Inside the largest underground seed bank in Huaguo, several researchers were bustling nervously among the storage shelves. The cold, white light illuminated the various plant seeds on the shelves, as well as the low-temperature hibernation pod placed at the center of the seed bank.
It was now the third year of the apocalypse. Ferocious mutant beasts had gathered into a tide and were surging toward their location. Once the beast tide arrived, the people remaining here would have no chance to escape, they had to evacuate before it came.
Amid the group of researchers hurriedly packing their belongings, two individuals engaged in quiet conversation stood out starkly—
The elderly professor patted the young researcher on the shoulder, his face full of guilt and reluctance. “Xiao Lin… this is truly asking too much of you, but here, you’re the only one with wood-type abilities who has also mastered all the techniques for seed cultivation. You are the most suitable candidate.”
The one he addressed as Xiao Lin was a young man with delicate features, quietly sitting beside the hibernation pod. He appeared gentle and soft, like a clean, fragile dewdrop in this perilous apocalypse. Yet his expression carried a calmness and certainty that someone his age should not possess, making it impossible to treat him as ordinary.
Hearing the professor’s words, he smiled and reassured him in return, “Professor Zhou, I know these are the last batch of uncontaminated seeds left since the apocalypse began. To protect them, any price is worth paying… Besides, don’t you know my abilities by now? They’re more than enough for self-preservation.”
The professor looked at him upon hearing this, but his expression did not ease; instead, it grew even more sorrowful, everyone knew that once a place was overrun by a beast tide, humans could hardly remain there. At this critical moment of crisis, staying behind meant there was almost no chance of leaving again. Before he could add a few more words of caution, several security personnel in protective suits rushed in from outside, their faces tense as they urged, “Hurry, get ready to evacuate! The beast tide is coming!”
The researchers’ expressions shifted at once upon hearing this. Professor Zhou couldn’t help but exclaim, “How is this possible? Shouldn’t we have two more days? Why are the beasts arriving so quickly?”
“Those damned creatures are so unpredictable, who knows why they suddenly sped up! Hurry, hurry, we have fifteen minutes at most.”
With the plan thrown into disarray, the group frantically gathered the remaining items and evacuated under the security personnel’s cover. However, the researcher surnamed Lin did not leave with them. Instead, he turned and lay down inside the low-temperature hibernation pod, manually pressing the activation button beside him.
In his final moment before losing consciousness, what greeted his eyes was the slow closing of the seed bank’s massive door. The heavy metal door, gleaming with a lifeless luster, slammed shut beside him with a resounding boom, sealing all signs of life, along with any hope of escape, outside.
Then, he was swallowed completely by darkness.
How long he had been asleep, he did not know. A violent crashing sound jolted Lin Yi awake from his hibernation.
His first thought was that humanity had finally ended the apocalypse and had come to open the doors. According to the agreement he had made with Professor Zhou, he was supposed to remain sealed inside this seed bank until the apocalypse was over and the doors would be reopened.
The prolonged low-temperature hibernation had left his mind somewhat sluggish. A surge of joy rose within him as he slowly opened his eyes—
Only to meet the fierce gaze of a mutant beast.
Lin Yi: “…”
He had no time to ponder the situation. Acting on sheer residual combat instinct, he flipped over abruptly, narrowly dodging the beast’s gaping maw as it lunged at him.
Fortunately, the cramped space of the cryogenic pod trapped the beast’s fangs mid-lunge, buying him a brief moment to breathe. Seizing the opportunity, he slipped through the gap between the pod and the beast and finally took in the full state of the seed bank: several storage shelves were toppled, the floor was a complete mess, precious seeds and plant samples were scattered everywhere, and a few more mutant beasts were snarling and thrashing about in agitation.
Lin Yi followed the direction of the beasts’ attacks and spotted the culprits behind the current situation, three children, around seven or eight years old, cornered by the beasts and huddled together, trembling. The creature lunging at them was a mutated wolf, a type Lin Yi had encountered countless times during the apocalypse. It was a low-level beast, not particularly strong offensively, but notoriously difficult to deal with due to its tendency to hunt in packs.
It seemed the apocalypse was not yet over. These children, chased by the beasts, had accidentally opened the door and stumbled inside, waking him from his hibernation.
Lin Yi quickly reached this conclusion. Pushing aside his disappointment, he lunged toward the nearest mutated wolf, using the momentum of his charge to slam it into a nearby metal shelf. A deafening crash echoed as the wolf, which had been preparing to pounce, was knocked senseless. The other wolves momentarily recoiled, their advance halted.
Seizing the opening, he deftly sidestepped backward, shielding the cowering children behind him. Grabbing a metal rod that had fallen from a shelf, he held it warily as he maneuvered around the wolves.
