1 – Prologue
Year Five of the Apocalypse. The sky remained blazing crimson as dusk approached, the blood-dyed hues overhead radiating imminent danger.
A furious roar echoed from a dilapidated warehouse over ten miles outside the Southern Base!
“It was you!”
Ye Jin stared at Yu Ruanruan in disbelief. “It really was you!”
The girl before her smiled with innocent purity, yet her gaze toward Ye Jin was icy and detached.
Yu Ruanruan spoke with extreme sarcasm: “Oh dear! What should we do? Big sister actually found out~”
She viciously kicked the disheveled woman lying on the ground with her toe: “What a pity, you’re useless now.”
Ye Jin felt bone-chilling cold permeating her entire body, lacking even the strength to lift a hand in retaliation. To think she had once ranked among the top five combatants in the Southern Base as a Tri-elemental ability user, yet now she had fallen to such a state.
Witnessing how this girl she had treated as her own younger sister had become completely unrecognizable, Ye Jin demanded: “Why?”
But Yu Ruanruan burst out laughing as if hearing the world’s greatest joke: “Ha! Why?”
“Of course it’s for the Water, Thunder, and Wood Crystals inside your body!”
Even several years into the apocalypse, high-level ability users remained exceptionally rare. Yet Ye Jin was that extraordinary Tri-elemental ability user who possessed the most powerful Thunder ability – how could Yu Ruanruan not be jealous?!
“Oh yes~ your Nucleus Crystal suits me perfectly now.” Yu Ruanruan felt immense satisfaction watching Ye Jin’s wretched state on the ground.
Ye Jin felt frozen to her core, the hollow wound in her abdomen still bleeding profusely.
She never imagined Yu Ruanruan would join that madman Yang Shuhuai in committing such inhuman acts!
Throughout the apocalypse, she had always protected the Yu family. Yu Ruanruan was her cousin who constantly presented herself as physically fragile and youthful in appearance.
She had never made Yu Ruanruan scavenge for supplies or fight zombies. No matter how exhausted or hungry she was, even when they had only half a piece of bread to share for the entire day, she had never treated any Yu family member harshly – not even her useless uncle, Yu Ruanruan’s father, whom she had always defended. She didn’t know whether Yu Ruanruan had been too good at pretending, or she herself had been too foolish!
“How could you do this to me? You’re my own cousin! I’ve never mistreated you!”
Yu Ruanruan’s smile vanished upon hearing this, her expression twisting with malice.
Treated her best? Looking at Ye Jin’s face, Yu Ruanruan found it hard to feel pleased!
Even with her abilities gone and her body covered in blood, even after five years of apocalyptic hardship, one could still discern stunningly beautiful features beneath the exhaustion – the perfect face shape, the delicate and exquisite nose.
But… so what? Now she was nothing but a stepping stone beneath Yu Ruanruan’s feet!
“Cousin?” Yu Ruanruan crouched down, gripping Ye Jin’s face tightly as she sneered: “Too bad I don’t need any sisters! I have my brother’s affection, and Brother Hao dotes on me too! So I certainly don’t need any sisters!”
Especially not a cousin who always overshadowed her!
Yu Ruanruan didn’t miss the flash of hurt in Ye Jin’s eyes when Fu Yihao was mentioned. She maliciously added: “Speaking of Brother Hao, you probably don’t know this, sister – he gave me your precious jade pendant!”
Weren’t you so proud? The man you like doesn’t love you back.Yu Ruanruan drew the jade pendant from her chest. Under the residual light filtering through the warehouse window, the pendant glowed with a moist luster, its carved lotus pattern vivid and lifelike.
Ye Jin’s pupils constricted, a suffocating pain tightening her chest. This jade pendant was a family heirloom passed from her grandmother to her mother. After her mother’s death, it had remained with her. When she and Fu Yihao were together, she had given it to him as a token of her devotion.
