"It has begun!"
Looking at Li Jiayu, who was looking around in a daze, Honda sighed inwardly.
She wondered if she existed in Li Jiayu's 'previous life'.
She hoped the 'insert card' would be strong and not make her Li Jiayu's enemy.
That would be an awkward situation.
"Who..."
Li Jiayu groaned and slowly raised his head, lifeless like a piece of decaying wood.
His expression was dazed, utterly devoid of spirit, as if he had lost his soul.
Sun Weiwei's heart inexplicably trembled.
She had never seen anyone's eyes like a pool of stagnant water, so hollow that they exuded a chilling decadent.
She thought of a word – utter despair.
Like a poor soul about to die of thirst in the desert, or a critically ill patient with little time left, completely devoid of life.
"There's a good show to watch."
The surrounding students stirred, whispering to each other—Sun Weiwei was competitive, while Li Jiayu was somewhat soft-hearted and famously polite and gentle.
Rumor had it that there was something going on between these two individuals of starkly contrasting personalities.
Regardless of whether the rumor was true or false, the onlookers, who were just there for the show, wished for another intense conflict between the two, followed by a dramatic and clichéd show.
However, Honda watched from the side, wondering how many of these troublemakers would be left in a while!
Hearing the subtle discussions, Sun Weiwei's face became even more unreadable.
Her ears were completely red, and she bit her lip, not speaking.
After glaring at Li Jiayu for a full half minute, she finally yelled, enraged:
"I'm talking to you! Get up!"
"This voice... this voice sounds familiar.
You are... you are Sun... Sun Weiwei?"
The despondency and confusion in Li Jiayu's eyes gradually gave way to immense terror, and he felt as if he were plunged into an ice cellar.
"Didn't you already have your skull pried open and your brain sucked dry by a Soul Devourer?
No... my eyes, my eyes were clearly blind, why can I still see things..."
He seemed to see something incredible, his face changed drastically, and he shot up from his chair, looking at Sun Weiwei, at his once-familiar classmates, at every table and chair, every wall and newspaper in the classroom, with a bewildered expression.
The mottled colors and old memories filled Li Jiayu with countless thoughts.
"Oh, he's pretending to have amnesia."
"Jiayu, don't play the amnesia trick.
It's too outdated.
Girls nowadays don't fall for that..."
"Huh?
Could it be that he's not suffering from amnesia, but rather, he's been reborn?"
You've hit the nail on the head.
"Idiot! You've read too many transmigration novels.
How can there be such a good thing as transmigration in this world?"
The onlookers were amused, simply treating Li Jiayu as someone trying to pick up girls in various ways.
Sun Weiwei was also mortified and furious, her eyes wide as she glared at Li Jiayu, stomping her foot hard:
"Li Jiayu! Can't you be serious!
Were you just trying to get my attention by provoking me?
Let me tell you, you're very boring!"
Li Jiayu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know where to start.
He tried his best to hear what his classmates were saying, but he couldn't take in a single word, because he felt as if hundreds of thunderbolts had exploded in his mind, a chaotic mess, countless regrets, countless remorse, endless pain surfacing in his heart, almost suffocating Li Jiayu!
In his previous life, he was still naive and suffered many, many losses. He only blamed himself for being too soft-hearted and making bad friends. During the first school-wide evacuation, he was pushed towards the bloodsuckers by his friends who were desperate to escape. Although he miraculously survived, he was severely weakened, almost becoming a dried up husk. Even after recovering later, he still fell behind others on the starting line of pursuing strength.
Because of his self-righteousness, he brought a colossal enemy to the Demon Hunter Group he once served. In a fit of thunderous rage, the entire Demon Hunter Group was massacred, blood flowing like rivers. The leader, who had been as kind as a mountain to him, was skinned alive, tortured to death, and used as dog food!
