"Drip."

It sounded like water dripping on a stone.

'Am I dead?'

When he opened his eyes, Shimura, who was only six years old, saw nothing but darkness. He was unable to react for a long time.

"Drip."

Something was wrong.

He moved his fingers. Although he was still weak, he could still feel it.

He was still alive!

Almost as soon as this thought flashed through his mind, the person who was lying on the ground like a dead fish immediately sat up.

The wounds on his arms and legs had been bandaged, and he was still wearing his original clothes.

He touched his pocket and confirmed that the weapon was still there. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.

Before confirming that he was not dead, he had to check his surroundings first. After all, he still remembered the scene before he fainted. If he was not dead, did they plan to use him as a food reserve?

Living in Meteor Street, he did not expect anyone to come and save him.

His brain, which had just woken up, was still in a state of chaos.

But soon, when he saw the unfamiliar environment, even though his limbs and bones were aching, he immediately became alert.

He was lying on a bed. Although it was a little old, it was clean. He was even in a room that could be called a room.

Since when did monsters treat their food reserves so well?

With an indescribable thought, he clenched his fists and looked around.

He could see that this was a basement, but in District 11, where he had lived before, it was already considered a good house.

He did not feel any killing intent. His whole body was in great pain. Lying on the bed, the teenager still had a vigilant face and refused to relax.

Only then did he feel the breathing of two people approaching him. "Who is it?!"

Even though he was still a child, he did not show any mercy when he was fierce.

"The person who saved you."

With one hand on his neck, he quietly stared at the two people in front of him for a long time. There was no emotion in his eyes, as if he had lost his five senses.

That dangerous expression was like a cat facing danger. The hair all over his body stood up, and he held his breath and was extremely alert to scare the other party.

His entire body exuded a message that warned people not to come near him.

Ever since he came to this damned place, he had not let down his guard for even a moment. Even though his vision was now filled with darkness, his head was still dizzy.

"Save him!"

The words that he rarely heard made his eyebrows twitch uncontrollably.

Regaining his freedom and knowing the fact that he was still alive made him feel extremely at ease, but also a little disappointed.

Living in such a place, even he himself didn't know whether he should continue to struggle to survive or just go with the flow and die.

"Thank you." Gratitude was worthless, but he had nothing else to give now.

Although he thanked them verbally, there was no trace of gratitude on his face. He even quietly moved back, putting an absolutely safe distance between himself and the two people in front of him.

"Where are those monsters?"

Wuji and Huaguo looked at each other for a moment.

She had saved the child because she couldn't bear to see him die when she was on the run.

Although they had only come into contact with one or two people after arriving at Meteor Street, they also realized that the people here had very twisted personalities.

Based on the surrounding environment, this result was understandable.

They just thought that perhaps under the premise of saving their lives, compared to the adults, the children here might be easier to communicate with.

But looking at the current situation, it seemed that they were also stubborn.

Sure enough, it was tricky.

Facing the expected development, Huaguo sighed slightly, "We are now in the first district, the monsters haven't come here yet."

"The first district!"

The kid obviously couldn't believe it. After all, anyone would have the same reaction if they knew that they had traveled from the end of Meteor Street to the first district without any obstructions during the period of time that they had fainted.

"Mhmm." Wuji didn't want to explain more about what they saw along the way. He only briefly explained, "You saw the monsters that day. Now, except for the first district, the other districts have all fallen."

In other words, as long as they avoided the monsters in front, it was not difficult to reach the first district.

But — —

After all, this was Meteor Street.

Shimura obviously hadn't accepted this fact yet. His originally vigilant expression relaxed slightly, "Then, how long have I been unconscious?"

"More than two days," Wuji took the cup of water from Huaguo, "Less than three days."

The water was very clean. Shimura had never seen clean water on Meteor Street before.

And — —

He did feel thirsty.

Not to mention the previous experience, in this place, it was not easy to find a clean water source.

He took the cup without hesitation.

The feeling of drinking water down his throat was like a lifetime ago. Even his originally hoarse voice improved a little.

"Thank you."

This was the second thank you.

It was rare to encounter such direct kindness. Shimura touched his sore wrist and finally asked, "Then, what do you need me to do for you?"

"Huh?" Huaguo obviously didn't react to this question.

Shimura looked down and repeated in a louder voice than before, "You saved me and gave me water. What do you need me to do for you?"

Although he was still young, Shimura tried his best to appear mature and reliable.

He had learned this lesson on the first day he came to Meteor Street.

Shimura, who was used to all kinds of killing intent and malice, subconsciously felt uncomfortable and disliked the gentle expressions on their faces. He wanted to escape and be rejected and destroyed.

However, his body was bandaged well.

It was not ragged and dirty, and he could still smell the faint scent of medicine from the clean cloth.

It looked like medicine had been carefully applied.

