Ch 137: TGCIR

Xia Jinshi’s face showed a moment of hesitation.

Another world?

This hesitation confirmed Shen Cheng’s judgment. She spoke softly to Xia Jinshi, who was floating in the air, “This secret can only be told to one person!”

**

Almost simultaneously, Fu Yanzhou had already led all the zombies to the agreed location. However, what infuriated some of the zombies, who had begun to develop faint intelligence and thinking abilities, was that there were no humans, no promised power, no fresh blood to consume, not even a trace of smoke.

A restless and tense atmosphere began to spread among the zombie horde. Given Fu Yanzhou’s strong spiritual abilities, he was well aware of the growing unease among the zombies and the underlying resentment from the lower-level zombies.

But the worst part was that, even though they had reached the designated location at the appointed time, the expected event hadn’t occurred—bringing the zombies to this place was supposed to conclude everything, but the nuclear detonation had yet to happen. Despite his formidable spiritual powers, Fu Yanzhou couldn’t keep all the zombies under control at once.

With each passing minute, the restlessness among the zombies grew more evident, and Fu Yanzhou had a growing sense of foreboding: something must have gone wrong on Xia Jinshi’s side.

Restlessly pacing by the seaside, Fu Yanzhou couldn’t shake the feeling of unease.

The location he and Xia Jinshi had chosen was a remote spot near the coastline. After the nuclear explosion, the resulting nuclear contamination would gradually be washed away by the ocean, and in just a few years, this land would regain its vitality.

But for the zombies, whose intelligence was relatively low and who were driven by primal instincts, there wasn’t a single one that could appreciate the azure ocean and the beautiful seaside scenery at that moment. Their only memory of this harbor was the scorching sun, the heat, and their insatiable thirst for blood.

As Fu Yanzhou looked up at the sky, just as he was about to say something to buy time, the sea suddenly began to churn. The once calm, blue surface abruptly surged with massive waves.

A group of zombies standing too close to the shore was swept away instantly.

As undead beings, zombies naturally didn’t fear death, but this group of zombies was swept away by something massive and devoured within moments, disappearing without a trace. Not even a shadow remained on the water.

The sea churned violently, and suddenly, a massive creature from the depths of the ocean surfaced, its enormous form thrashing in the water. Each of its strikes pulled countless zombies into the sea, where they vanished instantly.

Panic surged through the zombie horde. Confronted with the looming threat of annihilation, the once slightly controlled zombies erupted into chaos, all desperate to escape this death trap.

As Fu Yanzhou felt the unrest building within the lower-level zombies, he had no choice but to increase the output of his psychic power.

Through his psychic scan, Fu Yanzhou detected a shift among the zombies. Originally, the zombies had been inclined towards order, but now he noticed spots of yellow—signs of rebellion.

Within seconds, a sharp wave of energy surged towards him. Instinctively, he blocked the first strike, driven by his survival instincts.

But by diverting his power, the force he had been using to suppress the zombie horde weakened. As a result, more zombies within the horde began to resist his control, and following Fu Yanzhou’s lead, others also started to “defy their king” and fight back.

In just a few minutes, what had been a disciplined, army-like zombie horde fell into disarray.

Explosions and gunfire echoed from the edges of the fleeing horde.

Out in the ocean, an armored superhuman stood atop a colossal tentacle, beginning to methodically eliminate the zombies being swept into the sea, who were struggling desperately against the tide.

At that moment, Fu Yanzhou heard a voice he recognized all too well: “Fu Yanzhou, come back. As long as your consciousness remains, you are still Fu Yanzhou.”

Fu Yanzhou abruptly looked up, his pupils contracting.

**

Xia Jinshi slightly lowered his altitude.

At that moment, a flock of black mutated crows flew towards him—these were common creatures in the post-apocalyptic world. Before the apocalypse, it was rare to see living creatures, but crows and pigeons were exceptions. These were the two most common species in cities, and in the post-apocalyptic world, crows had retained this trait, breeding in large numbers and often traveling in flocks.

In the wastelands of the apocalypse, the primary reason why flying machinery and flying superhumans were rarely used was the fear of airborne predators and swarms of undead birds.

