The smoke finally cleared, leaving behind nothing but the mangled corpse of the zombie.
But the soldiers who had survived weren’t celebrating.
Silence hung heavy in the air. Some people hurried off to gather the survivors who had scattered in panic, while others quietly carried back Squad Leader Jin’s ruined body without saying a word.
The platoon leader—a man in his forties—red-eyed and exhausted, crouched down and gently closed Jin’s staring eyes himself.
Mo Chu watched for a moment, then let out a quiet sigh and looked away.
Six years into the apocalypse, she had seen more death than she could count. Even so, moments like this still left a bitter ache in her chest.
Beside her, Li Chen suddenly asked softly, “Does it hurt?”
Mo Chu blinked in confusion and turned toward him. “What?”
She hadn’t even fought directly. Why would she hurt?
Li Chen lowered his gaze toward her hand.
After firing that first shot, she’d immediately switched the gun to her other hand. Since then, her fingers had been unconsciously rubbing the web between her thumb and index finger. By now, the skin there had turned red and slightly swollen.
Gun recoil wasn’t something to underestimate. Even handguns could fracture bones if handled improperly—let alone the heavy pistol she’d casually picked up, one that clearly wasn’t designed with women in mind.
Mo Chu herself hadn’t noticed.
Li Chen had.
She glanced down at her hand, startled for a second before shaking her head. “It’s nothing. Doesn’t really hurt.”
Li Chen’s fingers twitched instinctively, as if he wanted to reach for her hand. But he stopped himself almost immediately, his muscles tightening.
After a pause, he said quietly, “Don’t do that again next time.”
Mo Chu only smiled faintly without answering.
To her, injuries didn’t matter. Pain didn’t matter either. As long as it wasn’t life-threatening, it barely counted as serious. And compared to death, pain was easy to endure.
In fact, she cared even less about her wounds than Li Chen did.
What puzzled her was something else entirely.
She glanced at him hesitantly.
After seeing how naturally she handled a gun, why hadn’t he shown even the slightest suspicion? He hadn’t questioned her once.
Just like last time—he’d agreed to go to Haishi with her without asking anything at all.
It was as though he deliberately ignored every inconsistency surrounding her.
Was this really the same terrifying “Great Demon King” she remembered?
But Li Chen choosing not to ask didn’t mean everyone else would do the same.
While they were talking, the platoon leader finished arranging Squad Leader Jin’s body and walked over toward them.
The first thing he did was thank them both.
Li Chen gave almost no reaction, clearly uninterested in conversation. So Mo Chu naturally stepped forward as the spokesperson between them.
“No need,” she replied politely.
The platoon leader glanced at Li Chen. “This gentleman is an ability user too?”
Li Chen still showed no intention of speaking, so Mo Chu nodded on his behalf. “Yeah. Fire-type.”
“An ability user…” the platoon leader murmured, his expression complicated.
If his men had possessed more ability users, maybe so many soldiers wouldn’t have died on the journey here.
Grief clouded his face again, and this time Mo Chu wisely stayed silent.
A moment later, he steadied himself and turned to her with admiration.
“Miss Mo, your marksmanship is impressive.”
Mo Chu smoothly brought out the excuse she’d prepared long ago. “I used to belong to a shooting club.”
“That explains it.”
But inwardly, he didn’t believe her for a second.
His men lived with guns in their hands. Of course they could tell the difference between hobbyist shooting and professional handling.
This girl wasn’t merely decent—she was experienced. Maybe not a true sharpshooter, but definitely a veteran.
If shooting clubs produced people like this, then soldiers like them might as well retire.
Still, he said nothing. Instead, he casually asked for their names.
Neither of them looked ordinary, and Li Chen especially had left a deep impression on him. He’d seen with his own eyes how the man had restrained that zombie in an instant and created an opening for the others.
Fortunately, the girl seemed easy to talk to and readily introduced them both.
Easygoing was good.
The platoon leader was already considering how to recruit them into his unit, though outwardly he only said, “On behalf of my brothers and myself, thank you both. If you hadn’t stepped in earlier, Xiao Shen probably wouldn’t have survived today. If there’s anything you need, just ask. As long as it’s within our power, we’ll do our best.”
Li Chen still showed no particular reaction.
Mo Chu tilted her head thoughtfully. “Actually… there is something I’d like to ask of you, Captain.”
Hearing that, the platoon leader secretly relaxed.
As long as they wanted something, there was a chance to pull them into the team.
Smiling, he nodded. “Go ahead.”
“I want to ask for one thing.”
The moment she said that, his eyes instinctively flicked toward the gun in her hand.
He assumed she wanted a firearm.
And honestly, if that was the case, recruiting them would become even easier. The military had no shortage of guns. If they agreed to join, he could get them practically any model they wanted.
So he asked readily, “What is it?”
But Mo Chu didn’t ask for a gun.
Instead, she held out her hand toward Li Chen. Without a word, he pulled a dagger from his waist and placed it in her palm.
Then she walked over to the grotesque zombie corpse.
The platoon leader frowned, confused, and watched closely.
The dagger spun effortlessly between her fingers.
