As they burst through the gate, the starlight scattered down, leaving Zhou Bai and Alice stunned.
When they looked around at the scenery, joy appeared in their eyes.
What spread out before them was an endless starry sky, beneath which lay a vast green plain.
"This doesn't look like the end of the world at all," Zhou Bai thought, startled. Coupled with the rescue team's broadcast they had heard earlier on the radio, he clutched Alice tightly and continued to rush outside.
"Is this the sky?" Alice exclaimed, looking up in awe, her face filled with enchantment.
However, after just over two hundred meters, Zhou Bai felt a slight pain in his head, and the power of the Primordial Spirit receded into his consciousness like a tide, causing both him and Alice to collapse on the ground.
"What's happening?" Zhou Bai tried to activate the Primordial Spirit's power again, but he felt sharp pains in his brain as if the power had been drained and couldn't spread out.
Alice, lying on the ground beside him, tried to get up, but her body felt weak, and she fell back down.
Alice's face turned pale as she clutched her chest weakly. "I... my chest hurts, Zhou Bai. What's happening? What's going on?"
Zhou Bai's expression changed, and he instinctively touched his chest, feeling the same pain, though it wasn't as severe as Alice's.
"I told you, Earth has reached the end of the world. The outside of the base is no longer suitable for human survival."
Upon hearing the man's voice, Zhou Bai looked up and saw Dr. Zhuang, covered head to toe in a black combat suit, walking towards them slowly. He sighed, "To humans, the current Earth is like an apocalypse. The vital energy of heaven and earth has been completely polluted. If you stay outside for more than half an hour, you'll die."
"Come back with me. Only the base's protective measures can prevent your bodies from being invaded by the polluted vital energy."
Zhou Bai, clutching his chest in shock, looked at the increasingly weak Alice on the ground, her eyes becoming unfocused. "How could this happen?"
Dr. Zhuang sighed, gathered both Zhou Bai and Alice with his Primordial Spirit's power, and began slowly walking towards the base entrance.
Zhou Bai, carried back without any resistance, was still quickly thinking through the sequence of events in his mind.
'The chest pain in the diary... just like ours... Is it because we came outside the base?'
Zhou Bai still hadn't figured out many things and looked at Dr. Zhuang, asking, "Ban Du... did he come outside too?"
Dr. Zhuang glanced surprisingly at Zhou Bai. "You're very perceptive. Ban Du stole the electronic card and feared the outside might be dangerous. So he planned to go out alone first to check, and if it wasn't dangerous, he would bring Alice out next."
At this point, Dr. Zhuang couldn't help but sigh, "My recent research was at a critical moment, and I didn't notice Ban Du's actions in time. When I found him outside, he had already been out there for over an hour. Even though I tried everything, I couldn't heal him."
Zhou Bai asked, "Can Alice still be saved?"
Dr. Zhuang replied, "You two were only outside for a short time. You'll be fine."
Zhou Bai asked, "Why did you let us out? With your power, you should have been able to stop us."
Dr. Zhuang said, "Since you've already mastered the power of the Primordial Spirit, you have the right to see the situation outside with your own eyes. Otherwise, with your power, you'd keep wanting to go out and fight me. That would be troublesome. I can't watch over you all the time."
The white cat in Zhou Bai's mind shouted, "So he's a good guy! You wronged him. If it weren't for him saving you, you might be dead."
Zhou Bai asked, "Who told me to escape just now?"
The white cat responded, "I'm just a cat! You listened to a cat? How embarrassing!"
Zhou Bai said, "And you dare to talk! Where is this place? Why am I here? What is all this about?"
The white cat said weakly, "I don't know... I lost my memory. All I remember is waking up here."
Zhou Bai said angrily, "Lost memory? Didn't you say I'd know everything if I rescued you?!"
The white cat replied, "I lied. Otherwise, why would you rush to save a cat?"
Zhou Bai said, "You stupid cat!!"
Their conversation happened in Zhou Bai's mind, unheard by others.
Dr. Zhuang brought them through the underground base's gate with his Primordial Spirit's power. Seeing Zhou Bai's agitation, he said, "Don't worry. You were only outside for a few minutes. Rest a bit, and you'll recover. Especially you, with the Primordial Spirit's power, you have higher resistance."
Zhou Bai suddenly remembered something and curiously asked, "Did you notice us in the cafeteria? Did you let us in on purpose?"
Dr. Zhuang's steps paused, puzzled, "What cafeteria?"
Zhou Bai quickly told Dr. Zhuang about being pinched in the neck in the cafeteria.
Dr. Zhuang's face showed a mix of surprise and uncertainty. "It wasn't me. I was in the underground lab all evening..."
"Huh?" Zhou Bai asked in confusion, "Then who was it?"
Dr. Zhuang didn't respond, his face growing more serious. After returning Zhou Bai and Alice to their rooms, he hurriedly left.
When Dr. Zhuang and Zhou Bai returned to the base, a black mist swept across the sky above the base's entrance, spiraled briefly, then vanished.
Zhou Bai returned to his room, recalling the day's events, his mind boiling like water, unable to calm down.
"The apocalypse... how annoying..."
Hearing a soft purring sound, Zhou Bai turned and saw Elsa curled up on the bed, sleeping soundly.
"It's great to be so carefree."
Zhou Bai looked at his auxiliary system again, eagerly asking, "Dead cat, can I use the auxiliary system now?"
"Stop calling me that. I have a name. Call me Christina. The cutest, most important cat in the world... no, girl!"
Christina, residing in Zhou Bai's consciousness, looked annoyed.
She couldn't remember many things from the past, only that upon waking, she connected with Zhou Bai. She only remembered she had to give the auxiliary system and the gemstone to a destined person, which was Zhou Bai.
Christina said, "Let me out first! Your mind is full of dirty stuff, it's disgusting."
Zhou Bai blushed. With a thought, a puff of white mist emerged from his forehead, gradually forming into a white cat.
Christina looked at her body in surprise, "Haha, I'm out!"
Zhou Bai willed it, and the white cat turned back into a mist and returned to his forehead. Then, with another thought, she came out again.
After repeating this several times, Zhou Bai understood the process. He could control whether the white cat stayed inside or came out.