Those adult men who managed to survive were either Ability Users or powerhouses whose physical fitness far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Ordinary men likely wouldn't live past the age of thirty.
These were the survival laws of this world.
This completely contradicted all the common sense she had learned on Blue Star.
She stood up, her consciousness scanning the entire building.
Only then did she truly notice that there were indeed many children among the tenants.
Some were held in their mothers' arms, some were huddled in corners napping, and a few older ones—around five or six years old—were huddled together, folding something out of scrap cloth they had picked up, occasionally letting out low giggles.
Su Wan made a quick mental calculation.
Over seven hundred people, and children... there were at least a hundred of them.
This ratio was startlingly high.
She suddenly remembered the young boy, Ah-Hao.
In a corner of the first-floor lobby, several simple beds had been temporarily set up, holding several injured people who had been eroded by the Death Tide mist.
All of them had been accidentally touched by the mist today on their way to the Terminal Station.
Ah-Hao was among them.
The youth, who was the very first to sign a contract, was currently sitting against the wall. His right leg was still wrapped in bandages, but he was already able to walk back and forth while leaning against the wall.
The C2 robot beside him was performing a leg scan.
【Scan complete. Target’s right leg tissue regeneration at 74%, functional recovery at 82%. Full recovery expected within five days.】
Ah-Hao grinned and rotated his ankle, saying to a middle-aged man lying nearby, “Old Zheng, look! My leg is almost healed!”
The man named Old Zheng was in his thirties and had a burly build. He was a scavenger who had spent many years crawling through the Ruin Zone.
At the moment, his face was pale, and his left arm was wrapped in thick bandages that were seeping a dark yellow liquid.
That was a wound from the Death Tide mist. The skin had festered and the muscle had dissolved; even with medicine, the recovery was extremely slow.
Old Zheng looked at Ah-Hao’s lively movements with eyes full of envy.
“You’re still young after all, kid. That physical resilience is just too strong! How bad was your leg eroded back then? It was almost down to the bone, yet here you are, nearly fully recovered!”
“If I were under sixteen, a small injury like this would probably be healed in two days as long as I used the medicine here!”
Ah-Hao scratched his head and gave an embarrassed smile. “Yeah, I guess I’m lucky I’m still young. Once I turn sixteen, my physical resilience probably won’t be as good anymore...”
Su Wan stood not far away, quietly watching the scene.
She remembered Ah-Hao’s initial injury.
If this were Blue Star, Ah-Hao would have likely needed an amputation to survive.
But here, after Ah-Hao used the serum, his leg was actually saved.
Meanwhile, Old Zheng was a man in his prime, and his physical fitness was considered good among ordinary people.
Yet his degree of erosion was much lighter than Ah-Hao’s, and his recovery speed was far inferior.
Su Wan frowned slightly.
She walked over to Old Zheng and crouched down. “Let me see your injury.”
Old Zheng was overwhelmed by the attention and quickly unwrapped the bandages.
The wound was shocking.
A patch of skin the size of a palm on the outside of Old Zheng’s left arm had completely rotted away. The muscle tissue appeared an abnormal grayish-white, and even with medicine applied, the signs of healing were extremely faint.
“Does it hurt?” Su Wan asked.
Old Zheng gritted his teeth. “It hurts... but I can take it.”
Su Wan nodded, stood up, and looked at Ah-Hao’s leg again.
It was true.
In this apocalypse, the physical resilience of adults was actually inferior to that of children.
Why... was this the case?
She turned and continued her inspection of the building.
In the first-floor Public Cafeteria, several children were crouching in a corner, sharing a small piece of hard, dry black bread.
Su Wan noticed that although these children were thin, they were full of energy. They possessed something rarely seen in adults—
Vitality.
These children had eaten very little since yesterday.
Yet they were still lively, still had the energy to laugh, and still had the energy to play.
The hunger resistance of these children was far stronger than that of adults!
Among the seven hundred-plus tenants, twenty percent were infants and young children.
Over a hundred children.
In this apocalypse, this ratio was terrifying.
Su Wan suddenly realized that after every Death Tide, many people died. Logically, the population should be dwindling.
However, based on the intelligence and data analysis she had gathered during this time, the total population of this world seemed to always maintain a constant value.
Su Wan recalled some scientific literature she had read on Blue Star.
It was research concerning human populations during periods of disaster.
When the living environment becomes extremely harsh and mortality rates skyrocket, human fertility rates actually increase significantly, and the survival rates of infants and young children far exceed normal levels.
It was a spontaneous “continuation response” of the entire human species when faced with the threat of extinction.
The body senses the danger of the environment and the death of its kin, then instinctively accelerates reproduction and enhances the survival capabilities of its offspring to ensure the species can endure.
These children—their bodies were naturally designed to survive in this hell.
“So, is this humanity’s ‘self-rescue mechanism’?” Su Wan whispered.
When the mortality rate reaches a certain point, the fertility and infant survival rates automatically rise, pulling the total population back to a certain equilibrium.
This wasn't anyone's design; it was an instinct carved into their genes.
It was life itself fighting against death.
Really... was that how it was?
“Master.”
C1’s voice came from behind, interrupting her thoughts.
Su Wan turned around.
C1 stood at the doorway, its electronic eyes flickering. “Supply consumption in the Public Cafeteria has exceeded expectations. At the current rate, the existing reserves can only last for three days.”
Su Wan frowned slightly. “Three days?”
“Yes! With the sudden surge in population, consumption has increased exponentially. Especially the infant and toddler group—though their individual intake is small, their numbers are large, and they have a high demand for specific types of food.”
Su Wan nodded.
Over seven hundred people, over a hundred children.
The daily consumption was indeed a massive figure.
“I understand,” she said calmly.
C1 left upon hearing the acknowledgment.
It seemed that after she returned to Blue Star this time, she would have to purchase supplies in bulk.
Before the thought could even settle in Su Wan’s mind, her mental power and vision—which had been enhanced to Level 3 and far exceeded normal human limits—unintentionally captured an eerie sight.
Deep within the grayish-white mist, those dark red and ghostly green points of light that had been drifting sporadically suddenly stopped their aimless wandering at the exact same moment.
As if receiving some silent command, they converged from all directions toward a single central point.
Su Wan’s pupils constricted slightly.
Those points of light gathered together, and in the blink of an eye, they condensed into a massive orb of light.
Countless bud-like tentacles suddenly protruded from the surface of the orb. They twisted frantically, intertwining and merging, gradually outlining a blurred silhouette—
It was the form of some kind of creature...
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