When He Xu woke up in excruciating pain, the last scene in her mind was the ending of the female supporting character who shared her name in that apocalypse novel.
The contract-type ability user He Xu died in the winter of the third year of the apocalypse, an ice spike piercing through her chest, blood blooming like a glaring flower on the snow.
And the hand holding the ice spike belonged to the boy she had once saved, the future crazed villain Xie Zhiwei.
In the original work, He Xu had taken a fancy to the villain’s powerful ice-type ability. After teaming up with him, she did not treat him well at all, constantly PUA-ing and abusing Xie Zhiwei.
She felt that she, who so desperately craved strength, had only awakened a weak ability, while this worthless boy in front of her could obtain a powerful natural-type ability.
The original He Xu was jealous of Xie Zhiwei, jealous to the point of madness.
“Jiejie? My ability can’t be given to you, you know.”
In the novel, Xie Zhiwei knelt beside the corpse, gently smoothing the stray hair on the female supporting character’s forehead, then turned the entire base into a frozen tomb.
He Xu took a deep breath, and the rotten air made her cough. Looking around, this was a messy supermarket warehouse, with toppled shelves and scattered canned goods rolling all over the floor.
The original owner had hidden here for five days, and accidentally got hit on the head by a can from the shelf and fell unconscious, which conveniently gave her the opportunity to transmigrate here.
The wound on her forehead had already scabbed over, and the pain reminded her of reality.
“I can’t die here.” He Xu propped herself up, rapidly sorting through the plotline of “Apocalypse: Dawn Pure Land” in her mind.
In the original work, Xie Zhiwei was the strongest ice-type ability user in the later period of the apocalypse, and also the most obsessive villain.
He awakened his ability when his parents became zombies, and was later rescued by a base and entered a zombie-hunting squad. Due to bullying within the team, he lost control and froze half a street district, leading to him being wanted.
Later, because of the vicious female supporting character’s involvement, Xie Zhiwei completely darkened and became the leader of a plundering organization, ultimately perishing together with the protagonist group.
And the female supporting character He Xu invited him to team up when Xie Zhiwei was fifteen, and later wanted to forcibly contract and seize his ability. After failing, she was killed by Xie Zhiwei.
This was also the biggest reason for Xie Zhiwei’s darkening. To him, the only light in the apocalypse had also betrayed him.
“So as long as I don’t betray Xie Zhiwei, I won’t die.” He Xu murmured to herself, finding half a bottle of water among the shelves and taking small sips.
According to the original timeline, there were still three years until the female supporting character first met Xie Zhiwei. At this time, Xie Zhiwei was twelve years old, hiding in the basement of an abandoned elementary school in the south of the city, surviving by picking up expired food. A base search team passed by, rescued Xie Zhiwei, and brought him to the base.
He Xu put down the water bottle, her gaze gradually firming.
Actually, the best method was to kill the villain before he grew up, directly nipping the danger in the bud. But now the villain’s ability had already awakened and was still in an uncontrollable state. If she went to kill Xie Zhiwei, it would undoubtedly be walking into her own death.
“If I team up with him in advance and don’t let him go to that damned base, will he not walk toward darkening?” He Xu stood up and began collecting usable supplies in the warehouse. “I will also survive under him.”
This was a dangerous bet.
In the original work, Xie Zhiwei’s obsession was ingrained in his bones, like a time bomb, no one knew when it would explode.
But He Xu knew that she was not without chips.
Her contract-type ability, in the original owner’s hands, was the most useless ability. She could only establish shallow connections with animals and obtain their perspectives to gather intelligence.
But He Xu, who had transmigrated here, knew that this ability had great potential. It was now two months after the zombie descent, and people’s development of abilities was still less than twenty percent. In the later period, the contract-type ability would derive the two strongest abilities.
Foresight and Parasitism.
If you could contract an ability user, the Parasitism ability would allow you to obtain partial usage rights over the other party, with no upper limit on the number of people.
And Foresight would allow you to vaguely perceive the other party’s future, guiding them to avoid danger.
If she could contract Xie Zhiwei, then while teaching him, she could also foresee whether his future would have him step back onto the old path of the original work.
However, the derived abilities also depended on the person.
For example, the original He Xu did not derive Foresight and Parasitism. Her body awakened a more terrifying ability—Plunder.
If she successfully contracted an ability user, she could plunder all of the ability user’s abilities, and the one who lost their ability would die immediately.
After the original He Xu plundered several weak ability users, she realized that her ability had a limit on the number of people, so she set her sights on Xie Zhiwei.
Why should he be able to obtain a powerful ability from the very beginning, while she could only plunder step by step on her own?
“First I have to survive, then find him.”
He Xu used the backpack she found to pack canned goods, water purification tablets, and a fire axe. When she pushed open the warehouse door, the scene outside made her hold her breath.
The street was desolate, abandoned vehicles covered in rust. Non-human roars came from the distance, and the wind carried the smell of blood.
This was the second month of the zombie outbreak. Social order had completely collapsed, ability users had just begun to awaken, and most people were still struggling on the line between life and death.
He Xu gripped the axe handle tightly and moved south according to the map in her memory.
She had awakened in the warehouse of a large supermarket in the central district. To go to the south of the city, she needed to cross two street districts. In normal times, this was a twenty-minute drive, but now it could be a road of death. She advanced close to the shadows of buildings, trying not to make any sound.
At the first street corner, two zombies were gnawing on a corpse. He Xu circled around to the back, her heartbeat like thunder. The original owner’s physical fitness was average, but her memory contained basic survival skills. She held her breath and waited until the zombies turned their backs, then quickly crossed the street and hid in the convenience store opposite.