A second later, she sliced into the back of the zombie’s skull and deftly pried out a translucent crystal.
The crystal landed in her palm, slick with dark green fluid. She didn’t even flinch in disgust, casually wiping it clean on the zombie’s torn clothing.
Then she held it up before the platoon leader.
“I want this,” she said calmly. “Technically it belongs to all of us, but I’d like to ask Captain for a favor.”
The platoon leader stared in shock. “This is…”
Mo Chu looked down at the crystal core in her hand, a faint smile appearing at the corner of her lips.
A second-rank crystal core.
Less than ten days into the apocalypse, and she had already obtained one.
In her previous life, she wouldn’t have dared dream of it.
She was determined to get it—and equally certain the platoon leader would hand it over once he understood its value.
Because the information she was about to provide was worth far more than a single crystal core.
Holding it up toward the sunlight, she narrowed her eyes slightly.
“This is a crystal core,” she said quietly.
The source of power.
And the root of countless evils in the apocalypse.
…
The platoon leader left in a hurry, clutching a voice recorder as he climbed into a nearby tank—so rushed he forgot to even say goodbye.
Everything Mo Chu had just explained had been recorded inside that device.
For a battle-hardened officer to lose composure like that, it was obvious how seriously he took the information she’d revealed.
Li Chen watched the tank drive off, eyes narrowing slightly.
“You’re really just going to tell them something this important?” he asked in a low voice. “Is that wise?”
Mo Chu sat down against a wall, resting her chin in her hand as she gazed into the distance.
“There’s nothing wrong with it.”
More than anyone, she understood what it would mean if people discovered she had been reborn.
That secret could never come to light.
Not for anyone.
Not even Li Chen.
But she had still chosen to risk revealing the truth about crystal cores.
In her previous life, half a month after the apocalypse began, all the zombies in the cities evolved to second rank almost simultaneously.
Second-rank zombies were nothing like the first-rank ones.
They were faster, more aggressive, smarter.
They began leaving the cities and hunting inside human survivor zones.
At that point, humanity still barely understood abilities. Most ability users hadn’t even learned how to advance yet. Against evolved zombies, they were slaughtered.
Mo Chu had lived through that disaster herself.
She still remembered how many people died that day.
Ability users.
Ordinary civilians.
So many deaths.
Only afterward did humanity finally discover the purpose of the crystal cores hidden inside zombie brains.
It wasn’t that nobody had found them before. People simply didn’t know what they were. Who would dare absorb something dug out of a zombie’s skull without understanding the consequences?
While scientists were still researching crystal cores, the zombies had already begun evolving ahead of humanity.
This time, Mo Chu only wanted to speed things up.
When the zombies evolved again, humanity wouldn’t be completely helpless.
When disaster struck, people wouldn’t become livestock waiting to be slaughtered.
She drew in a slow breath and looked toward the horizon.
She wasn’t some selfless savior.
And she definitely wasn’t kind.
After dying once, she cherished her life more than anyone.
Everything she did was built on one condition first:
Her own survival.
But Li Chen clearly misunderstood something after hearing her words.
He looked at her quietly and said,
“Whatever you want to do, go do it. As long as I’m alive… no one will be able to hurt you.”
Mo Chu froze and looked up sharply at him.
“You…”
But before she could continue, Xiao Jin—who had been lying beside her feet—suddenly sprang up and barked.
Both of them turned at the same time.
The platoon leader, who had only just climbed into the tank moments ago, was already hurrying back toward them.
Mo Chu instantly forgot what she had been about to say.
Li Chen pressed his lips together and glanced coldly at Xiao Jin, saying nothing.
The platoon leader jogged over, sweat covering his forehead.
“Sorry, Miss Mo,” he said breathlessly. “The information you gave us was too important. I got carried away.”
Mo Chu smiled lightly. “It’s fine. I understand. I’d react the same way.”
The platoon leader continued, “I’ll submit the recording as soon as I return so the scientists can begin testing immediately. If it’s true that all ability users can evolve by absorbing crystal cores—”
“You should spread the information among ability users first,” Mo Chu interrupted immediately.
The platoon leader paused. “But what if not everyone can absorb them safely?”
Mo Chu shook her head.
“Captain… have you considered this?” she asked quietly. “If human ability users can evolve using crystal cores… then can zombies evolve too?”
Her gaze drifted toward the mangled corpse nearby.
“This zombie was already completely different from the ones we knew before.”
The platoon leader fell silent.
After a long moment, he nodded slowly.
“I’ll report that as well. Miss Mo… thank you for the warning.”
Mo Chu pressed her lips together but said nothing more.
She had done everything she could.
She understood the military’s caution. Responsible decisions took time.
But evolution wouldn’t wait for humanity.
It was coming far faster than anyone imagined.
Still, Mo Chu believed one thing:
No secret stayed hidden forever.
Especially after she had already shared the same information with those students earlier. Rumors spread between people faster than wildfire.
Just as she was thinking that, a soldier suddenly came running over, excitement written all over his face.
“Captain!” he shouted. “Professor Xie Jinyuan has been found!”
Xie… Jinyuan?
Mo Chu’s head snapped up instantly.
