The Apocalyptic Era

Headquarters had specific regulations for people like these, too. As long as they retained their sanity, they could live like normal people in survivor bases.

Xu Duoduo glanced back at Qin Luo. Only after he nodded did she put on the collar. It had an electronic display, and she guessed it would deliver an electric shock if she showed any aggression. Green meant her emotions were stable, orange indicated some fluctuation, and red meant she had lost control.

Her display was green at the moment, indicating that everything was stable.

Professor Ji was very gentle, motioning for Xu Duoduo to follow him for some physical examinations. To keep her from feeling uncomfortable, he even had two female researchers accompany her.

Xu Duoduo kept looking back at Qin Luo. In these unfamiliar surroundings, she instinctively sought him out. Fortunately, Professor Ji noticed and said, "Come along too, Qin. You need to have your ability checked anyway."

Qin Luo politely agreed, then followed behind them.

For some reason, Xu Duoduo felt much more at ease. As soon as she entered the passage into the survivor base, she heard the city broadcast, which was currently repeating reports on the devastation in nearby cities and the number of survivors rescued.

What moved her most was the young woman's polished announcer voice declaring, "We will never surrender to the apocalypse. We will never abandon a single human being."

Xu Duoduo looked up toward the loudspeaker when she heard those words. Next came the names of rescue team members who had died in action. Every name represented a life. They need not have died, but to save others, they had rushed to the front lines-and died there.

Beside the city wall stood over a dozen people with what looked like rocks growing out of their bodies. They were extremely muscular, with a layer of rocky material covering parts of their upper bodies.

"They're all Rock Mutated Persons. Their mutation type is Stone Rock, and one of their skills is [Solidification]. They built this entire wall, working day and night. Looks pretty reassuring, doesn't it?"

Female researcher A winked at Xu Duoduo as she spoke. "Don't worry too much. You aren't outsiders. As long as you retain your human consciousness, you're still you. We have very comprehensive protections for Mutated Persons now, and most people will accept you."

Female researcher B promptly added, "The base will also assign you a suitable job. Everyone here uses chip cards now, and the currency is points. Points aren't all that different from the money we used before."

They could still be used to buy all sorts of things. H City's survivor base was fairly large, and many shops had been preserved. Life was quite stable.

As for earning points, people exchanged their labor for them.

Combat squads could earn points by taking on missions, with harder missions paying more. Other support personnel could also earn points through their work. The Rock Mutated Persons building the city wall, for instance, earned eighty points a day.

A filling breakfast cost only three points now.

That made their wages pretty high.

Xu Duoduo wasn't the only one bewildered by all this-even Qin Luo was baffled. He sucked in a breath. "Wait, how has everything changed again? I've been out on a mission for less than ten days!"

Professor Ji sighed at that. "In the Apocalyptic Era, rapid change is normal. Everyone has to accept this pace of change and keep up."

Otherwise, they would be left behind.

Young people adapted well, but some of the older generation had barely figured out how to use electronic devices to begin with. Now the world had been turned upside down, and many elderly people couldn't cope and had broken down.

They had lost their minds.

Xu Duoduo was speechless after hearing all this. She watched the city scenery along the way. Sometimes, if she ignored the enormous walls, the streets really did look just as they had before. But a closer look revealed the differences.

For instance, oddly shaped people would occasionally walk past, all wearing collars around their necks.

Just like the one around hers.

The buses were still packed, but everyone chatted with weapons in hand.

"There are new rules inside the city. Everyone returning from outside must undergo isolation, and they can only go out on the streets after changing clothes. Last time, a squad came back covered in blood and nearly scared an entire busload of kindergarteners into fainting."

Female researcher A offered this friendly reminder, then glanced at Qin Luo and Xu Duoduo. Both of them were covered in blood...

Awkward.

Professor Ji smiled and reassured them, "It's fine. Everyone near the city boundary is used to it."

There were always people here who hadn't had time to clean themselves up.

They would have to be careful if they went downtown, though. Walking around covered in blood could easily get them hauled away.

Xu Duoduo followed them through a special passage, which turned out to be a subway entrance. They had to swipe a card to board, and there were hardly any passengers on the train.

They were headed to the H City Special Research Center. Once aboard, it seemed no different from an ordinary subway, but its speed was frightening.

Xu Duoduo felt as though she had been aboard for less than a minute when the gentle young researcher told her they had arrived. Arrived?? Twenty kilometers in less than a minute??

Her shocked expression must have been hilarious, because both young researchers burst out laughing.

"You're pretty cute. I wonder what your mutation type is? I heard it was zombie? But you're much cuter than an ordinary zombie, sweetheart."

The speaker was Xiao Qiao.

This time, Xu Duoduo clearly saw the name on her ID badge: Xiao Qiao.

It was probably a code name.

Da Qiao was a little more composed. She offered a friendly warning. "Stay away from Xiao Qiao. She loves dissecting strange things."

Xu Duoduo shrank back in fear.

Qin Luo clicked his tongue. "Don't scare her. We agreed on this-she's a prospective member of our squad."

Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao were both intrigued. "Oh? Really?" "Doesn't your squad flat-out refuse to take in newcomers? What changed this time?"

Professor Ji reminded them that the elevator had arrived, and the group stepped inside.

Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao kept muttering.

"How can she join your squad? A Mutated Person this unusual should stay at our research center and help us out! What if she gets killed on the front lines?"

"Exactly, exactly! Professor Ji, talk some sense into him. Keep this child here."

Xu Duoduo wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but the two women's expressions were remarkably alike. Their faces were different, yet sometimes their manner and tone when speaking were identical.

Professor Ji didn't argue with them. He simply chuckled and said, "That's not for me to decide."

Xu Duoduo glanced back at Qin Luo again. Going out with him would actually be pretty good. At least she could stockpile things, gathering as much as she could while the apocalypse was still in its early stages.

She had always had a habit of stockpiling things. Now that she had encountered this bizarre apocalypse, she wanted to do it even more. Whether she could use the things or not, she simply liked collecting supplies. Stockpiling gave her a sense of security.

What frightened her most, however, was the possibility of her spatial ability being discovered.

Qin Luo didn't seem particularly worried, though. He was also looking around at the new surroundings, which showed just how drastically things had changed during the apocalypse.

He, too, needed time to take in the new surroundings, the new rules, and all the information.