A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 595 They are us
The moment Duan Rong drew back the curtains, bright sunlight streamed in.

Du Wan and the others gasped in surprise!
In his previous life, Duan Rong worked on the eighth floor of a rather upscale office building in the CBD of S City. At this moment, Du Wan and the others looked out through the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows and saw a bizarre and fantastical scene outside, like a dream!

Vast expanses of glass curtain walls reflected the rising sun, emitting a dazzling blue light…

Various oddly shaped buildings with different architectural styles stood side by side, forming a strange architectural complex that Du Wan and her companions had never seen before.

Du Wan looked across the street at the office building with a full blue glass curtain wall. In Du Wan's eyes, the glass curtain wall shone with a dazzling luster like jewels. He couldn't help but turn to Duan Rong and ask, "Duan Rong, what is that? Is it the Tower of Babel? A Tower of Babel inlaid with jewels?!"

"The Tower of Babel?" Duan Rong's expression froze slightly. It took him a moment to realize that Du Wan was referring to the steel-framed office building across the street.

The glass curtain wall, which seemed utterly ordinary to him, clearly gave Du Wan and the others a great shock!
“No!” Duan Rong said calmly, “That thing is a glass curtain wall.”

“Glass curtain wall?!” Du Wan repeated the unfamiliar term, unable to grasp its exact meaning for a moment. In his mind, the term seemed to be the name of some kind of gemstone.

Seeing that Du Wan still looked puzzled, Duan Rong explained further, "It's just a decorative item."

Upon hearing Duan Rong's words, Du Wan understood immediately; it was indeed a gemstone.

Actually, glass, also called liuli, was indeed a treasure in ancient times when industrial production was underdeveloped. The cost of ancient liuli production was frighteningly high, and some exquisite pieces even had considerable collectible value.

"I didn't want you to see that thing!" Seeing that Du Wan and the others hadn't grasped the point, Duan Rong pointed to the ground and said, "Look there!"

Du Wan and the others then approached the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down. The eighth floor wasn't too high, and the street view was still clearly visible.

The moment Du Wan and the others looked down at the ground, their expressions suddenly turned to astonishment! It was completely different from the intoxicated look they had when they saw the dazzling exterior of the magnificent city!

At this moment, they were all terrified, and Jiang Hanyan and Su Xinjue's faces even turned deathly pale!
Outside, the ground was teeming with those terrifying zombies, their eyes vacant, wandering aimlessly... filling the entire street like demons from hell...

"This...it's all zombies!?" Du Wan swallowed hard, looking at Duan Rong standing to the side with a horrified expression.

Du Wan had thought that Duan Rong could easily take it down with a single axe blow. She even thought that with their skills, they could easily handle multiple opponents if they had a weapon.

But there's a limit to that. The city is full of zombies. If you get caught in a horde of them, you're guaranteed to die.

Duan Rong said calmly, "Yes! Didn't I tell you that the poison on zombies is contagious? Anyone bitten by them will turn into a zombie... Therefore, almost all the humans in this world have become zombies..."

"The humans in this world... are almost all zombified?!" Du Wan and the others recalled Duan Rong's words, and their expressions all turned solemn.

If what Duan Rong said is true, then this world, in their eyes, is an extremely terrifying existence. It is even far more cruel and terrifying than the bandit massacre of the village that Jiang Hanyan is obsessed with.

Because if almost all of humanity were to become zombies, it wouldn't just be a problem of the harsh environment they faced, but rather a problem of humanity as a species potentially going extinct.

What could be more terrifying than the extinction of a human race?

Slaughtering villages and cities, in the end, doesn't it just lead to the destruction of a country and the extinction of a race?
Du Wan looked at Duan Rong with a horrified expression and asked, "How could you have such a terrifying dream?!"

Upon hearing this, Duan Rong could only remain silent. The Divine Demon Illusionary Realm did indeed unfold through memories or dreams, with a certain obsession at its core.

In Du Wan's and the others' view, such a bizarre and dreamlike world could only be Duan Rong's dream, not a memory.

Seeing Duan Rong remain silent, Lu Chu then asked, "Then what is your obsession in this world, Duan Rong? It's not that you want to kill all these zombies, is it?"

Now, everyone turned to look at Duan Rong. This question was naturally very important, since Duan Rong's obsession was their core mission in this world.

