Transforming Succubus: Almost Doomsday

The road had no visible end.

When Zhou Baiyu took his first step, the scene on the road changed.

In the eyes of the people in area A, Jiang Xianwu took the first step and stood on the second-tier step.

But for Zhou Baiyu, who truly stepped onto the Path of Ascension, it was as if he had entered the first world.

On the endless road, the scene of a city destroyed by the apocalypse appeared.

At the very center of the scene, there stood a pair of twin brothers. They began to run in entirely different directions, moving farther and farther away from each other, never to meet again.

They had grown up in a refugee shelter in Linxiang, originally intended as reserve food for the Seamstresses.

The Seamstresses would raise some children, allowing humanity to keep breeding. The children born, if they manifested a special trait during their growth, would be prepared by the Seamstresses as ingredients.

But in one particular year, all because a corrupt entity known as number 92 suddenly rose to power, that corrupt entity named Bai Ling exposed the truth of the Seamstresses.

Many people chose to continue wallowing under the rule of the Seamstresses, while many others decided to leave that cannibalistic hell.

And so the brothers left. They embarked on a journey through the apocalypse.

They headed towards Songjiang, where it was said that in its seaport, there was a colossal cruise ship designed to evade the apocalypse, like an ark.

They longed to see that cruise ship.

The older brother was born only a few minutes before his sibling, but those few minutes seemed to be his eternal advantage.

Along the way, with the older brother's judgment, his agile skills, and his special trait—Death Illusion—they managed to survive the perilous escape and finally arrived in Songjiang.

Then one day, they encountered a deeply corrupted creature.

The scene revealed by Death Illusion... was not good.

The brothers had to decide: one of them must lure away the creatures that seemed like mutant giant mantises, to let the other survive.

Realizing this, the older brother sighed deeply:

"Little one, let's see who can run faster. I'll take the long route, and you the short. Haven't you always wanted to beat me just once?"

The younger brother was actually as tall and strong as the older, but being born a few minutes later, he became the younger brother, with a constant desire to compete with his older sibling.

"It's your word, if you lose, I get to be the older brother."

"Agreed, keep running along that road, head towards the beach, and don't stop before you get there. Don't run too slow, I... will wait for you at the finish line."

"Goodbye, little one."

That was the brothers' last promise.

For over a decade, they had competed countless times.

Competing to find food first. To recover from sickness first. To muster courage first. To find a safe haven first...

Two ordinary humans, they had run all the way from Linxiang to Songjiang.

The older brother always won, in every competition, he showed his remarkable strength.

The younger brother's last memory was of running endlessly. When the scythe-wielding creature appeared, he panicked.

But when he looked back, he saw the creatures heading towards where his brother was.

What a tragic sight it was; he could not see clearly how many mantis-like creatures there were. They swarmed densely towards one location, and it was a mystery why Songjiang City had so many corrupt beings.

The younger brother kept running, running until tears flowed. He already knew why his brother had suddenly wanted to play this game; he had also guessed his brother's ending.

His legs were already cramping, yet he kept running towards the agreed-upon beach.

He finally arrived first at the destination; for the first time in his life, he had beaten his brother.

But even long after joining the Land of Joy, he never smiled again.

...

Having taken the first step, Zhou Baiyu felt this heaviness.

Did the younger brother know the older brother's fate the moment he saw the creature?

And what was the older brother's mindset as he calmly faced his death?

During the apocalypse, upon meeting Zhang Haoyun, he had thought about ensuring a future for humanity in this cruel world, that one must learn to become indifferent, to assess the value of life.

What lives were valuable should be preserved, and in times of crisis, what lives were deemed less valuable should be sacrificed.

The older brother was undoubtedly a stronger presence than the younger. With his trait, Death Illusion, he would create greater value if he survived.

The older brother surely knew this, just as many powerful individuals throughout history knew their worth but still chose to die for the weak...

But for the older brother, he had only one thought—an older brother should always protect his younger brother; it had always been that way, naturally ordained.

After just one step, Zhou Baiyu already felt the difficulty of the Path of Ascension.

It was as though he had experienced both the younger brother's and the older brother's perspectives.

All the scenes in front of him began to disintegrate bit by bit; the apocalypse faded away like crumbling stars, converging into a cluster of light points.

This sorrow, turned into "light points," seemed to take on a tangible weight, pressing down on Zhou Baiyu.

It made Zhou Baiyu's next step heavy and arduous.

And this was just the first step.

Zhou Baiyu carried the light points and began the second step, the third...

The scene appeared again in Songjiang City.

This time, Zhou Baiyu saw a frail woman, who at the moment when a building collapsed, arched her back like a bridge to protect her child beneath her.