He regretted not listening to his father's advice and going out alone to hunt giant insects. As a result, he returned to his shelter injured and on the verge of death. His father, in order to exchange for a bottle of repair fluid for him, voluntarily allowed the organization to transform him into a "Biochemical Blood Corpse," a zombie puppet with only the instinct to kill. He blamed himself for being blinded by hatred at the time, failing to notice his younger sister's feelings. He ultimately watched helplessly as she was taken away by someone of immense power. He had thought she would find a safe and warm haven, but in the end, he heard the terrible news of her committing suicide by slitting her wrists. His Older Male Cousin's Wife, who had silently supported him, was also dismembered by random knives because of his involvement. Most of his former friends lived miserably, their fates unknown. There was no news of the women he had been entangled with. A heart full of regret and bone-deep sorrow made Li Jiayu remorseful beyond measure, waking him from nightmares repeatedly on cold and desolate nights.
He once had the chance to become a powerful warrior, but missed the opportunity because of severed tendons in his hand. He once had the potential to become a Flame Dancer, but gave it away to repay a debt of gratitude. He once had the chance to inherit a large treasure, but gave it up for various reasons. Over time, things changed, and people changed. Everyone he cared about left him, leaving only countless unforgettable hatreds and irreconcilable mortal enemies. Li Jiayu only remembered that in his previous life, he had no place to call his own, pursued by alien races like the insectoids and corpse races. Even the major human factions hounded him to death. Isolated and helpless, his old injuries finally flared up, and he died alone in a dark, damp tree hollow.
No one knew that the wild summoner who had caused so much trouble for the major factions of the Heavenly Dynasty, the lowly village bandit, who was slandered as an anti-human giant but also made outstanding contributions in resisting the invasion of insectoids and corpse races—the Dark Summoner Li Jiayu—was buried and slept eternally in such an unknown place at the tender age of twenty-four. Everything, everything, would be reset!
A sudden surge of bitterness and melancholy welled up in his heart, his nose stung, and his eyes filled with hot tears. But Li Jiayu suppressed the tremor in his heart, took a deep breath, regained his composure, and smiled faintly:
"Sorry, I was just trying to make you laugh. I saw you actively participating in the class meeting work, so I wanted to cheer you up. I didn't expect it to backfire, upset you, and even cause a misunderstanding..."
It was still Li Jiayu's characteristic gentle voice, but for some reason, this time it sounded much more substantial and undulating, with less peacefulness and more clarity, like the clashing of metal and stone.
And his smile was subtly different from before. Sun Weiwei couldn't pinpoint what was different, but it was a very restrained, very light smile, unlike the bright and handsome smiles of those pretty boys.
Sun Weiwei just loved to see Li Jiayu's smile. She thought Li Jiayu's smile was very beautiful, even though he wasn't her boyfriend.
"Alright, since you're apologizing, I won't pursue it. However, you have to join the 'Youth Volunteer Association.' On weekends, you'll go out to distribute health flyers, do volunteer work, and clean the streets. You don't have anything else to do anyway." Sun Weiwei laid out her conditions. In her opinion, Li Jiayu would never refuse a girl's request, and certainly not hers.
"Youth Volunteer Association? Heh... Truly, people with nothing better to do. I'm sorry, but I might not have that free time..."
Li Jiayu suddenly swept away his previous smile, a faint trace of mockery twisting his lips. That mockery, in Sun Weiwei's eyes, was like a blade.
"Nothing better to do? How can you talk like that? Do you look down on youth volunteers?"
A sudden panic welled up in Sun Weiwei's heart, her eyebrows furrowed, and she angrily pointed at Li Jiayu with a pale face.
The surrounding classmates also joined in, denouncing Li Jiayu. After all, many of them had joined the "Youth Volunteer Association," and Li Jiayu had just implied they had nothing better to do.
The sarcasm on Li Jiayu's lips deepened, and he quickened his speech:
"Youth volunteers are based on an excess of labor, allowing you college students with nothing better to do to vent your excess energy and satisfy your sense of honor... But when you're living day to day, constantly at risk of being devoured by insects or stabbed to death by your companions, living a life worse than death, I doubt you'll remember that term anymore..."
Li Jiayu pulled out his phone and checked the time—August 29, 2013, 4:32:39 PM.
"There's not much time left, less than a minute. It's too late to call family... Oh well, for the sake of being classmates, I'll tell you a bit more."
