Chapter 1: Survive!
[Emergency notice!]
[All humans heading south toward the Demon Capital, please immediately turn around and head north or travel east. A Level Five Aberration, Painted Skin, has appeared in the Demon Capital, and it has now completely turned into a dead zone!]
[I am the Sequence Transcendent: Voice Transmitter Liu Yong, and I hope to provide everyone with some help in these final moments!]
[The spark of humanity is entrusted to you all. We are afraid we will not be able to escape the Demon Capital.]
[Please make sure to think of every possible way to survive!]
[Remember, there is only hope if you survive!]
[Repeating the notice once more...]
Beneath the gloomy sky, a somewhat hoarse voice resounded across the heavens, capturing the attention of nearly every living person and forcing them to listen intently.
One month ago, a phantom projection of the world appeared and began to merge with the Earth beneath their feet.
Immediately following that was the emergence of various aberrant entities.
The sudden transformation left the entire world with no time to react.
The terror of the aberrant entities made humanity feel despair; city after city began to fall, and even nations were reduced to dead zones because of it.
And now.
The Demon Capital.
The representative city of Huaxia's bustling prosperity.
Yet now, a Level Five Aberration had appeared, and with humanity's current capabilities, it was simply impossible to deal with a Level Five Aberration.
Even if they used weapons such as nuclear bombs or hydrogen bombs, it would still do no good.
There was news from the neighboring island nation that a Level Five Aberration, the Snow Woman, had appeared in their Tokyo.
Then a group of people wracked their brains to deal with it, choosing the method of sacrificing the chariot to save the general-nuclear weapons!
Scouring the land with nuclear weapons was indeed the best choice.
Yet humanity understood far too little about aberrations.
Not only was that Snow Woman not eliminated, but she even directly mutated into a Level Six Aberration due to nuclear radiation.
Ever since then, the island nation began its true migration and escape plan, with massive crowds flooding into the countries closest to them in search of a sliver of survival.
Seeing the miserable state of the island nation, nations possessing nuclear weapons no longer dared to unleash them.
Doomsday migration became the primary choice.
Xu Family Village.
Several grocery stores in the village had long been packed with crowds.
The items inside had been practically looted clean.
Even for a single pack of instant noodles, people fought until their heads were cracked and blood flowed.
Yet everyone tacitly avoided approaching the central location of the village, because everyone knew that danger existed there.
The closer one got to the center, the more scattered corpses there were.
Some people had even been torn into two halves by something, their eyes wide open in despair and terror.
Inside a grocery store close to the central location, Lin Yi, holding a chainsaw in one hand and carrying more than half a box of instant noodles in the other, was just about to head out when he was surrounded by three people.
These three were all members of the convoy, and on ordinary days they didn't do less robbing of other people's belongings.
Even the car they were currently driving had been snatched from a woman.
As for the fate of that woman, one didn't need to guess to know.
"Kid, you've been running all this way, and holding that chainsaw is just a waste. Why not hand it over for us brothers to play with?"
"Hand over the instant noodles too, and us brothers can still look after you along the road ahead."
"I advise you to be sensible. There isn't even a leader in our convoy, and since it's the doomsday, you'd better not try to be too clever."
"..."
The three of them each held a baseball bat, a wrench, and a cleaver.
It was precisely because of the weapons in their hands that no one in the small convoy Lin Yi belonged to dared to resist.
As for Lin Yi, who possessed another threatening weapon, he was naturally targeted by the three of them.
Because of the chainsaw, the people in the convoy didn't dare to trouble Lin Yi, while Lin Yi managed to scavenge plenty of supplies to enjoy all by himself every single time.
These three had long been green with envy seeing Lin Yi enjoy everything alone.
This time, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, they simply laid their cards on the table.
Either die, or hand over all the goods.
Lin Yi remained silent, placing the half-box of instant noodles on the ground.
Dropping the instant noodles was so he could hold the chainsaw better!
Seeing this action of his, all three assumed Lin Yi had chosen to accept his fate, and they burst out laughing.
"Look, how great is it when everyone cooperates?"
"Precisely, hurry up and give me the chainsaw. I don't want to hold this broken wrench anymore, it hurts my hands!"
"Put the chainsaw on the ground, I told you to put the chainsaw on the ground!"
The three of them stared fixedly at Lin Yi's side, and one of them even stepped forward to take the half-box of instant noodles.
