'What the fuck! How did I end up in a coffin?'
'Uncle Qin, goddammit! Didn't you say tomb raiding was perfectly safe, that all that talk about ghosts and spirits was just bullshit?'
BANG! BANG! BANG!
'Is anyone out there? A kind-hearted ghost would be fine too! Let me out, I'm freezing to death! Ch-ch-ch!'
Lin Xinghai was so cold his teeth were chattering. He felt as if the coffin were made of ice, the chill it radiated seeping straight into his bones.
'I shouldn't have been so greedy for a bit of cash, even if Uncle Qin did say any random antique from this tomb could sell for hundreds of thousands.'
'But am I the kind of person who would risk his life for a bit of cash?'
'If I had a chance to do it all over again, I would definitely...'
'...bring a Tomb Raider Captain with me!'
BANG! BANG! BANG!
In despair, Lin Xinghai banged on the walls of the coffin. He knew it was pointless, but it was better than just waiting to die...
CREAK!
Suddenly, the coffin lid opened!
The light from outside was blinding, and he couldn't see what had opened the lid. He did, however, hear a voice—one that exploded by his ear like a clap of thunder.
"For fuck's sake, the cryo-system isn't even fully deactivated yet! What's the rush, trying to get reincarnated?"
Lin Xinghai was a little dazed...
'Is that a fully armed... soldier in front of me?'
'No, that's impossible. Soldiers are supposed to be strong, resolute, and reliable.'
'But this guy looked like a total thug. And what's with that expression on his face that just screams, 'I want to punch you'?'
However, his attention quickly shifted to his surroundings. He realized he wasn't lying in a cold coffin, but in a...
'What the hell is this thing? It looks super high-tech!'
'And up in the sky... are those drones flying around? But how can a person be standing on one?'
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps came from beside him.
He struggled to turn his head and saw a metal construct walk past his "coffin." 'Is that... a mini-Gundam?'
Pain!
The information overload was too much. Lin Xinghai was still in a daze when a sudden, piercing pain shot through his right arm.
At some point, the high-tech metal "coffin" had produced a needle, which was now inserted into his arm and injecting a red liquid.
As the red liquid was injected, the icy coldness in his body rapidly faded.
"Lin Xinghai, from Coastal City, Hua Country District, Earth Federation. Entered Shelter No. 83 in the year 2200. In 2210, due to the Shelter's energy reserves being nearly depleted, all residents collectively entered Hibernation Pods."
"Age at hibernation: 21. Genetic Assessment: B Level! Has decent training potential." The "soldier" muttered, reading Lin Xinghai's file from a light screen projected by the device on his wrist.
"Huh! A B Level Genetic Assessment. Hey kid, you interested in joining our Mercenary Corps to be cannon fodder—ahem, a brave warrior? I'm Roger. If you come with us, I'll have your back," Roger said, his face suddenly full of enthusiasm.
'Heh! Don't think I didn't hear what you just said,' Lin Xinghai instinctively shot back, but his full attention was fixed on the man's other words.
'Is that my file? Nothing is correct except for the name.'
'Wait a minute...'
'Did I time-travel?'
'Is this 200 years in the future?'
Lin Xinghai felt like his brain was mush. He didn't even know how he'd gotten up, only vaguely recalling that after he did, he saw a huge field of coffins—oh, wait, they were called Hibernation Pods.
Then, he followed the Mercenary named Roger and boarded a troop transport vehicle that had thick metal plates for armor.
As more and more people boarded, the transport vehicle soon filled up.
The heavy metal door shut, the lights inside the vehicle came on, and a spotlight focused on Roger.
After seeing Lin Xinghai onto the transport, Roger hadn't left. He was now the only Mercenary in the vehicle.
"Alright you White Pigs, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Roger. We are about to leave Shelter No. 83, and before we do, I'm going to tell you about the situation outside," Roger said.
"Who are you calling a White Pig?" someone immediately objected. A burly man, two meters tall, stood up and glared at Roger.
Roger took two steps forward, pulled the pistol from his waist, and patted the man's cheek with it. "I'm talking about you. And everyone else in this vehicle is a White Pig!" he said with contempt. "You got a problem with that?"
The burly man was both humiliated and furious, but the cold sensation from the body of the gun kept him from making a sound.
Roger glanced around at everyone in the vehicle before continuing slowly, "This isn't my personal insult to you. It's what all the apocalypse survivors out there call you people who've been asleep all this time."
Hearing the word "apocalypse," the expressions on many of the passengers' faces changed.
"Don't tell me the Great Cataclysm isn't over? Didn't the Earth Federation send you to rescue us?" someone asked, their wavering voice betraying their extreme unease.
"The Earth Federation collapsed."
Roger's single sentence caused an uproar of shocked gasps inside the vehicle, while Lin Xinghai just looked on, completely bewildered.
'What's the Earth Federation?'
"The Great Cataclysm is over. A year ago, the temperature on Earth's surface returned to normal, and the floods receded. But the planet's ecosystem has completely collapsed. And more importantly, countless man-eating monsters have appeared. We call them Zombies."
As Roger continued to speak, Lin Xinghai gradually came to understand the events that led to the apocalypse.
In the year 2200, Earth's population was constantly growing, but its resources were rapidly shrinking. Social conflicts were escalating, and covert friction between nations was incessant.
This nearly led to the outbreak of World War III.
Fortunately, the leaders of every nation were quite restrained. After sitting down to negotiate, the "Earth Federation" was ultimately established.
And in order to resolve these international conflicts, coupled with the fact that warp drive technology had matured, they set their sights on habitable planets in other star systems.
But this grand migration, which was destined to be recorded in human history, never happened. Because the apocalypse broke out.
No one knew how it started, but a sudden meteor shower directly reduced the Earth's population by 10%.
But that was only the beginning of the catastrophe. The ice at the North and South Poles melted, and seawater surged inland, submerging almost all low-lying cities.
Then came endless tornadoes sweeping across the globe, followed by an ice age that lasted for more than a decade.
This was the Great Cataclysm.
Such natural disasters were almost impossible for humanity to resist, so people fled into underground Shelters.
This was the full extent of the situation as known by the people of Shelter No. 83.
Then, three days after Shelter No. 83 was sealed, a type of creature never before documented suddenly appeared and spread across the entire globe.
These monsters seemed to be made of blood and were fundamentally unkillable. Even if you blew them to smithereens, they could rapidly reform.
Even more terrifying, they carried a horrifying virus. All creatures infected by this virus became like the walking dead.
Those are the Zombies!
"So that's the situation outside. Of course, it's hard for you to get a direct feel for it just from my description. But don't worry, it's a pretty long road to Star Shield Shelter—plenty of time for you White Pigs to learn what it's really like out there," Roger said, a mocking smile on his lips.