Chapter 1 The Beginning

From high above, the massive shelter in the center of Nan City was nearing completion. Sturdy, towering steel walls had already been erected, topped with heavy machine gun emplacements.

These cold weapons of death brought the survivors the most solid sense of warmth in this apocalyptic world.

This was the fiftieth day since the arrival of the First Doom Era.

Worldwide, disease, cold, war, and hunger had claimed the lives of one-fifth of the total population.

Twenty-four small nations had been permanently erased from the world map, and one hundred and thirty-two cities had become ghost towns due to attacks by sea beasts, enemy countries, and rebel forces.

Great powers were wary of each other, secretly sending spies and mercenary groups to probe and scout in hostile countries, seeking to protect themselves and destroy their opponents.

The world situation was turbulent and unpredictable.

Some small countries had to sacrifice their dignity and rely on the great powers, but in this situation, no country was willing to provide free shelter to others.

The small countries offered minerals and precious survival resources, accepted the stationing of troops from the great powers, and handed over their defense powers in exchange for a rare chance to catch their breath.

But this behavior was tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst.

Great powers would temporarily shelter small countries, but ultimately they would only regard them as dispensable vassals, and when the value of the small countries had been completely squeezed dry, the great powers would choose to kick them away.

For small countries, choosing to become a vassal of a great power or remaining independent was at most the difference between "dying after a while" and "dying soon."

Humanity's enemies were far more than just famine and sea beasts; humanity itself was humanity's greatest enemy.

The tall shelters built in the city center could temporarily resist the attacks of sea beasts, and the tall walls could keep the huge monsters out, but could they stop the powerful ships and artillery of other humans?

All the rulers of the great powers knew that as resource consumption gradually increased, a war involving all of humanity was bound to begin in the future.

This war would completely change the landscape of the Blue Star world!

Humans would fight against sea beasts!

Humans would fight against humans!

According to the ratio of existing resources, this war would probably only stop when the total number of organisms in the world was reduced to one ten-thousandth of the current number.

Many countries were aware of this, and in their respective cities, they increased the patrols of military police and actively investigated spies and unidentified personnel. This action not only uncovered many spies, but also uncovered many fugitives and criminal gangs hiding in the cities.

Under this heavy pressure and strict investigation, some vicious bandits escaped from the shelters, obtained weapons through illegal channels, and became roaming bandits outside the shelters.

In just a few days, seven or eight more gangs of bandits appeared in Nan City alone.

The military police were busy building and guarding the shelters, and no longer had the energy to search for these bandits, because there were basically no residents outside the shelters now, and in the harsh environment outside the shelters, these bandits would soon die.

...

A dozen people wandered through the ruined township area.

They were wearing thick, warm clothes, and their ages varied greatly, from middle-aged people in their fifties to young people in their early twenties, both men and women.

Obviously, they were not civilians out to collect supplies, nor were they military police.

Judging from the various crude daggers and axes they were carrying, they seemed to be a group of... bandits who had escaped from the shelter!

"Brother Hui, I can't stand the hunger anymore. How many supplies do we have left that we stole?" A man with a scar on his face sat down on the collapsed wall next to him, clutching his stomach, and said, "If we don't eat something, I'm afraid I'll starve to death here..."

The man called Brother Hui was tall and looked like the leader of this group. He was carrying a hunting rifle and had a fierce face.

Brother Hui took a large backpack from behind one of the people, glanced at everyone expressionlessly, and took out three boxes of compressed biscuits and two bottles of mineral water from the backpack and threw them out: "Divide it yourselves."

The scarred man pounced on it, happily opened the package, stuffed three or four pieces into his mouth, and then took two big gulps of water, before letting out a satisfied "ah" sound.

The rest of the people surrounded him, and each of them could only get two or three pieces of biscuits and a sip or two of mineral water. Everyone carefully held the dry little biscuits and gnawed on them, squatting in the corners and under the ruins to avoid the biting cold wind.

This feeling was extremely tormenting.

After eating the biscuits, everyone greedily licked the crumbs and grease off their fingers.

"Lu Chi, are you sure there are supplies in that place?"

After everyone had finished eating, Brother Hui looked at a young man at the back of the group and asked.

"That place used to be an official small supply distribution point, but later, due to the invasion of sea beasts, the warehouse there collapsed... some supplies were buried underneath, and the military police didn't take them," the young man at the back of the group said in a low voice, "and there are mutant beasts wandering there, so the people don't dare to go there to get them, so the supplies must still be under the ruins."

Brother Hui was silent for a moment and said, "Lu Chi, now you have more than a dozen lives in your hands. If something goes wrong, the consequences will be serious! I don't want to die here!"

"..." The young man called Lu Chi raised his head when he heard this, revealing a beast-like smile: "Chen Hui, if you're afraid, you should obediently cooperate and be arrested by the military police and locked up in prison! At least there, there won't be unpredictable dangers!"

"Outside the shelter is a barbaric world where jackals run rampant. If you don't even have the courage to die, why did you escape?"

...

Li Tianran sat on the shoulders of a Tank-Class Battle Berserker, holding a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild red wine worth at least 100,000 yuan before the Doom Era in his left hand. He held the mouth of the bottle in his big hand, tilted his head back, and drank heartily, making "ton! ton! ton!" sounds in his throat.

This expensive and luxurious red wine was completely drunk by Li Tianran as if it were a two-yuan bottle of beer to quench his thirst.

If this scene were seen by some of the former "high society socialites," they would definitely show contemptuous smiles and contemptuously say adjectives with strong ironic meanings such as "bumpkin" and "nouveau riche."

But just like what Li Tianran once said to that female classmate... I don't understand, but I have it to drink! You understand, but you can only watch me drink!

Lafite is just grape juice, don't save it, trample the boxes dry!

His right hand was holding a box of sturgeon caviar. Before the Doom Era, caviar, truffles, and foie gras were known as the three delicacies of the Western world. Even some wealthy people only used it as a side dish, eating only a few small spoonfuls per meal.

This caviar made from a fish called "Beluga" has a mellow and sweet taste and can be called the best in the world! This fish grows extremely slowly, taking about 18 to 20 years from young fish to mature and lay eggs, and then lays eggs once every 2-3 years. This luxurious food, packed in a small iron box only half the size of a palm, sells for 50,000 yuan for a few dozen grams.

But Li Tianran had already swallowed dozens of boxes of caviar in large mouthfuls, without slowly tasting it, without wearing a tailcoat, and placing knives and forks on a clean table. He just treated it as an ordinary breakfast.

An ordinary breakfast like fried dough sticks, buns, and millet porridge!

Tang Su looked at Li Tianran's "bold" style and always felt that Li Tianran's wild way of eating reminded her of Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit...

A waste of natural resources! A waste of natural resources!

Like an ox chewing on a peony!

Tang Su held a small box of caviar and tasted it in small bites, feeling the wonderful taste from her mouth.

"Finally, we're almost home." Li Tianran stood up, looked at the outline of Nan City in front of him, and stretched: "Jade Emperor, Buddha... bless me to return to the farm peacefully, don't give me any more side trips, I'm so tired!"

"What do you say?" Li Tianran pulled out the backpack behind him, looked at the head of Song Zhibin inside, and asked with a smile.