The Ultimate Evolution

Sheyan only realised after talking to Uncle Dasi that he had slept for more than 30 hours. Being as cautious as Uncle Dasi was, he would surely have sent Sheyan to the hospital if Sanzi had not told him that Sheyan had not slept for 3 days straight because he was taking care of business matters, so he would sleep for a long time.

Sheyan’s “dormancy” this time was not without reason.

First of all, the difficulty of the apocalyptic world of 2012 was shockingly high. Tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes — these horrible disasters that would not be encountered in other worlds were common occurrences there. Even people as powerful as contestants would be killed in seconds, regardless of how high their HP and defence was.

Secondly, Sheyan had to face all the traps Bind laid down. That had squeezed out almost all of Sheyan’s potential. Although Party Ace came out victorious in the end, Mogensha’s death was a heavy blow for Sheyan.

Next came the sudden blow of Jinkuang’s departure. While Sheyan was weak and vulnerable, he was cruelly squeezed by the alluring, mature Zi. It was lucky that his body was digitised, or else he would have become so weak that he would be bedridden.

Fortunately, the dual effect of ample sleep and family warmth slowly healed Sheyan’s body and mind. Now that he had woken up and had a large bowl of meat noodles, Sheyan felt that he had recovered to 80% of his best condition, and he was still recovering.

Uncle Dasi was relieved to see that Sheyan was alright. He went to the dock to play mahjong after that. While Sheyan chewed on the meat left at the bottom of the bowl, he started feeling sleepy again. The thought of sleeping for another seven or eight hours felt very appealing to him.

But right when he fell back into bed, his phone rang. It was from Sanzi who had gone to the Mainland.

“Bro, bro, what bad luck. Can you come and pick me up? I’m being followed in Zhonghai City!”

“Who’s following you?” asked Sheyan in surprise.

“Just normal people, not contestants,” answered Sanzi with a wry smile.

Sheyan sighed. He really wanted to stick the words “the shame of contestants” on Sanzi’s forehead. As a digitised contestant, Sanzi actually had to ask for help to deal with a bunch of normal people.

Sanzi added helplessly, “Can’t help it. Those tracking me down aren’t ordinary people. I suspect that they’re from the National Bureau of Statistics. If I kill someone, things would get out of hand.”

‘National Bureau of Statistics? They have combat forces?’ Sheyan’s mind was still in a bit of a blur, but he immediately realised the importance of this matter. He instantly asked, “Where are you? I’ll be right over.”

***

Five hours later, Sheyan and Sanzi met up on a double-decker bus in Zhonghai. Sanzi was in a sorry state. His eyes were sunken and his face looked like it was covered in a layer of dust. To say that he looked like a hooligan was not that accurate because of his temperament, but he did look like a neet who had stayed awake for several days in a cyber cafe.

As soon as Sanzi arrived, he immediately grabbed the Dicos Chicken Rice that Sheyan brought for him and chomped it down so fast that he almost choked several times during the meal. Finally, after gulping down the last piece of chicken and licking the last grain of rice clean, he burped and sighed in satisfaction.

The bus stopped, and several people in black jackets got on. Their actions were fast and practiced. They immediately split up and looked around. When they saw Sanzi, their eyes turned bright and they instantly surrounded him.

“We’re from the Urban Planning Department of the National Bureau of Statistics…. You’re suspected of sticking private ads everywhere without permission and selling fake IDs. Please come with us to assist with our investigation.”

The person who spoke reached for Sanzi’s wrist without even waiting for a reply.

Sheyan instantly became alert when he saw the person’s action, because the agility of his movement was much higher than that of ordinary people. It was comparable to a someone who had trained more than 10 years in the army. In addition, each of them had a button on their chests that faintly reflected light — those should be cameras. No wonder Sanzi did not dare summon his creatures. If it was captured by the cameras, things would get really ugly.

Sheyan, of course, would not just sit still and watch Sanzi being captured. He quietly sent a punch towards the abdomen of the man who was reaching for Sanzi’s wrist. The man was obviously very confident in his own skills. His left shoulder sank as he used his left palm to block Sheyan’s fist. Meanwhile, his right hand did not stop reaching forward.

