Chapter 1: Struggling in the Apocalypse

The universe is boundless and infinite.

No one knows how vast the nebulae are, how deep the seas of stars, or the true measure of the galaxies. Somewhere within this expanse lies a beautiful spiral galaxy. If one could observe from the distant void, one would witness this galaxy radiating an intoxicating charm, breathtaking in its splendor.

Within the galaxy are hundreds of billions of stars, and in one unremarkable corner, there exists an ordinary star system. This system holds eight planets, all tracing their regular orbits around the central star. Among them is a magnificent, blue planet, third in distance from its sun. The only advanced intelligent life to dwell upon this world, humanity, has named it Earth.

Earth.

One day.

In a certain city.

Inside a particular high-rise.

Li Gang’s face was twisted with rage and pain, yet above all was a fury without end. The friends he had made after the apocalypse, brothers who had faced life and death with him, had been gunned down just meters from his side—a single shot to the head. Thick, red and white fluid spattered across the floor and onto his face in a grisly splatter. Li Gang knew well that this was his brother’s brains mingled with blood.

The liquid on his cheeks, streaked with crimson, reeked of an unbearable stench, tinged with gunsmoke. He was certain it was the worst thing he had ever smelled—far worse than the latrines in his mountain hometown, hundreds of times more foul. This was a scent he would never forget.

“Damn this game of life and death! Damn the gods!” Li Gang growled under his breath.

He did not dare wipe his face, not even to blink. He forced his heartbeat down to less than fifty beats per minute.

There was a sniper among their foes. The virtual map on his wristwatch showed no warning; this meant the enemy’s heartbeat had never exceeded fifty beats per minute from the start.

Every survivor who had lived through the apocalypse had been granted power by the gods.

Every aspect of their bodies was now leagues beyond what humans had once been. Forcing their heart rate down for a period of time was no challenge.

“Is this really where I die today?” Li Gang wondered, yet his expression remained calm, betraying neither joy nor sorrow.

After years in the apocalypse, no one remained quite normal. At the very least, he had learned much—including how to face death without fear.

In the distance, gunfire raged—someone was locked in a desperate fight.

“Li Shen and Lin Yan should be all right,” he thought, easing his tension as the sounds reached his ears.

A brother had just died before his eyes; if his other two companions, especially Lin Yan, were also killed, he did not know if he could bear it.

Li Gang could face his own death, but he could not withstand the loss of his friends, especially Lin Yan.

The apocalypse had hardened his heart, but it had also made the bonds of friendship more precious.

They had fought and bled together.

Friends, companions, comrades-in-arms—these were the things that gave him the will to struggle on in this deadly game, the only things he cherished.

Forcing himself to calm after Huang Yu’s death, Li Gang suppressed the fury burning within. He glanced out through the left window at the city’s towering skyline.

The city was now eerily quiet, devoid of the clamor of traffic. The smog that had once filled the news was gone, the air growing clearer with each passing day as pollution faded from memory.

Li Gang remembered life before the apocalypse as if it was only yesterday. Yet some things were already fading from his mind, becoming distant, blurry, as if they belonged to another world.

He drew back from the window, took deep, cleansing breaths, and loosened his grip on the submachine gun, maintaining his heart rate below fifty beats per minute.

His body, enhanced dozens—hundreds—of times by the gods since the apocalypse, was far beyond ordinary. Such control was easy, though he could not maintain it forever.

With his heart so slow, the transmitter in his chest would remain silent, causing him to vanish temporarily from the enemy’s wristwatch map.

From the angle of the bullet that killed Huang Yu, Li Gang deduced the sniper’s approximate position.

He knew that the sniper could only pinpoint his presence in the building, not his exact location.

But the marksman’s gaze would be fixed on this place—if he showed himself, he would be shot dead instantly.

Li Gang removed his dark green military cap, pressed it to the muzzle of his submachine gun, and slowly edged it out the window as a decoy.

Would this work? He recalled scenes from a pre-apocalypse film called “Captain Huaxia,” where such tricks were used in a pinch.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out—the barely visible corner of his dark green cap exploded into shreds, and the wall behind was gouged with a deep, circular hole.

Li Gang’s heart pounded, but in that instant, he moved, darting from the room in a few swift steps.

Bang!

As he slipped through the door, another shot rang out—a thick wooden security door was blasted open by a sniper’s round.

On the rooftop of an eighteen-story tower, three to four hundred meters to the southwest, a Western European woman lay prone in dusty yellow military garb, her hat pulled low to reveal only a ribbon of golden hair. Her face was hidden.

Her left eye never left the scope as she shifted her aim, searching each window of Li Gang’s building.

The rifle in her hands was immense, clearly a modified heavy sniper rifle, its barrel from grip to silencer nearly two meters long—much longer than she was tall.

She was the sniper who had killed Huang Yu.

Through her earpiece, she spoke in English, tinged with a French accent, “Boss, one target eliminated. Another escaped from the eighth floor and is currently unaccounted for.”

“Very good, Caroline. Continue surveillance. I’ll find a way to drive him into your kill zone. Also, Jack seems to have encountered two targets on the eleventh floor—they’re at a standoff. I’ve told him to try to force them into your line of fire. If they appear, shoot to kill immediately!” came a man’s cold reply.

A strong, armed white man, previously searching the underground garage, spun on his heel and dashed toward the stairwell.

Caroline had spotted two; Jack was locked in combat with two more. With all four accounted for, there was no reason to waste any more time in the garage.

Li Gang, having left the room, headed upstairs toward the sound of gunfire—he needed to regroup with Li Shen and Lin Yan.

Huang Yu’s sudden death had shaken him deeply. There was no need to drag out this skirmish. Once reunited, they would retreat for now.

The enemy was not two people as they had thought, but three, and a sniper lurking somewhere unseen—a silent reaper in the dark, ready to strike them down.

Drawing nearer to his companions, Li Gang slowed his pace, moving with utmost caution.

Suddenly, a tremendous explosion erupted ahead.