Chapter Two: The Greatest Opportunity

Blood sprayed everywhere, leaving everyone stunned and terrified. In an instant, they scattered, each staring at Gu Sha in horror. The two male students who had been about to move tables and open the door shrank back, pale-faced, hiding in a corner.

Chen Nan-nan collapsed to the floor, clutching her neck, trying to speak but only managing guttural sounds as her mouth filled with the relentless flow of blood. Her eyes brimmed with terror.

Gu Sha stabbed her neck again. Chen Nan-nan fell silent forever. Then Gu Sha raised his head, his face splattered with blood, and swept a fierce gaze over the students around him. His voice was icy: “Who else wants to play the saint and open the door?”

The students recoiled in panic; no one dared speak.

Gu Sha snorted coldly, stood up, and wiped the warm blood from his face, feeling no discomfort within. This was the first time he’d killed in this life, but in his previous existence, he’d survived the apocalypse for twenty years. Killing had long become a habit, his heart numb with indifference. To survive in the end times, ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness were essential.

It wouldn’t be long before this world lost all laws and morals. Everyone would be driven by a single goal: survival.

Gu Sha wiped away the remaining blood from his face, then searched for a desk, emptying its contents until he found a dagger. It was from the desk of a notorious troublemaker in their class, who always kept a sharpened blade for show.

In his previous life, it was taken by one of Chen Nan-nan’s sycophants. In this life, Gu Sha naturally claimed it first. Now, weapons were vital.

Just then, a hysterical roar erupted outside the door. Through the small window, they could see the girl who had begged for help was now mutated—a zombie.

“See?” Gu Sha barked in a low voice. “That’s the person you wanted to save. Idiots!”

The students saw it too, noticing a horde of zombies gathered at the entrance. Fear swept over them.

Gu Sha gripped the dagger, looking coldly at the pale-faced students. “From now on, everyone follows my orders. Any objections?”

He’d just killed Chen Nan-nan without hesitation, and now, with the weight of that violence, he faced a group of students—his dominance absolute. Even seasoned veterans would cower before someone capable of killing so easily, let alone a group of students. No one dared protest; they only nodded in silence.

Gu Sha glanced at them, then said nothing more. Instead, he found a spot to sit and conserve his strength, preparing himself.

The classroom was heavy with oppression. Gu Sha felt nothing, but for the students, it was torture.

He sat quietly, mind working over plans. In the apocalypse, supplies were essential—but with memories from his previous life, he knew the downstairs convenience store was well-stocked and not overrun by zombies.

Yet, in this new world, there was something even more precious than supplies: primal essence.

The term would only be defined by authorities in the future; now, no one understood what it was. It represented the greatest opportunity in this era.

In his previous life, after the apocalypse descended, time brought ever stronger zombies, and terrifying mutated beasts emerged from plants and animals. Among humans, a group of superhumans appeared, unlocking their gene locks and becoming powerful.

Gene lock was a later term, a summation of human evolution. Each unlocking brought a complete transformation. Those who unlocked gene locks were called warriors. The human body contained nine gene locks, corresponding to nine stages, classified as first to ninth rank warriors. Beyond the ninth rank lay true transcendence.

The key to unlocking gene locks was source energy.

In later times, a complete system was developed. Drawing inspiration from the talents of mutated beasts, various techniques for channeling source energy were invented—similar to martial arts manuals, designed to absorb source energy from the world and unlock gene locks.

But currently, there was no source energy in the world. The primal essence had just arrived.

This was the greatest opportunity.

Even in later years, no one understood how the apocalypse began or where primal essence came from. They only knew that during the first Crimson Arrival, source pearls descended, scattered randomly across the globe. Though numerous, their distribution made them rare in any one place.

These pearls didn’t last long—some only a day or half a day, the longest ten days before shattering, releasing source energy into the world, where it became thin as oxygen.

In the beginning, these pearls were humanity’s greatest genetic leap.

Yet few knew their significance at first, so many missed their chance.

Gu Sha was among those who missed it.

He remembered clearly: in his previous life, three source pearls landed at this school—one of only three places in Cangcheng where pearls fell. His school was extraordinarily lucky to receive three. Even luckier, he encountered one, but ignored it. Later, learning its value, he regretted it bitterly.

The source energy contained in a pearl was pure; even the smallest held vast power. Many who stumbled upon them became the first warriors, opening their gene locks and gaining a decisive advantage in the struggle for opportunities in the apocalypse.

Gu Sha recalled a fellow student who, by chance, absorbed part of a pearl’s primal essence, unlocked a gene lock, and became a first-generation warrior. With that head start, he rose to fame, and by the time Gu Sha was reborn, he was a renowned ninth-rank warrior.

Now reborn, Gu Sha would not miss this opportunity.

With his prior experience, he possessed a technique for channeling source energy that hadn’t yet been invented in this world. Though only a mid-level method, it far surpassed the effects of simply ingesting source pearls.

He had to act quickly. In a month, the second Crimson Arrival would occur. By then, everyone would know the value of source pearls and fight for them desperately. Without being a top-level powerhouse, there would be no chance. Moreover, while the second wave brought fewer pearls, their energy far exceeded the first.

It would be the era when gaps widened and the world transformed.

Gu Sha continued to organize his memories as night fell. The zombies’ roars outside gradually faded, and by deep night, silence reigned.

He knew the time had come. The zombies, newly mutated, still retained many human habits and would sleep at night.

“Let’s go!” Gu Sha suddenly stood, looking at the students who were still jumpy and fearful. “Follow me, now!”