Doomsday Earth

"What a beautiful planet. Not white, but she's so lovely!"

The moment he saw Earth's outline, Li Wei was briefly stunned, then sincerely marveled at the breathtaking sight that 99.999% of people would never get to appreciate firsthand.

A wave of poetic inspiration surged through him. After three seconds of emotional buildup, he opened his mouth and shouted, "So blue!"

Then his body was caught by Earth's gravity and began slowly falling downward.

After sensing things briefly, Li Wei found that the viral abilities within him could still be used. He curled his body and expelled the compressed gas from his cells, adjusting his orientation outside the atmosphere so he could take a look at the real universe.

He did not see the Moon, but he did see the Sun. It looked like an orange he had once eaten, orange-red and juicy-looking. He just did not know why it kept spraying stuff outward.

He had less than three seconds to admire the star before he saw the Key's energy in the corner of his eye rapidly climbing.

It rose from 0.1% to 1.3%. A few seconds later, it had reached 2.1%.

Seeing that the Key was still there, Li Wei had a bad feeling. He had not even pulled it out. Could this still not be his original world?

He did not need to breathe, nor did he need to worry about being smashed into pulp by the fall, so he had plenty of time to turn back around and observe everything on Blue Star from an altitude of roughly a thousand kilometers.

Then he saw a red spot appearing in one conspicuous area on Earth...

Li Wei had a terrible sense of direction and did not memorize maps, but from the vague outline of the land and fragments of certain people's memories from the Prototype world, he still recognized it as Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone National Park was home to one of the world's largest calderas. If that area was glowing red, the only possibility was a volcanic eruption.

Ridiculous!

Dark-red flesh tendrils rolled around Li Wei's body, transforming into an armored form as he turned and flew toward Yellowstone National Park in America.

As Li Wei passed through the thermosphere and entered the mesosphere, his field of vision narrowed somewhat, but he also saw some very unpleasant things.

The ocean was churning. Beneath broad daylight, there was no peaceful world to be seen—only countless "tiny" cracks continuously spreading across the land.

Li Wei retracted his gliding mode and dove headfirst for a distance, entering the stratosphere.

This time, he could see even more. The boundless tsunami sweeping in from the edges of the cities inspired instinctive terror and made him feel small.

The waves overturned buildings like anthills. Even smaller humans were constantly fleeing in the direction opposite the tsunami, but Li Wei could not make out those who were running.

He spread his limbs and flew in the direction opposite the tsunami as well.

His descent speed dropped sharply. With his abilities driven at full force, Li Wei could fly another four or five hundred kilometers.

But his heart was ice-cold, and he even wanted to roar, What the fuck is this shitty world?!

Compared with the tide of infected in the Prototype world, the scene before him was nothing short of hell!

A tsunami over a thousand meters high swept across the land. Once-glorious buildings were easily toppled, and people, animals, cars, and houses alike were all swallowed by the waves.

He had thought he was going home, but the Key had given him one hell of a surprise instead!

Li Wei was not flying very fast. Before long, the land directly beneath him had already been swallowed by the waves.

The Blacklight Virus had not evolved the ability to survive on the seabed. Elizabeth Greene had been locked in a room all this time. If Blacklight wanted to gain the ability to adapt to seawater, it had to come into contact with the ocean.

No one could understand something they had never observed.

Evolution depended on need. Creatures that had always lived on land had no need to live in the deep sea, so they could not possibly develop the corresponding organs.

Having suddenly run into this mess, Li Wei felt deeply frustrated. He could only adjust his course and glide toward Yellowstone National Park. The terrain there was high, and the tsunami could not reach that far.

As he descended, Li Wei relied on his exceptional eyesight to see the crowds running below like background scenery.

The panicked people were like ants being sprayed by a giant, fleeing wildly in every direction. But before true terror, no matter where they ran, they would be drowned.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The trembling roar was like a giant snoring. The earth rolled over, and the tsunami came with an earthquake. A hellish scene entered Li Wei's vision.

Humanity was so fragile before the power of nature that Li Wei, who had been getting a little swollen-headed over his own strength, fell silent as a cicada in winter.

His heart was like ice, cold to the bone.

As he continued deeper into the American Continent, Li Wei finally reached the Troposphere. Beneath him was no longer seawater mixed with countless floating objects, but a stretch of land that remained relatively intact.

It was just that the flames and thick smoke from Yellowstone National Park's volcanic eruption ahead rather ruined the view...

Suddenly, while gliding, Li Wei saw a small white plane burst out of the volcano's dense smoke ahead. Overjoyed, he immediately adjusted his direction so that he was flying along the same route as the little plane.

If he landed now and failed to evolve wings before disaster struck, he might die on this Earth that was experiencing a true apocalypse.

Even if wings really did emerge, biomass was not limitless. If he kept flying with no destination, he might get lost in the ocean.

He glanced at the Key's energy. He had only just arrived on this Earth, and it had already reached 34.67%. Its increase was now probably slowed to a crawl because the Sun was obscured by thick smoke!

On the plane, five people had just gone through a life-or-death ordeal...

Among the five were two men and one woman, along with a little boy and a little girl.

Having just escaped Yellowstone National Park's volcanic eruption and ground-splitting disaster, they had found a map leading to the Ark. They planned to find a large enough plane, head to China, and board the apocalypse Ark to barely cling to life.

Looking down through the plane's small windows at the terrifying sight of collapsing mountains and splitting earth below, they had exhausted all their energy. They could only silently watch the ground beneath them, reaching up to wipe away the tears left on their faces by fear.

In their hearts, they silently prayed for humanity as a whole, and for themselves as well.

After wiping the tears from her daughter's face, Kate looked at her ex-husband Jackson, who was still leaning against the back seat and panting, and softly asked, "Where should we go next...?"

Thump!

"Ahhh! Mommy, look!"

Before she could finish, Lily, already startled like a frightened bird, let out a terrified scream and pointed toward the front of the plane.

"My God! What is that?!"

Gordon, who was acting as the plane's pilot, also cried out as though he had seen a ghost, his voice filled with disbelief and fear.

Jackson and Kate looked over and shouted in shock as well.

"Shit!"

"What the hell is that?!"

A black humanoid creature descending from the sky landed on the nose of their plane. Its angular body brimmed with power. Its featureless face looked toward them, and the sensation of being watched by a wild beast made the five people inside the plane instantly feel their hearts race.

What was that?

An alien?

The alien in their eyes grabbed the top of the plane and knocked on the small window beside the cockpit. During that series of movements, its flesh tendrils contracted and churned, returning it to Li Wei's original appearance.

"Oh my God!" Seeing this, Gordon nearly lost his grip on the controls. The plane jolted violently, making everyone inside cry out in alarm.

Li Wei continued lightly knocking on the side window, smiling as he gestured for Gordon to open the door.

Gordon nervously looked back. Only after seeing everyone nod in unison did he open the small side window.

"Could I hitch a ride?" Li Wei shouted amiably at Gordon inside.

Gordon swallowed and looked back again...

Kate and Jackson exchanged glances. Their eyes were full of conflict and struggle as they slightly shook their heads.

Then they saw the "forty-meter" blade that Li Wei had produced from his left hand. Their faces immediately drenched in cold sweat, and they nodded frantically, leaving Gordon completely bewildered.

When he turned back, Li Wei had already put away the "forty-meter" blade and was wearing a gentle smile.

The two children: too scared to speak.jpg

In the end, Li Wei climbed along the top of the plane to the cabin door. Jackson opened it for him and let him squeeze inside.

It did not matter that he had no idea what world "2012" was. There was not much content anyway.