TVHCM 07

Mo Chu hurried all the way back to the warehouse, only to discover that the worst-case scenario she had imagined before leaving had still come true.

The warehouse doors stood wide open.

The two zombie corpses she had deliberately arranged outside as camouflage had been dragged off to the side.

Someone had broken in.

Her heart sank. She quickened her pace, and before she even reached the entrance, she heard a frightened yet urgent voice from inside.

“Brother, this one’s a zombie! Before he turns completely, we have to kill him now!”

Mo Chu strode into the warehouse just in time to see a young man and woman standing beside the bed where Li Chen was tied up. The man had raised a cleaver high above his head, the blade flashing coldly as it came down toward Li Chen.

Li Chen was still unconscious.

And because he had been afraid that he might suddenly turn into a zombie and hurt someone, he had personally asked Mo Chu to tie him up.

He had absolutely no way to fight back.

Mo Chu’s mind went blank.

Seeing the knife about to fall, she reacted without thinking, yanking out her dagger and hurling it forward with all her strength.

The dagger’s hilt slammed hard into the man’s wrist. Crying out in pain, he lost his grip, and both the cleaver and the dagger clattered to the floor together.

Mo Chu rushed forward. She snatched up her weapon first, then planted herself protectively in front of Li Chen, staring coldly at the intruders.

The man who had attacked still hadn’t recovered from the shock, but the girl behind him had already exploded in fury.

She pointed at Mo Chu in disbelief. “Are you insane?! He’s a zombie! He’s about to turn into one! Why are you protecting him?!”

Mo Chu didn’t budge.

“He’s my friend,” she said evenly. “He’s recovering here. I can overlook the fact that you barged in without permission, but you need to leave. Now.”

Even as she spoke, every nerve in her body remained tense with caution.

Because both of them were ability users.

And both possessed offensive abilities.

Mo Chu might have six years of experience from her previous life, but her current body couldn’t keep up with her instincts yet. Her stamina and reflexes were still far from what they once were, and on top of that, healing abilities were practically useless in the early stages.

Against ordinary zombies—or even a few regular men—she could manage.

But if these two ability users insisted on fighting…

Then the only thing left would be to drag each other down together.

Yet Mo Chu’s words seemed to make the girl misunderstand something.

Frowning, she glanced at Li Chen behind her before forcing herself to speak more patiently.

“Maybe you don’t know this, but the zombie virus is contagious. If a human gets scratched, they’ll be infected too. Your friend’s already infected—he’s going to turn into a zombie soon. We have to kill him before that happens. I know he’s your friend and you can’t bring yourself to do it, but please—”

“I know.”

Mo Chu cut her off.

The girl froze. “What?”

“I said, I know.” Mo Chu’s voice remained calm. “I know he’s infected. I know what condition he’s in, and I know infected people can turn into zombies.”

She lifted her gaze steadily.

“But I believe he won’t surrender to the virus. This is Li Chen. Anyone else might fail, but he won’t.”

“And right now, he’s still human.”

“If you attack him while he’s still human… then you’re killing a person.”

Every word landed with quiet force.

The girl stared at her blankly for a moment before her face flushed red with anger.

“You protect a zombie, and when we try to help you, you accuse us of murder?!”

Mo Chu looked at her calmly. “I already said it. He’s not a zombie. If you kill him now, that’s murder.”

The girl opened her mouth to argue again, but the man beside her stopped her.

He looked at Mo Chu and said gravely, “Every infected person we’ve met turned into a zombie. If you don’t kill him now, you may end up facing a mindless monster later.”

“He won’t,” Mo Chu replied without hesitation.

The man laughed in disbelief. “And what if he does?”

Mo Chu paused for only a second.

“Then I’ll kill him myself.”

The man fell silent.

Beside him, the girl looked furious at what she clearly considered blind stubbornness. She jerked her arm free from her brother’s grip with an angry huff.

And ability users—especially low-level ones—often lost control of their powers when emotions ran high.

Before her brother noticed anything wrong, Mo Chu already had.

Her guard rose instantly.

Sure enough, the next moment, a black circle spread beneath the girl’s feet. Because her anger was directed at Mo Chu, a thin black thread slithered out from it and shot toward her.

Mo Chu felt danger immediately.

She was about to dodge—

When suddenly, a streak of crimson flame burst out from behind her.

The blazing fire coiled around the black thread violently. The dark energy disintegrated almost instantly, but the flames didn’t stop there. Following the trail back, they lashed toward the girl herself.

Her brother reacted faster than she did. He yanked his sister backward and stared warily past Mo Chu.

Mo Chu’s heart hammered against her ribs.

It was Li Chen.

Li Chen… had succeeded.

But when she turned around, she realized he still hadn’t awakened.

