The edge of the safe zone was an extremely backward area.
Backward in every aspect—not just in terms of the streets and the people who lived there.
For example, education—the top priority of the united government.
The daily curriculum for senior year at [Safe Haven School] consisted of tedious lessons about the glorious history of ancient humanity and outdated scientific theories.
This knowledge had been a stepping stone for exams and jobs before the apocalypse.
But for today, after the apocalypse had arrived, it had completely lost its meaning.
The only way to turn one's fate around was to awaken a Sequence ability.
Only by possessing a Sequence ability could one change everything.
Yet courses related to Sequence abilities were not offered at this backward school on the edge of the safe zone.
In the poverty-stricken edge of the safe zone, Sequence ability users were almost impossible to find.
The teachers were all ordinary people who had no chance to receive relevant education—so how could they teach it to their students?
Although Liam didn't know for sure, he believed that ten years after the establishment of the safe zone and five years after the first Sequence ability users awakened.
The united government must have set up courses related to Sequences—they just hadn't spread to [Safe Haven School] yet.
The lack of knowledge about the current world system made Liam see no future here.
Courses related to Sequence ability users weren't just for those who had awakened—they could also be for ordinary people.
Because the birth of Sequence ability users was bound to spawn many industries and create numerous job opportunities.
After learning these courses, ordinary people would have a wider range of jobs to choose from after graduation.
[Safe Haven School] had the lowest level of resources and opportunities among all schools in the safe zone, and the paths available to its students were extremely narrow.
Either they competed for the few pitiful spots in the college entrance exam.
Or they got lucky and awakened a Sequence ability, becoming a Sequence ability user.
But in five years, the ancestors of the students at [Safe Haven School] had remained disappointingly unresponsive—no one had awakened a Sequence.
The only hope for the students sitting in the classroom was to get into one of the academies specially established by the united government for ordinary people, then get a clerical job in the united government after graduation.
But based on the school's previous academic performance, Liam—who was only around 100th in his grade—was still thousands of miles away from being admitted to an academy.
His experience as a working man in his previous life had taught Liam a lesson: don't put in futile efforts. If something isn't worth it, give up—don't make things hard for yourself.
Liam only waited for lunch and dinner time to go to the cafeteria to get extra food for the weekend.
Having not done a single assignment, he was scolded by every teacher.
Olivia and her girlfriends were also scolded.
Olivia's girlfriends had always copied her homework, and Olivia's homework had always been done by Liam.
Liam's decision to stop being her lackey had directly disrupted an entire chain.
Throughout the day, Olivia kept shooting resentful glances at Liam, but he ignored her completely.
And Olivia's girlfriends were all brainstorming ways to help her.
They had also benefited from Liam being Olivia's lackey.
For example, asking Liam to buy things for them or get them food—Liam had never refused.
Now that Liam had stopped, their interests were also affected.
"Olivia, don't worry. Maybe Liam just encountered something that made him in a bad mood."
"Yeah. Look how he's been daydreaming—he must have been upset about something."
Olivia looked worried: "Then what should we do?"
"I told Ethan I was sick and didn't have time to do my homework when we were supposed to check answers today, but he said I didn't look sick at all.
"My grades... you know how bad they are. Doing homework by myself is so hard."
"Ethan's uncle awakened a Sequence ability a few days ago. If I can get together with Ethan, I can help you guys a lot too!"
Olivia's girlfriends' expressions changed: "For your happiness, we have to think of a way!"
Their attitude made Olivia feel a little satisfied. She had been the first to know about Ethan's uncle awakening a Sequence. This made her firmly believe that her relationship with Ethan was already very close.
However, the sudden change brought by Liam was making her anxious.
Now that Olivia had said this, her girlfriends became even more eager to offer suggestions.
If Olivia climbed the social ladder in the future, they thought they might benefit from it somehow.
"Olivia, here's what you do. After school, stop him and say..."
When school ended, Liam left all his books on his desk.
Because his schoolbag was full of food.
He had been especially shameless at the cafeteria today, taking extra helpings of food. Aunt Zhang in the cafeteria hadn't scolded him—she had given him as much as he wanted.
He now had enough food for three meals a day plus a midnight snack over the weekend.
He had already made plans: over the weekend, he would carry his schoolbag full of food and sleep near the safe zone exit.
As soon as any Sequence ability user hunting team returned with gods, he would take the chance to approach.
Grow stronger in secret, develop slowly, and finally find an opportunity to leave this terrible place on the edge of the safe zone!
Just as he was happily heading home, Olivia suddenly appeared and blocked his way.
Liam frowned at her, confused.
Olivia put on an adorable expression: "Liam, I've been reflecting on myself today and listening to my heart. Actually, I do have feelings for you. It's just that we're still young..."
"Get lost."
Before Olivia could finish speaking, Liam coldly dropped a single word.
Then he walked around her, looking as disgusted as if he were avoiding a pile of dog poop.
