“Don’t panic. It’s just a power outage.” He stuffed the small reading lamp into Xin Xiaoru’s arms. “I’ll go take a look and be right back.”
For ordinary people, unless they were ability‑users, being caught by zombies meant a 99% chance of turning into one themselves. Of the remaining lucky few, either nothing happened, or they awakened supernatural abilities of various types.
In her previous life, Xin Xiaoru had always stayed extremely cautious and had never been scratched by a zombie. But when companions or passersby around her were bitten or clawed, most of them ended up becoming part of the zombie horde.
There were also some people, those with good physical fitness, or the kind of luck where you could spend five yuan on lottery tickets and win twenty, who, when they felt they couldn’t survive anymore, decided to gamble on whether they could awaken abilities. The result was that no matter who they had been before, in front of zombies everyone was equal. There was no luck bonus, no stamina bonus.
Xin Xiaoru saw this very clearly. From the bottom of her heart, she hated gambling on probability. So no matter how hard her life was, she never pinned her hopes on becoming an ability‑user. Instead, she did everything she could to survive by lying low, however one had to lie low, that was how she did it.
In the end, though, she still died in a fight over food. She failed to grab any supplies and was stabbed straight through the heart. Death came instantly.
She hugged the cold reading lamp, placed it over her chest, and quietly switched it off.
Staring at the locked door of the interrogation room, she opened the cabinet where the police stored various documents, pulled everything out, shoved it into a corner beneath the desk, and curled herself up inside.
In the process, she found a spare walkie‑talkie and slipped it into her pocket, just in case.
Early‑stage zombies didn’t have much strength and weren’t very agile. With iron bars and a large cabinet between them, as long as Xin Xiaoru didn’t make any noise, it wouldn’t be able to smell her.
Before long, sounds of shouting, questioning, and fighting came from outside, along with many voices on the phone calling 120 and giving addresses.
Xin Xiaoru’s heart pounded like a drum.
People who’d been scratched were being sent to the hospital? Wouldn’t that mean the hospital was basically doomed?
The zombie virus and natural disasters were bound to erupt sooner or later. She couldn’t stop them by herself, but if she could delay things even a little, she would.
She turned the walkie‑talkie’s volume to the lowest setting, switched it on, and tried to call out.
A burst of static, no response.
Unsure whether the channel was wrong, Xin Xiaoru adjusted the frequency and listened to each one in turn. All she heard was buzzing interference. Communications were blocked. Helpless, she turned it off.
Curled up inside the cabinet, in pitch darkness, she stared at some unknown corner, her gaze unfocused.
That feeling, like massive gears turning irreversibly, made her feel suffocated. She could only talk to the system in her mind to ease the sense of despair, the feeling that everything would come eventually: “Where are you now? What about that tenant?”
Even the system sounded a little shaky. “H‑h‑he, he killed someone again! No, wait, not killing people. It seems like he’s killing zombies!”
When He Guying saw his own photo on Xin Xiaoru’s phone, he knew the surveillance footage hadn’t been completely erased and that he’d been identified. His accounts had probably been frozen as well, traced back step by step.
But all his money was stored in a stolen bank card, a discarded card someone had forgotten. He immediately changed his appearance, put on a flashy yellow wig, and went to the bank to withdraw all his cash: a thick, fat bundle.
The zombie virus outbreak was clearly not limited to just the Guangming Building.
Walking down the street, he noticed many people looking dazed. They appeared to have high fevers and were headed for hospitals, but in fact, these were early signs of zombification. He could tell.
Well‑meaning bystanders or companions often tried to escort such people to hospitals.
He Guying touched his wrist.
The messages on his smartwatch were still showing the new addresses sent by his superiors, awaiting his reply.
His expression was cold. Without warning, he walked over, bumped into one of the “feverish” people, and casually walked away, heading back to his RV.
A delayed scream came from behind.
The “feverish” person had a dagger plunged into their chest, collapsed to the ground, and was motionless.
“The murderer! That blond guy is the killer!” a passerby shouted, pointing at He Guying, who wore the wig.
He moved quickly, got into his vehicle, and drove off.
The smartwatch kept vibrating with incoming messages, demanding replies.
He Guying’s aura was icy and oppressive. Finally, unable to tolerate it any longer, he ripped the watch off, powered it down, and threw it aside.
Some people were just irredeemably stupid and dared to try controlling life and death.
If it were him, doing something so foolish would not only make his subordinates risk their lives to clean up the mess, leaving no one trustworthy; he’d hang himself or jump from a building to atone!
Why didn’t these idiots just die already?
And why did innocent people have to die?
Why should he risk himself for these fools?
Even though his anger boiled inside him and his eyes were bloodshot from several sleepless days and nights, his hands on the wheel remained steady.
If Xin Xiaoru were driving, he could afford to nap briefly along the way. Now that she had run off, he had to drive nonstop himself.
