Chapter 5
At the same time, in City F.
Ji Xia was sleeping soundly in her own space, not noticing that the apocalypse was happening outside. Since tidying up the warehouse, she has moved everything in the house into her own space. After that, she always sleeps in her space.
While she was sleeping like a baby, the outside world was in chaos. Although she lived in a relatively secluded place, there were at least a hundred people living in the same village as her.
After the earthquake, radiation from the solar storm killed half of the villagers. They were lucky because it was night in their country when the core stopped spinning. Otherwise, they may face the same situation as people on the other side of the world.
They were either burned alive by a solar storm or died of radiation. Even if they do not directly face the solar storm, the radiation caused by the solar storm can still reach their area. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and radiation wiped out 45% of the country’s population.
Three hours after the first quake, a gray mist seeped from the ground and filled the air. The fog is inconspicuous in the dark night, like a silent killer. With it, it brought a deadly virus that became the cause of mutations in humans, plants and animals.
Before sunrise, the mist has infected all living things, including water, soil, and even air. Every creature infected by the mist lost consciousness.
When Ji Xia woke up and left the space, she saw the cracked ground and destroyed buildings all over the place. She was stunned by the situation in front of her, and her heart beat faster. She quickly changed into sportswear and brought along the Scythe sent by Ji Qiu.
She left her home and walked towards the town. The ground cracked, so she couldn’t drive. As she walked, she saw several corpses that had been burnt to the point that blood oozed from their bodies. She vaguely knew that it was a wound caused by radiation. Sweat covered her forehead as she walked over the corpse.
When she walked to the village hall, she saw many people lying unconscious on the ground. 50% of the people inside lay stiffly on the ground, their skin gradually turned blue, and their bodies gradually covered with rigor mortis.
She turned around and ran towards the granary, sweating profusely from her back. Before the zombies woke up, she needed to collect as many supplies as possible. The village granary is near the village hall, and it takes less than 5 minutes for her to arrive.
She collected the supplies and ran towards the town. Fortunately, after drinking the water from her space, her body became stronger. So running for more than an hour is no longer a problem for her.
As soon as she arrived in the town, she saw a situation similar to that in the village. The process of zombification has already begun, and she can see that more than 50% of the survivors have turned into zombies.
She didn’t care too much about those who lost consciousness. All she needs to do is focus on surviving. She is going to S city to meet her family. She had already bought a ticket for tomorrow, but unfortunately, before she had time to go to City S, the apocalypse came.
The first place she looted was the market. Since the apocalypse has just begun, the seeds, animals and plants have not yet been infected. She focuses on collecting those first, including food, frozen and dried foods.
Her space keeps the items inside in top condition. Although her space is similar to Ji Qiu’s, the growth speed of the crops is different. Ji Qiu’s crops haven’t matured yet, while her crops are ready to be harvested.
It only takes two weeks for her crops to be harvested, compared to around two months for Ji Qiu. They never found the reason, but Ji Bing said it might have something to do with their water.
Now that she found the difference, Ji Xia has already done some experiments with her own well water and seeds. If the seeds were planted in her space, the yield was higher when harvested compared to when it was planted outside. But it was further increased by soaking the seeds in well water for 2 hours before planting.
When Ji Xia was looting, she felt that time was slowly passing by. It was so quiet that she could even hear her own breathing clearly. This situation lasted for three days, and she gathered almost everything in the town.
On the fourth day, the first zombie opened its eyes, followed by another zombie. As soon as the zombies woke up, they began to bite the people around them, and soon the survivors also began to wake up one after another. When they opened their eyes, they saw the rotting face of a zombie come towards them.
Most of them died before they even had time to think about what happened. Some of them survived the zombie attack either because they woke up earlier than the zombies or because they were alone. In this way, 30% of the remaining survivors died on the fourth day of the apocalypse.
The population is declining at an alarming rate. On the first day of the end of the world, 60% of humanity died. On the second and third days of the apocalypse, 50% of the remaining 40% of the survivors turned into zombies. On the fourth day, 30% of the remaining 20% of survivors died because of zombies.
In the end, less than 14 percent of the world’s population survived the first week of the apocalypse. In other words, of the 8 billion people on Earth, only 1.2 billion survived. The government has set up temporary bases across the country.
While sending troops to find survivors and clean up zombies, they also started a power struggle with each other. Even if they call themselves a government, since the whole country collapsed, there is no government anymore.
Not knowing how her family was, Ji Xia went into her own space and went to sleep. The moment she fell into a deep sleep, her soul appeared in Ji Qiu’s space. She drifted toward the house and saw her family sitting inside.
She walked up to Ji Qiu and said, ‘Qiu, how’s your situation? I am now in a small town near F City.’
Hearing her voice, Ji Qiu heaved a sigh of relief and said, “We’re fine. It’s just that I need to find a way to move to another location from within my space. Our house has collapsed. If I go out now, I will be buried under the ruins.”
Seeing her talking alone, Ji Bing and their parents looked at her with puzzled eyes. Ji Qiu looked at them and said, “I’m talking to Xia. We can communicate telepathically.”
Ji Xia looked at her parents and youngest sister. When she saw that they were fine, she finally felt relieved. After thinking for a while, she asked, ‘Have you ever tried to teleport your consciousness outside and move your body? It’s similar to VR.’
Hearing her words, Ji Qiu’s eyes lit up. Yes, she could try. They can use their spiritual consciousness to see outside, and maybe they can move to another location from within the space. After thinking about this method, Ji Qiu said, “Okay, I’ll try. You guarantee your own safety, don’t help strangers stupidly. Also don’t let other people know your space. Remember to pretend to be poor and weak.”
‘Alright.’
After talking to Ji Qiu, Ji Xia woke up and checked the situation outside. She also attempts to move from within the space to another location. Her mental strength is not as good as Ji Qiu’s, so this method is a bit difficult for her. But she needs to practice more. If she successfully masters this skill, it might become her life-saving talisman.
Closing her eyes, Ji Xia shifted her consciousness to the outside world. She saw images outside her own space, overlapping with the scenery in the space. It was disorienting at first, but as she focused outside, her vision became much clearer.
She lowered her head, only to see that her body was transparent, like a mass of condensed gas. She could touch her own hands and body, but when she touched the wall, her hand went over it.
She took a deep breath and walked towards the wall. Approaching the wall, she closed her eyes and walked forward. She felt like she was walking through something resembling sand but with a jelly shape. When she opened her eyes, she found that she was already outside the building.
She withdrew her consciousness and left her own space. Once she appeared outside, she stood outside the building. When she succeeds in her attempt, she smiles like a proud cat.
At first she thought that this method would consume a lot of her mental power, but when she actually did it, she didn’t consume any mental power at all. It was only when she sent her consciousness outside for the first time that her mental power was consumed.
She entered her space again and sent out her consciousness. She wanted to try if she could use her consciousness to grab objects outside the space. So, she went to a corner and saw a small stone.
Squatting down, Ji Xia put her mind on her hand, and seeing her hand become more solid, she stretched out her hand towards the stone. When she touches the stone, she can feel the texture of the surface. She picked it up and held it in the palm of her hand. After a while, the stone fell to the ground and passed through her palm.
With this experiment, she knew that as long as she used it carefully, she could use this method to fight. Fighting using her consciousness may require more mental power, but for her, it is much safer.