The store was in a mess, with dried bloodstains at the cash register. He Xu rummaged for anything that might be useful, when she suddenly heard a faint sound.
She immediately crouched down and looked through the gap in the shelves. On the ground was a dusty little cat, so thin its ribs were visible.
Almost instinctively, He Xu reached out her hand, and a faint ability overflowed from her fingertips. The kitten hesitated for a moment, then unexpectedly approached cautiously and rubbed against her finger.
“You’re alone too, huh.” He Xu said softly. She could feel the kitten’s hunger and fear. “Let me give you something to eat.”
She pried open a can of fish and placed it on the ground. While the kitten wolfed it down, He Xu’s heart trembled, and she suddenly felt a connection—her contract-type ability had activated.
A picture of the kitten’s perspective now appeared in her mind, and she could also feel the kitten’s emotions—liking and satisfaction. At the same time, she also heard something moving in the ventilation duct, possibly a rat.
“This is my contract ability?” He Xu looked at her hand in surprise.
She concentrated and tried extending a thread of consciousness toward a crow outside the store. Immediately, an image of the street appeared before her eyes: empty, with no zombies wandering about, temporarily safe.
He Xu’s heartbeat sped up, and she could not help but sigh in amazement. How was this ability weak? It merely lacked attack power. As long as it was used properly, she could completely withdraw safely before danger arrived.
A natural information position—in a team, it was an indispensable existence.
She gently stroked the kitten. “Do you want to come with me? Although the road ahead is dangerous, at least you won’t starve to death.”
The kitten licked its paws and rubbed against her leg, indicating agreement.
With her new companion, He Xu continued south. Over the next two hours, she dodged three waves of zombies, witnessed one robbery, and made a wide detour around an area that seemed to have a conflict between ability users. By dusk, she finally saw the rusted iron gate of the abandoned elementary school.
The campus was eerily silent. The teaching building’s windows were shattered, and textbooks and schoolbags were scattered across the playground—a scene of the end of the world.
According to the original work’s description, Xie Zhiwei was hiding in the sports equipment room in the basement. He Xu gripped the axe tightly and cautiously entered the teaching building.
The corridor was dim, and bloodstains extended downward from the stairwell. He Xu followed the bloodstains to the basement entrance. The door was slightly ajar, and faint breathing came from inside.
She gently pushed the door open.
The equipment room was piled with mats and discarded equipment. In the corner, a thin, small figure was curled up. The boy was about twelve years old, clothes tattered, cheeks sunken, but those eyes were exceptionally bright.
He was currently staring at her warily, a utility knife gripped in his hand.
He Xu’s breath caught.
This was Xie Zhiwei, the future death god. Right now, he was just a child trembling from hunger.
She slowly put down the axe and raised both hands to show she meant no harm. “Don’t be afraid, I’m not a bad person.”
The boy did not speak, only gripped the knife tighter.
He Xu took a beef can out of her backpack, slowly placed it on the ground, and pushed it over. “Hungry, right? This is for you.”
The boy’s gaze shifted between the can and her, and in the end hunger defeated caution. He quickly grabbed the can, pried it open with the knife, and directly grabbed the food with his hands, stuffing it into his mouth, eating miserably.
He Xu waited quietly, while letting the kitten keep watch outside the door.
“How long have you been here alone?” He Xu asked softly.
The boy stopped eating and finally spoke: “Mom turned into a monster. Dad told me to hide here.” His voice was hoarse, as if he had not spoken in a long time.
In the original work, both of Xie Zhiwei’s parents turned into zombies. Before completely losing his sanity, his father hid him here. The child had hidden in the equipment room for two weeks, surviving by drinking rainwater and eating the glucose powder stored in the sports room.
“My name is He Xu.” She introduced herself. “What’s your name?”
The boy hesitated for a moment. “Xie Zhiwei.”
“That’s a nice name.” He Xu smiled. “Zhiwei jianzhu—your parents must have hoped you would be careful and intelligent.”
Xie Zhiwei was stunned, as if no one had spoken to him so gently in a long time. He lowered his head and continued eating the can, but his grip on the knife loosened a little.
He Xu observed him, and a description from the original work flashed through her mind: Xie Zhiwei’s ability awakened when he was in extreme fear. At that time, his mother unexpectedly became a zombie, and when Xie Zhiwei’s emotions reached their peak, his ability awakened and protected him.
“If you’re willing, you can come with me.” He Xu said. “I have a temporary place to stay, food, and it’s safer than here.”
Xie Zhiwei raised his head, his eyes complicated. “Why?”
“Because it’s very hard to survive the apocalypse alone.” He Xu said honestly. “We need to help each other. And also…”
She paused, choosing to tell part of the truth: “I have a feeling that if I don’t take you with me today, something very bad will happen in the future.”
Xie Zhiwei was silent for a long time. He Xu did not urge him, only waited quietly.
She could feel the boy’s inner struggle. A stranger appeared at the door carrying an axe, then asked if he wanted to come with her.
No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like a bad person kidnapping a child.
In the end, the boy put down the empty can and said softly, “I’ll go with you.”
He Xu breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something when suddenly the kitten outside the door sent a strong warning.
Many people were approaching, and they carried ill intent!
She immediately stood up. “Quick, hide!”
But it was already too late. The basement lights suddenly turned on, and several men holding knives blocked the doorway.
“Yo, there really are people here.” The bald man at the front grinned. “Little girl, leave your bag and food, and we can let you die a little more comfortably.”