Chapter 1. Activation!
2222 Words
Dawn is breaking and the east is turning white.
A window on the top floor of the male dormitory building at Haihe University in Jianglin University Town, Nanjiang City.
In the faint light of dawn, Xu Youran opened his bloodshot eyes and cautiously observed his surroundings.
Standing at over 180 centimeters tall, he was thin. His hair, which had clearly not been cut in a long time, was unkempt and disheveled, draped over his shoulders. His handsome face was etched with fatigue, and his bloodshot eyes were filled with dark blood.
The melting of glaciers in the North and South Poles has triggered the outbreak of ancient viruses that have been frozen for millions of years, ravaging the globe.
Within a year, humans infected with these viruses died one after another, while animals infected with the viruses evolved rapidly, with the more aggressive animals being called mutant beasts.
To prevent being attacked by mutated beasts that roam at night, his most important job this year has been keeping watch.
The dormitory room behind me, which originally could only sleep eight people, now has more than thirty people lying haphazardly, practically sleeping on top of each other.
There are former teachers, school staff, and students here.
These are people who survived the virus outbreak by sheer luck. For some reason, their bodies adapted to the virus and they did not die during the major outbreak a year ago.
The girl sitting alone on the corner of the bed against the wall was not pushed by anyone. She was beautiful yet heroic, with thin eyebrows straight as swords, a delicate and charming nose, and thin red lips pressed tightly together.
This girl was none other than Dongfang Bai, the school beauty who was in the same class as Xu Youran.
When she was a freshman in college, everyone said that she came from a family of martial arts practitioners and had been practicing martial arts since childhood.
After the outbreak, she quickly adapted to the virus and survived.
Furthermore, after the animals began to mutate and become extremely aggressive, it was she who led everyone to escape death time and time again.
Xu Youran was diagnosed with a unique disease at birth: congenital immunodeficiency, which means he has no immunity to any viruses.
Countless people died, but Xu Youran inexplicably survived.
And he's been a little different since yesterday.
He was aware of his uniqueness, but he couldn't share it with others.
Because of his unique physical condition, he contracted almost every type of virus.
Just yesterday, the rabies virus he was carrying broke out, and he contracted rabies.
While he was exploring the school’s basement alone, he suddenly developed rabies and rolled, howled, and wailed in the muddy basement.
Just as he was dying, a white light suddenly flashed in his mind, and a light screen appeared faintly in his sea of consciousness.
He remembered the ancestral martial art, the Natural Scripture, which his father had passed down to him. Desperate, he began frantically practicing the Natural Scripture.
The pain in his body miraculously lessened considerably, and the light screen became clearer and clearer.
When he finished the ninth cycle of the exercise, his rabies was miraculously cured.
It was as if the rabies virus had been completely absorbed into the dantian, and the light screen finally took shape at this moment.
His faint divine sense swept over the light screen and he was stunned. Which tech tycoon was using me as an experiment?
Although current technology allows for mobile phone light screen projection and human-computer light screen interaction, he had never heard of any company that can install a light screen into a person's consciousness.
He ignored the foam from his mouth and the mud on his body and began to carefully read the text on the screen.
The four large characters at the top read: "Virus Throne".
The following is a list of branches:
1. Awakening skill for magic users.
2. Basic attributes.
3. Basic skills.
He tentatively touched the first column with his divine sense, and a drop-down menu appeared.
The next level has seven options side by side, but only the words "Earth Attribute" are highlighted; the other six options are all grayed out and the words are not clearly visible.
Earth element:
1. Earth Shield, Black Iron Grade. A shield formed from earth elemental energy, capable of withstanding Black Iron grade physical attacks. Weak elemental resistance. (Upgradeable)
2. Earth Spikes, Black Iron Grade. Can be conjured with earth elemental energy to create three earth spikes that pierce enemies with physical damage. (Upgradeable)
Is this the instruction manual?
Is this the awakening skill I can use now?
Is this a sequela of my rabies infection?
Am I hallucinating?
He withdrew his faint divine sense and looked around at the cement ground. Cement could be considered an earth element, right?
He had an inexplicable sense of affinity for these cements.
With a flick of his wrist, a large, dark shield materialized in his left hand.
"Wow!" Xu Youran was startled and threw the large shield away.
With a loud crash, the large shield slammed into the concrete ground.
This is real! It's not my imagination!
Xu Youran is going crazy. What's going on?
He thought he was hallucinating from rabies and that it was causing him long-term effects.
Little did he know that this would be his reward for contracting rabies!
He raised his right hand, and with a series of soft "whoosh" sounds, three sharp, pointed spikes sprang up from the ground, pointing towards the sky.
He walked over and gently touched the sharp spikes.
Hard and cold, like three sharp blades, they almost cut his fingers.
This is not an illusion, it's real!
What does "magic awakening skill" mean? Am I a mage? Am I a turret?
He withdrew his consciousness from his sea of consciousness and scanned the second column.
The second page opens, and the first thing you see is a line of small text:
Viruses are also a type of organism. When a large-scale attack by viral organisms that are impossible to prevent, avoid, or escape, special samples within the human population will have a unique opportunity to activate this system.
Would you be willing to be infected with all viruses and embark on your evolutionary journey?
Are you willing to bear all the pain and misfortune, trek through bloodshed, and sacrifice everything to save humanity?
There are two options below: 'Yes' and 'No'.