Only Olivia was left standing there dumbfounded.
She hadn't expected this reaction to her apology!
Had Liam really changed?
She stood there for a long time before leaving alone, dejected.
Liam returned home, took a cold shower, and went to bed to rest.
He had originally planned to go to the safe zone exit to wait tonight.
But he hadn't rested well the night before and was now feeling a little tired, so he changed his mind.
He would rest at home tonight to recharge his energy, then head out early tomorrow morning.
Time to sleep!
Early the next morning, the alarm clock woke Liam up.
Saturday had arrived.
He pulled back the curtain—even though it was still pitch black outside, it was already seven in the morning.
Liam quickly ate his breakfast and got ready to leave.
He checked the calendar:
[Blue Star Calendar, January 2nd, 2010]
[Western Calendar, Saturday]
[Lunar Calendar, Year of the Ox, 18th day of the 11th lunar month—suitable for burials]
"Suitable for burials? It seems today's lunar calendar has nothing to do with me."
Without the sun, the temperature outside the safe zone continued to drop, becoming extremely cold.
Liam put on several layers of thick clothes, slung his schoolbag full of food over his shoulder, and went out.
There were many exits to the safe zone—the closest one was only a ten-minute walk from Liam's home.
However, this exit wasn't very large, and there weren't many gods outside it. So usually, no hunting teams would set out from here for days.
Fewer teams meant fewer opportunities for him.
Liam decided to go to the largest safe zone exit near his residence—Exit 114514.
In the safe zone, only the larger exits had numbers, making it easier for Sequence ability users to communicate and locate each other for hunting missions.
The smaller the exit number, the more gods there were outside it.
So more hunting teams gathered at those exits.
Exit 114514 seemed to have a rather high number.
But it was better than no number at all.
There would be Sequence ability users gathering here.
Liam had learned this knowledge from a popular science post on the "Godslayer Camp" forum during his half-hour internet session the previous day.
He smiled slightly, somewhat amused: "The apocalypse really is different—going to school is not as useful as going online."
"Sigh, but going online is too expensive, and they don't provide food. Going to school is free and includes two meals a day."
"It would be great if we could combine the advantages of school and internet cafes."
Liam thought for a moment, then added: "Forget it—ultimately, I have to thank the united government's policy of waiving tuition and meal fees."
It would take Liam more than two hours to walk to Exit 114514, but he was full of energy.
He was full of hope for his future.
That one safe zone exit held the key to escaping his current fate.
As he walked along the road, all he saw were dilapidated houses—most of which had collapsed. The road was covered with gravel and dust, neglected for years.
To get past these collapsed buildings and rocks, he often had to climb up and down, leaving him breathless.
The journey was long, but Liam didn't see many living people. The few passersby he encountered were all in a hurry—they weren't residents here.
Four years ago, for some unknown reason, several pieces of the air defense glass here had suddenly shattered. The air defense glass was the barrier that kept gods out of the safe zone. Once the glass broke, the residents here lost their only protection.
Many gods took the opportunity to rush in and attack the safe zone.
To prevent the situation from worsening, the united government urgently dispatched a team of Sequence ability user soldiers to eliminate or drive away all the invading gods, then sent engineers to quickly repair the air defense glass here.
Fortunately, the united government had acted promptly—no large gods had entered the safe zone, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable.
But the incident still caused significant damage. The original residents had either died in the attack or moved away.
The united government had repaired the safety fortifications here, but had not rebuilt the streets and houses.
Once an unsafe incident occurred, people would never trust the safety of the area again.
Even if the infrastructure was rebuilt, no one would be willing to move here.
The united government simply didn't bother wasting their efforts.
The absence of people actually put Liam at ease. At least he didn't have to worry about someone stealing the food in his schoolbag.
Most people who graduated from [Safe Haven School] couldn't find a job to support themselves, which made the public security here relatively poor.
For Liam, no people meant far more peace of mind than having people around.
Finally, Liam saw a two-meter-tall blue sign with the words [Safe Zone Exit 114514] painted in white paint.
"I'm finally here."
When he reached Exit 114514, he had planned to go over to check the situation, but found that for some reason, it was surrounded by a large crowd.
To find out what was going on inside, he had to climb up a small mound and observe carefully.
His first glance fell on the exit's protective gate.
It was his first time visiting a numbered safe zone exit, and also his first time seeing the gate of a numbered exit.
The gate was seven or eight meters wide and three or four meters high, seemingly made of a special alloy—looking extremely heavy.
The protective glass on the gate had many layers—so many that he couldn't even see outside the safe zone through it.
And in front of the protective gate stood more than a dozen people wearing transparent helmets and orange-and-white striped cold-proof suits.
A cold-proof suit cost more than two silver coins—an astronomical figure in Liam's world, affordable only by Sequence ability users.
Since the establishment of the united government, currency was no longer issued by individual countries. Instead, it was replaced by copper, silver, and gold coins uniformly issued by the united government.
