Chapter 1: Do Not Fall Behind!
The sky was gloomy, and a pattering drizzle mixed with the smell of earth mingled in Chu Sheng's nostrils.
He was already soaked through, but Chu Sheng did not dare to stop; he could only grit his teeth and keep up with the procession.
Here, one could not fall behind!
Falling behind meant death!
About half a year ago, the sky emitted a deafening loud noise, and then it exploded before everyone's eyes.
It exploded in the true sense of the word.
Chu Sheng could not describe the scene back then, nor could he use words to describe how the sky had blown apart.
He only knew that an inexplicable loud noise woke him up. He originally thought that the big transport truck downstairs was sending someone off again, and just as he walked over to the window to take a look, the sky blew up.
Immediately following that was the apocalypse.
Countless Anomalies entities emerged, especially in crowded places, which were practically hard-hit zones.
He hid at home and dared not make a sound, which was how he survived the first three days of the Anomalies slaughter.
All news was obtained via mobile phone, and as he sought information, Chu Sheng's heart grew more and more despairing.
In less than three days, many small countries were wiped out, and countless Anomalies entities ran rampant everywhere. In less than a month, Changjiang City where he lived fell, and out of a population of over two million in the city, ninety-nine percent died.
Chu Sheng and a crowd of survivors escaped, and what the outside world was like now, he no longer knew.
They had lost contact.
No! To be more precise, no radio stations were broadcasting anymore, and radios had become electronic garbage in the true sense of the word, serving no purpose at all.
Chu Sheng carried his pack on his back, mingled in the crowd, and walked forward in the light rain. Around him, some people pedaled bicycles with all their might, while others drove motorcycles and cars.
The means of transport of the group were a mixed bag, but the only thing they had in common was that they all followed the four vehicles at the very front.
I definitely need to find a car that can shelter me from the wind and rain next time.
Chu Sheng looked at those driving four-wheeled vehicles, envy in his eyes as he tightened his grip on the Butcher Knife in his hand.
It had been so long since the apocalypse, and it was not as if Chu Sheng had never managed to get a car; on the contrary, every day there were people in the procession who had to abandon their vehicles because they had no gasoline.
Yet they had no gasoline, and Chu Sheng likewise had no gasoline.
Previously, he did have a bicycle, but...
Chu Sheng's gaze shifted to a flowered-arm punk not far away, who had dyed his hair yellow, though the roots at the base had already turned black.
The last time the convoy passed through a small town, while Chu Sheng went to scavenge for supplies, his bicycle was swiped by this flowered-arm punk.
It was just that when Chu Sheng came back, the convoy had already started moving.
It was not that Chu Sheng did not want to take it back, but the rule of this convoy was that no trouble could be stirred up during migration.
Chu Sheng had no choice but to temporarily abandon the idea of taking back the bicycle.
Seemingly noticing Chu Sheng's gaze, the bicycle-riding flowered-arm punk turned his head and met his eyes, revealing a smug smile.
He seemed very proud of having snatched Chu Sheng's bicycle, and especially when seeing Chu Sheng walking on foot in the rain, he grew even more proud.
Although riding a bicycle meant he was also getting rained on, it was still better than walking on two legs.
Looking at the flowered-arm punk, Chu Sheng's gaze grew a bit colder.
The next time supplies were replenished, he would definitely die!
Chu Sheng had never been a good person, and he even considered himself a bad one.
No one had ever been able to disgust him and still happily get away with it; not before the apocalypse, and even less so after the apocalypse.
The flowered-arm punk was already a dead man in his heart. The reason he did not finish him off while he was sleeping was purely because the time had not yet come.
It had been raining these past few days, so the convoy's advancing speed was not fast. The difference between walking and riding a bicycle was not big, and the next supply replenishment was fast approaching.
Once it was time to finish collecting supplies, Chu Sheng would have two portions of supplies.
One portion was what he collected himself. The other portion belonged to the flowered-arm punk.
Right at this moment, a voice came from the front: "We'll rest right here tonight. We can stay until ten o'clock tomorrow morning, and the day after tomorrow we should be able to reach the next supply point."
Hearing this, many people let out a collective sigh of relief.
Seven days had already passed since the last replenishment.
Many people's supplies were gone; if they didn't replenish them soon, they might starve to death.
Chu Sheng's supplies were quite plentiful. A sizable portion of the people in the convoy were organized by family units, and every time they went to scavenge supplies, only one or two people went.
After all, scavenging for supplies was not as simple as imagined.
Anomalies entities liked crowded places; the more people there were, the more they could attract Anomalies entities.
Places capable of supplying goods must have been crowded before the apocalypse, which meant that every time supplies were replenished, it was a choice between life and death.
Even though the apocalypse had arrived, not everyone had this kind of courage.
The supplies that many people scavenged had to be provided to their loved ones nearby.
Even now, nearly half a year after the arrival of the apocalypse, there were still old folks and children in the convoy.
Many people detested these old folks and children, thinking they dragged the convoy down, but Chu Sheng rather liked them.
After all, if an Anomalies really caught up, their presence could buy some time.
These old folks and children were their tail, while they were the tail of the vehicles in front.
The lines were clearly drawn.
