The waves grew larger and larger.
The radio on the beach broadcast the news in broken bursts. With his greatly enhanced senses, Zhang Ming could just make out its voice in the distance.
"An earthquake of magnitude eight has struck Fusang. Mount Fuji has entered another active phase, and experts predict an eruption within a month. Tens of millions are fleeing the cities, bringing traffic to a standstill. A major traffic accident has left 202 dead."
"A massive tsunami has struck Hawaii, causing hundreds of billions in property damage. The number of people evacuated by the authorities has doubled..."
"Four mysterious regions have appeared in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and Indian Ocean. Shrouded in fog, they are undergoing unknown changes."
Zhang Ming was happily enjoying a bag of chips, a precious inheritance left behind by some fellow traveler.
He savored them slowly, one at a time, even licking the salt from his fingers.
Oh, oh. Mount Fuji was going to erupt.
Halfway through the bag, he felt even hungrier.
He picked up a small bread roll and started chewing.
After finishing the bread, that savage hunger eased... just a tiny bit?
"Why could I suddenly eat so much?"
He used the last of the sunlight to build a shelter.
He pushed several enormous fallen coconuts together into a circle, then gathered a few palm leaves over two meters long and laid them across the coconuts.
Finally, he spread a layer of clothes over the ground.
"Experts state that frequent tectonic plate movement is the primary cause of the current earthquakes..."
"Global GDP could fall by approximately forty percent as a result of the disasters."
Zhang Ming spat out a curse. "How did everything suddenly end up like this?"
What he had experienced that day was even more absurd than being transported to another world.
Seemingly remembering something, he instinctively pulled his phone from his pocket and switched it on. Its battery was at nineteen percent-a despair-inducing number.
And... there was no internet!
At that moment, his only thought was-Fuck, I hadn't even used the 648 I spent on Genshin Impact yesterday to make my pulls!
Damn it!
"A tropical depression formed east of the Philippines this morning. At 08:00, its center was located over the northwestern Pacific, 445 kilometers east of Manila, Philippines, at 14.1 degrees north latitude and 125.1 degrees east longitude, with force-seven winds of fourteen meters per second and a central pressure of 1,003 hectopascals."
"The depression is expected to move northward before turning northeast over the waters east of the Philippines at ten to fifteen kilometers per hour, gradually strengthening into a super typhoon."
Zhang Ming hid among the coconuts, listening to the radio.
Earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, volcanoes-everything was coming at once, as though determined to viciously plow through the entire world.
He grew increasingly worried about his friends and family.
Still, his own situation was precarious, and he could only prioritize looking after himself.
Whatever happened, Great Xia was a major world power, with vast inland territories where people could take refuge from the disasters. It should be all right, shouldn't it?
"Water, fire, food, shelter. The four essentials of survival."
Between the water and the cola, he had about twenty bottles. If he rationed them, they would only last a little over a week.
There were plenty of coconuts around.
But eating coconuts might cause diarrhea, and with no one coming to his rescue, illness could mean death.
Besides, Zhang Ming wasn't sure whether these coconuts, each the size of a water vat, were poisonous.
Even with a physique two and a half times that of an ordinary person, he didn't dare take too great a risk.
Food was scarce, too-even scarcer than water.
Zhang Ming felt he lacked Uncle De's talent for going hungry and "missing nine meals in three days." Especially after raising his [Physique] to 51 points and exhausting himself building a makeshift shelter, hunger was steadily eating away at his reason.
The bread roll and half bag of chips he had just eaten were a drop in the bucket. If anything, they had only whetted his appetite.
After taking stock for a while, he found that his bread, biscuits, and other food would only last two days, and even then, he wouldn't be eating his fill.
Rubbing his temples and suppressing the savage urge to eat, Zhang Ming took long, deep breaths, one after another.
Of course, the good news was that he still had over a hundred mystery boxes-the unopened suitcases!
"Even if most of the suitcases contain clothes, surely there has to be some food and water?"
Time ticked past, and the sky went completely dark. A full moon hung high overhead, and brilliant stars spilled across the heavens like a waterfall. Here, without light pollution, the vast Milky Way looked like a painting spread across the world.
On his first night here, Zhang Ming couldn't sleep at all. His reason was locked in a constant struggle with his hunger.
Suddenly!
A rumble came from the distance, accompanied by a piercing screech of tearing metal.
Zhang Ming jolted out of his daze!
The radio crackled, "(*Static) Sir, what was that noise just now? (*Static) Has the tide come in? Are you nearby?"
"Was there an earthquake on your end?"
Nearby, my ass.
Another deafening screech rang out, even more piercing than the first.
It sounded as though the entire roof of the aircraft cabin had been ripped open by brute force!
His heart pounding, Zhang Ming stared wide-eyed toward the wreckage, straining to see what was happening.
A... black shape!
Yes, under the moonlight, a black creature was ravenously feeding on the human corpses inside the cabin.
It was enormous, perhaps dozens of meters tall. Like Godzilla, it had forcibly peeled back the metal shell of the wrecked plane, chewing away merrily.
Within moments, it had turned into a frenzied feast!
Occasionally, a dull, drumlike sound boomed out, probably its breathing.
Sweat poured from Zhang Ming's forehead as he watched, goosebumps rising all over his body. He could even smell a rotten stench like that of a corpse.
The smell grew stronger and stronger, contaminating the entire area like a poison-gas bomb.
He quickly dampened a towel with some mineral water and covered his mouth and nose.
The person on the radio seemed to realize something was wrong, too. Sounding both tense and grave, he said, "Sir, I've just received some major news: unprecedented life-forms have appeared in the mysterious regions!"
"They possess immense strength and hideous appearances, completely unlike normal organisms. Some are plants, while others are animals!"
"They generally measure around three meters in length, with the largest reaching roughly five meters."
Zhang Ming was speechless. Buddy, the ones you saw must have been babies, right?
The one here could be dozens of meters tall!
"They harbor extreme malice toward humans. You must stay away. Stay away from them! Don't die! Also, the satellite broadcast will air around six in the evening. The radio..."
With a loud crack, the black creature smashed the radio with a single blow, silencing the broadcaster for good.
Hiding among the coconuts, Zhang Ming was terrified and distraught, wanting to cry but unable to shed a tear. He cursed eighteen generations of the black shadow's ancestors.
There really was nothing I could do about you eating people.
But don't smash my radio! That was my only link to humanity!
Once I got strong enough, I'd fucking kill you!
Before you continue