Chapter 1

In August 3035…It was probably August, Xue Ling couldn’t quite remember the time anymore.

But that didn’t matter, keeping track of time was useless now.

This year’s heat was unusual, with the sun blazing for over half a month without a drop of rain. Xue Ling found a shady spot under a thick tree and lay down, the old rocking chair creaking beneath her as the wind blew.

Xue Ling no longer needed sleep, lying there was just a way to pass the time.

She squinted and blankly stared at the distant shadows of people swaying in the heat.

This used to be a park, and three years ago, it would have been filled with elderly people and children taking walks and exercising.

The chatter of the elderly and the screams of children would have made this place lively, but now it was eerily quiet.

The hunchbacked old men shuffled slowly, small children stopped every few steps, and a few young people stumbled about, their movements stiff and slow.

They were all zombies, aimlessly wandering without sensing any living humans—like red-named NPCs in an online game that hadn’t triggered the battle mechanism.

Xue Ling stiffly turned over, her bones creaking just like the old rocking chair beneath her.

There was no helping it. After all, she was a zombie now. Her body was stiff, making many movements feel awkward, much like the other wandering zombies nearby.

She lay on her side, staring blankly at the bark of a nearby old tree. An ant crawled up the cracked bark, and she followed its journey until it disappeared high up in the branches, out of sight.

Life as a zombie was monotonous and dull. Spending days lost in thought was all Xue Ling had done for a long time.

She wondered how much longer she would have to live like this. Would she have to wait until she rotted away?

That seemed difficult, as zombies were gradually drying out, their skin becoming tougher. She might end up with a body like iron, heading towards a hundred years of life.

Living for twenty-two years and dying at seventy-eight—wasn’t that long life?

Today would likely be another peaceful day with nothing happening, Xue Ling thought as she watched the orange-red sunset spread across the sky.

Some things were best left unspoken. Just as she was thinking this, a thunderous noise suddenly echoed from the distance.

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

Zombies would gather at the source of the noise, and Xue Ling watched as her kind, like students rushing for food, snapped out of their lethargy and hurried toward the sound.

Soon, the zombies in the small park had howled and run off, while Xue Ling remained indifferent, lying in her rocking chair.

Such commotion could only be caused by humans, and as a peculiar zombie who retained some human reason, Xue Ling could never accept eating people. So she decided not to join in the noise.

Anxi City wasn’t large, and it held no special significance. After the outbreak of the zombie wave, the number of living people had decreased. Xue Ling had arrived here about a year ago, and during that time, she had only seen a few living humans.

With the noise so great this time, it sounded like more than just one or two people were coming. She wondered who they were and what they wanted.

———

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

The zombies had all been drawn away by the thunderous noise they had set off, allowing the convoy to advance smoothly. They shot a few scattered zombies nearby and quickly reached a suitable place to set up camp.

In the abandoned car lot, the convoy members skillfully cleared away the dangerous and obstructive old vehicles and set up barriers to fend off the zombies.

A few large lamps were placed beside the vehicles, and someone set up a boiler to boil water, soon filling the air with the aroma of food.

Before long, a weathered modified vehicle drove in. Recognizing the familiar vehicle, the camp members quickly opened the heavy iron gate and removed the barriers to let the vehicle pass.

The vehicle stopped, and a few people got out.

“Brother Mi, did everything go smoothly in luring the zombies over to the Southeast Plaza?”

“We’re all experienced now, what could go wrong?”

“Xiao Ying, this is your first time going with Brother Mi to attract the zombie horde. Were you scared to death, haha!”

“You’re the one who’s scared! I’m not that useless!”

“Alright, alright, the soup is ready, it’s time to eat!”

In the camp of over twenty people, it was lively. Dai Ying hugged his golden retriever, welcoming it back and affectionately ruffling its fur.

He squeezed through the crowd to grab two bowls of thick soup and stuffed two cans into his pockets before emerging to look for his cousin.

On the roof of the outermost vehicle, a figure sat.

“Cousin, why are you sitting here all alone? Aren’t you going to join everyone over there?”

“It’s too noisy,” Wen Jiuze replied lazily from atop the vehicle.

He was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a simple black T-shirt that clung to his muscular chest, showcasing his strength.

However, his hair was too long and messy, hanging over his shoulders in disarray. He sat there lazily with his back hunched, looking a little decadent.

Dai Ying, a scrawny nineteen-year-old, felt envious every time he saw his cousin’s build. He wished he could grow up to be like him.

Today, he had gone with his cousin to attract zombies and had almost been caught by the zombies. His cousin had pulled him back into the vehicle with one hand and swiftly cut off the zombie’s head.

The zombies nowadays are not the same as the ones at the beginning. Their necks are so hard but my cousin can still cut them in half with one knife. It’s so powerful.

