The noon sun shone down on the vast road, with both sides covered in green grass stretching out as far as the eye could see.

  The roar of a motorcycle gradually quieted down, accompanied by a man wearing a black leather suit and a helmet. Behind him, a child dressed just like him was hugging his large waist.

  He parked the bike on the roadside, his hands gripping the handlebars wearing black gloves that revealed his fingers. Looking straight at the road ahead, he spoke up.

  "Get off the bike, Ark."

  Ark poked his head out to the left while looking up at the man's face, nodding with a smile.

  "Yes, Dad."

  Finished speaking, he grabbed the shirt of the man in front while slowly getting off the bike, resulting in his leather shoes touching the road surface.

  The father turned to look at him, smiled, and shifted backward while pulling his left arm to rest on his knee. Seeing this, Ark looked at his face for a while and tilted his head slightly, causing the man to smile gently.

  "Come up. I'll teach you how to drive."

  Hearing that, Ark’s eyes widened as he hurriedly climbed up to sit at the front, placing both hands on the handlebars.

  Seeing this, his father placed his own hands on the handlebars and spoke.

  "Are you ready?"

  "Yes!"

  "Good. If so, let's go."

  He released both hands from the handlebars and placed his large hands on Ark’s small waist.

  Feeling the warmth from his father’s large hands, Ark looked straight at the road stretching to the horizon and twisted the throttle as the roar of the engine gradually grew louder.

  Golden eyes slowly opened to the image of concrete just a few centimeters away, causing Ark, who was lying still on the ground, to slowly lift his head. The image of a rooftop scattered with vehicle debris appeared in his sight amidst the moonlight.

  Seeing this, he tried to use both arms to push himself up from the cold ground, but the pain shooting through his arms and body caused him to collapse back onto the floor.

  Trying to push himself up again, he turned to his right and found a wall. Seeing that, he used his right hand to grab the wall and pulled himself up with a trembling body.

  Once he managed to stand by the wall, he looked around the rooftop. A feeling of nausea appeared suddenly! He lowered his head, resulting in blood spurting from his mouth!

  Continuous coughing rang out as his body collapsed to the ground. Using both hands to keep himself from lying flat, he vomited fresh red blood continuously until a small pool of red appeared before him.

  Ark, breathing heavily after spitting out blood, raised his right hand to wipe the blood from his mouth with his glove. He looked up, his eyes scanning the debris scattered by the explosion.

  At that moment, moonlight reflecting off a handlebar caught his attention. Seeing this, he tried to crawl forward before rising from the ground.

  Coughing with blood at the corners of his mouth, he gritted his teeth and finally stood up, though his body swayed left and right as if about to fall.

  Despite that, he remained standing before dragging his right leg toward the single remaining handlebar.

  Dragging his leg slowly, he gradually moved faster until he finally crashed to the ground! His body was just 5 meters from the handlebar.

  He continued crawling until he stopped right in front of it, then tried to sit up and looked at the handlebar, which was still in good condition despite the burn marks and scratches.

  Seeing this, Ark reached out his right hand to pick it up, staring at it silently as his father's words from his childhood rang in his head.

  This made him grip the handlebar tightly and lean forward, hugging it as he looked up with a roar.

  His roar echoed all around, amidst the deserted city under the moonlight shining in the sky filled with stars.

  Somewhere in the deserted city, the sound of continuous knocking on a wooden door rang out before falling silent, causing the door to open slightly.

  The image that appeared was of Ark sitting beside the door, his right hand clutching the handlebar.

  The door opened wider, revealing the barrel of a black shotgun appearing under the moonlight, now pointed at Ark's head.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Ark slowly turned to look and found a man with messy black hair in a black short-sleeved shirt, revealing muscular arms and bandaged hands, currently holding the shotgun.

  Ark's eyes were perfectly still, void of any movement. Seeing this, the man frowned before looking around.

  Seeing no motorcycle nearby, he turned back to Ark.

  But after seeing the handlebar he was holding, the dried blood on his gloves, and his clothes full of tears and dyed with red blood, the man lowered the gun and spoke.

  "Come in."

  He stepped back slightly, allowing Ark to slowly rise from the ground by pushing his back against the wall. However, after rising only slightly, he fell to the ground, and the handlebar slipped from his hand, about to fall down the stairs.

  Seeing this, he slowly turned to look and tried to get up while leaning forward, but at that moment, the messy-haired man walked over and picked up the handlebar before turning back to Ark and bending down to pull him up.

  Ark turned to him and nodded. Seeing that, the man didn't reply but led him into the room and closed the door, followed by the sound of metal hitting the door frame.

  The man, having barred the door with a steel bar, turned around to reveal a square room that wasn't very wide.

  There was only a small bed and a table on the right with nothing on it. He turned to the bed and led Ark to sit on it.

  Ark slowly sat on the hard bed before lying down and looking up at the ceiling, barely able to move.

  But even so, he tried to speak.

  "Thank you, Vic."

