Apocalyptic Disaster: I Hoard Billions in Supplies and Kill the Saint

214: Side Story 2: Simulated EraThe Fire Seed—that pulsing glimmer of spiritual light—was slowly drawn from Ye Nanxing’s palm, floating like a drop of light into the ”Simulation Sphere” hovering in mid-air.

Before everyone’s eyes, a simulated world rapidly generated: terrain, climate, gravity, lighting... all self-constructed using ”random parameters + Fire Seed base template”;

Humans did not exist, but a new humanoid race existed, reorganized based on Fire Seed data;

Each individual possessed fragmented memories, primal perception, and a very few keywords: survival, connection, change.

At this moment, Ye Nanxing and everyone else became ”bystanders.”

They could not speak, nor could they intervene; they could only watch this micro-world learn for itself: how to live, how to destroy, how to choose.

[10,000 Seconds · Emergence of Civilizational Prototype]

The initial Fire Seed individuals were called ”Primordials.”

They had no gender and no language, but they could draw near to light and heat, and could gather their own kind.

They used bone and stone to build the first shelter, creating fire through friction during thunderstorms.

They piled corpses into towers and prayed silently to the sky.

They had no gods, but there was ”Remnant Fire” in the sky—a visual substitution mechanism set by the Fire Seed.

They learned to ”fear loss,” and thus left behind the first inscribed stone: ”From where the light comes, there it shall remain.”

[30,000 Seconds · The First War]

Two ”Fire Seed tribes” split—one side wanted to store the fire underground, avoiding the light while waiting, calling themselves ”Fire Guardians”; the other side wanted to let the Fire Seed spread outward to illuminate the dark night, calling themselves ”Light Seekers.”

They went from arguments to skirmishes, and from skirmishes to a war of consciousness infection.

The Fire Seed began to spiral out of control, and a portion of the light was stained dark red—a will for violence had emerged.

Lin Sui turned pale: ”Didn’t we give them a ’civilizational framework’? How is it still...”

Shen Qingyan closed her eyes: ”We gave them civilization. Not conscience.”

[55,000 Seconds · A Figure Resembling Flame Born]

During a ”Fire Trial,” a young ”Variant Fire individual” was beaten by a mob—because his flame color was too deep, he was deemed ”impure.”

He did not fight back, only remained trapped in the circle of fire, burning in silence.

Flame Born’s pupils constricted sharply. In that moment, he saw it—that individual looked exactly like him.

”You say my fire is too dark.”

”But you forget—I am what burns from the ashes.”

At that moment, in the simulated fire field, he suddenly ignited the entire land.

The earth split, the sea of fire spread, and both tribes were consumed together.

System prompt appeared:

[Individual Branch A14: Autonomous Awakening · Result: Disintegrative Destruction]

[Consciousness Fluctuation Model Prediction: Fire Seed civilization stability has dropped to 46%]

[78,000 Seconds · Simulated Civilization is Collapsing]

Language began to deteriorate, memories spiraled out of control, and emotions became tools for control.

A new group of rulers emerged; they no longer spoke of the ”Light of Origin,” but instead said, ”Those who control fire are gods.”

They established the ”Purifying Fire Ritual”—casting all Fire Seed individuals ”unable to emit stable light” into the furnace, clearing them out in the name of a ”Fire Sacrifice.”

Zhang Tianjin growled in anger: ”These bastards are... exactly the same as our old world!”

Ye Nanxing stared fixedly at the flickering sphere of light, her fists clenched tight, her knuckles turning white.

Her voice was soft, yet carried a low tone of impending loss of control:

”If this continues... the simulation will collapse.”

She turned her head abruptly and said to the Realm Creator:

”You said we cannot interfere. But if I act, what will happen?”

The Realm Creator replied calmly:

”The simulation will terminate immediately, the civilization will be classified as a failure, and the Fire Seed will be destroyed.”

”If you believe in it, do not touch it.”

”If you do not believe in it, then save it now—and watch as it, and you, are erased together.”

Just when everyone thought failure was imminent—an orphan individual picked up that first inscribed stone amidst the ruins.

He could not learn to ignite fire, but he learned to read the fire:

”From where the light comes, there it shall remain.”

He did not become a leader, nor did he possess extraordinary power.

But he walked through every ruin, writing that sentence on walls, carving it into mountains, and singing it to the Child.

At that moment, a glimmer of crystal-clear light, like a final flash of brilliance, appeared at the center of the Fire Seed.

System prompt updated:

[Consciousness Civilization Self-Rescue Parameter Fluctuation]

[Fire Seed Trust Value Recovered: 57% → 68%]

[Simulation Remaining Time: 9000 Seconds]

Ye Nanxing held her breath and said nothing more.

Everyone stared at the sphere of light, motionless.

They did not know if that orphan would be burned to death again; they did not know if this civilization would slide back into destruction; they did not know if this time, the fire—would be extinguished.

But they knew that these were the final nine thousand seconds.

The Realm Creator’s voice sounded in the silence:

”If it can refrain from choosing vengeance, refrain from choosing fanaticism in this final hour—”

”I will acknowledge its existence.”

”But if it walks back into the past again.”

”You, and it, will vanish together.”