“Get back!”
Su Jianmo looked at the demonic beasts swarming toward them from all directions. His cold eyes held not a trace of emotion. As he steadied his breathing and gathered his energy, the green specks floating around him rushed toward his palm, gradually forming a green storm.
Standing back-to-back with him, Shen Biqian gripped the wooden club in her hand tightly. Her palms were drenched in sweat, but she bit down hard on her red lips to keep herself from screaming.
They had been fleeing for more than half a month. Today, it seemed there would be no escape.
The once-bustling streets, formerly crowded with people and noise, were now filled with the excited roars of demonic beasts. The leading beast stared at the two tiny humans attempting to resist. In its blood-red eyes flashed a disturbingly human-like look of contempt.
Humans truly were the weakest and most useless species!
“ROAR!”
The leading beast remained still, and the slightly smaller beasts following it also stopped advancing. Their sharp claws scraped against the ground, leaving deep grooves in the concrete road—so deep that the yellow earth beneath was faintly visible.
Their nearly one-meter-wide jaws opened as they roared, drool dripping from their mouths in pale green streams as they greedily eyed the two humans before them.
“Su Jianmo, I’m sorry. I dragged you into this. If we manage to escape today… let’s part ways.”
Taking a deep breath, Shen Biqian finally spoke.
A sense of foreboding flashed through Su Jianmo’s heart. He turned his head just in time to see her raise her wooden club and smash it fiercely against the nearest beast.
“ROAR!”
The beast, struck unexpectedly, immediately flew into a rage. It raised its sharp foreclaw and slashed toward her.
Dropping the club, now broken in half, Shen Biqian slowly closed her eyes and waited for the final pain.
Su Jianmo, if I die, you must escape!
“Ugh!”
A muffled groan of pain was followed by the heavy sound of something crashing to the ground.
The expected agony never came.
Opening her eyes, Shen Biqian saw Su Jianmo’s tall, somewhat slender figure standing before her.
He had shielded her.
Standing upright and unwavering, he faced the beast he had struck down. About five meters away, a large crater had been smashed into the creature’s hard shell, foul-smelling red blood oozing from the wound.
“Leave me alone!”
Shen Biqian burst into tears.
“I don’t know why every strike from your bare hands can injure these beasts, but since you have that ability, then run! Escape on your own! Don’t worry about me anymore!”
Su Jianmo swayed slightly but remained standing before her.
“I told you before. I will protect you.”
“No!”
Shen Biqian cried even harder.
“If one of us can survive, that’s enough. Staying with you only makes me a burden. Even if you don’t think about yourself, think about your family. They need your protection too!”
Su Jianmo seemed to sway again.
But before he could respond, the enraged beasts let out furious roars and charged forward.
In an instant, they were swallowed by the horde.
Su Jianmo’s eyes reddened slightly as he desperately summoned the green specks around him and hurled them at the beasts.
Every strike injured them, but none were fatal.
Instead, it only made them more furious.
Protected firmly behind him, Shen Biqian suffered little harm, but as the bloody wounds on Su Jianmo’s body multiplied, she could no longer hold back her tears.
She hated him.
Hated him for refusing to abandon her and escape.
And she hated herself even more for being useless, capable only of crying.
“Ugh…”
Su Jianmo groaned again.
The green specks available to him were becoming fewer and fewer.
Looking at the endless wave of charging beasts, a tear slipped from his eye and quickly mixed with the blood on his face until it was impossible to tell which was which.
Biqian, I’m sorry.
I promised to protect you, but I’m afraid I can’t keep that promise.
“In a moment, I’ll open a path for you. Run first. Once I deal with them, I’ll come find you.”
As he spoke, Su Jianmo gathered every green speck he could still control into his hand.
“Biqian, now! Go!”
The moment the words left his mouth, a path appeared before Shen Biqian.
The beasts along that route were blasted aside.
He had carved out an opening for her escape.
Giving Su Jianmo one last look, Shen Biqian turned and ran.
This was his wish.
She could not betray it.
“You have to make it out too! Otherwise, I won’t go on living alone!”
She didn’t dare look back.
She could only run desperately while listening to the enraged roars of the beasts behind her.
After running roughly a hundred meters, she finally stopped.
This distance should be enough.
Slowly, she turned around.
Su Jianmo, please be safe.
“No!”
A heart-wrenching scream tore from her throat.
She spun around and charged back without regard for her life.
Through her tear-blurred vision, she saw Su Jianmo’s body nearly torn to pieces.
His blood seemed to have stained heaven and earth alike.
No…
They had promised.
They were supposed to survive together.
She ran desperately.
She vaguely saw a beast opening its blood-soaked maw toward her. The stench was overwhelming, but she didn’t stop.
She only wanted to reach his side.
Even if it meant dying together.
It felt as though she had been swallowed into the beast’s stomach.
In the final moment of her life, she saw countless roaring beasts and the humans being torn apart beneath their claws and fangs.
Had the end of the world truly arrived?
“No!”
Shen Biqian abruptly opened her eyes.
What greeted her was a familiar pale-blue mosquito net.
“What happened to you? Did you have a nightmare?”
A familiar voice sounded nearby.
Sitting upright, Shen Biqian stared blankly at the three familiar faces filled with concern beside her bed.
They were her roommates, the girls she had lived with day and night for the past two years.
“Yeah, what did you dream about? You look terrified. Your face is covered in tears.”
She raised a hand to touch her face.
It was wet and sticky.
Had she really cried so much without realizing it?
“I bet she dreamed that she failed all five exams and got a row of bright red failing grades, then scared herself into tears!”
“Exactly! Xiao Qian, stop sleeping. We have the Advanced Mathematics exam tomorrow. If you don’t start reviewing now, that nightmare might come true!”
Advanced Mathematics tomorrow…
A flash of realization pierced through Shen Biqian’s muddled mind.
“What date is it today?”
Her voice came out so hoarse that even she was startled.
The dormitory monitor handed her a cup of water.
“Drink some water. You’ve cried so much that your voice has gone hoarse.”
“You must have been scared silly. The Advanced Mathematics exam is tomorrow, so of course today is the twenty-eighth.”
“June twenty-eighth?”
“Of course.”
Having gotten her answer, Shen Biqian took a sip of water and forced a smile at them. Then she set the cup down and lay back on her bed.
“What’s wrong with her?” the dormitory monitor, An Qiaoke, asked quietly.
“No idea,” Chu Fei shook her head.
“Forget it. Let her rest for a while. Let’s continue reviewing.”
Shen Biqian kept her eyes wide open, not daring to close them.
The moment she closed her eyes, she seemed to see Su Jianmo being torn into pieces right before her.
Ever since the demonic beasts had appeared out of nowhere, the half-month of desperate flight remained vividly etched in her mind.
Could it all really have been a dream?
The savage, man-eating demonic beasts.
Su Jianmo’s unwavering protection.
The blood-soaked ground littered with human limbs and remains.
The struggle.
The constant terror.
The despair that held not even the slightest glimmer of hope.
Was it all just a dream?
Or had heaven given her another chance—
allowing her to be reborn before the apocalypse arrived?