Saving people, applying medicine, giving water — —

'Do they need me to lure those monsters away?'

'Or do they lack the manpower to help now?'

'But I'm still young, and I'm not as agile as adults.' After rejecting the thought, he looked at the two people in front of him. 'Could it be those people who prefer children?'

He couldn't see the expression on his face in the dark. He quickly went through the things he had in his mind that he could barely take out for an exchange.

In the end, he realized that other than his life and his looks, he didn't seem to have anything else left.

He originally had a secret place to stay.

However, he had run out of food, so he had to leave during the day to look for food.

When he saw the corpses with sour bread and expired canned food in their pockets, even though he knew that it might be a trap, he still went forward to loot without hesitation due to his hunger.

After that …

Before he could leave, he encountered those monsters.

After that …

He was saved.

Now that he thought about it, he was considered lucky.

If he had continued to hide in that place, he would have been found by those monsters.

Shimura narrowed his eyes and tried to put on a smile, just like the two people he saw.

However, even after adjusting the corners of his mouth for a long time, he still wasn't able to make the expression he wanted. Instead, his entire expression was distorted to a terrifying degree.

"If it's possible, could you please introduce this place to us?"

Huaguo, who wasn't sure if he understood, took out the food he found in the container house from his backpack. "This can be your reward."

"Exchange of information?"

Wuji was stunned by Shimura's answer without hesitation. He nodded. "You can say that."

In fact, after coming to the first district, the two also learned a lot of things that they didn't know in the later districts.

However, seeing that Shimura had just woken up and wanted to exchange information, they had to come up with this idea.

Also.

Maybe Shimura knew something that they didn't know now.

.....

Basically, he told them everything he knew. After talking for more than half an hour, Shimura felt that his mouth was dry.

People on Meteor Street didn't like to talk much.

Talking too much meant that it was easy to be exposed. Before he had a strong strength, the best way was to be humble.

This was the first time he talked for so long in one breath.

From the formation of Meteor Street 1500 years ago to the distribution of forces here according to the blocks, and the elders' meeting at the top of Meteor Street.

It was much more detailed than Huaguo and Wuji, but more importantly —

"What about outside Meteor Street?"

Compared to this place, Wuji was more concerned about the outside world. "Is it the same as Meteor Street?"

"No."

Shimura also knew that there was a normal world outside Meteor Street. There was no need to fight, no need to plunder, and one could live peacefully.

It was just that it wasn't easy to get out of Meteor Street.

"It's completely different." He touched the wound on his arm. "Are you leaving Meteor Street?"

After talking for so long, he finally understood one thing.

"Are you new abandoners who have just entered Meteor Street?"

That was why they were so kind.

They didn't fit in here.

"Is it obvious?" Wuji didn't deny it.

"Yes."

Shimura was a little hesitant, but the kindness he received after waking up moved him a little. Then, he asked something he would never ask before. "Can you take me with you?"

.....

There was ventilation in the windowless basement. Even the candles in the room were swaying, but maybe because it was half-closed, the aroma of food from inside kept flowing back and forth in the room.

Shimura, who could still chew the half-dry bread in peace after smelling the aroma, couldn't even swallow half a mouthful now.

Don't expect to find any normal food in Meteor Street. Under normal circumstances, anything that could fill one's stomach would attract people to fight for it.

Food that had expired not long ago but hadn't had time to go bad was already a rare good thing.

Therefore, his eyes were slightly green when he smelled this kind of food for the first time.

Really … what?

He subconsciously indulged himself in the smell, but when he reacted, he held his breath again.

"What's that smell?"

Different from the dry bread in his hand, this smell was very fragrant.

At least he hadn't smelled such a fragrant smell since he was in Meteor Street for so long.

"Instant noodles," Wuji glanced at him and handed the cup of noodles in his hand forward, "Do you want to eat?"

Originally, he could tolerate it from a distance, but now the distance between his nose and the cup of noodles was only ten centimeters. Shimura was still a child after all. Almost at the same time when he smelled the smell, he couldn't help but swallow a few times.

"Can I?"

Food sharing in Meteor Street was something that only partners could do. He wasn't sure if the two opposite him knew what it meant.

"Sure."

Wuji didn't doubt him. He handed over the cup of noodles in his hand and took the bread in his hand, "Oh, right."

"Hmm?"

"I heard someone mention psychokinesis before," Wuji looked at him curiously, "What's psychokinesis?"

Shimura, who was trying to use chopsticks for the first time, was still a little unaccustomed to it. He only picked up a strand of noodles, but he didn't dislike it. Instead, he bit the chopsticks with curiosity. "You don't know?"

Wuji looked at Shimura's eyes with a confused expression, "Should I know?"

“...”

"Psychokinesis," Shimura was obviously a little confused about how he should explain it. After thinking for a long time, he said, "The energy released by the human body is called 'psychokinesis', and the ability to freely control and increase psychokinesis is called psychokinesis."

