At the same time, in the northern part of Jiangzhou City, inside the “Northern Safe Zone” rebuilt around a large logistics park, the scene of survival was just as brutal—if not even more chaotic.
Unlike the air-raid shelter with its relatively orderly structure, this place was a patchwork of warehouses, shipping containers, and hastily erected shantytowns. Management here was far looser than in the Western Safe Zone where Ruan Ning stayed, making it more like a jungle where the strong preyed on the weak.
Lin Jiaojiao’s family of three was crammed into a narrow, damp, moldy corner of a shipping container. This iron box, less than ten square meters in size, had been divided into two with torn cloth curtains they’d scavenged, “shared” with another survivor family.
During the day, the container baked under the sun; at night, it became bitterly cold. Ventilation was terrible, the air foul and stagnant.
They had no proper bedding—only a few old clothes pulled from the ruins, stained with unknown filth, to serve as padding. The neighboring family had a child who coughed incessantly, the sound echoing through the metal walls, fraying nerves and increasing the risk of infection.
Supplies here were distributed even more unfairly, firmly controlled by a few stronger scavenger teams and local strongmen who had once ruled the logistics park.
As latecomers with no special value to offer, Lin Jiaojiao’s family could only receive a tiny amount of moldy bread crumbs or porridge that was almost all water each day. Lin Wanyun once tried to use what remained of her charm and silver tongue to ingratiate herself with a low-level distributor, hoping to trade favors for food. What she received instead were lewd stares, blatant insinuations, and the scornful looks of those around her. She could only return in humiliation.
Ruan Chenyang tried to join the most dangerous job—reinforcing the perimeter walls—in hopes of earning extra rations. But after a lifetime of comfort, his stamina couldn’t keep up. After working half a day, he nearly fainted and was cursed out and sent back by the foreman.
Lin Jiaojiao and Lin Wanyun, meanwhile, were assigned to sort garbage—searching mountains of waste for anything remotely useful. It was the lowest, filthiest job, and also the one most likely to cause injuries and illness.
By the end of each day, their hands were covered in tiny cuts, and their bodies reeked unbearably.
At night, hungry and accompanied by the neighbor child’s coughing, the family huddled together. Their whispered conversations almost always revolved around Ruan Ning—the person they had once “abandoned” and “schemed against.”
“It’s all that damn girl’s fault!” Lin Jiaojiao said through sobs, her voice filled more with hatred than grief. “If she’d just obediently handed over the bracelet back then, we might’ve awakened abilities already! Why would we be suffering like this now?” She completely forgot that she had been the one trying to seize it, blaming everything on Ruan Ning’s refusal.
She rubbed her empty wrist, as if a space bracelet that could change her fate should have been there.
Lin Wanyun looked haggard, the gentle mask she once wore long gone. Her eyes were full of venom. “That ungrateful little wretch! We raised her all those years for nothing! When it mattered, she was completely useless! If I’d known, I should’ve just—” She didn’t finish the sentence, but the meaning was obvious.
Ruan Chenyang remained silent. He understood the cruelty of reality better than his wife and daughter.
Occasionally, a flicker of regret crossed his mind—if he had treated Ruan Ning a little better, would things be different now? But the thought was quickly suppressed by a stronger instinct for self-preservation.
In a hoarse voice, tinged with wishful thinking and blame-shifting, he said, “Stop talking about her… Maybe she’s already died in the city… We have to find our own way to survive.” Yet deep down, hadn’t he also fantasized that if Ruan Ning were still alive—and capable—she might, for the sake of a father-daughter bond, come looking for them?
As slim as that fantasy was, it became a pitiful, fragile hope that kept him struggling on in this hell.
They didn’t know Ruan Ning’s whereabouts, nor even whether she was still alive.
But in their narrow, selfish worldview, all misfortune seemed to stem from Ruan Ning’s “noncooperation” and “disappearance.” They twisted their own dire situation into hatred and expectation toward her, emotions that fermented under despair and grew ever more deeply etched.
They were like rats in a gutter, struggling in the mud—cursing a “savior” who might already be dead, while fantasizing about effortless deliverance.
And in another safe zone they knew nothing about, the Ruan Ning they obsessed over day and night was growing rapidly, sharpening her claws and fangs.
The trajectories of fate would eventually intersect—and when that day came, what awaited them would be anything but the salvation they hoped for.
Time in the apocalypse felt blurred and sluggish, yet also frighteningly volatile.
After paying a tremendous price, the military and the remaining technicians finally managed to partially repair and erect several long-wave signal towers. Intermittent radio broadcasts, riddled with heavy static, once again became a fragile umbilical cord connecting the outside world.
That day, just as Ruan Ning finished her morning task of condensing purified water and was about to rest, a piercing burst of static came from the loudspeakers in the air-raid shelter. Then followed an excited voice, strained almost out of pitch:
“Fellow citizens! Fellow survivors! This is the Jiangzhou Temporary Safe Zone Command! We’ve received a stable signal from the outside world! I repeat—we’ve received an external signal!”
The entire shelter—both the noisy general area and the relatively quiet Zone B—fell into a strange silence as everyone strained to listen.
“According to the latest information, the Dawn Base, led by national forces and constructed by the Southern Military Region, has been preliminarily completed and is now operational in a neighboring province! The base is located in the outskirts of former H City, approximately five hundred kilometers from Jiangzhou City! It possesses complete defensive fortifications, restored production capacity, research institutions, and military protection! It is a true home for survivors!”
The words “Dawn Base” exploded in Ruan Ning’s mind like thunder!
Fragments of memories from her previous life surged forth—towering concrete walls, orderly zoned districts, relatively stable supply distribution, and… Lin Jiaojiao masquerading as a spatial ability user, thriving there in glory, while she herself struggled like dust, only to be pushed into a zombie tide in the end!
That was the terminal point of her past-life tragedy—and the place where Lin Jiaojiao had risen to the top using her space bracelet!
The broadcast continued, announcing the rough locations and situations of several other large bases, but Ruan Ning could no longer hear them. Her heart pounded violently, the roar of blood rushing in her ears.
Dawn Base! It truly existed—and in this life, it had been officially confirmed and made public ahead of time!
Five hundred kilometers… Before the apocalypse, it would’ve been just a few hours’ drive. Now, it was no different from crossing hell itself. Yet the hope it represented held a fatal allure for people barely clinging to life.
When the broadcast ended, the shelter fell into deathly silence for a split second—then erupted into a massive roar!
Crying, cheering, and excited discussions nearly lifted the roof. The haze of despair seemed to be pierced by a ray of distant light, rekindling the flame called “hope” in many eyes.
Ruan Ning stood still, the surrounding clamor seeming distant and unreal. The shock in her gaze quickly cooled into something sharp and icy.
Dawn Base… She would go there—without question. But never again as the helpless, expendable weakling she had been in her previous life.
That place would be the final stage of her revenge. There, she would reclaim everything Lin Jiaojiao had possessed—along with the life stolen from her in her previous existence.
At the same time, she immediately realized that this announcement would completely reshape the current balance within the safe zone.
Those with ability and ambition would surely begin plotting their journey to a major base. The safe zone’s population might drain away, and competition for resources could take on new forms.
The military’s policies toward ability users and ordinary people might also shift accordingly.
She needed to grow stronger faster, accumulate more capital, and make thorough preparations for the long, dangerous journey to Dawn Base that lay ahead.
“Dawn Base…” she murmured, tasting the name softly, a cold, resolute curve forming at the corner of her lips.