Chapter 136.1 : “The era of humanity is coming to an end”
“No, he—”
“The handover, I know.” Wu Heng reached out with his chopsticks and flipped each slice of pork belly on the grill in front of him. The side facing up was crisp and golden, tiny bubbles of oil popping as a rich aroma spread through the air.
Lin Mengzhi sat up with no support at all, his mouth falling open.
Luo Lei picked up a piece, blew on it, and put it into his mouth. Lin Mengzhi lay back down again.
Quiet. Very quiet.
But the grill sizzled noisily, and outside, rain pattered like beads of jade falling onto a porcelain plate as it struck the umbrella-like leaves of the elephant-ear plants.
“Holy shit!” Lin Mengzhi sat up again. “This isn’t a dream? Why are there so many people? Who are you all?”
Wu Heng picked up another slice of pork belly, wrapped it in a wild vegetable leaf. “You all are—”
“Doing introductions?”
Those who had initially thought this was an invitation to join the meal took half a step forward, then silently retreated back into the group.
Wen Yuan was the first to remove his gloves. “Wen Yuan. We’ve met twice—once in Hanzhou, and once in the tourist town after the earthquake.”
“Yang Xiaoyun. We’ve met too, but only once.”
“Jiang Xun. My position is liaison and inspection.”
“You can contact Jingzhou?” Wu Heng looked at her.
“In theory, yes, but I can only connect with the Information Control Center. I can’t do anything close to what Executor 08 can—almost global connectivity.”
“Who’s 08?”
“Tang Yan,” Jiang Xun said. Seeing that Wu Heng still looked puzzled, she realized and corrected herself. “Sheng Jiang.”
Wu Heng said nothing more and put the pork belly into his mouth.
“Wang Ruixiang. I’m an ice-type ability user. My current level is A.”
“Chen Qiong. Shadow—or maybe shadow. The other side of light.”
“Jiang Yi. Dieffenbachia.”
“A plant symbiote?” Lin Mengzhi leaned forward. This was the first plant symbiote he’d seen besides Wu Heng.
“Yes,” Jiang Yi replied. “Currently S-rank.”
Wu Heng looked at him. “You should know that plant symbiotes don’t live long. The plant eventually consumes the human host. At your current level, you might not make it out of Shenjian alive.”
“I never planned on leaving,” Jiang Yi ran a hand through his hair. “Shenjian is my hometown.”
“Fellow countryman!” Zhou Shan’s expression lit up with delight.
Zhou Shan stood up, his massive frame blocking much of the light from the bulb. Everyone was startled by his sheer size. Lin Mengzhi, beside him, chattered excitedly, “This is Zhou Shan—this house is his.”
After Jiang Yi, the others took turns introducing themselves. When it came to the last one, X was the first to react, hopping onto a nearby table, eyes wide.
“Yue Shanqing, symbiotic with a white crane.”
“I remember you,” Wu Heng paused. He didn’t exactly recall the person’s face, but he remembered the young teacher in Meili Town—a beautiful white crane with sleek, snow-bright plumage. He remembered the crane, but the human symbiote’s appearance had already faded from his memory, leaving no clear outline.
Yue Shanqing pressed his lips together. “Me too.”
The boy’s aura was unique in this post-apocalyptic world. When others were bewildered, he was calm; when others were terrified and hopeless, he remained untouched. Once someone noticed him, that presence was unforgettable, and paradoxically, the closer one got to death, the more vivid his composure and features appeared.
He had traveled north with the Zheng Xi couple and was fortunate to gain Professor Ye’s protection. In Jingzhou, Zheng Xi became even more ordinary than in Hanzhou, choosing to keep moving north. Soon after reaching the northern base, Zheng Xi sold him into the underground black market under the pretense of developing local education.
He was sold several times before ending up at that “lavish and decadent” auction house. By the time he reached the hands of the house owner, his price had already multiplied tenfold, as someone in the northern base’s upper echelon seemed to have a particular fondness for the crane family.
