1 The Disaster and the Gene Store

Yang Xiao opened his eyes and found himself lying in ruins. He touched around him with his hand, feeling broken bricks and tiles. The air was filled with the smell of dust.

"What the hell is going on?!" 

Yang Xiao was instantly terrified. He vaguely remembers that last night was the first day of the new college freshmen orientation, and he was fine when he went to sleep. But why was he now lying in ruins? 

Was there an earthquake?

He turned his head. The light was dim, but he could vaguely see a collapsed steel bunk bed frame above him. Last night, when he was choosing his bunk, he had chosen the lower one. The steel structure bunk bed in front of him, though twisted and bent, still provided him with a narrow space, protecting his head from being flattened.

In that case, the chubby freshman who slept on the upper bunk would probably have had a rough night. 

Thinking this, Yang Xiao yelled at the mangled upper bunk, "Hey fatso, you there? Answer if you're alive..."

Yang Xiao shouted twice but there was no response. Looking at the wrecked bed above, it seemed the fat freshman's chances of survival were slim. 

He moved his hands and found that they were both functional, not pinned down or broken. Then, he attempted to move his legs.

D*mn it, his legs seemed to be pinned under something and he couldn't move them.

After barely getting accepted to a first-tier university, he had such bad luck on the very first day of school!

Yang Xiao was now certain there must have been a sudden earthquake last night. He remembered the self-rescue basics from earthquake safety classes and quickly calmed himself down. Then in a loud voice, he shouted, "Help! Help! There's someone alive here!"

But it was useless. The surroundings were dead quiet. He didn't hear any rescue team sounds.

What should he do? He couldn't just lie here waiting to die, right? 

Yang Xiao tried to get his panic under control and calmly observed his surroundings. To his surprise, he didn't seem to be buried too deep in the rubble, because he could already see rays of light coming through. It was just dawn, so the light was still weak.

He could also vaguely hear the wind. 

The steel bunk bed provided him with a small space for survival. He used his hands to slowly prop himself up and then examined the area below his waist.

The bed seemed to have collapsed in the middle, and his thighs down were pinned underneath. 

He tried pushing the wooden plank lying over his legs. It didn't seem too heavy, he could move it a little.

This discovery gave him some hope. 

Taking a deep breath, he observed carefully and gingerly cleared bits of brick and debris from around his legs. He didn't dare push too hard, afraid of triggering another collapse.

After struggling for about half an hour, the space around his thighs increased a little, and he could move his legs slightly. 

This discovery brought him another wave of relief and hope. At least it meant his legs weren't broken and he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair!

This was truly a blessing in the midst of disaster!

Yang Xiao got a little excited. Carefully he pushed with both hands against the wooden plank laying across his legs. 

This time he could actually lift it a few centimeters.

He quickly moved his legs backward, managing to free them by about three to four centimeters.

After pushing against the plank pressing down on his legs and moving his body several times, Yang Xiao finally extracted his legs, moving them tentatively. Feeling his legs were fine, he was so overjoyed he cried tears of relief.

He suddenly remembered something and began to search around him. To his surprise, he found his phone nearby.

He immediately turned on his phone to check Moments to see what was happening. He was ready to do a live stream of the earthquake from the scene. 

But when he turned on his phone there was no network signal at all. It seemed that even the signal was unavailable in his current situation.

"Alright, I'll try making a call then."

Yang Xiao dialed three digits but he quickly realized that he couldn't make any call

By now the light around him seemed to have increased a little. He could see the scene outside through the gaps. What he saw truly shocked him. The surrounding dormitory buildings had collapsed, and the whole area was in ruins.

Was it really a huge earthquake?

Still stunned, Yang Xiao considered how to get himself out of the rubble. Nobody knew when the rescue teams would arrive, and he thought it was better to make an effort to save himself rather than wait for help.

Fortunately, he wasn't buried too deep. The dormitory building had six floors, and he lived in Room 601. When the building collapsed, he must have luckily landed on top of the rubble. If he had lived on the first floor, he would have been crushed under layers of heavy debris. That would be truly hopeless. 

Yang Xiao also knew that after an earthquake, secondary disasters can easily occur. For example, the rubble he was under was unstable. Too much movement could trigger another collapse. The consequences of getting buried again would be unimaginable.

Yang Xiao didn't dare exert too much force to move the debris on top of him, so he carefully cleared away smaller, movable pieces of wood and rubble. Fortunately, he was on the upper part of the rubble pile, making it somewhat easier to remove the materials pressing on him. If nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to dig an escape path following the light outside.

After struggling for about half an hour, Yang Xiao finally crawled out from the ruins. 

By now the daylight was getting brighter.

Yang Xiao got to his feet and gingerly climbed down off the rubble. 