Xia Jinshi was about to evade this wave of mutated crows, but instead, the flock swarmed him like a targeted attack.

From a distance, the flock of crows looked like a black cloud, densely packed and vicious. As the crows descended upon him, even Xia Jinshi hesitated for a few seconds, realizing with shock that he had inexplicably become their target. What was worse, the crows weren’t just attacking him—they were aiming specifically for his wings.

Shen Cheng watched from the ground as Xia Jinshi struggled to protect his wings. These enormous wings were both his power source and his only vulnerability! Her intuition had been correct—the wings were the system, and without them, the nuclear launch would be an instant failure.

In the sky, Xia Jinshi was locked in battle with the crows, feathers scattering everywhere. But he didn’t realize that his most significant weakness was his obsession with protecting his wings!

The mutated crows had been drawn to Xia Jinshi by Shen Cheng’s “conversation” with them. They could see the high-grade crystal cores embedded in Xia Jinshi’s chest, and their hunger for the cores drove them to fight Xia Jinshi fearlessly. Within seconds, Shen Cheng noticed her skill bar unlocking!

It was clear that Xia Jinshi, overwhelmed by the need to fend off the crows, had to divert all his power to control them, leaving himself vulnerable.

Shen Cheng swung her staff and cast a ‘Starfire’ spell directly at Xia Jinshi.

The stars descended from the sky, burning intensely, leaving a trail of charred marks as they struck Xia Jinshi.

Realizing that he was not gaining any advantage in the air—traditionally the battleground of flying creatures—Xia Jinshi understood that despite his immense power, he was at a disadvantage. The more crystal cores he exposed to the air, the more attracted the surrounding mutated creatures became, like sharks drawn to the scent of blood. He knew he had to return to the main battlefield on the ground, especially since his wings were crucial to his entire plan. If his wings were destroyed, the plan would be completely ruined.

Xia Jinshi suddenly retracted his wings and plummeted heavily to the ground.

Shen Cheng saw clearly how heavily he landed, indicating that his steel-reinforced body required an immense amount of energy to operate.

Energy…

She remembered that Fu Yanzhou had mentioned how Xia Jinshi had undergone countless modifications to his body. The person who had cried earlier had also mentioned that the wings were taken from someone else and that all the abilities, including the superpowers, were forcibly fused into him. But were these different abilities truly compatible?

Indeed, Xia Jinshi had used a flying superpower earlier, and when he landed, it seemed he switched to a wind-based power to avoid injury. It was impossible for a normal person to possess so many different superpowers. Even if Xia Jinshi had found a way to achieve a delicate balance, what would happen if that balance was disturbed? Would his entire system collapse?

So, if she could disrupt that balance, the best way would be to push one of his abilities just a bit further, tipping the scale?

Shen Cheng swallowed hard, her gaze falling on the ‘Spirit Spring’ in her inventory.

She had accumulated a small amount of Spirit Spring water over time without using it all up. Now, she realized something: If Xia Jinshi had given the Spirit Spring water to Fu Yanzhou to help him retain his humanity during the zombification process, why had he not consumed it himself? Why hadn’t he used it to strengthen his own bones and organs?

Instead, he merely applied a thin layer to his steel-reinforced exterior?

Her guess now was that Xia Jinshi couldn’t.

A particular energy type could only match a specific recovery method. When Xia Jinshi chose to abandon his humanity in pursuit of power, he also abandoned what made him human.

So, while the Spirit Spring water could heal others, for him, it would be a “burden,” a harmful substance that weakened his powers if too much of it accumulated.

Just as Xia Jinshi landed, a massive bear charged at him with lightning speed.

With his wings retracted, his ability to dodge was slightly hindered.

Shen Cheng directed the members of the Noah Base to set up traps on the battlefield. Seeds had been scattered on the ground earlier, and during the fight, the birds had carried some more. Now, under the influence of the druid’s natural power, the seeds rapidly sprouted into plants. Vines grew densely, and as Xia Jinshi landed, he was immediately ensnared in this trap.