After their breakup, the base issued an emergency temporary mission. She had intended to retrieve the pendant once the mission ended, but upon returning to the base, she was immediately captured and taken to the laboratory. There, the madman Yang Shuhuai subjected her to live experiments, forcibly extracting the crystals from her body. That period of darkness was a living hell.
Now the jade pendant was in Yu Ruanruan’s hands—didn’t that mean they had been scheming behind her back all along? No wonder! Fu Yihao had always treated Yu Ruanruan differently, yet she had foolishly believed it was out of affection for her. How utterly stupid she had been!
“Give it back to me!” Mustering all her strength, Ye Jin seized the moment when Yu Ruanruan was off guard, snatching the pendant from her grasp.
This was her mother’s legacy—no one could take it from her!
Yu Ruanruan wasn’t angered by the loss of the pendant. After all, she was dealing with someone on the brink of death. Watching the once-proud Ye Jin now crawling at her feet like a dog filled her with immense satisfaction!
But physical wounds were nothing compared to the agony of the soul.
A faint smile curled her lips as she uttered the words that would shatter Ye Jin completely: “By the way, dear sister, you probably don’t know yet—Xiao Chen’s death wasn’t an accident.”
Ye Jin’s heart seized. She looked up at Yu Ruanruan in despair, clutching her collar tightly. “What did you say? Explain yourself! How did my brother die? What do you mean it wasn’t an accident? What do you mean?”
With a gentle push, Ye Jin—devoid of any special ability and covered in wounds—was easily shoved back to the ground.
Yu Ruanruan rose to her feet, looking down at the woman on the floor. “I didn’t want him dead either, but that useless fool awakened a mental ability. He overheard something he shouldn’t have, so we had to eliminate the root of the problem.”
Her casual tone sent tremors of rage through Ye Jin’s body. Gnashing her teeth, she snarled, “You bitch, I’ll kill you!”
Ye Jin recalled her suspicions when Xiao Chen died during a mission. At the time, others in the squad had also perished, and despite extensive investigations, nothing had been uncovered.
It was all her fault! Xiao Chen’s health had always been frail, and she had never intended for him to take on missions. But Yu Ruanruan had insisted she needed his help!
The mission had been assigned to Fu Yihao’s War Wolf Squad—the top-ranked team in the base. Yu Ruanruan had assured her that with Fu Yihao in charge, Xiao Chen would be safe. Yet, in the end, it was all a conspiracy!
Fu Yihao! Could such underhanded tactics have been carried out under his command without his knowledge? Or had he deliberately concealed the truth?
Ye Jin glared furiously at Yu Ruanruan, her entire body trembling with rage. Clenching her jaw, she vowed, “I won’t let you get away with this! I’ll kill you all with my own hands!”Yu Ruanruan sneered contemptuously, “Kill me? Don’t even think about killing me—today is your dying day instead! As for Hao-gege, don’t you worry! Without you, sister, he and I will definitely love each other dearly and stay together forever! After all, it was Hao-gege who told me about the dimension inside your jade pendant! I’ll definitely use your Nucleus Crystal, your storage space, and grow old happily with Hao-gege!”Although the dimension in the jade pendant was discovered with the System’s prompt, so what?” It all belonged to her now—Ye Jin’s Special Ability, Ye Jin’s man, Ye Jin’s life—all were hers!
Why, as sisters sharing the same bloodline, did Ye Jin get to have a prestigious maternal family and act so arrogantly, while she was just an illegitimate daughter who couldn’t even show her face in public?
The jade pendant had a dimension!?
Ye Jin had never known. Now, just thinking about how that bitch Yu Ruanruan enjoyed the conveniences she brought while causing her own younger brother’s death, Ye Jin wished she could skin her alive and tear out her tendons. But now, she didn’t even have the strength to stand up—how utterly useless!
