Chapter 2: Coming Clean
As Lin Po ate the familiar taste of his mother’s cooking, his eyes couldn’t help but sting. After finally suppressing the surging emotions in his heart, he tried to talk to his parents about what was to come.
After some consideration, Lin Po felt it was best to tell his parents about his situation—the future and his “cheat.”
However, he certainly wouldn’t explain it as rebirth; otherwise, his parents would surely think he had burned his brain out from the fever. He would simply say it was a dream. He remembered a small accident that occurred in their city before the apocalypse: a pedestrian bridge in the city center had suddenly collapsed. Fortunately, no one was injured. This incident had sparked a lot of discussion at the time, so he remembered it clearly.
If he used this event to verify his claims, they should believe him at least a little.
In truth, Lin Po’s mind was still in a state of chaos. After the comet arrived, whether one turned into a zombie or evolved an ability was an uncertain matter. Lin Po hadn’t seen his parents in his past life, so now that he had started over, he had no idea what awaited them. The same went for Yun Zhuan; he didn’t know their fate either. He could only hope that they would be among those who awakened superpowers.
If they were among those who turned into zombies… Lin Po didn’t dare think further.
The family sat together and finished their meal in peace. Taking advantage of the post-dinner rest, Lin Po spoke up.
“Dad, Mom, I have something to tell you. It might be hard to accept, but I promise you, it’s all true.”
Lin Chuansen was watching TV; the regional news was playing. Hearing this, he felt something was wrong and turned to look at his son.
“Lin Po, did you do something bad outside? It wasn’t one of those… what do you call them, ‘campus loans,’ was it?”
Issues regarding loans among college students were cropping up constantly. Lin Chuansen had seen plenty of news about it. Hearing his son hesitating as if he were in trouble, his heart immediately skipped a beat.
Wang Yurong also looked at her son immediately. Their family appeared to be in decent condition, but they were still carrying a mortgage and a car loan; they couldn’t afford any trouble from campus predatory lending.
Seeing his parents’ thoughts straying so far off track, Lin Po hurried to shake his head. “It’s not that. Why would I take out a loan?”
Wang Yurong breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Then what is it? Just say it quickly, don’t scare your father and me anymore.”
Lin Po couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Perhaps what he was about to say would be even more terrifying.
He then briefly described the events from before his rebirth. Father and Mother Lin looked at him as if he were a fool. “Have you slept yourself silly? End times? Zombies? Those are things from science fiction movies. How could they possibly exist in real life?”
Lin Po wanted to say that he had thought the same before experiencing the apocalypse himself. But his memories told him that everything was real. Although he didn’t know why Heaven had given him a second chance, he was determined to seize it firmly.
Lin Chuansen dismissed it as a joke. Just as he was about to turn off the TV to get to work, a news item caught his attention.
“According to our reporter, Earth will welcome a meteor shower in one week. According to scientific research, these comets are small in volume and will burn up during their descent through the atmosphere, posing no impact to people’s lives. Citizens can bring telescopes at night to enjoy this spectacular meteor shower together…”
Lin Chuansen watched the news in a daze and then looked at his son. Lin Po’s expression was sorrowful and helpless.
“It was this meteor shower that destroyed the lives of most people.”
Lin Chuansen still didn’t dare believe it. Lin Po left them with one final sentence:
“The day after tomorrow, the Jinhua Overpass will collapse. Don’t go near there.”
Even after Lin Po left the room, Lin Chuansen and Wang Yurong remained stunned for a long time.
Could everything their son said really be true? Would there really be an apocalypse? Terrifying zombies? Superpowers?
They were just ordinary, law-abiding citizens. Even if they encountered such a situation, what could they possibly do?
When Lin Po was in junior high, his family moved to Jiang City, which was closer to their hometown, to do business. Jiang City had many universities and was close to home, so he applied to a university there.
The point he had returned to was the second semester of his junior year. As for why he was at home instead of at school, Lin Po thought back carefully; he’d had a very severe cold during his junior year that wouldn’t get better despite repeated injections and medication. Eventually, his mother grew worried and asked him to take leave and come home to recuperate.
In his previous life, he had also returned to school once he felt better during these few days. Then, the disaster suddenly struck. Fortunately, his roommates hadn’t turned into zombies. Lin Po and the others hid in the dormitory for several days. Every day, they could hear intense fighting and painful howls outside. He couldn’t contact his family at all. Sometimes, they even heard the sound of people jumping from the dormitory building in despair.
Lin Po was only twenty years old then. He had always been well-behaved and had never even been in a fight; facing such bloody scenes left him on the verge of a breakdown.
