C1 The Apocalypse Reappeared

On May 4, 2044, an unknown influenza virus mutated, triggering a global catastrophe. Zombies and mutated beasts ran rampant. That same day marked the emergence of the first human Evolver.

By May 26, 2044, the world's inaugural Base City, Oakhollow, was founded.

On June 13, 2045, Oakhollow Base City fell to a zombie horde. Two days later, on June 15, the newly established Reed Base City succumbed to a beast tide, leaving no survivors. By June 18, New Kyoto Base City had been overtaken by a sea monster.

On November 13, 2045, the Base Cities of Grassvale and Tinnan joined forces to create an Evolver Legion, successfully fending off hordes of zombies, beasts, and a colossal sea monster. Humanity began to fight back.

March 9, 2047, saw meteorites crash across the globe. Simultaneously, several Base Cities came under mysterious attacks, resulting in significant losses among human elites. The Earth Union's interim government confirmed an alien invasion of Blue Star, putting the world on a war footing.

On March 15, 2047, the Base City of Liba capitulated to the alien forces. By April 9, 2047, the English Base City seceded from the Earth Union and sought refuge under the alien Toshtar.

A subspace storm enveloped the solar system on November 24, 2048, severing all contact with the outside world. The Abyssal Calamity descended, and demons invaded.

The final battle erupted on June 8, 2049, with alien and human Evolvers banding together to confront the Abyss Devils.

The following day, the allied forces were overwhelmed by the Abyss Devils, plunging the world into deathly silence. Civilization was extinguished!

—

"Kill!"

Chen Yu bellowed in fury, jolting upright.

The walls were a pristine white, and the television was broadcasting news of a volcanic eruption and a meteorite fall. The time displayed in the corner of the screen read May 4, 2044, 15:34.

This sight sent Chen Yu's fierce expression into a bewildered haze.

"The time is wrong! It should be 2049... No... None of this is right!" Chen Yu muttered instinctively.

"Where am I..."

Memories, once faded and buried deep within his heart, suddenly burst into vivid color within Chen Yu's clouded mind.

It was the cozy warmth of home!

Clang!

The sharp sound of metal hitting the floor echoed from nearby.

At the sound, Chen Yu's face twisted with alarm. He leapt to his feet, his eyes blazing red as he charged toward the kitchen.

Standing at the kitchen door, Chen Yu froze.

Before him lay the familiar yet foreign forms of his parents, slumped over, unconscious.

The stove hissed with the sound of sizzling, smoke curling up from it. On the cutting board lay a half-prepared carp, its knife fallen to the side.

Tears welled in Chen Yu's eyes and cascaded down his cheeks.

The apocalypse had come. His parents had collapsed in the kitchen—turned into the undead!

Faced with sudden catastrophe and fighting for survival, Chen Yu had been forced to make an unthinkable choice.

The scenes that once haunted his nightmares, tormenting him night after night, had ceased only when a certain individual came into his life, pulling him from the depths and setting him on an unexpected path of strength.

Yet, in the span of a moment, everything had shifted—

He, Chen Yu, had inexplicably traveled back in time from the last moments of the apocalyptic war to just before the outbreak!

Five years had reversed—time had flowed backward!

"Dad! Mom!"

Snapping to, Chen Yu let out a heart-wrenching cry and darted into the kitchen, scooping up his unconscious parents in his arms.

Despite the whirlwind of questions in his mind, his concern for his parents pushed all else aside. His only thought was to snatch them back from the brink of transformation.

He laid his parents down in the bedroom and dashed back to the kitchen without pause.

Yanking open the freezer, he grabbed every frozen item inside, particularly the rows of silicone molds brimming with ice cubes.

Huala!

Racing back to the bedroom, Chen Yu dumped the ice and frozen goods over his parents' heads, desperate to save them.

Last time, with no experience to draw from, Chen Yu could do nothing but watch his parents succumb to the transformation into zombies.

This time, armed with the memories of five years in a post-apocalyptic world, he knew that low temperatures could significantly delay the onset of zombification, particularly in the brain.

Packing their heads with ice, he watched as the redness in his parents' faces faded and their trembling bodies stilled.

"It worked!"

Chen Yu mopped the sweat from his brow, relief washing over him as he observed his parents, now temporarily at peace.

Then, a thunderous explosion shattered the silence, reverberating from outside the window.

Chen Yu spun around and dashed to the window, peering down.

Below, in the residential area, a car had collided with a stone pillar, engulfed in flames.

Through the fiery chaos of the driver's seat, he could see a woman in the passenger seat ferociously biting the man behind the wheel, who was now ablaze. Amidst the agony of being torn and burned, the man's screams filled the air, echoing throughout the complex.

Elsewhere, more screams rose and fell in a terrifying chorus.

Some people, in a blind panic, leapt from high-rise buildings...

Others shrieked in terror as they fled from newly-turned zombies in the pathways of the green belt...

Tragedy was unfolding at every turn.

The apocalypse had arrived.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Yu glanced back at his parents, lying on the bed. His eyes hardened, and his previously trembling hands were now clenched into fists of resolve.

"Dad! Mom! Wait for me!"

His voice, low and resolute, lingered in the bedroom as he charged back toward the kitchen.

Though he had used ice and frozen food to buy time against the zombification process, it was a temporary measure at best. In half an hour, as the food thawed and the ice melted, the transformation would accelerate, becoming more aggressive than before, leaving no hope for salvation.

From his five years of experience, he knew it could even lead to chaotic and horrific mutations.

Unless there was an antiviral serum...

But Chen Yu was acutely aware that even the first iteration of the serum, with a meager success rate of less than 20%, wouldn't be developed until the second year of the apocalypse.

There was only one option left to save his parents now.

The crystal nucleus.

Within the heart of a zombie that had undergone its initial mutation, the primal virus would coalesce into an essence crystal, a crystal nucleus.

The substance not only contained gene energy that could enhance physical strength and spur evolution. It also enabled those who were not externally infected to successfully suppress the primal virus within their bodies, thereby preventing zombification. Moreover, it increased the likelihood that non-infected individuals would awaken to their superpowers upon regaining consciousness, more so than uninfected ordinary people.

Chen Yu considered the five years of post-apocalyptic experience to be his most valuable treasure and foundation...

Emerging from the kitchen, Chen Yu was decked out in makeshift armor. In one hand, he wielded a shield (a steel pot lid), and in the other, a knife (a Chinese cleaver). He had fortified his wrists and shoulders—areas vulnerable to attack—with towels fashioned into rudimentary protective gear, ensuring his mobility wasn't compromised.

Positioned at the door, Chen Yu glanced down at his watch, meticulously piecing together the now-dim recollections. "Two zombies in the corridor to the left. In half a minute, the elevator will arrive with one more zombie and two victims inside. It takes a minute for the external infection to cause mutation..."

When the end times had first descended, he had fled his home in a desperate bid for survival, narrowly evading the clutches of those very zombies. It was sheer luck that had allowed him to make it back to the safety of his home.