The moment the contract formed, He Xu felt her consciousness pulled into a pure white space.
That white had no boundaries, no up or down, no near or far, as if she had been thrown into an infinitely extending sheet of white paper. She floated within it, unable to feel her own body, only her consciousness drifting.
Then she saw two streams of energy slowly approaching and intertwining. Her contract-type ability appeared as pale golden threads, while Xie Zhiwei’s ice-type power was an ice-blue turbulent flow.
The two energies began to interweave, and a wondrous link was established.
He Xu seemed to see countless fragments of the future.
In one fragment, she stood atop ruins, taking a fatal blow for Xie Zhiwei behind her; in another, Xie Zhiwei froze the entire base, yet the room she was in alone remained warm as spring.
Other images were even blurrier, as if she and someone else were walking together on a street, with trees on both sides, lampposts, and people walking.
Beside her, shoulder to shoulder, stood a person a head taller than her, whose side profile made her feel familiar. That person turned their head and said something to her, eyes curved, with a smile containing something she could not quite explain.
It seemed to be… a grown-up Xie Zhiwei.
She suppressed her surging thoughts and pulled her attention back to the contract before her. The pale gold and ice blue had already interwoven into a stable structure, like a miniature bridge spanning between their two consciousnesses.
“The contract is established.” He Xu transmitted through her consciousness.
Xie Zhiwei: “Okay.”
In the real world, the two opened their eyes at the same time.
Xie Zhiwei looked at his own hand in surprise, turning it over and over several times, as if confirming whether those hands were still his.
He said in amazement: “I seem… able to feel the flow of my ability more clearly.”
“A symbiotic contract will enhance our perception of each other’s power.” He Xu explained.
Xie Zhiwei nodded to show he understood.
“Pack up. We should set off.” He Xu stood up and began organizing their remaining supplies.
Xie Zhiwei silently helped. He folded the jacket on the mat, put the empty cans into a garbage bag, and stamped out the ashes on the stove.
His movements were more efficient than yesterday, and also quieter. He Xu noticed that after finishing each task, he would stop and glance in her direction, confirming she was still there, confirming she had not left, and only then continue with the next task.
When they left the abandoned elementary school, He Xu took one last look at the place that had trapped Xie Zhiwei for two weeks. Dry grass swayed on the playground, and the teaching building windows were dark holes.
“Where are we going?” Xie Zhiwei asked, holding Meiqiu in his arms. The kitten seemed to like him too, curling up in the crook of his arm and dozing.
He Xu unfolded the map and pointed to an area in the west of the city. “Here. The old industrial park. The walls are intact, there is an independent water source, and most importantly, it is far from Dawn Base’s sphere of influence.”
“But there are many zombies there.” Xie Zhiwei remembered the news reports. The west of the city was where zombies were first discovered.
“So we have to be careful.” He Xu folded the map and gripped the fire axe. “And we need more people. With just the two of us, we cannot hold a base.”
This was the decision she had made after thinking all night.
To change Xie Zhiwei’s fate, what was needed was not only avoiding the tragic nodes of the original work, but also creating a completely different environment.
A base where she controlled the rules, valued every member’s worth, and had no senseless bullying.
A place like that might raise a different Xie Zhiwei.
The road to the west of the city was harder than imagined.
The number of zombies on the streets had clearly increased, and their movement speed was much faster as well. He Xu had to frequently use her ability, scouting routes through contracted animals to avoid large hordes of zombies.
Xie Zhiwei’s learning ability was astonishing. Under He Xu’s guidance, he quickly mastered the technique of precisely piercing a zombie’s brain with ice spikes.
When he succeeded, he even paused for a second, watching that zombie fall three steps away from him, the ice spike emerging from its eye socket and nailing into the wall behind. He blinked, then turned and continued walking forward, as if nothing had happened.
The energy he consumed also became less and less, from sweating profusely at the beginning to later not even changing expression.
“Rest a bit.” At noon, He Xu brought him into a half-collapsed residential building. “Your lips are pale.”
Xie Zhiwei did feel tired, but more than that, he felt excited. This was the first time since awakening his ability that he had used his power to protect someone.
He Xu handed him the last half piece of chocolate. “Eat it. Replenish your energy.”