Yet the boy remained as always—calm, silent, unchanged.
Wu Heng rolled another piece of meat in his chopsticks and fed it into his mouth.
He hadn’t expected that what Xie Chongyi mentioned in the morning—to send people over—would happen the same night.
Aside from old friends like Xue Shen, arranging the rest was a headache. Just providing enough food each day was already making Wu Heng’s wallet ache.
But these people were all ability users; being self-sufficient shouldn’t be too difficult. Still, would that be too harsh? If they were working for him, he probably ought to pay them appropriately.
With that thought, Wu Heng sulked back into the study.
Lin Mengzhi immediately sat in Wu Heng’s usual seat. “Then I’ll keep you company! Speak! Who sent you here? What are you doing here?!”
Wu Heng had no intention of revealing his private space. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t even inform Wen Yuan and the others about Doctor Chen’s existence.
He propped his chin on his hand, staring at the notebook on the table. Soon, he dismissed even his “last resort” plan—if someone was about to die, just eat them. No need to risk exposing his space or Doctor Chen.
He wrote down each of their names, along with their abilities and attributes.
Clearly, the core of this group was Wen Yuan, followed by Yang Xiaoyun and Jiang Xun. Yue Shanqing, who spoke last, didn’t quite fit with the others—likely drafted from an administrative unit into Wen Yuan’s team. Overall, Wen Yuan’s group seemed cobbled together from various sources.
Outside the study, Zhou Shan realized there weren’t enough chairs, so he grabbed two rolls of mats from the storage room, unrolled them, and let everyone sit on them.
He wanted to pour water for the guests, but there weren’t enough cups. So he carried two stacks of bowls and ladled honey water, one bowl after another. “Drink something warm to keep out the cold. On days like this with rain, it’s easy to catch a cold.”
One “thank you” after another sounded. Wen Yuan took a bowl and drank it in one go. Yang Xiaoyun held his bowl and whispered to him, “I feel like Zhou Shan’s gaze on us is kind of… strange.”
Zhou Shan’s cheeks flushed red as he held the steaming kettle and asked Wen Yuan, “Want more?”
Weirder still, Yang Xiaoyun thought.
Wen Yuan said a quick “thanks” and placed his bowl under the spout of the kettle. Zhou Shan couldn’t help letting his gaze wander to the faint—but not exaggerated—muscles beneath Wen Yuan’s combat uniform, and then down those long, curved legs… that crotch…
The man, noticing Zhou Shan’s odd behavior, immediately grew wary.
Watching this, Lin Mengzhi internally cheered—finally, the damn gay guy’s attention could be diverted away from his childhood friend.
With this many people arriving at once, Zhou Shan would have plenty to look at.
“Have you eaten? Want some food? There’s still quite a bit of offal in the kitchen. I can cut some more meat. There’s no staple food left, so just drink plenty of water.”
The more people Zhou Shan saw, the happier he got. Relying on the abundant resources of Shengjiandi, he was generous, bringing whatever he had.
Everyone except Wen Yuan played along with the polite act and quickly got their bowls and chopsticks.
“Here, yours.” Zhou Shan handed a set to Wen Yuan as well.
“I’m not hungry. You guys eat.” Wen Yuan settled into a corner.
“Captain Wen still treats himself as an outsider,” Xue Shen said, also not taking any utensils. He wasn’t hungry, but he still smiled.
“Just tired,” Wen Yuan said, closing his eyes.
“Xue Shen,” Ruan Silian adjusted her coat and sat beside the two Xue brothers. “Lu Lu didn’t come back?”
“She’s not coming. She said if Old Xie comes, she won’t come either,” Xue Qi replied.
“Why? Is she still mad at me?”
Xue Qi looked confused; he didn’t even know that the two girls had private disagreements. Xue Shen, however, thought for a moment and said, “Jingzhou offers better opportunities. Before coming here, the future was uncertain.”
Ruan Silian said nothing. Silently, she added two more pieces of dry wood under the grill. Finally, she said, “So she’s angry because I was thinking about her.”
