Chapter 35: Line Up! Sit Down! Class Begins!

“To be honest, I don’t know the details myself. After all, everything happened before I was born, so I can only recount what the textbooks say…” Ye Chao finally began to explain world history to Alpha Ji.

But he couldn’t just launch into it without reason; otherwise, it would seem suspicious, as though he had ulterior motives. So he took the opportunity of visiting the graves.

He wasn’t particularly adept socially, but his intelligence was high.

If there had been no prompt for favorability changes, with so many variables in the equation, perhaps even now he would still be oblivious, unwittingly pushing Alpha Ji’s favor into the realm of hatred.

But now there was a prompt.

Even if the saying “never try to guess a woman’s heart” holds true, someone who can ace seven cultural subjects should be able to handle one course in emotional intelligence. Even if he doesn’t truly understand deep down, pure calculation is almost enough. Intelligence can compensate for emotional intelligence—it’s not just a myth; that’s what game theory is.

From this perspective, the emotional intelligence support program really lives up to its name.

“The history books say that the greatest impact of the catastrophe on humanity was disease! Viruses and bacteria causing colds, flu, malaria, and various sexually transmitted infections mutated and evolved at unimaginable speeds. Research into vaccines, antibiotics, and bacteriophages became almost meaningless…”

“Disease spread across the globe, claiming the lives of thirty percent of humanity in just two years. This era was called the Age of Plague, lasting from 2024 to 2026.”

Microbes developing resistance is a huge issue in medicine, even in normal times, let alone when the rate of evolution suddenly skyrockets a millionfold.

Vaccines developed overnight became obsolete by morning—the pathogens had already adapted, and that’s no exaggeration, perhaps even understated—after all, people are used to sleeping overnight…

Facing such disaster, humanity only lost thirty percent of its population in two years? Remarkably resilient.

That was Alpha Ji’s immediate impression.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Gun Gun nodded vigorously while climbing a tree, as if he fully understood what Ye Chao was saying.

“The second impact of the catastrophe was the grand evolution of fungi, microbes, plankton, and all organisms with short life cycles, such as insects.”

“Garbage heaps became a paradise for life, sewers were frequently blocked by explosive reproduction, and the biological communities in oceans and rivers underwent dramatic changes. Red tides, green tides, and golden tides shifted from seasonal disasters to regional, normalized phenomena… Ships struggled to navigate, water transport was cut off, and humanity could no longer easily obtain food from the water.”

“But, compared to the uselessness of plastic, this wasn’t much…”

Alpha Ji nodded; this part had been explained earlier.

Lignin took fungi and insects hundreds of millions of years to evolve the ability to digest, but plastic succumbed in less than two years. That was the difference between reaching for the stars or not!

And what were the consequences?

Instant noodle packaging, bottled water, chocolate wafer wrappers—all became biodegradable.

In previous catastrophes, you could find a surviving supermarket or a doomsday patient’s stockpile, and have food and water for months or even a year; in this world’s catastrophe, similar items would rot, spoil, and disappear within months… Terrifying, isn’t it?

The clothes you wear—anything with polymer organic materials might quickly be decomposed and corroded. Sure, it’s an excuse to wear new clothes, but still—terrifying, isn’t it?

The roads connecting cities, asphalt surfaces could be eaten;

Cars connecting cities, tires, paint, rubber shock absorbers… many parts could be eaten;

The energy connecting cities, the insulation coating of power lines could be eaten;

Another kind of energy connecting cities—petroleum and natural gas—also partly edible;

Even the networks connecting people—though radio signals can’t be eaten, routers, cables, fibers, even the plastic shells of computer monitors and towers were edible…

Just like the “antiques” students dug up for exams, though they could be restored, they wouldn’t last long.

You’d either have to modify things, turning carbon plastics into silicon plastics, or rely on fantasy equipment like the F91; otherwise, even if you acquired something, you’d have to use your own power, or hire others, to continually maintain and repair day after day, year after year.

The uselessness of plastic almost severed all connections between cities—terrifying, isn’t it?

It meant the end of transportation, energy unable to be transferred, cities isolated, and the modern interconnected society regressing by several generations!

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Alongside the collapse of the transport system came the wild, unchecked proliferation and evolution of all kinds of feral creatures!

Take the forest the dog squad just passed through, only a kilometer from the city—already fraught with perils at every step due to evolution. One can only imagine what it’s like deeper in the woods—terrifying, isn’t it?

“This era is called the Age of Islands, from 2025 to the present.”

“Then the third impact of the catastrophe was the mutation of wheat, corn, potatoes, and most livestock animals, leading to the food crisis!”

“By then, scientists had realized that the catastrophe was largely caused by extraordinary biological evolution. The rate and efficiency of evolution were closely tied to reproductive cycles! Starting with viruses and bacteria, then fungi, insects, and microbes… always the same.”

Alpha Ji immediately understood: Ninety percent of human food crops are annuals; animals humans eat usually don’t live beyond a year—chickens and ducks live a little over a month, geese two or three months, pigs, cows, and sheep, under human fattening, often don’t live more than a year.

“So, even food can’t be raised anymore?”

“If only it was just hard to raise…” Ye Chao sighed, watching Gun Gun climb the tree and skillfully pluck stacks of white printer paper and wood panels, continuing, “At first, yes, it was hard to raise, but with human technology, they managed to cope, barely. Until later, two diseases became more common…”

“One was called Beastification, making people irritable, lose rationality, attack others, eventually lose memory, skin change color, and develop fur and other animal traits, completely turning into beasts.”