"Like this?" Huaguo listened by the side and reached out his hand to grow a small seedling in the palm of his hand.

Shimura stared at it for a while, then said with some uncertainty, "I think so."

“？”

"I haven't activated psychokinesis yet, but I heard someone mention it before," he opened his mouth hesitantly, "It seems that other than psychokinesis, there's something very similar to it."

"Superpower?"

"I don't know …" Shimura shook his head, "I've only heard of it."

Perhaps the bowl of hot noodles in his hand was too fragrant, so it made him unconsciously speak out of turn.

He was secretly vigilant about his own carelessness just now. At the same time, he tried to use the corner of his eyes to look at the entire basement that he hadn't had time to explore.

The chairs and tables were all occupied by the two people.

The mattress under him was the only mattress in the house. Beside it, the entire basement seemed empty.

A cold feeling surrounded him. Even if he was covered with a blanket, it couldn't alleviate the cold. It was as if they were in an underground environment.

The mottled walls, the obviously damp and cold temperature, and the inside of the room that couldn't see the sun at all.

There was only a slightly rusted iron door that led to the outside world not far away from the top of the room.

So there was a place like this in Meteor Street?

The absolute darkness gave people a bad feeling, but when he thought of the monster from before, such an environment made him feel safe.

— —

[The next news is — the recent UMA (follow-up report of unidentified biological disturbances) has been happening in various regions.]

.....

[The common point of these mysterious creatures is that they are cruel and can speak human language. They are also not afraid to appear in front of humans.]

[The current location of the alien creatures seems to be limited to the Uurbian Continent. However, in the future, the possibility of expansion is very high.]

The television in the electronics store was broadcasting the latest news.

Since the appearance of the chimera ants, as their species invaded and harmed humans, the world more or less learned about them.

However, it was far less than the Hunter Association that stood at the top of the information chain.

"Have you confirmed it?"

"There's no mistake." Chivalry played with the phone in his hand with a smile on his face.

"Alright, let's go."

It was difficult to leave Meteor Street, but it was easy to return to Meteor Street from the outside.

Everyone who struggled at the bottom of Meteor Street wanted to go to the outside world. However, when they went to the outside world, the feeling of being out of place made them want to return to Meteor Street.

Although Meteor Street was an abandoned place in the eyes of the public, it was the existence of their hometown in the eyes of the abandoned people.

"I think those creatures are called chimera ants."

"But aren't they originally ants?

If they were ants, they would've just circled around their nest. Why would they come here? "

"Who knows?

Maybe they were just passing by, or maybe they were attracted by the smell of garbage. "

"Based on the known information and route, the group of ants that want to invade Meteor Street should be from the Balusa Archipelago." Little Drop looked at Chivalry.

In the next moment, Vigilante Walker continued the conversation with a smile. His well-organized words seemed to carry a lot of weight. "It doesn't matter if it's NGL or the East Godhra Republic. They're both countries that won't leak information out. Haven't you guys thought of something in such an environment?"

"It's the same as Meteor Street."

"That's why the ants are so confident in invading Meteor Street."

.....

The ant invasion had happened three days ago.

In just half a day, a few blocks at the back had fallen. Those who were slightly stronger took advantage of the chaos to escape to the front.

"What's the situation?"

Seeing the six approaching, the three masked men, who were clearly the leaders of the group, stepped forward.

"The total number of victims and martyrs is more than 300. The explosives are completely useless. We're currently thinking of a countermeasure."

The residents of Meteor Street had been fighting for resources for a long time. Even though the survival rate was not high, those who could survive were not easily killed.

"Just kill all those monsters. What's there to think about?" Finks snorted.

"No …" The masked man was clearly frightened. He turned around and looked at the tall building not far away. "Follow me."

Ever since the chimera ants arrived at Meteor Street, those who were captured were treated as food. Those who were slightly stronger were assimilated into monsters.

Through the venom delivered by the queen's scorpion tail, which was also her so-called aesthetic reincarnation injection, humans were transformed into Xenomorphs. From there, they could conquer Meteor Street and even the world.

Because of the transformation between humans and Xenomorphs, the Association that learned the news later had varying degrees of controversy about the definition of the dead.

Most of the people who were transformed into Xenomorphs were from Meteor Street, but a small number of people who were transformed into Xenomorphs helped the chimera ants to harm humans.

According to the rules of Meteor Street, "We don't refuse anything, but don't try to take anything away from us."

However, in the face of the people who were originally from Meteor Street, even if they had become Xenomorphs, if they were still companions, they didn't know whether they should kill them or not.

"Humans," Finks took off the hat on his head, "like to be controlled by their whims."

"Whoever hinders us, we will defeat them."

"Within today, we will destroy that — the one who calls herself the queen."

"I am the queen. I repeat, surrender now."