Lin Qingtang had never imagined that dying could hurt this much.
When the zombie’s teeth tore through her flesh, she didn’t even have time to scream.
The pain spread from her back through every inch of her body. She heard her bones snapping. She heard her flesh being ripped apart. She heard someone shouting.
What were they shouting?
She couldn’t make it out.
As a tremendous force shoved her forward, she instinctively looked back.
She saw Long Juanli.
Her best friend’s face was drenched in tears, her lips trembling, one hand still frozen in the motion of pushing her.
Standing behind her was Long Junlong, Juanli’s younger brother. His face was deathly pale, his eyes darting away, unable to meet hers.
Further back stood Zhao Hongbin.
The man in his fifties sat astride a motorcycle, one hand covering the wound on his forehead that Lin Qingtang had smashed with a rock moments earlier. Blood trickled through his fingers, mixing with the rain until half his face was stained crimson.
His eyes gleamed with cruelty and satisfaction.
The corners of his mouth even curled into a faint smile.
It was the smile of someone enjoying a show.
The instant the zombie horde poured around the corner, Zhao Hongbin glanced back and bellowed at Long Juanli.
“Push her down! Let her hold them off!”
Long Juanli didn’t hesitate for long.
She looked at Zhao Hongbin.
Then at her younger brother.
Then she reached out.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t want this either… Qingtang, I really didn’t…”
Her voice shook with guilt, but the force behind her shove never wavered.
Lin Qingtang didn’t even have the chance to hate her.
The zombies were already upon her.
One.
Two.
Three.
Their faces were ashen gray, their cloudy eyes resembling dead fish left soaking in stagnant water.
As their jaws opened, the stench of rotting flesh hit her like a wall.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to run.
But one of them had already sunk its teeth into her leg.
Crunch.
She heard her own bones shatter.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
“Qingtang!”
Somewhere in the haze, someone called her name.
The voice sounded impossibly far away, as though it came from several streets away, or perhaps from another world entirely.
She wanted to answer.
But only blood poured from her mouth.
So…
This was what death felt like.
This was what it felt like to be pushed into hell by the person she trusted most.
…
By the time Rong Yuxuan arrived, the zombie horde had already dispersed.
Only a dark pool of blood remained.
Along with a few scattered bones.
A single torn sneaker lay crooked among shattered glass at the roadside.
A little rabbit was printed on its side.
When it had first been drawn, it must have looked adorable.
Now half its face was soaked in blood, its tiny bared teeth making it look as though it were crying.
It belonged to Lin Qingtang.
He recognized it instantly.
He had secretly watched her from afar countless times.
Now…
It was empty.
Rong Yuxuan bent down and picked up the shoe.
His fingers trembled.
It wasn’t because he was cold.
Although the world after the apocalypse was always shrouded beneath gloomy skies, what truly made him shake was the lingering warmth still trapped within that pool of blood.
He had come too late.
She had died here.
Alone.
Torn apart alive by zombies.
“…Aaaaah!”
The agonized roar that burst from his throat barely sounded human.
His knees slammed into the ground.
Broken glass pierced his flesh.
He couldn’t feel any pain.
He clutched the sneaker so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His fingernails dug into his palms until blood seeped out.
Head lowered, shoulders shaking violently, tears fell one by one into the bloodstained pavement.
Then…
His hair began to turn white.
Starting at his temples, it spread like white ink being poured over black silk.
The strands across his forehead gradually lost their color, turning white from root to tip.
Within only a few breaths…
Every strand had become snow white.
“I should’ve come sooner… I should’ve come sooner…”
Still kneeling there, he hugged the shoe and cried like a man who had completely lost his mind.
A few survivors passed by.
Seeing a young man with snow-white hair kneeling in a pool of blood, they assumed he had gone insane.
Ever since the apocalypse began, madness had become common.
One more broken soul meant nothing.
They simply walked around him.
Not a single person spared him another glance.
Rong Yuxuan had no idea how long he remained there.
Eventually…
He stood up.
He needed the truth.
