Rescue

Cheng Luoyi indeed suffered from a mental illness.

Back when she was in the psychiatric hospital, she had displayed self-harming tendencies. After the apocalypse descended, she became one of the first Awakened.

She was ranked No. 001 in the shelter and was known as the strongest person!

Her awakened ability was [Deadly Agony]. The more pain her body felt, the stronger she became, with an extremely high upper limit.

Sun Xiaoqiang, meanwhile, was ranked No. 002, with the ability [Fearless Berserk].

The lower a person's intelligence, the greater their courage often was. Sun Xiaoqiang could enter a berserk state where his intelligence dropped completely to zero, but his strength increased dramatically.

At that moment.

Cheng Luoyi stood in the corridor outside a university classroom. She wore a white-and-blue-striped hospital gown, bandages wrapped around her right arm, and carried a fire axe in her hand.

"Roar—"

Two zombies ahead roared as they charged at her wildly.

Expressionless, Cheng Luoyi swung her axe and smashed their skulls.

Spattering blood stained the corridor walls, leaving behind glaring streaks.

"Move."

Several trembling survivors stood behind Cheng Luoyi.

At that moment, chaotic footsteps and the savage roars of zombies were already coming from the corner of the corridor behind them.

They turned to look.

A large horde of zombies came charging out. They crowded together, trampling one another and filling the entire corridor as they surged forward like a flood.

"Oh my god! So many zombies!"

"Run!"

"..."

The survivors were terrified and sprinted after Cheng Luoyi.

But ordinary humans were already slower than zombies, and the distance between them kept shrinking.

Fortunately.

A stairwell lay not far ahead. As long as they reached it and shut the door, they could block off the zombies.

Cheng Luoyi swung her fire axe, cutting down several zombies blocking the way. She twisted sideways and slipped into the stairwell.

The survivors behind her followed one after another.

But one of the girls.

Accidentally stepped on zombie blood, slipped, and fell to the ground.

"Ah—"

She cried out in alarm.

Cheng Luoyi glanced at her and saw that the girl was about to be swallowed by the zombie horde. She no longer paid her any attention and shut the stairwell door behind her.

Huff—huff—huff—

The surroundings fell quiet as the students panted heavily.

But one boy's eyes were practically splitting with rage.

"Y-you... Why didn't you save Xiaoyue just now? You even locked her outside?"

"She couldn't be saved."

Cheng Luoyi said coldly.

But the boy was still anxious.

"Xiaoyue is our classmate. She's usually such a nice person. We have to save her. We can't just give up on anyone so easily."

"Oh..."

Cheng Luoyi nodded and turned back to pull open the door.

But she grabbed the boy by the arm and shoved him outside.

Bang!

Then she slammed the door shut again.

In the apocalypse, kill the saints first.

"Does anyone else want to save someone?"

Cheng Luoyi swept her gaze over them as she asked.

The remaining survivors all trembled, barely daring to breathe as they shook their heads desperately.

They had already realized that the person before them was not someone to mess with.

"The helicopter is on the roof. Let's go up."

Cheng Luoyi headed up the stairs.

The stairwell was very quiet. There were surprisingly no zombies, though they occasionally saw zombie corpses that had long since been killed.

There seemed to be other Awakened in the school...

If she brought an Awakened back, that would be no small contribution. The shelter would issue two extra pounds of flour...

Just as they were about to reach the rooftop.

A young man appeared at the door to the top-floor stairwell. He held a box cutter, its blade already stained with blood.

The young man stood there, staring coldly at them.

"Did you kill the zombies here?" Cheng Luoyi asked, raising her eyes.

"Yeah. I did."

The young man was also a student at the school, but he had already become Awakened.

"Good."

Cheng Luoyi nodded. "Come to the shelter with me."

But the young man shook his head, a trace of madness showing in his eyes. "Why should I go to the shelter? I'd have to be controlled by others there. Isn't it better outside, free and unfettered? I think... you should stay here and keep me company."

"Zhang Xu, are you insane?"

A girl behind them shouted.

When some people suddenly gained abilities, their temperaments inevitably changed.

"Oh! You dare talk back to me?"

A vicious look flashed across the boy's face. He gripped the box cutter in reverse and lunged forward, driving the blade down hard.

Squelch!

But the box cutter did not stab the girl. Instead, it was blocked by a bandage-wrapped arm. The blade had sunk into it, and blood flowed out, staining the bandages a deep crimson.

Like a large red flower slowly blooming.

The owner of that arm was Cheng Luoyi. Even after being stabbed, her expression barely changed.

"Hmm?"

The boy frowned, vaguely sensing that something was wrong.

Does this girl not feel pain?

At that moment, the bandages on Cheng Luoyi's arm happened to slowly unravel, revealing the skin beneath.

The boy looked down. His eyes instantly widened, his expression filled with shock as though he had seen something unbelievable.

Cheng Luoyi's arm was covered in scars of all sizes. Some had healed, while others had only recently scabbed over. The sight was horrifying.

They were the marks left behind from her former self-harm.

Pain... how wonderful...

The corners of Cheng Luoyi's lips curled up slightly as she activated her ability, [Deadly Pain]. Then she shoved the boy's chin with her left hand, and the tremendous force snapped his head backward.

Crack!

The boy's neck broke, and he fell straight to the floor.

"There go two pounds of flour..."

When Cheng Luoyi led the survivors to the rooftop, a helicopter stood in the distance. A thin figure stood with his back to them.

That person was Sun Xiaoqiang. Strangely enough, he was dragging a zombie in his hand.

"One-oh-one, this is one-oh-two. Please respond if received!" Sun Xiaoqiang said into his radio while tugging at his collar with one hand.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Cheng Luoyi asked from behind him.

"Uh..."

Sun Xiaoqiang froze, then turned around, revealing that signature look of intelligence in his eyes.

"I've already rescued everyone. I wanted to ask what was going on with you. Did you run into trouble?"

"Is that thing you rescued even human?"

Cheng Luoyi glanced at it.

Sun Xiaoqiang turned his head and only then realized he was dragging a zombie. The zombie was even stretching out its neck, trying to bite his arm.

"Huh? It was a person just now. When did it mutate? Sorry about that."

Bang!

He casually punched the zombie in the face, sending it flying straight off the building with his immense strength.

Lin Dong was still lounging comfortably at home, watching television.

He had not expected it.

To see the names of his childhood playmates on the rescue team roster.

Perhaps out of curiosity, since he had nothing else to do anyway.

Lin Dong took out his phone and logged into the shelter's official website.

He wanted to look for more information about the two of them.

Sure enough.

He saw their photos again on the rescue team roster.

And beneath them.

There was also a short introduction resembling a personal signature.

Under Cheng Luoyi's photo, it read:

"I am a gentle girl, afraid of pain."

Sun Xiaoqiang had one too.

"I am a handsome boy, peerless in courage and wisdom."