“Li Su, do you really have to steal Lin Tianrou’s achievements to feel satisfied?”
“The one who discovered the zombie tide was Tianrou. The safe house we’re hiding in now was also found by Tianrou. Even the supplies on the way were found by Tianrou. Why do you insist on saying it was you who found them?”
“Exactly. You don’t have any abilities at all, yet you’ve been freeloading off us. If it weren’t for Shen Jianchen and Lin Tianrou feeling sorry for you, we wouldn’t have brought along a burden like you!”
Li Su kept shaking her head.
“No, it was really me who discovered it. The nearest base is still sixty kilometers away, but the zombie tide will arrive in half an hour. The best option right now is to avoid the zombies first before heading to the base…”
The others’ eyes were filled with uncontrollable disgust, as if everything she said made them sick. On the other hand, Lin Tianrou deliberately put on a gentle, hypocritical expression.
“Forget it. Li Su just wants to get to the base sooner to see her son. Su Su, you must miss Yangyang, right? That’s why you’re acting like this, isn’t it?”
“I do miss my son, but this really is my—”
“Enough!”
Her ex-boyfriend, Shen Jianchen, who once broke up with her because of her child, frowned.
“Everyone here has awakened abilities, except you—you’re still an ordinary person. You’ve been dragging us down and bullying people at that. Tianrou has been speaking up for you the whole time, and look at yourself now, Li Su. Who exactly gave you the right?”
“I’m not… I also have an ability…”
“Then what’s your ability?”
Her ability?
Li Su bit her lip. She couldn’t say it. If she said it, she would be the first to die—killed by her own people.
“I… I…”
Seeing her hesitation, the others’ disgust deepened.
Before the apocalypse, they had all been in the same club. After graduation, they even started a business together. Their relationship had once been very good. But ever since Lin Tianrou joined them, everything changed.
Everyone began revolving around Lin Tianrou. Even Shen Jianchen constantly praised her, saying she was capable and kind. After the apocalypse began, Li Su used her ability to find safe houses and supplies, and even predict the direction and timing of zombie tides—but all of it somehow became Lin Tianrou’s credit.
Meanwhile, she herself became a vicious, jealous woman who bullied Lin Tianrou, despised by everyone.
“Jianchen, listen to me…”
“Su Su, stop struggling.”
Her cousin Li Dadong frowned.
“You were fooling around in bars, no one knows which animal you got pregnant by. Do you really think you’re still worthy of Jianchen?”
She instinctively looked at Shen Jianchen—and as expected, she saw undisguised disgust and contempt on his face.
“Jianchen, didn’t you say you didn’t care? You said when the apocalypse came, we would take care of each other—”
Before she could finish, a knife stabbed into her lower abdomen.
“Pfft!”
Wu Xiaomei used the same stabbing technique she had once taught them—an upward diagonal thrust under the ribs that pierces the lungs, making breathing difficult and movement impossible, yet still allowing the person to remain barely alive.
It was a method taught to her by a mercenary: if you encounter a bad person and can’t escape, kill them—but make sure they can still serve one last purpose: delaying the zombie horde.
“You…”
Why?
Wu Xiaomei smiled faintly.
“If we bring you along, we can’t escape the zombie tide. You were the one who saved me from a rapist back then, so now… consider this you saving me again.”
The others around them looked on coldly. Not a single person tried to help her.
Rage surged to its peak in that instant. Li Su’s whole body trembled—whether from pain or fury, she didn’t know.
If she had known this would happen, she would never have teamed up with these people!
Unfortunately… she would never see her son again. The base was only sixty kilometers away—sixty kilometers!
She trembled violently, hatred and unwillingness consuming her.
The only reason she had survived until now… was her son, Li Yang.
“Ya—”
“Still thinking about your son?”
Li Dadong sneered.
“Sorry, but he never made it to the base. A year ago, we already used the same method—using your son to lure away a zombie horde. Oh, didn’t you even praise us for being efficient back then? Hahaha! You should’ve seen it—when we told him it was your decision, he stopped struggling immediately. That expression was priceless!”
Wha… what?!
Li Su struggled even harder. The more she struggled, the more she suffocated, her wound tearing further, blood pouring out—but none of it hurt as much as her heart.
Yangyang… my Yangyang!
Shen Jianchen’s eyes grew even more disgusted.
“It was already too good for that bastard anyway. Li Su, you disgusting woman—you’re about to get engaged to me, and you still gave birth to that filth. What kind of place do you think a bar is? There’s no way there were any decent people there. Who knows if that child was even healthy? If it weren’t for your supplies, I wouldn’t even look at you. Disgusting.”
Li Su’s vision blurred with tears.
Her Yangyang… her treasure… before the apocalypse, he was only five years old. A year ago, he wasn’t even seven.
He wasn’t even old enough for elementary school…
How could they be so cruel?
Struggling, Li Su raised her head and memorized every single face in front of her, engraving them into her mind.
“I… I really do have an ability…”
But no one believed her. Instead, they laughed cruelly.
“Still lying even at death’s door?”
“Obsessed with slandering Tianrou, huh?”
“You really deserve to die!”
Wu Xiaomei snorted.
“What, still hoping we’ll save you? Dream on. Without you, how would we survive the zombie tide?”
“Enough. Let her hold it off. We’re leaving!”
They abandoned her and turned away.
Li Su clutched her wound, gasping for breath. She truly did have an ability—one she could never tell anyone.
Ability: The Robber
Skill 1: What’s yours is mine—you gain all abilities of those you kill with your own hands.
Skill 2: Even when taken by force, it’s still mine—a chance to steal part of a target’s abilities, with random probability.
Skill 3: My things are mine to control—you may freely allocate stolen abilities, and the more important they are to you, the higher the chance of 100% acquisition.
“Activate… Skill 2… Even if I steal it, it’s still mine!”
Fueled by extreme rage, she unleashed her final strike toward the direction the four were leaving.
【Ding! Stole 99.7% of the four people’s luck! Remaining luck: 1.】
The four of them now shared a single point of luck. Even the compass spun wildly before pointing toward the zombie tide’s direction, and they eagerly ran toward it.
A pitch-black horde of zombies swallowed the land, stench filling the air.
Li Su closed her eyes.
Yangyang… will you come pick up Mommy?
【Ding! Luck value exceeded limit. Time rewind activated!】
【Time reset: one month before the apocalypse!】
A cold mechanical voice echoed in her mind. Li Su, like someone drowning who suddenly breathes again, violently opened her eyes.
“Mommy…”