"Clark, it's meat, meat!" Yuli's expression was filled with excitement as she grabbed Clark's arm with both hands, shouting loudly while staring at the steaming hot pot in front of her.
"I know it's meat." Clark's expression seemed calm, but judging from the way her eyes were fixed on the hot pot, it was clear that her inner emotions were anything but composed.
"And there's fish, drinks, and green vegetables. Is this paradise?" Yuli paid no attention to Clark's reaction, her face still lit up with excitement as she stared at the various ingredients laid out around the hot pot.
This was still the top floor of the tall tower. After saving Clark and Yuli, Daniel Davis had set up a hot pot in the snow right there, the highest point in the world. Eating hot pot in the snow brought a special kind of charm to the atmosphere.
It wasn't surprising that Yuli was so thrilled. Since their birth, neither Yuli nor Clark had ever eaten natural food. Forget about green vegetables—green plants themselves had long since vanished from this world. On their journey, the two of them mostly survived on various compressed rations scavenged from military bases.
The best meal they had ever had before this was when they found a dead fish. Since then, Yuli had been dreaming of fish and even almost ate the last fish left in this world. Now, seeing so much fish and meat all at once, she couldn't contain her excitement.
If Daniel and Clark hadn't been watching her, Yuli might have swallowed all the ingredients raw and gulped down the drinks without restraint.
Seeing Yuli constantly swallowing her saliva, Daniel couldn't help but smile. His usual somber demeanor, brought about by the oppressive nature of this world, softened when he saw the two girls alive. No matter what, there was still some hope left in the world.
"Alright, you can eat now," Daniel said. The moment the words left his mouth, Yuli immediately picked up her chopsticks and grabbed several pieces of meat. This was food she had never tasted before. To Daniel's surprise, however, Yuli didn't eat the meat herself but offered it to Clark instead.
After seeing Clark smile, Yuli finally couldn't hold back and began eating ravenously. Normally, given the girls' circumstances, they wouldn't be able to eat so freely. But with Daniel here, such concerns were unnecessary.
For Clark and Yuli, this was their first time in their lives eating food they had only read about in books, and they could eat without hesitation or restraint.
Because food was so limited, Clark and Yuli had always been forced to ration carefully. Even when they occasionally found a good stockpile, they couldn't allow themselves to indulge. But this time was different. With Daniel around, there was no need to hold back. Even the normally composed Clark was eating as voraciously as Yuli.
"It's so delicious." Yuli finally collapsed onto the snow, completely full, her face beaming with happiness. Clark lay down beside her, silent as she gazed at the drifting white clouds in the sky.
For Clark and Yuli, this highest point of the tower had once symbolized their hope. Despite all the challenges they had faced along the way, neither of them had ever given up. They had sacrificed so much to reach this place—their vehicle, their most important books, their precious journals, and even the weapons they relied on for protection. Everything had been left behind for the sake of reaching the top.
But the reality they found here was despair. Although they hadn't outwardly shown their hopelessness, their actions—like having what they thought would be their final snowball fight and lying together in the snow—revealed the truth. Deep down, they had already lost hope.
Without their vehicle and supplies, they had no way of surviving, nor the will to keep going. If Daniel hadn't appeared, this might have been the best ending for the two of them. Even if they had managed to climb back down and find some resources to survive a little longer, despair would still have awaited them.
This was an apocalyptic world. Clark and Yuli were just ordinary people, unable to save the world. Even someone like Daniel, as powerful as he was, was helpless in the face of this world's situation.
The only solution was to take Clark and Yuli out of this world. He couldn't save the world, but he could save them. That alone was the best outcome.
"Another world?" After Clark and Yuli had calmed down, Daniel began explaining the situation to them. Yuli looked completely confused, unable to comprehend what he was saying. Clark, however, remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.
"Yes, another world where humans still live. A world that hasn't been destroyed," Daniel said, as he drew diagrams in the snow to help Clark understand. As for Yuli, she was too bewildered to even try. Her eyes were practically spinning in confusion.
Clark and Yuli's personalities complemented each other perfectly—one was calm and rational, while the other was cheerful and optimistic. It was precisely because of this dynamic that they had managed to reach the highest point of the world together in such a hopeless environment.
If either of them had been alone, they wouldn't have survived. There was a time when they were trapped in complete darkness and couldn't see each other. Even Yuli, who was usually so optimistic, started to panic. As long as they were together, however, they could face anything—even leaving this world—with smiles on their faces.
From an apocalyptic standpoint, this world was even more terrifying than something like Resident Evil. In the world of Resident Evil, humans could at least fight to survive. But in this world, there was no such hope. Here, life had completely vanished. If humans went extinct, the entire ecosystem would collapse with them.
The food that remained came from the supplies stockpiled by humans before the end. Even if those reserves lasted Clark and Yuli for several more years, the ultimate outcome would still be despair—because life could no longer continue.
"Is there good food there?" Yuli asked suddenly, cutting into Clark's moment of hesitation. She didn't fully understand the concept of another world, but her obsession with food remained as strong as ever.