Meanwhile, Lin Yi lowered his gaze to look at the chainsaw in his hand, where a row of numbers was floating above it.
[0:5:13]
These numbers could only be seen by Lin Yi himself.
And they corresponded precisely to hours, minutes, and seconds.
Just five minutes!
Five minutes later, his chainsaw would undergo earth-shaking changes.
As for the three fellows right in front of him... he just needed to find a way to stall for another five minutes.
"What are you dazing off for? Hand over the chainsaw!"
The sharp-faced man among the three wore a ferocious expression as he stepped forward to snatch the chainsaw from Lin Yi's grasp.
The other two slowly closed in, blocking Lin Yi into the corner of the wall.
Clearly, they intended to resort to a forceful robbery.
At that very moment, however, a black shadow flew in from outside, accompanied by an icy, bone-chilling aura, arriving right behind the three of them in an instant.
The moment he saw that black shadow, Lin Yi's pupils had already tightly constricted.
Tier One Aberration-Ghost Shadow!
Could the reason Xu Family Village had turned into this state be because of this ghost shadow?
However...
It seemed the ghost shadow had already been alerted.
The three of them were still threatening Lin Yi, completely unaware of the ghost shadow closing in behind them.
Yet one of them caught the drifting ghost shadow out of the corner of his eye, and instantly his legs began to tremble involuntarily.
At that moment, his footsteps also came to a halt.
Before he could react, the ghost shadow instantly lunged onto the sharp-faced man, pitch-black aura diffusing outward, wrapping around the sharp-faced man in the blink of an eye.
The ghost shadow was like tarsal maggots, sticking tightly to the sharp-faced man.
The vitality of the sharp-faced man was also fading away at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In just a split second, the sharp claws of the ghost shadow extended from the black airflow.
"Rip--"
The sharp-faced man didn't even have a chance to scream before his body was torn apart alive directly by the ghost shadow.
It was precisely at this moment that Lin Yi grasped the chainsaw with both hands and bolted out from the side without looking back.
Escape!
He had to escape.
Otherwise, he would be the one to die!
The remaining two people inside the grocery store also reacted, scrambling and crawling as they tried to run outside.
Yet their reaction speed was evidently a bit slower.
After killing the first person, the ghost shadow turned around and immediately lunged toward the second person.
Humanity appeared so minuscule and fragile at this moment.
"Ghost Shadow, there's a ghost shadow here!"
The mustache, the only survivor among the three, ran out in terror and yelled at the top of his lungs.
This shout, accompanied by the warning transmitted from the sky, plunged the entire Xu Family Village into a state of dead silence.
"Run!"
Someone suddenly burst out shouting.
It instantly triggered a chain reaction, and nearly everyone scavenging in various parts of the village ran outside in terror while driving their vehicles.
Facing the aberration, they could only helplessly flee and escape.
As for the ghost shadow, after rushing out, it directly drifted and flew toward Lin Yi's direction.
Feeling the bone-chilling cold air assaulting him from behind, Lin Yi turned his head and cursed under his breath.
He couldn't outrun it; he had no choice but to fight it out!
Looking at the chainsaw in his hand, he immediately pressed the start button.
The chainsaw's chain began to spin, emitting a dull roar as though to comfort the frightened Lin Yi.
The moment the Ghost Shadow lunged forward, Lin Yi raised the chainsaw high, timed his opening, and chopped down heavily toward the Ghost Shadow.
"Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-"
Yet the moment the chainsaw fell, it was as though it had struck some incomparably hard steel.
Upon closer inspection.
This ordinary chainsaw had merely left a white scratch on the Ghost Shadow's body.
The Ghost Shadow directly sent Lin Yi flying with a crash, completely indifferent to the threat of this chainsaw.
Seeing this scene, quite a few people also quickened their pace of escape.
With someone holding back the Aberration, they were naturally more than happy to flee for their lives.
And right in the dead center of the village.
Lin Yi gripped the chainsaw, fresh blood still trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Directly opposite him, an entirely black creature floated mid-air, wisps of black smoke drifting out from its body.
It looked just like an oversized black plastic bag hanging from power lines.
Lin Yi had already witnessed the terror of Aberrations over the course of this past month.
He had originally been vacationing in the south when he ran into something as absurd as the apocalypse, leaving him with no choice but to flee alongside others.
Along this entire journey, he had no idea how many dead people he had seen.
Take this Tier One Aberration Ghost Shadow before him, for instance.
