Everyone on Blue Star, with the exception of the Neon Country, believed the Natural Disaster that swept the globe began on the day the Neon Country, ignoring the stern protests of its neighbors, started dumping nuclear-contaminated water into the pristine ocean.
Three months after the continuous discharge of nuclear-contaminated water, a massive volcano erupted in the Neon Country. Volcanic ash, scorching magma, and the tsunamis and great earthquakes triggered by the eruption swallowed the nation whole. Less than five percent of the Neon Country’s population managed to escape.
Before humanity could recover from this planet-shocking "disaster," dozens of large volcanoes across Blue Star’s five continents erupted one after another. Fresh water across the globe became undrinkable due to contamination from volcanic ash, and months of acid rain caused by the eruptions led to the collapse of global agriculture.
Six months after the volcanic eruptions, atmospheric visibility on Blue Star finally began to improve. Just as people stepped out of their homes to eagerly celebrate the end of the disaster, ready to rebuild, an even greater catastrophe suddenly struck.
A star eight thousand light-years away went supernova. For unknown reasons, the resulting, incredibly powerful gamma-ray burst changed course and hurtled toward Blue Star, which had not been in its original path.
After a UV flash lasting only a few seconds, an electromagnetic pulse covering an entire hemisphere struck Blue Star. Intense radiation caused a total communications blackout across the two directly impacted continents and severed their power supplies. At the same time, all artificial satellites in orbit suffered catastrophic damage, losing contact with the surface.
On the planet’s night side, people were startled awake. Shortly after they stepped outside, a massive deluge of high-speed muons slammed into them. The cells of every living being directly exposed to the muon stream were pierced, their DNA completely obliterated. The world became a living hell.
The gamma-ray burst didn’t just kill most life on two continents; it also threw Blue Star’s magnetic field into chaos. Two mysterious elements suddenly appeared in the atmosphere, later named "Qiang" and "Yi" by Hua Country scientists.
Qiang: To slaughter, to harm the body and shorten life.
Yi: Thunder from the mountain, the germination of all living things.
Under the influence of these two elements, all life on Blue Star rapidly evolved, challenging humanity’s position at the top of the food chain. The planet-wide, hell-difficulty survival mode had officially begun.
Xiaqing’s mother died in an insect plague during the fourth year of the Natural Disasters. Her father died in a Beast Tide during the fifth.
In the tenth year of the Natural Disasters, Xiaqing was still alive.
"BANG!"
A stone block weighing over three hundred pounds crashed to the ground, startling the records keeper, Old Zhong. He raised his face, pitted and scarred from acid rain. But when he saw the green ID tag worn by the thin woman with a dark-red complexion standing behind the block, he had to swallow his anger. "If you’re tired, take a rest," he grumbled. "You don’t get points for breaking the stone slabs."
Xiaqing wiped the sweat and limestone dust from her face with her sleeve and, breaking her usual silence, said, "Uncle Zhong, I’m leaving."
Old Zhong hadn’t expected Xiaqing to initiate a conversation. He shot to his feet, his face plastered with a smile. "Are you going out hunting with a team? When will you be back? Could you save a pound of good meat for me? I’ll trade you for it at one-and-a-half times the points."
After the great evolution of all life on Blue Star, human skeletons became tougher and muscles grew stronger. A tiny fraction of the population underwent a more radical change, their bodies evolving to become several, even dozens, of times more powerful. They became known as Evolvers.
Evolvers controlled more and higher-quality resources, making their living conditions vastly superior to those of ordinary people, who were struggling just to survive.
Xiaqing was a Level 4 Strength Evolver, meaning her physical power was four times that of an ordinary post-evolution human. While Level 4 Strength was nothing remarkable among Evolvers, it was more than enough to inspire envy, fear, and fawning from regular people.
As an Evolver, Xiaqing usually maintained a stoic, silent demeanor precisely to avoid situations like this.
But soon, she wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore.
"I’m not going hunting. I’m leaving the Safe Zone." Xiaqing smiled. Since she hadn’t smiled in years, the expression was stiff and looked unusually terrifying.
The scarred skin at the corner of Old Zhong’s eye stretched taut, his eyeball practically bulging. He stammered, "Is the base about to fall? Didn’t the broadcast just yesterday say they’d driven the Evolved Beasts back hundreds of miles? Is another Beast Tide coming?"
The four regular people walking over with stone blocks heard Old Zhong and were so frightened that the blocks slipped from their grasp, about to crush one of them.
Quick as a flash, Xiaqing caught the block, set it safely on the ground, and dusted herself off. "No. I’m going to farm."
Farming? She’s going to farm!
The base’s plan to send people out to farm had been blaring over the broadcast for days. But everyone who had struggled to survive for ten years since the Natural Disasters was precious about their life. No one wanted to venture out and risk it.
Vivid rumors were already spreading throughout the Safe Zone: if no one volunteered to farm, the leadership would start forcing regular people out to their deaths.
They never imagined someone would actually want to go—and an Evolver, no less, someone who could live comfortably within the Safe Zone.
Snapping out of it, Old Zhong scrambled after Xiaqing. "Farming! That’s great! You remember my eldest son, right? Zhong Tao? He’s with the transport team. I’ll talk to him. From now on, Xia, if you need anything, just find Brother Tao. He’ll handle it for you."
