True Apocalypse Game

According to the mythology of the Aztec Civilization, in the time before creation, the gods gathered before a fire. The god Huitzilopochtli sacrificed himself by leaping into the flames, immolating himself to become the sun, and thus began the age of humanity.

Huitzilopochtli was the sun god, and also the god of war.

The Aztecs believed that every time the sun set, the sun god died. Blood and the heart were the most precious parts of a person, which they called the "eagle-cactus pear." Only through the sacrifice of blood and hearts could the sun god be revived, allowing the sun to rise each day.

During the ritual, the sacrificial victim would be taken to the top of a pyramid-shaped Temple and laid upon a sacrificial stone. Four people would hold their limbs, stretching them out completely.

The victim would then drink a cup of an anesthetic potion made from herbs, causing their body to relax and conform to the curved shape of the sacrificial stone, fully exposing their chest to the priests.

The priests would then approach, holding sharp knives made of flint, to perform the sacrificial ceremony.

The executioner had an intimate knowledge of human anatomy, able to locate every organ. With practiced skill, they would use the knife to make a horizontal incision beneath the ribcage, reach in to grasp the still-beating heart, and swiftly rip it out. They would then raise it to the sky with both hands as an offering to the sun god, Huitzilopochtli.

Afterward, the heart would be placed in an eagle-shaped dish and burned.

In the minds of the Aztecs, an eagle Elf would then fly down from the sky, take the soul of the heart, and carry it up to the heavens as an offering for the sun god to eat. The soul of this heart would then remain with the sun god forever.

Human sacrifice was a daily ritual. After the heart was burned as an offering, the head would also be severed. The headless body would be rolled down the Temple steps, while the skull was placed on a skull rack next to the Temple.

The Aztecs performed live human sacrifices every day. For major events, such as praying for rain or celebrating the completion of a new Temple, they would conduct large-scale sacrifices. The number of victims in these events could reach the thousands or even tens of thousands.

Historical records describe one large-scale sacrifice where twenty-five thousand people were offered up within five days, turning the Temple steps crimson.

The entire city reeked of the sickly sweet smell of human blood.

Of course, they also practiced cannibalism.

According to the Aztecs’ beliefs, by eating another person, one could gain their positive traits.

Thus, no one would deign to eat the weak or sickly; the stronger and more robust the warrior, the more sought-after they were.

The Aztecs even invented an extremely bloody ball game played with stones and human heads.

Aztec warriors believed that by eating their enemies, they could absorb their strength, courage, and all their other virtues...

As for being sacrificed, that was considered a great honor.

Shen Feng reviewed what he knew about the Aztec Civilization in his mind while covertly observing the entrance that had been blasted open in the road.

Originally, this place was supposed to be a road collapse caused by construction and overloaded vehicles, which led to the appearance of the Spider Nest City ruins. But with the world now thoroughly infected by the Evil Spirit Virus, there was no such thing as road construction anymore.

Therefore, it wasn’t until Shen Feng set off a plastic explosive that the ruins of the Spider Nest City appeared for the first time in this world.

The muffled sound of the explosion echoed through the streets, immediately attracting the remaining zombies in the area, who swarmed over.

It was daytime, when the zombies were most active. In the blink of an eye, more than a hundred of them had gathered here.

Shen Feng hid in a second-floor room of a small building, his expression stern as he observed the zombies’ movements.

These zombies moved much faster than they did at night, but they still had no consciousness whatsoever, merely charging over on instinct.

The first few zombies, charging too fast, fell directly into the entrance. Angry roars soon followed from within.

He still didn’t know what was inside Spider Nest City. Shen Feng’s plan was to let the zombies scout ahead first.

’If there are any monsters in there, I’ll just let them tear each other apart.’

The remaining zombies milled about for a bit, but finding nothing of interest, they began to wander off again like wild animals.

But then Shen Feng noticed that a dozen or so of them seemed to possess a higher level of self-awareness than the others. They hadn’t left.

Instead, they circled the entrance, as if they wanted to see what was inside.

A well-dressed white-collar worker, a tattooed Big Beard, a flower-selling woman, a female student in a uniform, a uniformed military police officer, and so on.

Judging by the clothes of these dozen or so zombies, they had come from all different walks of life before they died, belonging to various social strata.

But now, their actions were somewhat coordinated, as if they shared a tacit understanding.

’They’re not like the other zombies!’

Shen Feng frowned. He took out his binoculars and was about to get a closer look at these zombies when the ground suddenly trembled slightly. Then, the dozen or so zombies let out a collective roar and, one by one, jumped down from the edge of the pit!

