With the division of labor set, the park began to operate.
The Defense Group, composed of Xie Zhiwei, Li Jun, and six strong young men, was responsible for inspecting the walls, setting up warning points, and clearing the remaining zombies inside the park.
The Logistics Group, led by Liu Li, counted warehouse inventory, assigned housing, and organized usable supplies.
The Production Group began surveying usable land inside the park and checking the possibility of repairing the water and electricity systems.
He Xu was elected by everyone as the temporary general coordinator, moving between the groups, communicating progress, and allocating limited manpower and tools.
She could remember most people’s names and noticed who had special skills and who lacked stamina and needed rotation.
This meticulous coordination ability, down to every individual, gradually solidified everyone’s initial evaluation of her.
During dinner, Xie Zhiwei handed her a six-pointed snowflake condensed from ice crystals. It was exquisite like a handicraft, refracting brilliant colors under the light.
“You made this?”
Xie Zhiwei nodded. “Practicing control. Uncle Li said if I can make something this detailed, it means I can fully control my ability.”
He Xu took the ice crystal snowflake. It felt ice-cold, yet it did not melt in her palm. “Very beautiful.”
“I will protect this place.” Xie Zhiwei suddenly said, his voice very firm. “Protect jiejie, protect everyone.”
He Xu’s heart warmed, and she rubbed his hair. “I believe you.” She paused, looking toward the people in the distance reinforcing the wall. “Everyone believes you too. We are all working hard to make this place better.”
Xie Zhiwei nodded. His brown pupils focused solely on He Xu’s figure, reflecting nothing else.
Just then, Meiqiu suddenly pricked up its ears, a low growl coming from its throat.
Almost at the same time, He Xu felt a warning from her contracted partner. Through the sparrow’s perspective, something was rapidly approaching the park.
That speed could not be a zombie, nor could it be a human.
She suddenly stood up. “There’s a situation!”
The cafeteria instantly fell silent.
Xie Zhiwei had already rushed outside, with He Xu close behind. Li Jun and the members of the Defense Group quickly arrived at the wall as well.
In the twilight, on the street outside the park, pairs of eerie green eyes were lighting up in the darkness.
Many pairs!
“Infected dogs.” Li Jun inhaled sharply. “At least twenty… no, more than thirty!”
Through Meiqiu’s vision, He Xu saw that they were dogs infected by the zombie virus.
After infection, their bodies were twice the size of ordinary dogs, fangs exposed, and frenzied red light flashing in their eyes.
They were prowling outside the barbed wire, clearly having smelled the scent of humans.
“Prepare for battle!” Li Jun roared.
If these infected dogs attacked at the same time, the barbed wire would not hold at all!
People quickly sprang into action.
Non-combatants withdrew indoors. The Defense Group climbed onto the observation platforms reserved on the walls. Bows and arrows, homemade spears, and the only two guns were all in position.
Xie Zhiwei stood on the high platform, ice crystals already condensing in both hands.
“Zhiwei,” He Xu grabbed him, “don’t try to be strong. If there are too many, we retreat into the factory buildings and hold out.”
“They won’t get through.” Xie Zhiwei said, a faint blue light flickering in his eyes.
The next second, the ground within ten meters outside the wall began to freeze. The ice layer quickly spread, forming a smooth icy surface. The first few infected dogs that rushed over slipped and fell heavily to the ground.
But more dogs went around the ice and lunged at the wall from both sides.
“Loose arrows!”
Arrows and stones fell like rain. Several dogs were hit, letting out painful howls. But their fur was unusually tough, and most attacks only caused minor injuries.
One especially large lead dog slammed into the iron gate, producing a deafening boom. The iron gate deformed slightly under the impact.
“At this rate, the gate will break!” Someone cried out.
Xie Zhiwei leaped down from the high platform and stood at the very front of the Defense Group.
Li Jun roared anxiously: “What are you doing?! Get back!”
“Zhiwei!” He Xu cried out in alarm.
But Xie Zhiwei still calmly faced the swarming beast horde.
He spread both hands, and the moisture in the air instantly condensed into hundreds of ice needles, hovering around him.
“Fall back.” Xie Zhiwei’s voice was unusually clear in the cold wind.
The ice needles shot out like a rainstorm, precisely piercing each mutated dog’s eyes, mouths, and other vulnerable parts. Screams rose one after another. The dozen or so dogs in the first wave of the charge all fell.