He remained unconscious, yet strands of crimson flame extended from his body, circling protectively around Mo Chu and enclosing her completely within their reach—as though guarding her, silently confronting the enemy in her place.

For a moment, Mo Chu couldn’t describe what she was feeling.

“…Brother,” the girl whispered, fear trembling faintly in her voice.

Ability users were especially sensitive to threats from other ability users.

The pressure radiating from Li Chen was something only the siblings could feel.

Because Mo Chu stood within the circle of his protection.

She steadied herself and turned back toward them.

Bathed in scarlet firelight, the girl before them looked almost untouchable. The flames illuminated features that were usually soft and almost harmless, lending her an austere, inviolable beauty.

Her expression remained calm.

But the siblings’ expressions had completely changed.

Especially the girl. The arrogant superiority she’d carried toward ordinary people as an ability user had vanished entirely.

Mo Chu slowly raised her hand.

A blue halo of light gathered in her palm.

“You’re ability users?” she asked quietly.

“…Yes,” the man answered.

“What a coincidence.” Mo Chu looked at them steadily. “So am I.”

“You know that ordinary people infected by the zombie virus can become zombies. That part is true.”

“But what you probably don’t know… is that ordinary people also have a chance to awaken abilities after infection.”

The man looked at her, then at Li Chen behind her, his expression practically haunted.

Mo Chu dispersed the blue light in her hand.

“So what you tried to do just now,” she said calmly, “was kill a person.”

The man opened his mouth, then lowered his eyes, shame flickering across his face.

The girl still looked unconvinced, but her brother tugged her back before she could speak.

“Now leave,” Mo Chu said expressionlessly.

After gaining power, some people became reckless.

Others convinced themselves they were carrying out justice.

The latter might have been slightly better than the former.

But when they stopped thinking entirely, there really wasn’t much difference.

This time, neither sibling argued.

The man grabbed his sister and left quickly.

After they were gone, Mo Chu immediately sealed the warehouse doors again.

All the while, those thin crimson flames lingered stubbornly around her, guarding her every movement.

She paused, then cautiously reached out a hand toward them.

The moment her fingers neared, the flames recoiled as if she had burned them, retreating in panicked disarray.

Mo Chu couldn’t help laughing softly.

Then she walked back to Li Chen’s side.

A faint red glow still lingered around him.

He had awakened his ability.

Yet he still hadn’t woken up.

Worse, his complexion seemed to be deteriorating further.

Mo Chu knew this was the final stage.

Either he would wake as an ability user—

Or lose his mind entirely and become the most dangerous kind of evolved zombie.

But she believed, with absolute certainty, that he would wake up.

Not because of memories from her previous life.

But because something deep inside her simply knew he would.

She looked at the dim red glow around him, emotions twisting painfully in her chest.

When those siblings had raised a blade against him, he hadn’t resisted.

But the moment Mo Chu was in danger, even unconscious, he had instinctively used his power to protect her.

In her previous life, Li Chen had confessed that he liked her when she was dying.

She never knew when he had fallen for her.

Nor why.

But in this life, they had only known each other for a few days. They barely even knew anything beyond each other’s names.

And still, he had chosen to protect her.

She didn’t know whether Li Chen still loved her in this life.

But at this moment, she only wanted to tell him—

Thank you.

Thank you for loving me.

Though I’ve done nothing to deserve it.

She bent down, took a bottle of water and a bag of oatmeal powder from her backpack, and mixed them into a thin paste to feed him.

Li Chen was surprisingly cooperative.

Even unconscious, he swallowed obediently, making it effortless for her to feed him.

After finishing, she hesitated for a moment before leaning close to his ear and whispering softly:

“…Thank you.”

Even though he couldn’t hear her.

By afternoon, the sound of helicopters echoed across the city skies.

At the same time, survivors hidden throughout the city rushed out from their shelters to look up.

This dead city, silent for days, suddenly seemed alive again.

And at that exact moment, every electronic device in the city—after six days without signal—received a message simultaneously.

“Attention all survivors: travel light and await the arrival of rescue teams tomorrow. Please confirm whether you have fever symptoms or visible wounds. Special ability users must report their abilities upon joining rescue teams.”

“Compatriots, disaster has arrived—but humanity will endure.”

When the message appeared, cheers erupted throughout the city.

People who had hidden in fear for days no longer cared whether the noise would attract zombies.

They cheered for hope.

Humanity still had a future.

And the people they trusted had not abandoned them.

Only Mo Chu trembled slightly as she stared at the message.

Only she knew—

This would be the last message humanity ever received through electronic devices.

From this day onward, modern communication would almost completely collapse under the apocalypse.

Tomorrow, the military—finally recovering from the initial devastation—would lead the survivors out of the city.

And from then on, survivor bases built around military forces, powerful families, and high-ranking ability users would slowly rise from the ruins.