【You survived.】
Lu Wu kept her eyes peacefully closed, feeling that everything was absurd.
Wasn’t death supposed to be the end? Then why was she hearing voices?
【…】
【I know you can hear me. As one of the Hosts bound to me, you have one chance to draw an Innate Ability.】
【I’m not one of those cheap nanny systems outside. I won’t answer your every call. Only after you become strong enough will you truly possess me.】
【I look forward to seeing whether you survive until the end.】
My god…
This thing was arrogant!
Lu Wu’s eyes snapped open.
To her delight, every function of her body had returned to normal. All four of her limbs were intact.
There wasn’t a zombie’s size-45 foot stomping on her face anymore.
The familiar surroundings immediately told her where she was.
This was the shelter in Base No. 9, the place where she had lived before her biological father found her in her previous life.
Calling it a shelter was generous.
It was nothing more than a few patched-together tents standing side by side—old, cramped, filthy, and chaotic. There wasn’t even a decent bedroll inside.
Most of the people living here were orphans who had been lucky enough to survive after the apocalypse began.
A laugh suddenly escaped Lu Wu.
She hadn’t wanted to die…
But she had already grown tired of living.
Having been reborn, she found herself strangely lost.
Everything in her life had gone downhill from the moment the adopted daughter, Lu You, appeared.
Looking at Lu You—radiant and delicate like a flower raised in a greenhouse—Lu Wu had only then learned that during the years she had been away from home, her father had already gained another daughter.
At first, Lu Wu had naïvely believed Lu You was merely a substitute.
Later, she realized she had been the real clown all along.
In the eyes of her biological father and older brother, there was only the adopted daughter, Lu You.
The daughter who actually shared their blood had been tossed aside and completely ignored.
With the father and son’s silent approval, everyone in the base felt free to mock Lu Wu whenever they pleased.
The only advantage was that she never went hungry.
So she endured it.
But those full-belly days only lasted a few years.
Then the greatest catastrophe of the apocalypse erupted—the Zombie Tide.
They had been forced to leave the base together.
What was laughable was that, when the time came to choose, her father and older brother had silently reached the same decision.
They shoved her off the vehicle to attract the zombies’ attention, then fled with Lu You without looking back, leaving Lu Wu to die there.
Simply because Lu You was an Ability User.
While Lu Wu…
Was nothing more than an ordinary person.
She had expected everything to end there.
Yet somehow…
She was alive?
With her current pitiful strength, revenge was nothing but a distant dream.
Perhaps she should endure for now and bide her time?
The moment Lu Wu thought about the faces of her biological family, her stomach churned.
Living under the same roof as them again was utterly unbearable.
As if something suddenly occurred to her, her pupils shrank.
She grabbed the arm of a passing child.
“What date is it today?”
The child stared at her for a moment, a strange look flashing through his eyes.
“The twelfth. It’s your turn to go outside the city for resource gathering.”
The twelfth!
Lu Wu instantly sobered.
It had been on this exact day in her previous life that her biological father’s men had taken her back to that neglected home.
She had lived there as an invisible person for several years…
Only to be abandoned during the Zombie Tide as bait for the monsters.
In the distance, she spotted a military vehicle approaching.
Her heart immediately tightened.
The shelter was merely a temporary collection of tents.
There were no doors to keep out the wind and rain.
Which also meant there were countless ways to escape.
Seeing her shoulder her backpack, the passing child enthusiastically grabbed her hand.
“I’ll go with you. The Collection Team’s truck is about to leave.”
Lu Wu quickly studied him.
She didn’t remember there being such a kindhearted child in the shelter.
Half-pulling and half-pushing her along, the child said,
“Come on. We’ll take the shortcut. We’ll get there in no time.”
The two of them walked right past the military vehicle.
The child even glanced back curiously, muttering something under his breath.
Soon afterward, chaos erupted in the shelter.
Countless children around their age were dragged out one after another, all struggling frantically.
The man leading the group fired a shot into the air.
Only then did the commotion subside.
Pretending not to care, Lu Wu lowered her head and continued walking.
Suddenly, a powerful force clamped down on her hand.
She turned back in confusion.
The child had stopped where he was, staring thoughtfully at her.
Lu Wu was only six years old now.
Her tiny hand hurt terribly under his grip.
She frowned.
“Let go.”
“…”
Her patience ran out.
Seeing that the people at the shelter had already begun checking everyone’s identities, she tried to shake off the child’s hand with all her strength.
It wouldn’t budge.
Instead, the pain intensified until it felt as though the bones in her hand were about to be crushed.
If this had happened in her previous life, Lu Wu would have simply thought the kid was freakishly strong.
But after surviving so many years in the apocalypse, she instantly realized what this might mean.
This was likely the child’s Innate Ability, not yet fully awakened.
Lu Wu grabbed his collar with her free hand and forcefully dragged him into a nearby alley.
The child raised an eyebrow with a grin.
“You’re in a hurry.”
“You’re hiding from them?”
Lu Wu narrowed her eyes and refused to admit it.
“Who knows where they’re taking people? We’re just orphans. We have no one backing us. If the higher-ups take us away, we’ll just be at their mercy.”
Like someone teasing a hissing kitten with all its claws out, the child said mockingly,
“I’m taking you back.”
Lu Wu stepped back in surprise.
“Quit messing around. I still have to gather supplies. You don’t want to go hungry either, do you?”
The child suddenly stood up straight.
The childishness vanished from his face.
He rolled his neck, producing a series of eerie cracking sounds.
The expression on his face transformed into the sly, calculating look of an adult who had spent years navigating society.
He was actually a dwarf disguised as a child!
The dwarf bared his teeth in a sinister grin.
“If you don’t want to go, that’s fine.”
“You have another choice.”
“Why don’t you come visit your uncle instead?”
Lu Wu pressed her lips together without saying another word.
Inside, she desperately called out to the system.
The system hadn’t lied.
It didn’t respond at all.
Lu Wu: “…”
So I was really being left to fend for myself?
In the blink of an eye, a Character Status Panel that only she could see appeared before her.
【Lu Wu】
【Age: 6】
【Innate Ability: None (Pending Draw)】
【Halo Points: 0】
There wasn’t time to figure out what Halo Points were.
Lu Wu immediately chose to draw her Innate Ability.
Her luck had never been good.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have wandered for half her life…
Only to be abandoned again after finally returning home.
“Twelve.”
She silently repeated the number in her heart.
If it was an unlucky day, then choosing an unlucky number might just be fighting poison with poison.
On the panel, Ball No. 12 rolled to the very front.
【Innate Ability Acquired: Plunder】
【Plunder: Fight violence with violence. After participating in a kill, there is a 30% chance of obtaining the target’s Innate Ability.】
【Friendly Reminder: Once the Plunder ability is activated, your identity will automatically be registered on the Bounty Hunters’ Hunt List.】
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Wu made her decision entirely on instinct.
She reached into her little backpack and pulled out a rusty fruit knife.
Then she thrust it forward with all her strength.
One stab for tetanus.
Two stabs, and she’d be sending him to meet his ancestors!