After the darkness!

The light leaking through the tear in the curtains looked like a pale scar, cutting into the yellowed plaster on the ceiling.

The old fan whirred and spun, turning the sweltering air into dust, which, mixed with the smell of sweat and unwashed socks, wafted into Lin Yijue's nose.

He was wearing only light blue striped boxer shorts, frowning as he draped the corner of the blanket over his stomach, his eyes fixed on the grid ceiling above him.

Lin Yijue found it hard to accept.

Three hours ago, he was a delivery rider who had just switched from Meituan to JD.com, eager to become a brother of Dong Ge (Liu Qiangdong). On his first day, he delivered more than 70 orders and made a good 700 yuan thanks to the subsidies.

But when I woke up, the world had completely changed.

Without any stroke of luck or a car accident, he became Lin Yijue, a poor student at the Seventh Middle School of Rongdu Base City, in the blink of an eye.

This shouldn't be happening, it shouldn't be like this.

For an ordinary college graduate with a hotel management degree from a non-elite university and no wealthy family background, earning a little over 700 yuan a day finally gives him hope for the future.

But how did I suddenly travel through time?

"Lin Yijue! Aren't you going to get up and eat? Are you just going to stay cooped up like this, not wanting to go to class today? I'm telling you, if you break the rules again and get expelled, I won't pull any strings for you! I've already done more than enough by getting you into this regular class!"

Just then, a clear and sharp female voice came from outside the room. The voice was obviously deliberately amplified and spoken to him, with the pitch getting higher and higher, like an icicle piercing in.

Upon hearing this voice, Lin Yijue's body tensed instinctively, and a mixture of disgust and fear surged up instantly, causing him to shrink back involuntarily.

At the same time, the image of a woman appeared in my mind: over 1.8 meters tall, slender, always dressed in black, with sharp eyes and a powerful aura.

That was Lin Xiaofei, the original owner's older sister, who was five years older than him.

In the original owner's memory, this older sister was simply the ultimate version of "someone else's child".

She was extremely competitive and had amazing execution skills. She always excelled in her studies, passed the martial arts exam in college, and joined the city's defense armed forces after graduation.

Because of her aloof nature and quiet demeanor, but because she always keeps her word, coupled with the nature of her work, she is very successful in the outside world and is her parents' eternal pride.

However, the original owner had a very bad impression of her, which could even be described as terrible.

They are siblings, but their relationship is as distant as that of strangers.

This was certainly related to Lin Xiaofei's taciturn nature and her tendency to treat him with a commanding tone, but the more important reason was the original owner's deep-seated inferiority complex.

In families with multiple children, the biggest fear is that the gap between the children will be too large.

The same upbringing has led to drastically different outcomes. The inner pressure brought about by this disparity born from blood ties is something that only children simply cannot comprehend.

The original owner was like a shadow living in her sister's dazzling light, without a sense of self, only mediocrity and wretchedness.

"Feifei, your brother fainted outside and was just rescued..." A gentle voice responded somewhat nervously from outside the door.

The speaker was Song Huiling, the mother.

"Did I make him so incompetent that he chased after other women? Or did I teach him to be so blind to reality, thinking that shamelessness would bring him love?" Lin Xiaofei's voice was filled with a cold laugh.

"He's in a regular class, and not only does he not study properly, but he also confessed his feelings to someone, and not only was he rejected, but he even dared to try and go to a man-made forest alone! I think it's because you guys spoil him too much!"

"...Feifei, he is still your brother after all..." The mother remained silent for a moment, then gently advised.

"Yes, I know he's my brother, so does that mean I have to control everything he does?" Lin Xiaofei's tone became even more impatient. "I have a meeting at noon, so I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, okay, be careful out there. By the way, what time do you get off work? We'll wait for you for dinner tonight," the mother quickly agreed, then asked cautiously.

"Don't worry about me, I don't know if I'll be busy later." Lin Xiaofei's voice was clearly impatient, followed by the hissing sound of a chair scraping against the floor, indicating that she was about to leave.

"Oh, right, Xiaofei, there's something else..." The mother seemed hesitant to speak, but after a moment's hesitation, she followed. "What I told you last time, I feel his high school grades aren't very good... If he doesn't get into university, he won't be able to find a job, and according to policy, he'll have to go to the countryside. I heard it's very difficult to get into university now, you should take a look..."

Her voice trailed off, tinged with embarrassment.

"Where was the difficulty in the exam? Didn't I pass it just like that?" Lin Xiaofei's cold laugh came clearly through the door. "Sometimes, if you don't pass, you should look for the reasons within yourself. Did he even study hard in school all these years?"

Do you think I can handle everything with just a few words now that I'm in this position? Everything has to follow the rules! Besides, I just got promoted, and so many people are watching me, just waiting to see me make a mistake!

"I can't help with this. If it really comes down to it, I'll have him go to the countryside after graduation, and I'll find a way to transfer him back later."

As she spoke, she had already put on her shoes. With a creak, the door was pushed open and closed again, and the footsteps outside gradually faded away.

The living room fell silent.

Lin Yijue could imagine that his mother, Song Huiling, was looking at his father, Lin Yunming, who was sitting there silently eating his meal without saying a word.

"If all else fails, try to find some connections to get him a job at a company, just like spending some money to buy a temporary residence permit..." The mother's voice was low, tinged with helplessness.

