13: Wasteland Rebirth
Darkness. Endless, cold darkness.
Lin Mo's consciousness floated within it, like cosmic dust, without direction or sense of time. Only some fragmented images and sounds ghosted by: a dark red sky, a sharp scratching sound, the scorching touch of a jade slip, and that chilling phrase, “They've awakened”… After an unknown period, a faint sensation of light and intense physical pain forcibly dragged him back from his deep coma.
He groaned, slowly opening his eyes. His vision was blurry; before him was the pallid glow of emergency lights and the rough texture of a concrete ceiling. A severe headache felt like steel needles stirring in his skull, and his limbs ached with a crushed, powerless sensation. Especially mentally, an extreme emptiness and exhaustion threatened to pull him back into the darkness.
He forced his eyeballs to move, surveying his surroundings. He was still in the underground ancient texts library, sprawled on the cold floor, with scattered tools and the black jade slip, now cool to the touch, lying quietly beside him. The sweet, sulfuric smell in the air had significantly faded but not entirely vanished; in its place was a suffocating silence.
Outside the door… there was no sound. That suffocating scratching and malicious lurking had indeed disappeared.
He… had survived.
The relief of surviving a disaster didn't last long before the harsh reality pressed in. He tried to move a finger but felt a tearing pain from deep within his mind—a lingering effect of severe mental exhaustion. He felt like an empty sack, even the simplest thought became incredibly difficult.
Where was the editor interface?
He concentrated his remaining sliver of will, attempting to connect. In his vision, the pale blue interface difficultly emerged, but its light was extremely dim, as if it could extinguish at any moment. The edges of the interface even showed flickering noise, similar to data corruption. The energy reserve bar displayed a glaring red number: 0.01 units. And the status bar had a new prompt: [Host's mental energy is severely depleted, editor functionality is 95% restricted. Recommend deep sleep for recovery.]
95% restricted functionality… This meant his greatest reliance was almost paralyzed. In this perilous environment, this was tantamount to a death sentence.
Despair resurfaced. But he quickly suppressed it. To have survived was already a miracle. This was not the time for self-pity.
He laboriously turned over, crawling to the workbench. Using a chair for support, he slowly struggled to sit up. This simple action almost drained all his strength, making his vision blacken and him gasp for breath.
He needed water, he needed food. The ancient texts library had a constant humidity system, but no stored food or drinking water. The small water bottle he had brought was already empty.
Thirst and hunger burned his throat and stomach like flames. The instinct for survival forced him to act.
He first looked at the terminal connected to the shielded external network. The screen was on, but it scrolled with numerous error codes and connection interrupted prompts. He tried clicking several internal monitoring windows; most screens were pitch black, only a few still showed images—the library's first-floor lobby was crowded with panicked survivors, their faces filled with fear and confusion; another screen showed bloodstains and fallen figures in the stairwell, indicating a grim situation. The external network was completely down, unable to get any news about the city's status.
This city had truly become a wasteland, an information island.
He had to go out, at least to the above-ground floors of the library, to search for survival supplies.
After resting for about half an hour, feeling a faint recovery of strength, Lin Mo leaned on a bookshelf and shakily stood up. He picked up the jade slip from the ground, clutching it tightly in his hand; this seemed to give him a faint sense of security. Then, he cautiously began to dismantle the makeshift obstacles blocking the door.
Every heavy object he moved made him dizzy, his head spinning, and cold sweat streamed down. But he gritted his teeth and persevered. When the last obstacle was removed and his hand rested on the cold metal doorknob, his heart again pounded uncontrollably.
What would be outside the door? Was that dispelled monster still nearby? Or something even more terrifying?
He took a deep breath, pressing his ear against the door, listening carefully.
A deadly silence. Only his own heavy breathing and heartbeat.
He mustered his courage and forcefully twisted the doorknob.
A soft “click” echoed clearly in the silence. The door opened a crack.
A stronger, peculiar smell, mixed with dust, blood, and an indescribable… scent of decay, wafted in, more intense than in the storeroom. Most of the emergency lights in the corridor were out; only a distant one flickered on and off, casting wavering, ghostly shadows.
Lin Mo held his breath, squeezed through the door crack, leaned his back against the cold wall, and vigilantly scanned the corridor. The corridor was empty, with some plaster fragments and light cover pieces, shaken down from the ceiling, scattered on the ground. On the walls, several clear, deep marks, as if from sharp claws, extended towards the stairwell—these were left by the "Low-Tier Cleanup Unit" from last night.
It had indeed left.
He slightly relaxed, but dared not be careless. Leaning on the wall, he laboriously walked step by step along the corridor towards the stairwell. Each step was exceptionally cautious, fearing to make any sound that might attract unknown dangers.
