The End of the World Chapter 5 Part1

The lonesome sky was tranquil, the pitch-black curtain of the night caused the entire Earth to be shrouded in silence. Due to the power failure, the bustling and flourishing city of the past seemed to be completely devoid of life, becoming like a ghost town. There was only the occasional feeble light of the candles, coming from several windows of the buildings, seeming as though it could be immediately extinguished. 

In such a quiet environment, a dark silver Land Rover took advantage of the situation to speed along the highway, rapidly advancing towards the South. There was no disparity between the exterior of this car and an ordinary vehicle, however there was an abnormal protruding point on the roof. Looking from the inside, one could easily discover the protruding metal case that tightly covers the entire ceiling. 

Not only that. 

In the interior of the car, every corner flickered with a faint silvery light. Every once in a while, the moonlight would shine in from the outside, causing it to become exceptionally dazzling. In order to conserve the car’s solar energy, the air-conditioning was not turned on. The refreshing and clear night wind blew in from the window, brushing back Jing Xia’s hair. 

Sitting in the specially modified car, Jing Xia gave a comfortable groan while facing the wind, causing the man in the driver's seat to give him a sweeping glance. 

On the back seats of the car is a white-haired old man and a beautiful young woman, both of whom have fallen asleep by the windows. At this moment, only Ji Chuancheng who was driving, and Jing Xia who was sitting in the pa.s.senger seat, have yet to fall asleep. 

"You can have a rest first." A deep magnetic male voice suddenly sounded. The voice was controlled, seeming to be worried about disturbing the rest of the people in the back. 

Hearing this, Jing Xia stared blankly, then he turned his head and smiled to say: "If I go and rest, you will be left by yourself. If you become tired and your hands are no longer stable, what will happen?" 

"I won’t become tired."

The teasing smile on his face suddenly stiffened. Seeing the opposite party’s handsome side profile, Jing Xia curled his lips. His line of sight swept over the bodies of Qin Chu and Steward w.a.n.g in the backseat, and after confirming that both of them are asleep, he turned his head close to Ji Chuancheng’s ears, lowered his voice and asked: “How come you didn’t let me tell that matter to Sister Qin today? Or perhaps you...wanted me to keep it confidential."

As soon as the car drove outside the city center, the field of vision immediately widened. The wide road was devoid of pedestrians, the moonlight penetrated through the thin clouds to illuminate the vast landscape, lighting the way forward. 

The warm exhalation sprayed across the edge of Ji Chuancheng’s ear, yet he still seemed as calm as before, quietly looking towards the front. Just when Jing Xia thought that the other party would not answer his question, he suddenly heard a sigh being released: "Qin Chu already knows everything that she should know. The matters that can be told at the moment, I have already reported to the government through special means. But other affairs... not even the government can resolve." 

Jing Xia was stunned. 

"Based on what you said, the future will develop to such a degree. Due to the irregularity of evolution, no one can guarantee that the state will acquire talented individuals. Moreover, since you said that once evolution was pretty much completed, the country’s regulations had completely collapsed and the army never appeared..." 

Jing Xia immediately interjected: "Yes. When the first wave of the beast tide arrived, almost one-third of the population perished. It was in that battle that many evolution deserters were killed, yet at that time, no one from the government came, let alone a trained army. Following this...they have never appeared." 

The fingers holding the steering wheel gradually tightened, Ji Chuancheng’s dark pupils became even more profound. Inside the small carriage s.p.a.ce, only the faint sound of breathing was audible, breaking the silence that had almost solidified the air. 

After a long while, Ji Chuancheng pursed his lips and said: "If my conjecture isn’t wrong, the army must have been wiped out before the beast tide began, else...more than half were killed or injured." 

As soon as he heard this, Jing Xia’s eyes widened and he exclaimed: "Why?! Evolution is completely non-selective, this is the judgement that you made later on. It is impossible to specially target the military, so..." Saying this, even Jing Xia himself became confused: "No, your meaning is that...this was not caused by the outside environment?"

Not knowing when, a towering tree had completely collapsed on the ground, taking up almost four-fifths of the road surface. Ji Chuancheng furrowed his brows, sc.r.a.ping the car past through the side. His gaze landed on the hollow part of the tree roots: "This tree has at least lived for a century. According to the extent of the decay in its center, its collapse should be caused by evolution failure. So why are there no abnormalities in the other trees on either side of the road?" 

Hearing this, Jing Xia turned his head to look outside the window. Under the bright moonlight, he saw the tall, sycamore trees lining both sides of the suburban street. The majority of the leaves were in a weird crimson color. It was clearly in midsummer, yet there were layers upon layers of white spots on the trunks, which looked exceptionally strange. 

Jing Xia immediately understood: "These trees have already evolved!" Saying this, he suddenly recalled: "The thickest and most solid sycamore tree has failed to evolve, yet these seemingly ordinary sycamore trees seemed to have evolved without any problem. It turns out that... Lin Shen’s conjecture may be right.”