Chapter 235 - 233: The Silent County Town

Words : 1184 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

Driving the car, Chen Xin slowly entered the overly silent town ahead. The town was too quiet; Chen Xin couldn’t feel any hint of life or atmosphere in this town. Although the radar on the car was broken and Chen Xin couldn’t repair it due to his injured hand, the drones on the car were still functional, and their infrared photography capabilities were enough to capture all heat sources in this small town. Previously, when Chen Xin drove past Chibi, even the heat emitted from the ventilation of the hot spring resort outside the city was caught by the drones. Chen Xin didn’t think the shelters in this small town could escape the drones’ search. But now, this town was truly dead silent, under the drones’ infrared vision, it was completely grey, without any hint of color. "Damn it, could everyone in this town be dead?" Chen Xin felt a headache. If that’s the case, then the problem is severe. Of course, Chen Xin hoped he was overthinking. After all, such a large town, although a small county compared to other places, without even a few tall buildings, by the Flame Country’s regulations, even such a county should have at least eight civil defense facilities to accommodate populations for refuge. After the disaster, no matter how tragic, it’s impossible for everyone to have died. As for after the disaster, although road traffic was cut off and Chen Xin hadn’t found a train station in the city, he still didn’t believe that no one from this town could survive. But looking at this excessively silent town, Chen Xin still felt something was wrong. He brought up the map of this town from before the disaster from the control panel, marking the county offices, hospital, and the largest mall according to the markings on the map. He planned to use the drones to search these places first. If there were any survivors in this town, these three places were the most likely. However, after the drones went around these three places several times, even the batteries were almost out, there was still no discovery. Not only was there no heat source, but the ground was also covered by thick snow, with no trace of human activity. "Could this really be a dead city? That’s impossible!" Chen Xin looked at the picture taken by the drones in disbelief. Even if the town was short of supplies and food, it had only been half a year after the apocalypse, and the traffic cutoff happened after the cold weather started; this period hadn’t even reached half a year. The people in the town couldn’t have all died in such a short time. But where had all the people gone? Chen Xin truly couldn’t figure it out. He called two reconnaissance drones back for charging and planned to use two combat drones for another search. Before releasing the combat drones, Chen Xin thought for a moment, then controlled both drones to stop outside the car door. Putting on his protective suit, opening the car door, the cold air immediately rushed in, making Chen Xin feel a chill all over, but he proceeded to upgrade the two drones, equipping them with life detection modules, then closed the car door. Rubbing his arms, which already felt ice-cold, Chen Xin returned to the driver’s seat, drank a sip of hot water, and continued operating the drones to search the entire town. However, this time there seemed to be a slight difference. There was still no one in the direction of the county offices, but new discoveries were made in the direction of the mall. After the upgrade, the combat drones were equipped with life detection modules. These modules could detect signs of life within a 500-meter radius, and after the upgrade, Chen Xin found that several signs of life were present in the underground parking lot of the mall. Moreover, one of them seemed to be leaving the underground parking lot, intending to go elsewhere. This sparked Chen Xin’s interest; he flew one drone into the mall, found a clean place to land, and kept an eye on the remaining life signs in the underground parking lot. Chen Xin controlled another drone to follow the sign of life that was leaving, wanting to see what was going on. The person leaving didn’t choose to exit the town or find a random place to hide, but rather headed towards the hospital. "Is someone sick and going to find medicine?" Chen Xin looked at the figure captured by the drone’s infrared camera, interested in the person’s purpose, yet still puzzled: "But such a large town, why are there only a few living people?" Though the town was just a small county, it should still have at least a hundred thousand people. Even if a disaster occurred and most died, such a large town couldn’t have only a few survivors. Perhaps the answer lay with these few people, but for now, it was necessary to first figure out what this person was doing at the hospital. If there were a doctor among the survivors, Chen Xin felt he might be able to help them, provided they could treat his fracture. Under the drone’s surveillance, the figure struggled somewhat to enter the already abandoned hospital. The figure seemed familiar with the hospital, not wandering around inside but heading straight to their target, searching for what they needed. "Looks like a hospital staff member, perhaps even a doctor." From the figure’s actions, Chen Xin deduced their identity, at least someone who had worked at this hospital; otherwise, they wouldn’t know the place so well. From the footage captured by the drone, Chen Xin noticed the path the figure was taking. If someone was unfamiliar with the hospital, they might search room by room, but this person clearly knew their way and what they wanted; there was no hesitation in their path. "This hospital had burned, now almost frozen into an ice block. What are they trying to find? Is someone sick and needs medicine?" Chen Xin watched the display on the control panel, rubbing his chin as he formulated an idea. He controlled the drone to fly through a broken window of the hospital, quickly maneuvering behind the figure. The figure obviously heard the sound of the drone’s propellers, turning around in fright like a startled rabbit at the unexpected sight of the drone, clearly caught off guard. Chen Xin turned on the drone’s spotlight, the bright light illuminating the figure, who only had a small flashlight in hand. The sudden strong light made the person quickly raise their hand to shield their eyes and attempt to turn and flee. But having finally found a living person, Chen Xin clearly wasn’t going to let them escape. He controlled the drone to block the person’s path and picked up the car’s walkie-talkie, using the drone’s loudspeaker to shout: "Don’t run, this drone has a gun." Upon hearing Chen Xin’s shout, the figure froze in place, looking at Chen Xin’s figure in surprised uncertainty, not knowing what to do.

Chapter 235 - 233: The Silent County Town

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