“Bai Yang, what are you dawdling around for? Get in the car, everyone is waiting for you.”
Bai Yang did not respond. Hearing the captain’s voice, she snapped out of her daze and followed the others into the vehicle.
Their mission this time was to travel to a hospital in the neighboring province and search for medicine that had been left behind before the apocalypse.
Bai Yang’s team was not particularly well known. There were nine people in the team, but only seven were participating in this mission, while the other two remained behind to guard the base.
After the apocalypse arrived in 2122, most people were infected with the zombie virus. Among the small number of survivors who remained, only a tiny fraction awakened supernatural abilities.
Including herself, there were only four ability users in Bai Yang’s team. Thinking about this, Bai Yang could not help sighing. When would the apocalypse finally come to an end?
One of the only two women in the team, who was sitting beside Bai Yang, noticed that Bai Yang had seemed distracted throughout the journey, and a flash of resentment passed through her eyes.
“Bai Yang, why haven’t you said anything this whole time? Are you worried that we won’t be able to complete this mission?”
The captain, who was driving, had also noticed through the rearview mirror that something was wrong with Bai Yang. He had intended to make a joke, but Bai Yang did not respond to him at all.
The captain could only feel helpless. Bai Yang had joined their team three months ago. He had heard that she had always been a lone wolf before that, and more importantly, she possessed the rare Space Ability.
From the very first time he saw Bai Yang, the captain had been captivated by her adorable yet innocent-looking almond-shaped eyes.
After the apocalypse, some women attached themselves to powerful leaders within the base in order to survive or live a better life. Even so, none of those women were as beautiful as Bai Yang had been when she first entered the base.
The captain’s surname was Yu. Bai Yang also knew that he struck up conversations with her because he liked her, but in Bai Yang’s eyes, Captain Yu’s feelings were not something she wanted. Bai Yang had clearly told Captain Yu about this before, but unfortunately, he did not seem to have taken her words to heart.
Bai Yang turned her head to avoid Captain Yu’s gaze, failing to notice the brief twisted expression on the face of the woman sitting beside her. Afraid that someone might see it, however, the woman’s expression quickly returned to normal.
It was now the third year since the apocalypse began. Humanity had established numerous survivor bases and was gradually adapting to life after the apocalypse while clearing out the zombies.
Perhaps it was because of humanity’s three years of efforts, or perhaps they were simply fortunate. On their way to the neighboring province, they did not alert any zombies, and the zombies they encountered were mostly wandering alone.
Perhaps because they had not encountered many zombies along the way, Bai Yang began to feel increasingly uneasy. It was as though a huge stone was pressing down on her heart, making it difficult for her to breathe.
The journey, which should have taken three days, took only a day and a half without zombies interfering, and they soon arrived at the hospital in the neighboring province.
The group parked their vehicle somewhere that would make it easy to escape. One person stayed behind in the car to provide support while the others entered the hospital to search for medicine.
Captain Yu possessed a Level Four Metal Ability, making him the strongest and most powerful ability user in the entire team. He took the lead at the front, while Bai Yang stayed in the middle of the group, protected by the others.
In truth, Bai Yang did not need the team’s protection at all. However, to the other members, Bai Yang was a rare Space Ability user. Anyone could get hurt, except Bai Yang. They were all counting on her Space Ability to store as many supplies as possible.
The hospital was eerily quiet. Occasionally, the roars of one or two zombies could be heard. At this point, it was not just Bai Yang who felt that something was wrong. Even the other members of the team began to sense that something was off.
As the leader of the entire team, Captain Yu surveyed the surrounding area. He swallowed hard, suppressing the uneasiness in his heart before continuing deeper into the hospital.
The group eventually found the place where the hospital stored its medicine. Before the captain could give the order, Bai Yang immediately stored all the medicine in her space and then nodded at him to signal that she was finished.
Seeing that all the medicine had been stored away, Captain Yu immediately ordered everyone to retreat from the hospital. However, before they could leave, they heard the chaotic roars of zombies rapidly approaching.
“Retreat!”
At the command, the team members quickly and orderly began to withdraw. By the time they were almost at the hospital entrance, the zombies had already drawn close.
Just as Bai Yang saw the hospital entrance and was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the ground suddenly disappeared beneath her feet. She felt someone push her, and for half a second, time seemed to stop, yet it also felt as though a long time had passed.
Bai Yang could only watch as the backs of her teammates grew farther and farther away. Then, a sharp pain shot through her shoulder.
It was not until the smell of blood reached her nose that she realized what had happened.
She had been bitten.
A zombie had bitten her.
Bai Yang had struggled to survive for three years. She had only held onto the hope that she might one day find her older brother, who had not been at home when the apocalypse began.
But now, she has been bitten by a zombie.
Bai Yang, who had been desperately struggling moments ago, suddenly stopped resisting. If someone bitten by a zombie did not receive treatment in time, the chance of infection was one hundred percent. Even if she somehow managed to escape from the zombie horde, could she escape the zombie virus?
The answer was obviously no.
There were no healing ability users in their team. Even at the base, there was only one, but why would that person possibly agree to treat her?
Bai Yang laughed bitterly at herself. Time seemed to pass very slowly, and she could no longer feel the pain where the zombies had bitten her.
She thought that the zombie virus must have begun spreading through her body, which was why she could no longer feel any pain.
Thinking back to how she had felt someone push her, Bai Yang pressed her lips together as an inexplicable hatred rose in her heart. But no matter how much she hated it, she had no way to take revenge.
What was even more ridiculous was that she did not even know who had pushed her.
Bai Yang suddenly felt exhausted. Scenes of her life with her family before the apocalypse flashed through her mind.
She had only been nineteen when the apocalypse arrived. Her parents and her thirteen-year-old younger sister had all failed to escape the disaster.
There was also her older brother, who was four years older than her. Although he did not talk to her much, he always brought her gifts whenever he came home.
She had once believed that she would have plenty of time with her family. Even after graduating from university and starting work, she could have found a job close to home.
She had never expected the arrival of the apocalypse to destroy all her plans.
“Mom, Dad, I miss you so much!”
Just as Bai Yang thought she was about to face death, her consciousness, which had been completely clear one second earlier, fell into unconsciousness the next.
At another survivor base not far from the hospital, a man dressed in a dark green combat uniform was listening to a report from one of his subordinates when he suddenly felt a suffocating pain in his chest.
The man frowned deeply. It felt as though a piece of his heart had suddenly disappeared, and an inexplicable sorrow spread throughout his entire body.
After a long while, he finally spoke.
“Is there any news about Qingqing?”
Bai Yang knew very clearly that she was already dead, but she did not understand why she still had consciousness. She could not feel any pain, nor could she feel her own body, yet she knew that she was still awake.
Just as Bai Yang was wondering why this was happening, a feeling of weightlessness suddenly overwhelmed her, pulling her consciousness back into darkness.