So much still wasn’t ready. So many weapons had yet to be acquired…
He took a deep breath, suppressed all his emotions, and while heading to the next destination, killed the infected along the way.
To him, it was obvious they were infected; to everyone else, they were just innocent pedestrians.
Many people were calling the police, but for some reason, very few got through, and even fewer officers were dispatched. No one really knew what was going on.
At the same time, many police stations were experiencing varying degrees of chaos.
Some were dealing with the sudden surge of murder cases. Near these crime scenes, witnesses, or at least those present, were often terrified, developing high fevers and convulsions, ending up hospitalized. Then, as they neared death, they would suddenly leap up and go berserk.
Police would restrain some of these uncontrollable “patients” and take them to the station, or sometimes to psychiatric hospitals. The aim was to restore order so hospitals could function normally.
But the “patients” often did not behave once at the station, they inexplicably died.
After this, no one dared to recklessly bring a frenzied “patient” into a police station for detention.
Although the stations had doctors trying to reduce fevers, families still insisted on taking their relatives to hospitals for proper care to feel safe.
As a result, hospitals became increasingly chaotic, consuming so much police manpower that officers could hardly leave the premises.
Eventually, superiors issued an order: this was a new type of infectious disease and required isolation and treatment. Families causing trouble would also be quarantined. Only then did hospitals regain some semblance of order.
Even so, the situation was still out of control.
The police station where Xin Xiaoru was detained was exactly like this.
Police resources were stretched thin, and the families of “patients” coming to report to the station began acting violently, scratching and attacking officers and bystanders trying to help. The scene became more and more chaotic.
Xin Xiaoru felt that the air conditioning in the station must be set way too low, so low that she got goosebumps all over while hiding in the cabinet.
Her phone had been confiscated; she could only tell the time by peeking out of the cabinet to see the clock on the wall.
She didn’t dare come out.
After an unknown amount of time, chaotic footsteps approached. The officers who had previously interrogated her arrived with several colleagues, each restraining multiple feverish people, and locked them all into the interrogation room.
Xin Xiaoru bolted from the cabinet: “Don’t put me in with them! I want to go somewhere else!”
The officers were startled.
An interrogation room wasn’t a prison, it was just a temporary place to question suspects. They had grabbed any empty room to lock people in, not expecting anyone else to be inside.
The officer who had interrogated her nodded and led her out.
The police station still had no power, and they used flashlights to inspect every corner, making sure all the troublemakers were secured before finally relaxing slightly.
“You said before… these are zombies,” the officer said, turning to Xin Xiaoru, his gaze sharp.
Xin Xiaoru quickly nodded and subtly moved a safe distance away from the others.
She saw it, many of them had scratches on their arms! Eight or nine out of ten were already infected!
The police clearly knew this as well.
Everyone remained silent.
People outside couldn’t reach the police, and calling 120 wasn’t enough, inside the station, it was the same. All internal lines, satellite phones, and other channels were jammed or busy.
The only instruction coming through now was isolation, isolation, and more isolation, to separate the abnormal crowd from the normal people.
Most people had watched enough dramas or read enough novels to know about zombies. And now, the impossible had become reality, in Yicheng, and even across much of the country, zombies had appeared.
Those in hospitals had already died physiologically, yet were still moving, and they would attack and scratch others.
The police didn’t say much. They returned Xin Xiaoru’s phone, then handcuffed themselves to a railing in a corner.
“The station doors are locked. If we lose our minds, find a window and get out. Sorry… I hope you survive.”
“Okay.”
Xin Xiaoru felt uneasy.
Everyone here was a good person… yet they were all at a turning point of life and death. Most would die mentally and become zombies; a very few lucky ones might survive, only to face more trials ahead.
She sat in the middle of the hall, keeping as much distance as possible from the infected on all sides.
The police had not yet lost control, they hadn’t yet agreed to let her go.
When they started running high fevers, their eyes turning red and then completely black, Xin Xiaoru knew it was time to leave.
She acted immediately, contacting the RV in her mind while observing the outside through the window.
Many infected people were locked inside the station, including some officers, but among those evacuated by the police, some were hiding scratches or had already been infected elsewhere.
The power was out, the streets were chaotic and noisy, with only car lights flickering here and there to illuminate the surroundings.
At this moment, the RV was not far from the station. They were in the same district, and He Guying was nearby, moving and killing infected people as he went, he hadn’t gone far.
Xin Xiaoru didn’t let the RV act on its own. She first contacted He Guying via Airbnb: “I’ve been taken by the station. The police station is full of zombies. Can you come get me?”
If He Guying was willing, she would leave immediately. If not, she would let the RV come forcibly on its own.
Exposing the RV’s differences wasn’t a big deal, it was inevitable if she was going to run a mobile RV inn.
