On the morning of the 50th day since Yu Yao’s time travel—and three days before the apocalypse countdown—she habitually clicked on the sign-in button.
Then, amidst a burst of dazzling golden light, she saw an item that excited her immensely.
A top-tier talisman—the “Sky-Shield Stone.”
In the game, the Sky-Shield Stone’s function was to block the “Heavenly Way,” that is, the system.
After wearing the Sky-Shield Stone, whether killing other players or robbing game resources, no traces would be left behind.
It was even possible to attack and rob NPCs—truly “abnormal” in power.
Of course, that was its function within the game.
In this world, however, the Sky-Shield Stone’s effects had changed somewhat.
It could temporarily block the Sky Net and surveillance, and also completely hide Yu Yao’s aura and energy fluctuations.
Once activated, even psychic-type superpower users couldn’t detect her presence.
Unless someone saw her in person, it was like having an “invisibility” power—truly the ultimate tool for killing and looting.
But these were not the most important aspects.
The most crucial function was that it could shield Yu Yao from the Blood Moon’s illumination.
Without the Blood Moon’s glare, she might not have fallen into unconsciousness!
Yet those unconscious days were important for the awakening of superpowers.
So she immediately decided: spend two days gathering supplies, then find a safe place to sleep for a day!
The three nights of the Blood Moon mainly brought viral destruction to the world.
Humans didn’t need such an overwhelming display.
If a person couldn’t awaken superpowers after a day under the Blood Moon’s light, there was basically no hope for awakening in the early stages.
Unless they went and got bitten by a zombie, letting the virus violently invade them, to gamble on awakening!
But even if she had no powers, Yu Yao wouldn’t be disappointed.
Not to mention that as her game level rose, she would naturally unlock some professional skills.
Skill books would slowly appear as drops; no need to rush.
Even if nothing came, she could find ways to live well.
The Sky-Shield Stone wasn’t without drawbacks.
Every time it was activated for a total of seven days, it required seven days of cooldown before reuse.
During those seven days, the Sky-Shield Stone couldn’t be used.
Moreover, during the cooldown, it couldn’t be taken off; it had to remain worn to cool down naturally.
This was also a hassle.
So the Sky-Shield Stone couldn’t be turned on arbitrarily, or else it might be unavailable when really needed.
No matter, despite its drawbacks, it was truly overpowered!
Wearing the Sky-Shield Stone, Yu Yao went out.
She spent the last two hundred-some yuan she had on a movie ticket and a barbecue meal.
The temperature had already reached an astonishing fifty degrees Celsius.
Even some shops that still insisted on opening had almost no customers.
The barbecue place Yu Yao finally found was eerily empty.
The shop owner frowned, and when he saw Yu Yao come in alone, he stood there stunned for a while before welcoming her inside.
He personally took her order and brought her a large cup of cold drink.
Since she was the only customer, the sole remaining waiter and the owner kept glancing at her every now and then.
Yu Yao was perfectly calm, quietly enjoying her meal.
Under their curious eyes, she left the barbecue shop at ease.
On the last day before the apocalypse, Aunt Liang called.
She said all the supplies Yu Yao had specifically requested were ready and stored in the basement of their current residence.
Yu Yao could pick them up anytime.
Yu Yao happily thanked her but didn’t say when she would come.
She only reminded Aunt Liang to keep her family inside and protect themselves.
The Xu family was smart and would understand her intentions.
At 00:00 on October 1st,
Accompanied by a loud crash of a car collision, Yu Yao closed the eyes that had just witnessed a brutal traffic accident.
The apocalypse had arrived.
At midnight, most people were asleep, but many were still active.
At the exact moment the clock struck twelve, an eerie Blood Moon rose in the sky without warning, covering the world in a chilling red hue.
Everyone, every living being—no matter what they were doing—fell into a deep sleep because of the strange Blood Moon.
That loud crash was caused by a driver who suddenly fell asleep while driving and crashed into a roadside utility pole.
Countless such incidents happened simultaneously across different locations.
They triggered horrific explosions, car accidents, and plane crashes.