His sudden burst of aggression had clearly startled the wolves. Although they still seemed eager to attack, the threat of the metal rod kept them at bay, growling lowly. But Lin Yi knew this was only a temporary reprieve; he had to drive them back before they regained their nerve.
As he fended off the wolves, he calmly assessed the situation: there were five mutated wolves before him, and defeating them all was far from realistic. However, he noticed that one wolf stood out, larger and stronger than the rest, with a golden marking on its forehead that marked it as the alpha of the pack.
To catch the leader is to capture the bandits.
There was no time to hesitate. He picked up a seed from the scattered debris, hiding it in his palm, and quietly instructed the children to stay hidden. Then, he burst out from their shelter.
The mutated wolf alpha was the same one that had attacked Lin Yi at the very beginning. Spotting him charging out, it let out an excited roar and lunged toward him, jaws wide. It had encountered many frail, thin humans like this before, all of whom had eventually become its prey.
But the sensation of sinking its teeth into flesh never came. Instead, a cold, hard metal rod was brutally shoved down its throat!
The wolf alpha let out a miserable howl. Before it could react, the seemingly frail human grabbed the scruff of its neck with brutal force, the rod nearly piercing through its throat. Yet that wasn’t the end. As the alpha writhed in pain, a slender vine suddenly pierced through its back, driving straight into its heart with lethal precision—
One strike, dead.
Lin Yi remained in the position pinning the wolf alpha down, his expression utterly cold. A few drops of warm blood splattered onto his face, but he wiped them away dismissively. He tossed aside the wolf’s corpse, ignoring the other wolves as they fled in panic.
He tried to stand, but his body swayed slightly. The sudden exertion of using his wood-based ability to sprout a vine seed to attack the wolf alpha had drained a significant amount of energy. Fortunately, the other wolves had been scared off by his display, otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the strength left to face them.
A faint pain radiated from his arm, and Lin Yi noticed that his left arm had been gashed open at some point, with blood seeping from the wound. He sat down cross-legged, about to tear a strip of cloth for bandaging, when a timid voice came from behind him: “Big brother, let me help you.”
Only then did Lin Yi remember the three children behind him. Turning his head, he saw that all three were thin, small, and covered in grime. The one who had spoken was the only girl among them. She tore a relatively clean strip of fabric from her sleeve and carefully handed it over. “I’ve helped bandage wounds before. Let me do it.”
Lin Yi frowned, about to say that he wasn’t at the point where he needed a child’s help, but before he could speak, he noticed the little girl’s eyes were slightly red, her bright, clear gaze fixed on him with an unyielding determination.
Lin Yi: … Fine.
He extended his arm, letting the girl clumsily tend to his wound, while casually striking up a conversation with the children to gather information about the outside world. “What year is it in the apocalypse now?”
Seeing the bewildered looks on their faces, he rephrased the question: “How long has the apocalypse been going on? What’s the situation outside now?”
To his surprise, the confusion on the children’s faces only deepened as they exchanged uneasy glances with one another. After a long pause, Lin Yi finally realized something was off. He took a deep, difficult breath. “…What era is it now?”
After much back-and-forth, with the children speaking and gesturing, Lin Yi finally pieced together the current situation: It was no longer the apocalypse era he had known. He had been asleep in the low-temperature cryogenic pod for several thousand years. During his slumber, humanity had managed to end the apocalypse, but the Blue Star’s living environment had been completely destroyed by the prolonged catastrophe. As a result, humanity had developed aerospace technology, ventured out of the universe, established new civilizations across various star systems, and entered the interstellar age.
He had previously made an agreement with Professor Zhou that once humanity triumphed over the apocalypse, the seed bank would be opened and the uncontaminated seeds distributed. However, human lifespans spanned only a hundred years. After the original group of researchers passed away, the place had been completely forgotten, remaining sealed for thousands of years until a group of children stumbled in and accidentally opened it.
Lin Yi let out a soft sigh. If Professor Zhou knew that the meticulously preserved seeds in the bank had never been planted, he would surely be filled with regret.
The reality that time had moved on without him left him momentarily disheartened, but he was not one to dwell on his emotions. After a brief moment of daze, he quickly accepted the situation. Just then, the little girl finished bandaging his wound and patted his uninjured arm with a hint of pride. “All done!”
Lin Yi raised his arm, glancing at the lopsided bow tied around it, and a faint trace of a smile finally surfaced in his eyes. Pushing his thoughts aside, he patted the little girl on the head, stood up, and casually gathered some supplies.
With no knowledge of what awaited him outside, he carefully selected a few common crop seeds and packed them into his bundle. He also found a sharp dagger tucked away in a corner and secured it at his waist.
Finally, he hoisted the bundle of seeds onto his shoulder and led the three grimy children toward the exit.