“Aren’t you eating?”
“I’m not hungry.”
They had very little food left and had to find a new supply point as soon as possible.
Xie Zhiwei stared at the chocolate for a few seconds, then suddenly broke it into two halves and stuffed the larger piece back into He Xu’s hand. “The contract says we help each other. If you collapse from hunger, I won’t live long either.”
He Xu was stunned for a moment, then finally accepted the chocolate. “Thank you.”
The two quietly shared the last sweetness in the apocalypse. Meiqiu kept watch by the window, occasionally making a soft purring sound.
At one in the afternoon, they finally arrived at the outskirts of the industrial park.
The tall iron gate was tightly shut, and barbed wire was wrapped around the walls. From the outside, the park was eerily quiet, with no wandering zombies and no signs of human activity.
“Too quiet.” Xie Zhiwei said softly.
He Xu felt the same. She closed her eyes and extended her ability to its maximum range. Through the perspective of a crow in the sky, she saw the inside of the park—
An empty plaza, neatly parked trucks, factory doors tightly closed.
But in one office building, the curtains trembled slightly.
People.
“There are survivors inside.” He Xu withdrew her ability. “At least one, in Office Building No. 5.”
“Should we go in?”
He Xu thought for a moment, then nodded. “But we have to be careful. In the apocalypse, sometimes people are more dangerous than zombies.”
She had Xie Zhiwei and Meiqiu hide in the bushes outside the wall, while she first approached the iron gate. The gate was locked from the inside, but the window of the guard room beside it was broken, so one could climb in.
Just as He Xu was about to move, footsteps suddenly came from behind.
She quickly turned, the fire axe held horizontally in front of her.
Two people had come, one man and one woman, wearing work clothes covered in stains and holding homemade weapons. The leader was a man around fifty, with graying hair, but sharp eyes.
“You want to enter the park?” The man asked directly.
He Xu did not relax her vigilance. “Just passing by.”
“People just passing by don’t observe at the gate for so long.” The young woman behind the man spoke. She was about thirty, holding a modified steel pipe. “You’re ability users, right? That crow in the sky just now—its flight path was too regular.”
He Xu’s heart tightened. Her observational skills were strong.
“We are indeed ability users.” She chose partial honesty. “We want to find a safe place to settle. This park looks pretty good.”
The two exchanged glances, as if communicating silently.
In the end, the older man sighed. “Outsiders are not welcome in the park. You should leave.”
“Why?” He Xu pressed. “There’s a lot of space inside. Wouldn’t it be better with a few more people looking out for each other?”
“Because there are already owners inside.” The young woman sneered. “A bunch of people calling themselves the ‘Park Management Committee.’ They’ve seized all the supplies, forced others to work, and only give food rations barely enough to keep people from starving. We were driven out.”
He Xu frowned. “How many of you were there?”
“Originally twenty-seven. Now only the two of us have escaped.” The young woman touched the scar on her hand and spoke. “The others either submitted, or… died.”
A lot of information.
He Xu quickly analyzed the situation: inside the park there was a ruling group oppressing the other survivors; outside there were these two escapees who knew the park’s internal situation and had the motive to retake control.
And she, an outsider, needed a controllable base, a place where she made the rules.
If the demands of all three sides could be integrated, perhaps a win-win solution could be found.
Perhaps this was an opportunity.
“What if we cooperate?” He Xu said. “Take back the park and build a fair community.”
The two were stunned.
“Are you crazy?” The young woman stared wide-eyed. “They have fifteen people, three of whom are ability users! One with strength enhancement, one with speed enhancement, and one who can control metal!”
“And you two are still so young!”
“We also have an ability user.” He Xu looked toward the bushes. “Zhiwei, come out.”
Xie Zhiwei walked out of hiding with Meiqiu in his arms. The boy’s thin, small figure made both of them show doubtful expressions.
“Just this child?” The older man shook his head. “Little girl, the apocalypse is not child’s play—”
Before he finished speaking, Xie Zhiwei raised his hand.
The ground beneath his feet instantly condensed with a layer of frost. Ice crystals spread along the grass, blooming into ice flowers at the feet of the three people. The entire process was quiet and precise, displaying control over his power.
