Chapter 8: Rebirth, The First Comrade

The female zombie let out a shriek and staggered toward Bian Changxi.

Bian Changxi took a deep breath and cracked her neck. “Such slow movements, such a pure, mindless expression… I almost missed this.”

Muttering to herself, she strode forward, circled to the zombie’s side, and slashed at its arm. With a metallic clang, it was like chopping at a stone club. The impact numbed her arm, and she quickly pulled her knife back and retreated. The blade had only cut a third of the way through the zombie’s arm.

The straight blade was too light. If she’d had a heavy axe, that arm would have come right off.

The zombie roared even louder after being attacked and lurched toward her again. Bian Changxi repeated her move, striking the same spot.

That’s the problem with low-level zombies—they’re just too stupid. Even after being hit again, it didn’t adapt at all, still lunging at her with outstretched arms. Again and again, Bian Changxi hacked at its arm. Several times, her blade nearly got stuck, or the zombie’s long nails grazed dangerously close to her face, but at last, she managed to chop off both its claws.

Panting heavily, she shook out her aching, numb arms, keeping a safe distance as she eyed the zombie warily. She muttered, “Once I kill you, you’ll become the energy to unlock my farm.”

Suddenly, she accelerated, darted behind the zombie, raised her knife high with both hands, and brought it down on the zombie’s neck.

The blade stuck halfway through.

The zombie staggered. Bian Changxi took the opportunity to kick it, sending it sprawling face-first to the ground. The straight blade popped free. She pinned the zombie down, pulled a leg-strapped knife from her thigh, and sliced into the cut on its neck. With one clean motion, she severed its head, which rolled away across the floor.

Bian Changxi stepped aside, bracing herself against her knees as she caught her breath.

So, so weak!

Her hands were trembling so badly she could barely hold her knife. She’d overexerted herself.

“Whew—!”

A whistle sounded from the building across the street. Bian Changxi looked up to see a man on the second floor whistling at her. “Hey, girl, you’re pretty tough! Nice work!”

She shot him a cold look. Noticing more people peeking out, she picked up her knife and retreated inside the apartment building, sitting down against the wall to rest.

“So weak… With skills like this, no wonder I didn’t kill a single zombie in the first month of my previous life.”

She’d always been frail. After her parents died in a plane crash, she was devastated. On top of that, a swarm of relatives descended on her like debt collectors, arguing daily over the inheritance. The grief and anger made her seriously ill. If it hadn’t been for Bai Heng’s devoted care, she might never have recovered. Even so, she’d been plagued by illness for years, until she awakened her wood-type ability. The gentle, nurturing nature of the wood element slowly restored her health over time.

That was one reason she focused on cultivating the healing aspect of the wood element. In fact, wood abilities could also be offensive, controlling, or agricultural, and the other five elements had similar branches—it all depended on personal development.

She needed to awaken her wood ability as soon as possible, though she wasn’t sure if she would still have it in this life.

She picked up an object from the ground: the severed arm of the female zombie.

Rotten flesh, exposed pale bone, long, sharp claws that looked like they could pierce straight through to the bone.

“A gift from the first victim…”

But what if it didn’t work this time? What if there were side effects?

A thousand thoughts flashed through Bian Changxi’s mind, but her hands didn’t hesitate. She used the zombie’s claw to scratch a line across her left forearm. It hurt—a lot. Bright red blood welled up, and the flesh around the wound turned yellow at a visible rate, as if it were about to rot. It looked terrifying. Bian Changxi took a bandage from her backpack, wrapped the wound, pulled down her sleeve, and sat with her knees drawn up, staring at the blank white wall.

Fortune favors the bold. Good luck never falls from the sky for no reason. If you want to gain something, you have to take risks. If the worst happened, she was prepared—she would end things herself before it got too bad.

A matte-gray motorcycle cruised steadily down the deserted street, its low, steady engine not drawing much attention. Suddenly, something caught her eye up ahead. Three zombies were surrounding a convenience store, pounding the glass door with fists like sledgehammers, ramming it with their heavy bodies. No doubt, someone was inside.

Bian Changxi slowed down, approaching cautiously.

All three were male zombies—probably movers or laborers before the apocalypse, judging by their burly builds and great strength. She wouldn’t stand a chance one-on-one, but lone zombies were hard to find, and the street was deserted. This was as good an opportunity as any.

She touched the wooden box at her waist that held her jade bracelet, then glanced at the fire axe strapped to her bike, hesitating.

The people trapped inside the convenience store heard the motorcycle and shouted in delight, “Hey, friend, help us out! We’re trapped by these three—if you can lure one or two away, we’d be so grateful!”

It was already the second day of the apocalypse. People were starting to venture out for food or to scout the situation. Bian Changxi had run into quite a few on her way out of the apartment complex. These looked to be four men and two women, all in their early twenties, disheveled—probably college students. The fact that they’d chosen this run-down commercial street instead of rushing to the big malls showed they had some sense.

She glanced at the hammers, iron rods, and kitchen knives in their hands. Maybe they could work together.

Suddenly, one of them called out excitedly, “Changxi, is that you? Changxi! It’s Yuwen!”

Bian Changxi frowned slightly and looked at the boy. She didn’t recognize him.

“Changxi, help us! I’m Wang Yan—we’re classmates!” another girl shouted.

This time Bian Changxi paused. Classmates? She thought for a moment—there really was someone by that name. And “Yuwen” sounded familiar too—wasn’t her last boyfriend Zhang Yuwen?

After her parents’ plane crash in her senior year, the fight over the inheritance brought unprecedented pressure from her family, especially her “dear uncle,” even rumors of murder. She’d had to drive Bai Heng away, had to play the part of a heartbroken, numb, delinquent girl.

She’d gone through a lot of boyfriends in those two years.

Changing every month or two, hanging out in shady places, acting like a total delinquent. Looking back, it was all so childish and ridiculous.

If these were Zhang Yuwen and Wang Yan, then the others must be students from S University—maybe even people she knew.

She suddenly didn’t want to stop. She looked away and sped up.

“Changxi, don’t go! You can’t leave us!”

“Is that really Bian Changxi?”

“She’s leaving? How could she?!”

An unopened soda can flew out from the broken glass door, aimed at Bian Changxi. She dodged, but the clatter of the can hitting the ground caught the attention of the three zombies. They turned toward her, and the one at the back began to lurch in her direction, attracted by the prospect of fresh meat."