The lead dog flew into a rage and spewed flames from its mouth.
It had actually awakened an ability! It was an ability beast!
The flames attacked Xie Zhiwei, but just as they were about to reach him, they were blocked by an ice wall that suddenly rose up.
Ice and fire met, and a large amount of steam billowed up.
Under the cover of the steam, Xie Zhiwei moved.
Without anyone knowing, he opened the gate, passed through the mist, condensed an ice blade in his hand, and before the lead dog could breathe fire again, stabbed it into its throat.
The movement was clean and sharp, without the slightest hesitation.
The lead dog crashed to the ground. Seeing this, the remaining infected dogs let out fearful whimpers and fled into the night.
The battle ended within five minutes.
Xie Zhiwei stood amid the corpses of the beasts, the ice blade slowly melting in his hand. He turned around, looked at He Xu on the wall, and gave a slight nod.
He Xu ran to his side. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” Xie Zhiwei said, but He Xu noticed his breathing was a little rapid and fine sweat had seeped from his temples.
He had overused his ability.
“Don’t take such risks next time.” He Xu said seriously. “You’re only twelve. You’re not a superhero.”
Xie Zhiwei lowered his head. “But they would have destroyed the barbed wire, and they would have attacked you too…”
“The wall can be repaired. Your life is the only one you have.” He Xu sighed, her tone softening. “Of course, you did very well. You protected everyone, and me too.”
Li Jun led people to clean up the battlefield, and the corpses of the infected dogs were dragged into the park.
Dr. Zhang said that after processing, the meat could be eaten, and the fur could also be used.
At the summary meeting that night, the atmosphere was complicated.
On the one hand, people were thankful to have survived the disaster; on the other hand, the powerful strength Xie Zhiwei displayed also made some people uneasy.
“Isn’t that child a little too strong?” After the meeting, Old Wang said privately to Li Jun. “Today he can protect us. Tomorrow, if he…”
“Old Wang,” Li Jun interrupted him. “If it weren’t for Xie Zhiwei, today we would either have become dog food or been forced to wander again. Don’t doubt the people you use; don’t use the people you doubt.”
He Xu heard this conversation outside the door.
She understood the reasonableness of such worry. In the original work, Xie Zhiwei did eventually become a terrifying existence. But she believed, or rather she had to believe, that this time would be different.
When she returned to the temporary residence, Xie Zhiwei was already asleep.
He Xu sat by the bed, observing his sleeping face by candlelight. Twelve-year-old Xie Zhiwei still had a childish look on his face, with long eyelashes. When asleep, he looked like an ordinary child.
She extended her hand, and her contract ability slowly reached out.
Ever since signing the symbiotic contract, she could faintly perceive Xie Zhiwei’s emotional state. At this moment, his mental world was as calm as a deep pool, with only occasional ripples.
This meant the other party felt very at ease with the current environment.
“I hope you stay safe and sound in the future too.” He Xu watched for a while, then softly said to Xie Zhiwei: “Good night, Zhiwei.”
On the third day after arriving in the apocalypse, her base had taken shape. Everything seemed to be developing for the better, but He Xu knew clearly that the real challenge had only just begun.
What Dawn Base in the north of the city feared most was the existence of independent forces, especially bases with powerful ability users. If discovered, they would certainly come to attack, and either seize or kill the ability users.
Moreover, other survivor groups in the apocalypse were also watching covetously, not to mention the ubiquitous zombies and mutated creatures.
And her biggest bet, this future villain who might destroy heaven and earth, was at this moment sleeping beside her, curled up trustingly.
He Xu lay down and closed her eyes.
In her dream, she once again saw those fragments of the future:
The frozen base, Xie Zhiwei’s lonely back, and herself, standing in front of him, blocking the bullet shot toward him.
This time, she saw clearly who fired the gun.
It was a face she had never seen before, but somehow felt strangely familiar.
When she woke from the dream, it was still not dawn. He Xu sat up, her heart pounding wildly.
That face… she must have seen it somewhere.
Was it in the original work? Or even earlier? Could it be the protagonist?
Every time He Xu tried to recall the protagonist’s name or what they looked like, she had no impression at all, as if some existence had sealed it behind thick fog.
