Chapter 39

"No one will help you, no one will save you, the world scorns to be with you."

"You're a born monster."

...

Rotting flesh, venomous insects, waving withered branches, hideous sharp teeth... The Living Dead covered the mountains and plains, obscuring the boundless nightmare. Little Si Nan looked back in a panic. In the dream's distance, only a cross stood tall, a church silently collapsing in black flames, and a priest's voice echoed through the heavens: "The eternally undying warrior, the future of the dark age..."

"Resurrected from the grave, to enjoy eternal life."

The child's amber pupils instinctively constricted. He wanted to run but had nowhere to hide, all his consciousness was overwhelmed by a familiar, cold voice: "Virtual Scenario E7364.1.0, establishing stress mechanism. Kill rate less than 2/1s will be confirmed as failure, subject to electric shock."

"Begin countdown."

Yan Hao roared in despair: "—Si Nan!"

Before he could finish, Si Nan landed a back kick, sending him flying chest-first, his back slamming heavily against the wall!

The violent impact caused Yan Hao's body to rebound, and he unexpectedly spat out a mouthful of blood. The next moment, fingers locked around his throat, and immense force pressed him back against the wall, then lifted him uncontrollably upward.

"..." Yan Hao's eyes were wide open. He struggled with all his might to no avail, feeling his toes leave the ground. "Si... Nan..." he squeezed out the two words from between his teeth.

Si Nan was unmoved. He was like a cold, sharp fighting machine, without thought or humanity. The hand locked around Yan Hao's throat was like steel, not moving an inch.

But his eyes were half-closed, his lashes hiding all expression, making it impossible to even see the focus of his gaze.

Yan Hao's face turned red, then blue. His non-dislocated hand trembled as it grabbed Si Nan's wrist. But with the rapid lack of oxygen, all his struggles were futile, unable to make Si Nan's fingers loosen even the slightest bit.

'...Why...' he thought in agony.

'Wake up... I'm begging you, Si Nan, wake up...'

His inner pleas were destined to be in vain.

Yan Hao heard his own throat bones make a strained creaking sound. His vision blurred and darkened, and he could no longer even feel the sharp pain of his dislocated wrist. The second before he fell into the abyss, he saw Si Nan raise a hand, fingers as sharp as a knife's edge, digging toward his eyeball.

·

Who am I?

How was I born?

Countless billions of living beings, birth, old age, sickness, and death, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, time converging into history to wash over every rock on Earth, how could it be that a 'me' just happened to appear?

"What did you turn me into? What did you turn him into?!"

A sixteen-year-old boy stood in a field of weeds, pointing at a moss-covered, iron-gray stone tablet behind him, his roar echoing through the cemetery: "Did you ask what we thought? Do you know this isn't what he wanted at all? Why forcibly hold on to someone who has already left, let him go! Let the dead go—!"

The woman's expensive black dress spread out on the muddy ground as she wept uncontrollably.

"You've turned us all into monsters, without time or life and death, you've turned the person you love into a monster..."

The boy staggered back. He looked at the woman, tears finally falling from his eyes onto his pale cheeks. "Dad wasn't sick, he... he's already dead..."

"...He's gone forever."

The first bolt of lightning finally flashed above the manor, and thunder rumbled across the sky.

The boy ran up the steps, rushed into the great hall, and pushed open the heavy mahogany door at the end of the corridor.

Wind blew through the hall. A burning candle fell onto a silver platter with a clatter. The boy froze, his eyes reflecting a pair of dangling feet.

His gaze slowly moved up, meeting the eyes of the disheveled woman for a long moment, before he finally, listlessly, knelt on the ground.

"Noah," a voice came from the other end of the corridor.

The hand-woven carpet turned to shreds under his trembling fingertips. After an unknown amount of time, the boy stood up and shakily walked through the corridor, not even shifting his gaze as he passed the person.

"Noah!" The person grabbed his hand.

The boy didn't struggle, saying faintly, "Are you happy now?"

