Despite my complaints, it's always a good thing that the government is taking the initiative to raise salaries.
After checking his salary card balance, Fu Gui'er was in a great mood and called his sister to let her know he was safe. Then, together with Xie Tianlang, they took gifts to visit Qin Feng and the other nine who were hospitalized at the military hospital.
When they arrived at the inpatient department, they were warmly welcomed by Qin Feng and the others. They gathered together and ate a meal of braised food and barbecue that Fu Gui'er had smuggled over in his pocket. This finally satisfied Qin Feng and the others' cravings after a month of eating nutritious meals. They also shared their experiences in the post-apocalyptic world in detail.
"Marine pollution directly affects water sources, and many people are starting to experience water-related illnesses and even cancer. In the end, we found the core of the world in the underwater forest. But we really don't know how to repair it."
“The volcanic eruption was even worse.” Niu Baiwan sighed. “It’s not like I haven’t seen volcanic eruptions before, but to experience one so closely and almost get buried in volcanic ash, I never want to go to a volcanic area again in my life.”
"I originally thought the two apocalyptic worlds we experienced were bad enough, but I never expected yours to be a solar energy eruption... If our team went to your world, without Fugui discovering the underground world, let alone finding the world's core and repairing it, we'd be lucky to even be alive!"
"Moreover, your process of repairing the core of the world is really... full of pitfalls." After listening to Song Sanchuan's description, Hu Wen frowned for a long time as he pondered: "First, you have to determine that those underground bioluminescent animals have a special function and cannot be killed. Then you have to block them all when they go crazy due to the influence of the sun. Only after blocking them can they regain their senses, and you also have to work hard to plant underground plants to increase their vitality..."
“If any link is missing, the world cannot be saved.” Hu Wen smiled bitterly: “Before, I thought that the nine of us combined could not be worse than the three of you, but after you were no longer guiding us, I realized how difficult it is to repair the core of the world.”
Then Hu Wen looked Gou Fugui up and down, and before he could even scoff at him, he sincerely bowed to him and said, "Trust in Fugui and you'll get the core. Brother Fugui, in the next world, please bless us so we can find the world core soon and successfully repair it!"
Only after truly experiencing both worlds did I realize how glorious and awesome Gou Fugui's "achievement" of repairing the core of three worlds all by himself was.
It's important to know that 41 days have passed since the Doomsday Gate appeared in their world. Even though major powerful countries around the world sent elites to explore the Doomsday Gate on the very first day, only 18 Doomsday Gates have been closed in these 41 days.
Of the 18 Doomsday Gates that were closed, only 5 were closed due to "core repair" according to information released by their national intelligence agency and the Global Doomsday Gate Joint Research Department.
The other 13 closed Doomsday Gates were all closed using imperfect methods of "reclaiming cores".
What does this represent?
This means that Gou Fugui alone perfectly closed three doomsday gates. He was an ordinary person who almost crushed the elite warriors of various countries around the world.
While this might be related to his special abilities gained from being the first to jump into the pit, special abilities don't represent everything. In the Americas and the Jewish region, there was also an elite warrior who gained special abilities by being favored by the world's consciousness for "repairing the world's core," but after that, they each entered three more post-apocalyptic worlds, yet they never successfully repaired the world's core again, only being retrieved.
It's as if, after gaining special abilities, they actually dared to act more than when they had nothing.
But the long-haired youth in front of them did not lose his courage to fight desperately despite having superhuman strength.
"When you found the core of the world, why didn't you just take it back? It clearly seemed like there was no way forward."
Hu Wen finally asked the question, and then he saw the young man raise his eyebrows: "It's not the end yet, why are you retrieving it?"
"Do your best, and then leave the rest to fate."
"Aren't you afraid of dying?" Qi Shang pressed. "If you die there, it's for real; there's no way to come back to life. And you have such a special and powerful ability."
Gou Fugui laughed: "Of course I'm afraid. That's why I have to fight to survive. And take the rest of the world with me, who also wants to fight to survive."
As long as there is life, who doesn't yearn to live?
Therefore, we must exert all our strength and leave no room for retreat.