As someone who had practiced self defence for a long time, even if an adult male swing a steel pipe at him, he could grab it with his left hand, let alone a person’s fist.

But Sheyan was no ordinary person.

Power burst out of Sheyan’s punch when the fist connected with the man’s hand. At that instant, the man realised to his horror that he could not block the enemy’s fist even if he had 10 hands!

He felt as if the man he was facing was not a man at all, but a heavy truck with a load of sixty tons charging forward at full speed. Stopping his fist was not humanly possible!

His fingers were already touching Sanzi’s wrist, but his abdomen was struck right then. His face turned pale. He seemed like he was trying to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. He stumbled a few steps back while holding onto his stomach and collapsed to the floor.

Since Sheyan had started the fight, Sanzi immediately cried out, “Robbers, robbers!”

The bus was instantly sent into chaos. Sheyan did not stop after his first hit landed. Both his hands reached out and grabbed the head of two other men who were trying to pull something out of their jackets. He slammed their heads together. They fell to the ground as if they were drunk.

The last man immediately tried to escape, but how could he escape on such a crowded and chaotic bus? Sheyan approached him with slow, steady steps, then gave him a punch to knock him unconscious. He and Sanzi then got off the bus and ran away.

“There were three groups chasing after me,” said Sanzi as he was led by Sheyan into a bustling shopping mall. “Now there should only be two groups left. Brother, I’m really thirsty, let me buy a strawberry sundae first.”

What else could Sheyan do but let him buy a strawberry sundae? He sighed and asked, “What exactly did you do? It feels like you poked a hornet’s nest.”

Sanzi scratched his head and said regretfully, “I figured that you’re probably trying to acquire SARS, so I wanted to help you find the virus strain. I didn’t expect the Mainland to be so strict in this matter. Money didn’t work at all. I was reported instead.”

“Where would I find the extra achievement points to acquire SARS? Unless I don’t promote my rank for the time being, but my Major General’s Blood Armour should be ready soon. Compared to SARS, that’s a bigger upgrade for me,” explained Sheyan with a frown.

“But bro, you can survive the infection first and only make it your ability when you’ve saved up enough achievement points. This way, SARS can become an ace up your sleeve that you can use as soon as you have the achievement points,” said Sanzi.

Sheyan felt that Sanzi’s logic was quite reasonable.

After all, the infection and replication of the SARS virus must be carried out in the real world. If he took this step now, things would be much easier later. Thirty achievement points sounded like a huge amount – it was common to obtain only two or three achievement points from a single world – but if a chaotic melee broke out in the next world, the accumulation of achievement points could be quite shocking.

So Sheyan nodded thoughtfully. “You have a good point. But it seems like getting the SARS virus is pretty difficult.”

Sanzi grinned excitedly. “Bro, my trip’s not completely in vain. Mainland China may be really strict in the control of the SARS virus, but I’ve also received another piece of information. It’s possible to get this stuff overseas.”

Sheyan’s eyes brightened. “How?…Look out!”

Sheyan suddenly threw himself at Sanzi and tackled him to the ground. Something hissed past and pierced a small hole through the glass counter next to them. A cashier was greeting the customers in front of her with a sweet smile. Her leg suddenly felt numb. She touched the numb spot with her hand and felt as if it had been stabbed by a needle. She yawned, and suddenly fell asleep on the counter.

Sanzi was startled at the sight of this. “Are…Are they using tranquilliser guns? They’re treating us like beasts?”

Sheyan’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve really poked the hornet’s nest this time.”

Sheyan’s words were quite true. The news that someone was buying information on the SARS virus was bound to attract the attention of the National Bureau of Statistics. It was, after all, SARS. It was not something that could be eaten or worn. It had some research value for the country, but for ordinary people or private organisations, its only use was to infect others and cause social panic. Who would want to see this kind of situation? Terrorists! The authorities were naturally on high alert.

“There are three people watching us,” Sheyan sighed, “And if we don’t deal with them quick, it’ll become 30 people in five minutes, and then 300. Sanzi, I see that there are a lot of pets in this shopping mall. Pets going crazy and attacking people isn’t anything unusual.”

Sanzi raised his eyebrows. “I don’t like to shed blood, but since we can blame it on the pets, it’s worth a try.”