Moreover, Shen Feng could clearly sense that the order in which they jumped was not random. The strongest few went first, followed by the relatively weaker ones, and finally the zombies that looked like military police and gang members.

’It’s like they’re a tactical squad!’

’What the hell is going on?’

Shen Feng was puzzled, but he knew he wasn’t just being paranoid. There was really something wrong with these zombies.

If he treated them like ordinary zombies, as he had before, he would be gravely mistaken!

’I wouldn’t even know what hit me!’

His previous encounters with zombies had mostly been at night. He had relied on the cover of darkness and the advantage of his weapons to launch surprise attacks before immediately retreating. He’d never had a chance to observe these zombies carefully in the daylight.

It seemed now that there were some anomalies among the zombies...

’No, it’s more like strange colonies!’

At this point, Shen Feng was in no hurry to enter the Spider Nest City. Instead, he took out his binoculars and began observing the zombies in the distance.

He scanned the area. All the zombies were wandering aimlessly just like before, with nothing out of the ordinary about them.

Even when they gathered together, it was purely by chance; there was no interaction between them at all.

They were not the same as the zombies from a moment ago.

Shen Feng observed for a while longer and suddenly noticed something strange.

At the end of one street, five zombies were actually advancing in a single file line. And in their hands, they were even holding weapons like clubs and bottles!

If not for their sunken eyes streaked with blood and the wounds on their bodies, Shen Feng would have thought these five staggering figures with vacant gazes were just a group of drunkards!

From their appearance, they were clearly purposeful, as if searching for something, occasionally peering into the buildings they passed.

These zombies, too, were a strange cluster!

After understanding their peculiarity and waiting a bit longer to confirm that no new "zombie colonies" had appeared, he finally emerged from his hiding place. With the jar containing the zombie brain at his waist and wearing a sealed protective suit to mask his scent, he ran toward the entrance, rifle at the ready.

Most of the surrounding zombies had dispersed by now. Coupled with the cover provided by the zombie brain, he encountered no resistance along the way.

Arriving at the entrance to the ruins, Shen Feng took a leap and jumped straight down.

THUD! His feet landed with a muffled sound. There was a pile of sand and dirt at the bottom of the entrance, so the drop wasn’t too high—only two or three meters, which was no problem for Shen Feng.

Ahead was a pitch-black underground cavern. Shen Feng put on his night-vision goggles, walked down the mound of earth, and soon reached the actual floor of the ruins.

Looking around, this seemed to be an ancient Aztec city. There were no city walls, but there were some stone buildings adorned with motifs from ancient Mexican tribal civilizations.

At the same time, a strange feeling welled up from the depths of his heart. It was completely different from what he’d felt when he encountered the Master of the Void. This feeling was tinged with despair, hesitation, anger, and hysteria. Although it was just the seedling of an emotion, he didn’t know when it might grow stronger.

Shen Feng snorted coldly. His Silicon-Based Brain instantly released an electrical wave, stimulating his biological brain to counteract the emotion.

According to his memory, Aztec cities were laid out in a grid. As long as he walked from the edge toward the center, he would definitely reach the location of the Temple.

That was the center of the entire city and also the most important place.

In the pitch darkness, square stone houses were scattered about. The faint sounds of walking and low growls could be heard nearby.

’Must be the zombies that charged in earlier.’

However, they had all gone deeper into the ruins, including that strange colony of a dozen or so zombies from before. All of them had vanished.

Holding his rifle and guided by the faint glow of his night-vision goggles, Shen Feng walked forward along a road of unknown age. Along the way, among the ruins of houses and on the road itself, were numerous human skeletons, as well as some pottery, stone tools, and other artifacts.

The posture of these human skeletons suggested they had died lying on their backs, as if they had passed away in their sleep.

Some gleaming gold, silver, and jade artifacts lay scattered around the human skeletons, looking exquisite.

Besides the ancient Hua Country People, the Maya and Aztec civilizations of South America also had a fondness for jade, possessing their own unique jade cultures.

Shen Feng casually picked up a cloud-shaped piece of green jadeite. He found it to be remarkably similar to a Gouyun Pendant from the ancient Hongshan Culture of Hua Country, which gave him a sense of profound wonder.

Just then, a strange sound suddenly came from the central area of the ruins ahead. It drifted on the air currents in the vast underground space, sounding very peculiar, like someone whispering in his ear.

But Shen Feng had a vague feeling that this two-syllable sound was very strange, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

He tilted his head to listen in the darkness. After hearing it a few more times, a chill suddenly ran down his spine, and the hair on his body stood on end.

The whisper was:

"Shen—Feng—"