Chapter One: Beauty Before My Eyes

Cockroaches are the cockroaches of humanity, and humans are the cockroaches of Earth... Of course, I just want to praise their tenacious vitality.

Evolution—such an alluring word. For millions of years, humans have been constantly evolving and developing to adapt to ever-changing environments. Dinosaurs, those mighty creatures that once dominated the ancient continents, went extinct because they couldn't evolve to face sudden environmental changes.

Yet humans, seemingly weak creatures, have weathered countless storms and still enjoy life. In a sense, life is even getting better and better.

Survival of the fittest, natural selection, the strong thrive while the weak perish!

For nearly six thousand years, it seems humans have been able to control their own direction of development. Highly advanced technology has given humanity immense confidence, and the pressures of nature have grown ever smaller. But has evolution really stopped?

The answer is no. The march of evolution never stops, and it is always selective. Not all deer become giraffes, nor do all apes become modern humans. Some people have begun to change quietly, becoming a higher form of life than ordinary humans, calling themselves "New Humans"!

The world is still the same world, but the elements within it have changed.

2010, ten years after the millennium, life still goes on as usual. The Earth continues its endless orbit around the sun, but nothing is truly unchanging. Even it is drifting through the universe with the solar system. Of course, time and space mean nothing to it.

The restlessness of the tiny creatures on its surface is as insignificant as dust. The "apocalyptic catastrophe" people once imagined is now an old joke no one wants to mention.

But some things really have changed, unnoticed by most people...

Ten years—neither long nor short—but for some, it was enough to make all kinds of preparations. Of course, if they can still be called "people."

Life is so boring. To be precise, high school life is too boring. Senior year is like a nightmare. Quality education? Why do I feel like my own quality is constantly declining?

After lunch, not wanting to take a nap, I grabbed my books and headed to the classroom. Those are my only two choices: go back to the dorm to sleep or read. Of course, I'm not some model student who loves to study. One physics book, one chemistry book... and sandwiched between them, a fantasy novel, "Fierce Dragon Across the River." Sigh, if only I could be as cool as the protagonist in the book. Never mind a whole group of beauties—even if just one took a liking to me, tsk tsk, life would be like heaven. He's a martial arts master, but I'm just a standard ordinary person, and so are the people around me. All I can do is read and daydream.

Let me introduce myself: I'm Henry Bennett, a senior at Penglai No. 1 High School. You've heard of Penglai, right? A long, long time ago, eight immortals flew away from the sea here. As for what kind of flying device they used, that's still under research. But I still have to thank those eight seniors for putting our little city on the map. When I was a kid, I used to roam the mountains and rivers, hoping they'd left some magical elixirs for us descendants. But immortals are famously stingy, so of course I came back empty-handed.

Our school is a key institution, but that's not what it's most famous for. Its real claim to fame is that right across from the boys' dorm is the girls' dorm of the city art academy!

For us senior students suffering in the depths of hell, that's definitely a blessing. Even if you can't "eat the grapes," it's nice just to look at them!

It's scorching hot at noon, but there are actually people in the classroom. Jeez. I don't mind people, but our homeroom teacher is a real maniac. He came up with this so-called democratic anonymous vote, making us write down the "improper things" happening in class on little slips of paper. What's worse, I don't know which buddy I offended, but someone actually reported me for reading fantasy novels. Seriously, getting caught reading this stuff in senior year is like asking for death. No wonder "the Old George" who had high hopes for me was furious, and it's no surprise my grades have slipped.

But when I walked in, things weren't as bad as I'd imagined. It was our two class belles. Do you know why I never go to ogle those flashy girls at the art school across the way? It's because the two sitting in front of me are way prettier than any of them!