章 2: Global Darkness
編集者: vb24
"You want it sharpened?!"
The boss was extremely astonished at Chu Han’s requirement. The boy chose an axe, before asking him to sharpen it. The power and lethality would be horrendous if it were further sharpened!
"Sharpen it. The sharper the better." Chu Han remained calm. He didn’t know that the boss was trembling at his composed demeanor and tranquil eyes, a result of experiencing the eschatology.
"Young man…" The boss prepared to say something.
*Kuang!*
A dagger was abruptly stabbed into the counter. "Sharpen the dagger, too, please. The total amount should be two thousand or so, right? I will pick them up tonight. Here is a thousand as down payment," Chu Han said loudly.
Chu Han didn't give the boss a chance to speak. He had even raised the price since the cost of sharpening the dagger was two hundred at max.
The boss swallowed his saliva before he decided not to negotiate for more money.
Chu Han didn't linger around as he had to buy other things. His limited time meant that he couldn't afford to act leisurely.
The axe was for zombies, while the dagger was for human beings.
The early stages of the eschatology were better. The so-called morals of humanity would collapse when people were faced with zombies. Some would even kill their whole family for a mere cookie. Others would fall into utter depravity and consume human flesh to satiate their hunger.
Although a trenchant bayonet was preferable to a dagger, most of the bayonets for sale were shoddy goods. The defective design would hinder its effectiveness against humans as it would obstruct flexibility. Most of the bayonets for sale couldn't even play the role of a trenchant bayonet.
A high-quality trenchant bayonet was hard to acquire, much like a military hammer.
Chu Han subsequently purchased a backpack which was both waterproof and anti-tear. He was preparing for a long journey. Although the country would send the military out to rescue the civilians, it would be too late by then. He needed to travel to Anluo and pick up his parents. He removed the belts and small objects from the backpack since zombies had sharp ears. These redundant things would inevitably attract trouble.
After that, Chu Han bought the most expensive clothes and a mountaineering suit which cost more than one thousand. It was dirt-proof, fast-drying, and reliable. He preferred not to be naked half-way through his escape, as was the case in his previous incarnation.
Chu Han then bought some medical supplies and a gauze, both of which were rare in the eschatology. He filled the water bottle in his backpack with water. Having finished all of this, he bought some dry biscuits and beef jerky with the remaining money. The backpack was filled with these items.
He had no need to eat so much; all he wanted was to stay alive. Dry biscuits and beef jerky would last for a long time. As for other things... he lacked the money to purchase more, and having too many things was inconvenient when moving.
When he had finished everything, it was almost dusk. Overhead, the sky was clean, and warm sunlight shone down. It was a stark contrast to the rotten and smelly air and bloodstained street of the eschatology. Chu Han stood at the intersection, observing the final sunset before the eschatology. He felt a various range of emotions. Three months after the eschatology, people with supernatural power would start appearing, and two of his roommates were endowed with supernatural powers. However, it was only him that had survived for ten years.
He was a nobody; a common person, but he managed to survive. He had experienced many things in his previous incarnation...
*Beep beep!*
The phone in his pocket started shaking again. Chu Han pulled it out, and he saw that there were twenty missed calls from the same number.
"Hello?" Chu Han pressed the answer key.
"Do you want to get yourself killed?!" a mad female voice shrieked from the phone. The high-pitched voice coincided with the sound of a cup smashing on the desk.
Chu Han looked at the screen and there was a name displayed—Ding Xue.
To be honest, he knew more than twenty people named called Ding Xue during those ten years. However, he had an idea of who the Ding Xue of ten years ago was.
"What’s the matter?" Chu Han asked. He raised his head to look at the last sight of the sun before turning towards the weapon shop. It was time to collect the dagger and axe.
"I've made dozens of phone calls to you, yet you haven't picked up any of them!" On the other end of the phone, Ding Xue was fuming in anger. "Why did you miss the exam?" "You know that you have no chance to resit the exam now you've missed it, right? You’ll have to repeat it next semester! Do you still want to be a diligent student? Do you even want to graduate..."
Ding Xue was rattling on at the other end of the phone. Chu Han suddenly halted. He finally recognized the person: it was his class monitor in college. Ding Xue’s character was different to her name. She had such a volcanic temper that she even dared to rush to the dormitory, which was filled with bare-bellied schoolboys.
"Monitor, how are you?" Chu Han asked, a nostalgic smile plastered on his face. He had no idea what had happened to Ding Xue in his previous incarnation, but he had never met her after the eschatology began. Maybe she had died, or perhaps she had been transformed into a zombie…
"How dare you!?" Ding Xue snorted furiously. "You'll have to repeat the exam next semester!"
"Monitor, you should buy food to prepare." For her sake, Chu Han reminded her. He had completely forgotten about Ding Xue; he had no idea of her current appearance, but they had been classmates for two years.
