Chapter 42
With limited manpower, it took nearly two months to stockpile goods at the industrial park and clear out the mutant plants, and the harvest was substantial. Only in the final few days did Lin Tu and the others head to the supermarket they'd planned to visit over a month ago.
The supermarket had been among the first to fall. The building had been gnawed down to almost nothing, with few mutant plants left clinging to it. Although most of the canned food was damaged, some long-shelf-life food in plastic packaging sat exposed to the air, free for the taking—from a certain angle, that counted as good news.
Zhang Haizhi, who entered first, froze in the doorway.
"That's Shi Jie's necklace..." She looked at a pile of dried bones on the ground, their blood long drained by mutant plants, and let out a quiet sigh. "How did she die?"
They pressed further in and came across more skeletons. Based on their sizes and Shi Jie's remains at the entrance, Zhang Haizhi easily deduced the identities of these people in life.
"Really..." She quietly gathered the neglected bones and sighed. "If they'd only known this would happen, why did they do it? It's all karma."
The final month quickly drew to a close. The day before the mission ended, Lin Tu organized all the supplies and sought out Yuan Que.
"If I save up enough points, or if I find out the truth, I'll send you an invitation someday," Lin Tu said.
"When would that be?" Yuan Que asked.
Lin Tu shook her head. She didn't know. She'd never liked the empty promises her bosses fed her, so deep down, she didn't want to feed them to anyone else either.
Knowing their parting was imminent, Yuan Que quietly returned to his room and came back with a woven bracelet. Black and white, simple in design, joined together in a Möbius strip.
He slipped it onto Lin Tu's wrist. "I'll wait for you."
The next day, Yuan Que came back to the door of Lin Tu's house. The room number had changed back to the familiar 201—more precisely, the old, worn-out 201 plaque.
Yuan Que didn't knock. He sat silently by the door.
Memories slowly surfaced. He'd grown up in this compound. Because his father was disabled and his mother had run off with someone else, the neighborhood kids bullied him. Back then, he'd always run to this supposedly haunted house to hide, desperately wishing he'd actually see a ghost.
Right before the apocalypse, his father had bought a huge stockpile of supplies and left it for him, then killed himself. He'd thought the world was over anyway, and when he saw those usually kind elders and considerate neighbors tear off their masks of hypocrisy during the disaster, he even felt a strange sense of completion—finally, he could leave this world content. He didn't know why he'd had such a thought.
Then the ghost of 201 actually appeared.
He didn't understand why everyone else had forgotten that 201 never had a resident. He remembered clearly that it had never had an owner. But he didn't dare tell Lin Tu, because he was afraid she'd disappear again.
Even so, 201 had returned to its original state. Would she come back? Would she send that invitation like she'd said? Or had she never existed at all?
Some time later, the sound of dense footsteps echoed through the silent building.
Yuan Que wiped his eyes and looked up. It was Zhang Haizhi, leading a squad of uniformed soldiers.
"Where's Miss Lin? The capital's officers have arrived. They want to see her!"
Hearing that familiar form of address, Yuan Que shook his head. "She's already gone."
"Gone?" Zhang Haizhi couldn't believe it. She tried to push open the door to 201, only to find it unlocked. The room was empty, covered in dust.
Yuan Que didn't turn around. He sat in front of the door.
"It looks like no one ever lived here," Zhang Haizhi murmured. "The government army is already here—we're about to find stability. With Miss Lin's contributions, she'd definitely get a reward or even official recognition... Could it be she doesn't want the recognition at all?" She asked again, but received no answer.
Zhang Haizhi could only leave regretfully with the soldiers.
After that, Yun City settled down as expected. The urban area was battered, but with the army's help, survivors quickly renovated it with cage-style building materials—especially the cables, gas lines, and water pipes. Once power and water were restored, some buildings were converted into farms for breeding mutant plants.
Yuan Que moved into the floor above 201 and waited, day after day.
He didn't know why he never aged. He watched the city transform—ten years, twenty, until two hundred years had passed. The last person who knew him died long ago. Mutant plants became as common as ordinary cats and dogs. The city had lost all trace of disaster.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten the calamity that nearly wiped out human civilization—except for the stone carving called "White Sea in the Woods" outside the Ecological Wetland Park, and the park itself, which had been turned into a museum. It became a boring tourist spot, occasionally visited on school field trips.
"She's not coming back, is she?" Yuan Que crouched by the door of 201, gazing through the corridor window at the ever-bustling crowds. The world felt quieter and quieter. "Of course. She's not coming back."
.