The person's words were all choked back. After a moment, he snorted a laugh, his expression slightly twisted. "Yes, of course I'm happy. Do you remember how you..."

Before he could finish, the boy had already broken free of his hand, walked out of the luxurious hall step by step, and followed the particularly verdant and gloomy path before the rainy season, leaving the manor behind.

Raindrops formed countless threads between heaven and earth. As far as the eye could see, the world was a vast expanse of white. Every step was muddy and heavy, as if his feet were bound by countless, inescapable, invisible chains, extending to the endless edge of a nightmare.

Dead, all dead.

Then why are these chains still here?

He clearly had no connection to this world anymore, but why did the hurt, pain, and restraints still exist so clearly in the marrow of his bones, impossible to erase no matter what?

His gasps in the downpour were like the howls of a wild beast. The boy's pace gradually quickened, becoming frantic, turning into a desperate, reckless sprint.

'There's no other way...' he thought.

Just like the countless electric shocks branded deep into his soul, all fate had already decided the final outcome. Besides endless killing, there was no other way.

—Clap!

Yan Hao felt the hold on him loosen. Fresh air rushed into his lungs, choking him into a wretched, violent coughing fit. He didn't even realize he had fallen to the ground. It took several seconds for the stars in his vision to finally fade. In a daze, he heard Zhou Rong shout, "Watch out!"

Yan Hao rolled on the ground just as a military dagger plunged into the concrete right beside his body. As Si Nan was about to pull the blade out, Zhou Rong sent the dagger flying far away with a kick. Using close-quarters combat moves, he twisted Si Nan and pinned him to the ground. The two of them grappled and rolled for several meters, crashing into and knocking over countless wooden posts and stone slabs along the way.

Yan Hao ignored the agonizing pain in his throat, reset his wrist with a crack, picked up the dagger with his good hand, and thrust it up into the jaw of a zombie behind him, piercing straight through its skull!

The horde of zombies at the construction site had mostly been mowed down by Zhou Rong's gunfire. Only three or five zombies with broken arms and legs were still groaning and spinning in place. Yan Hao stumbled to find his gun and took care of them with a few shots. He heard a loud crash behind him and turned to see Si Nan pinning Zhou Rong against a concrete wall by the neck!

But Zhou Rong wasn't Yan Hao. The moment his toes left the ground, he curled up, bent his knees, and delivered a flying kick to the chest with both legs. Si Nan was instantly thrown into a pile of sand and gravel several meters away!

Zhou Rong rushed forward, pulled Si Nan up from the pile of sand and gravel, rubbed his chest first, then without another word, sat on top of him. He used the force of his knees to pin Si Nan's elbows, preventing him from struggling further, and pinched the philtrum below his nose with all his might. "Si Nan! Wake up, look at me!"

'Look at me...'

Si Nan's unfocused eyes twitched, staring blankly at Zhou Rong.

"Look at me! How many fingers am I holding up?" Zhou Rong turned his chin to make him look at his index finger, then slapped his face hard. "You don't recognize me? I'm Zhou Rong! Your Rong-ge! How dare you not recognize me?!"

'Zhou Rong...'

Si Nan closed his eyes, then opened them again, like a mental patient trapped in a frenzied dream, his eyes glinting with fear and loathing.

This was clearly a symptom of the brain self-hallucinating after severe trauma, unable to distinguish reality from illusion. Zhou Rong's heart sank. He pinched the nape of his neck like he was subduing a feline, forcing him to look into his eyes at close range. "Look at me, Si Nan. I'm Zhou Rong. We escaped from T City together, escaped from the Fertilizer Plant. Rong-ge has always liked you, and you like Rong-ge too, right?"

"You know Rong-ge would never hurt you, will always protect you. You're willing to come with me, right?"

Si Nan: "..."

Zhou Rong's rich and domineering voice poured directly into his ears, entering his dream like hypnosis, becoming a distant halo of light in a world being washed away by a torrential storm.

