As a colony, the bookstore in PU-31 was filled with an eclectic mix of books, covering all kinds of eras and subjects, both old and new, appearing to have been collected from various places.

This timeline’s acceptance of parallel worlds far surpassed that of their own. Judging by the serial number, PU-31 wasn’t the only colony of its kind, but Ji Yushi found very few books in the bookstore that covered this subject. The only reason he found ‘Mini World: PU-31’ was because the title was prominently displayed. This suggested that people here didn’t find this subject particularly novel or important—though it’s also possible that such knowledge was stored in the cloud or a digital library.

Still, there were some gains.

As Ji Yushi walked, he skimmed through the books, asking Song Qinglan to help take down the ones he needed.

Ji Yushi wasn’t being bossy, nor was he trying to wield power by leveraging the bruises on his wrist. He simply gave directions naturally, while showing a bit of leniency.

One wonders how he managed to find a boyfriend with such a grudge-holding personality.

Song Qinglan glanced at Ji Yushi’s profile, and due to the angle, he noticed Ji Yushi’s focused expression, with eyelashes that resembled tiny fans.

Perhaps it was because he was good-looking.

Even though their orientations were different, his aesthetic appreciation was probably similar to how they viewed attractive women.

Before long, both of them had stacked a high pile of books.

“Focus,” Song Qinglan said, tossing the books onto the floor. “Look for useful information.”

“Got it,” Ji Yushi replied without lifting his head.

Outside the bookstore, the sun blazed overhead, and the light was exceptionally bright.

Sunlight poured into the bookstore, casting a golden hue across the floor, but no one felt any warmth from it.

In the distant horizon, a dark line loomed, dormant.

Closer by, zombies clawed at the glass, rasping and growling.

With a pop, one zombie, pressed too hard, had a cloudy eyeball burst against the glass, its thick liquid sliding down.

Song Qinglan, despite his strong tolerance, still found it a bit nauseating.

He turned around and noticed the three others observing them with expressions full of curiosity, as if wondering what had happened after they had been sent away.

Song Qinglan narrowed his dark eyes, and the three immediately pounced forward, eagerly dividing the books.

“Let me take a look!”

“Come on, help out.”

“Search for place names, people, anything related to darkness!”

Zhou Mingxuan opened a book, but after a quick glance, felt dizzy. He stood up with his gun, “Someone needs to take shifts. I’ll go upstairs and keep watch.”

Li Chun interjected, “Old Zhou, leave it. Let me go!”

Tang Le pulled Li Chun back, his usual playful demeanor gone, replaced by a serious expression: “Focus on searching. We might find something useful.”

Li Chun obediently sat back down.

Song Qinglan pondered their earlier discussion.

He returned to the bookstore’s counter and found the store’s communicator, which they had overlooked before.

If their wild speculation was on the right track, then in this era, if the Sky Vault system operated without a command center and even had to hijack Guardians from other timelines for help, was it the system itself that was controlling the mission?

Song Qinglan had no conclusion.

The communicator displayed the same information as the one at the park management office.

[Welcome, Guardians from Star Year 1456, to PU-31.]

[This jump has been locked. Unlock after successful mission completion.]

[Mission Mode: Ouroboros.]

[Mission Rule: Death Elimination.]

[Mission Objective: Dark Pursuer.]

With no network connection, these messages were clearly sent one-way.

An idea flashed through Song Qinglan’s mind, but his peripheral vision caught sight of a small square medicine box at the foot of the shelf.

He bent down to pick it up. The medicine box was clean, with no markings on it.

It belonged to Ji Yushi.

Hyperthymesia…

Song Qinglan glanced at his teammates gathered in the center of the bookstore.

Among the three, only Ji Yushi seemed completely at home in this environment.

Of course, Ji Yushi couldn’t have forgotten the medicine box, but he was too busy searching for clues to bother with it now. Song Qinglan slipped the medicine box into his pocket, not wanting to disrupt Ji Yushi’s train of thought.

Unfortunately, the bookstore didn’t yield any information on the “Dark Pursuer” or the “Black Wall.”

