Pain.
Sweat drenched Su Yue’s forehead, and her lips were dry and pale.
This was Su Yue’s third year struggling to survive in the apocalypse. She was currently trapped in the weakened state that accompanied the awakening of a new ability. If she survived, she would gain a new power.
But before she could wake up—
Her boyfriend, Han Yan, threw her into a horde of zombies.
Although the weakened state left her unable to move or open her eyes, her mind remained fully conscious.
Su Yue could only despair as she felt every bite of flesh torn from her body, listening to the sickening sounds of her skin and muscle being ripped apart.
That damned man. If it weren’t for her, how could he have survived this long?
Su Yue wished she could sink her teeth into that scumbag and tear him apart—along with the foolish, love-struck version of herself she used to be.
But there was nothing she could do.
All she could do was wait for death.
Just as the overwhelming pain consumed her and the last traces of her life force began to fade, she heard a faint voice amidst the zombies’ howls.
“Big Sister!”
Then the voice grew louder, and a white light appeared before her eyes.
“Big Sister! Don’t die! Big Sister!”
Her heart began pounding violently as countless memories that didn’t belong to her flooded into her mind.
Radiation. Food. Refugees… and a younger sister.
The white light intensified until she suddenly opened her eyes and gasped for air.
I’m… not dead?
Where am I?
What greeted her was not a horde of zombies, but a dilapidated shack. The blinding white light was simply sunlight streaming through a hole in the roof.
A frail little girl was sprawled across Su Yue’s legs, sobbing uncontrollably.
As she cried, she repeatedly pleaded,
“Big Sister! Please don’t die! Please!”
Only then did Su Yue realize that she had transmigrated. Those memories she had just experienced belonged to the original owner of this body.
This was a wasteland world.
The little girl clinging to her was the original owner’s younger sister, Su Xing.
There were no zombies here, but there was something even more terrifying:
Extreme radiation.
Under constant exposure to radiation, people’s bodies had undergone varying degrees of mutation. Many suffered from radiation syndrome, reducing their average lifespan to around forty years.
Animals and plants had mutated as well, becoming radioactive, and many were no longer edible.
In this harsh environment, humanity had developed advanced anti-radiation barriers and established three classes of safe cities—A, B, and C—where the wealthy could live protected from much of the radiation.
The poor, like the original owner of this body, were classified as refugees and forced to survive outside the safe cities, enduring high levels of radiation while scavenging for a living.
Winter was approaching, and the refugees’ desperation for food had reached its peak.
During one scavenging trip, the original owner had been robbed of her supplies and stabbed. She managed to stagger home while clutching her wound, only to die from blood loss.
And that was when Su Yue had taken over her body.
Having just awakened, Su Yue felt as if her throat were on fire, and the stab wound at her waist throbbed with pain.
“I’m not dead yet,” she croaked.
Hearing her hoarse voice, little Su Xing abruptly stopped crying. She looked up at Su Yue with surprise and cautious hope, as if afraid it was only her imagination.
“Big Sister… thank goodness! You scared Xingxing so much! Waaaah…”
Su Xing was only six years old, frail and tiny like a little sprout.
Seeing her sister awake, she quickly scrambled to her feet.
“Big Sister, I’ll get you some water!”
Su Yue nodded.
Something felt strange.
Although her body still hurt, she could sense a warm current flowing through her, gradually easing the pain.
Barefoot on the dirt floor, Su Xing returned carrying a chipped porcelain bowl.
“Big Sister, drink some water.”
Kneeling beside the bed, she held the bowl in one small hand and used a spoon with the other to help Su Yue drink.
After a few sips, Su Yue’s throat felt much better.
“Thank you, Xingxing.”
Lying on the wooden bed, Su Yue managed a smile.
Before transmigrating, she had also had a younger sister.
But when the zombie apocalypse first began, her sister had been devoured by zombies.
Looking at Su Xing now, she couldn’t help but see her own sister’s shadow in the little girl.
Besides, she had been given a second chance through this body. No matter what, she would take good care of this tiny child.
Su Xing’s little face was filthy, covered in dirt and dust, but her eyes shone brightly.
“Big Sister, do you feel better now?”
“A little.”
In truth, Su Yue felt much better.
She could sense her body steadily recovering.
The fatal injury that had killed the original owner was the stab wound at her waist. Judging by the amount of blood still staining the dirt floor, the wound had been severe.
After sending Su Xing away for a moment, Su Yue lifted her shirt.
On her emaciated waist was a bloody hole, but it had already stopped bleeding.
The pain had mostly faded, replaced by overwhelming drowsiness.
Soon, she drifted off to sleep.
When she awoke again, more than two hours had passed.
Su Yue found Su Xing curled into a ball, sleeping on a piece of cardboard on the floor.
The bloodstains had already been cleaned up.
In this world, spring was scorching hot while autumn was bitterly cold. Although it was only September, temperatures had already dropped below freezing.
Yet Su Yue and Su Xing wore nothing but thin, tattered clothes riddled with holes.
There was only one bed in the house—a wooden frame with cardboard and a bedsheet serving as a mattress.
It was the bed Su Yue had been sleeping on.
Su Xing had probably been afraid of disturbing her sister’s rest, so she had slept on the floor instead.
As Su Yue sat up, intending to call Su Xing onto the bed, she suddenly realized that her wound no longer hurt at all.
She lifted her shirt and froze.
The bloody hole had completely disappeared.
Could this be a healing ability?
Did I bring my powers with me when I transmigrated?
Quickly spreading her fingers, Su Yue activated the wood-element vine ability she had possessed in her previous life.
A slender vine slowly emerged from her fingertips.
Overjoyed, Su Yue realized that she still had her original wood-element vine ability—and had awakened a healing ability during the transmigration process.
According to the original owner’s memories, no one in this world possessed supernatural abilities.
Which meant she now had a hidden trump card.
No one would ever be able to bully her and Su Xing again.
“Xingxing, come sleep on the bed. Big Sister is fine now.”
Su Yue spoke softly.
Su Xing was only six years old, but she looked no older than four. She was little more than skin and bones, her hair dry and brittle like withered grass.
Pitiful beyond words.
This body of Su Yue’s was only thirteen years old.
A year earlier, their parents had died one after another from radiation syndrome.
Their family had already been desperately poor, and now only the two sisters remained, struggling to survive.
Su Yue couldn’t imagine how the original owner had managed to keep herself and her little sister alive in such a cruel world.
Su Xing mumbled sleepily.
She must have cried herself into exhaustion and didn’t wake up.
So Su Yue carefully picked her up and laid her on the bed.
After covering her with the family’s only blanket, she began preparing to head out.
There wasn’t a scrap of food left in the house.
It was three in the afternoon, and there were still four hours until sunset—enough time to go scavenging.
But before leaving, she needed to make some simple weapons.
September was the last month suitable for scavenging.
Once October arrived, temperatures would plummet, and most plants would quickly wither and die.
To survive the winter, the refugees had all become desperate.
To them, a frail young girl like her was nothing more than easy prey.
Even with self-healing abilities, she had no desire to experience death’s door ever again.
Su Yue searched every corner of the house and finally found a piece of iron about six centimeters long.