Chapter 295

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

She looked up and met a pair of eyes as clear as water; Shen Yao's pupils suddenly widened, and she hurriedly thanked him.

Although the man was quite handsome, she was currently in his arms; well, it was best not to get too close with strangers.

Seeing this, the man released the arm around Shen Yao and shook his head with a smile.

"Don't go to the front for now; there are some problems there," he said without specifying what the problems were, but Shen Yao, seeing his attire and demeanor, nodded in tacit understanding and didn't ask.

This person was a police officer!

Wearing a police uniform that fit his figure perfectly, he carried an aura of righteousness that made anyone who saw him feel extremely reassured.

"Host, do you want to ask me?" The system was more convenient than Shen Yao for checking what had happened up front.

"No need, I'll check the news online." Rimu City wasn't a city where major events happened often; a crowd had gathered up front, so there would definitely be traces online.

Turning around, Shen Yao found a cafe that hadn't closed its door, ordered a coffee, sat in a corner, and took out her phone to tap away.

Soon, relevant news appeared online, saying a stampede had occurred.

A stampede?

There were many people on the pedestrian street, but not enough to cause a stampede. Shen Yao switched between several websites and finally pulled up several photos. The photos were blurry, but after enlarging them, she confirmed that the dark traces inside were ferocious and terrifying cracks.

In other words, cracks had appeared on the pedestrian street, and the cracks caused the stampede; that made sense.

"System, is this a sign of an impending natural disaster?" A natural disaster two and a half years from now wouldn't suddenly descend; there must be various omens to warn them.

"Host, the system isn't sure, but it probably is," the system said, returning from watching the excitement with lingering fear, "Oh, it's terrible up front; quite a few people fell in."

She was talking about the crack that had suddenly appeared. The crack was bottomless; looking down from above, even the timid would have their bellies trembling.

The inside information the system knew was certainly much more than what Shen Yao knew from just a few photos and text descriptions, but this part was paid content. Shen Yao didn't want to spend money and wanted to freeload, so the system couldn't say.

After this incident, Shen Yao lost interest in continuing to shop. She got up and left the coffee shop, then simply went back to the hotel to rest.

Of course, Shen Yao tentatively asked the system about safety issues. She had already bought a house in Rimu City intending to settle down; if cracks suddenly appeared, her house wouldn't be safe.

Although the distance from the pedestrian street to where she lived wasn't close, they were in the same city, or rather at the same altitude; if bad luck struck, they would suffer together.

The system offered no guarantee on this, but regarding the crack, it reassured Shen Yao: the crack hadn't appeared for no reason. Only the pedestrian street in Rimu City was special; cracks were not within the scope of Rimu City elsewhere, so there was no need to worry.

After listening, Shen Yao had mixed feelings. "The way you put it makes me even less reassured."

What did it mean that the pedestrian street was special? Surely one day, strangely shaped monsters wouldn't suddenly run out from inside the crack, making this world already suffering from natural disasters even more difficult, right?

Having read too many novels, Shen Yao's imagination was beyond what the system could conceive.

Fortunately, the system emphasized that this world was a natural disaster apocalypse and would not have strangely shaped monsters.

But like some creatures that originally existed, "They might form new disasters. Natural disasters are naturally formed," but naturally formed disasters also had attributes; for example, a locust plague also counted as a natural disaster.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao was helpless. She just didn't like a world where all kinds of disasters happened. It was truly that individual strength was too small; how could one resist the erosion of natural disasters?

"What you're saying are things for later. Right now, just tell me: what exactly is the situation with the crack?"

Shen Yao still spent money to buy the information. Spend when you should spend; life was more important.

"The crack is a helpless self-rescue behavior of the planet. You can understand it as a person needing to breathe; when the nose is blocked, they must open their mouth." The suddenly appearing crack represented that the planet was trying to save itself.

Long, long ago, even before humans had any perception, the planet had sensitively detected possible disasters that might occur.

But for humans as tiny as ants, the planet was too large. Every move it made was a destructive disaster for humans.

Shen Yao pondered for a moment. "In other words, cracks like this will appear again in the future. Can you confirm the pattern of their appearance?"

The system didn't guarantee it. "The planet is alive. To the planet, you are more like parasites."

The planet did whatever it wanted; how would parasites know?

