Time passed by like fine sand slipping through the fingers, and in the blink of an eye, three days had already passed since Cyrus regressed.
During these three days, he didn't do anything major but just walked around the city, not as a wide-eyed tourist but as someone in deep nostalgia.
He walked through familiar streets and alleys, went to places he used to visit often: cafés, bookstores, and plazas with fountains.
Everyday, laughter and music filled the streets at every corner; couples walked down the road hand in hand, children played in parks, splashing water, their laughter full of innocence and joy.
The atmosphere buzzed with excitement, indulgence, and blissful ignorance.
Whenever Cyrus looked at these sights, he couldn't shake the thought from his mind:
'They don't know.'
In another two months, this beautiful city will descend into chaos; these very streets, filled with joy and laughter, would soon be filled with screams.
These carefree souls, lost in their youthful indulgence, would transform into scavengers, predators, or worse: zombies.
Cyrus just stood there at the side, watching them laugh; he himself even managed to smile, but it never touched his heart.
However, for the past three nights, he couldn't sleep much; the comfort of his little bed in the cramped apartment gave him little peace.
Just the faintest noise,a creak above, a dog barking down the alleyway, or any sort of disturbance,would jolt him awake, his heart racing and eyes wide open like a predator.
This was the muscle memory response of ten years in hell,a decade spent sleeping with one eye open, a weapon always by his side for any hint of attack.
And also, during these three days, he did more than roam the city; he made some plans, and using a huge amount of cash, he bought ten gigantic warehouse facilities far from the hustle and bustle of the city.
These warehouse facilities are quite far from the city center, a location where one in their right mind wouldn't dare to go at all.
To Cyrus, that only made them perfect.
Inside his cramped apartment, Cyrus is currently lying on the bed, staring blankly at the old ceiling above him, his thoughts drifting into an unknown space.
But just then, Noah's cold voice came, pulling him back from his reverie.
"Administrator! The Level One Noah Ark construction has been completed."
Cyrus's eyes immediately lit up as he sprang to his feet, his heartbeat accelerated by a few degrees. "Noah, what did you say?" Cyrus asked again.
"The Level One Noah Ark construction has been completed," Noah repeated, still in its cold voice.
For a moment, there was silence in the small room as a rare smile appeared on his face.
Without any hesitation, Cyrus immediately put on his hoodie and quickly left the dimly lit room.
He descended the old stairs that creaked and groaned as if they would fall apart at any moment and crossed the cracked pavement to a battered car parked beneath a flickering streetlight.
He twisted the key and started the car; the engine groaned to life, letting out coughs with black fumes coming out from the exhaust pipe that almost choked Cyrus.
He quickly drove away from the chaos of Apex City, away from its glittering and magnificent skyscrapers and neon lights as he headed towards the quiet, desolate outskirts.
As he ventured further, cars became scarcer; street lamps flickered in and out one by one as if swallowed by the night.
After fifty minutes of driving,Cyrus was completely out of the city; only the distant vibrant neon lights could be seen.
After another few minutes of driving, he pulled beside a riverbank. He stopped the car and stepped out; the cool night air brushed against his skin as he inhaled deeply.
He looked across the river with narrowed eyes; all he saw was open land and three hills: two on both sides of the plain and one at the back, just as what was shown previously on the 3D map.
But he knew that this was just an illusion.
Cyrus cleared his throat, his voice filled with anticipation as he muttered, "Noah, turn off the cloaking device."
"Yes, Administrator, commencing cloaking device removal."
What happened next made Cyrus sigh at the power of Noah, as he was left quite shocked.
The scene across the river rippled as if reality was about to break. The land fractured, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading across the air as fragments of something that looked like shattered glass fell off.
What appeared was a steel behemoth lying dormant on the ground, a colossal structure with metallic walls hundreds of meters high, with veins of glowing blue light pulsing through its surface.
Across the river stretched a huge bridge, its silver surface glimmering under the moonlight.
For a moment, Cyrus seemed to forget to breathe as he stood there with his eyes wide open, looking at the giant behemoth in front of him.
He quickly came back to his senses and swallowed hard, his lips curling up. "Good work, Noah," he muttered under his breath.
He quickly got back into the car and drove onto the bridge; the bridge was simply huge, to the extent that ten buses could drive side by side without any problem and still have space to spare.
As he slowly approached the colossal gates of the Ark, he felt an overwhelming sense of pressure and insignificance wash over him, and he only felt this kind of feeling from those Corpse Kings in his previous life.
He felt like an ant standing before a giant.
The gates were simply gigantic, and the surface was adorned with intricate geometric patterns glowing softly with blue circuits, and above the gates were three words written boldly: NOAH ARK 001.
Immediately as the car reached the gates, they automatically opened, and a loud sound rumbled through the area as both doors slowly opened.
An intense blue light spilled out.
Cyrus immediately covered his eyes with his hands; the light engulfed him completely, bathing the entire valley in a blue glow.
Luckily, this place was far away from human habitation, and Noah also concealed this place very well; otherwise, just this intense light alone would spell trouble for him.
Finally, when Cyrus's eyes adjusted to the dazzling light, what came into view made his already calm heart pump wildly in his chest.
His eyes were wide open as he looked at the true scene in front of him with his mouth wide open.