CH 1.1

Shen Chi carefully avoided the street corner and saw no one before walking out.

It’s only four o’clock in the morning, so it’s normal for everyone to be at home at the end of December.

In December, there was still snow on the streets of Taiyuan that hadn’t completely melted in the last few days. He squinted and looked up at the gray sky and smiled coldly.

His current body did not have a keen sense of heat or cold at all. In fact, in a few years, this kind of weather would be a luxury for humans.

December 31.

The day of the end.

At this time, almost everyone is still asleep.

“Bang!”

Shen Chi did not hesitate to smash the glass of a small clothing store down the street, and as he expected, the alarm, which was only for decoration, did not ring at all.

During peacetime, stores with fake alarms could be found everywhere. He casually swept the rows of floor-to-ceiling glass store’s interior and didn’t even see a single fire extinguisher. Moreover, Shen Chi had observed that the camera hanging above is not powered at all.

Even if the camera had captured it, who would pay attention to the theft of a clothing store after today?

Feet in fine black boots stepped in.

Shen Chi stopped in front of the full-length mirror of this small clothing store.

The look in the mirror was no stranger to him. He was wearing a worn-out military jacket and a dark v-neck. He looked agile, handsome, and slender. But in reality, it seemed the whole body was low-key gorgeous, and even the accessories were incredibly sophisticated.

The eyebrows, in particular, were familiarly handsome and elegant, but the gentleness was gone, leaving only a cold indifference and a bit of gloom.

Anyone who had lived through fifteen years of the end of the world and three years of being sliced and studied in a research institute would never have that soft expression again.

Putting the Qian ji xia into his backpack, Shen Chi tried hard to smile before pulling out a not-so-stiff smile.

(T/N: Qian ji xia is a cosplay prop)

Once again, he’s still dressed as a tang with the game system and skills, but he’s no longer as naïve as he was.

The price of trust recently was too high, and behind the seemingly beautiful pursuit, there were actually many crises and difficulties.

So what if he had a game system, so what if he had game skills? His abilities were both a blessing and a curse. He was different from all those humans who had awakened their powers, and because of this difference, the high profile brought him endless despair.

Therefore, this time, he just needed to live his life quietly and never give his trust easily again.

He would never end up like that again, never!

The person in the mirror was still smiling. His smile gradually became more natural.

But it’s just a disguise. A decade or two in the end times, as long as you’re not too stupid, you will always do it.

He hid the headdress and tied it in a simple bundle with a black loop from the sales counter. Then, he put on a knit sweater, pants, a pair of faux calf leather boots from this little clothing store, and a gray trench coat that’s not too thick. After all, it’s winter, so there weren’t many thin clothes. But the reason Shen Chi came to this store was that there were some off-season discounts. He wrapped up some of his clothes, pants, and shoes that he could fit into his leather jacket, pants, and boots; in a thick canvas that was laid out on the counter, threw in all the leather gloves in the store, hesitated for a moment, and then opened and stuffed four or five down jackets in there. The pile of clothes was packed into a big bag, and with one hand, it was put into a game backpack that was invisible to the others.

He didn’t have a lot of compartments in his backpack for a single item of clothing, but if he were to pack a large bag, he would have a “bag of clothes” in his backpack, occupying only one compartment.

For this, Shen Chi was already quite familiar with it, and he had already learned to utilize the backpack to the fullest. After grabbing a few more pieces of the same large canvas, he finally took a durable-looking dark man’s cowhide bag off the wall, folded the canvas, and stuffed it in.

He stopped in front of the full-length mirror. In the dim light, the man in the mirror stood tall and beautiful. Even though he was tall, it was not really noticeable. He raised his collar. If he walked on the street, he would still have a look back, but it would not be too eye-catching. 

Silently recalling his previous life, he also passed through here. He foolishly wore that conspicuous dress in the middle of winter with a small half of his chest exposed and walked for so long around the street. How much attention had he attracted, and perhaps, since then, he had fallen into some people’s eyes?

He laughed at himself before lifting his feet and leaving.

Then Shen Chi used the same method to break into a market. Unfortunately, the market’s cameras were still in use. A white light flashed as he shattered the cameras with a pop.

The Tang Dynasty’s concealed weapons could be made in unlimited quantities. In fact, Shen Chi had the Tang Dynasty Piggy, which could make eight groups at once, and it was pretty much convenient.

Soon, Shen Chi’s backpack was filled with “a bag of spices” and “a bag of food”.

There was also a box of thermos cups, and he put the only dozen boxes of water and scattered mineral water in the market, both large and small bottles, into the largest kind of storage box sold in the market. A dozen or so boxes were packed, carefully tied with plastic ropes, and then the rest of the plastic ropes were thrown into the backpack so that the boxes tied together became a single unit.

He didn’t prepare too much because it’s not like you couldn’t find food in the end times. And sooner or later, you would have to get used to that kind of life. On the contrary, it was easy to become dependent since all he needed was a process of transition and adaptation. But the more water, the better, especially clean water, the better, of course. 

But not for himself.

Then there were stacks of plastic bags. There was no shortage of such things in the market. Kitchen knives are packed in a storage box. There were dozens of sets of various long and short knives, kitchen knives, and machetes scattered about. Stainless steel knives, forks, spoons, and chopsticks were also thrown in. 

Fortunately, he also found a few life jackets in the market’s special supplies section.

Finally, he broke into a children’s clothing store, but he didn’t know the size of the man he was now. So, he had to grab some of them, thinking that he should not be over ten by now. Shen Chi takes all the clothes and shoes of a child between the ages of about eight and thirteen or fourteen. He should be able to wear adult clothes when he gets older.

He looked at the watch he had picked up at the market counter. It was almost six o’clock.

Even in winter, it’s not too far from dawn.

He wore the watch on his wrist, then put the box of button batteries in his backpack.

There wasn’t much cash in the counters of the three stores, but the one in the market did have quite a few coins. He unceremoniously took a few rolls of them. The coins were all rolled up for a hundred, but it was only 700 yuan, they were thrown into a cowhide bag carried on one shoulder and while doing so also rolled away a few boxes of lighters at the counter.

In the last days, banknotes are a pile of waste paper, but coins are more useful. At least they are hard and not easily deformed, the edges are sharp. Metal is always better than paper.