The city buildings were completely covered in green.
Some building walls had cracked, and some were even slightly tilted. The sound of collapses echoed from a distance now and then.
A crashed plane lay in the middle of the road.
Not far behind it, a building had been cut in half.
Rusty steel bars were exposed at the broken edge.
This was the apocalypse...
Zhang Chen murmured to himself.
The world he had transmigrated to earlier was indeed too neat and tidy.
Now, this was the desolate and decaying end of the world. Just looking at this scene was enough to fill one with despair.
"Dad, what is the apocalypse?"
Xiao Bai asked curiously.
"The apocalypse is the end of the world, a world where human civilization has been destroyed or is on the verge of being destroyed!"
Zhang Chen explained.
"But... aren't we living just fine?"
Xiao Bai asked again, confused.
Zhang Chen was momentarily speechless.
Indeed, for Xiao Bai, she hadn't encountered an opponent that made her feel afraid since she was born.
In her eyes, this world was a giant playground.
Whether it was bugs or zombies, they were all toys to play with her.
Could such a world be called the end times?
Perhaps in her eyes, this world was the same as a playground to ordinary children!
Xiao Bai leaned against Zhang Chen's chest, kicking her little feet around randomly and humming an unknown song.
She probably learned it from her dance teacher.
Er Pang squinted his eyes, walking slowly on the street against the cold, damp wind.
Everything was lifeless...
"Stop for a moment!"
Zhang Chen gently patted Er Pang and suddenly said.
He saw a large supermarket by the roadside.
The supermarket's signboard was damaged, leaving only the word "Supermarket."
The glass display windows were covered in dust and dirt, like unearthed relics.
At the entrance, more than a dozen shopping carts of indiscernible color were scattered haphazardly. The metal frames were also covered in dirt and dust, with a dull, dark color.
"Let's go in and take a look!"
Zhang Chen said.
At the same time, he jumped down from Er Pang.
Er Pang had become much stronger recently.
In its enlarged state, it couldn't even fit through the large door of the supermarket.
It had to revert to its small form to enter.
"Er Pang, watch Xiao Bai. Don't let her run around!"
Zhang Chen instructed.
"Woof!"
Er Pang barked in response.
The two of them, along with the wolf, slowly walked into the supermarket.
As soon as they entered, a moldy smell wafted towards them, making it very unpleasant.
The light filtering through the entrance only illuminated about three to four meters inside; beyond that was darkness!
"Let's check the shelves!"
Zhang Chen said.
"Mmm~"
Xiao Bai took the lead, bouncing and running inside.
Er Pang barked and followed closely behind.
There were no zombies or any other sounds inside.
It was exceptionally quiet.
By the time Zhang Chen reached the shelf area, Xiao Bai was already fiddling with a doll in the toy section.
The doll was still stored in its packaging, so it was relatively clean.
Some snacks that hadn't been taken were scattered in the snack aisle.
Several bags of puffed snacks were also strewn on the ground.
They were all covered in a thick layer of dust.
Zhang Chen picked up a bag of potato chips and gently brushed off the dust.
Then he carefully checked the production date: July 5, 2012...
Shelf life: 3 years.
Huh?
Zhang Chen remembered that almost all the food he saw when he first transmigrated to this world had a very long shelf life.
Shelf lives of 10 or 20 years were common.
Yet, this bag of potato chips only had a shelf life of 3 years?
Zhang Chen searched the potato chips in his storage space.
There was no brand the same as the one in his hand.
He couldn't compare them.
However, the potato chips in his storage space had a minimum shelf life of 15 years, with no items having such a short shelf life of 3 years.
Zhang Chen applied a little force and tore open the bag.
Pfft!
A strong, pungent odor emanated from it.
The potato chips inside had turned dark brown.
Even without knowing the current date, just by looking at the color of these chips, Zhang Chen knew that this bag of food had expired!
Past its 3-year shelf life?
Zhang Chen found it almost unbelievable!
This meant that this world had already entered the third year since the outbreak of the apocalypse?!
A month after transmigrating, the world had changed by 3 years?!
Heh heh...
Ugh...
From the grain section not far from the shelves, the low roars of zombies could be heard.
Zhang Chen slowly walked towards the source of the sound.
He saw that the shelves that originally sold bulk rice, millet, and beans were now covered in a carpet of red, mushroom-like growth.
They seemed alive, spreading to the surrounding shelves.
They had even pierced through the plastic packaging bags, extending their roots into the bags and absorbing nutrients from the food inside.
In the middle of this red carpet, four zombies were stuck.
Their legs were tightly wrapped by the red carpet.
Countless tendrils had pierced into the zombies' flesh, greedily absorbing their energy and nutrients.
Further inside, there were seven or eight zombie skeletons that had been drained dry.
They had been hollowed out from the inside.
Their eye sockets and blood vessels were filled with red mushrooms.
They looked like humanoid flower pots, eerie and terrifying.
Hiss... hiss...
The red mushrooms seemed to sense Zhang Chen's presence.
On the ground and shelves, the extending tendrils slowly converged towards Zhang Chen.
For plants or fungi, this kind of movement was already very fast.
But for living organisms, they crawled slower than snails.
Zhang Chen took a few steps back.
A minute later, the red mushrooms had just covered the spot where Zhang Chen had been standing.
Then they continued to slowly spread towards Zhang Chen's direction.
At this moment, a line of prompts appeared next to the red mushrooms:
[Red Soil Fungus: Actively devours all organic matter and absorbs its biological energy. During the process of devouring, it continuously strengthens and evolves!]
[Weaknesses: Afraid of fire and energy attacks; physical attacks are ineffective!]
Zhang Chen took out the half-bucket of gasoline he had left from last time and poured it onto the Red Soil Fungus.
Then he struck a match and threw it onto the gasoline.
In an instant, a pale blue, almost transparent flame ignited.
These Red Soil Fungi were very flammable.
The flames instantly spread across the entire fungal mat.
A raging fire burned.
Zhang Chen watched as the Red Soil Fungus slowly turned black and withered...
Until this entire patch of Red Soil Fungus was engulfed by the flames, it then turned into a wisp of smoke and dissipated into the air.
Ding! Congratulations, you have automatically collected, obtaining [Energy Crystal Core] *20 + 16 (80% talent bonus), [Semi-ripe Mushroom] *3, [Biological Energy Degradation Enzyme] *1, [Supply Crate Indicator] *1!