A spring rain had just passed over Fangcheng in Nanhai West Circuit, and the mountains fifty kilometers outside the city were soaked.
Lu Zhao did not like rain much. Whenever it rained, the mountain roads became very dangerous, especially on the steep Ant Ridge, where heavy rainfall had carved out many hidden channels.
If someone fell down there, probably only a superhuman could survive.
Rain also caused him insomnia.
Lu Zhao suffered from severe sleep disorder; even the faintest sound could keep him from falling asleep.
Ding-dong.
A text message popped up on his phone. Lu Zhao saw the birthday greeting from his mother.
“Already twenty-six.”
Lu Zhao felt dazed.
Today was his twenty-sixth birthday, yet he had lived for fifty-two years.
Perhaps good people were rewarded: in his previous life, he had been a narcotics officer who died at twenty-six while capturing drug traffickers, and he had transmigrated into a world that was at once similar to his old one and utterly different.
This world was largely similar to his previous one, with some small differences. People spoke Chinese, and there were the Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties.
It was during the Jiajing era of the Ming, when the Holy Roman Empire still existed, when France had not yet adopted the raised-hand salute, when steam had just appeared, when the First Industrial Revolution had not yet taken root, and Britain was still a second-rate European power.
Then, in lunar year 2866, the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing became an immortal.
The next year, the Ming Dynasty fell, and the realm fell into chaos.
The small difference was the existence of supernatural power. The rulers of every dynasty had been powerful superhumans.
This power was called divine power.
Superhumans could not achieve immortality, but divine power could be inherited. After each powerful individual died, their remains would yield an object resembling a sarira. It might be a treasure orb, a jade seal, or a knife, spear, sword, or halberd.
Historical records from the Spring and Autumn period state: “The divine hides in the marrow; the spirit condenses into bone. Its markings resemble the River Chart and Luo Writing; its substance is like the cold jade of Kunshan.”
The objects that carried the inheritance of divine power were collectively called fate bones.
Developing one's life force allowed a person to absorb fate bones and gain supernatural power. A small number of people also awakened spontaneously.
By the time Lu Zhao was born, it was already the modern era. His family were farmers in Nanhai West Circuit. His father had served in the military and worked in the city after being discharged; his mother was a textile worker. Their property consisted only of a two-story house and two mu of land, and their annual income could reach 300,000 to 400,000.
The nation in this world was immensely prosperous, so he benefited from it too. In a worker family, one earner could support five people, and if both spouses worked, they could live a moderately comfortable life.
After the Great Catastrophe, the economy had regressed fifty years in only a decade, and a monthly salary of 3,000 was common.
Lu Zhao had also graduated from university. He had returned to his hometown as a locally trained graduate and become a border patrol officer.
After four years on the job, he was now the platoon leader of a reinforced platoon at an outpost, holding the rank of lieutenant.
His daily work was like that of a fire lookout. He spent most of his time patrolling the mountains, except he was not watching for fires but for demon beasts crossing the forest.
That day, he and Liu Qiang were returning from a shift rotation at the outpost.
“Be careful. Don't fall into a ditch.”
Lu Zhao warned the trainee following behind him, Liu Qiang, a twenty-two-year-old probationary officer.
Liu Qiang was the nephew of Lu Zhao's superior and had been specially assigned to Lu Zhao's command because mountain patrols were dangerous.
Lu Zhao was considered the strongest at the border station, so following him provided a basic guarantee of safety.
That day, they were returning from their shift rotation at the outpost deep in the old mountains.
Liu Qiang was holding his phone and contacting the police situation center.
“Brother Lu, I just got word that a fugitive may be hiding in our mountain. What should we do?”
“What fugitive?”
“An earth-type superhuman. He killed someone in Lincheng.”
Liu Qiang's face showed fear. “We won't run into him, will we?”
Lu Zhao did not even blink. “Don't worry about it. If we run into him, we can count it as merit.”
He was also a superhuman. His ability was telekinesis; within a radius of 1,000 meters, he could command forty grams as easily as if moving his own arm.
It was a high-risk divine ability on record, so entering or leaving prefectural cities, the capital, and similar places required reporting.
The two walked along the mountain path, their rain boots slapping into the mud with 'pa-pa-pa' sounds. This kind of sticky road was actually the most slippery. The worst injury he had suffered as a border patrol officer had come from slipping on the road and falling into a hidden drainage channel.
“If I catch the fugitive, I should be able to become a regular officer directly, right?”
Before Liu Qiang had even seen the person's shadow, he had already started fantasizing.
His life-force development was only 9 points, making him an insignificant superhuman. To be formally established as an armed police soldier required at least 10 points of life force, that is, first-order superhuman status.
Life-force development was like educational qualifications: in combat positions, first order was required to become a junior officer, second order to become a field officer, third order to approach senior colonel, and fourth order was a mandatory requirement for a general officer.
Lu Zhao was at 35 points, the highest in the entire border station.
“Your uncle is the Duty Brigade Captain, the third-ranking figure in the station. If you endure a few more years, you'll be made regular.”
Lu Zhao reminded him, “Train diligently lately. Don't let the assessment fail you because your life force falls short. If you can get 11 points, you'll basically pass for sure.”
“If I had 11 points of life force, I'd go to a big city like Cangwu City. Only an idiot would stay here being battered by wind and rain and bitten by mosquitoes.”
Like many small-town youths, Liu Qiang was full of longing for big cities.
Then he changed the subject and asked, “I heard from my uncle that Brother Lu graduated from the Imperial Capital Academy. Why are you still staying here?”
What a tactless greenhorn.
Lu Zhao smiled without anger and took the rifle from his shoulder, releasing the safety.
Liu Qiang was startled. Before he could beg for mercy, he heard the grass in the distance begin to shake violently.
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
As if he had expected it, Lu Zhao raised his rifle and aimed at the distant bushes, moving the muzzle steadily and slowly.
A black shadow flew past quickly, approaching them in a zigzag from left to right.
It seemed to know a gun was aimed at it and could predict the line of fire and where the bullets would land.
Shocked, Liu Qiang shouted, “Brother Lu, something is running toward us!”
Life-force development was essentially evolution, and the endpoint of evolution was called a god.
Every dynasty would produce an ancient god. They were symbols of a dynasty's prosperity and also the beginning of its fall.
After a dynasty fell, the ancient god would exist in the form of a special biosphere. The creatures born and bred within these biospheres were called demons.
Twenty years ago, the number of demon beasts suddenly exploded. Countless never-before-seen demon beasts emerged from somewhere unknown and knocked humanity off its position as the world's overlord.
Outside Shenzhou, the land had already become a paradise for demon beasts. Humans could only build city-states and eke out a miserable existence amid the ruins of the old era.
Shenzhou was the last pure land that belonged solely to humanity.
Lu Zhao's father and elder brother had died in the Catastrophe twelve years ago. Now only he and his mother, who had heart disease, were left.