The Frog Strikes, The Lights Go Out!

Jake rose from underground. Before him was the ground floor lobby of Building C in the Fortune Center Apartments. He looked back. The complex's roads were completely invisible, utterly submerged in boundless plants. Human civilization is finished... Jake sighed. Just as he was about to go upstairs, an unexpected event suddenly occurred!

An object emitting an evil red light all over pierced into his perception range like lightning! In the blink of an eye, time seemed to freeze. Jake's consciousness was unaffected, and several thoughts flashed through his mind instantly. "What the heck is that thing! Its target is me! Must dodge!"

Jake desperately moved his body, but no matter how much force he used, moving was very difficult, like an insect trapped in viscous glue. "It's not that I'm too slow! It's that my consciousness became faster, but my body couldn't keep up!" Compared to Jake's speed, the strip-shaped monster was like a speeding car, dragging a dazzling, terrifying red light as it stabbed towards him.

Jake finally saw clearly. The strip-shaped monster was actually a tongue! "It's that mutated frog!" Jake instantly reacted. This tongue had become thicker and stronger than when it ate that woman! "What to do!"

Jake's body moved inch by inch. At the very last moment before the tongue hit his body, Jake knew he definitely couldn't dodge it. He made his last response: "Phasing!"

The next instant, the giant tongue passed through Jake's phased body, hitting nothing. The giant tongue heavily hit the nearby wall, made a hole the size of a bucket, and pierced through the wall. The instant the giant tongue passed through Jake's phased body, Jake only felt his whole body weaken, stamina rapidly consumed. "It's too powerful! Phasing through its tongue consumes so much stamina!" If it were phasing through its actual body, Jake estimated his stamina would instantly run out. Without another word, he immediately sank underground.

The tongue retracted with a whoosh. "Croak! Croak!" Loud croaking sounds came from the frog. The sound was so loud that Jake, 2 meters (approx. 6.6 feet) underground, could hear it.

Just then, a frog the size of a car jumped into Jake's 50-meter (approx. 164-foot) perception range. In Jake's perception, the mutated frog emitted dazzling light all over, like the sun in the sky. Compared to that, the brightness of the light around Jake was barely brighter. Inside the frog, there was a bright "ginger root"-shaped object. It was blue, much brighter than the "ginger root" inside Jake, and had more branches.

Jake looked at it with a solemn expression: "My perception has a flaw. If an enemy ambushes me from outside 50 meters (approx. 164 feet), I'll have trouble detecting them." The mutated frog's tongue extends beyond 50 meters (approx. 164 feet)...

The mutated frog slowly hopped, occasionally emitting loud croaking sounds. "Croak! Croak!" It was like a king, patrolling its territory. Wherever the mutated frog went, all animals hid, concealing themselves, not daring to make a sound. The mutated frog suddenly shot its tongue into mid-air. A giant cat was stuck and dragged back, easily swallowed. Throughout the entire process, the cat had almost no ability to resist.

Although the mutated frog was powerful, it posed no threat to Jake underground. Jake hid underground, calmly "watching" this scene: "The mutated frog's movement speed wasn't fast, but its tongue speed was too fast. Also, it should have an ability to detect distant prey; otherwise, it couldn't catch prey from so far away. According to brightness calculation, its combat power was at least 3 times his. How strange, how did it do that? Did it also eat many kinds of Enlightenment Fruits? However, its intelligence didn't seem high. After missing, it seemed to forget about him, and had no intention of continuing to search for him."

Under Jake's observation, the mutated frog left unhurriedly. Jake waited a few more minutes, then cautiously came to a room below on the ground floor, phasing up from underground to the ground floor. Jake pushed off with his legs and lightly jumped, his head touching the ceiling. Phasing! Jake's body phased through the floor, jumping to the 2nd floor. He phased through walls and floors, avoiding all occupied rooms, and returned to Olivia's apartment.

Olivia was staring out the window blankly, her face full of worry. Michelle was scrolling on her phone, also feeling a bit restless. Jake being gone for too long made the two women very nervous. Many things happened today. The four men from Building A killed and raped the woman, and the killing in the afternoon, made them fully understand that order had finally collapsed. They could never go back to their former peaceful lives. When the last shred of illusion was shattered, they became incredibly dependent on Jake. The two women weren't stupid. In chaotic times, if beautiful women don't have the protection of the strong, they will eventually become others' playthings.

Swish! Jake suddenly jumped up from under the floor. The two women were startled. Seeing it was Jake, they instantly breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but feel happy.

"Jake, you're back! Dinner will be ready soon!" "Jake, you must be tired! Have some water!"

The two women hugged Jake's arm. Jake felt relieved. Having two women beautiful as flowers accompanying him greatly dissipated his psychological stress.

It was getting late. Jake took out a large amount of food. Potato chips, canned goods, frozen fish, frozen shrimp, a whole rack of black pork ribs... The two women's eyes lit up when they saw this. Their hearts settled down.

Michelle said proactively: "I'll go cook!"

Olivia didn't want to be outdone: "I'll help you." She was also preparing to learn how to cook.

Michelle glanced at her unhappily.

Just as Michelle was cooking, countless screams came from outside the balcony. Jake turned his head and looked. The lights in the complex next to Fortune Center Apartments were all out. The power finally went out? Jake watched silently. He had already anticipated this scene. Wildly growing plants would eventually damage some electrical equipment. In fact, Bay City's water, electricity, and gas could last until now; it was already very surprising to Jake.

By moonlight, Jake vaguely saw some people frantically running onto their balconies and looking outside. When they discovered the entire complex had a power outage, they let out cries of meaningless fear. In the terrifying evolutionary apocalypse, humans lost light. Their survival ability naturally decreased drastically. And this was still at a height of above the 20th floor. Below the 20th floor, that area was completely submerged in red fog. The surroundings would be plunged into complete darkness. People would probably be scared senseless.

Michelle and Olivia also stood at the window, looking across. The two women were very worried: "Our place won't have a power outage too, will it?"

Jake said indifferently: "It will definitely have a power outage. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. It's only a matter of time. Modern cities are actually very fragile."

The two women's faces turned slightly pale. Power outage means water outage. Gas definitely wouldn't last much longer either. At the same time, large-scale power outages would cause cell towers to shut down. The internet would also gradually become paralyzed, and communication would be completely cut off.

Jake opened his phone and searched for power outages. Only then did he discover this wasn't the first power outage. Various cities had already experienced power outages to different degrees. After some thermal power plants exhausted their stored coal, the staff still working at the power plants had no way to replenish fuel and and could only shut down. Solar panels in the desert, covered by boundless wild grass, also became ineffective. Only hydroelectric power stations could still barely work normally. But with large amounts of equipment damaged and offline, shutting down was only a matter of time. The nation's proud power grid was gradually being destroyed.

As electricity became scarce, human living conditions would deteriorate to the extreme. Modern cities would turn into the most terrifying fighting arenas. Humans not only had to struggle to survive against terrifying nature, but also kill and compete with their own kind. Cities were dangerous, and sparsely populated rural areas weren't optimistic either. Although competition among humans there wasn't as fierce as in cities, rural areas had more plants. They had to face a natural environment far more terrifying than in cities.

The two women had a restless meal. Facing the impending power outage, Jake was also very worried. I need to become stronger! The living environment was getting worse and worse. Only his own strength was the most reliable.

Jake took out a handful of Enlightenment Fruits and started eating them.