Until the next morning after 5 a.m., all the people in Yanshan Town began to evacuate.
Led by the soldiers, those on the second floor of the hotel left.
Standing in front of the hotel, Xiao Zhenyuan took a long look at the place where he had lived his whole life, and sighed deeply.
He still went to the first floor of the hotel, hoping to persuade Wang Dajiang and the others once more.
But he was met with only cold faces.
"Old Xiao, you go ahead. He's your son, but he has nothing to do with us. Let's mind our own business."
"That's right, everyone has the right to choose their own way of life, as long as he hasn't harmed others."
"We're all neighbors here. I advise you to take care of yourself. Would life really be better at the new place? I doubt it."
"Farewell, Old Xiao. Long paths ahead, stay safe!"
Xiao Zhenyuan failed to persuade anyone in the end, but he had a clear conscience.
After packing a small bundle, with Xiao Tian waiting for him, Xiao Zhenyuan resolutely followed the soldiers and left.
Finally occupying the second floor of the hotel, Wang Dajiang and the others looked out the window at their departing fellow villagers, with their bundles on their backs and elders and children in tow, feeling a sense of melancholy.
This parting might mean they would never see each other again in this life.
But that slight feeling of separation soon vanished completely after the train had departed.
Wang Dajiang declared to everyone that today was Independence Day for the survivors of Yanshan Town.
He self-proclaimed himself as the leader of Yanshan Town and announced that they would hold a grand banquet, and drink till they couldn't stand!
The remaining people of Yanshan Town acted like it was the New Year, bringing out all the food they'd normally hesitate to eat and the best liquor.
Everyone took the day off and worked together to prepare a sumptuous feast for the evening.
They busied themselves from morning till evening at 6 p.m., a full twelve hours.
As night fell, the revelry of Independence Day began.
The Independence Day banquet was held in the police station chief's office.
After all, with so few people, five tables would be enough.
After everyone was seated, Wang Dajiang raised his glass for the first time as the host.
"My dear fellow villagers, let me say a few words."
Those seated stopped what they were doing and listened to Wang Dajiang's speech.
"I just calculated the time. From the day the apocalypse began to today, it's been exactly two months."
It was only then that people realized how little they had been paying attention to the date since the apocalypse started.
Two months, it felt as long as a year.
Wang Dajiang continued, "We're all very fortunate to have survived such dark days, and things will only get better."
He pointed at the facilities in the police station. "In the past, we never dared come here, but today is different - we're the masters now."
"We have water and electricity here. We have our hands and feet. Although resources aren't abundant, they're enough for now. I think we can spend the winter very comfortably, and once the ice and snow melts next year, we can resume production."
"In the meantime, we can look for any other survivors nearby. As long as there are people, we'll bring them here, because we have an unparalleled advantage - there are no zombies!"
Hope shone in everyone's eyes. Yes, Xiao Fan had done some good by clearing out all the zombies within a 20 or 30 kilometer radius.
This was the advantage of Yanshan Town, the hope for their rise.
"So, here I declare that we are all...free!"
"Hooray~~~!"
Everyone stood up and applauded vigorously, celebrating their freedom.
After the commotion, Wang Dajiang said, "Next, let's all have a drink to celebrate our Independence Day."
Everyone filled their glasses, ready to down them.
At that moment, the electric lights started flickering erratically.
"What's going on?"
"Did the lights reach the end of their lifespan? Or did the wiring deteriorate?"
"I don't know. Whoever knows how to fix electricity, go check it out quickly."
The electrician had just stood up when, after a faint bang, all the lights in Yanshan Town went out!
A blackout!
The once brightly lit police station was plunged into darkness in an instant.
The people, like startled birds tormented by the apocalypse, couldn't help but scream.
It was Wang Dajiang who managed to stay composed. "Don't panic, don't panic. We used to have blackouts all the time before, what's there to panic about? Hey, Li, where's the generator?"
"Brother Wang, Xiao Fan's people took the generator away a long time ago. It's not on our side anymore."
"No problem, no problem. We don't need a generator. What about candles? Light some candles. A candlelight dinner will be more atmospheric."
Without a generator, at least they had candles. After all, many people dared not turn on lights when the apocalypse started and could only rely on candles for illumination.
Soon, several candles were lit, and the police station was bright again.
Wang Dajiang tried to reassure everyone, "No need to worry. It's just a blackout. The power might come back on tomorrow. Even if it doesn't, it's fine. People in the past lived in the dark age. With our hands, feet, and experience, we can absolutely build a new life."
Comforted by his words, people gradually calmed down and sat back down to eat. But the lively atmosphere from before was gone.
Wang Dajiang tried to liven things up again by raising his glass and proposing a toast.
Suddenly.
The door to the chief's office was violently kicked down!
Those sitting near the door were all slammed by it and cried out in agony.
Shocked and enraged, Wang Dajiang wondered who would dare cause trouble on his Independence Day. Could it be Xiao Fan's people coming back?
Even if it was Xiao Fan's people, they had no right this time. Wang Dajiang was ready to give them a piece of his mind.
To assert his authority, he even pulled out his prized small handgun and pointed it at the door, wanting to see who had entered.
But when a huge dark figure strode in, everyone was petrified with fear.
Over two meters tall, with a physique more powerful than a lion or tiger, that bloodied, horrifying face - it was clearly the nightmare every person had experienced during the apocalypse.
A zombie!
People froze for a moment before screaming and retreating in chaos. Some didn't even think twice and jumped straight out the windows, as being caught by a zombie meant certain death.
But as soon as they jumped down, heart-rending screams came from below.
The crunching, chomping sounds of eating, combined with the screams of those on the verge of death - everyone knew there were zombies down there too.
Those about to jump out the window saw what was happening below and were so terrified they wet their pants.
"Zombies... so many zombies!"
The remaining people huddled into the corner where Wang Dajiang was, trembling, not daring to move an inch.
As more and more zombies entered the room, even Wang Dajiang lost hope.
You could still reason with people, but what could you say to zombies?
Until a zombie that looked slightly more normal than the others walked in.
Unlike the other zombies' rigid expressions, this one's eyes at least shifted around, giving the impression that it was more like a person.
This zombie approached the table and picked up Wang Dajiang's glass, examining it.
Its blood-red eyes stared directly at Wang Dajiang, full of cruelty.
"Heh~~!"
"Celebrating, are we?"
"Aren't you going to invite an old friend?"
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