Arriving at the stairwell, the stairs leading up were even darker, and the smell of blood in the air grew thicker. He vaguely saw a figure slumped at the stair landing, unmoving.
His heart was in his throat, and he tightened his grip on the only thing he could use as a weapon—a heavy metal bookend he had brought from the storeroom.
He cautiously approached. It was a man in a security guard uniform, lying face up in a pool of blood, with a shocking, huge wound on his chest, as if pierced by some sharp weapon. The edges of the wound showed an unnatural charred blackness, distinctly different from ordinary trauma. The man's face was frozen in extreme terror and pain.
Lin Mo's stomach churned, and he barely managed not to vomit. This was his first time seeing a violently deceased body up close, and one that died from such supernatural forces. The brutal reality was laid bare before him.
He dared not linger, bypassed the body, and continued upwards. The fire door leading to the first floor was ajar, and the door panel also had obvious signs of impact and scratching.
He gently pushed open the door, and the sight before him made him gasp.
The first-floor lobby of the library, once a place filled with the scent of books and tranquility, now resembled a hellish Shelter. Most of the windows were shattered, crudely blocked with tables, chairs, and rags. Dim light filtered in through the gaps, illuminating the densely packed crowd. People were disheveled, their faces etched with terror, exhaustion, and despair. The air was mixed with the smell of sweat, blood, and cries. Some were injured, lying in corners, groaning in pain; some stared blankly, as if their souls had been drawn out; and a few who looked like staff members were trying their best to maintain order, distributing extremely limited bottled water and food, but it was clearly a drop in the ocean.
Seeing Lin Mo emerge from the basement entrance, the eyes of several nearby people immediately turned to him, carrying wariness, curiosity, and a hint of… indescribable complex emotions. He was relatively clean, and though his face was pale, he didn't look as ravaged as they did.
“How… how is it downstairs?” a middle-aged man with broken glasses, who looked like a library staff member, asked hoarsely.
Lin Mo shook his head, his voice dry: “Downstairs… it’s just me. The door is very thick, temporarily safe.” He didn't reveal more information.
A flicker of disappointment crossed the staff member's eyes, but he still nodded: “It’s good to be alive… good to be alive…”
Lin Mo's gaze swept across the lobby, trying to find familiar faces. He saw Professor Wang, the old man leaning against a bookshelf, his face ashen, but his eyes still held a certain calmness as he softly comforted a crying young girl beside him. He also saw several regular readers, now all like startled birds.
“What… what exactly happened outside?” Lin Mo asked the staff member.
The staff member's face showed deeper fear: “I don’t know… the sky suddenly changed… and then… then many monsters… crawled out from shadows, from cracks… killing everyone they saw… the police… the army… seem to be unreachable… We’re hiding here, but we don’t know how long we can last…” His voice was on the verge of tears.
Monsters… cracks… communication blackout… official disarray… Lin Mo's heart sank. The situation was worse than he imagined. This was no longer a simple disaster, but a precursor to the collapse of civilized order.
He had to get supplies quickly, then return to the relatively safe underground library. There were too many people here, too large a target; once discovered by monsters, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Using his familiarity with the library's layout, he quietly bypassed the staff lounge and the back storage room. This area had obviously been searched many times, it was a mess. But in an inconspicuous corner of a storage cabinet, he still found half a box of recently expired compressed biscuits and a few bottles of mineral water that had miraculously not been taken.
It was like finding a treasure! He clutched these supplies tightly, as if holding onto a lifeline.
Just as he was about to quietly return to the basement, a sudden violent commotion and terrified screams erupted at the lobby entrance!
“They’re here! They’re back!”
“Block the door! Quickly block the door!”
“Help!”
Lin Mo froze, his head snapping around. He saw the main entrance, blocked by tables and chairs, being violently impacted by immense force, the wooden tables and chairs groaning and breaking under the strain! Through the gaps, he could see distorted, chilling shadows swaying outside!
Not just one! More “Cleanup Units” or other monsters had been attracted by the scent of living people here!
The crowd instantly erupted, cries and screams filled the air, and an atmosphere of despair spread like a plague.
Lin Mo's heart almost leaped out of his chest. He instinctively wanted to rush back to the basement and close the door tightly. But looking at the desperate faces in the lobby, seeing Professor Wang's aging figure trying to organize young people to hold the door, his feet felt like lead, unable to move.
Hiding back in the basement might be temporarily safe. But then what? Watch these people be slaughtered? And once the monsters broke through the main door, could the basement entrance truly remain undiscovered forever?
He looked down at the jade slip in his hand. The editor interface was still dim, energy reserve 0.01 units, mental energy depleted.
What else could he do?
Was he to fall into the abyss again, just after gaining new life?