"Everyone has studied physics, so you should know that one dimension is a line, two dimensions are a plane, three dimensions are a solid, and four dimensions add a time axis to ordinary three-dimensional space... By analogy, there exist n-dimensional spaces in the universe, which explains the existence of different worlds and different planes!"
"Nonsense! Of course we know that! Don't ramble on..." Sun Weiwei had no intention of being grateful and interrupted loudly.
"Listen to me!"
Li Jiayu shook his head, ignoring Sun Weiwei's unreasonable antics, and dropped the first bombshell:
"In half a minute, the Earth's surface space will experience tremors and crack open countless tiny spatial fissures. At the same time, a Cosmic Storm from another dimension will sweep across the Earth, causing immense changes to Earth's gravity, climate, geography, and so on!"
At this point, Li Jiayu looked at his classmates, who were still bewildered and disbelieving, and gently shook his head, a cold, bitter smile on his lips, and said in a low voice:
"You still don't understand the terror of the Cosmic Storm. When it happens... most electronic devices and precision instruments on Earth will completely fail! That means humanity's technological civilization will suffer an unprecedented heavy blow. Your mobile phones, computers, air conditioners, even your electric lights for illumination, the XX sticks used by girls—99.9% of all the inseparable electrical appliances in your lives will be paralyzed. That will be a... primitive, dark, brutal, and bloody end-of-days human society!"
Li Jiayu's expression darkened, his bitter smile turning into helpless self-mockery. His voice became even lower, and he enunciated each word:
"And this is just the beginning. Even more terrifying and deadly things will follow..."
"Honda, will you believe what I say?" Li Jiayu, having finished venting, suddenly thought of the Honda who had saved him many times in his previous life. He asked Honda with a hint of expectation, but the address of 'Honda' confused Honda. When did we have such a relationship? And! I don't want a brother who is an XX maniac like you.
"Please, it's already August 2013! 2012 has already been proven false, who would still believe such a ridiculous doomsday prophecy now?"
"Li Jiayu, have you lost your mind?"
"Is it fun to make such a low-level joke? Are you treating us all like fools?"
"Still talking about spatial tremors and parallel spaces, haha, could it be that you've watched too many novels and your brain has turned to mush?"
Before Honda could even answer, the classmates one by one became displeased, taking Li Jiayu's words as nothing more than a sensational joke, not believing them at all. Who told you to claim kinship with our goddess? Kid, you can't hit on girls like that!
From ancient times to the present, doomsday prophecies, big and small, have been as numerous as ox hair. But as time passed, all these doomsday lies collapsed on their own—especially after entering 2013, people scoffed even more at doomsday prophecies. Only a fool would believe them.
"Li Jiayu, stop messing around. Look outside, it's so clear and beautiful, how could it possibly be the end of the world right away?"
Sun Weiwei scoffed dismissively, pointing out the window. Outside, the sky was clear blue, white clouds drifted leisurely, and the campus scenery was fully visible. One could faintly see students laughing on the campus paths and affectionate couples.
Li Jiayu walked to the window, sniffed, and greedily inhaled the fresh air. He gazed into the distance, as if to engrave the last moments of campus tranquility in his heart. Looking at his still carefree and comfortable classmates, their tragic deaths vaguely appeared before his eyes. Li Jiayu felt a suffocating pain in his heart and said hoarsely:
"Just watch, my friends. What's about to happen will scare you senseless. If you survive, you'll never forget this moment for the rest of your lives!"
Yes, if they could survive the bloody catastrophe of the apocalypse, surely everyone would deeply remember the exact moment, down to the second, when the end of the world arrived!
August 29, 2013, 4:33:49 PM.
Li Jiayu clearly remembered that an unprecedented disaster erupted simultaneously across the world. The intense tremors of the Earth's crust led to crustal oscillations, triggering a series of volcanic eruptions, mudslides, landslides, collapses, storms, floods, and tsunamis.
He didn't know how many cities were destroyed in earthquakes and tsunamis, nor could he count how many people died in natural disasters.
But Li Jiayu felt that dying in a natural disaster might even be fortunate.
Because the remaining people would face an even more terrifying threat, living in fear and despair every day, not knowing how many would live a life worse than death!
