Chapter 49: The Prelude to Doomsday Has Arrived!

In the blink of an eye, it was time for class to end.

Fine raindrops drifted from the sky.

Su City is a southern city that, even on the coldest days, only saw very light snow.

Snowfall in the urban area was even rarer.

Right now, Su Ze held an umbrella as he waited at the school gate.

Looking up at the falling raindrops, he wondered whether such rain would fall again on the second day after doomsday, when the temperature had plummeted…

“Su Ze.”

Chen Keqing’s voice pulled Su Ze back from his thoughts.

Pursing her lips, she emerged from the crowd of students and secluded herself under Su Ze’s umbrella…

『Aiya, should I link my arm with his…』

『I’m a bit embarrassed, and I don’t know how that woman yesterday managed to link her arm with him so naturally…』

Matching her inner monologue, Chen Keqing’s pretty face flushed with shyness.

She clearly had already placed herself in the role of his girlfriend…

However, she looked a little clueless.

If she had been a more experienced girl, she would have probably grabbed Su Ze’s arm and forced him to admit to the relationship.

But Chen Keqing hadn’t even thought in that direction…

She simply assumed that Su Ze liked her as much as she liked him.

That should be enough…

If Chen Keqing now actually asked, “What are we to each other?” Su Ze would be in a difficult spot, since he believed in “never take the initiative, never refuse.”

Just like now.

Although he heard Chen Keqing’s voice wavering with shyness, he still didn’t take the initiative. He merely held the umbrella, maintained some distance, and made small talk about other topics.

Before long, they got into the car, and Chen Keqing buckled her seatbelt in the front passenger seat…

『Wow, it feels just like when my parents used to pick me up from school…』

『Is this what dating feels like? Hehe, I love it so much…』

『Eh, I smell perfume, as if another girl sat here before me…』

Being able to detect the lingering scent of a temptress in the air seemed to be women’s innate skill.

Fortunately, Su Ze was prepared.

“Qin Yushi stopped by and sat in your seat for a while,” Su Ze said calmly as he started the car. “She’s the informant I told you about. If there’s any abnormal news, she’ll alert us in advance.”

“Oh…” Chen Keqing blinked her clear eyes, believing him without reservation.

“Is there anything you want to buy?” Su Ze changed the subject.

“Mm… I want to buy some snacks.” After thinking for a moment, Chen Keqing answered honestly.

Unexpectedly, on the eve of doomsday, Chen Keqing suddenly wanted to stock up on large amounts of snacks.

Su Ze could only indulge her and took her to his convenience store.

“Anything in the store, just take it.”

“Really? Then I’m going for it!”

Like she had won the grand prize in a mall promotion, Chen Keqing’s face glowed with happiness as she grabbed a bag to hold her spoils.

Su Ze, meanwhile, talked with the store manager at the counter.

He had planned to close the store the day after tomorrow, but since he happened to be here, he found an excuse to tell the manager not to open tomorrow and take a few days off.

Before long, Chen Keqing returned to the car’s backseat with several large bags of snacks and daily necessities.

Because they had just moved and some items were missing, she also picked up things she thought they might need.

Since it was Su Ze’s own store, she didn’t hold back.

Although they had moved into their new home, the atmosphere was much like the previous night.

Calm and peaceful.

Chen Keqing rested her head on the desk and studied for a while before Su Ze urged her to take a shower and go to sleep.

『Is it finally coming…』

『Is he going to let me get all clean…』

『Huff… huff… don’t be nervous… I’ve thought this through since yesterday: at least refuse three times… um, two times… at least refuse twice, otherwise how will he appreciate me…』

The girl’s inner thoughts were as entertaining as always.

Unfortunately…

According to Su Ze’s plan, she wouldn’t get a single chance to refuse.

Of course, this plan wouldn’t be carried out right now.

『Doomsday Countdown: 23 hours 58 minutes』

『Apocalypse Simulator Cooldown Time Remaining: 5 hours 3 minutes』

The time until doomsday arrival was drawing closer.

Su Ze wasn’t exactly anxious, but he also didn’t have much free time.

He had to use the simulator’s cooldown time to continue constructing Avalon, and when the cooldown ended, he would immediately devote himself fully to the apocalypse simulation…

He needed to make full use of the last ten or so hours.

Only after gathering all the doomsday intelligence he could would he choose a simulation reward.

Then he’d end the simulator’s 1.0 version and await the true arrival of doomsday.

In the blink of an eye, it was almost 5:00 AM.

The simulator’s cooldown time was about to end.

Su Ze took a deep breath and shifted his attention away from Avalon.

He stood up, fetched a cup of hot water in the kitchen, and returned to his desk.

Compared to his previous home, the new one was slightly more luxurious.

This complex was originally high-end, and both the land price and housing price were much higher than before.

Now, the new study offered a different view: through the more expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, even the serene nightscape peeked through.

As he waited for the last moments of cooldown, Su Ze casually swiped his phone.

On the screen, the built-in browser popped up a news headline that caught his attention…

“Hmm?”

Su Ze lightly hummed and then tapped the news to read it.

“On the other side of this planet, anomalies have already appeared…”

The content of the report surprised Su Ze for a few seconds.

Although the description in the news was still vague, it only mentioned that the moon over there looked off, with abnormal color and size.

Perhaps many people reading would think the media was making it up, but Su Ze knew that this had to be the blood moon rising mentioned in the simulation text.

“So doomsday has been brought forward?”

This thought hovered in his mind for only a fraction of a second.

He quickly realized that his premature conclusion was based on humanity’s understanding of time.

Doomsday hadn’t “arrived early”; it had simply taken its proper form as it slowly arrived in this world…

In other words, doomsday didn’t happen all at once like a meteor striking the earth.

It unfolded gradually over a period of time…

Just as humans record a day as twenty-four hours of the planet’s rotation.

If humanity still had a future, people would record that on a certain year, month, and day, it was Day 1 of the doomsday era.

But in reality, doomsday had already been playing out its terrifying overture in the world before that day…

The Apocalypse Simulator was obviously based on this concept, precisely appearing in Su Ze’s vision at midnight a few days ago…

『Simulator cooldown time has ended…』

On the screen, the simulator’s text flickered.

Su Ze drew his gaze away from the phone and a smile appeared on his face.

“Doomsday has arrived, but luckily, I have the simulator.”

『Apocalypse simulation has begun…』

『Please choose one of the following three Talents as your innate Talent for this simulation!』

『…』