My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

"Cultivating prestige" and "building momentum" are actually easier in modern society than in ancient times. Back then, if a scholar from a humble background wanted a shortcut to success, many would choose to become hermits in the mountains, especially on Zhongnan Mountain. That’s where the term "Zhongnan shortcut" comes from.

Even someone as brilliant as Zhuge Liang had to "live in seclusion in Nanyang" in his early days.

In modern society, you just have to make good use of the internet.

Li Xiang’s thoughts raced, a grand blueprint already taking shape in his mind.

’Hmm, this plan can’t be finished in one phase. It’ll need at least twelve, maybe even twenty-four or more. When the time comes, all the underground shelters will be connected, forming one massive Underground City.’

’Even if the Apocalypse comes, modern society can’t function without the internet. I’ll have to find a way to set up my own local area network and then figure out how to connect with other bases.’

’Increasing my strength is also crucial. Fame and web traffic are useful in times of peace, but when the Apocalypse truly arrives, strength will reign supreme.’

However, he hadn’t used up all his Spiritual Medicine yet. Li Xiang figured that by the time spring turned to summer, his current supply should be depleted. Then, he would go pick a Primeval Forest to sweep through.

Since the Apocalypse was still a long way off, only in a Primeval Forest could one find a relatively large number of "potential Mutated Creatures."

And he couldn’t consume all the Spiritual Medicine at once. Eating it too quickly would lead to an unstable foundation, which would be detrimental to his future cultivation.

"Bro, can you be a little more serious? We’re rehearsing here!"

Jiang Cai’Er’s words pulled Li Xiang back to reality.

"Alright, alright, let’s continue."

"Hmph, I wonder which woman he’s thinking about all day long," Jiang Cai’Er muttered with a pout. She was secretly congratulating herself. ’Thank goodness I was "smart" enough to ruin all his blind dates. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be rehearsing at home right now; he’d be out on a date.’

Right now, it wasn’t just Li Xiang and his group rehearsing; the entire Li Family Village had entered a feverish stage of training and dress rehearsals.

All the surrounding villages were paying close attention, especially places like Lei Family Gully, Shenjiawan, and Zhaojiaping, which had people participating in the performance. As for Li Family Village, their interest went without saying.

Li Xiang’s popularity was still quite impressive. Every time he streamed, his viewer count ranged from several thousand to tens of thousands, sometimes even breaking the one hundred thousand mark. Everyone was preparing with great dedication.

Even if they didn’t become famous by following Li Xiang, they at least couldn’t be so bad that they’d be a laughingstock, right?

The percussion section for the opera performance was especially grand. Li Xiang had managed to snag a role playing the flute. But he wouldn’t be singing in the opera; he had several other acts of his own to rehearse.

Originally, he had a lot more planned before the New Year. For instance, Li Xiang had planned to film a video on making maltose syrup the traditional way. This would include using the melted syrup with popcorn, sesame seeds, and peanuts to make various specialty "candy sheets" or "candy leaves." For example, the thin slices made with sesame were called "sesame leaves." He also wanted to make videos on pounding sticky rice cakes and steaming jujube flower buns, but he had no time for any of it. It would all have to wait until next year.

They had already finished the tofu they made before, and now there was no time to grind more.

The village gala was the absolute top priority. It wasn’t just about making money from the live stream and building a name for Li Family Village. More importantly, it was about strengthening the cohesion of the young people from the surrounding villages. These people would be his future core team.

When Xiang Yu raised his army, he recruited the Jiangdong Youth.

Of course, his fans were also very important. If anyone wanted to seek refuge with him in the future, he would naturally turn no one away. His foundation was the "internet," so his fans were also his "Jiangdong Youth," in a way.

All those fans who supported him—especially the ones who gave large donations, frequently bought his products, left comments, and liked his content—didn’t he have to find a way to rescue them?

’Top Aunt’ would be one of his priority rescue targets in the future. No matter how difficult or dangerous it was, he had to save her. After all, when he was just an insignificant streamer, she had been so generous, constantly spamming expensive gifts to boost his popularity. He had to remember this kindness and repay the favor.

Furthermore, publicly building an "Apocalypse Shelter Theme Park" had several other advantages. When the Apocalypse did come, everyone would know there was a Shelter here and would try their best to make their way to it.

It was also an indirect way of giving a heads-up to the relevant authorities. If he officially revealed his plans later and his advice wasn’t taken: ’Look, I’ve already started this massive construction project. I’ve already completed over ten major phases. Are you in or not?’

...

