Ice Age Apocalypse: I Hoard Billions of Supplies Chapter 1500: Repetition

On the first night in Neon, Deng Shentong and the others took turns standing the night watch.

When Zhang Yi woke up in the morning, they came over to eat breakfast together and report on what they had observed the previous night.

Breakfast was extremely lavish. Even when outdoors, Zhang Yi never shortchanged himself.

The finest cuisine and an alcohol-fueled stove for heating were all carried on his person, allowing him to enjoy fresh, delicious food.

In contrast, Deng Shentong and his team could only shake their heads bitterly as they looked at the vacuum-packed military rations in their pockets.

"Come over and eat together!"

Zhang Yi generously called them over to share a meal. Deng Shentong and the others were naturally more than happy to oblige.

Everyone gathered around, and Zhang Yi even pulled a luxurious long table with matching sofa seats from his dimensional space, elegantly enjoying his breakfast.

It felt less like he was on a mission in a frozen, harsh environment and more like he was on vacation.

Zhang Yi stuffed a piping-hot crab roe bun into his mouth, chewing slowly as he looked at Deng Shentong and Baili Changqing.

Baili Changqing said, "We kept watch all night, and we did find something!"

"Those monsters roamed around Edo City, seemingly without any purpose, just wandering through all the streets in the city. It was like they were patrolling their territory."

"And when dawn was about to break," Baili Changqing lowered his voice, as if he had seen a ghost, "they suddenly disappeared completely! It was as if they had vanished into thin air, not a single ghostly apparition left!"

Zhang Yi raised his head, a gleam of sharp light flashing in his eyes.

"You mean, all of them suddenly disappeared all at once?"

That night, he had seen an astonishing number of strange things—vague, shadowy figures, countless of them.

For such a massive group of ghostly apparitions, spread throughout all of Edo, to suddenly vanish—no matter how he thought about it, it didn't make sense.

"Is it possible they were all illusions?"

Bai Chunyu proposed this hypothesis.

"Some kind of nighttime illusion that disappears at dawn. Or maybe it's someone's dream, and it ends when they wake up?"

Everyone tossed around various guesses, unable to agree.

The only thing they could confirm was that if they encountered these things at night, their only option was to flee.

Because they simply couldn't be killed.

Zhang Yi downed the last mouthful of soy milk, set down his bowl and chopsticks, and said, "Today, let's go back into Edo City to investigate further! This time, I'm going straight to the Daliangdu Museum."

Deng Shentong said, "That might risk stirring up trouble and alerting the enemy."

"I'll be careful."

Zhang Yi said flatly. "If the 500,000 people in this city really are all puppets, then our movements have already been discovered!"

"So you all need to stay in the area around me. That way, if a fight breaks out, I can get you out of here immediately."

Thinking about that possibility made Deng Shentong and the others shudder.

But they were determined to get their hands on the national treasure that was the mission objective, so they all nodded and decided to re-enter Edo City to find out what was really going on.

As the first pale light of day appeared on the horizon, the fog in Edo City began to slowly dissipate.

And the Edo citizens who had lost all ability to move during the night regained their vitality one by one.

They seemed completely unaware of what had happened before, not realizing they had become motionless puppets during the night, and continued to move about Edo with renewed energy.

Everything looked prosperous and thriving.

If they hadn't witnessed the eerie, ghostly scene of the night, no one would ever have guessed that this city had long been corrupted by strangeness.

After observing for a while, Zhang Yi and his team disguised themselves again and infiltrated Edo City.

Daylight lasted about ten hours, and Zhang Yi wasn't in a rush to go to the Daliangdu Museum.

He thought about it and first headed to the area he had passed through yesterday. His first stop was the bustling Akihabara.

The city's neon lights flickered brightly, and various colorful game promotional images and cute otaku-style characters appeared prominently on the most eye-catching parts of the buildings.

"Sir! Miss! Welcome to Love House! We have an underground idol performance today!"

A maid with a sweet smile ran over and handed Zhang Yi and the others a flyer.

It advertised that Miss Terumon, an underground idol, would be performing today, along with a list of today's specials on food and drinks.

Zhang Yi took the flyer, gave her a slight nod, and walked on.

The maid quickly turned her head to recruit other customers.

Walking down the streets of Akihabara, he saw a deeply affectionate father and daughter. The father held his daughter's hand and looked down at her tenderly.

"Airi, what gift do you want today? Daddy will buy you anything!"

"Really? Thank you, Daddy! Airi loves Daddy the moooost!"

...

On the other side, Mrs. Takayanagi, dressed in a dark blue kimono, was with her son, buying him his favorite new action figure.

An ambulance sped by, Doctor Biran urgently treating the injured, while Miss Nanase, dressed in a cute pink nurse uniform, placed an oxygen mask on the patient.

Zhang Yi watched all of this with cold eyes, while Zhou Ke'er's eyes were wide open.

"These... these people..."

She lowered her voice and said to Zhang Yi, "Don't I feel like I've already seen all of this yesterday?"

"That's right. It's indeed a repetition of yesterday."

Zhang Yi replied quietly.

"These people, they're living their lives in the exact same way. It's like they're robots implanted with a specific program."

If he hadn't come here a second time, he wouldn't have imagined it could be like this.

Behind Edo City's seemingly harmonious facade lay a terrifying secret.

"Are they... still alive?"

When Zhou Ke'er said this, her voice was trembling.

How could a living person live like a machine?

But Zhang Yi said firmly, "No, they are all still alive!"

He had confirmed this yesterday, when he personally cut open a young man's body and watched his bright red blood flow out.

At the thought of this, Zhang Yi suddenly raised his head. "Let's go check another place!"

He took Zhou Ke'er and Yang Xinxin to a secluded spot, and after confirming no one was around, he activated his ability to teleport them to the place he had visited yesterday.

Soon, they arrived at the residential area near Edo TV Tower.

And they found the single-family house from yesterday.

Zhang Yi appeared directly at the doorstep. After a moment's thought, he didn't knock. Instead, he infiltrated the house.

He had already been here yesterday, so he was very familiar with the layout. He left Yang Xinxin and Zhou Ke'er in the courtyard while he entered the building.

It was early morning, and Zhang Yi's nose caught the scent of food.

From his ears came the sound of a young man and a young woman talking.

"Seriously, Yuuji! You clearly promised to take me to the amusement park today, so why are you backing out now!"

"Sorry, Asuka. Rin-chan and Ai-chan kept pestering me, and I couldn't get away! Look—"

Zhang Yi leaned out from the second floor and saw a chaotic scene unfolding in the living room on the first floor.