Chapter 72: Sudden Apocalypse? What—Is This Turning into a Doomsday Story?

Potato Stewed Beef, Grilled Eel, Japanese Stir Fry.

Originally, Yuki Asahi even wanted to make some Miso Soup, but Jiang Jian Yue stopped him.

There’s no need to make such a luxurious meal for just two people!

“I’m starting.”

Yuki Asahi pressed his palms together, then picked up his chopsticks.

Jiang Jian Yue had already stuffed beef into her mouth, but following the rule of ‘the guest is honored’, she belatedly imitated his gesture, mumbling, “Mm, OC.”

She had to admit, Yuki Asahi’s cooking skills were quite impressive—at least, they matched Jiang Jian Yue’s tastes.

She picked up a piece of Grilled Eel and put it in her mouth.

Even though it was frozen fish, the quality wasn’t bad.

The texture was rich but not greasy, the sauce was a perfect blend of sweet and salty, just enough to mask the fishy taste, making it a great dish to eat with rice.

Although she lived in a coastal city, she didn’t often eat fish.

Partly because picking out bones was troublesome, partly because she disliked the fishy smell. If these two issues were handled, she actually liked it quite a lot.

Yuki Asahi was secretly watching Senior Jiang’s reaction.

Seeing her expression unchanged after tasting the food, he felt a bit disappointed.

But then he noticed her chopsticks kept moving, picking up more food and rice.

That brought him some comfort—Senior Jiang’s family was so wealthy and used to gourmet dishes.

If he could make simple home cooking taste good, that was enough.

After the meal, Jiang Jian Yue commented, “The eel didn’t give me nightmares.”

Eh?

Was this another pun?

He had no idea where the punchline was!

Yuki Asahi decided to take it as praise for his cooking.

Jiang Jian Yue was about to take the plates to wash when suddenly, her mind jolted.

She felt her Medical Mannequin outside disconnect in an instant.

“They’re here!”

Bang—

The plate slammed back onto the table, sauce splattering onto her.

But Jiang Jian Yue couldn’t care less.

Was it destroyed?

In an instant?

All the mannequins?

She didn’t immediately activate Invisibility, since the Armwatch had limited energy left—better to save it if possible.

But even though it was disconnected, there was no sound outside.

It was too quiet out there.

What’s going on?

Yuki Asahi immediately activated his Emotional Control, ignoring Jiang Jian Yue’s current tension and wariness.

His Domain spread out like a tide.

Five meters.

Ten meters.

Twenty meters.

Fifty meters—

Yuki Asahi hurriedly retracted his Domain, afraid of overtaxing himself.

He didn’t sense any other emotions within a fifty-meter radius.

No one?

Impossible.

At this time, the neighbors should be eating lunch.

No matter how quiet a residential area is, there should be people.

Jiang Jian Yue spread her hand.

A clay-like, twisted, shapeless object appeared out of thin air, rolling and expanding.

After more than thirty seconds, a new Medical Mannequin was formed.

Yuki Asahi stared in surprise at the lifelike, eerie Medical Mannequin.

Senior Jiang’s Ability…is kind of scary.

The newly summoned mannequin pushed open the living room door and walked toward the entrance.

They waited as it circled the house, but it found no targets and wasn’t attacked.

And the disconnected mannequins left no trace of powder on the ground.

Strange…

What’s going on?

Jiang Jian Yue pursed her lips.

Abilities like this, bizarre and incomprehensible, were the ones she least wanted to face.

If it was an offensive Ability, at least it would just be a fight.

Suddenly, Yuki Asahi shouted in a panic, “The clock… stopped.”

Jiang Jian Yue looked at the standing clock by the wall.

The hands were frozen at 13:11.

The second hand was halfway through the minute, but it didn’t move further.

A Time System Ability?

No.

Both of us can still move, so it’s not a Time System Ability.

Maybe the power’s out.

Boom—

Suddenly, a distant roar echoed from the sky.

The two of them hurried to the glass doors.

Faintly, they saw a burning fireball in the sky.

“A plane crash?”

The explosions from the south kept coming, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, each one hammering at their hearts.

Jiang Jian Yue flipped the living room light switch.

No response.

So it really was a blackout.

With that, she formed a theory in her mind.

No way…

The Medical Mannequin at the door received an order and dashed onto the street, but as it approached the commercial district, it disconnected and turned to powder.

But Jiang Jian Yue had already gotten the information she wanted.

She looked at Yuki Asahi and whispered, “We’re screwed.”

***

The street where a series of car accidents had occurred was now empty.

No one was injured.

No one was even watching.

The stores on both sides of the street were deserted, with no customers or staff.

Apart from the burning cars, the entire street was silent.

Yuki Asahi stared blankly at the scene, his mouth agape for a long time.

“Where did everyone go?”

Jiang Jian Yue looked up at the pillar of black smoke rising a thousand meters into the sky from the south of Tokyo.

“Disappeared.”

She wasn’t sure if it was Ikeda Sachi’s Ability at work.

After all, the power to make everyone in Tokyo—or even the world—disappear in an instant was too strong.

And if he had such an Ability, why leave only them behind?

Hoo…

Calm down.

Stay calm.

A true man doesn’t flinch even if Mount Tai collapses before him.

You mustn’t show weakness in front of children.

First, assume the worst: that it’s not a local event, but that all humanity has disappeared.

Now the city power grid is unstable, with fires caused by explosions.

And in the south, a massive collision happened in the airspace above Haneda Airport.

Factories, ports, and warehouses along the coast were exploding.

Probably the entire Tokyo Bay coastline is burning.

She wasn’t too worried about the fire spreading south.

Although there were many wooden houses in Japan, the core area inside the Yamanote Line was mostly concrete buildings, with dense railway lines acting as a natural firebreak.

It wouldn’t spread too quickly.

The main concern was fires reaching chemical plants, triggering explosions, or the backup generators at nuclear plants running out of fuel…

Better not to think too much about it.

Jiang Jian Yue typed the severity of the situation into her phone’s memo.

Yuki Asahi read it, his face pale, forcing a smile.

“Isn’t this a bit exaggerated?”

Humanity disappeared…

This is already the apocalypse, isn’t it?

For a high schooler—even one with superpowers who had survived life-and-death battles—it was still overwhelming.

This kind of apocalypse was more outrageous than superpowers themselves!

Jiang Jian Yue ignored the panicked Yuki Asahi and began building a list in her mind.

Water and food were most important.

Next were tools and medical supplies.

A sturdy base was needed as well.

The Yuki house was a wooden structure—not suitable.

“Let’s move quickly.”

She assigned the task of gathering medical supplies to Yuki Asahi, patting his arm.

She noticed he seemed emotionally off.

Ah, the young are still too young.

Can’t they accept reality a bit faster?

Having experienced a major upheaval in her own life, Jiang Jian Yue found it easy to say such things.

She understood the discomfort and confusion in Yuki Asahi’s heart.

But looking at it from the perspective of someone who’d already been through it, she felt there was no need to be so down.

So, she decided to encourage him in an adult way.