The rat's head didn't move, but the little flower on top turned towards Shen Yi.
Immediately, it transformed into a viscous liquid and flowed to Shen Yi's feet.
Shen Yi pulled Cheng Jun and they hurried outside.
Neither of them spoke along the way; the information they had just received was too much to process, and they both needed time to digest it.
Once back at their residence, they finally felt a bit safer and sat down to rest.
Seeing the Nucleus Parasite Rat following closely behind, Shen Yi opened a can of food and lured it to a corner.
There were many secrets about it, and although it appeared harmless, Shen Yi didn't dare to keep it as a pet.
It didn't hesitate to start eating, perhaps influenced by its fungal nature, it seemed to enjoy human food.
Cheng Jun had already opened her notebook and started flipping through it.
The records inside were not in chronological order; they seemed like summaries or recorded conjectures, with scattered and disordered handwriting.
The first sentence in the notebook was a bombshell.
This alien plant has consciousness.
Or rather, when it transformed into the Nucleus Fungal Lord for survival, they shared a collective consciousness.
All infected individuals are also controlled by this consciousness.
Cheng Jun's eyes widened as she read the notebook, filled with terrifying and fantastical conjectures.
One deranged researcher even proposed the idea of universal symbiosis with the fungus, turning all of humanity into infected individuals to unite their collective consciousness and resist or even replace the fungal lord's consciousness.
What a mad idea.
"Boom..."
At that moment, a new earthquake suddenly erupted.
The ground was uneven, the bricks unstable, and the earth shook violently.
Shen Yi quickly shielded Cheng Jun and they crouched in a corner.
This time, the quake lasted longer, and Shen Yi shielded Cheng Jun with half his body, silently counting seconds in his heart.
"180 seconds..."
Three full minutes passed before the earthquake finally subsided.
"Cough, cough, cough, are you alright?"
The small villa withstood the tremor, but the residual vibrations inevitably stirred up dust.
"I'm fine."
Cheng Jun leaned in Shen Yi's embrace, listening to his strong heartbeat.
In this chaotic environment, an eerie sense of peace emerged within her, as if waking up from a serene afternoon nap.
Shen Yi quickly led Cheng Jun outside and looked south.
Amidst the distant ruins and dust, the towering building had completely collapsed and disappeared.
Shen Yi made a decision in his heart.
"Let's go! Right now!"
"Where to?"
"I don't know, anywhere is fine, as long as we get away from here."
Shen Yi's sense of unease had reached its peak.
"Okay."
Cheng Jun didn't ask further; she trusted Shen Yi completely.
"Get in the car!"
The prepared jeep finally came in handy.
The two of them got into the jeep, and as soon as the engine started, they were ready to go.
There was nothing left to pack at home; they left everything behind.
With the roar of the engine, Shen Yi drove the vehicle straight out of the dust.
"The fungal lord is in the south, so let's head north."
"North... north... okay, straight ahead and then turn right."
Cheng Jun sat in the passenger seat, took out a map, confirmed their direction, and began guiding the route.
"What about the rat..."
Cheng Jun suddenly thought of the Nucleus Parasite, not knowing where it had gone during the chaos.
"Don't worry, it won't die even if we do."
This strange creature's motives were unclear, and Shen Yi didn't bother with it for the time being.
"Thud..."
A dull sound came from the roof.
Then it flowed down and gathered on the windshield, forming a black flower that swayed like a car emblem in front of them.
Who else could it be but the parasite?
Shen Yi couldn't help but curse,
"You damn thing, you couldn't stay away..."
Despite the cursing, Shen Yi didn't drive it away. After all, it was a Nucleus offshoot, and it might come in handy someday.
After driving for about ten minutes, they were getting close to the farthest point they had reached before.
"Are we safe now?"
Cheng Jun murmured,
"Where do we go next?"
Shen Yi shook his head, "I haven't figured it out yet."
"But we can get someone else to decide for us. Take the phone out of my back pocket."
Cheng Jun, though puzzled, reached in and felt a hard object.
Pulling it out, she exclaimed in surprise,
"A satellite phone! Where did you get this?"
"Found it earlier in the underground lab's office. It still has power, try dialing it."
A satellite phone, as the name suggests, relies on satellites, so it remains functional even when ground communication bases are destroyed.
Cheng Jun opened it and found only one number stored.
