Afterward, someone else discovered that the more powerful a pollution source was, the more instinctively it repelled other pollution. So the crowd scattered, each seeking their own way to survive.
People seemed fragile—just a little illness or pain could cost them their lives. Yet people could also be tenacious, like wildfire; even in such harsh circumstances, they still endured and survived.
As for the price of approaching a powerful pollution source—if it was a contaminated zone, one had to obey the rules within it, while enduring the ever-accumulating mental pollution. Once that mental pollution built up to a certain point, it would erupt in the form of nightmares, tormenting the mind.
If one approached a giant beast, there was no need to follow any rules, but giant beasts were terrifying beyond measure, and they were constantly moving. Get too close, and pollution would accumulate too much in an instant, plunging one immediately into nightmares—or even killing them through excessive pollution. Beyond that, there was also the danger of being noticed by the giant beast...
"Do you think the thing that grants us power really is spiritual energy?!"
Rather than directly answer whether there was hope, Bai Luo asked this question.
"Many people believe that the disaster which brought about the apocalypse was a spiritual-energy catastrophe. Weak lifeforms could not adapt to such powerful spiritual energy, and thus they went extinct."
"But what exactly is spiritual energy?!"
The old man trembled slightly upon hearing this. He seemed shocked, yet also excited.
Bai Luo was keenly perceptive. Having lived two lives and once stood at the pinnacle of power and strength, even though everyone's abilities were now greatly diminished, she remained the undisputed strongest. Thus, she instantly noticed the old man's abnormal reaction.
"You seem to know something?!"
Bai Luo said.
"M-my