Luffy sat in the stairwell, staring at the bite mark on his ankle where a chunk of flesh had been torn away. His heart was filled with despair.
Luffy had always considered himself lucky. With his handsome looks, wealthy background, and impressive intelligence, he had been the center of attention wherever he went ever since he was old enough to remember. To the girls, he was the quintessential Mr. Perfect. Most of them looked at him with admiration, expectation, and desire.
To his teachers, he was the kind of student they both loved and hated—mischievous and rebellious, yet academically brilliant. To his male classmates, he was an insurmountable mountain. They viewed him with a mix of envy, jealousy, and resentment, often wondering why heaven was so unfair.
But all of this had been shattered by the sudden disaster half a month ago.
It was June 15th. Luffy, who had been resting for a while after the college entrance exams, received a call from his homeroom teacher. The teacher suggested that since the exams were over and everyone would soon be going their separate ways, they should organize a get-together, a sort of farewell dinner. Naturally, the teacher suggested going Dutch.
But how could Luffy let everyone pay? As per his usual style, he covered all the expenses for the party. Just the day before, he had estimated his exam score to be a solid 610. This left his old man, Lu Dali, absolutely thrilled, and he had rewarded Luffy with a million yuan on the spot. Luffy had been wondering how to spend all that cash!
At noon, everyone arrived at the most luxurious hotel in LZ City to kick off the first event of the gathering: lunch.
Just past one o’clock, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky, but it didn’t dampen their mood for fun and games. The hotel was fully equipped, offering a one-stop service for dining and entertainment—strictly legal and proper entertainment, of course. After the meal, they moved on to karaoke and drinking.
The drizzle continued outside. Pedestrians either held umbrellas or sprinted through the rain. It wasn’t until around 5:00 PM that the disaster struck.
A disaster for all of humanity on Water Blue Star.
According to what Luffy and the others later deduced, anyone exposed to that drizzle had transformed into creatures previously only seen in novels and movies: Zombies.
The consequences were virtually identical to the fiction as well. The initial Zombies frantically attacked normal people who hadn’t been caught in the rain. Once bitten to death, these victims would rise from the dead and join the Zombie horde. Even those who were merely bitten would turn into Zombies after a certain amount of time.
The Zombie virus spread like wildfire, multiplying exponentially. Within a few days, Water Blue Star had fallen, becoming a world of Zombies. The surviving humans could only struggle to hide.
Luffy’s class, consisting of forty-six people including the teacher, was incredibly lucky. Not a single one of them had been infected; they survived miraculously. However, they were also trapped inside the hotel’s private karaoke room.
On the first day, everyone remained relatively calm. With so many people around, they comforted one another and tried to contact their families. Since Luffy had ordered plenty of food and drinks, there was no risk of starvation. After reaching out to their families, the atmosphere shifted to a mix of joy and sorrow. Those whose families were still alive rejoiced, while those who couldn’t reach their loved ones fell into despair.
From the internet, they also learned that the disaster was on a global scale. Everyone knew this meant the chances of rescue were extremely slim.
On the second day, communications in LZ City were cut off. No one was surprised.
The streets outside the window were a complete mess. Zombies roamed about, letting out occasional low growls. Cars had crashed into utility poles, and snapped power lines draped over the vehicles, showering sparks. Some cars had even been scorched to a crisp, still emitting thick smoke. Looking out through the windows, plumes of smoke could be seen rising all across the city. Just yesterday, occasional screams of agony could still be heard echoing through the streets. Today, there wasn’t a single sound of the living to be found.
By the third day, despite everyone rationing as strictly as possible, their supplies were nearly depleted.
Everyone knew they would soon go hungry. Thus, when the homeroom teacher and the class monitor, Li Yufeng, suggested leaving the room to fight the Zombies and scavenge for supplies, no one objected. Yet, everyone remained silent.
Li Yufeng was the first to step forward, volunteering to go out. While this earned him the admiration of the whole class for his noble and brave character, almost all eyes simultaneously turned toward Luffy.
This was because there were two prominent figures in the class. One was the class monitor, Li Yufeng—tall, burly, an excellent student, and enthusiastic about managing class affairs. The only thing he lacked compared to Luffy was money; hailing from a rural area, his family was far from wealthy. Had Luffy not been entirely uninterested in competing for the position of class monitor, it was highly debatable whether Li Yufeng would have gotten the role at all.
