Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Beneath Cheng Zhiyu’s feet was a one-meter by one-meter patch of dark soil. Based on his upbringing in the countryside, he judged it to be exceptionally fertile.

So fertile, in fact, that if his parents saw it, they would undoubtedly be unable to resist planting something.

But his parents were unlikely to see it, for the land beneath his feet belonged to no real-world location. To be precise, he wasn’t even in real space at the moment.

All of this had begun a week prior. Even now, the events of that day felt utterly surreal.

It was an ordinary weekend, indistinguishable from any other. As a fresh-faced corporate drone, Cheng Zhiyu cherished his rare days off and had planned to luxuriate in bed, ideally until noon.

But in his sleep, he was jolted awake by a loud "bang," like the sound of something heavy toppling over.

The noise seemed to emanate from downstairs, so Cheng Zhiyu dismissed it, rolling over to resume his slumber. Yet, no sooner had he pulled the covers over his head and closed his eyes than a sharp, piercing scream echoed—human-like, yet unsettlingly not.

Goosebumps instantly prickled Cheng Zhiyu’s skin. He glanced at the time: 7 a.m., just after dawn. After a moment’s hesitation, he swung his legs out of bed, slipped on his slippers, and hurried to the window to investigate.

His apartment wasn’t high up—only on the fifth floor—affording him a clear view of the street below.

On the sidewalk stood a person beside an overturned trash can, likely the source of the earlier commotion.

The individual wore a bright orange sanitation worker’s uniform, clearly identifying them as such. They walked forward with a stiff, tilted head, their movements twisted and eerie, like a rusted, broken machine operating on instinct alone.

Why did Cheng Zhiyu think that? Because he watched as the person repeatedly collided with a pillar directly in their path, yet showed no sign of pain, continuing to bump into it mindlessly.

Frowning, Cheng Zhiyu muttered to himself, “What in the world is going on?”

At that moment, he was more inclined to believe the person was suffering from some medical condition. After a moment’s thought, he picked up the cell phone he’d instinctively grabbed and prepared to call the police.

But just then, something unexpected happened. Cheng Zhiyu watched as someone approached the sanitation worker, only to be bitten moments later, letting out a bloodcurdling scream.

Not long after, the person who had been perfectly fine began moving with the same stiff, twisted gait as the sanitation worker. The two "people" then started wandering aimlessly.

A chill ran down Cheng Zhiyu’s spine as he finally realized the gravity of the situation. He tried calling 110 multiple times, but no one answered.

What was happening? Shouldn’t the emergency line be staffed 24/7?

He tried several more times, and during those attempts, several more distorted figures appeared downstairs. Those people… they seemed like zombies.

As absurd as the idea seemed, Cheng Zhiyu had a growing, chilling suspicion that his guess was probably correct.

His fingers trembling slightly, he decided to stop dialing the emergency number and instead called his mother.

Fortunately, after a few rings, someone picked up. Even though it was only a little past seven, Cheng Zhiyu’s mother was already up and busy. She sounded surprised to hear from him: “Oh, Ah-Yu, why are you up so early today?” she asked.

Hearing her familiar voice eased some of Cheng Zhiyu’s profound unease. He let out a sigh of relief and quickly asked, “What about Dad and Zhiyan?”

“Your dad’s brushing his teeth and washing his face—he just got up. Zhiyan’s still asleep. It’s the weekend, let her sleep in a bit longer,” she said. Cheng Zhiyan was Cheng Zhiyu’s younger sister, currently a sophomore in high school.

Hearing that his father and sister were safe, Cheng Zhiyu relaxed slightly. He was about to tell his mother about the strange occurrences downstairs and warn her to be careful when a loud noise erupted from the other end of the phone.

His mother muttered, “Who could that be, banging so early in the morning?”

Then, she called out to Cheng Zhiyu’s father, “Old Cheng, go open the door.”

Cheng Zhiyu’s father acknowledged and moved to answer the door.

But just then, Cheng Zhiyu urgently exclaimed, “Don’t open the door!”

The sound wasn’t like knocking—it was more like… banging. At that moment, any shred of hope Cheng Zhiyu had clung to vanished completely.

The banging continued, and Cheng Zhiyan’s voice came through the phone, sounding like she’d just woken up: “Mom, Dad~, who’s banging? It’s so annoying…”

“Zhiyan! Listen to me!” Cheng Zhiyu immediately called his sister over and explained what he had seen that morning and his terrifying suspicions.

“Bro, are you joking? Did you not wake up properly? Aren’t zombies just in TV shows?” Cheng Zhiyan laughed, clearly not buying it.

Cheng Zhiyu’s parents were also confused. They didn’t watch much TV and had no idea what zombies were.