“She might not need you to think for her. Everyone has their own thoughts. Maybe she just wanted to stay with you, but you let her go,” Xue Shen admitted, not fully understanding girls. He added hesitantly, “Probably… I’m not sure, though.”
“Got it.”
Seeing the mood drop, Xue Qi struggled to pick up a piece of meat and popped it into his mouth. It was so hot that he howled skyward, but after swallowing, he looked at Xue Shen and said, “Brother, it’s really good!”
Lin Mengzhi crossed his arms, lifted his chin, and felt an indescribable joy—like watching your brothers go out and mess around, face hardship, and finally realize that what you have at home is the best. Sss—does Jingzhou not have meat? he thought smugly.
Xue Qi said, “It’s not that there’s no meat, it’s just that we eat from big communal pots. Everyone eats together, so it’s not so particular. Plus, people are in a hurry—frying, roasting, and grilling take too long. Stir-fried dishes are rare, since there isn’t much cooking oil. Most of it is boiled. But my brother brings me food from outside sometimes, so it’s not that bad.”
“Oh, right. Why did Wu Heng’s hair change like that? Is he sick?”
“Plants, you know. Spring does this.” Lin Mengzhi scratched his head. “And he feels bigger now—eats a lot.”
“Wu Heng’s always eaten a lot.”
“What about Wu Zhi? Why isn’t she here?”
“She made a mistake… and ran off.”
“Ah???” Xue Qi froze, chopsticks midair.
Wu Zhi was Wu Heng’s younger sister. That was one thing—but more importantly, she was completely brother-obsessed. Her mind had no room for anyone but Wu Heng. Even if she literally poked a hole in the sky, she would never leave his side.
Unless the hole she poked wasn’t in the sky… but in Wu Heng himself.
“Running outside now isn’t safe.” Xue Shen glanced at Lin Mengzhi’s fire-stick leg. “Your leg still isn’t healed?”
“No, I have to wait until A’Heng recovers.” Lin Mengzhi felt that using his abilities allowed him to walk freely. It looked scary at first, but once you got used to it, it seemed cool and impressive. He didn’t want Wu Heng to risk himself to save him.
One leg for two people to live safely—he thought that was more than worth it.
“I thought you’d stay in Jingzhou the whole time. After all, the news and resources there are firsthand.” Shen Ping’an crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside Xue Shen, speaking in a low voice.
Xue Shen smiled. “You don’t get information for nothing; you have to work for it. But things aren’t exactly looking optimistic.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you understand?” Xue Shen looked at Lin Mengzhi.
Lin Mengzhi stared back at him for a long moment, then let out an incredulous, hearty laugh. “Hahaha! You son of a—first thing you do when we meet is try to start a fight with me?!”
Xue Shen remained unmoved. “The Earth’s magnetic field is shifting unpredictably. The atmosphere is being damaged faster than we can repair it. Deserts are appearing in many places, extreme temperatures, chaotic climate changes… For example, if we move a hundred kilometers south from here, it’s snowing, while at the same time, the farthest ocean from us lost a fifth of its volume overnight.”
“Holy shit… I really don’t understand. What are you trying to say?”
Xue Shen removed his glasses. “Everything we’re doing now might be in vain. The Earth will eventually be completely cleansed, reshaped. The era of humanity is coming to an end.”
“That sounds like something Teacher Ying would say.”
“But right now it’s only speculation. Even if it comes true, some people will survive, becoming… the next humans,” Xue Shen said. “Horseshoe crabs trace back to the Ordovician. They’ve survived several mass extinctions on Earth. If they can endure, humans aren’t impossible either.”
Lin Mengzhi nudged Ruan Silian’s shoulder and raised his voice, “Roar~”
“……”
After a long silence, Wang Meixia, carefully moving closer, tugged on Ruan Silian’s sleeve. “Xiao Ruan, these people… are they your soldiers?”
Ruan Silian jumped at the question.
“No, no, no! They have their own missions—just a cooperative relationship, that’s all.”