Then, Fu Gui'er, who was eating grilled squid, noticed that after he finished speaking, not only Hu Wen reached out and bowed to him, but also all nine members of the second team, including Qin Feng, the particularly steady captain of the second team, put down their skewers, put their hands together, closed their eyes, and bowed to him with great reverence.
While praying, they also made sincere wishes.
"Believe in Fugui'er and you will obtain the core! Fugui'er, bless us so that we can successfully repair the world's core and save the world in the next world!"
Gou Fugui: "..."
He suddenly felt as if the fried skewers in his mouth were made of rubber leather.
"Damn it, aren't you afraid of shortening my lifespan by worshipping like this?! You're going to burn away all my luck!!!"
While Fu Gui'er was jumping up and down in a frenzy, he didn't even notice that Hu Wen, that fox-eyed guy, was trying to pluck a hair from his head as a lucky charm, only to be kicked away by Xie Tianlang with a dark face.
What kind of feudal superstition is this! Do you think you can just pluck his round head's hair like that?!
After visiting Qin Feng and the others, Gou Fugui returned to the two-story villa that his father had allocated to him to rest. After being pampered and cared for by his doting older sister for three days, he finally had to go back to work.
This level of difficulty in entering the Gates of Doom is actually quite high, but given that the country only has two experienced teams available and other team members haven't been trained yet, he has to do more for the sake of the country, for himself, and for his family and friends.
Before leaving, Zheng Ronghua still presented him with a loving meal from his sister, including various foods, as well as clothes and tools. Finally, Zheng Ronghua personally hung a small amulet around his neck.
Seeing his sister's slightly red eyes, Gou Fugui knew that his smart and strong sister must have understood something.
She knew she couldn't persuade him or stop him, so she simply said nothing, offering her brother only her strongest support and a beautiful smile.
“...You little rascal, you must be careful wherever you go, and never follow in your father’s footsteps. Remember, your surname is Gou, so you must persevere to the end, and don’t force yourself to do something you’re not meant to do.”
"Whether you're a hero or a coward in the end, for your sister, the most important thing is that you live."
Gou Fugui blinked, suppressing the bitterness in his heart, then suddenly stepped forward and hugged his sister tightly, patting her gently twice: "Don't worry, sister. I'll travel the world, watch you get married and have children, and be your support for life. Everyone else dies, but your brother will live on!"
"I'm the top-performing bar scammer at Century Mansion for ten years."
"Of course, I far surpass them in terms of beauty and intelligence."
Zheng Ronghua couldn't help but laugh and slapped her younger brother's head hard: "What kind of glorious history is that, you brat! Alright, get lost. When you come back this time, I'll cook you something delicious again."
Gou Fugui chuckled twice, waved to his sister, and then turned and left.
The strong woman remained silent, praying that her parents' spirits in heaven would protect her younger brother.
This time, the government still has more than a dozen warehouses of goods for the rich kids to choose from.
Gou Fugui toured all of the dozen or so warehouses, mainly packing in various tools, food, and a variety of daily chemical products.
Here's something interesting—the helicopter he had disappeared from his pocket reappeared after he returned, saving the country a little money.
Gou Fugui hesitated about whether to take the helicopter with him this time.
“Bring them along. Maybe it wasn’t allowed in the last world, but it might be allowed in this one? Each world has a different type of apocalypse, and the upper limit of the weapons and tools that can be accepted is also different.” Si Wuyai suggested: “According to the data on the Gates of Doomsday that we are currently studying, as well as the research data jointly uploaded by other countries, some worlds can bring in relatively powerful weapons and tools.”
"Then take it! The country doesn't need another helicopter!" Minister Tu finally decided.
Gou Fugui nodded.
In addition to the helicopter, he also installed a modified off-road vehicle and four motorcycles in the space.
Yes, four vehicles.
This time, Si Wuyai also applied to enter the Gate of Doomsday with them.
Originally, Minister Tu and the head of the research institute were unwilling because Si Wuyai was the country's top research talent, and it was because of him that China's research on the Gate of Doomsday was slightly ahead of the world.