This might be a difficult choice for anyone, but for Xu Youran, who has been suffering from an illness for over twenty years and is in unbearable pain, it is a different story.
Is there even a need to choose?
With a decisive tap of his divine sense, he focused on the word "yes," and all the previous light-colored characters disappeared, replaced by new subtitles.
Viral infection is both death and evolution. The trajectory of biological evolution is one of constantly challenging limits and perfecting oneself.
Are you willing to lead humanity through constant despair, evolving towards a more perfect state, and ultimately defeating the virus to ensure the survival of our race?
Below are still two options: 'Yes' and 'No'.
Xu Youran was a little overwhelmed. "I'm just an ordinary handsome guy. Is it appropriate for me to be given such a big hat?"
He was forced to drop out of college when I was only a sophomore, and I was studying humanities.
He just a bad student, shouldn't the responsibility lie with the top students or leaders?
The streets are full of mutated beasts now. If I go out, my small body will be torn to pieces in a second. I just want to live well and find my dad!
His mother left him and his father at a young age, and he was able to grow up safely thanks to his father's meticulous care.
For more than two decades, he has spent almost all of his time in illness.
He finally lived to be twenty and went to university, but one morning my father went out and never came back.
After his father mysteriously disappeared, he went to the police station to report it, but they couldn't find any record of him. He contacted many departments, but they all had no leads.
He often asked himself, "Could it be that I've just imagined a father? That's obviously impossible!"
He dragged his frail body along by doing odd jobs and selling some of his family's possessions, barely managing to make it to his second year of university.
What kept him going was finding his father, with whom he could depend on each other.
Therefore, upon sensing the touch, he decisively chose 'yes' once again.
The subtitles disappeared, and then another row of subtitles appeared:
The number of viruses you can infect determines the number of awakening techniques you can master!
The more life-or-death crises you can withstand, the stronger you become!
Bravely contract the virus and ascend to the supreme throne of the virus!
(Although you won't die, the pain won't lessen.)
Character Attributes: Black Iron Warrior.
Available resource: Rabies virus.
What does this mean? My current level is Iron? What level is that?
Bravely contract the virus? Does this mean I'm being forced to recklessly court death?
What does "allocable resources" mean? Can I allocate rabies virus?
The key question is, if it's allocated to someone else, who would want the rabies virus?
I checked my physical condition and it seems that I am much stronger than before. At least the weakness that had accompanied me for many years has disappeared.
He immediately lay down and did a few push-ups.
He let out a soft sigh of relief and sprang to his feet.
For someone who has been sick for over twenty years, doing a push-up is a miracle.
I can now do five push-ups in one go, and it's so easy! It's amazing.
He quickly scanned the third section with his divine sense and touched it to open it.
Basic skills:
1. Escape (cannot be upgraded).
What the heck? What kind of skill is this?
This is actually the only basic skill I've mastered. Would people laugh at me if I told them?
What does it mean that I can't upgrade yet? Does it mean that if I can't defeat the enemy, I can't even run away?
Xu Youran quickly withdrew his divine sense. "Damn, this skill is too embarrassing! Whoever discovers this skill of mine, I'll kill them!"
With a thought, the massive black shield vanished instantly. With another thought, the ground spikes also disappeared instantly.
This large shield is clearly defensive in nature, and the ground spikes appear and disappear unpredictably, making it an absolute top-tier skill for home use, travel, murder, and robbery.
After familiarizing myself with these two awakening skills a few more times, I found that I could control them at will. Feeling quite pleased with myself, I cleaned myself up and walked out of the basement.
Sitting by the window, Xu Youran still finds it hard to believe when he recalls these events.
The reward for surviving a desperate situation is too generous! He extended his faint divine sense to scan his sea of consciousness.
The light screen is still there; it's not a dream!
He then recalled that line of small print: "A special sample within the human race?"
My disease is the only one in the world, so from that perspective, I am indeed a special case.
What does "human race" mean? Are they experiments conducted by alien technological giants?
Or did some tech giant see how pitifully ill I was and pre-install a beta version on me?
Forget it, I can't figure it out, I'm not going to think about it anymore.
The fact that I can survive a viral infection is already the greatest blessing in the world.
However, this is like a fairy tale, so it's best not to tell anyone, in case someone dissects and studies it.
Especially that escape skill, it's so embarrassing!
As the sun slowly rises, a ray of sunlight shines into the room.
As the sunlight streamed in from behind, Dongfang Bai suddenly opened her beautiful eyes, leaped up, and cautiously looked around.
Xu Youran waved to her, indicating that there was no danger.
Dongfang Bai let out a soft sigh of relief, and rubbed his cheeks with his beautiful, slender hands.
Looking around, he whispered, "Get up, get up. It's dawn. While it's light, fewer mutated beasts will be out and about. Let's hurry and gather supplies."
Everyone woke up and formed teams to leave.
Everyone was carrying kitchen knives, sticks, brooms, and other weapons; even the chubby cleaning lady was carrying a mop. These were for defending against the small mutated beasts.
Dongfang Bai noticed that Xu Youran was very tired, so he walked to the window and whispered, "Do you want to rest for a bit, or come with me?"
Xu Youran said irritably, "I'll go with you then. Staying here to sleep is just feeding the rats."
After saying that, he jumped up with a "whoosh".
It's time to test my powerful awakening skill!
Tremble, humans!
Ha ha!
The lines were wrong, let's start over...
Tremble, you mutated beasts!
Ha ha!
- Writer
