1: Chapter 1 Betrayal, Rebirth!

A thick, inescapable stench of decay, like countless piles of rotting flesh, filled her nose and mouth. It felt as though every breath was futile, bringing only a searing sting and a despair that sank deep into her marrow.

In the midst of the battle, Qi Yin was violently pushed outward. The force seemed to carry a familiar electrical sensation, making it impossible for her to steady herself.

She could even clearly feel that hand—the one that used to stroke her hair so gently—now pressing against her back with absolute ruthlessness, completely cutting off any chance of survival.

"Yin Yin, I'm truly sorry. Our supplies are no longer enough to support the whole family's survival. For our sake, you..."

Her mother Lu Yingman's shrill, distorted voice was completely drowned out by the tsunami of roars and the sound of chewing as Qi Yin fell from the city wall.

At this moment, the world actually became slow and clear before Qi Yin's eyes.

As she fell, she seemed to see her father Qi Mingyuan's face, which was always stern, now filled only with extreme terror and the relief of a narrow escape. He held Lu Yingman in a tight grip, and the look she gave Qi Yin was as if she were looking at a burden they had finally gotten rid of.

She seemed to see her brother Qi Ming pulling his wife Wang Hui away, already turning their heads to scramble desperately toward the seemingly sturdy iron gate atop the wall. They didn't waste a single second of the brief escape time she had bought with her life.

Let alone spare a backward glance at her as she was being devoured by the horde of corpses.

Qi Yin gave a self-deprecating smile and forced herself to raise her hand, wanting to condense her Supernatural Ability for self-defense.

Unfortunately, her energy had long been exhausted while she was fighting to the death to protect The Qi Family; now, only a tiny droplet of water appeared on her fingertip.

Forget it!

Then came the bone-chilling pain.

Sharp, blade-like agony suddenly erupted from her torn arms, shoulders, legs, and her entire body.

Countless hands covered in rotting flesh grabbed her body, their blackened, sharp nails sinking directly into her skin. Massive force flipped her onto the ground as one foul-smelling mouth after another began to feast on her fresh red flesh.

"Ah—!"

A shrill scream escaped uncontrollably from Qi Yin's throat, only to be instantly drowned out by the sound of more bones snapping and the noise of swallowing and chewing.

In her ten years of struggling through the Apocalypse, she had never felt the sensation of flesh being torn from her body as clearly as she did now. Warm blood sprayed out, staining her vision red while attracting even more zombies.

Her consciousness flickered like a candle in the wind amidst the intense pain and fear. Qi Yin hated it—why couldn't they just let her die quickly?

Why?

Ten years. She had worked so hard, relying on the ability of the dragon-patterned jade pendant given to her by her grandmother to store a small amount of supplies. She had risked her life time and again to find food in desperate situations, and combined with her awakened Water Element Ability, she had protected The Qi Family as they escaped from the ruins.

She had done everything possible to save her own rations for them and had risked death repeatedly to lure zombies away. To protect them, her once-delicate skin was gone, replaced by scars of all sizes...

But in return, they abandoned her, pushing her into the tide of corpses without hesitation?

Using her body of flesh and blood to buy those pathetic few seconds of escape time!

Qi Yin hated them!

A towering hatred, like scalding lava, instantly destroyed all fear and pain, burning wildly in the depths of her nearly extinguished consciousness.

Through the gaps between the countless feasting bodies, Qi Yin bit by bit struggled to turn the only eye she could still move toward that iron gate which was about to close.

She thought, this life is over, so she must remember! Remember every one of their faces! And even more, remember the expressions on each of their faces.

If there is a next life, if there is a next life...

"Boom!"

Just as her consciousness

was about to fall into endless darkness, Qi Yin suddenly felt an indescribable burning sensation at the center of her brow!

It was that dragon-patterned jade pendant—the one hidden within her body after the contract was formed, now glowing red as it was soaked in her blood!

Suddenly, a majestic and mysterious power erupted from the jade pendant, like a miniature sun exploding at her brow!

The dazzling, searing light forced Qi Yin's eyes shut and instantly dispelled the darkness and bloodiness before her, even briefly suppressing the pain in her body.

A moment later, this blinding light gradually became pure.

In this pure radiance, Qi Yin's pupils, which had already begun to dilate, reflexively focused.

