City of Time: Falling into the kill zone at the start

Chapter 061 No one can keep us here

On the roof of the pickup truck, Huan Yu set up binoculars and looked toward the source of the explosion.

Lu Chen gripped the gun with both hands, his arms hanging naturally as he scanned his surroundings.

The source of the explosion was not close to this location.

Even so, Lu Chen did not let his guard down.

As Yu put down her binoculars and looked down at the map again, Lu Chen reached out and took the binoculars from Yu's hand, then looked around.

Only after confirming that no suspicious targets had appeared did he hand the binoculars back to Yu.

"The explosion was very loud; the explosive force must have been considerable."

"There was no blast wave or shockwave, so the distance must not be close."

"Can you deduce the approximate location?"

As he spoke, Lu Chen still gripped his gun with both hands, constantly glancing around.

Yu, however, squatted down with a solemn expression and spread the map out on the roof of the car.

After looking for a while, he raised his hand and pointed straight ahead.

"It's the hibernation pod area."

"The source of the explosion was about 7 kilometers away."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen lowered his head and looked at the map.

He looked up and around again, then nodded slightly.

—The radiation-free zone outside the city is an endless plain.

With no shelter from the elements, no undulating terrain, and the air becoming incredibly dry due to the influence of the sandstorm, the area was extremely dry.

Under normal terrain and climate conditions, the sound of an explosion can travel more than 10 kilometers.

On flat terrain and in dry conditions, it can reach 25 kilometers!

The sound of the explosion, 7 kilometers away, was clearly audible here, which is indeed a reasonable distance estimate.

Thinking this through and after confirming that it was safe again and again, Lu Chen finally took a deep breath and inserted the Glock into the holster on his thigh.

Then he crouched down and followed Yu's gaze to look directly in front of Pikachu.

"Two possibilities."

"The first one is number 3994."

"We left the city on August 3, arrived at the hibernation pod area that evening, and left at noon on August 4."

"It is now the evening of August 6th."

"If the explosion just now came from Unit 3994, then it means that he probably only arrived at the hibernation pod area today."

"Over the past few days, he has been preparing explosives and searching for teammates."

...

"The second type is other scavengers."

"They smelled the scent of the hibernation pod area, but instead of following us, they chose to follow pod 3994."

"If that's the case, then the explosion just now was them trying to blow up that area."

...

"In either case, it's very disadvantageous for us."

Lu Chen's words, which could not hide his worry, caused Yu to frown and her face to turn even colder.

Looking ahead, their gazes were filled with a solemn and serious sense of impending doom.

"In either case, it shows that our opponent is not just number 3994."

"Moreover, the explosion just now will attract scavengers from the surrounding area."

"—While they may not directly participate in the competition, they will definitely come to investigate and seize the hibernation pods."

"The situation is very tricky."

"Very tricky."

Yu's expression was solemn, and Lu Chen's complexion was not much better.

This is an unexpected variable.

And it's a huge variable!

If the opponent is only number 3994, then even if Yu were to fight bare-handed, he would have a 70% chance of making the opponent rich.

With that Baghghound weapon, the win rate is as high as 99%.

But now, there are likely two or even three or more scavengers gathered in the hibernation shed area.

Whether they were helpers hired by No. 3994 or scavengers following No. 3994 to pick peaches, they were definitely not good people.

The latter, in particular.

The fact that they dared to track down number 3994 and cause such a loud explosion only shows that they were extremely confident in dealing with all the scavengers attracted by the sound of the explosion.

What are the chances that they possess firearms?

After a brief moment of thought, Lu Chen quickly found the crux of the problem.

—Does the other side have a gun?

If there are two people on the other side, or even just one person (number 3994), Lu Chen and Yu would have to change their original plan for safety reasons.

They might even abandon that hibernation pod area altogether.

If not...

"As I told you before, the scavengers in the City of Time can be divided into three categories."

"—Those who hide in the city and live a life of ease, those like me who are cautious about leaving the city, and desperados like No. 3994."

"Those who just loaf around and wait to die make up 60% of the scavengers. Apart from the pickup truck they use to keep their job number, they basically have nothing."

"I'm one of the 40% – I'm most likely the first among these hundreds to possess firearms."

"The remaining less than 1% of desperados, or what I call 'supermales,' are much more likely to possess firearms than the other two groups."

...

"According to my estimate, there are probably around 15 to 20 people like this."

"Among them, at least three possessed firearms."

"—It must be a revolver."

"They can't afford the others."

"Even without firearms, it doesn't mean they pose no threat to us."

"They may also possess long-range cold weapons such as bows and crossbows, or hollow steel pipes with slanted cuts."

"Such a steel pipe, even if thrown, can kill."

As she spoke, Yu's already snow-white face turned completely bloodless.

He even began to have thoughts of resigning.

—The risk is too high.

Back then, when the batch of survivors in Yu were unearthed, a total of 193 hibernation chambers were found, leaving more than 80 scavengers to rest in peace outside the city.

On average, every 2.4 hibernation pods will result in the death of a scavenger.

Although the situation isn't that bad right now, the explosion just now has completely exposed the existence of that hibernation silo area.

A major melee among scavengers is not far off.

It will take three to five days at the latest, or as soon as tomorrow or the day after.

This area will become a battleground for scavengers to fight each other.

Especially right now, Lu Chen and Yu don't urgently need time or need to gain any benefits.

With over 800 grams of gold in hand and ample time to spare, there's no need to take such a huge risk and wade into this murky water.

Even if this murky water might bring the two of them another huge profit of 8 years + 1000g of gold...

"At the very least, shouldn't we go and take a look?"

As he pondered, Lu Chen's deep voice rang out again.

Yu Xunsheng raised his head and saw Lu Chen say with resentment, "The scavengers around will all be attracted by the sound of the explosion."

"Even without weapons or the right to fight, we will still go and see what's going on."

"We have weapons to defend ourselves, yet we don't even dare to go and take a look; we just give up like that..."

...

"You decide the specifics."

"But I'm reluctant to give up now."

"At the very least, we should go and check the situation first, see how many people and how many weapons they have."

"It's not too late to give up once you're sure you can't handle it."

"By then, if we want to leave, no one will be able to stop us."

After saying that, Lu Chen stood up and rested his right hand naturally on the holster on his thigh.

He moved slowly, turning his body on the roof of the car to survey his surroundings once more.

Yu, standing to the side, fell into deep thought, her mind racing with various ideas, yet she couldn't make up her mind.