…
He found Zhao Hongbin’s hideout.
The moment he kicked the door open, everyone inside froze.
Zhao Hongbin lounged on a battered sofa, filthy bandages wrapped around the wound on his forehead, the very injury Lin Qingtang had given him.
Beside him sat Hou Biao, the scar running across his brow looking even more vicious beneath the dim light.
Long Juanli huddled in a corner, her swollen eyes still red from crying. She held a compressed biscuit, having taken only one bite before freezing in place.
Long Junlong crouched beside her, staring blankly at the floor.
Several of Zhao Hongbin’s followers surrounded a small stove where a pot of soup bubbled steadily.
Every head turned toward the doorway.
Toward the white-haired young man whose eyes burned blood red.
“R… Rong Yuxuan?”
Long Juanli recognized him.
The biscuit slipped from her fingers and hit the floor.
Rong Yuxuan said nothing.
He walked inside one slow step at a time.
Each step carried an unnerving calm.
Everyone instinctively sensed danger.
One of Zhao Hongbin’s men stood first, reaching for the knife at his waist.
“Who the hell are y…”
Before he could finish speaking, a bolt of lightning exploded from Rong Yuxuan’s palm.
The man was blasted across the room, crashing into the wall before collapsing motionless.
Chaos erupted.
The remaining thugs grabbed their weapons and charged.
Rong Yuxuan didn’t even bother raising his hand.
His lightning ability surged to its limit.
Electric arcs burst from every inch of his body.
The first two attackers were struck simultaneously, screaming as they collapsed to the floor.
Zhao Hongbin sprang off the sofa, every fold of flesh on his face quivering.
“Y… You’re an Evolver…”
Rong Yuxuan stared at him.
At the bandage wrapped around the wound Lin Qingtang had inflicted.
“It was you.”
His voice scraped against the air like rusted metal.
“You’re the one who told them to push her.”
Zhao Hongbin instinctively stepped backward.
He had met Evolvers before.
He knew better than to provoke one.
He yanked Hou Biao in front of himself as a shield.
“B-Brother, let’s talk this out! What’s that woman to you? She was just a woman! There are plenty of women in the apocalypse! If you want one, I’ll find you…”
He never finished.
Rong Yuxuan’s hand shot forward.
His fingers wrapped around Zhao Hongbin’s throat so quickly that no one even saw the movement.
He lifted the man completely off the ground.
Zhao Hongbin’s face turned purple.
His legs kicked wildly in the air.
Hou Biao lunged to save him.
Rong Yuxuan drove a kick into his chest.
Crack!
The unmistakable sound of ribs breaking echoed through the room as Hou Biao flew backward, crashing into the stove and overturning the boiling pot.
“Her name was Lin Qingtang.”
Rong Yuxuan spoke softly.
So softly that only Zhao Hongbin could hear.
“She was the only light in my life.”
“You took her away.”
His grip tightened.
Zhao Hongbin’s lips darkened.
His eyes rolled upward.
Only choking sounds escaped his throat.
Then…
Rong Yuxuan let go.
Zhao Hongbin crashed onto the floor like a sack of garbage, desperately gasping for air.
Rong Yuxuan crouched beside him, grabbed his hair, and forced him to look up.
“How do you want to die?”
Zhao Hongbin trembled uncontrollably.
He had met ruthless people before.
He was one himself.
But this white-haired young man…
There was no anger in his eyes.
No hatred.
Only endless emptiness.
That was far more terrifying than rage.
“It wasn’t me! I didn’t push her! They did!”
He pointed frantically toward Long Juanli and Long Junlong.
“They pushed her! I only told them to block the zombies! I never said to shove her…”
“You did!”
Long Juanli suddenly screamed.
Her shrill voice scraped through the room like fingernails across a chalkboard.
“You yelled, ‘Push her down!’ Qingtang hurt you, so you wanted revenge! You made us do it! It wasn’t my fault!”
“Bullshit!”
Zhao Hongbin roared back.
“I never told you to push her to her death!”