But there was no choice. The food stored in the dorm was eaten clean within four days. If they continued to sit and wait for death, they would either be bitten to death by zombies or starve to death.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a total dead end. Several people in Lin Po’s dorm awakened superpowers. Although their initial powers were weak, they gave them much more confidence than fighting zombies with bare hands.
The relationship between his roommates was very good, and at that point, the cruelty and darkness of the post-apocalyptic world hadn’t yet eroded their bond. They decided to break through the siege together.
Because Lin Po was a local, they even escorted him to find his parents after securing a vehicle. Sadly, Lin Po found nothing.
Then came the survival journey Lin Po was reluctant to recall. Because of the difference in strength, the rift between them grew larger. The roommates with powers gradually stopped treating the powerless roommates as equals. They began to develop a sense of superiority.
Once Lin Po sensed that his roommates’ gazes toward him were becoming increasingly arrogant and they began to do things that crossed moral boundaries, he chose to leave.
Though he was weak because he hadn’t triggered an ability yet, he was unwilling to lose his human dignity and ethics.
During his days of struggling to survive, he eventually triggered his own ability—Earth-type. It wasn’t considered powerful among ability users, but it had high defensive capabilities, allowing him to stumble his way through survival.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, everyone was only focused on killing zombies and hoarding supplies. It wasn’t until the situation stabilized slightly and survival bases were established that a massive problem was discovered: the land could no longer be farmed.
Besides bringing an unknown virus, the comets also contaminated vast stretches of land. Aside from plants that were already growing there, if one tried to sow seeds cultivated by humans, nothing would grow at all.
Panic over food instantly swept through the hearts of survivors. Manufactured food would eventually be finished; if they couldn’t farm, their eventual end would be starvation.
Consequently, survivors engaged in round after round of internecine slaughter. Lin Po, too, had died in the process of fighting for food. Thinking of this, he gripped the amber necklace around his neck tightly. This time, he should be able to live a little longer.
On the way to the school, Lin Po sent a message to Yun Zhuan, but Yun Zhuan was slow to reply. He knew Yun Zhuan’s dormitory building, but he didn’t have his roommates’ contact information, so he would have to go and ask in person.
Before going to find Yun Zhuan, Lin Po went back to his own dorm first. He carried two large boxes of instant noodles and placed them in the room.
He couldn’t tell his roommates about the apocalypse. For one, the matter was too absurd—even his family wouldn’t believe him, so how could they? Furthermore, having already experienced the end of the world once, his heart was no longer that of a twenty-year-old student. He had his own considerations; if this information got out, his future would be difficult.
Zombification was random. Even if he told the whole world that the end was coming now, he didn’t know who would be the unlucky ones. The only thing he could do was leave some extra supplies.
His roommate, “Little Fatty,” saw him bring back so many noodles and said in surprise, “Old Four, you can’t be serious. Won’t you eat yourself to death with that many noodles? Are you short on cash? Tell me, I’ll support you.”
The eldest roommate also noticed and said, “Didn’t you go home to recover? You’re better? Even so, you can’t eat instant noodles every day.”
Lin Po looked at his roommates’ faces. Right now, they were full of concern for him, making him loath to remember how they had parted ways after the apocalypse.
Lin Po scratched his hair and said, “I didn’t buy these. I passed the supermarket on my way back today and bought a few things. The supermarket was having a promotion where every hundred-yuan receipt gets a draw. I won two boxes of instant noodles. If you guys want to eat later, don’t go buy any, just take them from me.”
Little Fatty looked at the bag Lin Po had placed on the floor; it was indeed from the supermarket. He grumbled, “That’s pretty generous. When I enter draws, I only ever get two individual packs.”
The eldest asked, “Are you heading out again?”
Lin Po nodded. “The doctor said I need to be observed for a few more days. I just came back to grab some things.”
Little Fatty said, “Old Four, make sure you listen to the doctor. When you’re back for good, we’ll head to that new hotpot place on the back street. Let me tell you, their vegetables are fresh and cheap…”
Little Fatty gesticulated wildly as he talked about how delicious the hotpot was. Lin Po hummed in agreement, though he knew in his heart they would never have the chance to eat together again.
Leaving the dormitory, Lin Po looked up at the sky. The moon hung high, and brilliant stars dotted the pitch-black night. Lin Po sighed softly.
He would do his best and leave the rest to fate. He couldn’t stop the inevitable like a mantis trying to stop a carriage, but he could use his tiny glimmer of light to illuminate others.
Yun Zhuan’s dormitory was quite far from his own. They were in different majors; to find him, he had to cross the wide football field to reach the dormitory buildings on the other side.
Lin Po ran a few steps. Under the dim streetlights, he accidentally bumped into someone.
“Sorry, sorry! Are you okay?”
Lin Po hurried to apologize, only to look up and find a familiar, long-missed face.