Chapter 136: Night of the Full Moon

Kong Zhe smiled wryly and rubbed his forehead. What frustrated him, however, was that even though he knew a severe ordeal awaited him tonight, there was nothing he could do about it. He could only double his vigilance when the time came.

Immediately afterward, Kong Zhe couldn't help frowning.

It was understandable that there was a trace of black aura on his body, but why was it also present on Tuan Tuan's body?

Could it be that she was also facing some kind of fatal crisis?

Frowning in thought, Kong Zhe stood up and walked over to stand in front of Xue Feifei.

"How is Tuan Tuan doing?"

Xue Feifei looked up at him, sighed, and said, "Still the same. Her body temperature has been hovering between thirty-eight and thirty-nine degrees, and she has no strength at all!"

"Body temperature isn't really an issue. For an Awakened, this temperature is still considered relatively normal..."

Kong Zhe nodded, frowning in thought for a moment, before letting out a long sigh. "The most important thing right now is that none of us know what was injected into her that day, so we have no way to start saving her. We can only wait for a chance in the future to capture those two... From the way they acted, they seemed to attach a lot of importance to Tuan Tuan, so they probably won't just give up like this and will very likely come back to look for her in the future. When that time comes, I will capture them and get to the bottom of it."

"Mm..."

Xue Feifei nodded with a complicated expression. In truth, she felt somewhat guilty. That day, Kong Zhe had been just a step away from catching that woman, but because of her accidental gunshot, the woman had managed to escape.

After finishing, Kong Zhe stood up and called Hong Ling and Xiao Lei over to this side.

Seeing that they had all gathered around him, Kong Zhe reached out and spread the map he was holding across the back of the giant snake.

Pointing to a specific location on it, he said, "Next, we are going here!"

The three women all looked curiously at the place Kong Zhe was pointing to: Jincheng Qingguang Sports City.

"Here... Oh, so that's how it is!"

Hong Ling muttered to herself, a look of realization dawning on her.

"How is what?"

Xue Feifei asked curiously, puzzled by her cryptic remark.

"If I remember correctly, this stadium is the largest one in Jincheng, and its scale is even comparable to the 'Bird's Nest' in the north. Moreover..."

Hong Ling thought for a moment and said with some uncertainty, "It seems that on the very day the apocalypse broke out, a famous singer's concert was being held right here. So..."

"You mean there are a lot of people gathered here right now?"

Xue Feifei immediately grasped her meaning and chimed in.

"Hong Ling is right."

Kong Zhe nodded and added, "And the number of people gathered here is simply not comparable to that small crowd at Jincheng University before. If I'm not mistaken, a medium-sized gathering zone has already formed here by now. The population is at least over fifty thousand!"

"Fi—fifty thousand? That many?"

Xue Feifei covered her small mouth in shock. "Doesn't that almost rival the new urban district we're heading to?"

"Yes!"

Kong Zhe nodded, confirming her guess.

In fact, in his previous life, this stadium had been the largest gathering place in Jincheng's old urban district, persisting for a long time before finally collapsing. For a period, the population within it even briefly surpassed the safe zone of the new urban district.

The biggest flaw of this place compared to the new urban district was the lack of military control, so all sorts of factions were mixed together, making it roughly as chaotic as the Golden Triangle region before the apocalypse.

However, precisely because of this, the largest black market in Jincheng and several surrounding cities existed right here, where all kinds of restricted weapons could be acquired.

For instance, various heavy weaponry and firearms, and so on.

Xue Feifei had initially thought that if this place was similar to the new urban district, staying here wouldn't be so bad. But once Kong Zhe described the future conditions of this gigantic sports city, she instantly abandoned any thought of staying.

Even though she was somewhat of a homebody under normal circumstances, she understood that such a chaotic place must be filled with all kinds of violent, filthy, and sordid scenes. Especially now in the apocalypse, with human morality collapsing, this situation would only grow increasingly severe as time went on.

"Since that's the case, why aren't we continuing on our journey? We really shouldn't go to a place like this!"

Xue Feifei asked with a frown. She already viewed this place with extreme wariness. She herself could handle whatever, but she definitely did not want underage Tuan Tuan to witness those kinds of things.

"No, we have to go there because a major event is going to happen tonight!"

Seeing the puzzled expressions on the three women's faces, Kong Zhe shook his head and explained in a serious tone, "I think you should have noticed it too, right? Today, the temperature has risen a lot, and there are even signs of the ice and snow melting."

Xue Feifei and Hong Ling exchanged glances before looking back at Kong Zhe.

Xue Feifei nodded and said, "Now that you mention it, that's true. Logically speaking, it should be the depths of winter right now, but looking at how things are today, why does it feel like winter is about to pass?"

"You're right. In fact, today is the very last day of winter!"

"Ah? How is that possible? It's only December now, hasn't winter just barely begun half a month ago?"