Moreover, although Si Wuyai also held a military position, he was a completely weak and incompetent clerk.
That's a real weakling, the kind that can only beat up ordinary people at best.
But Si Wuyai insisted.
"If I don't see the world inside the Gate of Doom with my own eyes, how can I better understand it and then crack it? There can be many researchers outside the gate, and losing one of me will not be a big loss even if the progress is a little slower. But the researcher who enters the gate may be the only one."
The gentle-looking young man pushed up his glasses, revealing an incomparably sharp edge: "The road ahead is clear, and I will demand an outcome!"
So, Si Wuyai became a new member of the team. He even signed a death warrant.
"Please rest assured, I have knowledge in pharmacy, traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, biology, astrophysics, psychology and philosophy, and pet care. I will definitely try my best not to hold you back."
"It's okay if you abandon me at the critical moment, as long as you bring back the information I've compiled."
Gou Fugui chuckled at the bespectacled man who was all talk and no action, saying, "It's not like we'd abandon you. As long as you don't do something stupid, I'd bring you back even if you were a corpse."
Si Wuyai: "..." That's not necessary.
"Also, what is this 'pet care' you're talking about? Is there even such a subject?"
Si Wuyai paused for a moment: "It's just a personal hobby."
"Just like Song Sanchuan has a smurf account that ranks first in the national server of King of Glory, Xie Dui has hobbies like being a master of wilderness survival and a wild animal collector."
Gou Fugui: "???"
Song Sanchuan: "Damn it, how did you know I had an alternate account?!"
Xie Tianlang: "..." He didn't seem to have said that he liked collecting wild animals.
Si Wuyai smiled and said, "This is the power of science."
Gou Fugui looked at Xie Tianlang and finally understood why this guy's eyes lit up when he saw his sea otter appearance the first time they met.
Turns out he was a player all along!
Xie Tianlang felt like stomping Glasses on him: "...I've only ever liked Yuanyuan ever since I fell into the sea."
Fu Guiyuan gave him a fake smile, then turned and left.
Xie Langren followed behind, feeling slightly guilty.
Looking at Si Wuyai, Song Sanchuan felt that this new friend seemed... restless.
Forget it, he should just stick to being a mechanical communication tool and mistress.
This time, they were heading to the Doomsday Gate, which was located in a very famous scenic area. Strictly speaking, it wasn't actually within the scenic area, because the enormous Doomsday Gate was deeper within it, nestled in what seemed like an endless mountain range.
Qinling Mountains.
A place filled with Chinese legends and the bizarre.
It is the ancient Kunlun land, also known as the "Dragon Vein of China".
This doomsday gate, located on the dragon vein of China, now stands atop the peaks of those mountains, its slowly flowing vortex like a giant eye in the heavens and earth, revealing its immense terror.
"...The Doomsday Gate in the Qinling Mountains has the largest energy fluctuation among the remaining eight Doomsday Gates in Huazhou. According to our research data, the greater the energy fluctuation, the more unstable the world inside this Doomsday Gate is, and the more terrifying the possible disasters will be."
“And once such a doomsday gate collapses, the destructive power that erupts will be even stronger. So…” Minister Tu closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again: “That’s why I absolutely have to send you.”
"The Qinling Mountains are in a very critical location; nothing can go wrong here. The journey ahead will be fraught with difficulties; we eagerly await your triumphant return!"
As Xie Tianlang and Song Sanchuan's direct superiors, he certainly didn't want to send his soldiers to their deaths. Not to mention that Gou Fugui was just an ordinary person before, and Si Wuyai was just a researcher.
But he understood even more that this was the responsibility of a soldier; the safety of the nation and even the world rested on their shoulders. All he could do was stand with the country and become a support for these brave heroes.
"If it doesn't work, then retrieve the core; staying alive is the most important thing."
In the end, Minister Tu still said something he shouldn't have said.
Then he watched as the four young men jumped one by one into the black vortex that led to the apocalypse and death.
"Ninth Legion, listen to my command! Remain in place! Establish an energy defense barrier!"
"yes!!"
