Her words didn’t just hang in the humid air; they acted as a key, turning a lock in a door .
Another mory surfaced.
Leon was ten years younger, standing on a sun-drenched balcony in the upper city.
The sll of coffee drifted up as he tilted his head toward the sky, watching the solar eclipse like everyone else.
The moon crept slow and inevitable across the sun’s face, and the city hushed around him.
Millions of people looked up at the sa mont, sharing the sa silence. There was sothing almost holy about it.
Then the darkness ca.
Expected. Natural. The corona flared at the edges like a crown of white fire, and soone a few balconies over started clapping. Leon smiled into his coffee cup.
Then the first drop hit his forearm.
He looked down. Clear. Odorless. He assud it was rain. A second drop struck his cheek, then a third hit the rim of his cup.
Then the sky opened.
Not like a storm opens. Not gradually, not with the courtesy of distant thunder. The sky split, and what poured from it was not water.
It took Leon three full seconds to understand what he was seeing. His brain refused to accept it.
Refused the shapes. Refused the movent — the way they writhed as they fell, adjusting mid-air, limbs elongating.
So were the size of dogs. So were the size of a house. They ca down in a flood, a biblical torrent of flesh.
They hit the streets below like a wave hitting shore.
The screaming started everywhere at once.
Leon stumbled back from the balcony railing, his coffee cup shattering on the tile, and froze for a second — watching the city below convulse.
Cars crushed. Glass exploded outward from storefronts.
A bus lifted and folded in half like paper. People ran, and the things behind them moved, devouring everything.
"Get inside!" soone scread from above. "Get inside get inside get in—"
The voice cut off.
Leon didn’t look up.
He spun and crashed through the balcony door into the apartnt.
The first thing he saw was his mother standing at the kitchen counter, still holding a dish towel, staring at the window with an expression he had never seen on her face before and never wanted to see again.
His father had his arm around his sisters, pressing them toward the hallway.
Jas was on the couch, frozen mid-reach for the television remote.
"We have to go," Leon said. His voice ca out wrong. "We have to go now."
They imdiately ran out of their unit and heard loud noises from the other apartnts as the monsters began attacking. In one corner, a creature that looked like a lting dog with an oversized mouth knocked down a door.
"Leon, take them with you!" his father roared, trying to buy so ti. But it was useless — the monster struck him down in an instant.
The scene that followed was hard to describe. All of his family had died except Jas.
They barely managed to escape, reaching the subway station, which for so reason the aliens avoided.
"Leon are you alright?" Sera’s voice woke up from my thoughts.
"Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry. I’ll try to do better tomorrow," I answered.
Now that I rembered more from the original, I realized that in this world, scavengers like were vitals. We were practically the ones keeping sanctuaries like this alive.
It made sense that those who contributed more earned more recognition, while people like Leon were at the bottom.
This was also why we hid our relationship — her family would never have allowed her to date soone with no future.
We reached our quarters — though calling it "quarters" was too generous.
We reached our quarters — though calling it "quarters" was generous. It was barely a space for one person, and I had to share it with other stinky people.
For so reason, the sll was so omnipresent that I eventually just got used to it.
Jas started eating the food we had. I, however, didn’t waste any ti and went to sleep — or at least pretended to.
What I was really doing was cultivating, and just as expected, I managed to temper my dantian here as well.
The mory also reveal that in this world, humans could grow stronger through mutation and even begin to control Qi.
But it happened unintentionally, so there was no way to speed up the process.
The only options were to wait for it to develop naturally, rely on innate talent, or face life-and-death situations that forced growth.
Next was magic. I tried, but to my surprise, I wasn’t able to form a magic circle. It wasn’t that this body was incapable — sothing was actively blocking .
It sucked, but at least I still had Qi to rely on.
For the ti being, I decided to focus on enhancing my body first. If this world worked the sa way as last ti, I would need to defeat an enemy and save the planet.
That enemy would probably be the alien leader
Weeks passed, and I stuck to the sa grueling routine without fail. Every day was a cycle of training, cultivation, and testing my limits
Slowly but steadily, my body caught up with the effort.
By now, I had reached the strength of a C Rank — a level that, while not extraordinary, was a massive improvent over where I had started.
However, what I was still missing was a weapon — and what better choice than my iconic spear?
There were plenty of stores here that sold makeshift weapons, but they lacked the quality and precision I needed to fully maximize my techniques.
A cheap weapon like that would barely withstand a single strike from .
"Hey Sara, do you know anyone who sells an authentic spear around here?"
"An authentic spear? You an the ones that were displayed in museums before the invaders?"
"Yeah, sothing like that." I leaned on the counter and gave her a wink.
"Leon," she dragged her words. "You do realize that all those weapons were either destroyed or are in the possession of the strongest scavengers. They cost a fortune."
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