In that bandit stronghold, Jiang Hanyan's obsession had caused them immense suffering. Now, Duan Rong's obsession was their very fate here.

Duan Rong touched his nose and said calmly, "Live! My obsession is to live!"

Everyone was stunned upon hearing this; they never expected Duan Rong to be so obsessed.

Guo Tian gave Duan Rong a strange look and said, "Your obsession is quite simple!"

Duan Rong smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying.

In fact, even after the first Divine Demon Illusion ended, Duan Rong had already suspected that the second Divine Demon Illusion would, barring any unforeseen circumstances, enter his obsession. What would that be?

He was also secretly examining his own heart! From the pool where they first awoke from the illusion of gods and demons, all the way to the central altar, he kept questioning himself.

What is his deepest obsession?
Is it Lü Qingzhu?
Although he had feelings for Lü Qingzhu, he was certain that it wasn't his deepest obsession.

Having lived two lives, he has actually become indifferent to many things.

In his previous life on this planet, he was an orphan, and his greatest obsession was to have a family of his own. This obsession was fulfilled when he married Xiao Yu in the world of Kyushu.

In that dilapidated temple on the outskirts of Xiangu County, Lü Qingzhu was once his deepest obsession.

But after all, he had been through many life-and-death trials in the world of Kyushu, and his obsession with "love" was gradually crumbling.

In fact, even before reaching the central altar, he had already figured it out. His deepest obsession was immortality, at least to advance to the Nascent Soul realm like Lü Yinlin and become an old monster who could live for over a thousand years. Duan Rong was very certain of this obsession. Compared to this obsession, everything else seemed less important, not even Lü Qingzhu's obsession. He was absolutely certain of this.

He believed that the will of gods and demons must have seen through his obsession. It's just that the will of gods and demons chose a different way to manifest itself in the illusionary realm of gods and demons.

Surely this time, the Divine Demon Illusion Realm is going to allow him to advance to the Nascent Soul Realm, or even the Primordial God Realm, and achieve immortality in the Nine Provinces world of the illusion?

That would be tantamount to trapping them to death!

However, it is not mentioned how difficult it is to achieve the Nascent Soul Realm and the Primordial God Realm.

Even if he could truly achieve the Nascent Soul Realm, or even the Primordial God Realm, within the Nine Provinces Illusionary Realm, it would still require a great deal of time. Would Du Wan and Guo Tian even live that long? Perhaps Duan Rong would be over a thousand years old when he achieved the Primordial God Realm. Could Du Wan and Guo Tian also live to be a thousand? Or perhaps all seven of them would collectively achieve the Nascent Soul Realm! The Taiyi Sect's seven Nascent Soul Realm cultivators are practically the number one sect in the Nine Provinces throughout history!
If not, wouldn't Guo Tian and the others simply grow old and die in the Divine Demon Illusion? Moreover, once they die in the Divine Demon Illusion, they will also be killed within the ruins!
The will of gods and demons obviously did not directly choose Duan Rong's obsession to act out, but instead refined Duan Rong's obsession and extracted its true core.

The so-called longevity and immortality, stripped of its layers of appearance, at its truest core, is simply to live!
The reason why the will of gods and demons chose a zombie-infested city as the setting for this illusory world of obsession is not only because it is a good fit, but also because Duan Rong has a deep obsession with zombies.

This obsession began when he accidentally clicked on an old movie—the first Resident Evil film. After that, he watched almost every zombie movie he could find, even the hysterical animators.

Of course, he generally prefers thriller-style plots, and he is somewhat averse to overly exaggerated or cult film-style productions.

Because of his obsession with zombies, several years later, he started registering an account on Qidian.com, and the ID he gave himself was "Zombie Baby".

Therefore, the zombie-besieged world before us is a reflection of Duan Rong's deepest obsession!
Xu Hui looked at Duan Rong with a solemn expression and asked, "What does it mean to survive? Are we supposed to live to old age and die in this world full of monsters?"

Duan Rong suddenly looked out the window at the zombies filling the street with a deep gaze, and said in a somewhat sorrowful voice, "Leave this city, go to the suburbs. Start a new farming life, that is, survive."

