Long long time ago, the apocalypse came.
Many died.
Some changed.
Few thrived.
Bai yan long did not belong to any of the above groups. She belonged to a rarer group of people, aptly named "losers".
Losers are people who did not receive any visible benefits from the changes apocalypse brought. Believe me, Everyone changed one way or another.
In spite of the lame name, Yan long is quite proud to belong to this group, for it meant she survived impossible odds.
She may have lost out on getting super powers, space items and a thousand other miscellaneous cheats. Yet, she is alive after ten years of apocalypse.
Grass is ten feet tall on the graves of those super powers.
Her job may suck in in regard to what she has studied in the university, yet, she has a job, and a white collar job at that.
It is only because of this job she could go home, relax in her tub and read a web novel before sleep even after the apocalypse.
Her favorite are rebirth apocalypse novels and dashing hero ones. After all, we only ever like fantasy when reality is utterly disappointing.
There is no way to reincarnate even with all the weird abilities going around. If there were any good men in the world, they did not survive past the first week of the apocalypse.
She knew very well what she would do if she were the lead of either story.
If she were to be reborn before the apocalypse, she would blow her brains out after killing her entire family.
If she met a dashing hero, she would kill him in his sleep and eat his crystal to gain his powers.
Which sane person will suffer the apocalypse all the way through ? once in her life is more than enough. She is amazed at the tenacity of these heroes
Every time she read these novels.
It must be said at this point, Yanlong is a hypocrite.
She stole and learnt all lower level blueprints for the after apocalypse technology.
Why can she steal?
She's a low level clerk, who is bound to the building she is in.
Others can go out, but Yanlong can not.
Her world is limited to this building, where she worked, lived and will probably die too.
Thus, all sorts of sensitive information that normal people could not get their hands on is at her disposal.
Yanlong has made complete use of it, feeding her fantasy of being reborn and what ifs.
She learned details about every low level technology there is.
She learned all about which insect could be used to produce which biological material.
She learned where each edible plant came from and how it looked.
She definitely learned which criminal gang was entrenched where.
She even learned forty eight numerical codes for most satellites in the world.
notice that it's the satellites in the world, not satellites belonging to the country!
Then, she imagined how her life would differ with all this information in her hands.
It's her coping mechanism.
In the apocalypse, everyone has one.
Life is too hard otherwise!
She woke up the next morning, ate a luxurious breakfast before leaving for work.
Unlike other people, she knew there's no need to save for yester-years.
All old and useless people died in experiments. Or did you forget this is an apocalypse?
Sure, they are called mysterious disappearances, but everyone worth the salt knew where these people went.
They just kept mum about it.
Fortunately, the laboratories are not needlessly cruel, is the best one could say about the phenomena.
As soon as she clocked in, she was sent to deal with a quarrel in the physics department, who were throwing a tantrum just because.
Note at this point, the Physics department contributes most to their day to day technology.
It is with their research the new mobile network is launched. It is with their research the new transport is about to be launched.
On the other hand, she belonged to the logistics department.
No matter where you get your permission from, if the logistics hates you, then you will suffer.
No amount of good background could fix being undercut in one manner or another.
Only, logistics department is usually gentle and easy going, especially when dealing with the physics department.
"Very well, Mister Cheng, what will it take for you to let this go?" yan long asked finally, for this seems more of a power trip.
It is better to get this over soon or she needs to work over time.
Chief Cheng looked at her, appraising her.
"It's simple. You need to go into the chamber to pull that blue lever. Only, it is ninety nine percent safe. Owing to the remaining one percent danger, we had to invite a space mutant … blah blah...." he started.
She has heard this explanation a thousand times by now.
The space mutant arrived early because he had another appointment. No one informed her department, who were supposed to provide crystal nuclei to the space mutant.
The space guy left, placing the blame on the logistics department.
It's conceivable, for logistics is probably the only department which can afford to fight with the physics department.
In the end, the physics department still lacks a suitable candidate to pull the lever for the experimental teleportation portal.
This time, chief Cheng finally got to the point.
He wants Yanlong to pull the lever ignoring the danger.
There was a work environment reform about power trips, lack of safety for lower ranked personnel and all.
To put it better, chief Cheng wants Yanlong to volunteer to pull the lever, and solve the problem for the physics department.
"You need to sign this waiver stating you are doing this voluntarily." Chief Cheng said, pushing a paper to her.
It contained the usual drivel about how they are not responsible if she dies.
He could have gotten to this point earlier.
She did not value her life that much.
Sure, it is wrong of her to encourage this kind of culture, but Yanlong did not care about her colleagues much.
They are all adults here.
They could solve their problems by themselves.
Yanlong filled out the form, eventually walked into the experimental chamber and pulled the lever.
'f**k! This b***rd pitted me!" was her first thought.
The last memory she remembered was the horror on the assistant's face, and the calculating look on Chief Cheng's face.
Everything turned black, her hands and feet felt like lead.
Pain burst through her head.
Then, she knew no more.