The expressions of the two shifted from doubt to shock.
“Ice-type… mutated natural-type ability?!” The older man gasped. “How is that possible? An ability user of this level should have been recruited by a large base long ago…”
“So, do you want to cooperate?” He Xu repeated the question. “We help you take back the park, and you help us build a new community. The rules will be made by us together, supplies distributed according to work, and oppression and bullying prohibited.”
A long silence.
Wind passed through the damaged iron gate, making a whimpering sound. Zombie roars came from the distance, reminding them that time was short.
In the end, the older man extended his hand. “My name is Li Jun. I used to be the park’s security captain. This is Liu Li, an accountant.”
“He Xu, contract type. This is Xie Zhiwei, ice type.” He Xu shook his hand. “So, the cooperation is established?”
“Established.” Li Jun nodded heavily. “But we need a plan. Those people have weapons, abilities, and are familiar with every corner of the park.”
He Xu looked at the tightly closed iron gate, a preliminary plan already forming in her mind.
“First,” she said, “we need more help. Those oppressed people inside the park, if we can win them over…”
“Very difficult.” Liu Li shook her head. “They’ve been frightened out of their wits, and the ‘Management Committee’ uses family members as hostages. Whoever resists, their family suffers.”
Xie Zhiwei suddenly spoke. “Then rescue the hostages first.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to him. The boy held the cat and spoke without any stage fright. “If the hostages are safe, they’ll have no more concerns.”
He Xu looked at Xie Zhiwei, complex emotions surging in her heart.
Someone who could stand against a cheat-like protagonist was indeed different. At twelve years old, he could calmly analyze the situation and make judgments.
If he grew up and did not go down the wrong path, his future was absolutely promising.
“Zhiwei is right.” He Xu suppressed the amazement in her heart. “We need to know where the hostages are held, how many guards there are, shift change times…”
“I know.” Liu Li said. “I was locked up for two days. They keep the hostages in the underground cold storage of the warehouse. There are usually two guards, and the shift changes are at eight in the evening and eight in the morning.”
Li Jun added: “The cold storage has an independent power supply system. The door is locked from the outside. Unless you have a key or use brute force, you can’t get out.”
“Brute force will alert others.” He Xu thought. “We need the key, or make the guards open the door themselves.”
A plan gradually took shape in her mind.
“Uncle Li, are you familiar with the park’s surveillance system?”
“Most of the cameras are broken, but a few at the main entrances still work. The monitoring room is in the office building.”
“Good.” He Xu’s eyes were firm. “Then, we move tonight.”
As the sun set in the west, the four hid in an abandoned shop outside the park, going over the operation steps in detail.
He Xu used chalk she had picked up to draw a floor plan of the park on the ground, marking every key location.
Xie Zhiwei sat quietly beside her, occasionally adding details. His observational skills and memory were astonishing. Having seen the map only once, he could accurately state the distance between each building and possible blind spots in visibility.
Li Jun watched the behavior of the two youths and could not help but sigh that kids these days were really impressive, and that he was getting old.
“At ten tonight, Uncle Li will cut off the backup power.” He Xu drew lines on the map. “Sister Liu will make noise outside the wall to draw attention.
Zhiwei and I will sneak in to rescue people. The cold storage is here, on the north side of the warehouse. We go in through the gap in the wall, follow the shadows of the factory buildings, and reach the warehouse’s back door. If everything goes smoothly, after rescuing the people, we return the same way.”
“Just the two of you?” Liu Li looked at Xie Zhiwei worriedly. “After all, you’re still children…”
Liu Li also had a child, about the same age as He Xu. But she was already dead. Monsters had attacked their home and taken away Liu Li’s daughter.
When those things broke in, her daughter was doing homework in her room. By the time Liu Li rushed in with a kitchen knife, the notebook was covered in blood, the pen still in her hand, the cap not even unscrewed.
“My ability is suited for infiltration.” He Xu explained. “And Zhiwei’s ice-type ability can exert its greatest effect in enclosed spaces.”
Li Jun stared at the map for a long time, then finally nodded. “We can try. But if the situation goes wrong, retreat immediately. Staying alive is the most important thing.”
“Understood.”