The world spun as he tumbled.
The movement caused Jimmy to snap his eyes open.
Pain followed immediately.
An agonizing ache reached deep into his marrow. It felt as if every part of his body had been disassembled and then haphazardly put back together.
His nostrils filled with the smell of gasoline and the metallic stench of blood. In his ears was the groan of twisting metal under unbearable strain and something else—something that made his skin crawl.
A raspy, low, guttural growl.
"Run, Leon..."
"Go find Amy, and survive!"
Those were the last words he heard. They came from a middle-aged man, his voice heavy with despair and a desperate kind of love.
Jimmy struggled to lift his head. His vision barely managed to focus.
He was trapped inside an overturned SUV. The roof had been completely flattened. Through the shattered windshield, he saw several figures swaying outside.
Their movements were stiff, their postures distorted. They were shuffling toward the vehicle step by step.
Walkers.
Jimmy's pupils constricted. Just then, a massive torrent of memories flooded his mind. The intense headache nearly caused him to black out again.
His name was Leon. He was a British-American teenager who grew up in the United States. And his girlfriend's name was Amy.
The Walking Dead.
He had transmigrated into the post-apocalyptic world he had watched on screen countless times. He had become Amy's boyfriend from the first season—the one at the Quarry Camp who was killed during the walker attack.
A second ago, he was Jimmy, an office drone typing at a computer. Now, he was Leon, a survivor in a dying world.
The people who had used their bodies to shield him during the crash were Leon's parents.
"Heh... heh..."
A walker reached the car window. Its rotting face pressed against the glass. Cloudy eyeballs stared fixedly at the meat inside the car while black blood and saliva dripped from its mouth.
Survival instinct made Leon shrink back, but the deformed car frame had his leg pinned. He couldn't move.
Despair submerged him like icy water. Was he going to die here? Had he just arrived only to become a meal?
[Ding!]
[Host's life detected to be in critical danger. Activation conditions met.]
[Doomsday Sign-in System, officially activated!]
An emotionless mechanical voice rang out in his mind.
A system. As a veteran reader, he knew exactly what this was. This was his edge.
[Current Location: Outskirts of Atlanta.]
[Detected host's first arrival at this landmark. Would you like to perform your first sign-in?]
"Sign in! Immediately!" Leon roared in his mind.
[Sign-in successful!]
[Congratulations, host, for obtaining the Newbie Gift Pack... Super Physique (Nerfed Version)!]
The moment the voice faded, a scorching current exploded from his heart. It swept through every cell in his body.
Crack... crack...
His bones popped as they reshaped themselves. Muscle fibers tore and regenerated into something denser, stronger.
The agonizing pain from the accident receded like the tide. In its place was an unprecedented sense of power.
He could feel the explosive strength contained within his muscles. His hearing became acute; he could catch the sound of a foot stepping on gravel dozens of meters away.
His vision sharpened. He could see the individual textures of the rotting flesh on the walker outside the window.
His heart, which had been pounding with fear, was now steady and powerful. Each beat pumped surging energy throughout his body.
The fear that belonged to the original Leon evaporated. He looked at the snarling face outside the window with cold scrutiny. It was no longer a monster; it was a beast waiting for the slaughter.
"Heh!"
The walker lost its patience and slammed its head against the window.
Bang!
Cracks spread across the glass. Leon didn't wait any longer.
He lifted his pinned right leg. The limb that had been stuck moments ago broke free of the wreckage with a simple tug.
He took a deep breath, generated power from his core, and concentrated his strength into his right heel.
He kicked the deformed car door.
Boom!
The door, crushed inward by the accident, reacted as if it had been hit by a battering ram. The hinges snapped, and the entire piece of metal went whistling through the air.
Pfft!
The heavy door slammed into the face of the walker. The impact smashed half of its head to pieces. It collapsed instantly.
Silence followed. The other walkers nearby, drawn by the noise, paused.
Leon crawled out of the twisted cabin and stood straight. He cracked his neck, feeling the power surging within him.
Is this the Super Physique?
He glanced at the twitching corpse on the ground. He bent down and picked up a piece of rebar about half a meter long from the wreckage. He weighed it; the balance was perfect.
Three walkers were already wobbling toward him. Leon did not retreat. Facing the glow of the setting sun, he walked forward.
The leading walker lunged, its mouth open. To an ordinary person, the move was swift. To Leon, it looked like slow motion.
He stepped to the left, easily dodging the lunge. With a flick of his wrist, the rebar whistled through the air.
Pfft!
The metal pierced through the walker's jaw and into its brain. It fell over stiffly. There was no wasted motion.
The other two walkers lunged simultaneously from both sides. Leon advanced.
He crouched slightly to dodge a set of claws and swept the rebar into the knee of the walker on his left.
Crack!
The bone shattered. The walker dropped to its knees.
Leon didn't pause. Pushing off his toes, he spun like a leopard. The rebar traced a cold arc and passed straight through the temple of the kneeling monster.
He didn't check the result. He used the rotational force to face the last walker, which was already upon him.
Leon kicked it square in the chest.
Bang!
The walker flew back four meters, its sternum caving in. It slammed onto the ground, unable to get up.
Leon walked over slowly. He looked down at the struggling thing and raised the rebar. He aimed at the eye socket and stabbed down.
The world went quiet.
Leon flicked the black blood off his weapon and turned toward the SUV. The bodies of his parents were still trapped inside. They were silent.
He stood there for a moment. A bitter sadness welled up, but his modern soul suppressed it, transforming the grief into resolve.
"Dad, Mom, thank you," he said softly. "I will find Amy, and I will survive."
He took one last look at the wreckage and turned around.
His gaze shifted toward the silhouette of downtown Atlanta. According to his memory, the survivor camp was at the quarry outside the city. Amy would be there.
He tightened his grip on the rebar and set off. The setting sun pulled his shadow long across the road.
Amy, wait for me.