In the next two years, Hamilton continued to live in the city. After the passage of the living zombies, wandering zombies and various monsters emerged in the city. Those who previously refused to leave either managed to escape or were killed. Hamilton, using stored food and some resources, established a tiny place for survival on the rooftop. He opened a small botanical garden and survived the first summer with these plants. Then, during the first winter when electricity was still available, he set up a greenhouse in the room downstairs. To survive, he never turned on the lights and lived extremely cautiously. Initially, he thought he could live for a lifetime. However, in the second autumn, the city’s power system collapsed, and the building he was in lost power. Buildings that still had electricity were either filled with zombies or inaccessible due to entrances being overrun by various monsters. Mr. Hamilton spent ten days modifying a motorcycle in the lobby on the first floor. He wanted to leave the city because he heard that resistance camps existed in the south. He had lived here for too long, too long that he was somewhat impatient to try his luck in the south. On the last page of his diary, Hamilton mentioned that he recently caught a cold, blaming it on the damned power failure. Then the diary abruptly ends here. Malin specifically found the completely rusted motorcycle at the bottom of the building Hamilton mentioned. Then Malin sensed something and discovered the corpse lying dead on the bed on the top floor — even as the beds had already decayed, the semi-enclosed space preserved the skeletal remains relatively intact. But it was also decayed enough that Malin could only watch Hamilton through the wall — not because Malin feared the disease inside since last night’s purification had thoroughly cleansed this area, but because he dreaded that opening the door would disperse Mr. Hamilton with the airflow. So, perhaps it was an acute illness; in any case, Hamilton’s life came to an end in this little room. He never realized his dream of going south, which left Malin with much regret — in a world of destruction, mortals are always struggling to survive. But the cost of survival is too high, and any small negligence can lead to losing their lives. Maya, after hearing Mr. Hamilton’s story, also felt a sense of lament. She and Malin looked at the young people who profited handsomely through sacrifices, feeling the joys and sorrows of the era. "I’m really curious now that if Nagoth invaded this area, how did our civilization last until the present eight thousand years later? I think something must have changed all of this." Maya’s inference echoed Malin’s thoughts. Something must have happened on this land. Although they only found a slave nation, it could possibly be a new nation established by survivors after the ice age wiped out civilization... In any case, there were no more Nagoth armies on this land. While there were many roaming soldiers, they definitely didn’t have the form of an army. Someone interrupted the invasion of Nagoth, completely burying the invasion of Chaos. Malin didn’t know who this person or the group was, but it didn’t stop Malin from feeling respect for them. Like all those who sacrificed for the innocent and civilization in this world, they all deserved Malin’s respect. "Tomorrow we will head to Washington to find the answer to all these matters." Malin instinctively felt that the answer must be in that city. Maya nodded and looked at a piece of paper in her hand. Malin leaned in and saw that it was an advertisement from Panthera. "Malin, if I take this picture back to The Great Forest Land and those noble elders realize that they were mere pets of humans back then, their pride and honor would surely be completely shattered." "Better not, dear." Malin shook his head. Maya also understood Malin’s thoughts, and smilingly tore the advertisement paper taken from the stasis field into pieces and scattered them into the wind. "I’m happy because I am your lover, Malin. Although when I was young, I wondered why I didn’t have parents like me. Until I met you, now I realize, this is my destiny. I left The Great Forest Land, left my parents, left my sisters and brothers, but because of this, I met you." Maya turned around and opened her arms to Malin, pulling him into her embrace. Malin smiled and embraced his little leopard. I’m also glad I came to this era to meet you all. The next morning, Malin accompanied Onor to count the number of people. Onor diligently ensured that no one had accidentally gotten themselves killed after a night of revelry — after all, it was said that there were still mimic monsters in this world, the ones most adept at attacking others in human form. Malin also confirmed that everyone was indeed themselves, and no one had been possessed. Then they climbed onto the back of the rhinos. According to plan, they would reach Stafford within a day. Jason, through the newly launched rocket orbital pod, dropped three orbital pods in the outskirts of Stafford. Those three orbital pods would serve as the foundation of the new camp. The only problem was that numerous Chaos units could still be observed in Stafford via satellite. The good news was that those Chaos units hadn’t established any camp appearances. The bad news was that the roads were all blocked, and Malin could only lead the Rhinoceros Team over mountains and across rivers. The straight-line distance between Tapahannock and Stafford on the old maps was no more than 75 kilometers, but after a day’s journey, they realized they hadn’t even traveled halfway by nightfall. So they had to set up camp. This task was left to others, while Malin focused on purifying the raging Wraiths. All the members of the team watched Malin purify for the first time — in their imagination, Malin must have battled the most powerful Vengeful Spirit among the Wraiths, fought dozens of rounds, and only then purified the spirit, liberating the Wraiths as well. In reality, after experiencing the first night, Malin directly employed admonitions on the second night. A few scoldings later, the myriad Wraiths and Vengeful Spirits turned into flying ash together. When Malin returned to the yet-to-be-set-up camp, Ling Zuo Zuo looked over at the now tiny Malin Prince, wide-eyed like he had discovered some kind of monster. "What’s up, Zuo Zuo?" Malin asked curiously. "I finally understand what it was about the notion when I said I wouldn’t marry you. How you seemed at a disadvantage." The Bunny Girl sighed hands on her hips. "Do you regret it now?" Malin asked with a smile — he knew her boyfriend was also in the team. "Although my boyfriend is not as strong as you, I like him very much." The Bunny Girl’s insistence caused the Western Land legends to all laugh. One by one, they went over to the lucky boyfriend and patted him on the shoulder. Malin, too, went over with a smile and patted the young Thanan’s hand: "What’s your name?" "Dr. Qin, my father wanted me to study, but I let him down." The young man smiled shyly. "Doctor, good name, but you didn’t disappoint your father. Studying and becoming a warrior are both for protecting your homeland," Malin said, motioning everyone to quickly set up camp. So everyone got busy with camp setup, and Malin, holding Little Spotty, walked a circle around the camp, discovering several large Spirits eyeing them. They didn’t pay much attention to Malin, but when Malin no longer pretended to suppress his power, these big fellows turned and ran. Spotty proudly followed its master around the circle. When it was time to return to camp, it looked towards the darkness. Malin also looked into the darkness. In the darkness, a small Snow Leopard stumbled out, and behind it, a Leopard Lady timidly faced the most terrifying existence in her leopard life. After a moment’s thought, Malin took out a piece of jerky and tossed it in front of the little leopard. These elegant beings had probably been genetically modified as pets before the Great Catastrophe. Their ability to live on the plains was likely due to the global climate shift towards colder temperatures. Finally, the little leopard and its mother began to eat while Malin brought Spotty Lady back to the camp. Spotty, on the way back, looked back more than once. Malin knew it was probably reminded of its past and of when it was caught by a giant. This is fate, little girl. Malin patted its head.