The edge of the safe zone suffocated with stagnation.
Crumbling streets, numb crowds—even education, the Coalition Government's most valued pursuit, had become a stagnant pool. Ju'an School's senior curriculum still peddled dull histories of ancient human glory and obsolete scientific theories. Such knowledge might have been valuable before the apocalypse, but now, it meant nothing.
There was only one path to escape this rot: awakening Sequence abilities.
Yet Ju'an School offered almost no Sequence-related courses. In this impoverished fringe of the safe zone, Sequence users were nearly extinct. How could ordinary teachers instruct what they didn't understand?
Qin Siyang sat blank-eyed in class. He knew the Coalition Government must have established Sequence training programs—they just hadn't reached this forgotten corner. "Knowledge gap, no future," he muttered.
The rise of Sequence users would spawn industries and careers. Even ordinary students could secure better jobs by studying related fields. But Ju'an School's limited resources doomed its students to narrow paths: claw for meager college quotas through standardized exams, or pray their ancestral graves miraculously produced a Sequence awakening. For five years, those graves had stayed stubbornly quiet.
Ranking around 100th in his grade, Qin Siyang stood lightyears away from qualifying for Coalition academies. "No point struggling. Just coast," he scoffed, abandoning futile efforts.
At lunch and dinner, he frantically stuffed his backpack with provisions for the weekend. "If I camp at the safe zone's exit, maybe I'll scavenge deity remains." A flicker of hope ignited.
Returning home, Qin Siyang showered in icy water and collapsed onto his bed.
"At dawn, I'll stake out the safe zone border," he whispered, gaze hardening. "Sequence abilities are my only way out."
Closing his eyes, he envisioned glittering fragments of fallen deities. "One piece. Just one, and I'll grow strong enough to escape this hellhole."
He didn't know a gluttonous feast awaited him.