"Stop changing the topic." Ding Xue was the class monitor, so her mind wouldn't be distracted by Chu Han easily.
"Go and get some food and water." Chu Han didn't speak further and hung up the phone call. He had done his very best to help her prepare for survival in the eschatology with the experience he had accumulated over those ten years.
"Hello? Hello?" Ding Xue was trembling with rage in the dormitory. Her chest was heaving up and down due to her extreme fury. She was a privileged girl. This rich beauty had good grades and a strong working ability. Nobody would dare hang up on her call, and only she could order others around to do things. How could Chu Han, a poor student, hang up on her call?
"Asshole!" Ding Xue, who always had everything her way, couldn't help but cry. She felt wronged since she was never treated with such coldness.
——————
Upon entering the weapon shop, Chu Han paid the remaining one thousand fee to the boss and left carrying the axe and dagger under the strange gaze of the boss. Luckily, the boss packed these two weapons tightly; otherwise, there would be a panic before the coming of the eschatology if he walked in the street wielding an axe and a dagger.
When he returned to the dormitory, Chu Han heated two cups of noodles to eat and some hot tea to drink. The junk food tasted delicious to him. He then took off his clothes and changed into the mountaineering suit. The world would be plunged into darkness for six hours before the eruption of the eschatology.
At that time, everyone and every living thing was in a comatose state. Once they regained consciousness, they realized the world had changed drastically. 80% of humanity was transformed into zombies, and the temperature decreased greatly. Chu Han had become accustomed to preparing thoroughly, so he planned to wear the mountaineering suit in advance.
After he wore the mountaineering suit, he placed the axe beside his hand, which was the most familiar position in his previous incarnation. He could grab the weapon immediately if there was imminent danger.
Next, he tied the dagger with a belt to the outer side of his right forearm. He was accustomed to having the longer weapon on his right side and the dagger on the left. This position made it easier to pull the dagger out as well as providing protection for his right forearm. He had prevented his arm from breaking many times with this unique technique.
Everything was ready, and it was already 10 p.m. There were eight hours till the coming of the eschatology.
——————
The dark night silently passed by, and the sun shone early in the morning.
The phone displayed a time: 4th July, 2016, 6 a.m.
And then the screen became dark.
The brightening sky suddenly turned pitch-black, and the sun was impossible to view from any position on the Earth.
——————
There was a desperate wail in the dormitory corridor, followed by the familiar roaring of zombies and the scream of a woman...
‘Wait, why was there a woman in the boy’s dormitory?’
Chu Han was stupefied when he woke up, and he shook his head. Maybe he had been stupefied ten years ago, but he had forgotten the incident since it was not worth mentioning compared to the other events.
As he got up, Chu Han felt something wrong, and he picked up his phone. It failed to turn on.
Chu Han forced a smile. In the end, no one knew what happened during those six hours of darkness until five years after the eschatology, where a professor proposed the ‘meltdown theory’.
Back to the original; returning to the beginning.
The earth’s magnetic field had been changed, and consequently, the data that corresponded to it also changed. The previous academic knowledge had been overturned, and numerous things had to be re-explored. The science that humanity was familiar with had been disrupted, including the genes of human beings. One of the largest disasters brought by the change was that 80% of humanity transformed into zombies.
Luckily, not everything had changed, and there were still some things were left as leeway for humanity. Energy was still eternal, and fire could still provide warmth. Oil could be burned, and vehicles could be used.
Zombies relentlessly battered his door, and some sharp objects would occasionally make a screeching noise. The noise was caused by the fingernails of the zombies, which were different from human beings. Their fingernails were very tough.
Chu Han took out a dry biscuit and ate it. The eschatology had come, and the war for survival was beginning. The first thing to do was to find an energy supply.
So far, the zombies that appeared were of the lowest grade—grade one zombies with low speed and weak senses. Their power was insignificant. Excluding the creepy appearance, they posed little threat if people were armed with weapons while confronting a few of them.
It was exam week, so most students had departed the campus. However, there was still a portion of them remaining for the tests, so Mingqiu University was not too dangerous of a place compared to other places. It was the reason why he chose to stay in the dormitory before the coming of eschatology.
Having finished the biscuit, Chu Han peeked out of the window. Although the sun had reappeared, the sky was still gray in color. There was a crowd of zombies gnawing on bones, with crushed meat and blood scattered haphazardly on the street.
The sudden chaos was too fast and too direct. Chu Han suspected that these zombies had woken up even earlier than the humans.
Chu Han rose from his position, carrying his backpack on his back and wielding the axe with both hands. Currently, his strength was insufficient, so it was hard for him to use the axe one-handed even though the axe could only be called the smallest weapon in this world.
His tranquil eyes suddenly changed the moment he wielded the axe.
His eyes, filled with cruelty and savageness, made him look like a flesh-eating beast.
He would now do anything to ensure the survival of his parents as well as his three brothers.
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