Chapter 1

Chapter 1

August, 3035… Well, it was probably August. Xue Ling wasn't too sure about the exact time anymore.

But it didn't really matter. Remembering the time now was useless.

The weather this year was unusually hot. The sun had been scorching for over half a month without a single drop of rain. Xue Ling lay under the dense shade of a tree, her old, weathered rocking chair creaking under her weight.

Xue Ling hadn't needed sleep for a long time. Lying there in a doze was just a way to kill time.

She squinted, her gaze blankly following the distant, flickering figures.

This place used to be a park. Three years ago, there would have been many elderly people and children strolling around every day.

The chatting of the old folks and the screaming of the children would have made the place noisy. But now, it was eerily quiet.

Hunched elders shuffled slowly, short children paused with every step, and a few young people staggered, their movements stiff and sluggish.

They were all zombies. Without sensing any living beings, they would just wander aimlessly—like non-player characters (NPCs) in an online game that hadn't triggered any combat mechanisms.

Xue Ling stiffly turned over, as if hearing her bones creak, just like the old rocking chair beneath her.

It couldn't be helped. After all, she was a zombie now too. Her body was rigid, and many of her movements were especially stiff, not much different from the wandering zombies nearby.

Lying on her side, she began to stare blankly at the bark of the old tree next to her. An ant was crawling on the cracked bark of the camphor tree. She watched the ant crawl higher and higher, until it disappeared on the tall branches, out of sight.

Life as a zombie was monotonous and boring. A day could be spent just spacing out. Xue Ling had lived like this for a long time.

She didn’t know how much longer this would last. Maybe until she rotted away?

That might be difficult. Zombies were drying out, their skin becoming tougher. Maybe in the future, they would turn into iron-skinned creatures, and she might just live a long life.

Live for twenty-two years, dead for seventy-eight. Couldn't that be considered a long life?

Today would probably be another peaceful day with nothing happening. Xue Ling looked at the orange-red sunset spreading across the sky and sighed inwardly.

Some things shouldn't be spoken of. Just as she thought that, a thunderous sound echoed from afar.

This was no small matter. It immediately caught the attention of all the wandering zombies.

Zombies would gather toward any sound. Xue Ling saw her kind, like students rushing to a meal after hearing the bell, quickly change from their previous sluggishness, scrambling toward the source of the sound.

The zombies in this small park soon ran off, howling. Xue Ling remained unmoved, still lying on her rocking chair.

Only humans could make such a ruckus. As a strange zombie who still retained human rationality, Xue Ling couldn't bring herself to eat people. So, she had no interest in joining the commotion.

Anxi City wasn't large and had nothing special about it. After the zombie outbreak, there were fewer and fewer living people here. Xue Ling had come here about a year ago. In that year, she had only seen living people a few times in this area.

The noise this time was huge. It didn’t seem like just one or two people. Who could they be, and what were they doing here?

————

As the sun completely set, a motorcade entered Anxi City.

The zombies had been drawn to the explosive device placed on the other side. The motorcade advanced smoothly, shooting down the scattered zombies nearby, and soon reached a suitable place to set up camp.

In the abandoned car camp, people from the motorcade skillfully cleared out dangerous and obstructive old vehicles, setting up obstacles that could block zombies.

Several large lamps were placed next to the vehicles, and someone set up a stove to boil water, soon giving off the smell of food.

Before long, a modified car with a mottled exterior drove over. Seeing a familiar vehicle, the people in the camp quickly opened the large iron gate and the obstacles behind it, letting the car in.

The car stopped, and several people got out.

"Mi Ge, did everything go smoothly when you led the zombies away at the southeast plaza?"

"We're old hands at this. What could go wrong?"

"Xiao Ying, was it scary the first time you went with Mi Ge to lead a zombie horde?"

"Scary? I'm not that useless, am I!"

"Alright, alright. The soup is ready. Dinner time! Dinner time!"

There were over twenty people in the camp, lively and bustling. Dai Ying hugged his large golden retriever, affectionately rubbing its head.

He squeezed through the crowd, getting two bowls of thick soup and stuffing two cans into his pocket. Then, Dai Ying squeezed out of the crowd again, taking his large dog to find his cousin.

On the roof of a car at the outer perimeter sat a person on watch.

"Cousin, why are you sitting here alone again? Why not join everyone over there?"

"Too noisy," said Wen Jiuzhe lazily, sitting on top of the car.

He was a big guy, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted. A simple black T-shirt fit him like a second skin, showing obvious chest muscles, giving off a strong, powerful vibe.

However, his hair was too long, the messy ends brushing his shoulders, unkempt. Slouched lazily there, he looked somewhat decadent.

As a 19-year-old weakling, Dai Ying always admired his cousin's physique. He wished he could grow to be like that too.

Today, he had gone out with Mi Ge to lure a zombie horde. He had almost been grabbed by a zombie, but his cousin had yanked him back into the car and slit the zombie's throat in one move.