[Congratulations! You have successfully cleared the Tropical Paradise world—D+ level disaster: Anomalous Plant Crisis]
[At the three-month mark, your status is: ALIVE! Main mission complete, clearance conditions met! (Unlocked D+ level random reward)]
[Player performance rating: SSS]
[Congratulations! You have completed the side mission: Eliminated D+ level mutant plants ×964.8; (Unlocked A-level random reward)]
[Congratulations! You have achieved special achievement: Radio Lighthouse (D+ level world post-disaster legend), Token;]
[You may now draw random rewards... as well as special achievement rewards...]
Lin Tu's eyes snapped open. She looked at her phone—the time was 23:00:01. She was back.
But Lin Tu felt no hint of drowsiness. She quickly opened her phone to check the World Whisper and special achievements, yet found nothing related to Yuan Que. How was he doing now? Helplessly, she took off her glasses and let her mind go blank for a moment before putting them back on. There was no use overthinking. Maybe one day she'd meet Yuan Que again, but until then, she'd better focus on surviving.
With that thought, she tapped her phone. D+ level world settlement: 135 points for clearing, plus the few dozen points left after utilities from the last disaster—2114.6 points in total. On top of that, there were random rewards for the main mission, side mission, and two special achievement rewards.
Following her usual order, Lin Tu first opened the D+ level random reward for clearing the main mission.
[Congratulations! You have received a D+ level material reward—135 points;]
Lin Tu: "..." Fine, that works too.
That brought her point balance to 2249.6.
She then opened the A-level reward for the side mission.
[Congratulations! You have received an A-level special item—Anti-Insect Flower Water]
[Anti-Insect Flower Water: An 80ml bottle of flower water; As its name suggests, it emits a scent that repels all insects, including mutated ones. Duration: 7h;]
This item could repel mutated insects, and with 80ml on hand, calling it an A-level special item was no exaggeration. It would be very useful in the right disaster, so Lin Tu decided to stockpile it—someday it might come in handy.
There were two special achievements. Lin Tu selected the first one first—
[From "Radio Lighthouse": You may select ×1 special ability from "White Sea in the Woods"
C-level special ability "Post-Disaster Economic Reconstruction";
C-level special ability "Post-Disaster Productivity Development";
C-level special ability "United We Resist Disaster";]
All three were special abilities like [Entry-Level Plant Affinity]. "Post-Disaster Economic Reconstruction" allowed the player to earn an extra 1% of total points during disaster settlement. The second slightly increased the success rate of handmade crafts, and the third increased one's affinity.
Lin Tu chose "Post-Disaster Economic Reconstruction" without hesitation. In her view, points in hand were the most solid pension.
After using the voucher, her point balance came to approximately 2272.1.
Next, Lin Tu opened the second special achievement—
[From "Token": You have received an unknown special item *****
Note: ******]
Lin Tu: "?"
She turned it over, examined it from all angles, even called the Butler over to look. Person and machine stared at each other, but neither could figure out what it meant.
"Your app needs maintenance," Lin Tu said tactfully, then closed the baffling interface.
After dealing with the settlement, she first opened [Infinite Calamity] to send messages to Yi Ying and Dong Huadan, then returned to the [Anju] app.
This time, Lin Tu didn't rush to unlock [Anju functions] like before, which had left her with only a few hundred points and unable to unlock the Infinite Calamity shop. She first spent 100 points to fully unlock the special item voucher and special ability voucher shops, then thought about how to spend the remaining 2172.6 points.
To spend points wisely, the first step was to determine the next disaster.
Lin Tu looked at the [Anju] app. Her next disaster was an auto-matched D-level one: [Ground Fissure Crisis], starting in three days. Canceling it would cost a full 120 points or three extra E-level disasters. Swapping it for another D-level disaster cost 30 points, while upgrading to a higher level cost nothing.
As its name suggested, Ground Fissure Crisis likely involved earthquakes and ground fissures. The [Stable Foundation] Lin Tu had bought earlier probably wouldn't be enough to withstand the impact. Using the new Anju function [Form Switch] to turn the house into an RV or hot-air balloon seemed like a good option, but considering the points spent on switching forms plus the mere 120 points from a D-level disaster...
Lin Tu, ever the miser, clicked to upgrade the disaster without hesitation—
[Player "Lin Tu" will be loaded into the C-level disaster world in three days.]
[Countdown: 70:48...70:46...]
[No-Light Doomsday
Rating: C-level (Player's overall stats below standard; survival chance: 30%)
Disaster: Submerged Land
Briefing: A series of tsunamis opens the curtain of disaster. The entire world is swallowed by seawater, all civilization becomes ghosts beneath the waves, and only Noah's Ark is humanity's last hope. Make your way to Noah's Ark as soon as possible! Because deep in these waters, nameless monsters are brewing their bloodthirsty malice—you wouldn't want to be stuck with them.
Mission: Survive for three months (complete for a random reward)
Side Missions: 1. Enter Noah's Ark (unlocks random reward upon completion); 2. Kill C-level mutant monsters (normal monsters don't count; a certain number of kills unlocks a random reward)]