The number of humans who died in just the first wave of alien attacks was roughly estimated to be over a billion!
Being gnawed on by bloodsuckers that burrowed into their blood vessels... having their skulls pried open and brains sucked out by Soul Devourers... being wrapped up like zongzi by Corpse-Stench Spiders and then melted into a puddle of flesh... having their heads clipped off by Scythe Beetles, which then laid eggs inside their heads... The terrifying insectoid tide was staging a horrific massacre on Earth!
They say human warfare is cruel, but compared to the insectoids' slaughter, it was as gentle as a mother cat!
However, the insectoids were still the weakest race to invade Earth. There were also zombies, ghouls, skeletons, and specters from the Abyss, many non-living entities that defied scientific explanation!
The arrival of the apocalypse also pointed Earth, a planet that prioritized technology, in a new direction...
"Now, quickly cover your ears, there's going to be a thunderclap out of a clear sky that will deafen you."
"Who would believe you? Oh, time's almost up. Five... four... three... two... one. See? Nothing happened..."
A classmate, who was arguing with Li Jiayu, looked at his phone and read out the countdown loudly. But before he could finish the word "happened," an earth-shattering thunderclap suddenly erupted by his ear!
"Boom!"
The thunderclap was incredibly loud, making the windowpanes vibrate slightly, let alone how painful it was for eardrums.
"Ah~"
The unprepared girls quickly covered their ears, startled by the thunderclap. Some even turned pale and shrieked at the top of their lungs, extremely piercing!
"This is... thunder out of a clear sky..."
All the male students, somewhat dazed by the shock, looked at Li Jiayu. He still had the same calm expression, mixed with an indescribable heaviness—how did he guess it?
A blind cat finding a dead mouse?
It couldn't be such a coincidence, could it?
Honda glanced at the calm Li Jiayu and then scanned the classroom. She didn't sense the presence of Dark Octopus, so it seemed it was preparing to become a summoned beast. Honda then felt relieved and opened her earring space, ready to receive the Cosmic Energy.
The surrounding students were stunned. After all, thunder out of a clear sky was already rare, and such a loud one was even rarer. For Li Jiayu to predict a thunderclap in the next second seemed very mysterious, making people unable to help but view him differently.
Subtly, many students began to feel uneasy, a sense of not-so-optimistic premonition rising in their hearts.
"Damn, have you mastered geomancy to the max, kid? You predicted this? Could it be that you're really a cultivator? Quickly take me as your little brother..." a classmate said with a chuckle.
"I don't have time to joke with you all... Just keep watching. In two minutes, the sky will be covered by dense black clouds... Or, you can try calling now to see if there's still a signal."
Li Jiayu said, then turned and walked out of the classroom. Sun Weiwei, anxious, called out to Li Jiayu:
"Where are you going? Running away after bragging? The class meeting isn't over yet..."
Li Jiayu didn't look back. He clenched his fist, a faint urge to fight stirring within him. He walked and said:
"To get weapons!"
"What?"
"A fire axe!"
"Are you crazy? Taking the fire axe from the corridor casually will get you disciplined!"
"I'm too lazy to bother with you all. Just worry about yourselves first."
Watching Li Jiayu walk out of the classroom door, Sun Weiwei was about to chase after him when she heard a classmate's voice from behind: "My phone really has no signal."
Jiang Linchuan's voice then followed:
"Mine too, the signal's cut off."
One by one, the students checked their phones, and without exception, found that none of them could receive a signal.
At this moment, Sun Weiwei panicked. If it were just the thunderclap, it could be explained as a coincidence. But for Li Jiayu to even predict the signal loss, that was definitely not a coincidence, but very likely an inevitability.
"He... how did he know? Could it be that everything he said wasn't a joke?"
Not only Sun Weiwei, but all the girls in the class felt uneasy, their scalps starting to tingle.
"Don't panic, everyone. Signal loss happens all the time, we're used to it. Don't take what Li Jiayu said seriously, he must have taken the wrong medicine today. Don't humor his madness..."
A male student, who wasn't on good terms with Li Jiayu, said. But he quickly shut his mouth because he saw the dark clouds outside the window appearing at an incredibly fast speed!
