Yang Xiao opened his eyes to find himself lying in a pile of ruins.
One touch with his hand confirmed that he was surrounded by broken bricks and shattered tiles, with the air filled with the scent of dust.
"Holy shit, what the heck is going on?!"
Yang Xiao was instantly consumed by panic; he vaguely remembered that it was the first day of the new semester at university, and everything was fine when he went to sleep. How could he end up lying in ruins?
Could there have been an earthquake?
He twisted his head and saw a blur of light, faintly making out a collapsed steel-structured bed above him. He had chosen the lower bunk last night, and although the bunk bed structure above him was twisted and bent, it had still created a narrow space that protected his head from being crushed.
If so, the chubby freshman who slept in the upper bunk was probably in bad shape.
With that thought, Yang Xiao yelled toward the bent upper bunk:
"Hey fatty, you there? If you're alive, answer me..."
Yang Xiao called out twice with no response. Looking at the bent bed above him, he figured the chances for the chubby kid were slim.
He moved his hands; both were free, not trapped or broken. Next, he tried to move his legs.
Problem was, something seemed to be pinning his legs down, leaving him unable to move.
After all the effort of getting into a first-tier university, such bad luck strikes on the very first day.
Convinced there must have been an earthquake overnight, Yang Xiao recalled the self-rescue knowledge for such situations and quickly calmed down, then started shouting loudly:
"Help! Help! There are people here, someone alive..."
But it was in vain; all around was quiet, with no sound of any rescue operation.
What should he do? Surely he couldn't just wait here to die?
Yang Xiao tried to keep his panic in check and began to calmly observe his surroundings. To his surprise, he wasn't buried deep in the rubble, as he could already see some light coming through, though it was very faint, just at dawn.
He seemed to hear the sound of the wind nearby.
The steel bunk provided him a small living space. Supporting himself with his hands, he slowly sat up and examined the area below his waist.
The bed seemed to have folded in the middle, with his thighs down trapped.
He tried to push the wooden board pressing on his legs, which didn't seem too heavy and could be moved slightly.
This discovery was a pleasant surprise.
Taking a deep breath, he carefully observed, cautiously scooping away the debris and fragments around his legs, afraid to exert too much force and trigger a secondary collapse.
After about half an hour, he managed to create a little more room for his thighs and somewhat move his legs within a small range.
This once again brought him relief—his legs weren't broken, and he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
What an unexpected stroke of luck amidst misfortune!
Yang Xiao felt a surge of excitement and carefully pushed the wooden board on his legs.
This time he managed to lift it several centimeters.
Yang Xiao hurriedly retracted his legs by about 3 to 4 centimeters.
Pushing the wooden board again, he shifted his body backward.
After several attempts, Yang Xiao finally freed his legs, moved them around a bit, and felt relieved to find them intact. Overwhelmed with emotion, he burst into tears of joy.
Suddenly remembering something, Yang Xiao fumbled around and actually found his phone.
He immediately turned it on to check friends' circles for updates, intending to live broadcast the aftermath of the earthquake.
But upon unlocking the phone, he discovered there was no network signal, not even a trace of service.
"Okay, then let's try making a call."
Yang Xiao dialed the three-digit number but realized the call wouldn't go through.
Now, the light around him seemed to grow a little brighter; through the gaps in the ruins, he could see the outside scene. However, what he saw took his breath away: several nearby dorm buildings had collapsed into a field of debris.
Was this really a major earthquake?
In shock, Yang Xiao considered how to escape the ruins. No one knew when the rescue team would arrive, and rather than waiting for death, it was better to strive for self-rescue.
Thankfully, he wasn't buried under thick rubble; the dorm was six stories high, and he lived in room 601. Perhaps when the building collapsed, he was fortunate enough to fall on top of the rubble. If he'd been on the first floor, he would've probably been crushed beneath, and that would indeed be a situation of utter despair.
Yang Xiao also knew that secondary disasters could easily follow an earthquake, such as instability in the rubble that could result in further collapse. Being buried again didn't bear thinking about.
He dared not strenuously push the bricks and tiles on him, only carefully clearing away smaller movable debris. Fortuitously, he was on the upper layer of rubble, which allowed him to relatively easily clear off wood planks and bricks. Barring accidents, he should be able to dig an escape route towards the light coming from outside.
A half-hour later, after strenuous efforts, Yang Xiao finally crawled out of the pile of debris.
By now, the sky had brightened considerably.
Yang Xiao stood up and cautiously descended the mound of rubble.
A gentle breeze blew, and Yang Xiao felt a chill over his entire body, realizing then that he was only wearing a T-shirt and underwear.
The wreckage was strewn with clothes; he picked up a pair of jeans and a jacket from the rubble, as well as two mismatched sports shoes, shook the dust off, and put them on.