But Xia Jinshi remained unfazed.

His crystal core glowed, and the plants bent to his will, clearly controlled by his plant-based superpower.

Xia Jinshi looked up coldly at the woman who had created all these obstacles for him. Despite knowing she was an outsider, and aware that her true self wasn’t even in this world, his expression was filled with murderous intent: “It’s best not to interfere. Instead of wasting time with these petty tricks, you should be more concerned about your own world.”

Even through the small phone screen, Xia Jinshi’s gaze seemed to pierce through. Despite being a seemingly cute and harmless three-headed bear, Shen Cheng could feel the anger and determination in his voice.

His focus shifted as the energy in his crystal core changed. At that moment, the plants he had just controlled suddenly converged around Xia Jinshi’s body.

Xia Jinshi’s vigilance was unmatched. Almost instantly, he noticed the unusual movement of the vines!

He saw clearly that what seemed like part of the woman’s hair was actually a detached branch!

With a cold smirk forming at the corner of his mouth, Xia Jinshi grabbed the vine, ready to tear it apart. However, as the branch broke, what splashed out wasn’t plant sap, but something far more familiar and infused with an energy wave that Xia Jinshi recognized all too well.

His expression tightened.

He quickly prepared to distance himself, but the very plants that had been docile under his control suddenly turned rebellious as he switched to a fire-based power. They wrapped tightly around him, and in that brief moment of hesitation and delay, the splashed liquid landed directly on his back. The sensation, long alien to him, surged through his body, and everyone present saw that where the liquid touched, Xia Jinshi’s originally mechanized flesh began to slowly regenerate, swelling and gradually restoring blood flow.

But what would be a miraculous recovery for others with disabilities, for Xia Jinshi, it was a painful clash between incompatible systems.

During his self-modifications, no matter how strong his will, he always had anesthetics and nerve blockers to minimize the pain at each step. But now, as his flesh began to grow back, as the thin, web-like connections slowly reformed, and as the heart, once harmoniously connected with the carefully calibrated crystal cores, was rejected by the newly forming tissue, the auxiliary equipment malfunctioned, causing severe disruptions in what had been a smooth integration between muscle and bone. The process brought excruciating pain.

The pain was so intense that, even with Xia Jinshi’s formidable endurance, he briefly lost focus.

At that moment, he sensed the woman’s presence right beside him, as if she was attaching something to him.

The instant Shen Cheng placed the interference device on Xia Jinshi’s back, she let out a small sigh of relief.

Xia Jinshi let out a piercing scream as all his crystal cores emitted a blinding light. The once harmonious presence of multiple cores within him suddenly began to conflict violently.

He clutched his screen.

His head slumped to the ground.

Even without fully understanding what had just occurred, Shen Cheng knew this was not a good sign. The members of the Noah Base, who had been fighting off Xia Jinshi’s minions and other researchers, gathered around, surrounding them. Xia Jinshi suddenly raised his head, and all saw the blinding light radiating from him like daylight. One of Xia Jinshi’s subordinates screamed hysterically, backing away as if they had seen a ghost, their face pale as they shouted, “The energy is conflicting! It’s going to explode!”

Shen Cheng’s face instantly paled.

She looked around at the nearby allies.

There were still so many people present.

If they allowed Xia Jinshi to just “boom” and explode, as he intended for his energy to be the epicenter of the blast, the explosion would undoubtedly engulf everyone present!

Even if the explosion somehow tore open a passage to a new world, the remaining energy would ensure that none could survive the blast. This had never been part of Xia Jinshi’s calculations.

Shen Cheng shouted at everyone around, “Get out of here, now!”

The members of the Noah Base had immense trust in her, and they quickly began to retreat, pulling along others who were slower to react. But as they fled, Shen Cheng noticed Xia Jinshi’s lips curl into a slight smile. Despite his pain, he looked up at her with a provocative expression, as if daring her, saying: “See? You couldn’t save anyone.”

The light around him intensified rapidly. Shen Cheng, in desperation, found a protective shield in her inventory and just managed to place it over herself and Xia Jinshi. The light flashed, and her screen suddenly emitted a strange burning smell before going completely black.