As the convoy stopped, tents were pitched one after another all around.
Chu Sheng did the same; after taking his tent out of his backpack and pitching it, he immediately crawled inside.
Getting rained on wasn't fatal, but it caused colds and fevers. In the apocalypse, once you fell ill without anyone around to take care of you, it boiled down to a single word.
Death!
Pulling the zipper closed from inside the tent, Chu Sheng stripped off his wet clothes, then pulled out a few bottles of cold medicine he had scavenged and swallowed two pills directly.
Regardless of whether he would get sick or not, he took them first just in case.
He had been doing this the entire time.
After taking the medicine, Chu Sheng finally took his supplies out of his backpack.
The vast majority of his food now consisted of self-heating hot pots and self-heating rice he had scavenged last time. Although they were soaked in rain along with the backpack, it didn't affect their edibility.
Chu Sheng was the type of person who ate his fill and left his whole family with nothing to worry about. After several supply runs, far from hitting rock bottom, his food would last him at least another half a month.
Placing the Butcher Knife in a safe spot, Chu Sheng fetched half a bottle of water from outside, prepared the self-heating hot pot, poured the water over the heating pack, and looked at the hot pot before him with some anticipation.
Being able to have a meal like this in the apocalyptic environment, Chu Sheng was already quite content.
At least he was doing much better than those outside where several people shared a single loaf of bread.
Ever since the apocalypse arrived, what sustained his faith was every meal he ate.
But right at that moment, a message appeared before his eyes.
[Upgrading the self-heating hot pot requires 5 Survival Points. Do you wish to upgrade?]
"Did I awaken? Or was I affected by an Anomalies?" Chu Sheng's gaze, which had been somewhat expectant due to the impending meal, instantly turned vigilant.
Instead of feeling excited and overjoyed by the message before him, he instinctively thought someone was trying to harm him.
He had managed to survive until now in the apocalypse by relying on caution first, and ruthlessness second.
Although there were two possibilities, Chu Sheng actually leaned toward the first one.
Could he have possibly, maybe, had a high probability of awakening?
You had to know that the captain of the convoy was an Awakened.
And he was an Awakened of the type who could perceive surrounding Anomalies.
There was a high probability that an Anomalies couldn't get past his perception.
This was also an important reason why he was able to lead everyone in migrating through the apocalypse.
When the apocalypse arrived half a year ago, it wasn't just Anomalies that descended.
Along with the Anomalies, the awakening from the depths of human souls descended as well.
Sequences!
Transcendent Sequences!
When the internet still existed, news about Sequences had circulated online.
As far as Chu Sheng knew, people who awakened Sequences relied entirely on luck.
Of course, the truth of those claims was unknown; it was possible they were deliberately spread by people who had awakened Sequences.
Looking at the message before him, Chu Sheng shook his head slightly. Whether it was an awakening, he would know after trying it out.
Canceling the upgrade of the self-heating hot pot, Chu Sheng picked up the Butcher Knife placed beside his hand, stared at it intently for a moment, and another message appeared before his eyes.
[Upgrading the Butcher Knife requires 100 Survival Points. Do you wish to upgrade?]
"What on earth are these Survival Points?" Chu Sheng thought to himself, but without the slightest hesitation, he directly confirmed the upgrade.
As he confirmed it, a beam of white light appeared on the Butcher Knife, which then quickly vanished.
The changes to the Butcher Knife weren't huge; its edge simply seemed to have become sharper, and some of the original rust had completely vanished.
This Butcher Knife was something Chu Sheng had found in a village, the old-fashioned long strip kind that could be used as a firewood chopper. When he found it, it was already covered in rust, and a whetstone had been found along with it.
After grinding this Butcher Knife, Chu Sheng had re-sharpened the blade.
Yet there were still rust stains on it that couldn't be ground away, though it had been good enough for use before.
Now, after the upgrade, this blade had become brand new, and the cold light flashing along its edge left no doubt that it could easily slice open a stomach.
"Good knife!"
[Upgrade complete. The Butcher Knife has been upgraded to the Butcher Knife.] [Remaining Survival Points: 0]
A single knife had wiped out his Survival Points entirely.
Although Chu Sheng did not know how this thing had come to be, he knew that if he wanted to survive in the apocalypse, he would likely have to rely on this system-like ability.
Temporarily casting the question to the back of his mind, Chu Sheng calculated the time, figuring the self-heating hotpot was just about ready, and immediately lifted the lid. Instantly, a wave of fragrance rushed straight to his head, and Chu Sheng could not help but feel his appetite stir.
Just as he was about to dig in, however, there were some slight footsteps outside the tent.
Raindrops beat against the tent with a pattering sound, and if one did not listen carefully, it was possible to miss these faint footsteps entirely.
Chu Sheng hooked the corner of his mouth. "Another one not afraid of death, a bunch of poor ghosts! Killing them doesn't even yield any supplies."
Muttering a word in his heart, although he talked a big game, he still carefully gripped the Butcher Knife in his hand, then softly crouched in the middle of the tent.
Chu Sheng's gaze followed the slight footsteps outside as they moved, the Butcher Knife held tightly in his hand, his eyes growing much more fierce.
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