However, Ji Yushi did discover several artificial cultivation projects used in PU-31, including but not limited to synthetic soil and artificial water sources. He was flipping through a book titled ‘The History of the PU Nuclear Fusion Experiment Project’ and remarked, “Is this about sustainable energy development?”

“Huh?” Li Chun was puzzled.

“It’s about energy,” Ji Yushi explained. “Mainly using hydrogen and deuterium, nuclear fusion in a controlled environment releases energy, which can be used for electricity and heat.”

Everyone: “…”

Ji Yushi continued, “In other words, this colony’s main energy source likely comes from this technology. Our era is also researching this, but it’s not as advanced as this timeline.”

This had little to do with the answers they were seeking.

So Ji Yushi set the book aside.

The contemplative atmosphere was interrupted by this conversation, so Song Qinglan picked up the half-empty water bottle from the shelf and handed it over, intending to return the medicine box to him as well.

Ji Yushi’s eyes had a faint shadow of exhaustion, “No need, thank you.”

Despite the bitter taste of beans still lingering in his mouth, he was unwilling to touch that water bottle again.

Song Qinglan realized then that Ji Yushi was also a bit of a germaphobe.

Just then, Ji Yushi’s gaze fell outside the window, and his expression suddenly froze.

Everyone followed his gaze.

Outside the bookstore’s floor-to-ceiling windows, a new wave of zombies had gathered, layer upon layer.

In the last row was the tallest zombie.

He was wearing a black combat uniform, with a large blood hole in his neck, his arterial veins exposed. His pupils were gray-white, and his face was identical to Tang Le’s.

“Brother!!!”

Tang Le’s eyes turned bloodshot as he leaped up and rushed forward.

Everyone was shocked to the core. The convenience store was at least twenty kilometers away, and they couldn’t imagine how the mutated Tang Qi had managed to get here.

Through a layer of glass.

Tears streamed down Tang Le’s face, while on the other side, Tang Qi’s mouth hung open, revealing rotting gums. Faced with living humans, he was so excited he wanted to tear them apart immediately.

“Roar! Roar!”

The zombie horde stirred.

The bright light inside the store suddenly dimmed, and almost simultaneously, Zhou Mingxuan’s frantic voice echoed from upstairs: “Move! The Black Wall is coming!!!”

Everyone’s hearts sank.

Zhou Mingxuan was already rushing downstairs, “I’ve been watching from the second floor! It’s insane, it’s moving faster now!!”

They turned to see the Black Wall, once far on the horizon, now just a few kilometers away, moving as if it had appeared right before their eyes.

It was silent, yet in the blink of an eye, it was only four or five kilometers from the bookstore, advancing at an unimaginable, visible speed, engulfing the city!

The Black Wall, like a cosmic black hole, devoured everything it touched, plunging it into endless darkness. What was even more terrifying was that the countless zombies ahead of the Black Wall, scattered and wandering, seemed to instinctively fear this dark force. They gathered into a dense horde, rushing toward the light, creating visible clouds of dust and heat waves in their wake!

Tang Le still stood in front of the window.

Zhou Mingxuan shouted, “Damn it!! Move!”

Tang Le snapped out of it, and the two grabbed their guns, firing wildly, sending blood and flesh flying outside the bookstore.

The vehicle was parked just outside. Song Qinglan grabbed his weapon and started toward the door, “Everyone, get in the car! Li Chun, stop messing around!”

Cans rolled under Li Chun’s feet.

Gunfire continued, “Roar—Roar—” The nearby zombies, attracted by the noise, charged forward.

“Get in the car!!!”

“Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!”

The bookstore’s light grew dimmer.

The deep rumbling noise, that of the zombie horde fleeing toward them under the pursuit of the Black Wall, filled the air.

As the horde was swallowed by the Black Wall and new zombies joined it, the sound grew like thunder, heralding the arrival of the apocalypse.

At this critical moment, seemingly guided by some instinct, Ji Yushi noticed a book that had been knocked off the shelf near the door. But before he could reach it, Song Qinglan grabbed his shoulder.

Ji Yushi turned abruptly, seeing an unprecedented ferocity in Song Qinglan’s eyes: “Move!”

