After wandering around for a while, Zhang Mu returned with a full load. He found a place with few people and looked at a pair of unidentified quartz watches that he had just bought from a second-hand watch shop.
The watch looked a bit old-fashioned, but it was really cheap and looked quite durable. After some bargaining, Zhang Mu got it for only a hundred yuan.
"19:34, there are still half an hour and two minutes left. It's not bad. We can make it in time."
"Fifteen packs of compressed biscuits, five bottles of water, twenty sausages, two white candles, and two disposable lighters. If you use them sparingly, it should be enough for three days."
A pair of comfortable sneakers, the cheapest clothes, and an extra-large mountaineering bag. These things in front of him almost accounted for all of Zhang Mu's money.
For Zhang Mu, shoes are the most luxurious thing here, but there is no other way. The taste buds can be wronged, but the feet cannot be wronged. If he is wronged, he may die in Luoyang City before he can realize his ambitions.
Zhang Mu looked at the bulging mountaineering bag in front of him and felt a little relieved.
Although time was running out, in order to stay in good condition, he sat cross-legged against the shady wall and rested for a while.
Ten minutes later, Zhang Mu, who had recovered a little, stood up on time and swiftly inserted the Tang sword into the backpack on his back, leaving only the handle exposed.
After running all the way, he arrived at his last stop, a small vegetable market.
At this time, it was almost closing time and many stall owners were cleaning their counters. Zhang Mu went straight in.
Ten minutes later, Zhang Mu walked out of the market gate contentedly, carrying a black garbage bag.
He looked down at his watch again and saw that there were still fifteen minutes left. Zhang Mu let out a long sigh, and his solemn expression gradually relaxed.
Knowing that he still had plenty of time, he slowly walked to his final destination, People's Square.
Walking around the crowd, Zhang Mu went straight to the highest point of the lawn. He shook off his heavy backpack and sat down with his back against an old locust tree that provided a large shade.
Holding a piece of grass in his mouth, Zhang Mu looked at the busy and congested road in the distance from a bystander's perspective, watching the setting sun sprinkled on the lawn in front of him. He knew that this peace could only last for the last five minutes. But at this moment, his restless heart finally settled down completely.
Everything is ready, and next, all we have to do is wait quietly for the end of the world to come.
“Sizzle..sizzle..sizzle…”
The timer is up, and the crystal of the quartz watch on my hand begins to tick.
It vibrated.
Zhang Mu's pupils condensed, and he suddenly looked up at the sky in the distance that was suddenly changing.
Sure enough, at the same time, a clearly visible wave with a shocking deterrent force instantly spread out in all directions from directly above the sky.
This ripple means...evolution has begun.
"bite......."
Hearing this strange yet familiar voice, the dormant blood in Zhang Mu's heart began to boil.
When this ripple swept across the entire planet in an instant, his whole body was completely unable to move. The people on the road were the same as him, with different expressions, vividly retaining the movements of the previous second. The bird in front of Zhang Mu that had just spread its wings also maintained the posture of flapping its wings upwards.
Time seemed to be frozen at this moment.
Just as the ripples swept across Zhang Mu's body, he smiled bitterly in his heart.
"Is it still not there? It's exactly the same as in the last life. There's no feeling like what they described at all.
It seems that I have overthought and can only follow the original path peacefully. "
Half a year after the end of the world, people realized that this ripple was an opportunity for evolution. At this moment, humans with evolutionary potential will feel a tingling and burning sensation in their souls that ordinary people do not experience.
Although he was a little disappointed, Zhang Mu quickly adjusted his mood and waited quietly for what was about to happen.
Three seconds later, Zhang Mu heard that cold and clear mechanical voice. It echoed in everyone's mind, shaking the depths of their souls.
"Test Site No. 47 is open."
"From now on, the test site will be debugged within three natural days. The risk factor will be increased to three times that of the initial stage."
"A new era, codenamed Bliss, begins."
The mechanical voice paused for a moment, and then changed its tone, suddenly becoming somewhat humorous and humane.
"After ten seconds, the first batch of test subjects will be randomly selected and eliminated.
We don’t need people with bad luck.”
"During the debugging period, remember not to come out. But I don't think you guys would have such an idea."
"Ha ha ha ha......."
As the creepy laughter died down, all the imprisoned people regained their ability to move in an instant. Unlike the disbelief, fear and shock in the noisy crowd, Zhang Mu's eyes were filled with deep sorrow.
It was his first time experiencing this and his mood was not much better than that of an ordinary person. After all, the supernatural phenomenon of his body being out of his control and hearing an unknown voice was too horrifying.
but,
This is the second time.
"Test subject", "Test Site No. 47", "eliminated" these words hit Zhang Mu's heart like a hammer.
In the future, I relied on a bit of luck and became the last merchant of the Luoyang City branch in the new era. I lived a hard life for ten years under the watchful eyes of others and the exclusion of my peers. I survived for ten years only by relying on my cautious mind and extensive network of contacts.
However, those supreme leaders who were countless times more powerful than him were just like ants facing a storm and were vulnerable at the moment when the era was reset to zero.
Is it really that we just have to let them do whatever they want?
Although that thing is not something I can dream of now, it is definitely a bug in this rule.
In this life, I want to see if you are still qualified to let me, Zhang Mu, be a test subject.
The rationality accumulated over the years still overcame the nameless anger that suddenly rose in Zhang Mu's heart, and he gradually calmed down.
At this moment, a woman's sharp scream suddenly sounded in the noisy crowd, as if she had encountered the most terrifying thing in the world.
People turned around and found that the one who screamed was a girl in green. She was covering her mouth and looking at the scene in front of her. Her legs were shaking, and the bags in her hands fell, and the vegetables she had just bought were scattered all over the ground.
A middle-aged man who had been cursing just now was now pouncing on a thin young man beside him. Veins bulged on his face and blood-red lines spread on the skin exposed outside his clothes.
The middle-aged man pinned the young man down so that he couldn't move at all, and used his teeth to tear off the flesh on his neck piece by piece.
The young man's aorta was damaged, his pupils dilated, and he lost his life. Blood splattered all over the middle-aged man's white shirt, but he was unaware and continued to bite.
No, eating.
The middle-aged man was biting the meat when he suddenly heard the scream of the girl in green. He turned his head and stared at her fiercely. The girl was so scared that she collapsed on the ground. But she seemed reluctant to part with the tender meat in her mouth, so she buried her head and started eating again.
However, people had no time to care about the girl, because the same scene was happening everywhere nearby. In the huge People's Square, 30% of the people turned into monsters, attacking the people around them.
“Run!”
No one knew who shouted, but the stunned crowd was suddenly awakened. They didn't care how many people were blocking their way, nor did they care about stepping on the unlucky guy who was knocked to the ground. They all ran away with their heads in their hands.
At this moment, a new era arrived with a bloody cleansing.
(End of this chapter)