A light breeze blew by, and he suddenly felt chilled all over. Only then did he realize he was wearing just a T-shirt and underwear. 

There were piles of clothing in the ruins. He randomly grabbed a pair of jeans, a jacket, and two different sneakers. He shook the dust off and put them on.

Sitting down on a clear patch of ground, Yang Xiao heaved a long sigh. Other than some scrapes, he didn't seem seriously injured. Surviving such a devastating earthquake could be called a miracle.

He told himself that surviving a great calamity must bring some good fortune.

Standing up, he looked all around. The beautiful campus from yesterday had turned into almost complete ruins. Nearby dormitories and classrooms had collapsed, leaving a scene of devastation.

Yang Xiao's gaze turned to the large playing field behind the dormitories, just across the road. Yesterday the freshman orientation and registration took place on the field. 

Now in the morning light, the field seemed eerily quiet. All the temporary tents set up yesterday were gone without a trace. The grass on the ground was lush and green, and the 800-meter circular running track was paved with clean and colorful rubber.

But Yang Xiao noticed something very strange. 

A peculiar two-story building had appeared in the middle of the field, with lights shining inside.

How could this be possible? He had walked around this playground just yesterday, and there was no such tall and odd structure. Moreover, the middle of the playground was a soccer field, so how could there be a building?

Under the lights, he could see two figures standing in front of the building. They occasionally moved, then stood still again.

What was going on?

Could it be the earthquake relief command center?

Based on past logic, it should be something like that. 

The campus was currently dead silent. Yang Xiao didn't see any other survivors around, nor any rescue crew.

He brushed the dust off himself and headed toward the mysterious building in the middle of the playground. 

There had been a wall between the dormitories and the road, but it had collapsed. He simply crossed the road and entered the playground.

Drawing closer, he could now clearly see the exterior of the building and was shocked.

The style of this structure was completely different from any other building he'd seen in the Mysterious Darkness Nation. They certainly didn't look like temporary structures, and there was a distinctly otherworldly quality to them.

The whole building was circular, about 30 meters in diameter, and two stories tall. The exterior was a bright orange color. 

When he was about 30 meters away from this orange structure, he stopped in his tracks.

This was because he saw two strangely-dressed people standing at the entrance. This scene looked quite strange. Both of them were at least two meters tall, totally encased in armor, with one-meter-long broadswords hanging at their waists.

What on earth was happening?

Yang Xiao rubbed his eyes and pinched his arm. 

This wasn't a dream!

After advancing another ten meters, Yang Xiao saw a sign hanging outside the orange building's entrance, bearing two large characters, Genetic Store.

He felt a buzzing sensation, convinced that he must be dreaming or hallucinating. Nothing in front of him seemed to make sense.

The earthquake, ruins, no other survivors, no rescue crews. A weird orange building appears on the playground with a "Gene Store" sign, and two armored warriors standing guard at the door. 

What was going on? 

Yang Xiao felt his intelligence was totally insufficient to comprehend this situation.

Alright, even if this was a dream he may as well play along.

Yang Xiao timidly glanced at the two towering warriors at the door and slowly walked over.

"May I ask who you are?" he asked.

The two warriors glanced at Yang Xiao but remained silent, standing there with an air of superiority, as if they were two statues.

After hesitating a moment, Yang Xiao mustered his courage and entered the orange building. He was surprised to see a little old man standing behind a counter lit by a bright lamp overhead.

"Welcome to the Gene Store!" the little old man said.

Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Gene store? What kind of game is this?"

The little old man smiled faintly. "I'm Gu Bo, the owner of this gene store."

"Gene Store? What exactly are you selling?"

A thousand thoughts raced through Yang Xiao's mind at this moment. He couldn't figure out what was happening at all.

"Hehe… In seven days, all living things on Earth will mutate," the old man explained patiently. "When different creatures are killed, they will drop different genetic fragments. You can hunt these creatures and bring the collected genetic fragments to our shop to sell."

"Seven days later, creatures will mutate?" 

Yang Xiao was utterly bewildered. Why couldn't he understand what the old man said? What kind of crazy dream was this? Could it be that he had been playing too many video games lately?

The old man Gu Bo looked at Yang Xiao and suddenly smiled. "Do you think you're dreaming?"

Yang Xiao stared blankly. "Isn't this a dream?"

"Earth's civilization has been wiped out overnight," Gu Bo said. "You've entered a new era, the genetic mutation era. It's estimated that less than one-tenth of the human population has survived. In seven days, after the mutation of the living beings, humans will no longer rule the Earth. The whole planet will be governed again by the mutated creatures..."

"Are you telling a story here, or playing some game?" Yang Xiao interrupted in a panic.

"Young man, I hope you can survive the next seven days. After seven days, your real trials will begin. Let me give you one piece of advice. Focus on finding a way to survive these seven days first."