  Vic shrugged before walking to the table to place the handlebar and shotgun down. He then pulled a steel chair to sit beside the bed.

  "Looks like it's heavy this time."

  "It wasn't just one. Vic, I want information on a marksman who uses a sniper rifle and can shoot moving targets from a kilometer away."

  Vic stood up and shook his head slightly.

  "I know you're angry, but in your current state, let alone hunting someone, just getting slapped once or twice by a roadside monster would kill you. So, rest."

  Vic turned his back, but his right hand was pulled. He turned back to find Ark gripping his wrist with his right hand.

  Ark pulled him closer, causing Vic to lean in. Ark, trying to lift his head, spoke.

  "I need you to help. I want to know who it is, and who the guy that hired me this time is."

  Hearing that, Vic was silent for a while before raising his right hand to touch the person's hand gently and spoke.

  "Okay, but rest first. I have to go out to find information anyway."

  "Thank you."

  Ark released his hand and lay back down on the bed. Looking at the ceiling, he slowly closed his eyes. Seeing this, Vic spoke.

  "Goodnight."

  Silence covered the room again as light slowly appeared inside through a window on the right that was boarded up with steel, leaving only small gaps for light to shine through. Ark opened his eyes and tried to rise from the bed!

  But pain throughout his body made him freeze! Using his right hand to support himself on the bed, he raised his left hand to hold his chest and looked around the room.

  Seeing no one, he slowly sat up and looked down, revealing his upper body where clothes were replaced by white bandages wrapped all over.

  Seeing this, he slowly looked up at the table before lowering his gaze to focus on the floor beneath it.

  At that moment, a square concrete slab was pushed up and slid to the right. Vic emerged, placed a square metal box in front, climbed out of the hole, crawled out from under the table, and picked up the box.

  Standing up, he dusted himself off with his right hand before turning to me and sitting on the steel chair.

  "Better?"

  Hearing that, I slowly raised my right hand to look at the bandages wrapped around it, then turned to him and nodded.

  "At least it looks like I survived."

  Vic threw the box at me. Looking down, I found the metal box that fell on the bed, so I picked it up and opened it.

  It revealed a syringe as large as 2 inches, containing a green liquid inside.

  "Just a moment ago, a few more steps and you would have walked through the gates of hell, because you were already halfway there."

  I was silent for a while before picking up the syringe, raising my right arm, and stabbing it into a vein, injecting the liquid until it was empty.

  I pulled the syringe out and took a deep breath as the pain throughout my body slowly faded. Rotating my right shoulder slightly, I placed the syringe back in the box and spoke.

  "Did you get the info?"

  "Good news, I got the info. But bad news."

  Vic reached into his back pocket and handed me a photo. Seeing that, I frowned slightly and took the photo from his hand.

  It was a picture of a man wearing a cap and holding an assault rifle that was strange in shape and massive. Vic took out some tobacco, held it in his mouth, lit a lighter, and spoke.

  "Frank. That's his name. Before the world collapsed, it seems he was a soldier. Used to fight in Afghanistan. But after the world collapsed, it seems he gained special powers."

  Vic turned to look at the door before blowing smoke from his mouth and pulling the cigarette out. He turned back to Ark, who was looking at the photo.

  "I don't know what power he got, but judging by how he shot you while you were floating in mid-air, that alone guarantees his skill. We've run into the real deal this time."

  Hearing that, I looked up at Vic.

  "Then how did he get here?"

  "What else? The item you have."

  I was silent for a while before standing up, putting his photo in my pants pocket, and looking at the table. A jacket lying on the table amidst small rays of sunlight made me walk over and put it on.

  Vic, standing behind me, spoke up.

  "If you're going to take revenge on him now, he's probably not here anymore."

  "If he's not here, then I'll go find the person who knows where he is."

  "In this condition?"

  I turned back to him.

  "Yes."

  Vic nodded slightly before speaking.

  "If you want to go die, I won't stop you. But let me tell you this: you can only eat monster meat 4 more times."

  "Why?"

  Vic stared at me before speaking.

  "Your body can't take it anymore. If you eat monster meat again without receiving a cleansing fruit, you will lose your mind and die."

  "What about the medicine?"

  "All gone. The one you injected was the last one."

  I frowned and walked closer to him.

  "How can it be gone? If I remember correctly, there was still a lot left, wasn't there?"

  Vic shook his head and threw the cigarette on the floor, stepping on it. He looked up to meet my eyes.

  "That was low-grade stuff. But your condition now requires mid-grade. If you can't find a mid-grade cleansing fruit for me to extract, give up on hoping to live to the second week."

  I stood still upon hearing that. Before long, I frowned and spoke.

  "The fact that they agreed to send someone of that level specifically to deal with me means the item they wanted me to deliver must be very important."

  "Of course. If it were a general item, they wouldn't care to send that level to mess with you."

  "What if I have it?"

  Hearing that, Vic went still for a while before narrowing his eyes.

  "Don't tell me... they haven't gotten it yet?"

  I made eye contact with him and nodded.

  "Yes."