Old Zhong’s son, Zhong Tao, had joined the Hui San Base military. He now served in the transport division as a squad leader. This was why the Zhong family managed to live relatively well in the Safe Zone, and it was also the reason Xiaqing had initiated the conversation with Old Zhong today.
Xiaqing offered another stiff smile. "Great. I’m sure I’ll be troubling Brother Tao to help me transport grain and hunted meat back here to trade for supplies."
Old Zhong beamed, the pits and scars on his face seeming to dance with joy. "That’s part of his job! It’s no trouble, no trouble at all. So, Xia, which plot of land are you claiming?"
"I haven’t yet. I’m on my way now." Her objective accomplished, Xiaqing stopped forcing herself through social interactions she found more exhausting than hauling stone. She hurried to the Safe Zone’s mission hall, weaving past the crowd of gawkers gathered around the electronic territory bulletin board, and stopped at the administration desk marked with a "Territory Claims" sign.
"Hey, what do you think you’re doing? Don’t you get how a line works?" Seeing Xiaqing take the first spot, a few people from the crowd weren’t having it. Rolling up their sleeves, they rushed forward.
Xiaqing turned. The men rushing toward her saw her green ID tag and stopped dead.
Xiaqing clenched a fist and slowly rolled her wrist. Her eyelids lifted lazily. "If you want to claim land, get in line."
Today was land-claim day, which was why so many people were watching. Though the men hadn’t decided if they were going to claim a plot, they still fell in line meekly behind Xiaqing.
Seeing that a fight wasn’t breaking out, the two soldiers on duty relaxed and returned to their posts.
Most people have a herd mentality. Once they saw a line forming, the rest of the crowd under the bulletin board scrambled to join it.
Whether they actually intended to claim land or not, it couldn’t hurt to save a spot in line first.
The commotion attracted attention from deeper inside the hall. A woman wearing a green ID tag, her face marked by two long scars, walked over to Xiaqing. "You’re really going to farm?"
Xiaqing nodded. "Sister Juan. Here to pick up a mission?"
In the years since her father’s death, Xiaqing had joined Xu Juan’s Dongyang Team for missions on several occasions, so the two were on friendly terms.
Xu Juan glanced around, and seeing no Auditory Evolvers nearby, she lowered her voice. "Did you piss someone off? I can talk to Dongyang. Come join our team. We can be in the same squad."
Unless you’d pissed someone off so badly you couldn’t stay, what kind of Evolver would give up a comfortable life in the Safe Zone to risk their neck scraping a living from the soil?
Xiaqing shook her head. "I haven’t pissed anyone off. I just want to do this."
’But you can’t just go get yourself killed over a whim,’ Xu Juan thought.
Just as Xu Juan was about to speak, she heard a car brake outside, followed by the sound of leather shoes hitting the pavement.
It had been ten years since the Natural Disasters began, and only a handful of people in the Safe Zone still wore stilettos. Xu Juan looked toward the entrance and saw a woman in a tailored leather suit walking in. She was so clean she stood in stark contrast to everyone else, and she was heading straight for them.
Tang Lu. Niece of Hui San Base’s second-in-command, Tang Zhengrong, and daughter of Tang Zhengsu, captain of the base’s number one Su Feng Team. She was the most notorious troublemaker in the entire Safe Zone; running into her was a guarantee of bad luck. Xu Juan had earned her resentment over a trivial matter and now avoided her at all costs.
Xiaqing’s lips barely moved as she whispered, "Sister Juan, you should go. We’ll catch up later."
Xu Juan gave a slight nod, turned, and quickly retreated behind her teammates.
The sharp CLACK, CLACK, CLACK of her shoes echoed through the hall. More than half the people inside watched Tang Lu, wondering which man had caught her eye today, or which woman she was here to torment.
Wearing the yellow tag of a regular person, Tang Lu strode impatiently to the administration desk. She tilted her chin up and looked down her nose, her gaze falling on the green Evolver tag on Xiaqing’s chest.
Xiaqing, her head still bowed, lifted her eyes to glance at the woman before calmly taking a step back.
’Relatively speaking, as much as people hated Tang Lu, she was the least dangerous member of the Tang Family. For all her years of rampaging around the Safe Zone, she’d never actually killed anyone. So, Xiaqing wasn’t afraid of her.’
’But not being afraid didn’t mean she had to pick a fight with her. This step back was a step closer to her real goal for the day.’
"Hmph."
Tang Lu snorted in triumph. After turning to take the spot at the front of the line, she pulled out a perfumed handkerchief and fanned it in front of her nose. "What is that smell? It’s disgusting. Don’t you people ever wash?"
After nuclear waste and six months of acid rain had contaminated the oceans and lakes, Blue Star’s water was only usable after extensive filtering and purification. The process was expensive, so water in the Safe Zone had to be purchased with points. For a regular person, even a sip of drinking water was a luxury. Who would waste life-sustaining points on a bath?
As an Evolver, Xiaqing lived better than most and could afford a bath once a week. But today, she had come here deliberately filthy. The Tang Family must not get a clear look at her face.
Listening to Tang Lu’s complaints, Xiaqing kept her head slightly bowed, her face impassive. Inwardly, however, she couldn’t have been more delighted.
’She knew someone from the Tang Family would show up, but she never expected it would be the great Miss Tang Lu herself.’