Chapter 668: Chapter 418: Hand-Tearing the Pack of Wolves_1

Perhaps it was due to the dense vegetation, high humidity, and abundant moisture in the air, or perhaps it was the cold world’s way of giving Harrison Clark a warm welcome, but the torrential rain never stopped.

With his physical constitution, he didn’t need to worry about catching a cold after getting wet in the rain. He strolled leisurely in the rain toward the derelict town he had discovered earlier.

Although it didn’t matter where he lived now, as he was the only person left, his subconscious mind still wanted to reside in a town.

He didn’t expect to meet other living people.

Even finding a photograph of a stranger in someone else’s abandoned room would add a touch of human warmth.

As he walked and thought in the cooling rain, it gradually extinguished the restless flame in his heart, allowing him to analyze the situation more calmly.

Harrison devised a simple plan.

Although he held no hope for finding other humans on Earth, he could not stay put forever.

He had to keep moving, traveling to more places, and testing his luck.

If he could find other people, that would be ideal.

But even if there were no people, anything useful he found would be fine. In other words, he’d become a scavenger.

Now the entire Earth was his, with no one to contend for it. He could take whatever he found.

First, he had to resolve the issues of living and transportation. Relying on walking would be too inefficient.

He needed tools to help him explore and unearth information from ruins.

Once he had acquired the necessary tools, he would proceed to investigate and gather as much information as possible from the sites.

Though not an archaeologist, Harrison had devised a plan for extracting information based on logical thinking.

First, he would analyze the current situation and crudely estimate the highest level of technology reached by human civilization in this failed timeline.

Second, determine when the destruction occurred, at least whether it was before or after 2500. This information would be crucial.

Third, analyze the aftermath, damaged ships, and buildings to deduce the method of attack used to cause the destruction.

Energy explosion? What type of energy?

Physical bombardment? What kind of ammunition? Nuclear fission? Nuclear fusion? Vacuum bubbles? Quark bombs? Antimatter bombs?

Or cutting and tearing? What kind of cutting? Quark cutting? Force field cutting? Spatial tearing?

Answering these questions would provide hints as to whether the catastrophe was caused by human civil war or an external enemy.

Fourth, by analyzing the layout and function of the city ruins and towns, he would try to deduce the location of the academic cities in this timeline before the collapse of Earth’s civilization.

Fifth, if the first four conditions were unattainable, he would simply wander aimlessly, memorize as much information as possible, and set aside a month before October 3020 to ponder, analyze, and draw conclusions from the gathered data.

This approach was the most tedious and desperate one, but Harrison felt this might be the only thing he could do.

From his earlier observations, he noticed one thing.

The destruction of human cities and ships was not a simple collapse, but a precise eradication of civilization.

All energy systems in the ships were destroyed, and biological storage batteries and suspected antimatter compartments were targeted and destroyed too.

The mode of destruction didn’t seem like an external attack; it resembled a meticulous elimination carried out by small combat units from within.

Other than the energy cores, various small intelligences containing computing cores and information storage media were also destroyed. The destruction employed a high-frequency quantum impact method, which bore striking similarities to the electromagnetic interference used by the spherical battleships Harrison had encountered multiple times.

Moreover, artifacts displaying text or images were also targeted and erased.

This included his own tombstone, the memorial hall’s stone tablet, the labels on the ship’s equipment, and burned picture frames in the crew’s dormitory…

Almost every piece of human history was destroyed.

This was the information he had gathered so far.

He found it strange.

This behavior was eerily similar to that of the Compound Eye Civilization.

It was a standard method of destroying civilizations by first exterminating the people, then demolishing their buildings and transportation, and finally erasing any trace of their existence.

However, Harrison thought it seemed petty and uncharacteristic of the formidable Compound Eye Civilization, as they could easily obliterate the entire Solar System.

He had a strong suspicion that he might have guessed the first answer.

It was highly likely that humanity faced another Great Extinction Catastrophe, this time at the hands of the Z Bacteria.

The essence of this extinction event shifted from humans driving animals to extinction to Z-Bacteria-controlled animals wiping out humans, then meticulously erasing traces of humanity.

But where were the Z Bacteria? And the animals?

He saw none.

And besides, the Great Extinction seemed terrifying, but didn’t they win last time?

There was no reason they would lose this time.

There were too many contradictions in the situation, preventing him from drawing a conclusion and forcing him to continue guessing.

By nightfall, he reached the small town he had visited earlier.

