1: Chapter 1: We'll die together!

"Ningning, run! I've been bitten by a zombie, I won't make it!"

Lu Chengyue shoved his dagger into Xu Wanning's hand, his blood-soaked back pressed against the door to the rooftop, and pushed her away with reluctance.

Xu Wanning gripped Lu Chengyue's arm tightly, shaking her head frantically. "A-Yue, I'm not leaving. If we die, we die together!"

Three years after The Apocalypse began, another dark red Acid Rain swept across the entire safety base. A zombie tide erupted instantly, and friends and family mutated into zombies. The city completely turned into a living hell, with nowhere to hide.

Lu Chengyue glanced at the approaching rescue helicopter and pushed Xu Wanning away with all his might. "Go!"

As soon as Xu Wanning steadied herself, she turned back to see Lu Chengyue being submerged by the surging zombies right before her eyes, blood spraying everywhere.

Those eyes, filled with love, were still fixed on her as large teardrops rolled down. "If there is a next life, will you pursue me first?"

If not for his inferiority complex, believing he wasn't worthy of her, they wouldn't have missed each other for so long. They had just gotten together, only to be separated now; he was so unwilling to accept this.

"No!" Xu Wanning ran toward Lu Chengyue. "A-Yue!"

A rescue soldier grabbed her arm. "Don't go, he can't be saved. Hurry, let's go!"

Xu Wanning struggled violently. "No, I'm not going! A-Yue!"

She broke free from the soldier's grip and, without a moment's hesitation, rushed into the horde of zombies to embrace Lu Chengyue, activating the crystal nucleus within her body. "A-Yue, wait for me! If there is a next life..."

The crystal nucleus exploded instantly, and Xu Wanning, holding Lu Chengyue, perished along with the zombies.

——

"Ningning, hurry up and get up, we're going to be late." Hearing Lu Zhiyu's voice, Xu Wanning snapped her eyes open and turned toward the sound.

Seeing the living, breathing Lu Zhiyu, tears instantly welled up and spilled over. She rolled over, got out of bed, reached out, and pulled her into a hug in one fluid motion. "Zhiyu, Zhiyu."

The image of Lu Zhiyu being dragged down by zombies, torn apart, and lying lifeless in a pool of blood still lingered in her mind. Her heart ached—it hurt so much.

Lu Zhiyu was startled, but still reached out to hug her and patted her back. "Ningning, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? You need to get up and wash up quickly, we're running out of time."

Wen Shuyang and Song Yunqing walked in from outside carrying toiletries. Seeing them hugging and Xu Wanning crying so sorrowfully, they were stunned. "What's going on?"

Xu Wanning looked up at them and cried even harder. "Yangyang, Qingqing, wuwuwu."

Wen Shuyang and Song Yunqing had died even earlier than Lu Zhiyu; one was pushed out by her boyfriend to block zombies, and the other was stabbed to death by a classmate she had just saved, who repaid kindness with hatred.

Seeing Xu Wanning crying so violently, both of them panicked. They quickly put down their washbasins and came over to hug her. "Don't cry, don't cry. What happened? Tell us."

Xu Wanning just kept crying. She didn't want to, but her instincts made her unable to stop. Her mind was clear: she had been reborn, reborn three months before The Apocalypse.

In her previous life, the four of them supported each other and survived the early stages of The Apocalypse. Later, they met Lu Chengyue and his group who came for rescue and teamed up to kill zombies.

They had thought everything would get better, but unexpectedly, one teammate after another died. In the end, only she and A-Yue remained, and at the very end, they were all wiped out.

Heaven had given her another chance, and this time she would absolutely not repeat the same mistakes; she would never let them fall before her again.

By the time she finally cried enough and calmed down, her eyes were swollen.

Lu Zhiyu stroked Xu Wanning's head. "Ningning, what on earth is wrong? Don't tell me you started dating without us knowing and got your heart broken?"