Finally, they were about to contact someone in this world. With anticipation, Cheng Jun dialed the number.
The wait was nerve-wracking, but after a long time, someone picked up.
"Hello?"
A hesitant male voice came from the other end.
"Hello, we are survivors from Huaijing City, and we happened to find this phone, wanting to inquire about..."
Before Cheng Jun could finish, she was interrupted,
"Wait, did you say you are from Huaijing City?"
Cheng Jun sensed a change in the other party's attitude and, after glancing at Shen Yi, hesitated but replied,
"Yes, we are from Huaijing City."
They couldn't provide any more information other than that.
"Alright, please hold on, don't hang up, don't hang up..."
After that, a commotion could be heard, and the phone was put down.
Cheng Jun faintly heard the person calling out that there was news from Huaijing City.
About a minute later, the phone was picked up again, this time by a man with a deep voice,
"Hello, this is the Countermeasure Committee. What is the current situation in Huaijing City? Are there any other survivors besides you?"
"Uh, there are two of us, and we just escaped Huaijing City after an earthquake."
Cheng Jun answered truthfully.
"Where are you now?"
"We just left Jiangcheng District and are heading towards S02 Highway."
Cheng Jun checked the map and replied.
"Alright, please head to the S02 Highway toll station and wait there. We will immediately dispatch a helicopter for rescue."
"Rest assured, the Countermeasure Bureau will not abandon any survivor."
The man quickly said a few words and then hung up the phone, as if he was in a hurry to arrange something.
Cheng Jun put down the phone and discussed with Shen Yi.
Both agreed to go to S02 Highway, as it was better to be in contact with an organization rather than fending for themselves.
The world's organizational rescue efforts were quite substantial.
As they gradually left the Huaijing City area, the road became increasingly difficult to navigate, with obstacles everywhere.
The outside world seemed even more desolate and chaotic than Huaijing City.
Shen Yi kept an eye on their surroundings, while Cheng Jun continued to study the notebook.
The landscape ahead grew more desolate, with fields on either side of the road, and they were about to reach the overpass.
He drove the jeep in a strange S-shaped path, using its large size to push aside obstacles and clear a path.
Red and white crops came into view on both sides of the road, each standing upright like wooden stakes in the soil.
Just as Shen Yi was wondering what these plants were,
Suddenly, the plants moved.
They snapped their tendrils and, like bamboo shoots shedding their skin, pulled themselves out of the ground.
The leaves on their heads slowly closed, revealing a face that would make anyone with a fear of close-packed things shudder.
Blood-red eyes opened, their faces covered in intertwined vascular and root structures.
Layers of mold floated like tentacles.
"Roar..."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
agon king storylines. At the start, I obtained the "Ultimate Lackey System" - the more I act as a lackey, the stronger I become. What else could I do? I chose to become the personal henchman of the ultimate villain, Su Muwan. I provoke all sorts of chosen ones, snatch away their opportunities, and commit every evil deed imaginable. You ask who's behind me? Hmph! You're not worthy of knowing my lady's name! ...... ....... I am Su Muwan, the eldest daughter of the Su family. Since childhood, I've possessed extraordinary talent in martial arts, which led to my arrogant and domineering personality in my past life. I was even foolish enough to repeatedly challenge those favored by heaven, ultimately resulting in a tragic death. In this life, I must behave and absolutely cannot walk the same path again!! However... SLAP!! "So you're the Dragon King, huh?!" When I saw my little lackey swagger over and viciously slap the Dragon King who was hiding his identity, I felt my heart sink. Su Muwan's suspended heart finally died as she watched Qin Luo, her utterly loyal lackey, standing before her. She fainted on the spot from shock. Heaven is determined to destroy me!! (Pure love 1v1, light-hearted, no angst, single female lead, villain, reincarnation, lackey)
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
spital. Good news: I've bound a system. Bad news: I'm still a baby. "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully the middle-aged for being poor — Divorce Comeback System." "Your marriage may have failed, but your luck in love has never run dry. Your childhood sweetheart, out of contact for twenty years, reappears. Her beauty remains, yet her eyes are brimming with tears." [Listen to the childhood sweetheart's sorrowful story.] Chen Zhi looked down at the diaper he was wearing, then at the little childhood sweetheart crying her heart out beside him, and fell into deep thought. Can anyone relate? I'm having a midlife crisis at an age where even rolling over is a struggle.
