C10 The End of the World!(1)

On the rooftop garden, Lin Chen and Lin Ya sat opposite each other in silence, watching the seconds tick away on their phones.

As the clock struck midnight, Lin Chen looked up at the sky.

"The apocalypse has arrived."

Lin Ya followed suit, gazing upward.

Bathed in the bright moonlight, the deep and expansive sky began to undulate like a rippling cloth.

A distant rumble of thunder echoed, and soon the sky was peppered with countless tiny holes, as if it were a sieve leaking water.

A powerful, invisible electromagnetic surge swept across the globe in an instant, frying all active high-precision electronic chips.

Every satellite in orbit simultaneously lost its "brain," reduced to mere space debris.

On Earth, the majority of dormant high-precision chips met the same fate.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The night was pierced by the sounds of exploding electronics, with fireballs erupting across the city. The once vibrant metropolis was plunged into darkness, now shrouded in an eerie moonlit glow that was hauntingly beautiful.

A few automatic generators kicked in, restoring light to a handful of areas. But most generators, reliant on those high-precision chips, were rendered useless with the chips' destruction.

Every smartphone that had been on was instantly bricked as their chips burned out, their screens going dark.

Lin Ya's phone, however, had been safeguarded in the Seeds World by Lin Chen, spared from ruin.

Even the phones that were off, stored in warehouses or displayed on shelves, largely lost their functionality.

Suddenly, the entire sky began to brighten, twinkling with magical hues as countless specks of light cascaded from the heavens like a swarm of fireflies.

Lin Ya, mesmerized by the sky's dreamy beauty, barely whispered, "So beautiful," before Lin Chen urgently instructed, "Yaya, quickly sit cross-legged and focus on drawing those light spots into your body."

Snapping out of her trance, Lin Ya saw her brother already meditating in a lotus position. Without questioning, she mimicked his posture.

...

In a small mountain village in the northern reaches of Seamoor Province, Lin Yuanshan and his wife, fully dressed, stared at their phones in disbelief.

"Wow, the phone's gone black. It just powered off on its own."

"Look up, it's like the sky is leaking."

"Look, the sky is starting to glow. There's definitely divine light up there."

Lin Yuanshan bellowed, "Enough talk, hurry and open the door to the yard to bask in the divine light. Mom, you have to summon the divine light in your heart and let it infuse your body."

Convinced by his son's words, Lin Yuanshan resolved to follow his son's instructions to the letter.

As the couple stepped into the yard, Dahei, their faithful house dog, also ventured outside to soak up the heavenly light.

In his past life, Dahei hadn't been touched by the divine light, yet it didn't turn into a zombie dog; instead, it became a mutated beast, remaining fiercely loyal to its owner.

Now that Dahei had been bathed in the divine light, Lin Yuanshan couldn't help but wonder about the extent of its newfound powers.

Five minutes later, the sky's kaleidoscope of lights vanished, replaced by an eerie red fog. Through this haze, even the moon appeared to have taken on a crimson hue.

"The divine light's gone."

"Then let's get inside quickly. Dahei, you too."

With a wag of its tail, Dahei followed them back inside, and the door shut firmly behind them.

"I'm feeling so tired."

"Me too, I'm exhausted. But our son warned us to fight the drowsiness. Mom, try to stay awake. It looks like he was right about the apocalypse. Thankfully, Yaya is with him. Let's pray they're both safe. Mom, this is sensitive information from our son – keep it to yourself and don't cause him any trouble."

Dahei whined in protest at being mentioned in such a context.

"Dahei, be quiet! I wasn't referring to you."

"Wow..."

"Mom..."

...

On a rooftop garden in the metropolis, Lin Chen watched as the divine light faded and the red mist rolled in. He stood up and said, "Yaya, let's head back to the room."

"Brother, why do I suddenly feel so sleepy?"

"We'll talk about it in the room."

Once they were in Yaya's room, Lin Chen handed her a cup of First Level Energy Water. "Yaya, there's not much more I can do to help you now. Listen carefully, from this moment, you must resist the urge to sleep. If you can't hold out, take a sip of this. Only sleep when you absolutely can't keep your eyes open any longer. The longer you can stay awake, the greater your future achievements will be, and the sooner we can make our way back home."

Lin Ya understood and nodded, accepting the cup of water with a grateful gesture.

Once back in his room, Lin Chen settled into a cross-legged position, closing his eyes to meditate and absorb the fruits of his experiences.

Research from his past life had shown that the divine light at the dawn of the apocalypse was born from the clash between the mighty laws of the Alien Land and the Earth's will. This divine light, when absorbed by living beings, could lead to exceptionally positive evolutionary effects.

However, the divine light would diminish as it passed through barriers, and its potency would decrease accordingly.

The Western world felt the impact of this cosmic gift profoundly, as it was daytime there when the divine light first shone. Many courageous individuals chose not to seek shelter but to embrace the light openly.

In Hiekith, only a handful of people were awake to witness the phenomenon and were outdoors to fully benefit from this cosmic boon.

As a result, the Western world eventually boasted a higher number of individuals with Extrasensory Perception than Hiekith. Yet, they would only dare to show their teeth to Hiekith when united. The ancient philosophies of Hiekith, inherently suited for cultivation, meant that their Extrasensory Perception users generally advanced more rapidly than their Western counterparts.

Following the divine light, the red mist that enveloped the Earth was an evolutionary virus from the Alien Land. It permeated every corner of the globe where air existed, subjecting all earthly creatures to an evolutionary trial.

Only those who had awakened their Extrasensory Perception before the advent of the divine light could withstand the red mist's onslaught.

The odds of such an awakening were one in a billion, leaving fewer than a hundred individuals worldwide who were capable of remaining conscious through the ordeal—Lin Chen being among this elite group.

The longer one could fend off the encroaching drowsiness, the greater the rewards they stood to gain.

At present, this secret remained unknown, and the vast majority lacked any inclination to resist.

With the red mist's advance, sixty percent of humanity would succumb, their consciousness shattering, transforming into mindless zombies driven solely by a primal urge to consume. These creatures would also carry a potent risk of infection.

The majority of humans would experience no significant changes, aside from an enhancement in their physical constitution. However, a rare few would undergo mutations, giving rise to individuals with what future generations would refer to as Extrasensory Perception and Enhancement abilities.

As for Earth's animal population, approximately twenty percent would succumb to zombification. The rest would mostly undergo standard transformative evolution, with only a select few retaining their original form.