"Zhou Rong..." he whispered neurotically, his gaze evasive.

"It's me, look at me." Zhou Rong once again turned his beautifully shaped chin. "It's okay, I'm here to get you, you're safe now... Be good, my treasure, look at me."

Si Nan's wandering gaze was like a little fish, finally caught by Zhou Rong, held tightly in his palm, and forced to meet his own.

Zhou Rong's deep gaze seemed to contain some kind of invisible power, while Si Nan's was blank and scattered. After a moment, something violent finally receded slightly from his eyes. He called out softly, his tone full of uncertainty, "...Zhou Rong?"

Zhou Rong leaned down and pressed a kiss on his trembling eyelids, then moved down to kiss the wing of his nose, his cheek, and his lips.

That tender, warm contact, like sunlight, dispelled the rainstorm. A memory returned to a scorching midsummer, in a lush, dense forest. With the salty taste of sweat and the fresh scent of plants, a young boy stood on his tiptoes and pecked the chin of a disheveled special forces soldier, a sly glint in his eyes.

"...Zhou Rong," Si Nan murmured.

It was just a simple calling of his name, but Zhou Rong's heart instantly softened. He couldn't help but hum in response, subconsciously rubbing the tender, snow-white soft flesh at the nape of his neck.

Si Nan fell silent.

Zhou Rong felt the body beneath him show signs of relaxing. A huge weight lifted from his heart. He released his hold and gave Yan Hao a look, signaling him to get the motorcycle. Then he casually adjusted the submachine gun, tightening the strap that was about to slip off his shoulder—

Then he reached out, intending to lift Si Nan up in his arms.

But just then, Si Nan caught a glimpse of him adjusting the submachine gun.

Reality, reflected through the retina into his brain, was exaggerated, distorted, and magnified. The chaotic neurons constructed another scene: fully armed soldiers, barking hounds, a machine gun spitting bullets and flashing in the dark night...

'Run! Run!' someone shrieked hysterically in the flames.

'Run!' a woman screamed desperately from behind him.

'They're here to get you, run—!'

"Why have we lost our freedom, been plundered and imprisoned?"

The little boy held his mother's hand, looked up and asked, "Mom, does God love all people?"

In the halo of light, his mother lowered her head. Her familiar face gradually twisted and deformed. Rotten black spots crawled across her beautiful face, maggots and dirt covered her amber eyes, the flesh fell from her fingers, revealing stark white bones, all reflected in the little boy's terrified eyes.

'Run, Noah.'

'Don't let anyone catch you, run.'

"Si Nan!"

Zhou Rong shot up, but it was too late. In the thousandth of a second that he let his guard down, Si Nan shot up like a cannonball and charged out, knocking Yan Hao to the ground!

"Grab him!"

Yan Hao rolled to his feet, but before he could exert any force, Si Nan had already swung onto the motorcycle, one long leg propping him up on the ground, panting as he looked at them.

—No, he wasn't actually looking at anyone. His gaze passed straight between Zhou Rong and Yan Hao, as if he were staring at something in the void that terrified him to his very core.

It was a devil buried deep underground, and a nightmare that had never faded in this lifetime.

"Come back..." Zhou Rong said softly, his voice trembling, opening his arms. "Come back, Si Xiaonan, please come back to Rong-ge... Si Nan!!"

The same second the engine started, Zhou Rong shot forward, swift as an arrow from a bow. However, he only managed to touch a corner of the back seat before the motorcycle turned into a stream of fire, roaring off into the street!

Vroooom—!

As Zhou Rong and Yan Hao watched, stunned, the motorcycle leaped high over the guardrail and landed with a crash.

Si Nan didn't hesitate for another moment, not even glancing back. The motorcycle shot off like a meteor, its roar fading around the street corner!

Zhou Rong took two steps in pursuit, then picked up the submachine gun and slammed it onto the ground, before slapping himself hard across the face.