Meiqiu rubbed against her hand, conveying a soothing emotion. He Xu stroked the kitten, her gaze falling on Xie Zhiwei, who was still sleeping soundly.
No matter what was waiting in the future, she had to be prepared.
Because this time, she was not just trying to survive. She wanted to rewrite the ending of a story, to save a soul that was supposed to fall into darkness.
When she had read the original story before, her favorite character had been Xie Zhiwei, this villain who was always angry at the world’s injustice.
At that time, He Xu had still been joking with friends, saying that falling for a villain might be her destiny.
When the morning light once again descended on the industrial park, He Xu had already formulated a detailed training plan and defense plan. She spread out her notebook and wrote the first line:
“Outline for the Construction of New Life Base”
And in a distant place she did not know of, in the command room of Dawn Base in the north of the city, a report about “an unknown ice-type ability user appearing in the south of the city” was being placed on the commander’s desk.
Attached to the report was a blurry photo, in which a thin, small figure could be vaguely seen standing among frozen infected dogs.
The commander’s fingers tapped the tabletop, thoughtful.
“Find them.” He ordered. “Invite them, or eliminate them.”
He Xu was at this moment standing at the top of the water tower in the center of the park, holding the park’s floor plan found in the office, her brows tightly furrowed.
Even though their base had a land foundation, there were still many hidden dangers.
First was water.
The park had an independent underground well and water storage system, but the power supply was unstable, and the water pump worked intermittently. Xie Zhiwei could use his ability to make ice, then melt it to get purified water.
But this was not a good solution. The park needed a lot of water every day, and they could not let the park’s combat power remain in a weakened state every day.
And besides! He was a villain! A grand world-destroying villain, now reduced to making water for everyone? If the protagonist saw this, would they laugh out loud?
Next was electricity.
The park had two power supply systems: the municipal power grid had long been paralyzed, and there were still three backup diesel generators, but the diesel stock was only enough to last a week.
There were dozens of solar panels, but most had been damaged in the chaos of the early apocalypse and needed professional tools and materials to repair.
Finally, and most urgently: food.
The inventory counted in the warehouse was disheartening: 217 cans of food left, 154 packs of compressed biscuits, about 150 jin of rice, and two bags of flour.
Calculated for thirty-seven people, even with strict rationing, it was only enough to last half a month.
He Xu had also thought about self-sufficiency through farming. She looked toward the abandoned small vegetable plot in the southeast corner of the park. The land was flat, and vegetable seeds had been found in the tool room, but the problem was: there was no one who knew how to plant.
And there was also the talent she longed for: a wood-type ability user.
In the original work of “Apocalypse: Dawn Pure Land,” the wood-type ability was called the “Breath of Life.” In the early stage, it could accelerate plant growth; in the later stage, it could even heal wounds and purify contaminated soil.
Every large base would spare no expense to recruit wood-type ability users, because they were the guarantee of food security.
“If only we had a wood-type ability user…” He Xu murmured to herself, then shook her head with a bitter smile.
It had only been a little over a month since the apocalypse descended. Awakened ability users were already scarce, and natural types were even rarer. The first wood-type ability user to appear in the original work only joined the protagonist group in the third year of the apocalypse.
“Jiejie.”
Xie Zhiwei’s voice came from below. The boy climbed up the water tower along the iron ladder, holding two steaming potatoes in his hands.
These were the last harvest the search team had dug up from nearby farmland yesterday.
“Uncle Li said we’re discussing housing allocation and the patrol system today.” Xie Zhiwei handed over one potato, nibbling the other himself. “Everyone is waiting in the cafeteria.”
He Xu took the potato, warmth spreading from her palm. “Got it. Was there anything during patrol last night?”
“There were zombies wandering outside the western wall, about seven or eight. They’ve already been cleared.” Xie Zhiwei paused. “But Uncle Wang said he heard car engine sounds in the distance. It might be another survivor group.”
He Xu’s heart sank. What was meant to come would eventually come.
The industrial park had been a resource concentration area before the apocalypse. Now with intact walls and terrain easy to defend but hard to attack, it would naturally attract covetous eyes.
“Let’s go.” She put away the map. “Today we need to set the rules.”
In the cafeteria, all thirty-seven people were present. After resting and reorganizing, people’s complexions had improved somewhat, but there was still unease in their eyes.
After all, past experience told them that trust between people was always fragile.
Now, the first meeting for building the park began.