“It was you! It was all you!”
“Enough.”
Rong Yuxuan slowly stood.
His gaze moved from Zhao Hongbin…
To Long Juanli…
To Long Junlong…
Then swept over Hou Biao and the remaining thugs groaning on the floor.
“Every one of you deserves to die.”
His voice was terrifyingly calm.
“Every single one.”
“You all owe her a life.”
He dragged Zhao Hongbin outside as though hauling away a sack of trash.
Then Hou Biao.
Then the others.
Long Juanli screamed hysterically, shrinking deeper into the corner.
“It wasn’t me!”
“Zhao Hongbin made me do it!”
“Qingtang was my best friend!”
Long Junlong collapsed onto the floor.
His pants were soaked.
His lips trembled so violently that he couldn’t utter a single word.
Rong Yuxuan dragged them all onto the street.
The very street where Lin Qingtang had died less than two hundred meters away.
The smell of living humans quickly attracted the zombies.
They emerged from every direction.
Hoarse growls echoed through the darkness.
Gray figures crawled out from behind ruined buildings, beneath abandoned cars, and from shadowed stairwells.
Their eyes glowed with ravenous hunger.
Only then did Zhao Hongbin realize what Rong Yuxuan intended.
He struggled wildly.
“No! Please! Don’t!”
His followers begged for mercy.
Some broke down sobbing.
“What you made her suffer…”
Rong Yuxuan said quietly.
“You can experience it yourselves.”
He tied them one by one to lampposts, fire hydrants, and fallen traffic signs.
Every knot was a dead knot.
The harder they struggled…
The tighter the ropes became.
Hou Biao continued cursing until he was secured.
Zhao Hongbin no longer had the strength to curse.
He cried.
A fifty-year-old gangster who had spent his life killing without blinking now sobbed like a helpless child.
Long Juanli was tied up last.
Her fake eyelashes had long since fallen off.
Her makeup had been washed into streaks by tears.
She stared at Rong Yuxuan.
After trembling for a long time, only one sentence escaped her lips.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t want this either… Really… Qingtang was my best friend…”
Rong Yuxuan looked at her.
She had laughed while linking arms with Lin Qingtang on their way to class.
She had bought her soy milk.
Saved seats for her.
Held her whenever she cried, saying, “It’s okay. I’m here.”
Then…
She pushed her into a zombie horde.
And afterward…
She apologized.
“She treated you so well.”
At last, his voice cracked.
It sounded as though his soul itself were tearing apart.
“How could you do it?”
“How could you…”
He couldn’t continue.
Instead, he dragged Long Junlong over.
The young man shook so violently he couldn’t even stand.
Rong Yuxuan tied him to the lamppost directly opposite his sister.
Face to face.
So they could watch each other die.
“It’s not my fault!”
Long Junlong cried.
“My sister pushed her! Zhao Hongbin gave the order! I didn’t do anything!”
“When she was pushed…”
Rong Yuxuan looked down at him.
“What did you do?”
“Did you pull her back?”
“Did you stop them?”
“Did you even shout?”
Long Junlong opened his mouth.
No words came out.
The zombies closed in.
The nearest ones were less than ten meters away.
Zhao Hongbin screamed.
Hou Biao desperately fought against the ropes.
Long Juanli struggled so hard that the rope tore open her wrists, blood streaming down her arms.
She cried for help.
She called for her mother.
She screamed, “Qingtang! I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please save me!”
But zombies never listened.
The first zombie sank its teeth into Zhao Hongbin’s thigh.
His scream transformed from terror…
Into unbearable agony.
Then came the second.
The third.
As a zombie lunged toward Long Juanli, she released one final piercing scream.
It shattered the silence of the night.
Far louder…
Far uglier…
Than the cry Lin Qingtang had made when she died.
Rong Yuxuan stood quietly in the distance.
There was no satisfaction.
No relief.
Nothing at all.
His heart had died alongside hers in that pool of blood.
Eventually…
The screams stopped.
Silence returned.