Wen Jiuze was also eating, one hand holding a compressed biscuit to replenish energy and the other playing with a short knife used for killing zombies.

“Cousin, stop eating that and come here. There’s soup and canned food!” Dai Ying climbed onto the roof of the car, eagerly offering hot soup and his canned food.

Wen Jiuze smiled as he watched the adoration in his eyes, thinking that Dai Ying was just like the big golden retriever next to him, almost wagging his tail with excitement.

“Cousin, are you coming with us next?” Dai Ying asked while holding the 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 Jiuze didn’t agree, saying, “No need.”

Dai Ying wanted to persuade him further. After the apocalypse, encountering family was a rare blessing.

At the beginning of the apocalypse, things were chaotic, and the transportation network was paralyzed. They had lost contact with Wen Jiuze for a long time and only stumbled upon him unexpectedly two months ago.

Because of him, Wen Jiuze had temporarily joined their convoy.

But he had also mentioned that he wouldn’t stick with them forever. After visiting Qiu Village, he would go his own way.

“Cousin, you don’t have any destination anyway. Why not just stick with us? It’s better to be together, we can help each other…”

Wen Jiuze let him talk while munching on the compressed biscuit and playing with the knife, showing no further reaction.

After talking for a while without results, Dai Ying sighed and started drinking his soup.

His cousin seemed carefree and indifferent to everything. Although he often smiled, he was difficult to approach.

He had been with the convoy for two months and was handsome and strong, making him popular among many in the group, but no one could get close to him.

“Cousin, where do you plan to go next?”

“I don’t know.”

“Cousin, are you traveling everywhere?”

“No.”

“Then why are you wandering around? It’s so dangerous outside.”

“You talk too much. Finish eating and then go rest. Let me borrow your dog to play.”

“Oh, Puff, come here and play with my cousin!”

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

Dai Ying had raised this dog since before the apocalypse, taking care of it for several years.

He held two empty soup bowls and noticed his cousin scratching Puff’s chin as if he liked it, and suddenly remembered something.

“Cousin, do you remember about four years ago when you were studying at Yu City? You often helped me walk the dog.”

Wen Jiuze paused his scratching and chuckled nonchalantly, “Yeah.”

As the sky grew darker, the camp fell silent.

Slowly, a ray of morning light appeared on the horizon, signaling the arrival of a new day.

“Today is August 26, 3035, Monday. The surface temperature is 37 degrees; it’s sunny.”

The vehicle’s radio announced the report.

The convoy set off again, leaving the camp where they had rested for the night.

Xue Ling didn’t stay in the park today. The rocking chair she often lay on had finally broken under her weight this morning.

She felt this was a bad omen and decided to go out to find another rocking chair.

Life as a zombie was dull and unremarkable.

She could spend the entire day searching for a chair she liked. If it was far away, dragging it back might take her another day.

As luck would have it, just when she found a suitable rocking chair in a shop with its door wide open, she heard the sound of vehicles outside.

Several cars drove onto the street, moving slowly because there were abandoned vehicles blocking the way, forcing them to get out and tow the cars.

The commotion attracted the nearby wandering zombies, and Xue Ling watched as a few zombies excitedly ran past the glass door, followed by a dozen more.

Among the growls of zombies outside, human voices could be heard faintly.

Someone said, “We’ll need to move the machines a few more times, so let’s clean up the zombies on this street.”

“Okay, you lead the zombies while Brother Wen covers from the car, sound good?”

Xue Ling stood there with her hand resting on the rocking chair she had finally found, glancing around the messy storefront.

There was nowhere to hide, and the door leading to the back room was locked. If what those people outside said was true and they planned to clear the zombies from this street, staying here would likely mean her end.

Forget it, she’d leave first and come back for the rocking chair in a few days.

She staggered out, ready to make her escape.

Unfortunately, a large wave of zombies surged in from the street corner, trapping Xue Ling. The convoy was moving much faster than she expected, and she could already hear the commotion behind her.

Xue Ling usually paid close attention to keeping her distance from her fellow zombies, but now, in a critical situation, she forced herself to squeeze through the gaps in the crowd of zombies.

“Bang.”

Xue Ling was startled by a fellow zombie that suddenly fell beside her.

She realized the zombie had been shot in the head with a silenced gun and instinctively turned to look back.

Strangely enough, the slowly advancing convoy was still a distance away, with several people killing zombies next to the car. However, her gaze was almost instantly drawn to a person sitting on the roof of the vehicle.

Oddly, she only glanced at him, not even getting a clear look, yet the name of that person popped into her mind.

Another bang sounded, and another zombie collapsed nearby.

The man on the roof was shooting, and zombies were falling one after another from the horde.

Xue Ling’s vision went dark, and she collapsed alongside the nearby zombies.