Although they were called copper, silver, and gold coins, to support large-scale use across all the world's safe zones, these coins weren't made of pure precious metals—they were actually various alloys.
Among them, copper coins were the least valuable, as they were not only cheaper to produce but also contained many impurities.
Generally speaking, the value of ten thousand copper coins was equivalent to one silver coin. And the value of one thousand silver coins was equivalent to one gold coin.
However, due to the low production cost of copper coins and the varying proportions of other metals added by mints in different regions, it usually took around twelve thousand copper coins to exchange for one silver coin.
For Liam now, a silver coin was like tens of millions of assets in his previous life—out of reach.
It seemed that these were the Sequence ability users gathering at this exit.
People wearing cold-proof suits were only a minority. Besides these more than a dozen, there were also thousands of ordinary people like Liam, wrapped up tightly, surrounding the area.
Liam felt confused—what exactly were these people doing here?
Hadn't he heard that only Sequence ability users gathered at the exits?
At that moment, two Sequence ability users wearing cold-proof suits took off their helmets, seemingly having completed their hunting mission and preparing to return.
And the hundreds of ordinary people around them immediately swarmed forward.
"Two sirs, would you like to rest for a while? We have excellent foot massages!"
"Two sirs, I have delicious dishes here!"
"I have a high-end apartment for you to stay in for free! As long as you agree to take a few photos with me!"
"Sir, my daughter isn't married yet. As soon as she saw how heroic you are, she decided she wouldn't marry anyone else!"
"Sir, do you want a wife? If you already have one, I can be your concubine—no need for a title!"
The crowd surged forward frantically, yet tacitly maintained a distance of more than a meter from the two Sequence ability users.
And the two Sequence ability users seemed accustomed to this scene—they didn't linger. In the end, they only chose a high-end restaurant and a comfortable hotel before leaving.
The owners of the two establishments that were chosen had excited red faces.
Watching everyone's reactions, Liam was dumbfounded.
He knew that Sequence ability users were revered in this world, but he had never imagined it would be to such an extent.
Ordinary people hoped to latch onto a Sequence ability user to escape their miserable fate and live in a more comfortable place.
They all struggled to achieve a class leap. Unfortunately, most of them would probably never succeed.
Thinking of this, Liam felt grateful to fate and once again strengthened his resolve.
"Heaven has given me a chance—I must seize it."
He tried to push through the crowd to get closer to the remaining more than a dozen Sequence ability users, but was immediately pushed away.
"Kid, get to the back of the line! What are you pushing for!"
Liam said: "I'm not here to find the Sequence ability users—I won't compete with you for business."
He only wanted to see if there were any discarded god remains nearby—he had no interest in the Sequence ability users themselves.
But no one believed his words.
As soon as Liam spoke, everyone around him laughed.
"Who are you fooling? Everyone who tries to push forward says the same thing."
Liam had no choice but to wait at the outermost edge.
The protective gate of the safe zone exit opened again and again, with Sequence ability users constantly entering and exiting. The number of ordinary people surrounding the area also grew fewer and fewer.
By evening, Liam had finally managed to get a position near the front.
But unlike everyone else, every time a Sequence ability user returned from outside the safe zone, he didn't pay attention to them. Instead, he focused on where they took the god remains.
They took out the remains and handed them over to the inspectors for verification. Liam didn't understand why all the remains were round.
In the end, all the round god remains were taken away by the inspectors nearby—not a single one did he manage to pick up.
Just as Liam thought he would get nothing today, another team returned from outside the safe zone. One of the Sequence ability users checked his spoils, then threw an ear covered with many worms onto the ground nearby.
"It must have fallen into my backpack during the fight and dirtied it." He complained.
Watching that ear covered with worms, Liam's eyes lit up—he planned to sneak over to pick it up when no one was looking.
However, a cleaner swept the ear into a dustpan and turned to leave.
What was going on?! Did the cleaner actually steal his opportunity?!
Unwilling to give up, he immediately followed the cleaner away from the safe zone exit.
The cleaner had no idea that someone was so interested in the garbage in his dustpan. He walked to a street corner and directly dumped the ear into a dirty trash can before walking away.
Liam watched the cleaner leave from his hiding place. Once the cleaner was gone, Liam stepped forward, planning to take the ear out of the trash can.
But just as he was about to approach, he saw what appeared to be an officer in uniform walking over. The officer glanced at the god remains in the trash can, then took out a notebook and recorded something.
Liam frowned: "Do they even record god remains in the trash can? Is this even considered garbage?"
But the officer from the administration didn't pay much attention—after finishing the recording, he walked away.
Once the officer was gone, Liam immediately ran over. He lifted the trash can lid, and a strong smell of blood hit his nose.
However, when he saw the scene inside the trash can, he froze.
It was filled with many god remains!!
Liam's eyes widened, and his heart began to race.
"This is... a feast fit for a glutton?!!"