Killing human beings was simply as easy as eating and drinking for it.
The more people gathered together.
The more attractive it became to Aberrations.
This seemed to be some sort of characteristic.
Yet this particular Ghost Shadow seemed to have locked onto him for good.
That feeling gave Lin Yi the illusion that he was a mouse and his opponent was a cat.
The Ghost Shadow seemed to be toying with him now.
As for why Lin Yi hadn't died as easily as the others, it was because he had become a Sequence Transcendent when the apocalypse arrived.
For humanity, the appearance of the world's phantom brought not only Aberrations, but also the means to counter them.
The power of Sequence Transcendents.
Humans could acquire this power to fight against Aberrations.
Yet a month of time was, after all, far too hasty.
Otherwise, the Demon Capital wouldn't have fallen so quickly.
"Hurry, run, don't get near that side anymore. That kid is holding off the Ghost Shadow, run while you still can!"
"Are we really not going to bother about him? After all, we all came together."
"With greater ability comes greater responsibility. He has a chainsaw in his hand, so he ought to stay behind to cover the rear!"
"Hurry up, we can't stay here any longer. Snatching this much stuff is enough to last us until the next place!"
"..."
Inside the village, some people grabbed what they needed and wanted to flee at the first possible moment.
Cars were started one by one, continuously reversing out of the village.
As for Lin Yi, who was blocking the Aberration in the center of the village, he seemed in their eyes to be existence meant to buy them time.
Lin Yi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a cold sneer on his face as he watched the departing vehicles and laughed.
High in the sky, Liu Yong's voice still lingered in the air.
Yet Lin Yi let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "Liu Yong, oh Liu Yong, is this what you call the hope of humanity?"
Seeing that the humans had all run off, the Ghost Shadow immediately drifted toward Lin Yi.
At that exact moment, the chainsaw in Lin Yi's hands emitted a thoroughly piercing roar, like a roaring wild beast.
Above the chainsaw.
The countdown that only Lin Yi himself could see finally hit zero at this very moment.
[Item: Soul-Devouring Saw] [Quality: Weird Object Weapon] [Number: 4399] [Characteristics: Soul Devouring: Devouring souls can increase sharpness.] [Description: Originally just an ordinary small short saw, through the continuous effects of Sequence Transcendent 'Enhancement', it has been elevated to the Weird Object level and can inflict damage upon Aberrations.]
At this moment, the chainsaw in his hands underwent a heaven-turning transformation.
The blood-red metal handle extended outward, forming the skull of a ferocious beast with its blood-red jaws agape, inside of which protruded two straight black chain-saws.
At the front of the chain-saws, a turntable studded with sharp gear teeth was embedded in the middle.
The moment it spun, it looked just like a roaring beast.
Lin Yi grabbed the beastly chainsaw with both hands for dear life.
When he looked at the Tier One Aberration Ghost Shadow before him, the corners of his mouth curled upward as well.
Now...
The roles had reversed!
The roar of the chainsaw rang out.
The Ghost Shadow's body was as though made of tofu.
The crazily spinning saw-disc easily sliced through the Ghost Shadow's body, completely splitting it in two.
Accompanied by the death of the Ghost Shadow, a surge of black energy seemed to be drawn in, quickly entering the Soul-Devouring Saw in Lin Yi's grip.
Ordinary people could not kill Aberrations.
Only Sequence Transcendents could kill Aberrations.
And as Lin Yi looked at the corpse of the Ghost Shadow split in two upon the ground with both hands, his arms also began to tremble at this moment.
The Soul-Devouring Saw crashed heavily onto the earth, its roar having long since stopped.
Weird Objects all required a price to be used.
The stronger the characteristic, the greater the price one would need to pay.
As for this Soul-Devouring Saw, what it consumed was Lin Yi's own life force.
At this moment, his hair turned white visibly to the naked eye, and it was only this loss of life force that granted Lin Yi the qualifications to master the Soul-Devouring Saw.
Of course.
This price was a one-time deal.
Having lost his life force this once, using it again in the future would no longer demand any further price.
"Talk about... being heartless."
Lin Yi glanced toward the empty village entrance, and after a shake of his head, he began to gather the leftover supplies scattered throughout the village.
Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.
It was completely normal for those people to abandon Lin Yi and choose to flee in order to survive, because Lin Yi himself had done such things early on.
The logic that comrades die so that the Daoist priest lives on has existed since ancient times...
Before you continue