The Changes in the Doomsday World, The Second Psionic Wave

Arthur did not question Guangleng's judgment and immediately logged off, leaving the meeting room.

Lin Qi was not slow either. Estimating the time, the cooldown for the [Gate] was nearly over—it was time to prepare for the trip to the Doomsday World.

The image of the meeting room faded from his retina, and Lin Qi remained in his workspace.

All communication within the meeting room had been conducted through brainwave signals transmitted via the neural interface. At Lin Qi's side sat the pre-prepared "briefcase."

When the [Gate] pulsed within his Spiritual Sea, Lin Qi responded immediately.

Light and dark alternated, and Lin Qi had already arrived in the Doomsday World.

The broadcast that had not finished playing before he left the last time was still ongoing.

[This is Modu Rescue Command. Please cooperate with rescue operations. Before rescue personnel arrive, try to clear nearby zombies as much as possible. Repeat: please clear nearby zombies as much as possible.]

[It is estimated that within 24 hours, an unknown energy tide will sweep through a second time, and the danger level of zombies may increase.]

The broadcast startled Xia Chu, who had been sleeping. She first looked at the phone acting as a radio, then at Lin Qi.

Lin Qi was frowning.

The briefcase had not come with him.

Too large in volume?

Or could only items on his person be carried through?

He would need to experiment the next time he came to the Doomsday World.

The only thing worth being happy about was that the newly built small Crimson Crystal Collecting Robot, attached to the arm exoskeleton, had come along.

"You're awake."

Xia Chu reached out, wanting to touch Lin Qi's face, but he deftly rose and dodged her.

"According to the broadcast, I need to clear the zombies in this building as soon as possible. There are still two units left." After saying this, Lin Qi prepared to head out.

Xia Chu stood up and asked, "Can you take me with you?"

Lin Qi paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Too dangerous."

Xia Chu bit her lip lightly and nodded slightly.

Lin Qi continued to instruct, "Keep absorbing the Crimson Crystals for now. When I get back, I'll teach you something."

It wouldn't do to keep brushing Xia Chu off. Lin Qi planned to give her something to do.

Maybe he could let Xia Chu try stepping into an Extraordinary Profession.

The Doomsday World was rich in Spiritual Energy Particles, and Extraordinary Items were everywhere—an environment perfectly suited for the rise of Extraordinary beings.

To maximize gains in this world, Lin Qi needed more power.

The "briefcase" hadn't come through, so the plan to build a Cybernetic Legion couldn't be implemented in the short term. But he could bring Extraordinary Professions into this world.

Of course, the prerequisite was that those who stepped into the Extraordinary would not betray him.

Xia Chu was a suitable candidate.

He believed that once she had an Extraordinary Profession, Xia Chu would at least stop having her mind full of...

The desires of young couples were terrifying.

Lin Qi was worried Xia Chu would send another "match" request.

Xia Chu didn't know what Lin Qi was thinking. She just nodded slightly.

Lin Qi left the room and took out his weapon.

He stepped into the hallway.

The apartment building was an old-style structure, and the units were not connected to each other.

What separated them were the load-bearing walls of the building.

But the reinforced concrete load-bearing walls couldn't stop Lin Qi after just a few slashes.

He cut a hole through the load-bearing wall and crossed into the adjacent unit.

This low-quality behavior of cutting holes in the top-floor load-bearing wall wouldn't turn the building into a dangerous structure anytime soon—at most, it would shorten the building's lifespan by ten years.

But in the apocalypse, no one cared about that. Lin Qi only wanted to improve his clearing efficiency.

Lin Qi didn't know how the top-tier people in this world had learned the timing of the new Spiritual Energy Particle tide.

But he knew their judgment was correct.

When the Spiritual Energy Particle tide arrived, the zombies would become more dangerous.

For now, the zombies' combat power was still inferior to an ordinary person holding a weapon. But after the change descended, the zombies might reach M-level—equivalent to a basic cybernetic modification or the entry-level standard of an Extraordinary Profession.

That would be something ordinary people could no longer handle. Even some low-quality doors and windows might not provide effective protection.

Lin Qi moved quickly. With the help of the Collecting Robot, he no longer needed to gather Crimson Crystals manually—he only needed to cut down zombies one by one.

In just over three hours, Lin Qi had cleared all the zombies in the entire building.

The Collecting Robot had piled all the crystals outside Lin Qi's room on the top floor.

Inside the room, Xia Chu kept hearing a rustling sound from outside but didn't dare open the door to check.

Fighting her way up the floors to find Lin Qi had already taken every ounce of courage she had in this life.

It wasn't until Lin Qi returned to the room that Xia Chu asked, "Lin Qi, there's been a strange noise outside the door. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

He scratched his head. When designing the program, he'd forgotten Xia Chu was still in the room. He hadn't expected the Collecting Robot's noise to startle her.

After showing off the Collecting Robot, Lin Qi reassured her, "This is a robot I designed earlier. It's perfect for moving Crimson Crystals."

Xia Chu's gaze turned skeptical.

Had Lin Qi really made something this impressive?

A robot of this caliber must be world-class, right?

Lin Qi was that skilled? No way.

Hard as it was to believe, the evidence was right in front of her.

Xia Chu had no choice but to accept it.

"You said earlier that when you got back, you'd teach me something. What is it?" Xia Chu asked.

Lin Qi cleared his throat and put on a very serious expression. "Xia Chu, do you believe that the extraordinary exists in this world?"

Extraordinary?

What was that?

For a moment, Xia Chu couldn't even figure out which two characters he meant.

After a pause, her face twisted in confusion. "Martial arts? Cultivation? Ultraman?"

Lin Qi nodded.

Xia Chu shook her head. "No."

"What if I told you it really does exist..."

He'd barely gotten halfway through the sentence when he stopped short.

The reason was simple—Spiritual Energy Particles were surging wildly!

The wave of Spiritual Energy Particles predicted in the broadcast had arrived!

And it came fast!

Only a little over three hours had passed since the broadcast.

Xia Chu's gaze also drifted toward the window.

It was the early hours of the morning, still a while before sunrise.

Outside, the pre-dawn darkness should have been lit only by faint moonlight and starlight, with no city lights to speak of.

But now, the world beyond the window was bathed in a bloody red glow.

"Lin Qi, look at the sky."

Following Xia Chu's line of sight.

High above, the moon—normally reflecting the sun's light—was slowly rotating, emitting a crimson radiance.

The force of tidal locking had become a joke.

The far side of the moon was gradually turning toward the earth.

Through Psychic Vision, Spiritual Energy Particles were in chaos, a torrent of them falling from the sky.

These particles were very similar in composition to Crimson Crystals.

Beyond the range of Psychic Vision, Lin Qi's perspective became no different from anyone else's, though his sight was a little sharper.

"Xia Chu, turn around and close your eyes!"

The moment Lin Qi caught sight of a corner of the rotating moon, he quickly pulled Xia Chu close, not even stopping to think about how his parallel-timeline self might feel, and pressed her head against his chest.

High above.

The moon's dark side revealed itself—a single enormous pupil hung in the sky.

There was no emotion in that pupil, only endless chaos and madness.

Do not look directly at it.

Among the survivors, everyone who gazed at the moon in that instant died on the spot. Within two breaths, they rose again, low groans spilling from their throats.