And this “difference” was also a way to protect herself.
Playing dumb to hide your strength can work, but only if you actually go after the tiger. She wasn’t going after the tiger; she just wanted to use its authority to look a little cooler, a little different, a little mysterious.
Maybe that little difference would make others willing to cooperate with her or give her some convenience, while she also carved out some advantages for herself. As for whether anyone would covet her RV, well, even a normal RV would be snatched by desperate people, and if the owner was a woman, it might even be easier to take. The more unique she appeared, though, the more anyone thinking of touching her would weigh their actions carefully.
He Guying looked at the messages on his phone, didn’t hesitate, and followed the location Xin Xiaoru had set to the police station, picking her up.
Then…
“You drive, continue to the addresses I sent you earlier.” He Guying went back into his own extremely cramped corner of the RV and fell asleep almost instantly.
Xin Xiaoru wanted to ask, “Aren’t you going to deal with the zombies?” But in the end, she said nothing, pretending nothing had happened, and drove on.
The route remained as remote as possible.
Many places on the way had accidents because of no streetlights. When power finally returned to the whole city, Xin Xiaoru reached the next destination:
A vehicle modification workshop.
Here, Xin Xiaoru saw the vehicle He Guying had bought that hadn’t yet been modified.
It was an off-road RV with a high, sturdy chassis, reinforced with protective bars front and back, and especially a row of sharp spikes on the front, able to pierce through many zombies if it rammed forward.
The glass was thick as well, seemingly bulletproof.
Late at night, He Guying called the workshop owner, who was not happy: “Wasn’t it agreed that you’d pick up the car in three days?”
Xin Xiaoru’s eyes flickered, three days would be the time her RV rental with He Guying was set to end.
So it wasn’t that he didn’t have a car; it was just that the car was in modification for these few days. Once this car was ready, he wouldn’t need Xin Xiaoru’s RV anymore.
“I’ll take it earlier.” He Guying, who didn’t smoke normally, somehow produced a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed it to the forty-something owner. “I’ll add fifty thousand, work overnight, and pick up the car tomorrow morning. Can you do it?”
The owner took the cigarettes, tempted.
“Well…”
“Sixty thousand.” He Guying raised the offer.
“It’s not about money… our guys have already finished work, some have gone with their families to countryside inns…”
“Eighty thousand.”
“And the materials, they haven’t arrived yet…”
“One hundred thousand.”
“Deal!”
Xin Xiaoru watched the two of them shake hands: “…” Truly, money talks.
But then again, wasn’t she also someone mobilized by money? And her RV driver service was even more expensive!
For a moment, Xin Xiaoru felt a sudden, inexplicable pride in selling herself at a higher price.
Late at night, the entire vehicle modification workshop roared to life, working through the night.
He Guying didn’t idle; he had Xin Xiaoru keep driving. He was heading to a new place, a kitchen knife processing factory.
Xin Xiaoru drove for two hours and arrived at the factory at 4 a.m., also roused in the dead of night by the power of money.
Officially, they processed kitchen knives, but in reality, they also crafted the long [1]Tang-style swords usually refer to Tang dao (唐刀)—long, straight or slightly curved Chinese swords inspired by weapons used during China’s Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE). In plain terms: … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1753110_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1753110_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Tang-style swords one usually only sees in movies or TV shows.
These weren’t ordinary blades, they were legitimate collector’s items, requiring official permits to purchase.
Obviously, He Guying had his channels; he actually had permits to buy Tang swords in bulk.
As his “junior,” Xin Xiaoru also bought a lot of them.
But these Tang swords were expensive, thousands per piece, and some even forty to fifty thousand!
Was that really the price a sword should have?
He Guying glanced at her, picked out one for ten thousand, and added a few whetstones: “This will last a long time. Take the others priced a couple thousand each as backups, the more, the better.”
Xin Xiaoru’s 210,000 yuan had already been spent alongside He Guying stockpiling food, bicycles, medicine, and all sorts of supplies, leaving her with only about 60,000. She steeled herself, bit her lip, and spent the rest to buy a huge stack of Tang swords, so many she could throw a worn-out one away and replace it without hesitation.
The RV, however, was completely full. With her swords and his even larger collection, there was no space left inside. They had to haul some on a trailer behind the RV.
Once loaded, He Guying curled up in the only free space inside the RV and fell asleep again.
His body was covered in blood, but in the dim light mostly blocked by cargo, it was hard to see clearly.
Xin Xiaoru stayed silent, steadying the RV and driving to the modification workshop. She didn’t wake him, instead watching the brightly lit workshop, eyes open until dawn, feeling a long-missing sense of calm.
At nine o’clock, He Guying suddenly woke after only four hours of sleep. His body ached and stiffened from curling up in the tiny space, but his spirit had recovered significantly. His face was still bruised and dark, and his head throbbed from days of sleep deprivation, though much better than before.