Perhaps feeling her wording wasn't pleasant, the system added some words afterward, but it wasn't of much use to Shen Yao. Shen Yao didn't like pleasant words; she only wanted to confirm whether the Rimu City she chose was a safe place to live.

System:...

"Very safe." It could be said to be one of the safest areas in the country in the future.

The land area of this planet was very small. After the natural disasters passed, much land would be submerged by the ocean again.

Fortunately, the geographical location of Hua Guo was better than other countries compared to them. Even if land was submerged, Hua Guo could retain most of its land for living.

The Rimu City Shen Yao chose had a very high altitude, and the surroundings were not on an earthquake belt. It could be said that she neither feared flooding nor earthquakes, making it a rare good place.

The system secretly admired that the host knew how to choose. She hadn't asked it but chose on her own. Truly worthy of being the host it had recognized.

Shen Yao, who chose based on novel experience:...

No matter how different their thought processes were as one person and one system, their purpose was consistent. Since Rimu City was still very safe and the cracks wouldn't threaten their lives, they might as well throw this matter to the back of their minds.

Troublesome matters should be left to capable people to think about. She was just an ordinary person; living her own small days well was the most important.

As expected, the pedestrian street incident caused nothing, not even making it to the hot search, and just quietly subsided like that.

In the following days, Shen Yao enjoyed herself.

Going out to play, buying things, occasionally running to the renovation team to check on the house's progress, and appropriately putting forward some of her own suggestions. Until one time she went late; when Shen Yao went upstairs, she met an acquaintance.

It was the young man who had helped her up last time on the pedestrian street, wearing a police uniform, with a well-built figure.

Neither of them expected to meet again, and they were both a bit dazed when facing each other.

After chatting briefly for a couple of sentences, Shen Yao learned that the other person lived in the room opposite the one she bought. This old community was designed with four households per floor. They guarded the two sides respectively, while the two households in the middle belonged to one family.

"My surname is Wei, Wei Mingyu. We'll be neighbors from now on. If you have any matters, you can come to me."

Wei Mingyu didn't expect fate to be so mysterious. When they were eating at the hotel earlier, Wei Mingyu had a deep impression of Shen Yao. Later, they had an intersection at the pedestrian street, and now it was the third time.

Again and again, Wei Mingyu's eyes flickered slightly as he carefully sized up the young woman before him.

As for what she said, it was nothing more than normal neighborly exchange; being able to buy a house and live here showed she had some ideas of her own.

Subconsciously probing the reason she chose this place, upon learning of Shen Yao's somewhat tragic background, Wei Mingyu unconsciously felt a pang of pity.

One could only say that whether male or female, having a pretty face meant getting advantages, even if the advantage was small.

Wei Mingyu was on vacation today, but he did not stay home long; he just took some things intending to return to the police bureau to work overtime.

Walking to the doorway with Shen Yao, they parted, each going to do their own business.

Because Wei Mingyu, a homeowner of the neighborhood, helped her, Shen Yao learned some information about the entire neighborhood, including that the renovation team remodeling her house said Shen Yao was very safe to buy here, "Miss Shen, the people living around are all young people from the police bureau."

Who made this neighborhood close to the police bureau? Rimu City was not one of the few large inland cities, and most people working and living here were locals.

Wei Mingyu was a local, born and raised, went to university elsewhere, and after graduation chose to return to his hometown.

Perhaps in some people's eyes, Wei Mingyu's approach lacked ambition, but being able to often stay by his family's side, living plainly was also a happy thing.

As the room renovation got better and better, Shen Yao's visits began to increase, and she occasionally ran into Wei Mingyu going to and from work; most of the time they were just nodding acquaintances, and their chats could be counted on one's fingers.

However, Shen Yao had a good impression of Wei Mingyu; his family background and work ability were both excellent, and even just being friends made one feel pleasant in body and mind.

"Just friends?"

The system was surprised; this did not fit the host's style—the host took whatever she fancied, so how could she just be friends?

Shen Yao:...

Listen to this, as if she were a female bandit who would snatch anything good back for her own use; she was also reasonable.

"Rimu City is so big, and I am young; I am not rushing to buy and sell, there is no hurry."

Shen Yao rested her chin on her hand; at this moment she was sitting in a milk tea shop drinking milk tea.

As time passed faster and faster, Jiang University was soon to welcome the new semester.