"Rumble!"
The classmates gathered by the window, staring dumbfounded as the dark clouds rapidly gathered and churned. At first, they simply regarded them as a rare sight of thunderclouds, but soon someone noticed something was wrong. The speed at which those dark clouds churned and gathered was too fast, unbelievably fast, as if appearing out of thin air!
In less than a minute, the sky was already rumbling with thunder, the light rapidly dimming. The sun was completely obscured by the pervasive dark clouds, and the air quickly turned cold. Chilly winds blew in gusts, carrying a distinct coldness.
"This... how did it get dark so fast? How did these dark clouds appear?...Oh my god, Li Jiayu also said earlier that black clouds would cover the sun in two minutes..."
Looking at the churning, spreading black clouds, all the students were dumbfounded. Some timid girls' lips trembled non-stop. By this point, they no longer dared to doubt Li Jiayu's words, or rather, it was hard to muster the courage to doubt... "It's fine... it's fine, what are you worried about? Li Jiayu said that during the apocalypse, the power would go out first, and all electrical appliances would be unusable. Look, our classroom computer is still on, and our phones are still lit up..."
Sun Weiwei tried to calm everyone, but before she could finish, the classroom computer automatically shut down with a "beep," its fan stopping. All the students' phones also malfunctioned, going black!
At the same time, Sun Weiwei also felt a cold energy sweep through her body, chilling her to the bone, as if it would freeze her very marrow. Her head felt as if it had been bombarded by dozens of cannonballs, buzzing and ringing. In that instant, she felt as miserable as if she had died.
Fortunately, this energy disappeared in just an instant. Sun Weiwei regained consciousness immediately, only to find cold sweat beading on her forehead and an indescribable exhaustion throughout her body.
"Ah, what was that just now? I felt as miserable as if I'd been electrocuted!"
"Difficulty breathing... I almost couldn't catch my breath, like my throat was being squeezed."
Everyone gasped for air as if they had just escaped something. Some even couldn't stand steadily and fell directly to the ground.
Some male students with weaker constitutions had nosebleeds from the energy impact, which wouldn't stop, flowing all over their mouths and staining their shirt collars a striking crimson!
After just a moment of experiencing the changes in her body, Honda was stimulated by the smell of blood.
Honda frowned slightly and glanced at the male student. Honda realized that this guy probably wouldn't live long. Honda also noticed that those who had bathed in the Cosmic Storm. Their cells had begun to slowly absorb energy, indicating that the Cosmic Storm had stimulated their potential. However, some people who were already in poor health and whose bodily potential had been depleted. After bathing in such Cosmic Energy, they would basically not live for more than a week, dying due to the low expansion of their cells. Commonly known as: being 'burst' to death.
"Ah, my pants are wet... I was so scared I lost control of my bladder..."
This sudden remark almost made Honda choke. She was truly impressed by the author.
There were thirteen girls in the class, and five of them had been so scared they peed themselves. They peed while standing, into their white underwear, and it ran down their smooth thighs... Being scared into peeing in front of the whole class, and wetting their skirts and stockings, made those girls, whose skin was already delicate, want to die of shame. Their faces turned red to their necks, and they almost cried.
To make matters worse, their underwear was wet, clinging stickily to their bottoms, an indescribable weirdness. If it weren't for their weak and shaky legs, they would have long since cried and run to the restroom, not daring to show their faces.
However, at this point, it didn't really make a difference. The boys wouldn't mock them, because the boys' minds were even more sensitive, a sense of unspeakable panic spreading through their hearts... A male student was greatly alarmed, looking at his black-screened phone, his voice trembling:
"Cosmic Storm!"
"It's the Cosmic Storm Li Jiayu talked about! What just swept over our bodies was the Cosmic Storm, and it paralyzed all the electronics..."
"It's over, even the backup lights won't turn on..."
"Everything Li Jiayu said has come true..."
Everyone looked at each other, horrified!
Dark clouds rolled and churned in the sky, the world was dim, fierce winds howled, sand and stones flew, and from a distance, everything was a hazy gray.
A bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across, illuminating the vast world with a brilliant white.
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