In Year One of the Apocalypse Calendar, a world war broke out. The globe was reduced to scorched earth, the economy regressed a hundred years, and the population plummeted.
In Year Twenty-Nine of the Apocalypse Calendar, severe nuclear radiation spawned vast numbers of mutated creatures that ravaged the globe. The population plummeted again!
In Year Fifty of the Apocalypse Calendar, a country's genetic bioengineering research went wrong, gradually developing into a biological virus. Everyone infected became a zombie!
In Year One Hundred Thirty-Nine of the Apocalypse Calendar, zombies ran rampant across the globe, mutated creatures held sway, and humanity teetered on the brink.
At that moment, in White City, Xia Kingdom.
A thin young man with handsome features stood on the rooftop of a skyscraper in his school uniform beneath a clear blue sky.
The skyscraper beneath his feet stood sixty-seven stories tall. Its pillars were shattered, its walls leaned, and its interior was a wreck. Vines of every kind covered its outer walls. It had become a ruin.
Outside the skyscraper, abandoned cars lay scattered across the streets like trash.
Garbage and fallen leaves littered the ground, while the greenery on either side of the road had grown wild, rising taller than a person.
Beyond that, a group of mindless zombies wandered the streets.
These zombies looked horrific. Many were missing limbs, and some even walked upright with their intestines dragging behind them.
Some had only half a body left, yet still crawled along the ground.
It was a bleak, terrifying scene of the apocalypse.
"Holy shit! I've transmigrated!"
His name was Liu Feng, and he had originally been a college student.
He had been happily reading an apocalypse novel in his dorm room when a flash of white light suddenly burst from his phone.
The next instant, he was standing on this skyscraper's rooftop.
[Ding! Doomsday Insect Ancestor System officially activated!] [Activation complete!] [Binding in progress!] [Host: Liu Feng] [Age: 20] [Gender: male] [Occupation: student] [Activation complete!]
The system's cold voice rang out in Liu Feng's mind.
As a modern college student and seasoned webnovel enthusiast, he had already expected this.
Every transmigrator got a cheat!
A panel appeared before Liu Feng's eyes. Besides his personal information, it displayed images of over a hundred insect types.
Strangely, only the first three insect images were lit up. All the others were gray, and their descriptions could not be viewed.
[Host's current summoning level: LV1 (0/1000)] [Available insect swarm type: Iron-toothed Insect!] [Iron-toothed Insects possess extremely sharp teeth and can gnaw through almost any target.] [Killing one ordinary zombie grants ten experience points.]
"Ten experience points per zombie. That means I can level up by killing a hundred."
Liu Feng looked at the grayed-out images on the panel.
Iron-toothed Insects were only the lowest-tier swarm. Next in line were Parasitic Insects and Exploding Insects, both several times more powerful than Iron-toothed Insects.
Just imagining it—if he could unlock every swarm, wouldn't he be able to do whatever he pleased in this Apocalypse World?
Liu Feng studied the panel a little longer and discovered an upgrade option beneath the Iron-toothed Insects.
Each upgrade cost five hundred experience points but increased the swarm's attack power by ten percent. The maximum level was ten.
"Can I summon an unlimited number?"
Liu Feng asked tentatively.
[Host's current summoning limit: 10000!] [Upon reaching LV2, the host can summon 100000!]
Hearing this, Liu Feng jumped with excitement. He looked down at the zombies in the streets without a trace of fear.
If I reach the maximum level!
Wouldn't I be able to summon millions of insects?
Imagine Liu Feng walking ahead with millions of Iron-toothed Insects following behind him. What a sight that would be!
Mountains could be leveled!
Seas could be filled!
Nothing could stand in Liu Feng's way.
Most importantly, these were only the lowest-tier Iron-toothed Insects. Even more powerful swarms awaited him!
[Summon Iron-toothed Insects?]
"Summon!"
Bzzzz!
With a flash of white light, a hundred Iron-toothed Insects appeared out of thin air before Liu Feng.
Each Iron-toothed Insect was only the size of a fingernail, silver all over, with a pair of wings on its back. Its head resembled a bullet and sported two rows of extremely sharp teeth.
The system panel refreshed once a minute, and each refresh allowed him to summon a hundred Iron-toothed Insects.
As his level rose, the summoning speed would grow faster and faster.
"Go!"
Liu Feng could establish a telepathic connection with the swarm. He only needed to control them through his thoughts, and they would never betray him.
Danger lurked everywhere in this Apocalypse World. Until he was certain it was safe, Liu Feng did not dare venture downstairs.
More importantly, he wanted to test the power of the Iron-toothed Insects.
A hundred Iron-toothed Insects swooped down, packed together like a sheet of silver fabric, and enveloped a zombie.
Bzzz!
The zombie struggled for only a few seconds before every scrap of flesh was gnawed away, leaving nothing but a white skeleton!
[Ding! One zombie killed. Experience +10!]
Liu Feng was dumbstruck at first, then filled with elation.
Level-one Iron-toothed Insects had limited power and could only consume flesh. To reach the point where they could devour anything, they would have to reach the maximum level of ten!
[Ding! One zombie killed. Experience +10] [Ding! One zombie killed. Experience +10]
The system's cold voice kept ringing in his mind.
Over a full half hour, Liu Feng summoned three thousand Iron-toothed Insects and cleared out every zombie within a one-kilometer radius.
Liu Feng opened the system panel again. His experience had risen from zero to five hundred!
But his Iron-toothed Insects had also suffered heavy losses. Fewer than two thousand remained.
The larger the swarm, the faster it eliminated its targets and the fewer losses it suffered. The reverse was also true.
The swarm had another fatal weakness: it could not fly more than one kilometer away from Liu Feng!
Once it went beyond that range, the connection would be lost.
Only after clearing the zombies within a one-kilometer radius did Liu Feng dare go downstairs.
As he walked along the deserted streets, he heard not a single sound for ages.
It was like a dead city, eerie in every corner and so silent that it made his skin crawl!
"Since I can't go back, I'll just have to do my best to survive in this world. Right now, I need to find a safe place to stay, food, and water."
Liu Feng looked up at the sky, utterly at a loss.
Liu Feng searched the city for two or three hours.
He found several supermarkets and shopping malls, but all their supplies had been stripped clean. Not even a bottle of water remained.
Clearly, there had to be other human survivors hiding in this city besides Liu Feng.
As he roamed, Liu Feng caught snippets of broadcasts and radio transmissions, gradually coming to understand his situation.
He was in the Xia Kingdom, which had four major cities, eighteen bases, hundreds of tribes, and thousands of settlements.
Outside these human strongholds, some survivors wandered alone like Liu Feng, surviving on their own.
Liu Feng checked a city map. The nearest settlement was dozens of kilometers away.
If he tried walking there, even if zombies didn't bite him to death, he would starve along the way.
So his most urgent task was to find food and water!
He had to solve his immediate predicament first, then work out what to do next!
"Oh, there's a bicycle!"
Liu Feng ran over and gave it a quick inspection.
Aside from being a little battered, all its parts were in good condition. It was still usable.
In fact, abandoned cars and motorcycles were everywhere in the city, but they were either broken down or had had their fuel siphoned off. Not a single one worked.
(End of chapter)
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