“Ruanruan, we need to leave quickly. People from the Base are coming,” Yuan Mo said as he walked in through the warehouse door. He had been guarding outside, preventing Zombies from disturbing Yu Ruanruan. It was also him who abetted her, helping dig out Ye Jin’s Crystals, bringing her from the Research Institute, and abandoning her in this dilapidated warehouse.
Hearing Yuan Mo’s words, Yu Ruanruan knew they couldn’t stay long. Since she had gotten everything she wanted, and Ye Jin was just worthless trash now, there was no need to keep her around.
She felt some restlessness from the newly fused Crystals and knew she needed to return quickly to fuse the Nucleus Crystal.
“Finish her off,” she told Yuan Mo. “Don’t let her die too easily. Make a nice opening in her body—after all, Zombies love the flesh and blood of Ability Users the most.”
Yuan Mo frowned slightly, feeling a twinge of guilt. Ye Jin had been his teammate and companion, and she was also the captain’s former woman… but the captain’s attitude…
Well, no matter what, Ye Jin couldn’t be allowed to walk out alive. As long as Ruanruan was happy.
He took his dagger and walked over to Ye Jin, stabbing her directly in the heart. Out of respect for their past camaraderie, he gave her a quick death.
Watching Yuan Mo’s actions, Yu Ruanruan didn’t comment. After all, no one would be collecting Ye Jin’s body—it would inevitably be devoured by Zombies. “Snatch the jade pendant from her hand,” she ordered.
Yuan Mo struggled for a long time but couldn’t pry open Ye Jin’s tightly clenched fingers holding the jade pendant.
Seeing that the people outside were about to arrive, Yu Ruanruan anxiously stepped forward and forcefully tried to break Ye Jin’s grip. Suddenly, without warning, Ye Jin mustered her last strength, lunged up, and bit down hard into Yu Ruanruan’s neck, refusing to let go. Her determination was clear—she wouldn’t release her even if it meant tearing off a piece of flesh.
Yu Ruanruan screamed in pain, “A-Mo, save me!”
Yuan Mo desperately tried to pull Ye Jin away but couldn’t budge her. He never expected Ye Jin to possess such strength even in death—her eyes were blood-red, like a vengeful ghost dragging Yu Ruanruan down to hell.
Yu Ruanruan’s screams had attracted Zombies from outside, who were now swarming in. In desperation, she forcefully shoved Ye Jin away, picked up the dagger, and randomly stabbed her a few more times.Yu Ruanruan felt a searing pain on her neck, where a piece of flesh had been torn off. Seeing the zombies go wild at the scent of blood, now just half a meter away from her, she glanced at the bloodstained jade pendant in Ye Jin’s hand.
It seemed she had no choice but to leave for now. After all, Ye Jin wouldn’t survive the day anyway. She could come back for the jade pendant once Ye Jin had been devoured by zombies, leaving no trace behind. With that thought, she turned and fought her way out alongside Yuan Mo, cutting down the surrounding zombies.
Ye Jin watched Yu Ruanruan’s retreating figure, consumed by a desire for vengeance, yet unable to utter a single word. She could only feel her blood pooling on the ground around her. The zombies, driven into a frenzy by the scent of an Ability User’s blood, lunged at her, tearing into her flesh.
Faintly, from outside the warehouse, Yu Ruanruan’s voice drifted in: “Brother Hao, why are you here? There are so many zombies inside. Let’s hurry back.”
“Mm, let’s withdraw.”
It was Fu Yihao’s voice!
Through the gaps between the zombies feasting on her, Ye Jin stared at the warehouse door, listening to the sounds of her own body being devoured. Was this how she would die? She couldn’t accept it! She refused to accept it! Yu Ruanruan! Even as a ghost, I will never let you go!
Just before leaving, Fu Yihao suddenly paused and glanced back at the warehouse. But all he could see were zombies—there was no chance of any survivors. With zombies already spilling out of the warehouse, staying would only mean wasting time clearing them out. In the end, he turned away.