"What you're referring to is calculated based on Earth's former seasonal calendar. But in the New World, those rules no longer apply... Tomorrow, the entire Earth will step into spring, and tonight..."

Kong Zhe pointed up at the sky, the corners of his mouth curving slightly. "It is the night of the full moon!"

"Ah?"

Seeing the astonished looks on the three women's faces, Kong Zhe could understand why they were so surprised. After all, ever since the apocalypse began, the nights had been pitch black. Forget the moon, not even a single star could be seen.

Thus, they had almost forgotten what the moon looked like.

Today, however, was an exception. On the night of the full moon, the dark clouds in the sky would be forcibly driven away.

The radiance of the full moon would illuminate the entire night as brightly as day.

Yet, one must never think of traveling by this bright light. On this night, all magical beasts would enter a state of frenzy; their rationality would drop to the minimum, while their aggressiveness and sensory perception would increase to the maximum. If anyone dared to walk outside during this night, there would be only one outcome—becoming a meal in the bellies of the magical beasts.

Even three years into the New World, those legendary heroes did not dare to walk outside on the night of a full moon.

Kong Zhe spoke unconcernedly of these facts, which would be common knowledge in the future, while the three women in front of him listened in utter stupefaction.

"...Furthermore, there is a more important point: on the night of the full moon, a Boss monster will spawn inside every safe zone! The strength of this monster is determined by the number of Awakened individuals within the safe zone. The more Awakened there are, the stronger the monster will be. And what's certain is that, in this early stage of the apocalypse, everyone's levels are not high, so all the Awakened must exert their full strength to barely manage to kill it. Once anyone holds back, it will lead to the annihilation of the entire safe zone!"

"Ah? Th—this dangerous? Shouldn't we find a safe zone with as few Awakened as possible then? Why are we still going to the stadium? There are tens of thousands of people there, so there should be quite a lot of Awakened, right?"

Fear laced Xue Feifei's face, and she found Kong Zhe's actions all the more incomprehensible.

"Let me finish first..."

Kong Zhe smiled. "I just mentioned the danger earlier, but I haven't mentioned the rewards for killing the Boss yet!"

Both Xue Feifei and Hong Ling's eyes lit up, and even Xiao Lei slightly perked up her ears, evidently filled with curiosity, wanting to hear what Kong Zhe would say next.

"Just how much do you think a Boss that requires thousands of people to kill can drop? How powerful do you think the items will be?"

Kong Zhe paused for a moment and directly provided the answer: "Let's put it this way: leaving aside the amount of experience gained, as long as we can snatch even a tenth of the drops, it will be enough to make us instantly rich overnight, and even allow our entire team to instantly become the top-tier group on Earth."

Kong Zhe's description was somewhat ambiguous, but it didn't prevent the women from grasping his meaning. In short, once tonight passed and they succeeded, they would possess inexhaustible wealth.

"Slap!"

Hong Ling slapped her thigh and laughed boldly. "Brother Kong, just tell us what we need to do! I'll listen to whatever you say!"

"Mmh!"

Kong Zhe nodded with a smile. "Actually, killing the Boss isn't difficult. After all, when the Boss first appears, that terrifying aura will chill everyone to the bone, so we won't have to worry about them not giving it their all... The truly difficult part is actually seizing the loot at the very end!"

Both Hong Ling and Xue Feifei nodded. Even though it hadn't happened yet, they could already imagine the scene: the Boss falls, treasures scatter all over the ground, and thousands of people rush forward together. To be honest, what one managed to grab would entirely depend on luck.

Imagining that scenario, the two women unconsciously knitted their brows and fell into deep thought where they stood.

"Fortunately, compared to others, we still have a few favorable conditions..." The corners of Kong Zhe's mouth curled up as he began to share his analysis and subsequent tactics with the women.

A short while later, when Kong Zhe stopped speaking, the three women had all understood.

"So it can even be done this way!"

Hong Ling muttered, followed by a look of joy on her face. According to their plan, if they succeeded, they would undoubtedly become the biggest winners of tonight.

In truth, there was one thing Kong Zhe hadn't mentioned: the prophecy of death he had calculated. If there was any variable in his plan, that chilling prophecy was the sole and greatest variable.

Ah, I can only pray things go smoothly when the time comes...

Beside Kong Zhe, Xiao Lei watched the hidden helplessness in his eyes, and the worry in her heart deepened once more. For some reason, she always felt that tonight's events wouldn't be that simple.

Actually, in her heart, she didn't want Kong Zhe to take risks and fight others for any treasures. As long as they could live in peace, what did it matter if they were a little weaker?

However, she couldn't bring herself to say those words, because she knew that while she could compromise on other matters, on this particular issue, Kong Zhe would never listen to her.

"Brother Kong, there's someone over there!"

Hong Ling suddenly pointed in a certain direction and spoke.

Kong Zhe turned his head to look. Deep within the morning mist, there indeed stood a hazy human figure...