My name is An Xiaoran!

My name is An Xiaoran.

Before the apocalypse, I was my family's treasure. I had parents who loved each other and an older brother who took very good care of me.

Originally, I thought our family could live together forever, but then the apocalypse came. Many terrifying Fierce Beasts and Weirds ran rampant, and our whole family fled for our lives.

We encountered a Fierce Beast. To buy everyone time to escape, Father desperately rushed forward to stop it, and then the Fierce Beast ate him.

Mother joined a survivor squad, spending every day in tears. But as a woman, even before the apocalypse, she would have found it very difficult to support two children.

Several times, I saw her secretly go to other survivors' vehicles in the middle of the night and stay there a long time before returning. Afterward, my brother and I would have something to eat.

Unfortunately, those days did not last long either. Mother fell ill and never got up again.

In the end, only my brother and I were left, moving from place to place before joining the Luo Family Town Squad.

Everyone in the Luo Family Town Squad lived miserably, but at least they could stay alive.

I would never forget that day. My brother and I were chatting, and he asked me what I wanted to eat. I blurted out that I wanted milk, because I had not had any in a very, very long time.

My brother went with the survivors of the Luo Family Town Squad to search for supplies.

I was scared. Dad, Mom, and my brother were all gone from my side. I was so scared that I followed them.

When he saw that I had followed them, my brother got angry and told me to go back. I knew he was afraid I would encounter danger.

But what he did not know was that I was not afraid of Fierce Beasts or Weirds at all.

What scared me was being alone...

"Xiao Ran, run! Hurry and run!"

I would never forget how my brother poured the gasoline they had collected over himself, set himself on fire, and then clung tightly to the Ice and Snow Weird to die with it, shouting for me to run.

I did not run. I just watched with my own eyes as my brother and that Ice and Snow Weird burned to death together.

I... I had no family left. I was all alone; living no longer meant anything.

I awakened my Sequence, but I was not happy at all.

In the Luo Family Town Squad, I saw someone injured and looking very much in pain. I casually cast Healing on him and healed his injuries, which made the Luo father and son attach great importance to me.

But I hated the two of them, because my brother had said they were bad people.

The Luo son spoke to me, but I did not want to acknowledge him.

He scared me, but I still ignored him.

He hit me, but I neither fought back nor acknowledged him.

He held me underwater. Not being able to breathe was unbearable, but I did not struggle either.

If I die, I die. Everyone in my family is dead anyway. There is no point in living alone...

Perhaps because they saw that I was not afraid of dying, the Luo father and son stopped tormenting me and continued to let me stay in the convoy.

Occasionally, when I saw someone injured, I would cast Healing on them.

Even though I hated the Luo father and son, even though they were bad people, I would heal them too.

Because I hated Fierce Beasts and Weirds even more.

Every night, I slept restlessly, always dreaming of Dad, Mom, and my brother. I always felt that my brother had gone searching for supplies because I had said I wanted milk, hoping to find some for me. In the end, I never got to drink any.

I did not know how much time had passed. It did not really matter how long it had been. I could die any day, and that would be fine.

If I really died, could I reunite with my family?

Later, we encountered a squad, the Hope Convoy. A few of us sat down with a few of their Sequence Users to eat hot pot.

Then a can of cola was placed in front of me. I wanted to save it, because my brother had loved cola most of all.

But as soon as that thought popped into my head, I remembered that my brother had long since been gone.

Seeing that I had not drunk the cola, the person opposite asked whether I disliked it. Then a carton of plain milk was handed to me.

I drank it. It still had that familiar taste. It was the first time I had drunk milk since the apocalypse began.

The last time I had drunk milk, I had still had my family.

"Th-thank you." I could not remember how long it had been since I had spoken. When I opened my mouth to thank him, I even stammered a little.

Later, the two squads went to war. I did not help those two bad people.

If they fought Fierce Beasts and Weirds, I would help them.

But if they fought people, I would not help them.

Afterward, all the survivors in our squad were absorbed into theirs. I could see that this squad had a very good atmosphere, and those Sequence Users treated ordinary people quite well.

I moved into the vehicle with Brother Luo Fan.

Brother Luo Fan gave me a carton of plain milk every day. I was very happy.

Sometimes he gave me apples too, and I could eat whatever food there was in the vehicle.

When I slept in the vehicle, I could sleep with complete peace of mind.

This is wonderful. I have a brother again.

I fought alongside my brother, and being able to help made me very happy too.

Until we encountered a Rule-Type Weird.

Everyone took turns holding a balloon that would explode. Whoever was unlucky enough to be holding it when it exploded would die.

When we took our positions, I deliberately slipped into the spot before Brother Luo Fan.

He did not notice my little maneuver.

The balloon was in Rose's hands, and she immediately shoved it at Brother Niu Dagang. She was not a good person.

After Brother Niu Dagang took it, he did not immediately hand it to me. He seemed embarrassed.

I reached out and asked him for it myself. I knew Brother Niu Dagang was a good person.

I took the balloon. Brother Luo Fan asked me for it, but I did not give it to him.

I had once had a family, but they had all died protecting me.

At long last, I had a brother again. This time, it was my turn to protect my family.

Watching Brother Luo Fan anxiously ask me for the balloon, I smiled.

All along, I had felt that living or dying did not really matter.

But now I understood that my death would mean something.

I successfully advanced, fulfilling the condition for advancing to the Professional Sequence: sacrificing myself for love.

Brother Luo Fan had asked me before what the condition for advancing to the Professional Sequence was. I had always known. It was love-sacrificing myself for love.

To me, this was a Professional Sequence that could never be attained.

Because if you had already sacrificed yourself, did advancing still mean anything?

Bang!

Sure enough, the balloon exploded. Was everything over?

Yet after the balloon exploded, the Weird, which looked about my age, did not eat me. Instead, she herself screamed and dissolved into specks of starlight.

I... I didn't die?

"What happened?"

Luo Fan watched the balloon explode in An Xiaoran's hands. Then, instead of eating An Xiaoran as it had said it would, the Weird itself died. He was utterly dumbfounded.

Could Rule-Type Weirds lie too?

"Xiao Ran, you... you..." With no thought to spare for what had happened to the Rule-Type Weird, Luo Fan glared fiercely at An Xiaoran and raised his hand, about to bring it down.

Did a grown man like me need a little kid like her to protect me? Did I need her to risk her life to protect me?

But his hand, raised high in the air, would not come down.

In the end, Luo Fan pulled her tightly into his arms instead.

"Brother Luo Fan, I... I advanced to the Professional Sequence..."