a final weight had been lifted from its heart.
Seeing that the wolf pack wasn't following, Shen Feng was also relieved. He floored the accelerator and began to plow forward.
There weren't many abandoned vehicles on the highway itself. Inside each car sat a few statues.
Whenever an abandoned vehicle blocked his path, Shen Feng would simply step on the gas, send it flying, and continue on.
Crashing, crushing—everything in his way was run over by the massive road wheels and left behind.
With this armored vehicle, Shen Feng was basically invincible in this desolate apocalypse. He finally started to relax.
When civilization had completely vanished, its mere remnants were enough to let a single human reign supreme.
Shen Feng suddenly discovered the armored vehicle even had a music player installed, connected to the external speakers. It had clearly been custom-fitted by the Incinerator Technicians from the epidemic prevention center.
He casually hit the play button, and "Highway Song," a track that was both explosive and desolate, drifted from the speakers:
"Where do dreams live
Always so alluring
I walk this road against all odds
Just to be by your side
…
Just keep driving south
Just keep driving south
Just keep driving south
Just keep driving south…"
Shen Feng swayed his body to the rhythm of the music, driving the armored vehicle at high speed down the dilapidated highway and into the vast wilderness.
He drove on.
According to the map, Qi City was about 1,300 kilometers from the Capital.
The armored vehicle had a maximum range of 500 kilometers. He would need to refuel twice along the way to make it.
At the Defender-3 armored vehicle's top speed of 100 kilometers per hour, if everything went smoothly, he could even reach the Capital before nightfall!
After all, traffic jams weren't an issue anymore.
Once there, all he had to do was charge straight into the National Academy of Sciences, kill all the Skinners holed up inside, and get the research data on the Petrification Disease and the perfect vaccine. Then, he could finally complete his mission and leave this world.
'Come to think of it, even though this is an apocalypse, there aren't many real dangers. Maybe this is what you'd call a low-intensity apocalypse.'
'Once you get your hands on powerful equipment, you're pretty much unbeatable in a world where civilization has vanished.'
Shen Feng drove on, listening to the music. Aside from a quick stop to take a leak, he never stopped driving.
Along the way, he passed through the ruins of more than a dozen cities, large and small. All were dead silent. Only the occasional bird or beast darting out from the roadside bushes reminded him that some life still remained in this world.
Around noon, the fuel gauge was nearly empty. Shen Feng finally pulled over, slung his Shotgun over his back, and got out with two barrels of fuel to refuel.
Diesel fuel poured into the armored vehicle's tank, like a thirsty beast gulping down water.
As he refueled, Shen Feng kept a wary eye on the jungle lining the road.
Just then, two bursts of STATIC came from the vehicle's radio, followed by a strange, halting, and indistinct voice:
"…Spotted… SSSHH… Human… GRRROOOWL… Ssshh… Spotted hu… man…"
The voice sounded like a foreigner who had just learned to speak, with a heavy nasal tone. It was high-pitched and bizarre, indescribably eerie.
Shen Feng immediately stopped refueling and lunged for the radio to listen closely.
'Are there still people alive!?'
'Didn't everyone in the world turn into statues!?'
'If that's really the case, I'll have to revise many of my plans immediately.'
But according to all the records he had seen, no one was immune to the Petrification Disease. Even he, who had only been here for two or three days, was already showing signs of petrification.
'How did those people avoid it?'
Regardless, Shen Feng felt a flicker of excitement at the sudden prospect of meeting other humans.
After all, in the midst of such a mass extinction, humans surely wouldn't turn on each other. Resources were plentiful; what was truly scarce were people.
If he could meet these survivors, he could probably get some help, making his mission much simpler.
While Shen Feng was still pondering this, another voice came over the radio. It was clearly a different person, much deeper than the first:
"…SSSHH… GRRROOOWL… Vehicle spotted… highway… SSSHH… Preparing to… GRRROOOWL… SSSHH…"
The signal wasn't very clear, and the last few words devolved into static.
Shen Feng frowned. 'Preparing to what?'
Fortunately, the voice came through again:
"…Ssshh… GRRROOOWL… Preparing to… hunt!"
Shen Feng's eyes widened. Without a second thought, he immediately started the engine again and sealed the hatch.
The instant the hatch closed, several CRACKS rang out as bullets slammed into it!
'Someone's attacking!'
Immediately after, the muffled, powerful, and rhythmic sound of hooves approached, like a troop of cavalry passing through.
On the armored vehicle's internal monitor, Shen Feng saw them: dozens of fully armed Knights on horseback, charging out from the tall weeds in the wilderness on both sides of the highway.
When he got a clear look at these Knights, Shen Feng froze, barely able to believe his eyes.
The figures on horseback were, shockingly, a troop of apes!
The apes wore police-style harnesses, their feet in modified stirrups. They carried firearms of various sizes and had already formed an encirclement!
The lead ape was powerfully built and even wore a pair of glasses. Its eyes shone with the unique light of an intelligent being. It was already less than a hundred meters from the vehicle. With a wave of its hand, dozens of mounted apes simultaneously pulled their triggers, unleashing a rain of bullets!
The dense hail of bullets pelted the armored vehicle's exterior. To Shen Feng, it sounded like he was in the middle of a torrential downpour.
'What the hell is this!? Rise of the Planet of the Apes!?'
No time to think. Shen Feng immediately took control of the vehicle's external machine gun, aimed at the horses charging from the left, and prepared to open fire.
The moment the machine gun swiveled, the lead chimpanzee let out a "GRRROOOWL!" The mounted chimps simultaneously twisted their bodies, dropping from their saddles to hang under their horses' bellies. At the same time, they broke formation and continued their charge toward Shen Feng.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT… The armored vehicle's external machine gun spewed a metal rain of death, hitting a dozen of the charging horses.
The warhorses shrieked and collapsed, but the apes hidden beneath them were unharmed.
As soon as the apes hit the ground, they vanished into the tall weeds.
In that brief delay, the foremost apes had already closed to within fifty meters of the armored vehicle!
"…Ssshh… Grenades… ssshh… rocket launchers… prepare…"
The hoarse commands came over the radio again. Shen Feng now understood: this was the apes' command channel!
He then saw the charging mounted troop suddenly veer to the sides. Four apes raised grenade launchers from their saddles and pulled the triggers!
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP… Several grenades, like black acorns, rained down onto the body of the armored vehicle and exploded on impact!
BOOM— The deafening explosion nearly made Shen Feng go deaf.
More than half of the external cameras were destroyed. At the same time, Shen Feng saw two anti-tank rocket launcher tubes poke out from the nearby grass, their olive-drab metal gleaming in the sun!
'Son of a bitch!'
Shen Feng's eyes went wide. He slammed the vehicle into reverse and backed away.
SWOOSH! Two rockets screamed past the spot where the armored vehicle had just been, flying off into the distance.
One of them directly hit an ape Knight on the opposite side, instantly blowing both ape and horse into a shower of gore!
~
(An apocalypse isn't complete without the solace of music. I've created a playlist for "True Apocalypse Game" on NetEase Cloud Music and will be slowly adding to it. Feel free to check it out if you're interested.)