Xu Hui and Du Wan could not understand the sorrowful meaning in Duan Rong's words, because the basic ecology of the Nine Provinces world they lived in was an agrarian civilization.

But at this moment, Duan Rong's grief was real, just as real as his obsession with living.

The reason he likes zombie movies is that he feels zombies are a metaphor. Even the T-virus from Resident Evil is a metaphor.

He remembered a very old zombie movie he had seen, in which the protagonist looked at the zombies and said, "They are us!"

This line remained etched in Duan Rong's mind.

They are us! Zombies are actually very similar to humans, they just personify the problems that humans have.

Zombies are infected by a virus that causes them to become bloodthirsty and contagious, losing their ability to think and their emotions.

Are we not facing the same problem today?
However, humanity has been corrupted by its own desires, stupidity, and arrogance, and has begun to lose its rationality, shouting for war and killing, and harming its own kind!
Looking at the zombies roaming the streets and the endless rows of tall buildings, Du Wan couldn't help but ask, "The streets are full of zombies, how do we get to the outskirts?"

Duan Rong stood there, feeling somewhat troubled.

It was clearly rush hour in the CBD outside, with every intersection jammed with cars, and the elevated highway not far away was completely congested...

On the inner and outer ring roads of the CBD, many vehicles were visibly collided... while the areas without cars were teeming with zombies...

With a population of nearly ten million, the zombie horde that erupted during the morning rush hour in S City is unimaginably terrifying.

Even if he had a Land Rover, he probably wouldn't be able to break out of this encircling CBD!
Duan Rong said, "This matter is not urgent, let's plan it slowly. If I have a plan, I will let you know."

Despite hearing Duan Rong's words, everyone felt bitter inside.

The outside world is teeming with zombie monsters, and the city is clearly enormous, stretching as far as the eye can see. In this situation, hiding in this bunker might offer a chance of survival, but venturing out would surely result in being overwhelmed by the horde of zombies. How could one possibly even reach the outskirts? It's utterly delusional.
Du Wan and the others felt that Duan Rong's obsession was even more hellish than Jiang Hanyan's!
Duan Rong looked at them calmly and said, "Before we figure out how to get to the outskirts, we have a few things to do first."

"What is it?" Lu Chu asked quickly.

Duan Rong said, "The first thing is for everyone to find a suitable weapon!" As he spoke, he brandished the fire axe in his hand and said, "We are all skilled in martial arts. Although our martial arts levels no longer exist after entering the Divine Demon Illusion, our understanding of martial arts remains in our minds. Moreover, unlike last time when we were all weak children in Jiang Hanyan's obsession, this time, I've observed that we all have healthy bodies!"

As Duan Rong spoke, he couldn't help but glance at Su Xinjue's voluptuous waist. Although she was wrapped in a blanket, it couldn't hide her undulating curves.

Su Xinjue noticed Duan Rong's gaze and her face flushed slightly.

Duan Rong coughed and continued, "With such a body, we can directly execute some of the martial arts techniques in our minds. As long as we have a suitable weapon, killing zombies is no problem. Therefore, our first task is to find a weapon and strengthen our combat power."

Everyone nodded in agreement; Duan Rong's words clearly made a lot of sense. The only way to kill the zombie was to sever its head, and without a sharp weapon, it would indeed be quite troublesome.

Seeing that everyone understood his meaning, Duan Rong continued, "The second thing is to collect food. The city is besieged by zombies outside, and we must have enough food and water to survive. There should be quite a bit in this space, and we need to collect it."

After finishing the second point, Duan Rong continued almost without pausing, "Third, we need to find a map of this city, which is called City S."

Duan Rong told them the name of this city on his previous life's planet, Blue Star, hoping they would help him find a map of the city.

He really needs a map of the city right now.

First, he needed to use the map to determine whether the city in front of him was the S City he was familiar with, because this was, after all, a fantasy world, and perhaps only the CBD was similar, while the surrounding environment had been completely changed! That was entirely possible.

What if he takes it for granted that this world is the complete S City of his previous life on Blue Star, and when he tries to make a plan based on his memory, he finds that the map is not accurate, then it will be too late to regret it!
This matter must be finalized beforehand. Duan Rong believed that if the Divine Demon Illusionary Realm altered S City, then the map would certainly be changed accordingly!
(End of this chapter)