A soft, chubby little child was lying at the bedside, looking at her with worried eyes. His movements were extremely careful, as if he was afraid of his mother.
It was Li Su’s five-year-old son, Li Yang.
She was back?
Was she really back?
She grabbed her phone and checked the time. It was exactly one month before the apocalypse. She had returned—alive and well. Yangyang was alive too. Her precious son!!
“Mommy, drink water.”
A cautious voice accompanied a small trembling motion as he held out his tiny cup—the one he used every day. Because he was too young, his hands shook and a few drops spilled out. Li Yang immediately froze, watching her nervously.
“Yangyang!”
Li Su choked on a sob and pulled her son tightly into her arms.
He was warm. Soft. A small bundle that carried the faint, clean scent unique to children. She inhaled deeply, and something inside her slowly filled up again.
The little boy in her arms froze for a moment, then happily wrapped his arms around her neck and gently patted her shoulder.
“Mommy, don’t cry. Yangyang will always stay with Mommy.”
Li Su burst into tears.
She didn’t know what the last sound she had heard was—but as long as her son was alive, anything was fine.
Even if this was mutation, a dream, or some zombie that had evolved a psychic ability to control her mind—it didn’t matter.
As long as Yangyang was alive.
She knew she wasn’t a good mother.
Yangyang had been an accident. She had even had to give up university because of him. Her parents were deeply disappointed in her; her brother ignored her for years. Only her sister-in-law tried to smooth things over. And whenever she felt down, Yangyang would become extra careful too, even watching her expressions.
Back then, when she went drinking at a bar with Lin Tianrou and the others, she got drunk that night. Later, when she found out she was pregnant, she originally wanted to abort it—but Lin Tianrou persuaded her, saying it would harm her body too much, insisting she give birth instead…
Wait. Lin Tianrou?
When you trust someone, you don’t question anything. But once that trust breaks, everything about them becomes suspicious.
Heh… so that’s how it was?
The Lin Tianrou she had always taken care of… was actually the one who harmed her the most.
“Mommy…”
Li Yang blinked his big eyes.
Li Su lowered her head and kissed him hard. The child looked both shocked and delighted, his eyes sparkling as he stared at her.
“Yangyang, Mommy was wrong before. From now on, Mommy will always be happy in front of you, okay?”
Only after the apocalypse arrived and mother and son depended on each other did she realize how important this child was to her.
Even though he was just a child, even though he couldn’t do many things, even though others called him a burden—when someone was sinking into despair and loneliness, having one person who loved you unconditionally, who looked at you with complete trust, and who saw you as their entire world…
Li Yang was the only reason she didn’t lose her mind, didn’t commit suicide, and kept living.
“Mm!” Li Yang was clearly very happy. Children were easy to please. He carefully lifted his cup and brought it to her mouth.
“Mommy, drink water.”
Li Su drank a few sips, calming herself down, holding her son while checking her own body.
It was fine—she was indeed in the body of a 25-year-old.
After awakening her ability, a system interface had appeared in her mind. Now it displayed all information about her power. Li Su opened it.
Ability: The Robber
Skill 1: What’s yours is mine—you gain all abilities of those you personally kill.
Skill 2: Even openly snatching it, it’s still mine—you have a certain chance to steal part of another being’s abilities, depending on their strength and morality.
Skill 3: My things are mine to do as I please—you can freely distribute stolen abilities; the more important something is in your heart, the higher the chance of obtaining that ability at 100%.
Aside from this initial ability, all other stolen abilities were gone.
Spatial abilities, safe house creation, A-grade smell enhancement—all of those were obtained through this power. That was how she and Shen Jianchen’s group never lacked supplies and could always find safe shelters to avoid zombie hordes. That was how they survived until the end.
But she could never tell anyone about the Robber ability.
In return, she got labels like “burden,” “useless,” and “disgusting.” Even Yangyang was killed because of them.
If she could start over…
Then in this life, she would choose her family carefully. As for those ungrateful bastards—go to hell.
She stood up, took out clothes from the wardrobe, and dressed herself and Li Yang properly.
“Let’s go. We’re going to Grandpa and Grandma’s house.”
Li Yang visibly shrank back and lowered his head.
“Mommy… Grandpa and Uncle don’t like Yangyang.”
Li Su paused, then made up her mind.
“If they don’t like Yangyang, then I don’t need them either!”
This matter had to be resolved. She had been framed—her parents should hate Lin Tianrou, not her and Yangyang.
Back then, her family had been unhappy because of Yangyang’s existence. She hadn’t gone home for years. And when the apocalypse came, she couldn’t return at all.
Until finally, she once managed to go back—only to find ruins buried in rubble. Her family was gone.
Later she learned the truth: during the extreme cold, her father went out to deliver warm supplies to her and was targeted, never returning. The house was robbed; her brother was severely injured; her sister-in-law and unborn child died. Her mother tried to care for her brother alone, but neither of them survived the extreme cold.
That was when Li Su realized—despite her father’s strictness, he had still loved her.
“Mommy!” Li Yang looked at her in surprise, eyes wide.
“Let’s go.”
She took his small hand and walked downstairs step by step.
It was late October in the north. The air was already cold. People wore wool coats over turtlenecks, their breath visible in the air. Who would have thought that in just one month, an extreme cold wave would engulf the world, dropping temperatures below minus 100°C?
“Waaah… Xiao Bai, Xiao Bai…”
By the roadside, someone was holding a funeral for a pet in the greenery strip. Li Su glanced over.
A crowd surrounded a snow-white cat. It was breathing weakly. Its young owner, an eight- or nine-year-old girl, was crying with a red face.
“Mom, can we go to the vet again?”
Her mother, eyes red, shook her head.
“We already went. It’s old… the doctor can’t save it anymore.”
The girl cried even harder, while Xiao Bai’s breathing grew weaker.
Li Su thought for a moment and walked over. She took out a bag of dried fish from her pocket—it was her son’s snack—and gently placed it in front of the cat, stroking its fur.
She could feel life slipping away through her fingertips until the breathing stopped and the body grew cold.
【Skill activated: Even openly snatching it, it’s still mine. Acquired: Cat Hearing (70%)!】