Chapter 162 - 112: Flock of Birds

Chapter 162: Chapter 112: Flock of Birds

Somehow, the normal and mutated birds were coexisting peacefully at this moment, all following some powerful instinct or command to form this vast, migrating army.

The combined sound of their flapping wings converged into a low hum, like the roar of a distant waterfall, that swept over the entire Red Star Industrial Zone, growing louder as it approached.

The flock wasn’t flying particularly high. Its immense size and numbers blocked out a significant portion of the sunlight, causing the light around the fortress to dim at a visible rate, as if dusk had arrived ahead of schedule.

"Good God, what is happening?!"

"A hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix? No, this is a hundred fucking birds fleeing for their lives!"

"What are they doing? Isn’t it supposed to be spring?"

The walkie-talkie was instantly flooded with voices of shock and speculation. Everyone was stunned by this unprecedented celestial phenomenon.

Xu Mo lowered his binoculars, his expression incredibly grave. He stared at the flock that covered the sky like a thick blanket, his thoughts in turmoil.

A mass migration of this scale—one that crossed species and even included mutants—could not be explained by simple climate change.

The dark cloud in the sky, formed by countless wings blotting out the sun, flew for a full ten minutes before its massive formation began to thin, eventually turning into scattered black dots that vanished over the southern horizon.

An eerie silence fell over the fortress. The immense hum from the flock’s wings had vanished, and even the walkie-talkie channel fell uncharacteristically quiet, as if the spectacular yet ominous sight had robbed everyone of their voices, leaving them lost in their own shock and thoughts.

Xu Mo slowly lowered the hand holding the binoculars, silently watching the direction in which the flock had disappeared, his mind in turmoil.

The implications behind such a massive, cross-species migration that even ignored the boundary between normal and mutated were heavy enough to be suffocating. In that moment, a terrifying thought uncontrollably shot into his mind—

’Could it be that the zombie crisis, the Eternal Night, and the floods were just appetizers? Is the real, all-consuming apocalypse only just beginning?’

The thought sent a chill spreading from the depths of his heart. If even the birds in the sky could sense some irresistible disaster and begin to flee in such a panicked, unified manner, then what would the humans left on the ground have to face?

The flock’s migration path wasn’t headed directly for the Jiang City Shelter, which was a small blessing. But it was impossible for Jiang City not to have detected an anomaly of this scale. High-altitude reconnaissance drones, long-range radar, or other detection methods must have already sent the information back.

’After this, the higher-ups in Jiang City will probably have to start seriously considering their anti-air defenses,’ Xu Mo mused.

He had observed Jiang City’s defenses before; the Steel Barrier and concentrated firepower were designed primarily against ground threats. Faced with such a bizarre flock of mutated birds, would their existing anti-air capabilities be sufficient? It was a problem that urgently needed to be addressed.

As for the cause of this unprecedented mass migration, several theories flashed through Xu Mo’s mind:

First, a drastic environmental change. Perhaps the north, or the birds’ original habitat, had undergone some extreme deterioration, such as continuous acid rain, lethal radioactive dust, or a sudden temperature shift that made the environment uninhabitable. ℴℴ𝘮

Second, the arrival of a natural predator. Xu Mo felt this was more likely. Perhaps a more terrifying aerial mutant or unknown creature that preyed specifically on birds had appeared in a certain region, forcing all birds to abandon their territory and migrate south en masse.

And third, some deeper signal, not yet understood by humans, was acting on the instincts of all avian life, driving them to flee this place.

Every possibility pointed to an even grimmer and more unknown future.

’But there’s one thing I can confirm,’ Xu Mo’s gaze grew profound as he looked out the window at the deathly silent ruins, as if piercing through time and space. ’Right now, in some place we don’t know about, something big is definitely happening. This bird migration is just a tiny reflection of that major event projected onto us.’

The information barrier caused by poor communications was especially deadly in the face of such a drastic change.

These Observers on the front lines were like sailors stranded on a deserted island; they could see the strange waves and sky but had no way of knowing where the storm’s center was or how large it was.

As an ordinary survivor, Xu Mo was keenly aware of the limits of his abilities. He couldn’t uncover the whole truth, nor could he change the grand course of events.

At this moment, Xu Mo’s only, and simplest, wish was not to investigate some unattainable truth, but simply: ’I hope everyone is safe.’

This "everyone" referred to the "acquaintances" he’d only met a few times in Jiang City—Feng Dayong, Zhao Ming, and Wang Nade. It also referred to the "comrades" on the walkie-talkie whom he’d never met but had held the line with for a month. More than that, it included all his fellow human beings struggling to survive in the apocalypse.

Faced with the increasingly profound and unfathomable tide of the apocalypse, the power of an individual was so insignificant. Besides striving to improve himself, perhaps all he could do was hold onto this small prayer and keep moving forward.

The sky returned to its leaden gray, but a shadow, even heavier than before, had been cast over everyone’s heart.