* * *
Gou Fugui opened his eyes after realizing he had landed on a soft, plush mattress. Subconsciously, he assumed he was in a luxurious bed like in the previous world, and that he had the wonderful identity of a nouveau riche.
However, when he opened his eyes and looked around, he found that the surrounding environment was completely different from what he had imagined. There were no luxurious villas or bustling modern squares. What he saw was a dense and huge forest.
Yes, those towering trees are at least a hundred meters tall, and each one is so thick that seven or eight people with outstretched arms cannot encircle it.
In an instant, Fugui had a bad feeling—could it be that this time it was his turn to fall into a primeval forest and have to try to conquer a savage tribe?!
If he really encountered savages, what would he do? Would he defeat them all, or would he use modern methods to subdue them?
As the wealthy and beautiful woman was thinking, she suddenly felt a tremor beneath her.
He paused for a moment, looked down, and saw that the high-end plush mattress he had thought was under his buttocks was shaking from side to side.
The shaking grew stronger and stronger, causing the entire plush cushion to sway from side to side. Startled, the long-haired youth instinctively grabbed the fur on the cushion, trying to keep himself from being thrown off. Then, amidst this strange shaking, he suddenly realized that the sensation under his feet and on his hands seemed off...
? ? ?
etc.
Why is the mat under my feet so soft and elastic?
Why does this fur look so familiar, and why does it fall off when I hold it tightly?
Most importantly, why does this plush cushion have a built-in temperature control system? It's warm to the touch!
Just as the wealthy beauty, contemplating some impossible possibility, began to scream inwardly like a groundhog, the "fluffy cushion" beneath her feet finally stopped its frantic shaking and revealed its true form—
Squatting at the very top of the plush cushion, Gou Fugui saw the huge rabbit head in front of the cushion slowly straightening up.
Those long ears were easily two meters long, and those red rabbit eyes were bigger than a washbasin. The three-lobed mouth of the little rabbit, which I once thought was incredibly cute, looked like the gaping maw of a wild beast after being magnified more than ten times, and those two long rabbit teeth were like two hard white door panels.
Oh my goodness!
The wealthy beauty squatted stiffly on the back of the giant rabbit, staring directly into its eyes. She closed her eyes and opened them again, closed them again and opened them again, finally revealing a desperate, fake smile.
Ah! In his twenty-six years of life, this was the first time he had ever seen a rabbit as big as a small mountain!
Rabbit! Ahhhhhhh!!!
What the hell kind of world is this?! Why is a rabbit the size of a 100-square-meter house?!
The wealthy beauty's expression cracked.
What made him want to curse the world's consciousness even more was that he discovered he hadn't landed on the back of a rabbit as big as a small mountain; he had fallen into a pile of rabbits as big as houses!
When the giant rabbits all around him, starting from their ball-like curls and raising their heads, staring at him with their enormous, basin-like eyes, Fugui'er Meiren felt for the first time—
My life is over.
Should he be glad that rabbits are herbivores and don't eat meat?
Wait a minute, why are these rabbits baring their door-like teeth and hopping and shaking as they rush towards him?!
* * *
Just as Gou Fugui was facing the crisis of the giant rabbit, Xie Tianlang and Song Sanchuan appeared in a city square almost one after the other.
Because of the cover provided by the World Consciousness, their appearance did not arouse any suspicion or surprise from anyone.
In fact, the people walking in the square seemed to be in a hurry and didn't waste any time paying attention to anyone.
"Ah! Boss!! My God, what incredible luck I have to be linked up with you this time!" Song Sanchuan spotted Xie Tianlang at a glance, excitedly rushed over, and then began searching left and right for Gou Fugui and Si Wuyai, but to no avail.
"Huh, didn't Fugui'er and Si Yanjing teleport here?"
Xie Tianlang immediately observed the surrounding environment and also searched for Yuanyuan's figure, but unfortunately, he couldn't find the person he was looking for even after searching several times.
Xie Tianlang's expression was somewhat cold. He immediately turned on the communication on his wristwatch, only to find that the communication was completely unavailable, and the hands on the wristwatch were also shaking slightly.