Yan Hao shook his head in alarm. "Why, what's happening, this is..."

Zhou Rong's voice was full of frustration and restraint: "Get back!"

Yan Hao forced himself to a halt, only then noticing that in the distant street, the scattered zombies had somehow reappeared and were gathering in twos and threes, slowly approaching the construction site.

—They were still on an exposed street, in the core of a city filled with millions of zombies. It was too dangerous.

Just as Yan Hao grabbed his gun, the roar of helicopter propellers rapidly approached from above, followed by the rat-a-tat of machine gun fire that sent the zombies on the street twitching and flying!

The two looked up to see two large, dark green helicopters circling at low altitude. A cabin door was thrown open with a bang, and Chuncao tossed down a rope ladder. "Hurry up and get on!"

"Where's Si Nan? What happened?" Ding Shi shouted over the roaring wind.

Zhou Rong's face was grim. He shook his head without answering and said curtly, "Turn on the searchlights, search along the city center, quickly!"

·

The sky darkened rapidly. The black curtain of night fell, and the most terrifying night of the apocalypse was about to begin.

A person lacking warm clothes and food, who has lost his gun, is not in his right mind, and is all alone—how long could he survive in the center of a city with millions of zombies? Could he last until the next morning?

The answer was like the dark clouds in the night sky, weighing heavily on everyone's heart.

Both helicopters turned on their searchlights, their onboard speakers turned up to maximum volume. However, all their calls were like pebbles thrown into a stormy sea, instantly disappearing into the terrifying waves formed by the horde of zombies.

The helicopters flew low along the streets and alleys, over the top of every building, but no miracle occurred.

That slender and agile figure, so familiar to them all, had truly vanished without a trace, disappearing as suddenly as he had appeared, as if by a helpless and long-predestined fate.

"Rong-ge..." Ding Shi's voice trembled. "We have limited fuel, and we still have to fly to the South Sea. I'm afraid..."

There wasn't enough fuel.

In the focus of everyone's gaze, Zhou Rong sat behind the control console. In the shadows cast by the searchlight, the man's handsome and grim profile—from his forehead and the bridge of his nose to his taut, thin lips and chin—was outlined in a shockingly sharp silhouette.

"When I left," he suddenly said without any warning,

"I told him, wait for me to come get you."

—It was a perfectly calm tone, yet Ding Shi was so oppressed by the terrifying power within those words that he didn't dare to respond.

"He really did wait. At the construction site, he smiled the moment he saw me and waved from a distance."

"But I failed to pick him up as I promised."

"...Rong-ge," Ding Shi said with a choke. "This isn't anyone's fault, this..."

"He wanted to leave with me. When he got on the motorcycle, he hesitated for a moment, looked at me, maybe wanting to give me one last chance. It's just that I shouldn't have touched the gun. He was so scared then, I frightened him away."

Zhou Rong closed his eyes. Inside the cabin, apart from the roar of the helicopter, it was terrifyingly quiet.

A moment later, he took something shiny on a string from around his neck. Ding Shi recognized it as the chip that had all the virus research data from the B Military Region downloaded onto it.

Zhou Rong pinched the chip in his hand, tapping it absently against the console, then suddenly pointed down. "What's on that rooftop? Get closer and take a look."

Ding Shi didn't react at first, then he piloted the helicopter to a lower altitude, sweeping the searchlight across the building's roof. "There's nothing, the target area is about two hundred square... Rong-ge?!"

Zhou Rong tossed the chip onto the console, unbuckled his seatbelt, and pulled open the cabin door. In the bone-chilling wind, he looked back and smiled. "Wait for us in the South Sea."

That smile was impossibly dashing and rebellious. Ding Shi lunged to grab him, but Zhou Rong had already leaped out, jumping down amidst cries of alarm!

Plummeting from a height of eight or nine meters, Zhou Rong landed steadily and drew the assault rifle from his back. He left decisively amidst everyone's frantic shouts, disappearing into the perilous night of the city.