At midnight, most people were already asleep. Those who were still awake were either playing on their phones or thinking about what to have for breakfast the next morning. Tonight was destined to be an extraordinary night.
The moon, originally bright in the sky, slowly moved, hiding its light. The color of the sky began to change, gradually shifting from deep black to a shade of purple, making it seem more distant and mysterious.
If one observed carefully, they could see faint, diamond-like sparkling points in the dark purple sky, making the night even more dazzling and beautiful.
Two hours later, some of these sparkling points began to fall from the sky, while most of the shining points remained high above.
These points were neither stars nor meteors. Later, scientists generally believed that these mysterious objects were related to the sudden appearance of attributes within people’s bodies, though the exact relationship was unknown. They could only be explained as the wonder and mystery of nature.
Those who were still awake and fortunate enough to witness this magnificent spectacle took out their phones to take photos and post them on social media, praising the beauty of the scene and the stars.
But they did not know that, although beautiful, this scene heralded an unprecedented global catastrophe.
At 6 a.m., Tang Mo’s alarm went off as scheduled. She grabbed her phone, turned off the alarm, sat up, dressed, touched her pendant, and then looked at it again.
This had become her morning routine. The shadows of her previous life had caused her to feel uneasy if she did not confirm that her pendant was still around her neck every morning.
She thought it might be her imagination, but it seemed that the color of the pendant had deepened slightly this morning.
Remembering that today was the first day of the apocalypse, she realized that all the changes had begun at midnight. Tang Mo checked the energy in her body and found that indeed, her mental power had returned.
Moreover, compared to the beginning of the apocalypse in her previous life, her mental power was much stronger. Tang Mo was overjoyed.
Although she could not yet feel changes in her strength or speed, and without her ID watch could not see specific values, mental power was something tangible in her mind. If it had increased, other attributes should have grown as well.
Tang Mo used her mental power to enter the supermarket. The arrangement of shelves and bottled water had not changed, but the free space at the checkout counter had increased by about one square meter.
The space had expanded!
Tang Mo was delighted by this discovery. If the space could grow, collecting supplies in the future would be much easier. Although the items currently in her space could last her several years, who would ever complain about having too many resources?
In the apocalypse, food was not just food—it was currency, and could even be exchanged for someone’s life.
Her growth in mental power might be due to continuously communicating with her space using her mind, which strengthened her abilities. The expansion of the space was likely related to the falling stars from last night, Tang Mo analyzed carefully.
Although she had gone to sleep early, she still knew what had happened. After all, in her previous life, the star rain had gone viral on social media and news outlets; it was impossible not to know about it.
With a face full of happiness, Tang Mo dressed, washed up, and went out. She had a bigger priority at the moment—breakfast.
The school cafeteria served breakfast from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. It was still early, and news of the crops wilting in the fields had not yet reached the school.
If she remembered correctly, the mist appeared on Earth at 8 a.m. The crops connected directly to the soil had withered instantly at midnight, and exposed plants and raw meat would decay within three days. Only sealed packaged foods would survive.
It was now 6:30 a.m., and before people realized what had happened, she could still eat breakfast in the cafeteria. After noon, once everyone noticed the problem, it would not be so easy to have a meal.
At the cafeteria, Tang Mo ordered steamed dumplings, porridge, and an egg. After eating, she brought two meals for her roommates. Then, thinking further, she packed ten more portions of steamed dumplings, ten portions of preserved egg and lean meat porridge, ten cups of soy milk, twenty eggs, and twenty baked buns.
Her space had gained an extra square meter, giving her more room. These were her favorite breakfast items, and Tang Mo always tried to pack extra without raising suspicion.
She found an empty corner to store the packed food in her space, then went to the supermarket to order a few boxes of water, snacks, and fruits. With the help of the staff, she moved them to an empty corner of her dormitory corridor and transferred them into her space.
Seeing the extra space filled again, leaving only the two suitcase-sized spaces remaining, Tang Mo felt comfortable. Perhaps Li Lanlan was right—she really might be a hoarder at heart.
By the time Tang Mo returned to the dorm around 8 a.m., Li Lanlan and Song Qing were awake, sitting on their beds, staring at their phones.
“Ah!!! I shouldn’t have stayed up binge-watching last night. If I hadn’t, I would have gotten up early, eaten breakfast, and not gone hungry when the cafeteria closed at noon.” Li Lanlan pulled at her hair in frustration. She had seen the school announcement in the morning that the cafeteria would be closed at noon. She instinctively tried to order takeout, only to find that all stores were closed.
“Takeout is closed too. Why is this happening? Am I really going to go a whole day without food?” Li Lanlan was still upset about being abandoned by the cafeteria.
“It might not be just one day. Look at Weibo,” Song Qing said, pushing up her glasses. She had already seen news about the soil turning purple-red and crops rotting. As a top student in the College of Biological Sciences, she carefully compared photos and analyzed every detail. Her expertise told her that purple sandy soil like that could not grow plants—it was even harder than planting grass in a desert.
“Ah??” Li Lanlan froze, quickly opening Weibo, her face growing paler by the second.
At that moment, a student group chat from T University received alerts.
Biology student Wu Yi: Extra! Extra! Did anyone see the thick fog at the school gate? It feels so strange.
Foreign Languages student Li Qian: My roommate lives nearby. The cafeteria’s closed, and I wanted to go home for lunch. I left the campus, but no one has replied to my messages… I’m worried. Did something happen?
Biology student Xia Xia: My roommate too… no WeChat replies, no texts. Could it be related to that fog?
Once these messages appeared, the chat group exploded. Many reported that their classmates had not responded since entering the mist.
Wu Yi: Could it really be the end of the world?
Upon hearing the news of soil mutation and rotting crops, everyone felt a shadow of unease. The world seemed to have changed slightly from what they knew.
Li Lanlan and Song Qing read the messages, their faces turning pale. Humans naturally fear the unknown, especially when far from their loved ones.
“You-took-my-arm-and-you-broke-my-will, You-made-me-shiver-with-a-real-thrill, You-took-my-arm-and-we-walked-along…”
Suddenly, a ringtone broke the silence in the room.
“Hello, Mom. Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry, I’m safe. I have enough food. You know how much I love buying things. I won’t go wandering. You take care too. I know, I’ll come home after my experiment. Okay, bye.”
Tang Mo hung up, letting out a gentle sigh of relief.
Lin Yi, after watching the morning news, had called her daughter first thing to make sure she was safe.
During the early months of the apocalypse, electricity was still running, so mobile networks were functioning. Later, when power stopped, everyone had ID watches, making communication more convenient. As long as someone was alive, contact was almost never lost.
In her previous life, Tang Mo had also called her mother at the start of the apocalypse, but soon after, she lost all contact with Lin Yi. Tang Mo never knew what happened to her mother and dared not imagine the worst. Being unable to leave school, anxiety and frustration overwhelmed her, which weakened her spirit.
This was also why losing her necklace had struck her so hard—she had accumulated too much pressure and negative emotion over time.
“Mo mo, did you go eat breakfast?”
Li Lanlan quickly shifted from anxiety about the unknown to worrying about her own hunger, casting envious glances at Tang Mo.
“Yes, I finished. Look what I have,” Tang Mo said with a smile, holding up the two packed breakfasts.