Alpha Ji’s first reaction: “Hulk, oh, beastmen?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“The other disease was Plantification, causing human bodily functions to slow and stiffen, ultimately losing language, movement, even consciousness. But they didn’t die—if you buried them in soil, fertilized, watered, and sunbathed them, after a while, they’d take root and sprout…”

And become a tree…

That tree—was it really his father?

Alpha Ji felt her scalp tingling; her worldview shattered into pieces.

She’d heard many lectures, but never one so bizarre, so terrifying…

Ye Chao’s voice was faint: “Beastification and Plantification began affecting people in 2026, growing ever more common, peaking around 2030. In some cities, reportedly over half the population was afflicted.”

“At first, people thought it was a new wave of infectious disease, the plague era returning, so they tried isolation and researched cures. Some said it was a zombie virus, a punishment from above, leading to the formation of disaster cults and widespread chaos.”

“Only years later did scientists discover that Beastification and Plantification weren’t infectious diseases, but toxins produced universally after biological evolution. Animals secreted toxins causing Beastification, plants synthesized toxins causing Plantification.”

Life finds a way.

With strong survival instincts, and evolution sped up a millionfold, only stronger instincts emerged.

When countless lives, all deprived by the same animal—humans—the only way out seemed to be fighting back against humanity.

So, the more an animal was eaten, the more it couldn’t be eaten anymore; the more a crop was consumed, the more anti-human toxins it developed… Eating them caused irreversible genetic damage.

Ah, there was a pre-catastrophe novel about this, “Cardholder of the Apocalypse” or something…

In any case, this is how it became.

Despite living in tall castles and forging nano-foam alloys that couldn’t be made before the catastrophe, people could only eat soy sauce-soaked dried fruit, artificial eggs that looked like vomit, artificial meat that looked more like maggots than meat…

Alpha Ji’s thoughts wandered—if that was the case, grain, vegetables, even birds and beasts… The teachers at school had caught plenty along the way.

If they couldn’t be eaten, why catch so many? For exercise, defending the nation? For revenge against Earth and society, to feast eyes if not stomach?

“They’re not for humans to eat…” Ye Chao explained, and Alpha Ji understood.

Anti-human genes affected only humans, not other animals. That’s why dachshunds became mammoth dogs, and fat orange cats became tigers…

“This era is called the Age of Famine, from the 2030s to the present… And then, the last and only era that could be considered friendly to humanity—the Extraordinary Era.”

The so-called catastrophe was an inexplicable phenomenon causing abnormal biological evolution.

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The shorter the reproductive cycle, the faster the impact; the longer, the slower.

Humanity, undoubtedly one of Earth’s longest-lived species, received the benefits last.

Of course, there were earlier benefits…

For instance, during the Age of Plague, viruses and bacteria took many lives, but their abnormal evolution allowed humans to develop antibodies faster.

Through technology, antibodies were purified from immune individuals, or simple blood transfusions were used… This saved countless lives.

But that was almost cheating, not a true benefit.

The real evolutionary reward was universal—every creature on Earth, from viruses to livestock, received it; there was no reason for humans alone to miss out.

Humans, or long-lived species in general, including some short-lived species that evolved longevity, ultimately received—superpowers. Not martial arts, magic, immortality, but real extraordinary abilities!

“At first, only a few gained them, and the process was arduous and dangerous, even fatal, causing societal upheaval.”

“But gradually, more and more people acquired abilities. By 2042, eighteen years after the catastrophe, a consensus was reached—the so-called Extraordinary Consensus: those from the old era didn’t count, but every new human born after the catastrophe had the potential to activate extraordinary abilities.”

“From then on, humanity entered the New Order Era…”

All right, I understand why your father became a tree, but what I really want to know is—why did his tree grow screws and nuts, wood panels and paper silicon crystals, even wood panels with clearly drilled holes matching the screws and nuts?

It’s like IKEA furniture—just assemble and…

Alpha Ji knew her thoughts were bizarre, but she couldn’t help it! Not to mention those trees growing sausages, chocolate, instant noodles, and vegetables…

“We’re almost there, don’t rush,” Ye Chao glanced sideways at Alpha Ji, making her virtual temper flare, nearly dropping favorability.

She forced herself to endure: For your father’s sake!

Ye Chao continued, “The so-called extraordinary means willpower overcoming rules, whether physical laws or otherwise. So, whether it’s failed evolution causing strange diseases, or Beastification or Plantification, there are always exceptions.”

“Some people, though beastified, retain human reason; some, though plantified, can still move; and others, like my dad… They’re called the Obsessed.” Ye Chao looked at the magical, almost dark fairytale forest.

So that’s it!

The greatest crisis in apocalypse survival is lack of food, so Obsessed trees most commonly grow food.

But some people’s obsessions are unique, so their trees grow unusual things—ingots of copper and iron, gears, pliers, hammers, or like Ye’s library…

“The catastrophe was terrifying, but over the years, humanity wasn’t idle.”

“Plague Era, Island Era, Famine Era, Extraordinary Era—these are the biological classifications based on the catastrophe; historical progress divides things differently.”

“For example, from 2026 to 2029, historically it’s called the Great Infrastructure Era. With worsening health, environmental, transportation, and plastic crises, nations used their last influence to launch a series of construction plans.”

“Like Jiang City, the hundred-meter-low downtown was completed during this phase, and such cities weren’t rare, nor was this layout unique…”

“Some of what we eat now, like artificial beef, was cloned from animal embryo cells taken from the early apocalypse gene banks…”

“My dad participated in the Apocalypse Library Project, aiming to catalog and preserve all books and records—to keep the flame of human civilization alive. He became a teacher later, but originally was a librarian at a Yifu building.”

Ye Chao looked proud, clearly proud of his father’s profession.

Alpha Ji: …

Understood. She finally understood.

But… she didn’t quite know how to comment.