Yang Xiao collapsed onto a clear patch of ground, took a long breath, and realized with relief that other than a few scrapes, he had no serious injuries. Surviving such a horrendous earthquake was indeed a stroke of good fortune.
He thought to himself that escaping death in a disaster must mean fortune will follow.
He got up, took a look around, and saw the beautiful campus that now lay almost entirely in ruins. Nearby dorms, teaching buildings—everything had collapsed into disorder.
Yang Xiao's gaze turned behind him; beyond the dormitory was a road that led to the school's athletic field, where yesterday's new student registration had taken place.
At this moment, the large athletic field bathed in the morning light was eerily quiet. The makeshift tents set up yesterday were nowhere to be seen, the grass on the ground was a lush green, and the 800-meter track laid out with interchanging red and green rubber gleamed immaculately.
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However, Yang Xiao still noticed something unusual.
In the middle of the playground, there was suddenly a strange two-story building with lights shining out from inside.
How could this be possible? He walked around this playground just yesterday; there was no such tall and strange building, and besides, the center of the playground was a soccer field, how could there be a building there?
Under the light, he could see two figures standing still in front of the building from afar, occasionally moving slightly before standing still again.
What's going on?
Could it be the earthquake disaster relief headquarters?
According to the logic of the past days, this would be the case.
At this moment, the campus was dead silent. Yang Xiao didn't see any other survivors nearby, nor any rescue teams.
Yang Xiao patted the dust off himself and walked towards the temporary building in the center of the playground.
There used to be a wall between the dormitory building and the road, but it had already collapsed; he simply stepped over the road and entered the playground.
As he drew closer, Yang Xiao could clearly see the appearance of the building, but his heart was filled with surprise.
The style of this building did not resemble any of the architectures in Xuanming Country that he was familiar with, let alone a prefab house; it clearly had an extraordinarily strong exotic feel.
The entire building was round, with a diameter of at least about 30 meters and as tall as two stories; the exterior of the building was a bright orange color.
Yang Ming stopped 30 meters away from the orange building.
For he saw at the entrance of the building two oddly dressed people that created a sense of dissonance; each of them was at least 2 meters tall, clad in full armor, with a broadsword over a meter long hanging at their waists.
What in the world is going on?
Yang Xiao rubbed his eyes and pinched himself.
He wasn't dreaming!
He approached ten more meters.
Yang Xiao saw a plaque hanging outside the big door of the orange building, with four big characters:
"Genetic Store"
Buzz!
Yang Xiao felt a buzzing noise, he must be dreaming, or he was hallucinating; none of the scenes in front of him made any sense.
Earthquake, ruins, no living people, no rescue teams, and on the playground, there appeared a strange orange house labeled "Genetic Store," with two tower-like armored samurai standing guard at the door.
What was this situation?
Yang Xiao felt his intelligence was completely insufficient.
Well, even if it was a dream, he might as well just play along in the dream.
Yang Xiao glanced timidly at the two tower-like samurai at the door and slowly approached.
"May I ask who you are?"
Yang Xiao inquired.
The two samurai glanced at Yang Xiao without making a sound, standing there like two wooden men, with an air of aloofness.
Yang Xiao hesitated for a moment, then mustered his courage and walked into the orange building, unexpectedly seeing a small old man standing behind a counter with a bright lamp above it.
"Hehe, welcome to the Genetic Store!"
The old man said.
Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment and asked:
"Genetic Store? What kind of game are you playing?"
The old man smiled slightly:
"My name is Gu Bo, the owner of the Genetic Store."
"Genetic Store? What do you sell?"
Yang Xiao's mind was filled with a stampede of thoughts; he really couldn't understand what was going on.
"Hehe, in seven days, all the creatures on Earth will undergo mutations. Different creatures, when hunted and killed, will drop different Genetic Fragments. You can hunt these creatures and bring the collected Genetic Fragments to our Genetic Store to sell."
"Mutation of creatures after seven days?"
Yang Xiao was completely dumbfounded. Old man, speak human language, please, I don't understand a thing!
What kind of ridiculous dream is this? Could it be that I've played too many games?
Old man Gu Bo looked at Yang Xiao and suddenly smiled, saying:
"Do you think you're dreaming?"
Yang Xiao was taken aback,
"So it's not?"
"Hehe, Earth's civilization has been destroyed overnight, and now you've entered a new era, the era of genetic mutations. It's estimated that less than one-tenth of humanity has survived. In seven days, when other creatures mutate, humans will no longer be the rulers of Earth. The entire Earth will be re-dominated by those mutated creatures..."
"Old man, are you telling a story, or are we playing a game here?"
Yang Xiao interrupted old man Gu Bo with panic in his voice.
"Hehe, young man, I hope you can survive these seven days. After seven days, your fate truly begins. Here's a piece of advice for you, try to find a way to live through those seven days."
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