Dark Blood Age

There were people everywhere! Crowds of people stood in front of ATM machines trying to get all of their money out of their accounts. While other people flocked to supermarkets to try and buy as much stuff as they could. The petrol stations in the city were packed with cars and people.

The police department of Shen Cheng city had already deployed every single one of their officers in an attempt to maintain order on the streets. However, they barely got them under control. If the Sun actually didn’t reappear, the police chief had little confidence that they would be able to maintain order in the city with just his police force.

But events always take a turn for the worse. On the 24th, the third day after the first disappearance of the Sun, the Sun disappeared once again. Many shops and banks started to close down. No one could stay calm after that moment. People, who weren’t able to get into the shops on time, started to break inside and grabbed everything they could. The crime rate rapidly increased and riots started to break out everywhere in the city. Order in the city started to collapse.

Early morning on the 25th, Chu Yunsheng heard gunshots outside his apartment and engine sounds of tanks echoed through the streets.

It was the army and they stepped in to maintain order in the city. Riots had escalated to a level where even the Police Special Force couldn’t handle them.

Tanks and soldiers were deployed in the center of the city. Warning shots were fired, but it didn’t stop the people. The soldiers were given permission to shoot. A number of people were injured while the body count also started to increase. But no one was interested in these numbers anymore. All the TV channels were only broadcasting the special notices that told the people of Shen Cheng city to calm down, to stay home and not to go outside as everything would soon go back to normal.

When Chu Yunsheng decided to rent a flat, he took a lot of things into consideration. He thought about the involvement of the army and the areas they might be deployed in. Especially the areas where senior government officials and the rich people lived. But he couldn’t just rent flats in those areas, because the army would probably search and evict him from the flat he rented. They might use it as a shelter for these important people, not to mention, the food he stored would be all gone.

Instead, he chose to rent two flats close to those areas. Although he wouldn’t receive the same level of protection, at least, seeing fully armed soldiers patrolling the area would make him feel safer.

After the short phone call with Yu Xiaohai on the 23rd, he then made a few phone calls to his relatives and friends. The signal was very unstable at the moment, so he kept it short; he reminded them to be careful and to store as much food as they could. He even told them his location just in case anything happened to them so that they could come to his place for shelter.

But it looked to be very difficult for them now. Ever since the army took over the city, the soldiers and police officers guarded all the major junctions and roads in the city. Everyone was told to stay inside their houses, and all their daily necessities were being transported into the city by the army until this whole thing was over.

On the 25th, the Sun disappeared for 2 hours.

On the 26th, the Sun disappeared for 4 hours.

On the 27th, it almost lasted for 10 whole hours.

On the 28th, the Sun disappeared once again, but this time, it didn’t come back. Right before the Sun disappeared, when the signal was stable, the President of the USA gave his last speech at the White House: “Satan has come back to earth, and our faith is now being tested by God. Only the people, who believe him, will walk out of darkness, and return to…”

Date:December 28th

The world was plunged into darkness.

Duration: Unknown.

Chu Yunsheng sat by a window quietly. He already knew everything that was going to happen, but when it really happened, he started to panic.

The world had changed, the rules had changed, everything had changed. Would there be a future? A new world?

But this was just the beginning. The beasts from the other dimension were coming. What would they look like? Could he really survive? Everything was unknown.

The only thing that Chu Yunsheng could feel relief was, that he could finally sense a little bit of Yuan Qi. But with that little bit of Yuan Qi, he could not do anything. He still needed to continue practicing. It was also the only thing he could do now. Satellite communications were down. The soldiers were using a megaphone on the street to keep the residents in the area informed about any updates.

Everyday Chu Yunsheng went downstairs to receive his portion of supplies from the army. Although he did not really need it, he did not want anyone to notice anything odd about him.

One day, on his way back to the flat, he heard the upstairs neighbor say that a few places in the city were still having riots. Even though people were being ordered to stay at home. Some of them could not handle the pressure of the apocalypse and started to dispute with the army. A lot of people were shot dead. Fear had started to spread even among the soldiers.

Chu Yunsheng decided to stick to his routine – which was staying home most of the time. He did not have any ability to protect himself from danger at the moment. All he had was one Li Huo Talisman which could be used to summon fire. However, he hasn’t even tested its power yet.

Time slowly passed in the darkness. The weather outside was getting colder and colder until it started to snow. The upstairs neighbor said that the ice age was probably coming, but Chu Yunsheng did not know if it was true.

Chu Yunsheng had sealed all the windows but he still could not stop the temperature from dropping inside the room. The electricity supply started to break off, and he only had three hours of electricity during the day. The supply of gas started to decrease as well. For now, only tap water was being supplied regularly.

Chu Yunsheng bundled himself up and sat on the bed. It was the 5th day in the darkness. The Yuan Qi he had stored up was just about enough to make one low-level talisman.

Speaking of making talisman, Chu Yunsheng outlined two different routes for himself.

The first one was the combat route.

As his spirit, which he thought was the sixth sense, had grown stronger in the fourth-dimension, he clearly felt that Tian Gui was bringing the other dimension closer and closer to Earth every day.

The closer Tian Gui was near Earth, the more dangerous it would become. So he needed to make at least one ‘Liu Jia’ talisman that would protect him with an energy shield and also improve his physical strength; one “Huo Bing” talisman that would summon celestial soldiers with fire attribute to enchant his gun with fire elemental damage; and one final talisman called ‘Shen Bing’ talisman that would enchant a sword with additional physical damage.

He predicted that with his current ability, he could store just enough Yuan Qi to make those three low-level talismans before the other dimension collided with Earth.

The other route he could choose was, he could make one ‘Huo Bing’ talisman to enchant his gun with fire elemental damage, and one ‘Wu Na’ talisman that would create a pocket dimension to store things out of thin air. He could use the space to stockpile all the stuff he had stored in the past three months.

Storage (TL:Wu Na) talisman is one level higher than the other talismans, and if Chu Yunsheng finished the Huo Bing talisman, he only had enough time left to make one Storage talisman. He had to give up on the talismans for defense and sword. The only weapon he would have at that time would be a gun enchanted with fire elemental damage.

Chu Yunsheng was struggling to make up his mind. On the one hand, he was afraid of dying, and on the other, he slowly started to realize that this area would not be safe in the long run. Soon he would probably need to escape from here, and supplies were most important.

Chu Yunsheng knew that he was not a talented guy. If it was not for the book, he would probably be struggling to survive right now. He would be just like other people – incapable of surviving the apocalypse. He felt that he could lose everything right now, but he could not lose this book. As long as he had this book, he believed that he would be able to survive. He inherited this book from his parents after they died and this book meant a lot to him.

What if he lost the book during an escape! Chu Yunsheng considered. It was a risk that he could not afford to take. He had to make a Storage talisman first and use it to store the book. Then he would need to cast the Storage talisman onto his body. This way, he would never lose the book.