Ying woke up in a very large crowd of people. He looked around cautiously, wondering what was going on. He couldn't quite remember how he got there, and was quite alarmed when he saw that everyone was smiling and cheering. What were they cheering for? What were they so happy about? Don't they know that yelling can attract the monsters? As Ying looked about some more, he saw that the city seemed to be intact again. All the buildings were standing tall, and there was no evidence of any sort of apocalypse. How was this possible?
He decided to follow their eyes, and what he saw caused his heart to sink. He saw a large stage, right in the center of town. There were large mechanical cylinders on this stage, and a platform that would fit a certain small box. Then he saw a young man walk out on stage, a man Ying barely recognized now. It was him, no more than 4 days ago. He was so similar, yet so different. Ying began to realize what was happening. He needed to warn everybody, before it was too late. He tried to scream, but the noise of the crowd drowned him out. He blinked onto the stage, and waved a hand in front of past Kadie's face. Nothing. Couldn't they see him? He tried shaking Kadie, but his hands phased right through her. He put his hands over his mouth, unsure of what to do. His panic was rising. He needed to stop this, and quickly. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Excuse me, you're not supposed to be up here." Said a familiar voice from behind him.
Ying whipped his head around, and was met with his own face. Of course his past self was the only one who could see him. Ying tried to speak, but no words came out. He tried to think of something, and then he realized… he turned around slowly. The box was already activated.
"Oh god." He thought to himself. "I'm too late…"
He then heard the sound of breaking glass from behind him, and a green light shone from above him. Ying looked into his past self's eyes, and they shared a terrified look for a moment. And then…
"FUCK!" Ying woke up with a start. "Why do all dreams have to suck!"
Ying laid down once again and covered his face. Thank god it wasn't real.
Ying started the day off by making a fire and boiling some mac n cheese in a flask. He needed a good meal after nothing but energy bars and donuts for the past few days. He impatiently shifted back and forth as he watched it boil. He was practically skipping up and down when he got to add the cheese. You would be surprised how much joy a simple pot of mac n cheese can bring to a man that hasn't had a proper meal in half a week. Ying stirred the pot with a glass mixing rod from his chemical cabinet, and waited for it to cool. After about 3 minutes of waiting, Ying couldn't take it anymore. He took a measuring cup to use as a spoon, and shoveled mac n cheese down his throat like it was his last meal. The feeling was indescribable. Ying began to weep tears of joy as he scarfed down the entire pot. It was pure ecstacy.
"Life is so worth living." Ying said shakily as he continued to eat.
After Ying's wonderful breakfast, he went into the garden and gave Sunflower some food for the day.
"I need to get you some proper bird food." Ying mumbled. "And a house!"
Ying took a swig of water and began going over his list again. He still needed electricity. He would need to find a generator… unless… Ying teleported on top of the roof. Bingo. The entire building was covered head to toe in solar panels. With a little rewiring, he could get them to work again. After a little while of searching, he finally found the problem. Turns out there was some damage to the lab afterall, a massive hole in the cable structure. This was gonna need some serious repair, but since he had all the necessary materials on hand it should only take a day or so. Ying grabbed the required tools and the repair supplies and made his way to the problem area. It was around back, near the top left support building.
"This is gonna take foreverrrrr…" He groaned. "Better get to work then."
He spent half the day repairing those wires. And then, suddenly after hours of work… BZZZZZZT. The lights in the area all lit up like fireworks. The lights were incredibly bright.
"Lucky those things cant see, phew." Ying thought to himself. "I'd be a sitting duck otherwise."
Ying gave an exhausted groan of completion.
"Yaaaaay… its finally on…" He sighed. "Wait a sec… if the electricity is on, so are the electric burners. I can finally cook!"
Ying threw his hands up in celebration. Almost everything in the lab ran on electricity. Dr. Totts did not approve of fossil fuels, and took measures to ensure that all power in the building was sustainable. Ying said a silent prayer to his old mentor, thanking him for his environmental safety. He would have power for the foreseeable future. Ying went inside and sat down in his newly illuminated room. This was great. He flipped the light switch on and off with glee. Power! He finally had power. And with the power back on, so too came the water.
The building had its own isolated water well that pumped and filtered via the power provided by the solar panels. Ying hoped and prayed it still worked as he gingerly approached the sink. He slowly reached his hand out and turned the faucet. Brown, dirty water shot into the sink. It stank to high heaven and didn't look very promising.
"Goddamnit!" Cried Ying. "Guess I'll have to fix the water next…"
Just as he said that, the water began to slowly change colors. It went from brown, to grey, to crystal clear. It looked perfectly clean, and Ying's eyes lit up. He immediately did the only logical thing a person could do in this situation. He went and got a beginner test strip kit from the chemical storage room. He cupped some water in his hands and put the strip in. Sure enough…
"Yes! It's pure!" Ying danced about happily.
With electricity and running water, he was set for survival. He could now start focusing on the bigger picture, like showering. Ying immediately threw his clothes aside and teleported downstairs. He practically skipped his way to the emergency shower in the chemistry lab. He would need to wait a while for it to clean itself out, and it would smell quite bad for a good while, but Ying was ready to kill if it meant getting clean. He turned on the water carefully. Instantly a stream of nasty gray water blasted out of the showerhead. It sprayed everywhere and started collecting in a drain nearby. Ying teleported out of the room immediately, he knew just how gross those showers can be when they havent been used in a while.
He waited a good 10 minutes before finally getting in. It was beautiful. Chilly, but beautiful. There was no hot tab for those emergency showers, he was gonna have to install one himself. All of the blood, sweat and grime that had built up on him over the past few days washed away. It was the most refreshing thing Ying had ever experienced. He spent a good 45 minutes in that shower, making sure to clean everything properly. He was disappointed when he had to get out, he was so cold at that point he felt like he might freeze. Ying let himself air dry for a good while before putting his clothes back on.
It was very late by then. Ying was kinda sad, today was just a work day. No excitement. He thought for a moment and decided he wasn't done with his day. He was gonna spend the night in the robotics lab.
"I can't end the day on a boring note, after all." He said to himself as he phased himself into his invention room.
Ying thought long and hard. He had guns, he had ammo, and he had explosives. What could he do with these… he could make chemical weapons with the ingredients in storage? Good idea, but those chemicals were in limited supply. He'd have to be incredibly careful as well so as to not poison himself. He'd come back to that. He could make traps for them to trip over? No, that'd only be useful against a few stragglers. He needed something that would be incredibly potent against a large sum. Then he found it. The most ingenious idea he'd had since the portal opened. Ying worked late into the night upgrading his distraction devices with a new special ingredient, smiling the whole way. Ying fell asleep in his chair, and a puddle of drool began to form on the desk. Tomorrow is gonna be interesting.