Underground fortress, central control room.
Before Ye Chen, dozens of huge monitoring screens, like the Eyes of God, captured the last scene of the 'old world' outside the fortress.
He murmured to the tiny figures on the screens.
"Enjoy your last sunlight, ignorant mortals."
A compassionate yet cruel curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He, Ye Chen, was the only prophet, the only Noah in this doomsday catastrophe.
And this fortress was his ark.
Time passed by minute by minute.
At noon, the news broadcast reports of peace and prosperity, the anchor smiling sweetly, talking about some irrelevant social news.
Ye Chen scoffed.
"It's just the calm before the storm."
He took out his reserves and made a luxurious lunch, as if savoring the aftertaste of the old era.
Dusk fell.
The setting sun, red as blood, dyed the sky a magnificent orange-red.
Ye Chen stood up, walked to the giant floor-to-ceiling monitoring wall, and raised his wine glass.
"Goodbye, old era."
He drained the red wine in his glass, his eyes filled with the fanaticism of witnessing history.
"Welcome to my era!"
Night grew deeper and deeper.
On the wall, the electronic clock's bright red numbers mercilessly ticked.
21:58... 21:59... Ye Chen held his breath, his fists clenched, his heart pounding, his whole body's blood boiling!
It's coming!
It's about to come!
The catastrophe in his memory that swept the globe, crushed civilization, and reset order to zero!
The stage that would allow him to become a 'god'!
The electronic clock's numbers finally jumped from 21:59 to 22:00!
Doomsday was about to arrive!
Ye Chen's eyes burst with the most fervent light, refreshing his phone's news... In his previous life, it was at this time that the first case was infected, and it spread rapidly within minutes. Before tomorrow morning, the Demon City would be on the verge of falling...
One minute passed.
On his phone, he could only find suggestive and silly videos.
The city in the monitors was still brightly lit, with traffic flowing like dragons.
Five minutes passed.
Constantly refreshing, he finally found a few game streamers... Still no news of infection.
In the distance, a few midnight chimes echoed, distant and peaceful.
Half an hour passed.
The world was silent.
No zombies, no screams, no explosions, no sky-high flames.
Nothing.
Instead, it became quieter and quieter, symbolizing that most people were preparing to rest... The fanaticism on Ye Chen's face solidified little by little, then cracked inch by inch like cheap porcelain.
Finally, it turned into bewilderment and disbelief.
"No..."
"Impossible..."
He lunged at the control panel, his trembling fingers frantically switching between various monitoring screens, switching through all the news channels.
From international news to local forums, from official media to online live broadcasts... Everything was telling him a fact in an almost cruel way.
Doomsday had stood him up.
"Why... why is this happening?"
He felt as if all the bones and strength had been drawn from his body, collapsing into the chair, his eyes vacant, muttering to himself over and over again.
His greatest reliance upon his rebirth, the prophecy he gambled everything on, the script for him to become a god above men... had vanished into thin air.
Just as he was distraught, his worldview completely collapsing.
"Beep—beep—beep—"
The fortress's external communicator suddenly emitted a harsh, sharp sound, as if mocking his failure.
On the screen, a hideous bald face appeared, roaring directly into the camera:
"Ye Chen, are you asleep? You don't deserve to sleep!"
"You little bastard! When are you going to pay back the money you owe Brother Long?!"
"I'm giving you three days! If you don't pay up, do you believe I'll find someone to blow up your turtle shell?!"
It was the usurious loan from before!
This guy had just left, and before Ye Chen could react, another communication request came in.
It was a foreman wearing a hard hat, his face full of worry: "Mr. Ye, when will you settle the final payment for your project?"
"We're all small businesses, dozens of worker brothers are waiting for their wages to support their families, please don't make it difficult for us..."
"Money! Money! Money!"
"Are they all damn fools?!"
Ye Chen suddenly stood up, his eyes bloodshot, like an enraged beast.
"Doomsday is coming! And they still want money!"
He furiously slammed his fist onto the control panel, a loud 'bang' echoing as he forcibly shut down all external communications.
The world was finally quiet.
But this quiet did not last long.