"That will cost a lot of money." Father Lin Yunming put down his chopsticks, his voice somewhat somber. "At his age, we can pay for one or two years, but can we support him until he's forty? Once his temporary residence permit expires, he'll still be sent to the countryside."

"Then... how about paying to send him to a nearby security zone? It's always safer to be closer to the safe zone... I heard your second brother has some connections and knows people..." the mother suggested in a low voice, still unwilling to give up.

"It's still early, what's the rush?" Lin Yunming said impatiently. "Besides, so many people go to the countryside, and nothing much happens, right?" He paused for a few seconds, then added, "I'll ask the second brother what he thinks..."

After that, the two fell silent, and the only sound could be heard was the rustling of dishes being cleared away.

Inside the room, Lin Yijue lay on the bed, having heard the conversation outside clearly, and his heart inexplicably tightened.

In his mind, fragments of the original owner's memories began to piece together intermittently.

He was lucky; he didn't encounter the melodramatic plot of being orphaned and destitute after transmigrating.

On the contrary, apart from that suffocating older sister, the original owner's parents were both gentle and kind to him, and never showed favoritism because of his poor grades.

If he had transmigrated to a normal, ordinary world, with such a start, his anxiety would definitely be much less.

Unfortunately, this is not a normal world.

In Lin Yijue's memory, the early stages of this world were somewhat similar to the 21st century of his previous life, but after one sunset, seven consecutive days of darkness followed.

Everything changed after that.

Permafrost, blizzards, and terrifyingly low temperatures are enough to deal a heavy blow to human civilization.

Even more terrifying, strange fields began to appear inexplicably on the earth, like entrances to the inner world. Countless monsters never seen before crawled out of these fields, their appearances far beyond human comprehension.

The appearance of these environments has also introduced several mysterious components into the air, causing plants and animals to grow uncontrollably, restricting signal transmission, causing widespread malfunctions of electronic devices, and even weakening the chemical reaction intensity of gunpowder...

A series of blows brought human civilization to the brink of collapse.

Fortunately, under the influence of these mysterious forces, the limitations of humanity itself seem to have been broken.

Previously, it took talent for an average adult to bench press over 100 kilograms, but now, with regular training and a proper diet, ordinary people can easily achieve this.

From then on, martial arts on Earth began to develop rapidly, and the originally collapsing situation gradually stabilized. Hope Cities and base cities sprang up one after another, and the situation was finally brought under control.

Even if the situation stabilizes, it will still be an apocalypse.

With scarce resources and fraught with crises, ordinary people can barely survive, let alone have a quality of life.

"I studied diligently for more than ten years, but I couldn't even pass the vocational college entrance exam. I had to be assigned to the garrison area to 'go to the countryside' to study and do construction work at the same time," Lin Yijue muttered to himself.

Yes, going to the countryside in the garrison area was nominally to continue studying, but in reality, it was to go to a vocational school where you would train for half a day and work for the other half, and the living conditions were extremely harsh.

Because the garrison area is outside the high walls.

The original owner's dream was to get into a junior college, find a job that would provide temporary residence permits after graduation, marry the woman he loved, have a child, and live a stable nine-to-five life in the base city.

But this dream is too difficult to realize.

The school he attended was the Seventh Middle School of the Base City, just an ordinary high school. Even though the Rongdu Base City, where it is located, has developed by absorbing the resources of all the Hope Cities in the surrounding area, the school's overall college entrance examination pass rate is only 70%.

Most people who couldn't get into college or find regular jobs faced the fate of being reassigned to rural areas.

Because irregular jobs do not provide temporary residence permits, on the contrary, studying and working in the countryside in the garrison area can accumulate contribution points more quickly and meet the conditions for applying for a temporary residence permit.

This is Yang Conspiracy.

Lin Yijue stared blankly at the ceiling.

In this world, the temporary residence permit is also called the infrastructure fee, which, as the name suggests, is a fee to support the construction of the base city.

Official residents of the base city can only live within the high walls after graduating from high school if they have a temporary residence permit, and this permit must be renewed until they turn forty.

In nature, this is more like a tax, somewhat similar to social security or housing provident fund in the past. The law stipulates that it can be paid by the individual or by the company.

However, paying for it yourself would cost a lot of money, while if the company provides it, due to policies encouraging rural development, it is usually only available to martial artists or highly skilled technical personnel, making the competition extremely fierce.

Lin Yijue turned over, feeling extremely choked up.

Although life was tough, like working like an ox, at least you benefited from advanced productivity. As long as you had all your limbs and were hardworking, and as long as you didn't get married, you wouldn't have to worry about food and drink.

But here, an ordinary person who can't even get into a junior college and can't afford a temporary residence permit can only roll outside the high walls and live a precarious life.

What should we do now?

Let's do some intensive review and see if we can get into a junior college?

Or should I resign myself to going to the front lines and rural areas to eke out a living?

he does not know.

Having been in this world for less than a few hours, with his current experience and understanding of it, he really didn't know what to choose.

The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. Lin Yijue took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently. He turned over, trying to change his position to make himself more comfortable.

Just then, a chilling blast of air shot straight up from behind my head.

"Having come into contact with a seed of strong consciousness, should we proceed with its sowing?"

A faint voice suddenly rang in his mind.