Cave Refuge

But when Zachary curiously scanned the contents of the box with his Divine Sense, he was momentarily taken aback. The briefcase handcuffed to Mason Hart wasn't filled with anything valuable, but instead packed with an entire case of C4 Explosives.

As is widely known, the putty-like C4 Explosives, favored for their extremely high stability and explosive power, have always been popular among many military enthusiasts and users of explosives.

The explosive power of C4 goes without saying, for its widespread use in various contexts evidences that, in terms of power produced by the same measure, C4 must be among the top among many explosives.

The reason why Mason Hart could so carelessly store an entire case of C4—which could instantly annihilate the villa—in his bedroom was due to C4's ultra-high stability, which sets it apart from other explosives that can easily detonate if not stored properly.

Under normal conditions, it's virtually impossible to detonate C4 with bare hands. Someone unacquainted with C4 would never suspect that these explosives, commonly thought to be highly flammable and explosive, cannot be ignited by fire or intense impact; they have to be detonated using another explosive device, as human effort is almost futile otherwise.

It was precisely because of its high stability that Mason Hart felt secure storing it in his bedroom. However, it's worth mentioning that to detonate C4, another explosive must be used, and the careless manipulation of the combination lock on the briefcase by Mason Hart was actually what triggered the timer of the bomb inside the case.

Unless the correct password is entered, even a single incorrect attempt would trigger the timer of the bomb in the case. Moreover, even if the correct password is input, the mechanism inside the case would instantly detonate the C4 upon opening.

When Mason Hart designed this booby-trapped briefcase, he never intended it to be safely opened. If one wished to open it without danger, the only way would be to destroy the outer casing of the briefcase and open it from another angle.

The reason Mason Hart haphazardly set the timer earlier was because the monster possessed strong Illusion Technique abilities. He feared that if he didn't set the explosives to detonate on a timer, he could fall into an illusionary trance, rendering his prepared mutually assured destruction useless or even inadvertently harming other humans.

Since his family was no longer with him and he had accepted his fate, upon hearing Zachary's warning of potential danger by staying here, Mason was prepared to stay. If the situation turned out as Zachary described and there was danger, Mason Hart would rather perish with the monsters.

If Zachary's assessment was wrong and no monsters came seeking revenge, he would leave this world alongside the memories of his family and the villa.

Understanding Mason's intent, Zachary didn't insist and turned to leave.

Sensing the impending danger, Zachary didn't go downstairs to exit through the front door, but went directly to the second-floor balcony, ready to leave by Sword Control.

As Zachary approached the second-floor balcony, he took immediate notice that the normally quiet villa district streets saw many residents emerging from their homes in groups.

Had this been before the Natural Disaster, Zachary would have thought they were just neighbors out for an evening stroll after dinner.

But now, spotting pairs where one of them always wore sunglasses did not require the use of Divine Sense for a closer scan; the issue was blatantly obvious to the naked eye.

Seeing those people heading straight for Mason Hart's villa, Zachary no longer lingered. Since Mason had already resolved to die with those creatures, Zachary wouldn't play the saintly role often seen in movies, staying behind to persuade Mason to cherish life.

After cloaking himself with the Invisibility Technique, Zachary lifted off from the balcony and ascended into the sky with Sword Control.

Hovering above the Taylor family villa, Zachary didn't hurry to land but continued to stay in the air. He watched the groups of monsters entering the Hart villa, counting exactly how many had entered while also marveling at the imprisoned monster within the Cave that had such formidable rallying power, capable of assembling so many monsters so quickly.

Unbeknownst to Zachary, the monsters that preyed on humans at the campsite were actually a Wisdom Race too. As an intelligent species like humans, there were not only sages and brave warriors among the elite of their race but also cowards.

The one he had caught at the Hart household just happened to be one of these cowards. When Hart regained consciousness, it foolishly tried to hypnotize him again and, failing that, intended to flee but was knocked out by Hart in an instant.

When it came to, it discovered that the person who had knocked it out had already left. Realizing it was captured, it immediately used a special distress signal unique to their race, and to ensure enough rescuers, it claimed there was a special treasure found here during its call for help.

It's like a certain joke: if you're stranded in an unknown area, immediately use your phone to text your friends that you've discovered oil. Regardless of whether your friends receive your message or come to save you, it wouldn't be long before Eagle Sauce's reconnaissance team arrived in record time.

After all, as part of a Wisdom Race, they were already capable of understanding and mimicking human language, learning some special survival concepts from humans was quite normal.

This was its way of calling for help, out of greed for life and fear of death, seeking security. If it hadn't been sent to the Cave by Zachary, perhaps after being taken by him, it might have sent a second distress signal, informing others it had moved away.

However, once Zachary directly sent it to the Cave, it had no ability to send distress signals across space, so naturally, its second signal wasn't received by its kin.

Seeing eighteen people entering the Hart villa, Zachary couldn't help but wonder how many normal families were left in the villa area at this moment.

With eighteen people representing nine households and Zachary roughly estimating from above, the entire villa area seemed to have just over thirty households. Not to mention whether this villa area was fully occupied, nine households represented one-third of the total.

If the ratio of survivors to monsters at the camp was similar to that within the villa area, then these monsters essentially occupied the camp.

Don't think that the monsters are only one-third of the population and seem not to have a numerical advantage. Remember, these monsters have illusion powers that could even give Zachary a hard time, and they have a hitman controlled by sunglasses.

Keep in mind that the ratio was calculated by households, not individuals and it seemed like each household of monsters had one monster and one hitman controlled by sunglasses.

On the survivors' side, households typically had only two or three people with actual combat ability.

If an open fight really broke out, although the survivors would win, the camp probably wouldn't have many survivors left after the battle.

Thinking this, Zachary, floating in the air, suddenly felt the urge to leave this place.

What Zachary didn't realize was that his calculations were not accurate; there weren't as many monsters in the camp as he estimated, and their combat power wasn't as strong as he imagined.

First, there were more monsters in the villa area since it had less human traffic and each house had relatively better privacy. The Thompson family had not encountered monster attempts before because they didn't have plants in the yard, which made the situation in the yard completely visible from the outside. Furthermore, as Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Thompson were out early and returned late, it made the monsters feel that there were no residents in that particular villa.