My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 115: Chapter 103: Take Off Your Armor, Take Off Your Armor

Li Xiang was telling the truth, but no one believed him. A lot of people were doing outdoor streams these days, using the Apocalypse as an excuse to build so-called ”shelters” or ”safe houses.” But most of them were just dabbling and weren’t professional at all. It was purely to attract viewers.

Of course, Li Xiang wasn’t very professional right now either. He was just simply digging a cave. But when he expanded it and built an Underground City in the heart of the mountain, that’s when he would truly shock everyone.

Li Xiang interacted with everyone for a bit, then got back to work.

Before long, new viewers arrived. After watching for a few minutes, they once again raised suspicions about him being ”AI.”

This was because Li Xiang’s movements were too monotonous; he was practically repeating the same motion over and over.

But for Li Xiang, this was just a supplementary motion. The real secret lay in the rhythm and frequency of his breathing and the resonance between his internal organs and his Spiritual Power.

The Breathing Technique was a profound and mysterious thing, much like a musical score where every note dances differently. In other words, each of Li Xiang’s breaths was like a note—unique every time, filled with a mysterious rhythm and cadence.

The physical labor was merely a ”supercharger,” making the ”notes” dance more powerfully.

Spiritual Power circulated throughout his body, a clear light suffusing his flesh and blood. He channeled Spiritual Power into the head of his Iron Pickaxe, and with every heavy swing, a large chunk of Stone was guaranteed to be chiseled off.

With every collision of immense force between the Iron Pickaxe’s head and the stone wall, the Spiritual Power in his body would roil violently, or rather, ”vibrate” once.

This Vibration not only made the ”notes” dance more intensely but also stimulated his internal organs and cleansed his flesh and blood, achieving the effect of a momentary, high-frequency vibration washing over his physical body.

It was like forging iron. When forging, the violent strikes of the hammer, one after another, would beat the impurities out of the iron, making it harder and more resilient.

Although Li Xiang was only ”opening the mountain” right now, every move and every motion, in fact, drew upon the Mental Realm of ”Pangu’s Opening of the Mountains.”

Because the Iron Pickaxe was infused with Spiritual Power, it remained completely undamaged, without the slightest nick, even after so many high-impact collisions.

In addition, the blade’s edge of this Iron Pickaxe was reinforced with super steel from a tunnel boring machine’s ”Rock-Breaking Rolling Blade,” so the material itself was extremely tough.

As time went on, the number of viewers in the stream grew, already surpassing three thousand. An hour later, around ten in the morning, the number of concurrent viewers finally exceeded ten thousand.

By this point, many of the regulars had arrived.

For example, the coffee merchant from Yunnan Province, that wealthy young master and master archer from Rongcheng, and the popular starlet Luo Feifei, who was thousands of miles away. Some of Li Xiang’s classmates, former colleagues, and so on.

Luo Feifei had been filming for ten straight days and just happened to have a day off, so she caught Li Xiang’s live stream of him digging the cave.

When she saw some new fans questioning if ”Li Xiang is AI,” Luo Feifei almost burst out laughing.

It couldn’t be helped. The way Li Xiang dug the cave was unlike anyone else; he was like a tireless robot. No wonder people were calling him an AI.

Some of the ”old fans” who had been watching since early morning explained that he was a real person, the pastoral vlogger Li Xiang, who had superhuman stamina and was currently building an Apocalypse Shelter.

’Holy crap.’ Seeing those two words, Luo Feifei’s pupils contracted, and she sat up straight.

She blinked, wondering to herself, ’Could Li Xiang have had those strange dreams, just like me? Or is he just like those other internet celebrities, using a gimmick to attract viewers?’

Her thoughts raced, and she quickly became certain: Li Xiang must be like her. He must have foreseen the future through the Dream Realm and decided to build an Apocalypse Shelter because of it.

No one else believed it, thinking he was just saying it for show, but Luo Feifei alone took him seriously.

’My Divination Technique prompted me to get closer to him. Looks like I’ll have to find a chance to meet him in person.’ Luo Feifei pursed her lips and sent a ”Carnival” gift to give Li Xiang a little taste of what’s to come. After all, if she wanted to defy fate in the future, she would have to rely on Li Xiang.

The Divination Technique had indicated that Li Xiang was her lifeline, and she had to hold on to it tightly. Spending a little money was nothing compared to defying fate. Besides, she had already gotten the better of Li Xiang by having him call her ”Little Aunt.”

