“Ah, honey, our barbecue restaurant that we worked so hard to start is gone, and we haven’t even finished paying off the loan,” Sophie said, holding a steaming bowl of instant noodles, her eyes filled with melancholy.
Arnold sat across from her, also holding a bowl of noodles, and he smiled helplessly. “You’re still thinking about the barbecue restaurant? It’s gone, let it go. At least we’re still alive, and we don’t have to worry about repaying the loan anymore.”
Suddenly curious, Sophie asked, “Why do you think David helped us like this? He’s not related to us, could he really have come just to get some barbecue sauce?”
Arnold also fell into contemplation. “I am no sure.” He didn’t really believe that David would take such a big risk just to get barbecue sauce. But they had only met David once, and it seemed unlikely that he came specifically to rescue them.
“But one thing is certain, David is definitely a good person, even though he may seem cold on the surface,” Arnold continued. “We could tell from the way he helped us at the barbecue restaurant. Not many people would willingly get involved in that kind of trouble.” Sophie nodded in agreement.
Arnold continued, “We must repay him properly. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t know how long we would have been trapped there.” There wasn’t much food left in Arnold’s store, and with four people to feed, it would last them at most five or six days.
At this moment, they looked at the room filled with mountains of food and felt a strong sense of security. Both of them were grateful that they chose to follow David. … Around 9 o’clock in the evening.
David stood by the window, gazing out at the lifeless city. Tonight, for the city of SJ, was still a sleepless night, just like before. Only this time, towering flames replaced the neon lights, and the streets were filled with dismembered limbs and blood instead of bustling vehicles and crowds.
Blood covered the entire city, and the streets were silent, except for the low growls of wandering zombies. David saw countless high-rise buildings light up with sporadic lights; he knew they were the lonely and helpless survivors. They were trapped in their own homes, waiting for official rescue that they didn’t know when would come.
In his past life, David was in a similar situation, believing that he could wait for rescue at home. But later he realized that collecting food was easiest at the beginning of the apocalypse and became increasingly difficult as time went on. The zombies kept evolving, and various terrifying mutant creatures started to appear.
Mutant creatures were even more frightening than zombies. At least the evolution of zombies could be observed, but mutant creatures could mutate in various directions. David had seen a giant beetle the size of a tank that could release powerful and deadly electric currents. He had also seen a gigantic butterfly, the size of a mountain peak, flying in the sky, casting a shadow like a mythical bird. Mutant creatures appeared later than zombies, but they posed a much greater threat to humans.
“David, I’ve made the bed for you,” Sally’s voice came from behind David. Sally’s house was a three-bedroom apartment. She had her own bedroom, and another bedroom was converted into a study. The remaining bedroom was usually vacant, only occasionally used by Sally’s parents. So Sally offered the empty bedroom to David, complete with new bedding and sheets.
“Thanks,” David replied with a grunt. “You should get some rest.” Sally walked over to David, standing close to him. David could catch a faint scent coming from her.
“What are you looking at?” Sally asked curiously.
David was about to respond when he saw a flash of red in the sky. “It’s happening,” David whispered.
Following David’s gaze, Sally saw that the sky suddenly turned eerie red. Above the dark clouds, it seemed as if the gates of hell had opened, filling the entire sky with a crimson hue.
The sky flowed with a faint red glow, as if the eyes of the Grim Reaper were overseeing the entire earth. Sally’s mouth hung open as she stared blankly at the scene before her. David had witnessed this scene once in his past life. The appearance of this blood-red sky marked the awakening of the first batch of supernaturals.
After a while, Sally snapped out of her shock. “David, do you know how this disaster came about? I read online that it seems to be a viral leak.”
David shook his head. “I don’t know either.” he genuinely didn’t know. It was certain that there was a mysterious virus inside the zombies that could be transmitted. But if this disaster was solely caused by the virus, how could the strange red light in the sky be explained? What about the various superhumans with different abilities? ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖
After the apocalypse arrived, scientists around the world, protected in their facilities, tirelessly researched zombies and superhumans. They wanted to unravel the secrets of the virus and understand the principles behind the constant evolution of superhumans and zombies. Unfortunately, until David’s rebirth, he hadn’t heard any news about progress in their research. Obviously, with the current level of human technology, the mysteries remained impenetrable. However, the David of his past life didn’t care much about these things. All he wanted was to survive; he didn’t have the energy to ponder over such matters.
However, in this life, after solving the issue of survival, David’s curiosity about the cause of the catastrophe grew. He looked at his watch–it was 9:01 PM. Even after the red light appeared, he still felt no sensation in his body. “Could it be that even with the gene potion, I can’t awaken my powers? It shouldn’t be so unlucky, right?” David still felt a bit uncertain. The system described the gene potion as increasing the probability of awakening powers, not a guaranteed success.
Just as David was feeling anxious, suddenly, his brain was struck by a sharp, intense pain. It felt as if a thousand needles were piercing his mind, turning his brain into mush. The pain far exceeded David’s expectations.
Even with his endurance, he couldn’t help but let out a stifled groan, clutching his head in agony.
“David, what’s wrong?” Sally hurriedly supported David, her face filled with panic. “Don’t scare me, David. Wait, I’ll call an ambulance for you…” As soon as the words left her mouth, Sally realized that there were no ambulances anymore.Sally panicked, not knowing what to do.
“I’m fine…” David forced himself to endure the pain, trying to reassure Sally.
But , in the next second, Sally suddenly let out a scream. She crouched on the ground, clutching her head, with an expression of intense pain.