Cheng Zhiyu’s tone turned dead serious: “I wish I were wrong, but… Zhiyan, we have a surveillance camera at the front door, right? Don’t open the door. Check the camera first.”

Cheng Zhiyan wasn’t smiling anymore. She had a chilling feeling her brother wasn’t joking. The banging at the door hadn’t stopped since it began, and throughout, there had been no other sounds.

How was that possible? If it were a person knocking, wouldn’t they say something after such a long time without an answer?

There was only one explanation… whatever was outside the door wasn’t human.

When Cheng Zhiyan checked the surveillance footage and saw what was happening, her worst fears were confirmed. As a teenage girl, the sight of the pale, expressionless zombie with rotting wounds terrified her, and her face instantly turned ashen.

“Good heavens, what disease is this?” Cheng Zhiyu’s mother trembled, recognizing the person outside as someone from their village whom she had spoken to just the day before. How had they become like this?

“Mom, it’s not an illness.” Worried that his family might open the door out of ignorance, Cheng Zhiyu forced himself to stay calm and carefully explained what zombies were.

Cheng Zhiyu: “Whatever you do, do not open the door. Zombies will bite people uncontrollably. If you’re bitten or scratched, you’ll turn into one too. They’re not human anymore…”

Hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu’s parents thought about how close they had come to opening the door. If they had done so unprepared… They shuddered, not daring to imagine the consequences.

They immediately declared, “We won’t open the door. We won’t.”

Cheng Zhiyan, having regained her composure, was sharp and immediately thought of her brother living in the city, where the situation was likely far worse. Anxiously, she asked, “Bro, what about you? There are definitely more people in the city, unlike our village, which has few people. We can stay indoors—we have plenty of stored food that’ll last a long time. But what about you? You probably don’t have much food…” she asked.

As she spoke, her eyes welled up, terrified that something might happen to her brother in the city.

Hearing this, Cheng Zhiyu’s parents also grew anxiously worried.

Cheng Zhiyu sighed to himself and lied to reassure them: “Don’t worry, the situation here isn’t that bad. The government reacted quickly and has already started organizing rescue efforts.”

His family all sighed in relief. What they didn’t know was that the zombie virus had struck too suddenly. Many people in key positions had been infected, throwing the system into chaos. Even the government was caught off guard.

The Cheng family busied themselves reinforcing the door with heavy objects. Their sturdy metal door would hold up for now, so they didn’t need to worry too much immediately. Next, they started storing water.

Since the zombie virus had just broken out, the tap water was still clean, but they weren’t sure if it would become contaminated later, so they needed to stock up.

Cheng Zhiyu did the same, filling all available containers with water.

Unfortunately, the apartment had very few containers that could hold water. Even if he filled them all, it wouldn’t last long.

Thankfully, back home, aside from large basins, they also had large water storage jars. The stored water should last them a long time. At that moment, his mind was filled with worry for his family, who were far away, and he didn’t think too much about his own situation.

As it turned out, his decision to call his family immediately had been the right one, because not long after, the call cut out automatically.

Some equipment must have been damaged, as Cheng Zhiyu realized that his cell phone had no signal.

With his family’s voices gone, the surroundings became suddenly silent. Cheng Zhiyu let out a breath, finally allowing himself to feel confused and helpless.

At that moment, it felt as if he were the only person left in the world, surrounded by nothing but zombies.

He wasn’t as calm as he had appeared earlier. That day, he kept checking his cell phone again and again, from morning till night.

As night fell, his phone still had no signal, and Cheng Zhiyu had to face the facts.

—The apocalypse had truly arrived.

He didn’t know what to do, so he followed the advice he had given his family: not daring to step outside, prioritizing his safety and survival.

On the second day of the apocalypse, Cheng Zhiyu finally gathered his wits and decided to take inventory of his supplies. Though he hadn’t checked carefully, he had a rough idea that he hadn’t bought much. He needed to organize everything to plan his next steps.

Maybe if he held on long enough, official government rescue would really come? Cheng Zhiyu tried to remain optimistic.

But before he could start counting his supplies, an emotionless robotic voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

"Beep, the Plant Cultivation Space System is connecting… Connection successful. Suitable host detected. Does the host agree to bind?"

Cheng Zhiyu almost thought the stress had made him hallucinate. He widened his eyes slightly and repeated, "A system? Did I get up too fast and imagine this?"

"Binding successful! Welcome to the Plant Cultivation Space System. Congratulations, host, you have received a Newcomer Gift Pack. Please claim it as soon as possible."

Cheng Zhiyu was exasperated. What kind of plant system was this? More like a domineering system! When had he ever agreed to bind?

Baffled, he voiced the question burning in his mind: "I never agreed to this. Isn’t this some kind of forced deal?"

"...Please claim your Newcomer Gift Pack as soon as possible."

Cheng Zhiyu: "..."

Get me a live agent!