The journey ahead of them would involve traveling across mountains and rivers, and breaking through brambles and thistles.

Some who were following the latest hits hummed along the journey as they slowly advanced, following the railway. A few were immersed in thoughts about their future, but they eventually felt uncertain when they collected their thoughts, knowing that they were still in the midst of a dangerous adventure. None of them were in the mood to enjoy the pleasant scenery, as they knew they were in the demon beasts' territory.

Apart from the relatively thrilling experience at the tunnel, the journey had been rather peaceful. They had not encountered any similarly large groups of beasts since then.

With their current strengths, they did have the ability to look after themselves against ordinary demon beasts.

------

After spending more than ten days traveling, Jinlin City was finally visible in the distance.

They came up to another hill, which also had a tunnel the railway was leading into. This time, they decided to take an alternative route instead of going through the pitch-black tunnel.

They immediately saw a spacious basin when they arrived at the top of the hill. Plenty of foothills could be seen leading in the distance toward their destination.

In the north was a river with many bends and curves, eventually ending up running alongside the remains of a city, now overgrown with plant life. The river continued to extend into the distance and bent towards the east, towards the hill that the group had just crossed.

"That would be Jinlin City. It's only been fifteen years. How did it end up like this?" Zheng Bingxiao wondered, staring at the distant desolated city.

"It's pretty much expected, since the beasts were using it as a habitat. The houses, streets and roads would be in utterly destroyed. The plants are intaking their waste as fertilizer, so they can grow very fast. You will find the whole place crawling with moss, vines, and weeds," Qingqing said.

"Come, we should scout the outer area first and count the beasts roaming around," Song Xia suggested.

The periphery of the city was a big open plain surrounded by woods, and also one of the key places to be investigated. If there was any point in reconstructing the city, they had to know if the perimeter was occupied by the beasts.

Fortunately, they were not sent here to wipe out every single beast from Jinlin City. It was big enough to be described as a second-grade city. Even the perimeter alone was more spacious than they could have imagined, let alone the city that was now a den for the beasts. It would be quite impossible to restore it to a human habitat without a few army brigades.

---

After spending some time investigating the woods, the group was surprised to find out that they only saw a few individual demon beasts searching for food, instead of moving in groups.

In the end, the investigation around the city's perimeter was carried out smoothly. They marked the map grids with green ticks, implying that there were only a few beasts roaming in them.

"Let's head inside. We should finish our task and head back earlier. I feel quite uncomfortable staying out here," Luo Song proposed.

In fact, Luo Song had toned down significantly over the past ten days. Either way, he did not want to suffer any longer by staying outside of the safe zone.

"This kind of investigation will take quite some time. Besides, the places we are investigating are extremely huge. We have already marked the spots on the map, unless we are splitting up..."

"Splitting up isn't a rational decision." Song Xia shook her head.

If the seventeen of them could stick together, they still stood a chance against beasts that were inclined to move in groups. It would be a completely different scenario if they were to split up.

"We'll check one spot out at a time."

------

The seventeen people made their way into the desolated city. The road that was meant to be used for transportation into the city was fully blocked with rusted, abandoned cars. The way they had ended up was enough to illustrate how the people decided to abandon their cars to flee for their lives during the incident.

Things like cars were quite useless in a large-scale calamity, since they relied heavily on roads.

---

They began to see remains of houses after passing along the highways.

The main road had been broken apart. The cracks spread throughout the entire road, with plants growing in the gaps. It felt like the life force of the trees alone was enough to drill across the road.

The houses were entirely covered in dust, stacked densely together. Vines continued to climb upward and into the windows, growing thickly and leaving the inside in a total mess. The trees everywhere lacked someone looking after them, and seemed to be shrouding the heavens.

Currently, the students from both the Imperial College and the Pearl Institute were walking on the main road. They could hear occasional animal cries in the distance, explaining their alert expressions.

This residential area was the first place they needed to investigate. Judging from the data, it was highly possible that this area was previously the territory of beasts, as most of rooms had animal droppings piled up in a corner.

"I can't imagine what happened here. This used to be a city." Bai Tingting seemed to be quite sentimental as he sighed.

When a city was at its end, when you could not find a living person on the streets, a person would feel quite lonely and devastated. It was something that they had not experienced before.

Desolated was surely the best way to describe this city.

"We should find somewhere save to settle ourselves," Shen Mingxiao proposed.

"We finally arrived at the city. We have to make sure we can escape easily. It should be near the edge, with some great defense..." Lu Zhenghe said.

"So where should we pick as our place?" Song Xia asked.

"Inside a building, we should use one as our base. Some of them are connected to the others, allowing us to escape easily," Lu Zhenghe went on.

"That's right, the taller buildings would also grant us a greater field of vision, which would be better for us when standing guard. Otherwise, it will be hard to tell if a large group of beasts is approaching."

"I think that one's not too bad." Mo Fan pointed at a building in the distance.

A large, blocky building stood firmly in the distance. It did not look too filthy, as if it had been occasionally washed by the rain.

Most importantly, the building seemed relatively fine compared to the other buildings. Not only did it have many floors, it had a magnificent aura to it, too.

"You do know how to pick the place..." Song Xia let out a smile as she identified the building on the map. "That used to be the city's Administration Hall!"