Seeing the Carnival gift appear, many fans started jeering, ”Top Aunt is here again.”

”Brother Xiang, your Little Aunt is online! Hurry up and greet your patron!”

”Yeah, interact with us for a bit! Stop digging.”

”I’m digging and digging in the thick mountain wall...”

After cultivating arduously for so long, Li Xiang felt his Spiritual Power waning. He walked out, took the wine gourd hanging from a tree, uncorked it, and took several large gulps. GULP. GULP.

”Brother Xiang, that gourd flask is cool. Where’d you buy it?”

”A flask like that is pretty stylish. I want to buy one for my son, too.”

A fan explained, ”Brother Xiang made that himself last time. If you look through his old videos, there’s one on making a wine gourd. But using a wine gourd for water instead of wine seems pretty good, too.”

Li Xiang glanced at the screen and explained with a smile, ”I harvested eight large gourds last time. I turned five into ladles and the three best-looking ones into wine gourds.”

A fan said, ”If you have time, you should go look for more in the mountains. If you find any, make one for me.”

”Or you could plant more next year. Selling collectible gourds would be a good business.”

Li Xiang replied, ”I saved some seeds from last time. I’ll try planting them when it gets warm in the spring.”

’Young gourds are actually edible, too. You can cook them as a vegetable; the texture is similar to a bottle gourd. If I plant more, I can try some for myself.’

Li Xiang picked up the gourd again and took several more big swigs. GULP. GULP. What was in his gourd wasn’t water, but wine—Spirit Wine brewed with Spiritual Medicine.

He was in the middle of digging (Cultivation), so why would he drink water? Of course he had to keep consuming Spirit Wine, using the momentum from ”Pangu’s Opening of the Mountains” to facilitate the Refinement of the Medicinal Power within and increase his strength as soon as possible.

Although the Spiritual Medicine hadn’t steeped in the wine for very long and the Medicinal Power of each plant hadn’t fully diffused into the alcohol, he had simply used too much of it. A single jar of wine was nearly two-thirds Spiritual Medicine.

Once he finished the Spirit Wine, he could just pour in new high-proof grain alcohol to continue the infusion. A few more batches would do the trick. In the end, even the ”dregs” would probably retain a lot of Medicinal Power, and he could use them to make soup to share with his family and pets.

As he downed mouthful after mouthful of the Spirit Wine, which was suffused with Spiritual Qi, the extremely potent Medicinal Power spread through his stomach. Combined with the kick from the 58% ABV sorghum liquor, Li Xiang felt a warmth spread through him. Feeling a bit hot, he took off his jacket, leaving him in just a thin, tight-fitting long-sleeved T-shirt.

”Whoa, check out those solid pecs and biceps,” a fan couldn’t help but exclaim.

”Is that the legendary V-taper? Hot!”

”I can faintly make out an eight-pack, but his shirt is too loose to see clearly.”

”You call that loose?”

”It’s totally too loose! It’s blocking the view.”

”Brother Xiang, look how sweaty you are! Take it off, take it off! Keep going, your female fans love to see it.”

”Brother Xiang isn’t even that sweaty! You girls are just saying that so you can see him take his shirt off. What bare-faced liars!”

”It might be cold out, but how can you not get hot doing this kind of manual labor? Brother Xiang, hurry up and take it off, take it off!”

There were too many female fans in the chat, and the calls for him to ”take it off” were overwhelming, leaving the male fans speechless. When women get ”wild,” they’re so forward! Word is, at those foot massage parlors, a lot of the male technicians are requested specifically by female clients.

Even Luo Feifei was staring at the screen, curious to see if Li Xiang would take it off.

Someone started egging her on, spamming the chat, ”Top Aunt, quick, send gifts to make him take it off!”

”What’s the fun in just watching him dig a hole? You’ve gotta give everyone some fan service, right?”

”If he takes it off, he’ll be unencumbered and can dig the hole more efficiently!”

”What do you mean ’dig a hole’? Brother Xiang is excavating a cave! Excavating!” a male fan retorted indignantly, feeling that some of the female fans’ word choice was too vulgar.

Egged on by the countless fans, Luo Feifei couldn’t resist. A mischievous smile playing on her lips, she spammed a series of Carnival gifts—a dozen or more, she didn’t even count—solidifying her spot as number one on the leaderboard. Then, she typed three words into the chat: ”Take it off!”