Rescue

Cheng Luoyi did indeed have a mental illness.

While she was in a psychiatric hospital, she had shown self-harm tendencies. After the apocalypse arrived, she became one of the first people to awaken.

She was also ranked No. 001 in the shelter, known as its strongest person!

Her awakened ability was [Deadly Agony]. The more pain her body felt, the stronger she became, and her potential ceiling was extremely high.

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

The lower a person's intelligence, the greater their courage often was. Sun Xiaoqiang could enter a berserk state, reducing his intelligence completely to zero while greatly increasing his strength.

At this moment.

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

"Roar—"

Two zombies ahead let out growls and lunged at her wildly.

Expressionless, Cheng Luoyi swung her axe and smashed their heads apart.

Spattered blood streaked across the corridor walls, leaving behind glaring marks.

"Move."

Behind Cheng Luoyi were several trembling survivors.

From the corridor corner behind them came the chaotic sound of footsteps and the vicious roars of zombies.

When they turned to look.

They found a huge mass of zombies charging out. They crowded together, trampling over one another, filling the entire corridor like a surging 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.

Not far ahead was the stairwell. As long as they made it there and shut the door, they could block off the zombies.

Cheng Luoyi swung her fire axe, chopping down several zombies in her path. She sidestepped and slipped into the stairwell.

The survivors behind her followed one after another.

But one girl.

Accidentally stepped on some zombie blood, slipped, and fell flat on the floor.

"Ah—"

She immediately cried out.

Cheng Luoyi glanced at her. Seeing that the girl was about to be swallowed by the Zombie Tide, she ignored her and slammed the stairwell door shut.

Huff—huff—huff—

The surroundings fell quiet as the students panted heavily.

But one boy's eyes were wide with fury.

"Y-you... why didn't you save Xiaoyue just now? You even shut her outside!"

"She couldn't be saved."

Cheng Luoyi answered coldly.

But the boy was still anxious.

"Xiaoyue is our classmate. She's always been a good person. We have to save her. We can't just give up on anyone."

"Oh..."

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

But then she grabbed the boy by the arm and shoved him out.

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.

The other survivors trembled, not even daring to breathe loudly as they shook their heads desperately.

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

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

Cheng Luoyi headed up the stairs.

The stairwell was very quiet. There were no zombies inside, though they occasionally saw several zombie corpses that had clearly been killed earlier.

There seemed to be other awakened people in the school...

If she brought an awakened person back, the credit would be considerable. The shelter would issue another two 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 utility knife in his hand, 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 an awakened person.

"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 there. Isn't it better outside, where I'm free? I think... you should stay and keep me company."

"Zhang Xu, have you gone crazy?"

A girl behind them shouted.

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

"Oh? You dare talk about me?"

A savage look flashed across the boy's face. He gripped the utility knife in reverse and darted forward, plunging the blade down.

Squish!

But the utility knife did not stab the girl. Instead, it was blocked by a bandaged arm. The blade sank into it, and blood flowed out, dyeing the bandages a deep crimson.

Like a huge red flower slowly blooming.

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

"Hmm?"

The boy frowned, vaguely sensing that something was wrong.

Does this woman not feel pain?

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

The boy looked down. His eyes instantly widened, and his expression turned utterly shocked, as if 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.

Those were the marks left behind by her past self-harm.

Pain... how wonderful...

The corner of Cheng Luoyi's mouth curled slightly as she activated her ability, [Deadly Pain]. Then, with her left hand, she shoved the boy beneath the chin, and the immense force threw his head backward.

Crack!

The boy's neck snapped, and he fell straight to the ground.

"Two pounds of flour gone..."

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

This person was Sun Xiaoqiang. Strangely enough, he was dragging a zombie along with him.

"Zero-One-One, this is Zero-Two. Come in, please respond!" Sun Xiaoqiang said into the radio, 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 intelligent look in his eyes.

"I've already finished rescuing people. I wanted to ask how things were on your end. Did you run into trouble?"

"Is that thing you rescued even a person?"

Cheng Luoyi asked with a sideways glance.

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

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

Bang!

He casually threw a punch, smashing it into the zombie's face. The powerful blow sent it flying off the building.

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

He had not expected.

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 a brief introduction resembling a personal tagline.

Under Cheng Luoyi's photo, it said:

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

Sun Xiaoqiang had one as well.

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