"Thump, thump, thump."
Steady footsteps came from behind him.
The two retired mercenaries he had hired walked in, one on each side, expressionless.
One of them neatly slapped two printed documents onto the control panel.
They were resignation letters.
"Mr. Ye."
The lead mercenary's voice was devoid of any inflection, as if stating a trivial matter.
"Our security contract expired at midnight today."
"The doomsday you promised didn't happen, so our contract is up, and we're leaving."
"If you still need..."
"Forget it, I won't serve someone who even locks up his own parents."
The other mercenary added: "Those debt collectors at the door are an economic dispute, not within our security scope."
"We have completed all work within the contract."
"Take care of yourself."
After speaking, the two did not spare Ye Chen another glance, turned, and walked straight towards the fortress gate.
They entered the password.
"Creak—bang!"
The heavy blast door that Ye Chen was so proud of slowly opened behind them, then slammed shut.
They left this 'madhouse'.
In their eyes, Ye Chen was no longer the mysterious employer, but a fool with mental problems.
There was no need to risk their lives for him anymore; he even locked up his closest relatives!
Ye Chen stood frozen, listening to the dull thud of the gate closing, feeling as if his heart had been heavily punched.
His security... had also betrayed him.
"Buzz—"
The internal communicator of the fortress rang.
It was his parents' room.
Ye Chen numbly answered.
On the screen, his mother Liu Yun was crying heartbrokenly, her voice hoarse.
And his father Ye Jianguo stared at him with an gaze full of bitter hatred, like he was looking at a stranger, no, an enemy.
"Unfilial son!"
Ye Jianguo's voice was hoarse, but every word was like a knife.
"You've destroyed our life's work!"
"Are you holding us here like prisoners just to wait for something that doesn't exist?"
"I, Ye Jianguo... do not have a son like you!"
"Bang!"
Ye Chen slammed his hand on the table, closing the communication again.
Deserted by all, besieged internally and externally.
His doomsday fortress had now become a truly cold prison.
Ye Chen sat on the cold chair, motionless, like a statue.
His mind was very confused, very confused... He didn't know how much time had passed.
Once again, he strangely calmed down.
Just now, he had replayed his 'memories' in his mind, over and over again.
"No... no..."
His eyes, from hollow and numb, gradually focused.
"My memory isn't wrong! That great fire definitely happened! The prophecy is real!"
"But the subsequent prophecy failed..."
"Doomsday, in the end, did not arrive..."
A crazy idea formed in his mind.
"It's not that my memory is wrong!"
"It's this world... that has been changed!"
"Perhaps, doomsday is just... late!"
"I need to find that source and give it a push!"
The source!
Yes! The source!
In his mind, he recalled the information he had heard from countless survivors in his previous life.
The abandoned biological research institute in the suburbs of Demon City!
The underground of that place was the starting point of the virus leak and all disasters in his previous life!
"Yes! It must be there!"
Ye Chen, like a drowning man grasping at a last straw, sprang from his chair.
"Something must have gone wrong there!"
"No matter if doomsday was postponed, or if someone... prevented it..."
"The answer must be there!"
"Since autonomous driving has failed, then let me manually initiate the arrival of doomsday!"
He had to go and see for himself!
He had to personally bring about the apocalypse to save his life, all of this!
A pathological flame rekindled in his eyes.
He no longer paid attention to his imprisoned parents in the fortress, nor did he care about the creditors who might still be yelling outside.
He took out a black trench coat from his wardrobe, put it on, and wore a hat and mask, completely hiding himself in the shadows.
Then, he skillfully opened a secret passage of the fortress.
Like a ghost, he slipped out silently.
He got into a pre-prepared modified off-road vehicle, stomped on the accelerator, and sped frantically towards the research institute.
And not far away... inside a low-key black car, Lu Cheng's face held a playful smile.
He watched the off-road vehicle disappear at the end of the street, murmuring softly.
"Poor thing..."
"If you have to blame someone, blame that guy named Ji Tianxing."
"Who told him to blast your doomsday's source into the sky with one shot?"
"His cannon, with such high temperature, destroyed any virus."