These zombies weren't like the ones from the beginning. Their necks had become as hard as steel, but his cousin could still cut through them with one slash. It was incredibly impressive.

Wen Jiuzhe was also eating, holding an energy-replenishing compressed biscuit in one hand while toying with the short blade he used to slash the zombie's neck.

"Cousin, don't eat that. Here, have some soup and a can!" Dai Ying climbed onto the car roof, offering the hot soup and his can with a pleasing expression.

Wen Jiuzhe smiled at his cousin's admiring gaze, feeling like his big golden retriever, whose tail was about to wag with excitement.

"Cousin, are you going to continue with us from here?" Dai Ying asked while holding a bowl of soup. "You said you wanted to check out Qiu Village. We can go with you, and then you can return to the camp with us."

Wen Jiuzhe didn't agree. "No need."

Dai Ying wanted to persuade him further. It was rare to reunite with family after the apocalypse.

In the early days of the apocalypse, everything was in chaos, and the transportation network collapsed. They hadn't been able to contact this cousin for a long time. It was only in the last two months that they had unexpectedly met him again.

Because of him, his cousin had temporarily joined their motorcade.

But his cousin had also said that he wouldn't stay with them forever. After visiting his old home in Qiu Village, they would part ways.

"Cousin, since you don't have a specific destination, why don't you come with me? It's better to stay together. We can help each other..."

Wen Jiuzhe let him talk, chewing on a compressed biscuit and playing with a short blade, without any extra reaction.

After talking for a while with no result, Dai Ying sighed and started drinking his soup.

His cousin seemed very casual, not caring about anything. Although he often smiled, he was actually not easy to approach.

He had been with the motorcade for two months, handsome and capable. Many people in the motorcade liked him, but no one could really get close to him.

"Cousin, where are you going next?"

"I don't know."

"Cousin, are you traveling around?"

"No."

"Then why are you moving around? It's dangerous out here."

"You talk too much. Finish your food and go rest... Can I play with your dog?"

"Oh, Pufu, come up and play with your cousin!"

The golden retriever obediently jumped onto the hood of the car, wagging its tail and resting its head on Wen Jiuzhe's bent knee.

Dai Ying had been raising this dog since before the apocalypse for several years.

Holding two empty soup bowls, he saw his cousin scratching under Pufu's chin and seemingly liking the dog. This reminded him of something.

"Cousin, do you remember when you were in college in Yu City about four years ago, you used to help me walk the dog often?"

Wen Jiuzhe paused in scratching the dog and then smiled indifferently. "Yeah."

As it grew darker, the camp became silent.

Slowly, a line of dawn appeared on the horizon, marking the start of a new day.

"Today is August 26, 3035, Monday, with a ground temperature of 37°C and clear skies."

The car radio broadcasted.

The motorcade set off again, leaving the camp after a night of rest.

Xue Ling wasn't in the park today. The lounge chair she often lay on had finally broken this morning.

She considered it a bad omen and decided to go out to find a new lounge chair.

Life as a zombie was monotonous and unembellished. She could spend a whole day looking for a chair she liked. If it was far away, it might take another day to drag it back.

Coincidentally, when she found a suitable chair in a shop with its door wide open, the sound of cars outside reached her ears.

Several cars drove onto the street, moving slowly because some abandoned vehicles blocked their way. They had to get out and tow them.

The noise attracted wandering zombies nearby. Xue Ling saw excited zombies running past the glass door, followed by more than a dozen others.

Amidst the zombies' roars, human voices were faintly heard.

Someone said, "We'll need to come back a few more times to move the machinery. Why don't we clear the zombies from this street?"

"Okay, you lead the zombies away, and Wen will cover us from the car, alright?"

Xue Ling, still holding the lounge chair she had just found, looked around the messy shop. There was no place to hide, and the door to the back room was locked. If what the people outside said was true and they were going to clear the zombies from the street, she would likely be in trouble staying here.

Forget it, she thought, and decided to leave and come back another day to get the chair.

Unfortunately, a large wave of zombies blocked the street, trapping Xue Ling. The motorcade advanced faster than she expected, and she could already hear the commotion behind her.

Xue Ling usually took care to keep her distance from her fellow zombies, but now in a dangerous situation, she braved the gaps in the zombie crowd.

"Bang."

Xue Ling was startled by a zombie next to her suddenly falling down. She saw the zombie's head had been blown open by a silenced gun. She instinctively looked back.

Strangely, the slowly advancing motorcade was still some distance away. Several people were killing zombies next to the cars, but her eyes were immediately drawn to someone sitting on top of a car.

Strangely, with just one glance, even before she could see clearly, the person's name popped into her head.

Another bang sounded, and another zombie fell nearby.

The man on the roof was firing in bursts, and zombies in the crowd fell one after another.

Xue Ling felt a sudden darkness before her eyes and collapsed, falling alongside the zombie next to her.