As expected, Shen Yao still had to return to university; she could only wait until her studies ended or a natural disaster struck before she had a legitimate reason to return to Rimu City to live.

During this period, Shen Yao and Wei Mingyu's relationship could be said to have made no progress; it was just that their neighbor status allowed them to add each other as friends and exchange contact information, but the chat page remained as it was when first added, completely empty, cleaner than a face.

"Host, you still need to find a backing; a natural disaster is not something one person can resist, one more person means one more share of strength to survive."

"Wait and see, isn't there still time?" Shen Yao lowered her head to fiddle with the milk tea in her hand, the full taro paste fragrant and sweet, her favorite flavor.

Asking the clerk to pack a few portions to take away, Shen Yao did not waste her daily leisure time; whenever she had time she bought this and that, not many in quantity or variety, but little by little she still accumulated quite a lot.

Perhaps for a long time in the future she would not be affected in eating and drinking; no wonder protagonists in such novels all liked to go it alone—just the matter of eating and drinking she understood.

"Before the future situation has completely stabilized, I will not consider missions," Shen Yao took a sip of milk tea and silently said to the system.

In this world, having children was a very stupid thing; even though Shen Yao had a cheat, raising an infant increased the difficulty exponentially.

Shen Yao did not intend to increase the difficulty of her own life; she told the system in advance so that this system, which could not distinguish priorities, would not keep urging her nonstop.

The system said that as long as the mission was completed, it would not worry about extra matters; also, because it had lost contact at the beginning, it lacked confidence, and the system did not guarantee it would not lose contact again in the future.

So as for missions, everything depended on the host planning for herself; it had no problem.

Shen Yao:...

Rarely seeing the system be so reasonable, Shen Yao smiled with satisfaction, picked up the packed milk tea, and went out.

Not far outside the door was parked the car Shen Yao rented; placing the items on the car seat, Shen Yao drove to the not-far mall for small-scale shopping.

School was starting, so she definitely needed to buy some things for school; also, the newly bought house had finished renovation, the interior was empty and lacked everything, so Shen Yao had plenty of reasons to buy some daily necessities.

The only thing she felt was a pity was that she needed to go to Jiang City for school, the house could not be moved into in time, and she could only spend money to hire a cleaning company to manage it.

Of course, Shen Yao also planned to ask her neighbor Wei Mingyu, who lived on the same floor, for help; who knew their relationship might advance further because of this.

Ding-dong—

The phone rang, and a pushed text message popped up: breaking news about a sleep-aid volcano erupting abroad.

Things like this had been happening frequently lately; many people online were saying the end of days was coming, little knowing their imaginations were just right—this time, no human on the entire planet could escape.

Shen Yao did not open the news; she parked the car in the underground garage and took the elevator up to the first floor herself.

The supermarket inside the mall occupied the entire first floor, and above that were areas selling other items.

Shen Yao planned to make use of the time to browse the entire mall.

Anyway, she still had a lot of money in her card, and prices in Rimu City were not expensive; after her monthly manuscript fees came in, she still had a surplus in her expenses.

"Hey, heard about it? Another nuclear leak next door; imported seafood can't be eaten."

"There are especially many sick people next door, all terminal illnesses; truly karmic retribution."

"..."

The supermarket was crowded; Shen Yao pushed her shopping cart and could still hear intense discussion voices all around front and back left and right.

The topic was naturally their old neighbor; anyway, whatever misfortune came, it came; Shen Yao watched with glee, wishing such news could be sent more.

It was originally a tiny place; a tsunami or earthquake could take their lives; once a natural disaster struck, they would probably be the first country to be wiped out.

Casually picking up the potato chips and candy she loved to eat, then taking a few boxes of good-tasting chocolate, Shen Yao soon filled her shopping cart.

Pushing it to the front checkout counter to pay, she sent these things down to the parking garage downstairs; Shen Yao continued returning to the second and third floors to shop and spend.

Perhaps because she was in a good mood, or perhaps because a woman's shopping desire had risen, Shen Yao swiped her card frequently this time; buying whatever she saw that was good regardless of whether it was useful, just buying buying buying, until she filled the entire car trunk, then drove away reluctantly.

She sent some practical tools to the renovated residence, carried some to the hotel, and also smuggled some into space storage along the way.

Shen Yao was busy and bustling until early March, when she took a plane to leave Rimu and return to Jiang City a thousand li away.