Following Song Qinglan out of the bookstore, Ji Yushi raised his gun and took down a zombie, then followed his teammates through the blood-soaked path!

“Bang, bang, bang, bang!!!”

In the rapidly darkening environment, gunfire flared brightly, momentarily splitting the darkness as it pressed down on them.

The horde of zombies surged forward.

“Ah!!!”

A scream echoed through the pitch-black surroundings, but amidst the gathering zombies, nothing could be seen.

The car was blocked by the horde, and at the last second, Tang Le managed to kill the zombie wedged in the car door and slam it shut. “Boom!” The engine roared to life, and with great effort, the vehicle powered through the throng.

Zombies were flung aside as they hit the windshield, which was quickly obscured by decaying flesh and blood. The wipers struggled to clear the mess as Zhou Mingxuan, relying on instinct, steered the car onto the main road.

Darkness chased after them, and the scattered zombies running behind were swallowed up in the blink of an eye.

“Roar—”

In the back seat, Li Chun opened his mouth wide to bite.

In just a few seconds, a chunk of flesh was missing from his face, his skin was covered with a blue, web-like pattern, and his pupils had turned completely gray—he had mutated!

Zhou Mingxuan saw this through the rearview mirror, and the car swerved violently. Ji Yushi almost crashed into Li Chun!

Tang Le’s voice was distorted with fear: “Chun’er!”

The two of them pinned Li Chun down. The image of their teammate’s familiar face was still fresh in their minds, but he had now turned into an unrecognizable monster. How could Tang Le bring himself to strike?

The diamond bird in Ji Yushi’s hand trembled uncontrollably. Suddenly, Song Qinglan’s angry shout came from the front: “Do it!!”

Ji Yushi closed his eyes.

“Bang!”

Silence returned to the back seat. In the darkness, no one looked at Li Chun.

In the next instant, the car shot forward a hundred meters, but then there was a loud crash. The vehicle smashed into a wire fence, shattering the windshield, and rolled over, skidding several meters before coming to a halt.

Everyone inside felt their eardrums ache.

Zhou Mingxuan’s head drooped, his neck twisted at an impossible angle.

“Get out of the car!” Song Qinglan’s voice was filled with pain, almost a growl, as he unbuckled his seatbelt and fell to the ground, kicking the door open.

After the car flipped, the rear door had been deformed.

Ji Yushi, Li Chun’s corpse, and Tang Le were all crammed together. Tang Le shouted, “Captain Song!!”

Ji Yushi’s leg was in excruciating pain, his face pale: “The door won’t open!!”

Song Qinglan grabbed the broken edge of the car window, shards of glass digging into his palm, causing blood to drip onto Ji Yushi’s face. But he seemed oblivious to the pain, gritting his teeth as he forcibly ripped the door off!

“Clang!” The door was flung aside.

Song Qinglan reached out his hand, and Ji Yushi took it.

Their hands clasped together.

One was pale, the other drenched in blood.

That strong, firm hand belonged to a captain’s responsibility, to the bond of comradeship.

Ji Yushi was pulled out of the car.

Next, Song Qinglan pulled out Tang Le.

In a split second, just as Tang Le hit the ground, the Black Wall was only a few meters away.

At that moment, everyone felt the weight of despair. Without thinking about whether there were zombies ahead, they mustered every ounce of strength and ran as fast as they could, their minds filled with only one thought—run.

Ji Yushi had never run so fast in his life.

So fast that he forgot about the intense pain in his leg.

The wind howled in his ears, and his teammates, just like him, were running for their lives in this alien world.

After sprinting several dozen meters, a bad feeling welled up in Ji Yushi’s heart. He turned back along with Song Qinglan.

“Tang Le!!”

Tang Le had stopped.

He stood still, a zombie tearing into his neck. Blood gushed out, pouring from his young body.

Tang Le’s lips moved, and he slowly said, “Consultant Ji… we can’t go back—”

Before he could finish the sentence.

The darkness arrived from behind.

It engulfed the land, taking the survivors with it, swallowing them whole.