Plants and meat left out in the open also rapidly withered and rotted.
Water sources were contaminated. Though the water in rivers, lakes, and seas remained clear, it had become poison. Anyone who drank it would suffer from organ failure, their bodies unable to withstand the toxins.
Large swaths of mist appeared all over the world, each one fraught with danger. Few who entered ever made it out alive. The lucky survivors who did emerge would babble deliriously about terrifying things inside.
But no one knew exactly what these things were, or just how terrifying they could be.
Gradually, people came to fear these misty areas, preferring to take long detours rather than risk passing through.
Perhaps the heavens didn't want humanity to be wiped out all at once. For as they closed a door, they also opened a window.
After the apocalypse officially began, human bodies started to mutate.
Everyone's bodies began to strengthen, but not in the same ways. The enhancements were divided into five major attributes: Life, Strength, agility, Spirit, and Space.
Aside from one's innate potential, all attributes could also be improved later on through personal effort or external means.
One month after the apocalypse began, the government reacted swiftly. Every citizen was issued a watch linked to their unique ID, which they could use to monitor their various attribute values.
The higher a person's attribute values, the stronger their combat power, and thus the higher their status. While combat power may not have meant much in times of peace, in the post-apocalyptic world, it was the ultimate guarantee of survival.
This became especially true six months into the apocalypse, when mutant beasts began to run rampant. The stronger one's combat power and the higher their Comprehensive Attribute Value, the greater their chances of survival.
In her past life, Tang Mo's attribute values had been rather average.
Her initial attributes, aside from spiritual power, were extremely low. Unable to protect herself and desperate to survive, she would frantically trade any Mutant Beast Crystal Stones she acquired for those that boosted the Life and Strength attributes, all to enhance her chances of survival.
It wasn't until several years into the apocalypse that the research centers finally discovered how to utilize human spiritual power. Only then did Tang Mo realize that the Spirit Attribute, which she had always considered the most useless, was in fact the strongest of all.
But by then, it was too late. She was no longer the young woman with outstanding spiritual power. All she could do was sigh at the cruelty of fate and continue her difficult struggle for survival.
To trade for food and the minimum energy required to live, she had no choice but to join a squad mission every month. And it was during one such mission that her previous life had come to an end.
It was a Mid-level mutant beast. As the female member with the lowest attribute values on the team, she was used as bait by her teammates and ultimately died in the jaws of the beast.
'No one else was to blame. In that dog-eat-dog world, the weak get preyed upon. I was weak, so I died first. It was perfectly fair.'
Tang Mo's heart had long been forged into something incomparably hard. She felt not a shred of resentment toward her teammates for their strategic choice.
'The only one I hate is myself, for losing my most important possession right at the start of the apocalypse… If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been so helpless.'
Remembering the days of her past life—suffering from hunger and living in constant fear—Tang Mo clenched her fists tightly.
'Those days were so hard. For the first six months, I was trapped at school, starving. I waited for the mist surrounding the campus to finally lift, only to find the world had changed yet again. The days of famine gave way to an era of rampant mutant beasts. Humanity's suffering hadn't ended; it had just begun. I was afraid every single day, terrified that at any moment I'd be devoured by a mutant beast, torn to shreds until not even my bones remained.'
'In this life, I will not live like that again!'
Though she had been reborn, she couldn't stop the apocalypse from coming, nor could she be the world's savior.
All she could do was save herself, ensure she wouldn't be so helpless this time, and make sure her mother survived—and survived well.
At these thoughts, Tang Mo's heart began to beat a little faster. She placed a hand on her chest, trying to calm herself.
Suddenly, her hand brushed against something sharp. She instinctively grabbed it and saw that it was a piece of jade she had worn since childhood.
Seeing this small, exquisite Jade Pendant, Tang Mo's eyes instantly lit up. A wave of immense, irrepressible joy sent her heart racing even faster, and she began to tremble uncontrollably.