Wen Shuyang and Song Yunqing nodded along.

Xu Wanning shook her head. "No, I had a very, very long dream. In the dream, three months later, there was an Acid Rain, the zombie virus broke out, The Apocalypse arrived, and you all died in front of me one by one. In the end, I died too."

Wen Shuyang laughed. "Haha, Ningning, you must have been reading too many novels to have a dream like that."

Song Yunqing agreed. "Yeah, yeah, how could The Apocalypse suddenly happen?"

Lu Zhiyu frowned. She didn't think it was just a simple dream. "Ningning, can you tell us how we all died?"

Wen Shuyang and Song Yunqing looked at Lu Zhiyu in surprise, not understanding why she would ask that.

Xu Wanning toyed with her wrist. "Yangyang was pushed out by her boyfriend, Jiang Lei, to block zombies and died."

"Impossible." Wen Shuyang immediately retorted. "My boyfriend loves me so much, how could he push me out to block zombies? If zombies came, he would definitely rather die himself than let anything happen to me."

Xu Wanning didn't react; she was already used to Wen Shuyang's unconditional trust in her boyfriend. In fact, she had believed it in her previous life too; no one had expected that Jiang Lei would eventually push her to block the zombies.

"If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do." With people who are love-struck, saying too much only leads to resentment; she could only let her hit the wall herself.

Wen Shuyang wanted to say more, but was pulled back by Song Yunqing. "We already said it was a dream. Ningning, then how did I die?"

The image of Song Yunqing's death instantly flashed in Xu Wanning's mind. "You were stabbed to death by Wu Na from our class. After you saved her from being bullied, she killed you and then committed suicide."

Song Yunqing truly hadn't expected that in Xu Wanning's dream, she would die in such a way. "Wu Na?"

They had no interaction with Wu Na, just pure classmates. Would Wu Na really kill her?

Lu Zhiyu's brows furrowed even deeper. "And me?"

Xu Wanning's tears fell again. "The zombie tide came, and while escaping, you were dragged down by zombies and devoured."

She tried hard to tell herself not to cry; now was not the time to cry. The Xu Wanning from three years into The Apocalypse wouldn't cry, but the Xu Wanning from three years before The Apocalypse couldn't help it.

Wen Shuyang felt a bit uncomfortable. "The dream you had... the three of us died too miserably. How did you die?"

Xu Wanning looked up at them. "I detonated my crystal nucleus and perished with the zombies."

Song Yunqing gasped. "That's hardcore." She stood up. "Stop crying. Once you say a dream out loud, it won't come true. Let's hurry and go eat breakfast."

Wen Shuyang stood up along with her. "Yeah, yeah, it won't come true once said. Let's go, let's go, let's go eat."

Xu Wanning and Lu Zhiyu didn't move; both of their expressions were very grave.

Seeing them like this, Wen Shuyang raised an eyebrow. "Zhiyu, do you believe The Apocalypse is really coming? Do you believe Ningning's dream?"

Lu Zhiyu neither admitted nor denied it. "There's no harm in being prepared. Let's stock up on some supplies."

Wen Shuyang and Song Yunqing exchanged glances and finally nodded helplessly. "Let's stock up, let's stock up. Anyway, even if The Apocalypse doesn't come, we won't lose anything."

Xu Wanning got up to go wash up with Lu Zhiyu. She stared at Lu Zhiyu's profile for a long time, looking through her at the man who bore a slight resemblance to her.

"Zhiyu, are you going to your brother's Fire Station to deliver something this afternoon?" If she wanted to get close to Lu Chengyue, going through Lu Zhiyu was the fastest way.

In her previous life, she had never met Lu Chengyue once. It wasn't until The Apocalypse arrived, the zombie outbreak occurred, and Lu Chengyue brought people to rescue Lu Zhiyu that they had any real interaction.

In this life, she would keep her promise: she would approach him first, flirt with him, and possess him.