"..."
Xie Tianlang had a bad feeling, but he still glanced at Song Sanchuan, and the two walked directly to a bench in the corner of the square. Song Sanchuan took out his laptop from his backpack and began searching for all kinds of information about this world at top speed, while also posting the communication code that all four of them knew online.
However, when Song Sanchuan connected to the network via satellite, he discovered that the network partition they were in was actually a limited local area network.
It is not a network signal that can connect globally. According to his search, there are a total of twelve such large local area networks in the world.
"...Something's not right."
Song Sanchuan muttered to himself as he began rapidly searching for websites or forums with the highest traffic.
Then, the website with the highest traffic that he found was not a microblog or Twitter, but a ranking and task bounty website called "Ninth City Mission Hall".
Song Sanchuan clicked on the website of the Ninth City mission hall, and the first thing he saw was a line of large, bold red text:
A reward has been issued: We sincerely invite all elite warriors to resolve the crisis of the giant rabbit in the southwest of the Ninth City!
The Giant Rabbit Nest has expanded outwards by 3,000 meters and is expected to reach the Ninth City planting area within a month! The Crazy Giant Rabbits are 3 meters tall and 9 meters long, adept at ramming, escaping, and leaping with powerful kicks. Those participating in its extermination must possess strong defense, speed, and reaction abilities. Those with special plant or animal genetic mutations will receive preferential treatment!
After reading the bolded and red-highlighted bounty notice, Song Sanchuan and Xie Tianlang already had some guesses about the end of the world.
However, after witnessing the world's anomalies, or rather, its march towards doom, one by one, they also felt a strange, indescribable feeling—
The anomaly in this world occurred six months ago, starting with an earthquake that affected almost the entire world.
Earthquakes originate in Antarctic glaciers and spread to all continents, oceans, and eventually the entire globe.
When that earthquake struck, people all over the world seemed to hear something cracking.
However, they did not know what exactly broke.
All that is known is that after that sound, earthquakes began to occur all over the world, and the earthquakes lasted for a whole day.
At the very beginning of the earthquake, almost everyone felt despair, thinking that the end of the world had come. However, after a terrifying day, people found that the world seemed to have returned to normal. Although it was a global earthquake, the amplitude of the earthquake was not large, and it did not cause a lot of casualties.
People felt a sense of relief and continued their routine lives.
However, it was from that day on that something started to go wrong—
First, pet owners noticed that their pets were eating more and growing faster; then, farmers found that their plants seemed to grow in a few days without needing fertilizer, completing several weeks' worth of growth; and even humans themselves seemed to be getting more energetic and stronger.
If it were just that, it wouldn't be a bad thing. However, a month later, people discovered that their pets had grown to be larger than the largest of their kind, and the plants they planted seemed to have been magnified: the rice grew like trees, the strawberries grew like watermelons, and the watermelons, which were already very large, could kill someone if picked up.
Humanity realized something was wrong, but by then it was too late—
The great evolution of species on a global scale has already begun.
In just six months, all animals, plants, and even insects on Earth have evolved to a terrifying degree—
Animals have grown in size at an alarming rate, and plants have become so tall and tough that they are difficult to harm with knives and guns. Insects are even more terrifying; even though they are still smaller than humans after being enlarged in size, their attack power and lethality are doubled.
Humans, however, are the only ones left behind in this great evolutionary process triggered by earthquakes, remaining at the very bottom of the evolutionary spectrum. Aside from increased strength, speed, and physical attributes, humans have undergone virtually no other significant changes.
Thus, in just six months, the land that once occupied the most vast area of the planet was taken back by animals and plants. If it weren't for the various heavy weapons that humans had created to defend themselves, they might have lost even their last place to live.
Ultimately, all of humanity gathered together and urgently established twelve large human cities. People built the strongest walls around these cities and equipped them with the most powerful weapons to defend against the invasion of evolving plants and animals.
In just six months, humanity has plummeted from the top of the food chain to become one of the weaker creatures struggling to survive among the world's living beings.
This is the beginning of the world's end, but how it will end is unknown to both humans and the wildly evolving animals.
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