At the same moment, in the game world, Dr. Wei in the laboratory suddenly had a flash of inspiration and rushed to his equipment, furiously jotting down the breakthrough he had just conceived.

The molecular structure of the vaccine was finally complete!

**

Shen Cheng’s phone completely blacked out.

The day after her phone screen went black, she turned on the TV and saw news coverage about the zombie monkey incident she had previously witnessed.

This time, the news did not deny that the virus had caused irreversible damage to the brains of the monkeys. But the footage also revealed a glowing door.

In the video, this door slowly disappeared from everyone’s sight.

It was gone.

As it vanished, the surrounding scientists erupted in cheers of joy, while the reporter, clad in protective gear, commented, “Our world has narrowly escaped a great disaster. We can finally say that the threat of an apocalypse is over. However, how this door appeared and how it disappeared remains a mystery.”

Shen Cheng watched the news replay for the first time, looking at her blacked-out phone, thinking about the tightly interwoven timeline. Suddenly, she reached out to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.

But before the tear could fall, a bloodied figure appeared inside the disappearing door. In the last frame, Shen Cheng recognized the familiar face of that figure.

“???”

Scientists rushed over to surround the person.

There were no visible traces of modifications on the figure, but their limbs were no longer intact; only stumps remained, as if something had cut them off.

Shen Cheng was stunned and quickly took a screenshot, closely examining the familiar face in the image.

Xia Jinshi?

He had, as intended, crossed into a new world, but without crystal cores, energy systems, or the enhancements that had once set him apart. It seemed that during the crossing, he had been stripped of everything that belonged to him. Shen Cheng was intensely curious: did this crossing bring Xia Jinshi the satisfaction he had sought, or was he left disillusioned by things spiraling out of his control?

Judging by the panicked expression on his face in the screenshot, it was likely the latter.

After her phone blacked out, it remained unresponsive for three full months.

During those three months, the world Shen Cheng lived in gradually returned to normal.

Zombie monkeys seemed to vanish overnight, but perhaps due to some new knowledge gained from the other side of the “door,” the world began to tread more cautiously. Governments that had once been indifferent to environmental issues became more careful in their resource utilization, and formerly lax environmental protection laws were enforced with much greater rigor. Large-scale environmental destruction became virtually non-existent under the watchful eyes of international bodies.

At first, there was resistance to these changes, but as time passed, the benefits of such protection became increasingly evident. With the zombie monkey incident being gradually disclosed, people began to realize how lucky they were to avoid total destruction, and their protests started to dwindle.

When Shen Cheng stepped outside, she noticed that new buds had started sprouting on the trees.

She realized that the world had changed.

Some of the food she had stockpiled was consumed, and some was donated to food banks; none of it went to waste.

Even though the old phone still wouldn’t turn on, Shen Cheng had an inexplicable sense of certainty in her heart. She believed that everything in that other world was still running smoothly in a way that didn’t require her constant worry. And she also believed that when that world’s story came to an end, just like when she had once finished playing the game of the same name, she might see her precious character, her boyfriend.

She didn’t know why, but this wait wasn’t as agonizing as the previous one.

Shen Cheng counted the days.

She still placed her phone on the charger every day, even though the phone remained dark and unresponsive. But as she stared at the black screen, she couldn’t help but imagine what Li Weilan looked like.

She suspected that the phone’s shutdown and the screen issues were due to the closure of the “door” between the two worlds. Thinking back, that door and the strange occurrences related to the zombies in her world were indeed quite eerie.

The last task in the app rewarded her with the zombie vaccine, and Shen Cheng thought that perhaps this vaccine was the key to ending the entire apocalyptic wasteland.

Although the current situation in that world left her with a vague sense of unease, Shen Cheng believed that once they had the zombie vaccine, the apocalypse in that world should come to an end as well.

And those humans with special abilities would be able to gradually return to the surface.

The development of these abilities might lead to more efficient energy sources, and with the solution to energy problems and sustainability, that world could achieve a cleaner future.

She was confident that Li Weilan could lead them through the end times.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