"Of course," Daniel replied with a smile. "There's plenty of delicious food. You can eat meals like this every day."
"That's wonderful! Clark, let's go!" Yuli said, smiling brightly.
"Alright." Seeing Yuli's happy expression, Clark immediately nodded in agreement.
"It will take some time before we can leave this world. Is there anywhere you want to go in the meantime?" Daniel asked. Now that he had found the two girls and his heavy heart had been lifted, he was curious to explore this world and learn how it had become the way it was.
Daniel had some ideas about how apocalypses could happen—zombie outbreaks, massive natural disasters like in certain movies, or even an all-out nuclear war. But the state of this world didn't quite match any of those scenarios. Usually, no matter how severe the catastrophe, some life forms would survive. Yet in this world, everything was truly dead, as if the entire system was being reset.
"Books."
"Fish."
When Daniel asked where they wanted to go, Clark and Yuli both responded at the same time, then looked at each other, unwilling to give in.
"You don't need to fight over it. We'll visit both. Just tell me where they are," Daniel said with a reassuring smile. His memories of Girls' Last Tour were faint, but he remembered their journey was always about moving forward to the highest point.
"The books are just below us."
This world's tallest structure was also a massive, unfinished city. If it weren't for the apocalypse, perhaps the people of this world might have completed it and extended it all the way into outer space. The level of technology required to build something like this was far beyond anything Daniel had seen—even in worlds like Marvel.
"Artificial intelligence... war?"
Talking with Clark along the way gave Daniel a better understanding of this world's end. When Clark and Yuli were young, there were still many humans alive. They had lived with their grandfather in a military base.
One day, their grandfather gave them a vehicle and told them to leave because the war had reached their area. It seemed that humanity had been driven mad by the conflict. Even though the population had dwindled, the fighting continued.
"Nuclear weapons? But there's no radiation anywhere," Daniel said, puzzled.
"There's a god!" Yuli suddenly chimed in.
"A god?" Daniel looked at Clark in confusion.
"That..." Clark began recounting their experiences. According to her, they had encountered strange beings during their journey. For example, on a frozen submarine, they met a creature that told them they were the last two humans alive and that they had "purified" the world.
The dangerous weapons on the submarine had been devoured by these beings.
"What an enormous library," Daniel said as they reached the massive spiral-shaped library on the lower levels of the tower. It was the largest library he had ever seen.
"Don't worry, I'll take all the books with us," Daniel said, noticing Clark's conflicted expression as she struggled to decide which books to take. These books were a testament to the civilization that had once existed here. Since Daniel had the means to take them all, he didn't hesitate.
"Are you a magician?" Yuli asked curiously, watching Daniel use his powers.
"Yes, I am. These books will take some time to collect. You two can rest for a while," Daniel replied. The sheer number of books, combined with Daniel's need to examine the dimensional space and explore the state of the world, meant they spent several days in the library.
"A bed! A real bed!" Yuli exclaimed excitedly as she
lay on a soft bed inside their makeshift shelter. Clark seemed equally moved. The last time they had slept on a bed was back when they lived with their grandfather. Since then, they had mostly slept on the ground or in their half-track motorcycle.
"It's a shame we don't have a camera," Yuli said, her expression turning wistful as she recalled her love of photography.
Daniel handed her a tablet. "Here, you can use this to take pictures."
After teaching Yuli how to use the tablet's camera, she immediately began snapping photos with enthusiasm.
"This is your vehicle? Let's take it with us," Daniel said after collecting all the books. The girls led him to where they had abandoned their half-track motorcycle. The cargo box had been converted into a makeshift bathtub where they had taken their final bath. Though Clark was skilled with machinery, the vehicle was beyond repair due to a lack of parts and tools.
The motorcycle, however, held countless memories for the two girls. If possible, they wanted to take it with them. They also retrieved a ruined firearm Yuli had previously discarded, with Daniel helping locate it based on her description.
"So this is an airplane. Amazing! That guy would've been thrilled to see this," Yuli said excitedly as they boarded the Quinjet, which Daniel had used to take them to the places they wanted to visit.
"His name was Ishii, not 'that guy,'" Clark corrected, speaking of someone they had met during their travels.
While Yuli had little attachment to the people they encountered, Clark remembered them well. Besides visiting places they wanted to see, they hoped to find other survivors. Daniel, however, wasn't optimistic. Judging by the timeline Clark had provided, the people they had met were likely long gone.
Surviving alone in such a hopeless world, without resources or companionship, was almost impossible. The lack of supplies alone made survival unlikely.
Buildings were another danger. Many were on the verge of collapse, and debris occasionally fell from above. This was why Clark and Yuli always wore helmets to protect themselves from falling objects.
"It's no use."
Their first stop was the location of the frozen submarine, where the photos and videos Yuli had taken had once been stored. They hoped to recover them, but Daniel's inspection revealed that everything had been completely destroyed.
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Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
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