Factories and machines, left unattended as humans suddenly fell asleep, caused many terrifying disasters.
These poor souls died mysteriously before the apocalypse had even officially begun!
But there was no time for Yu Yao to dwell on these things.
They say the apocalypse comes first to kill the “saints” (those who try to save others).
She had neither the ability nor the plan to save anyone.
Without hesitation, she mounted her rented motorcycle, twisted the throttle, and sped straight to the harbor docks.
Haicheng’s import-export port was world-renowned for its vast size and scale.
Countless containers, cargo ships, and logistics vessels filled the area, most loaded with goods.
It was no exaggeration to say that the goods on these docks alone could comfortably sustain a team of dozens for many lifetimes.
Yu Yao wore a black fitted hoodie, matching work pants, and black Martin boots, her face covered by a mask.
Only her clear, shining eyes were visible.
In this eerie red world, she stretched out her “sinful” little hands toward the resource-filled docks.
The clothes she wore were Level 0 gear exchanged from the mall.
Aside from an automatic cleaning function, there were no special bonuses, but the good thing was that it was low-key and sturdy enough.
Even though everyone else had fallen into a deep sleep and the Sky-Shield Stone could block surveillance, she still chose the safest approach to avoid any unexpected accidents.
After all… since she was awake, it was hard to guarantee that there weren’t other people with special abilities around.
Yu Yao sped into the docks on her motorcycle without any hesitation.
Using her spiritual power—which could now extend up to twelve meters—she instantly collected all the containers within range!
The places she passed turned into patches of empty ground in an instant, much like when a magnet power-up in an endless runner game pulls all the coins automatically.
It was strange, yet oddly satisfying.
It wasn’t that she was lazy to collect containers one by one; it was simply because there were too many.
If she examined and studied them individually, three days wouldn’t be nearly enough.
Fortunately, containers could be roughly categorized by size, appearance, and storage area.
Moreover, each container had a list and quantity of its contents posted on the front.
This would make sorting much easier later on.
Yu Yao swept through the docks like autumn wind clearing fallen leaves, rapidly gathering various containers.
Even with such a godlike collection speed, it still took her a full two hours to ride through the entire docks and collect all the supplies.
At the security guard booth, Yu Yao spotted a guard asleep, head down on the desk.
Quickly, she took out some survival supplies from her backpack and left them there.
Then she pulled out a sheet of paper and some tape, placed the written side facing the guard’s face, and stuck it on the glass.
This was a paper specially printed beforehand using a printer she had bought.
On the pure white paper were several large, bright red characters: “Tsunami coming, evacuate Haicheng!!!”
Yu Yao knew well she couldn’t save many people.
Leaving aside how many lived in Haicheng, she couldn’t even be sure if the people had turned into zombies.
All she could do was warn them—if they were lucky enough not to have turned, maybe seeing her warning would save their lives.
Would this attract unwanted attention?
Not important.
She would leave Haicheng within three days, and the paper carried no trace or information about her.
As long as she didn’t admit it, no one could pin it on her.
After posting the paper, Yu Yao left the area without looking back, riding along the planned route to continue stockpiling.
First, she went to the nearest industrial zone from the docks.
Countless factories—big and small, finished goods or machinery—were all collected.
After all, a tsunami would hit a day after people woke up, so most people wouldn’t come here.
If she encountered places where people lived or factories with dormitories, she tried not to touch the survival supplies and left warnings there.
After another full day of frenzied scavenging—ending with dizziness and blurred vision—she finally finished gathering the industrial zone’s supplies.
After collecting from the last food processing plant, she casually placed a mattress in the empty office and set an alarm to rest for an hour.
As for food, she ate while scavenging, never daring to stop.
Leaving the industrial zone, Yu Yao headed toward Lin City.
At the same time, she hurriedly visited almost all the places in Haicheng’s flood zone—libraries, bookstores, video shops, seed shops, building material markets, electronics markets—all those places certain to be abandoned.
Only one day remained before people would begin waking up.
Yu Yao didn’t linger and pushed her motorcycle to the max, heading straight to neighboring Lin City.