Only the wet sounds of zombies feeding remained, mixed with the occasional distant explosion.
Rong Yuxuan turned and walked away.
He never looked back.
Behind him, the zombie horde fought over its feast beneath the streetlights.
Two hundred meters away…
A lone sneaker with a little rabbit printed on it still rested quietly among the broken glass.
…
He didn’t go anywhere else.
Instead, he returned to the street where they had first met.
He had been fifteen years old.
Back then, he sold roasted sweet potatoes from a small roadside stall.
He had been skinny and undersized, his hands red from the cold.
The worn cotton jacket issued by the orphanage was far too short, allowing icy wind to pour through the sleeves until it seeped into his bones.
Then…
She appeared.
She wore a pink-and-white down jacket with fluffy earmuffs, her hand held gently by a tall man.
Passing his stall, she stopped.
The sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes reached her.
Her eyes lit up.
“Dad, I want a roasted sweet potato.”
Then she noticed him.
His frozen red hands.
His thin clothes.
Tilting her head, she asked curiously,
“How old are you? Why are you selling sweet potatoes when you’re so young? Shouldn’t you be in school?”
“…I’m fifteen.”
“I’m earning money for tuition.”
“Fifteen?”
She looked him up and down in disbelief.
“You look younger than me.”
Later…
She took off her gloves and tried to give them to him.
He refused.
So she simply stuffed them inside his jacket.
They were pink knitted gloves.
Still warm from her hands.
Her smiling eyes curved into crescents as she laughed.
“From now on, you’re the kid I’m sponsoring!”
“I’ll ask my dad to help pay for your schooling.”
“You have to study hard.”
“When you grow up and become successful, promise you’ll give back to society, okay?”
Okay.
He answered only in his heart.
I’ll study hard.
I’ll become someone worthy.
And one day…
I’ll find you.
But he never did.
When he finally found her…
Only a shoe and a pool of blood remained.
…
Rong Yuxuan arrived at the old street corner where he used to sell roasted sweet potatoes.
It was unrecognizable now.
Buildings had collapsed.
Streetlights lay twisted across the road.
Wrecked vehicles and garbage covered the streets.
He leaned against a fallen lamppost and slowly sat down.
From inside his jacket, he took out the sneaker.
The little rabbit still bared its tiny teeth.
It almost looked as though it were smiling at him.
“Qingtang…”
He closed his eyes.
Lightning surged violently through his body.
“In my next life…”
Electricity exploded around him, crackling without restraint.
He made no attempt to stop it.
He allowed the lightning to tear through his organs.
“…could you let me find you sooner?”
“I’ll protect you.”
“I swear I will.”
Brilliant white light swallowed everything.
…
Lin Qingtang’s eyes flew open.
The excruciating pain still lingered in her mind.
She could still hear the horrifying crunch of her bones being crushed.
Gasping for breath, her heart pounded so violently it felt ready to burst from her chest.
Cold sweat had completely soaked the bedsheets.
Instinctively, she reached for her arms.
They were intact.
Her legs.
Still there.
Her neck.
Untouched.
Sunlight streamed through the window, spilling across the pale blue blanket.
The alarm clock on her phone rang beside the bed.
The date displayed on the screen read:
Thursday, March 15, 2669.
Exactly thirty days remained until the acid rain that would change the world forever.
“…A dream?”
Her voice came out hoarse.
But it had all felt too real.
Zhao Hongbin shouting, “Push her down!”
Long Juanli’s outstretched hand.
Long Junlong’s evasive eyes.
The scar above Hou Biao’s eyebrow.
Every detail was etched into her bones, clearer than any nightmare.
A gentle knock came from the bedroom door.
“Qingtang, are you awake? We have class this morning.”
It was Long Juanli’s voice.
Warm and sweet as honey.
“I bought breakfast. The soy milk is still hot. Get up and eat before it gets cold.”
Lin Qingtang froze on the bed.
That voice…
It was exactly the same voice that had whispered in her dream,
“I’m sorry… I didn’t want this either.”