He took a shower in the small bathroom compartment, changed out of the blood-stained clothes, and stepped out of the RV in black athletic pants and a gray tank top.
The sunlight that day highlighted his strong shoulders and back even more.
Xin Xiaoru didn’t follow him outside; she just watched him walk away.
She knew, she and He Guying were parting ways.
The off-road RV was fully modified, now several times larger than Xin Xiaoru’s RV, with exaggerated steel plates and spikes all around.
Xin Xiaoru finally got out to help He Guying, carefully loading the tightly packed supplies onto his newly upgraded RV.
This task took the entire morning.
By noon, both of them were drenched in sweat. They managed to take quick showers in their respective RVs, then bought two bags of frozen dumplings, cooked them together, and had what amounted to a farewell meal for the two of them.
In the end, Xin Xiaoru didn’t learn his secret.
He also didn’t ask her to handle the “rent” for the next few days. When she asked one last time about the zombie virus, he only said: “The apocalypse has indeed arrived. Once Pandora’s box is opened, it won’t end with just a few deaths. Protect what you’ve stockpiled, and cherish your last moments of peace.”
Xin Xiaoru couldn’t help blurting out: “Can we… do this together? You’re strong, and I, I’ve stockpiled a lot too.”
As soon as she said it, she realized it sounded awkward.
All the supplies she had were bought with his money, and the connections she used were through his channels.
Basically, Xin Xiaoru had only appeared on Airbnb by chance when he needed a driver and an RV for day-and-night travel, letting her “win by lying down” for a few days.
What could she actually do?
She could only be a driver, a nurse.
Moreover, he looked alone now, but he probably had family, friends, or partners elsewhere, he definitely wasn’t short on people to help.
Clinging to his resources for a few days had already been enough.
After all, she only had an RV that was slowly leveling up, and she hadn’t even revealed it to him yet. She hadn’t decided whether to tell him.
Xin Xiaoru steeled herself, preparing to be rejected.
To her surprise, after thinking for a moment, He Guying nodded.
“I understand… hmm? Wait?” Xin Xiaoru froze, then finally realized, her pupils dilating. “You mean… with me?”
He Guying nodded. “But not now. I still have matters to handle. Leave me your address; I’ll come find you when I need to.”
Not letting herself feel too disappointed, Xin Xiaoru quickly gave the RV campsite address: “If that mountain road is impassable, wait for me at the base.”
He Guying gestured with his eyes toward his off-road RV: “It’s modified. Unless it’s a vertical cliff, most paths are passable.”
“…Okay,” Xin Xiaoru said.
And just like that, she parted ways with He Guying for the time being, satisfied.
Yicheng was descending into chaos even earlier than in her previous life.
The chaos was still in its early stages, and the zombie virus was mainly concentrated in the hospital and police station areas.
The police had suffered heavy losses and were short-staffed. Nearby military districts had already dispatched troops to take control, forcibly containing the infected in relatively centralized areas, checking bites and scratches, and shooting the infected where necessary.
After a night and a morning of disorder, by the time Xin Xiaoru returned to the RV campsite, the situation was preliminarily under control.
But overall, compared to her previous life, the apocalypse had indeed arrived earlier.
Many people, upon receiving the news, began raiding supplies or fleeing the city.
He Guying didn’t have Xin Xiaoru continue driving for him, partly because he anticipated this situation. He contacted the supplier behind them, but the supplier refused to sell more goods, so he abandoned the follow-up plan and went off to handle other matters.
He didn’t ask Xin Xiaoru to refund the 90,000 yuan for the next three days, and she had no money to repay anyway. Back at the campsite, she organized all the supplies, medicines, cold-weather gear, life vests for water, fireproof jackets and helmets, climbing and first-aid equipment, and stored the food securely before finally being able to sleep for a bit.
But she didn’t sleep long. Then came the earthquake.
The quake itself lasted only half a minute, but the surrounding rocks had already loosened from the previous heavy rains. Combined with the moderately strong tremor, landslides immediately blocked the roads on both sides.
A convoy of people who had planned a city getaway, preparing for a summer trip, were now stranded halfway along their route.
Xin Xiaoru had developed a survival philosophy during the apocalypse: strike first and establish dominance. If you make a strong, mysterious, high-status entrance at the start, you’re far more likely to remain in a position of strength later.
If she wanted to run an RV inn, people had to have the initial impression that the “inn owner” was high-profile and not to be trifled with.
No sneaky tricks, no trying to get benefits under the table. In the RV, I’m the boss!
She peeled an ice cream to wake herself up, drove the now-empty RV to the top of a large tree to draw everyone’s attention, and then headed toward the landslide area near the earthquake’s epicenter.
Everyone, move aside, I’m about to show off!
The expansion mission for the RV inn was bound to succeed!
References[+]