Jiang Jianguo and Aunt Jiang had been very happy these past few days because Jiang Cai’Er’s final exam results were out.

They were even better than before!

Previously, although Jiang Cai’Er could rank in the top twenty of her grade, her best was ninth place; she had never broken into the top five. This time, she had unexpectedly taken the top spot all by herself, ranking first in the entire school!

Her classmates had jokingly nicknamed her the "female champion scholar"!

Her homeroom teacher, Teacher Huang, was naturally extremely pleased. After sending the scores and rankings to Jiang Jianguo and his wife, the couple was grinning from ear to ear.

The homeroom teacher said that if she kept up the hard work and maintained this momentum, not only was a 985 university a sure thing, but she could even aim for Qingbei.

Nowadays, admissions at prestigious universities tend to favor students from big cities. It was getting harder and harder for students from small cities, especially from high schools in small counties and towns. The only thing they could compete with was their college entrance exam scores.

And what about the big cities?

A student from a rural area who got into Qingbei on his own merits once said that after entering this top domestic university, the most shocking thing wasn’t the number of geniuses, nor how impressive the library, cafeteria, or faculty were. It was... that 80% of the students there apparently didn’t get in based on their college entrance exam scores. Instead, they were admitted through various other channels, such as winning top competitions, the "Strong Base Plan," other special talents, or special statuses like being the children of martyrs or outstanding retired athletes.

In other words, only about 20% got in through the college entrance exam route. They were the ones who competed on raw scores.

You fight tooth and nail just to compete for that 20% chance!

How could people from small cities get access to those channels?

Even if they knew about them, how could they compete? Could they overcome the resources others had?

It had been several years since anyone from Jiang Cai’Er’s school had gotten into Qingbei. The homeroom teacher had high hopes for her.

Jiang Jianguo and Aunt Jiang both knew that this was likely thanks to Li Xiang. Ever since Li Xiang had returned, their daughter went over to his house whenever she had free time to get help with her homework.

And it had clearly yielded significant results.

They had been worried she would get distracted and just want to have fun here, but now they could be completely at ease. And those gossips could finally shut their mouths!

Some people in the village wanted to ask Li Xiang to tutor their own children, but Li Xiang didn’t have the time. So those families just thought about it and were too embarrassed to ask. They knew Li Xiang was too busy.

Well, what could they do? The Jiang Family and Li Xiang’s family were just that close.

On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Xiang went to the county town with Jiang Cai’Er, his cousin Shen Wenqian, and his younger cousin Shen Zimo. Jiang Jianguo also came along, driving the tractor.

Jiang Jianguo was mainly there to help haul the audio equipment; the order they had placed earlier had arrived. Li Xiang took the group to the electronics store. After testing and taking inventory of the goods, he had Jiang Jianguo haul it all back and unload it in his own backyard, where it would wait for him to install later.

The shop owner was very enthusiastic—this was a major customer, after all. He even gave Li Xiang several small electronic gadgets for free. As he saw them out, he slapped his chest and guaranteed, "The quality is absolutely top-notch! If there are any problems, come to me for a replacement anytime. If you run into any issues with installation or use, just give me one call, and I’ll be there right away!"

Li Xiang shook his hand and thanked him.

"Brother Xiang, I have a favor to ask," the owner said, reluctant to see him go.

"Go ahead!"

The owner said, "Tomorrow night, could I also come to your place to watch the village gala live?"

"Haha, of course you can! I’d be honored!" Li Xiang naturally gave him a warm welcome.

"In that case, I’ll bring some more people with me. Hmm, I’ll come early tomorrow, then. I can even help with the installation and debugging of the equipment."

"Great, great, thank you, thank you."

Afterward, Jiang Jianguo headed home with the equipment, while Li Xiang took Jiang Cai’Er, Shen Wenqian, and Shen Zimo to buy clothes.

He had promised his cousins he would buy them clothes and couldn’t go back on his word. The New Year was almost here; if he didn’t buy them now, it would be too late.

Besides, someone in the county town had invited him to a meal. After they finished shopping, they would go grab a bite to eat.

Although the county town was small and not very prosperous, it actually had some high-end stores that catered specifically to the wealthy. After all, there were plenty of rich people in the county, and they had needs too.

Li Xiang could be considered to have achieved "clothing freedom" by now, so he took his cousins to those stores.

His cousin was stunned. ’So expensive, so expensive!’ These high-end stores were all decorated so magnificently, making his slightly introverted cousin and his young, inexperienced younger cousin very reserved.

Jiang Cai’Er, on the other hand, was playful and lively, and even helped haggle over the price.