Climbing to a height of about four stories, he tore away the vines entwined around an inverted skyscraper, crouched and squeezed his way into an alloy-structured room, and relied on his powerful night vision to clean up the scattered items in the room with the faint light.

Fortunately, he found a set of synthetic fiber clothes to replace his own and two synthetic fabric blankets in the room.He didn’t know that these things were from hundreds of years ago, and the material had become brittle, so the combat suit certainly wasn’t as good as before, but it was still tougher than the clothes and coverings from the 21st century. As long as he didn’t deliberately try to ruin them, they wouldn’t be easily damaged and were usable.

With fresh clothes and a blanket, he was temporarily content.

It was a pity that the Quark Device seemed to be damaged or depleted of energy, so he couldn’t use it; otherwise, he could have cooked a hearty meal.

Thinking about a meal, he felt a little hungry.

His stomach growled.

“Star…”

He habitually called out, then sighed long after realizing she wasn’t there.

The dark room was empty, with only his sighs echoing endlessly.

Outside the downpour continued.

Although his night vision was exceptional, the rain ultimately affected his sight, and Harrison Clark didn’t know where to find food.

After enduring the hunger for about half an hour in the room, Harrison Clark gritted his teeth, picked up a broken alloy stick about one and a half meters long from the ground, carefully walked out, and then slid down to the ground.

The thick rain clouds blocked the starlight and moonlight, and the maximum visible distance was less than fifty meters.

Fortunately, Harrison Clark didn’t have to go too far.

When he had arrived in this area in the morning, he had seen numerous animal footprints on the ground leading to a distant building.

Having a strong photographic memory had its drawbacks, but the benefits were also obvious. Ordinary people couldn’t follow the footprints in the dark based on their previous memory. Harrison Clark’s night vision was as sharp as a predatory feline.

As he searched for prey, the prey was also searching for him. Less than a kilometer from where he started, at the dense roots of a large tree, over ten pairs of eerie green eyes appeared.

It wasn’t that these eyes could emit light, but the special structure within their pupils had a strong reflection ability and resembled a flashlight shining on a cat’s eyes in the dark.

Harrison Clark wasn’t afraid, only grinning, licking his lips.

He knew what these animals were – a wolf pack.

The rain continued to fall. Clark pretended to be innocent and slowly approached them with his hands behind his back.

The wolves were experienced and cunning, hiding in the shadows, as if they hadn’t been discovered by their “prey.”

As Harrison Clark continued forward, the distance between the two sides shrunk to less than ten meters.

The green eyes gradually moved, parting to the side. After about ten seconds, Harrison Clark walked into the range of the tree roots and was surrounded by the wolf pack.

Awoo!

They were usually still, but when they moved, it was fierce.

Over ten wolves pounced at the same time, splashing water as they leaped, piercing the rain.

Harrison Clark’s expression remained unchanged as he lifted the alloy stick in his hand and stabbed it straight forward.

With a hiss, the alloy tube was brutally jabbed into the throat of the leading wolf.

At the same time, Harrison Clark crouched down, his body crawling, his right hand pulling down the alloy tube, his left hand supporting him on the ground, and his feet propelling him forward for several meters, passing under the huge wolf and bringing it airborne with a twist.

Harrison Clark didn’t look back, only tried to forcefully pull the alloy tube out, but the wolf he had impaled bit it and wouldn’t let go.

Behind him, the sound of air ripping apart reached his ears, and Clark let go of his weapon and started to gather strength.

His thick blood pumped through his veins like mud, and his muscles tensed like steel cables.

He twisted around, clenched his fist, crouched down, looked back, and threw an uppercut.

A punch whistled out, causing a sonic boom.

Rain splattered in countless droplets as the fist hit another giant wolf’s vulnerable spot beneath its jaw.

The huge, two-meter-long wolf let out a howl as it was flung backward, landing heavily.

At the same time, Harrison Clark spun around again, swinging a roundhouse kick that hit the third giant wolf in the ear.

With a bang, his recently acquired synthetic shoes exploded.

The giant wolf was kicked into a spin, landing miserably, blood gushing from its wounded ear.

Five seconds, three moves, three wolves down.

The other ten wolves suddenly stopped, not daring to advance any further.

Harrison Clark walked over to the struggling leader wolf, effortlessly yanked out the alloy tube, and held it in his hand again.

The tip of the alloy tube clattered on the ground.

The remaining ten giant wolves tucked their tails and fled without looking back.

Harrison Clark shrugged.

His dinner had arrived.

However, the animals in the 31st century seemed a bit more ferocious than he expected.