Your Daughter Is the Savior

The wind and snow howled all night. The next day, the rain stopped.

Su Jin woke from sleep and sat up.

After letting himself run wild the night before, he had slept more soundly than ever, and his mental energy had recovered considerably.

He turned to look at the window, his expression complicated.

The government had announced its dissolution, the detonation of the Cold Firmament Missiles had sent temperatures plummeting, and the military was nowhere to be found.

Things had deteriorated about as far as they possibly could.

There was no point clinging to fantasies anymore. There was no one he could turn to for help. He could only rely on himself.

The temperature outside was extremely low, possibly close to minus fifty degrees Celsius. Without heating, the temperature indoors was almost the same.

He let out a long breath, which turned into a cloud of pale white mist.

Su Jin threw back his quilt and got out of bed, dressed in a thick down jacket.

He crouched down to inspect the mouse cage beside the bed, which he had wrapped in layers of clothing and insulated underneath with foam.

The candle had burned out, but there was still movement inside the cage. Only when he saw that the mice were still alive did he relax.

The source of the infection remained a mystery. If these experimental mice froze to death, it would be a tremendous waste.

Fortunately, they had just barely made it through the night.

Even with several extra layers of clothing and plenty of warm coverings, his limbs were still stiff and cold after a night's sleep.

He only had one quilt, and he had not stocked up on much winter clothing.

If he had not also lit several alcohol stoves and surrounded them with bricks to retain the heat, he might have suffered frostbite that night.

When Fu Qingdai came over last night, he had given her several alcohol stoves too.

The Fu Family's situation was different from his. They were bound to have plenty of quilts at home, so getting through the night would have been no problem at all.

As for the other people in the building, they should have managed easily enough too. Every household had a gas cylinder and plenty of things to burn.

Su Jin made a round of his room.

After confirming that nothing was out of the ordinary except for the bucket of water having frozen solid, he scooped out a few spoonfuls of lard for breakfast and headed straight out.

He knocked on the Fu Family's door, and it opened almost immediately.

Fu Qingdai's small face appeared, pale from the cold, followed by Fu Hu's face, weighed down with dejection and desolation.

The moment Fu Hu saw Su Jin, he was startled.

"Director?"

"Let's talk inside." Su Jin raised a hand to stop him and stepped through the doorway without hesitation.

The place was a mess, with the ashes of a bonfire in the middle of the living room.

Judging by the surroundings, they had clearly dismantled the sofa for fuel.

The family had spent the entire night in the living room.

After looking around, Su Jin turned to Fu Hu and got straight to the point. "I was the one who sealed your door."

"What? You?"

"Hear me out." Su Jin's expression turned serious. "Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Li Haocheng, director of the National Key Risk Intervention Executive Bureau."

"I... I know that," Fu Hu stammered.

Su Jin shook his head. "You know who I am, but you don't know what the National Strategic Risk Bureau actually handles. It's different from what I told you before. Our department actually researches supernatural powers. We're small, and the other agencies don't think much of us."

"Thirty years ago, the country unearthed two-thousand-year-old artifacts in the northwest. After studying them, we identified them as belonging to the Maya Civilization. I don't know whether they were aliens or had some special abilities, but when we deciphered the stone tablets the Maya left behind, we found that they had predicted the course of future history, including this disaster."

"Our department was established specifically to research the Maya Civilization."

Fu Qingdai and Fu Hu froze on the spot.

Su Jin continued, "At first, the country took the discovery of the Maya Civilization very seriously. But after thirty years, our department has practically been forgotten. Even internally, we've split into two camps. Many people have long treated it as a cushy sinecure. I was different."

"What exactly are you talking about? Why can't I understand any of this?!" Fu Hu asked in alarm. "Are you all right?"

"I'm thinking perfectly clearly right now," Su Jin said gravely. "According to the prophecy the Maya left behind, a savior would foresee this disaster. I followed that lead and found your daughter. The truth is, I lied to you before. I had already been in contact with Qing Dai before I moved into your home."

"To put it simply... your daughter is the savior in the prophecy. I'm absolutely certain of it. You've seen this disaster for yourself now. I think, deep down, you already know whether to believe me."

"Wait. Just wait a moment!" Fu Hu pressed a hand to his forehead, his expression pained.

A zombie infection, finding out just yesterday that his country and home were lost, and now someone had appeared to tell him that his daughter was the future savior.

With all these events piling up, his brain simply could not process the information.

"Are you saying you knew all along that this would happen?! And instead of telling the country, you came here and pinned your hopes on my daughter?" Anger simmered beneath Fu Hu's voice.

Su Jin remained as calm as ever. "The country already knew about this. Do you think telling them again would have done any good?"

"Why did I tell you to buy bows and arrows? To buy batteries? Do you think I wanted to hide out here instead of relying on the country's resources? My department wouldn't even approve my fucking budget!"

That last shout from Su Jin completely silenced Fu Hu.

That was true... after all, they would not even approve his budget.

"Do you know what's actually happening to the country now?" Fu Hu asked in a trembling voice, a trace of hope in his eyes.

"The country... can't be relied on anymore. All we have is ourselves."

Fu Hu's face quickly went ashen. He turned to look at his daughter again, and his heart twisted with pain once more.

Su Jin continued, "Old Fu, you served in the military, and you know something about weapons. You've seen the effects of the Cold Firmament Missile launches. Do you have any idea when the temperature outside might start rising again?"

"I don't know... I'm not sure. Maybe a week. It's summer now, so perhaps it won't even take a week..." Fu Hu said, waving a hand weakly.

A week, then... Su Jin considered.

The Cold Firmament Missiles had effectively bought him a week's breathing room.

The freezing temperatures outside were already affecting the zombies, both indoors and out.

By a conservative estimate, he had three days to clear the zombies from the residential complex and gather supplies and manpower.

"Director Li, please leave. I don't know what you're trying to do, but I don't want to get mixed up in it right now." Fu Hu looked drained. "My wife's unconscious. She still hasn't woken up. I received the text message and heard the broadcast too, but I believe the country won't collapse that easily. I'm going to wait for rescue..."

"Old Fu!" Su Jin barked. "What fantasy are you still clinging to? We can't rely on the country anymore! If we could, there's no way we would still be waiting without so much as a glimpse of the military! If we could, why would they fire missiles into the city?"

"Fine! Let's bend over backward and say the armed forces are still intact... in this situation, do you think rescuing you would be their priority? You're just an ordinary civilian. Why would they save you? Waiting for rescue—how long can you wait? We were lucky this time. The Cold Sky missiles didn't land on our heads. But if another wave of missiles flattens this place, do you think you'll survive?"