A month ago, a black tower suddenly rose in the center of New York City. At the same time, black fog appeared and enveloped the entire city.
The people outside could not enter, and no one was seen coming out.
Nearly 10 million people were trapped in the black fog. Communications were cut off and there was no news from them.
The Internet was abuzz with excitement.
"This is all part of Amelia's scheme! They're using an entire city's population for biochemical experiments!"
"This must be the work of aliens. The New York incident marks the first contact between humans and extraterrestrial beings, and it is worthy of commemoration."
"Doomsday! This is the end of the world, this is punishment from God!!"
The Black Mist Tower incident thousands of miles away did not affect Nanxiang City much.
Everyone should eat and drink as usual. Life had to go on, and the house mortgage had to be paid.
For the common people, it's simply an additional topic of conversation over a meal.
But Lu Ming was different.
"This is a sign of the apocalypse! It must be!"
It was not that Lu Ming had learned some news in advance that supported his argument. There were two main reasons.
Firstly, it was his personality.
Lu Ming was a pessimistic apocalypticist.
When he found out about the mysterious phenomenon of the Black Mist Tower, Lu Ming immediately thought of the apocalypse crisis.
Secondly, it was the attribute panel that had awakened in his mind a day ago.
A day ago, Lu Ming had just woken up when he realized that an additional attribute system had appeared in his retina.
Name: Lu Ming.
Age: 25 years old.
Strength: 5.1
Physique: 5.5
Agility: 5.3
Note: The three-dimensional average value for adult males is 5.
There were only these words on the attribute panel.
Lu Ming had yet to study how to use this thing.
However, there was no doubt that this attribute panel and the Black Mist Tower incident were both mysterious phenomena that could not be explained by science.
The accurrence of a mysterious incident could be a coincidence.
If these two mysterious incidents occurred simultaneously, and Lu Ming still considered it a coincidence, he would be deceiving himself and would not be able to convince himself.
"Even if it's not the end of the world, it must be an unimaginably huge disaster."
After making this deduction, Lu Ming suddenly heaved a sigh of relief.
"Fortunately, I was prepared."
...
Rising from his chair, Lu Ming began to take stock of the supplies.
When his parents died ten years ago, they left him a large inheritance, providing Lu Ming with a substantial material foundation.
And now, Lu Ming had used 99% of the money to prepare for the apocalypse.
This time even preceded the New York incident.
The house was ancestral property. It was a small building in the city village. After Lu Ming's modification, it had been modified into a spacious basement.
The house was overall reinforced, with doors and windows strengthened in all directions. The relatively spacious second floor, measuring 100 square meters, contained several large freezers. These freezers stored some medicines, rice, noodles, cooking oil, vegetables, fresh meat, and canned food. There was also a simple fitness area and reading area.
The ground floor, also measuring 100 square meters, consisted of a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a converted garage. The garage housed a low-priced modified off-road vehicle, an electric scooter and a bicycle, along with corresponding vehicle accessories.
And the more spacious basement served as Lu Ming's ultimate retreat!
A diesel generator, a lot of fuel, more compressed biscuits, canned food, and drinking water were enough to ensure that Lu Ming had food and water for more than three years! The independent sewer system, the independent water circulation system, the independent electricity system, and the ventilation system—this basement had cost Lu Ming 70% of his money.
On the second floor, there was a table in the reading area. On the table was a stack of maps and the weapons Lu Ming had prepared.
Bow (with 10 arrows missing), crossbow (30 matching bolts), slingshot (with ammunition such as stones and metal scraps), fire axe, metal bat and dagger.
Weapons were Lu Ming's ultimate resort. Deep down, he sincerely hoped to avoid situations where he needed to use weapons—because that meant danger.
Once there was a fight, no matter how much he prepared, there was a risk of injury or even death.
Not to mention how well prepared Lu Ming was. Even if there was a 1% risk of injury, wouldn't all be lost if he encountered it?
"I'll never leave the city unless it is absolutely necessary."
There were many resources in the city, and Lu Ming was more familiar with them. In a cataclysmic environment, staying in a place he was familiar with was better than an unfamiliar environment.
Lu Ming took out the map of the city and village that he had drawn and made a simple plan.
"It doesn't look like there's a shortage of supplies, but there has to be a backup plan. There are three small supermarkets nearby and a big one. This will be my resource reserve point once the apocalypse comes. I'll have to plan the course of action again."
"There's a Dumpster in this place where you can hide."
"There's a hidden door in this place."
The thoughts in his mind kept flickering. This was one of Lu Ming's daily tasks.
After about 10 minutes of simulation, Lu Ming carefully put away the map and exclaimed.
"Attributes."
In his retina, the light screen opened and words came into view.
Name: Lu Ming.
Age: 25 years old.
Strength: 5.1
Physique: 5.5
Agility: 5.3
Lu Ming's three-dimensional attributes were slightly higher than ordinary people's. After all, the body was the capital of the revolution. As a pessimistic apocalyptic and a soloist, Lu Ming had to maintain his physical state.
"Since the supplies are almost ready, the next step is to study this attribute panel."
"How do I use this thing?"
...
After standing and thinking for a while, Lu Ming had an idea.
"The attribute is the digitization of the physical state."
"Perhaps exercising can trigger a reaction in the attribute panel."
Before he obtained the attribute panel, Lu Ming had the habit of exercising. However, after the attribute panel awakened a day ago, Lu Ming indeed had not exercised since then.
Thinking that he had not exercised today, Lu Ming immediately changed his clothes and began to exercise.
Lu Ming's training method was actually relatively primitive. Due to his personality, he had never been to the gym.
Although he knew some basic fitness knowledge, he was not systematic enough. Moreover, he did not pursue muscle size or aesthetics, so there was not much emphasis on exercise for him.
"Push-ups, 20 reps per set, three sets."
"Squats, 20 reps per set, three sets."
"Then go for a one-hour jog."
This was Lu Ming's typical exercise routine.
"Begin!"
Lu Ming, who was in sportswear, immediately lay down and started doing push-ups.
20 push-ups were not difficult for Lu Ming. He kept up the pace and was done in half a minute.
He stood up and rested for 20 seconds. While resting, Lu Ming opened his attribute panel again and immediately realized that there was a change in his attribute panel.
Strength: 5.1 (5.2) ↑.
Lu Ming: "???"
'What does it mean?'
5.2 in parentheses and the upward arrow, Lu Ming really couldn't understand it.
After staring at it for more than 10 seconds, there was no further change in his attributes panel. Lu Ming decided not to think about it and continued to exercise.
Three sets of push-ups were completed.
Strength: 5.1 (5.4) ↑.
Lu Ming began to do squats.
The three sets of squats were completed.
Physique: 5.5 (5.8) ↑.
Then Lu Ming turned on the treadmill and set the speed to 8.
Run!
An hour later, his agility attributes also changed.
Agility: 5.3 (5.5) ↑.
"Jogging for half an hour increases agility by 0.1."
However, Lu Ming did not feel that his body had improved…
He wiped his sweat and pondered.
However, he suddenly felt a intense hunger in his stomach.
"Strange, I'm getting hungry pretty quickly today."
"And I'm a little more tired than usual."
Exhaustion left Lu Ming with no inclination to prepare a decent meal.
He settled for a canned meal to quickly satisfy his hunger, but a wave of drowsiness instantly overwhelmed him.
In a daze, he went downstairs and crawled into bed and soon fell asleep.