In a daze, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a sharp figure as fast as lightning, kicking open the nearly closed iron gate.

A shimmering Tang sword slashed forward with ruthless force, and the heads of all four members of The Qi Family actually hit the ground!

Without a word, that black figure leapt down from the top of the ruined city wall!

A Tang sword in his hand was like a madly roaring silver dragon; wherever the silver light passed, zombies fell like wheat being harvested.

He seemed completely indifferent to his own safety, his eyes bloodshot as he tore a path through the zombie horde with a near-suicidal frenzy, charging recklessly toward where Qi Yin lay!

Qi Yin thought, he is so strong, and so fast...

That red mole behind his ear... it seems like she had seen it somewhere before...

Is he trying to save her? But, it's too late!

"Huu!"

Qi Yin's remaining consciousness couldn't help but let out a faint sigh, carrying endless regret and a strange sense of relief, before finally being completely swallowed by that warm light at her brow.

Seeing her eyes close completely, the man froze.

Too late...

"Drip-drop."

"Drip-drop."

The rhythmic sound of dripping water broke the silence of the room.

Qi Yin's body was wrapped in soft bedding, and a refreshing fragrance lingered at the tip of her nose—it was the scent of her favorite laundry detergent.

Where was the biting? The intense pain? And that nauseating stench?

After a moment of daze, Qi Yin snapped her eyes open!

What met her eyes was no longer a landscape filled with zombies, but something both familiar and foreign—her bedroom from before the Apocalypse. The room her grandmother had meticulously decorated for her, with the moon-shaped pendant light she had personally chosen and installed, still hanging quietly instead of being a pile of shards on the floor!

Bright sunlight spilled into the room, and she could occasionally hear the crisp chirping of birds and the faint sound of traffic from the distant streets.

She hadn't seen such peace and tranquility in a long time.

Like a drowning person suddenly pulled from the water, her heart beat wildly.

Qi Yin sat up abruptly and looked down at her body.

Great, she was completely intact!

Her fair, youthful skin didn't have a single scar, let alone the lacerations from being devoured by zombies. Even her pajamas were clean and fragrant.

However, that faint, phantom burning sensation deep in her brow seemed to still exist, as if reminding her of something very important.

Qi Yin got out of bed with trembling legs and rushed to the dressing table in a few steps. She opened the innermost drawer and searched for the dragon-patterned jade pendant her grandmother had left her.

A warm touch greeted her as the dragon-patterned jade pendant emitted a faint glow in her hand. Those complex and unfamiliar patterns seemed to flow slowly around a speck of emerald green in the center, like a living thing.

Then, as if remembering something, she scrambled to the nightstand and grabbed her phone.

The screen lit up.

[Friday, June 18, 2050, 7:30 AM]

The clear date and time were like a heavy hammer slamming into Qi Yin's mind.

One month!

It was actually one month before the outbreak of the Apocalypse!

Following the massive shock, painful memories swept over her like a tsunami—the cold eyes of her kin's betrayal, the intense pain of being bitten by zombies, and the despair within the sea of corpses and blood.

And that silver light that had split the darkness...

"Ugh..."

Qi Yin covered her mouth and ran straight to the bathroom, unable to suppress her dry heaving any longer, while tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes.

But it wasn't sadness; it was an emotional storm woven from hatred that cut to the bone and the relief of surviving a disaster.

She tightly gripped the dragon-patterned jade pendant in her palm, her nails digging into her skin and leaving faint blood marks.

She finally realized that the faint burning sensation wasn't an illusion, nor was it a hallucination before death.

It was this...

It was this jade pendant that had brought her back!

After a long time, Qi Yin finally composed herself, raised her head, and looked at herself in the mirror.

The young girl's face was pale, and her eyes were red.

But deep within those eyes that used to be gentle, something had completely shattered into pieces, and something else was restructuring, igniting a cold and resolute flame.

The pain of betrayal from her previous life was now etched into her heart. From now on, it would transform into a poisoned blade hanging over her soul.

"Qi Family!"

"Mom, Dad!"

"Brother, Sister-in-law!"

A cold-to-the-core curve hooked at the corner of Qi Yin's mouth as she whispered silently.

"How wonderful, we meet again!"

"In this life, let me see exactly how you ought to die..."