Normally, there was a subtle rivalry between the two, often sparking with friction.
Luffy rubbed his nose, feeling a wave of bitterness within. He figured throwing money around was fine, but fighting Zombies? He decided to pass.
However, Li Yufeng’s gaze was already locked onto him. With a single sentence, he pushed Luffy to the forefront once again.
"What, chickened out? Where did that attitude of always looking down on me go? So what if your parents are loaded and you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth? Why aren’t you barking now?"
Li Yufeng’s sudden aggression and nearly hostile tone made something glaringly obvious to everyone. After all, despite their past rivalry, Li Yufeng and Luffy had always kept things fairly subtle and civilized. The truth was, the apocalypse had arrived. What good was money now? It was just a pile of waste paper. And looking at Luffy, wasn’t he much less arrogant now when faced with Li Yufeng’s taunts?
Luffy indeed didn’t dare snap back like he usually would. Because Li Yufeng was a big guy, Luffy knew he couldn’t win in a physical fight. Before the apocalypse, Li Yufeng would never have dared to lay a hand on him. But right now, Luffy wasn’t so sure.
He glanced at the surrounding classmates watching the scene unfold. Not a single person stepped up to speak on his behalf, not even to try and calm Li Yufeng down.
One girl even chimed in meekly, "Yeah, Luffy, we’ve always seen you as our main pillar of support!"
The girl’s name was Zhang Fangfang. She had secretly pursued Luffy in the past, but Luffy had high standards and rejected her outright.
"Luffy, be a man and step up! Don’t lose that unmatched confidence of yours now."
With the first person speaking out, someone else immediately followed up. The speaker was someone who used to desperately suck up to him; calling him a lackey wouldn’t have been an exaggeration.
"Stop it, you guys. Who is Brother Fei? He’s definitely going to stand tall just like before!"
Luffy cursed internally, but on the surface, he put on a look of sheer righteousness. "Of course I’m volunteering. Just watch! Even if it’s the apocalypse, my path is still as badass as ever!"
He flipped them off, looking like a total badass, but deep down he was panicking. He had to forcibly swallow back many of the tough, arrogant remarks that had risen to his lips.
Being targeted like this, Luffy finally understood. This was pure, unadulterated revenge. They were getting back at him just because he used to be smarter and richer than them!
From then on, Luffy found himself constantly being held to the fire by everyone every single day. The targeting only grew worse. He practically went out every day. Although he had been lucky enough to survive for half a month, if you play with fire, you eventually get burned.
Earlier, the five-man squad consisting of Luffy, Li Yufeng, Jia Jianfu, Li Yang, and Li Guowei was clearing the Zombies in the first-floor hallway of the hotel. Because they couldn’t accurately gauge the number of Zombies in the lobby beforehand, their defensive line was breached. Nearly twenty Zombies smashed through the iron door of the emergency stairwell.
Seeing that things were going south, the group immediately turned and ran.
As they approached the fourth-floor stairwell, the door was open. Li Yufeng darted inside in a flash. Luffy was a step slower, bringing up the rear of the group. Just as he squeezed half of his body through, Li Yufeng slammed the door shut.
"Holy shit, Li Yufeng, my foot is still caught in the door!" Luffy cursed loudly.
Li Yufeng replied with a cold face, "Is it?" Yet, his hands didn’t loosen their grip on the door in the slightest.
The Zombies arrived in an instant, pressing fiercely against the corridor door. Li Yufeng shrugged, muttered for the others to hurry, and the four of them scurried off, leaving Luffy behind with his calf wedged in the door.
"Fuck you all!" Luffy was utterly furious.
The Zombies possessed immense strength as they pushed against the door. With his calf pinned, Luffy couldn’t retract his leg at all. One of the Zombies was squeezed so hard it crouched down. Seeing a delicious morsel of food at the bottom, it immediately sank its teeth in!
"Ah!"
A piercing pain shot through him, which in turn unlocked Luffy’s latent potential. Using every ounce of his strength, he pushed the door outward just enough to yank his leg back. Then, the door slammed shut with a heavy THUD.
Looking down at his ankle again, the blood oozing from the wound had already turned black.