Chapter 1: Desperation

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” The terrifying pounding shook the entire girls’ dormitory, provoking the frenzied roars of the zombies within.

Jiang Yi pressed his lifeless face closely against the dormitory door being battered by the undead, his entire body straining to absorb the vibrations against the wooden door behind him.

“Bastards! Damn you!” Jiang Yi roared furiously as he desperately held the door. He never imagined that what was supposed to be a routine scavenging mission would end in betrayal by his own comrades.

Moments ago, his mind still echoed with the shock of a sudden blow to his back at the moment he encountered the zombies.

Falling to the ground, Jiang Yi looked back in terror to see the mocking sneer of his so-called companion, who without hesitation abandoned him to the oncoming zombies and disappeared down the hallway without looking back.

His face ashen, he glanced at his arm, already stained red with blood. Though he had narrowly escaped becoming torn apart by the “beautiful” female zombies by retreating into an empty dorm room, the two deep scratches dug by their pitch-black claws on his arm were a grim reminder of his fate.

The fresh blood only excited the zombies on the other side of the door, who relentlessly hammered against the already fragile wooden barrier, oblivious to their own exhaustion.

Panic and blood loss sapped Jiang Yi’s strength further. Summoning his last reserves, he finally managed to bolt the latch on the door just before the zombies broke through. His legs gave way, and he slumped beside the door, bitterly watching the dark blood drip from his fingertips.

“Damn this apocalypse… why did it come to this?” Feeling a chill run through him, Jiang Yi curled inward.

The terrifying ordeal all began ten days ago, on a day as ordinary and sunny as any other.

Because he had stayed up late the night before with his roommates, Jiang Yi missed his date with his schoolmate and girlfriend, Chen Jiazi, who had to drag him out of bed at noon, soaking wet from the sudden downpour.

That day, in the city of Longcheng, which should have been bathed in sunlight, a sudden, cloudless rainstorm struck inexplicably.

This rain was so sudden and intense that later, on social media and among students, it was likened to a gigantic sprinkler positioned above the earth, washing the entire spinning globe.

The deluge spanned the globe, even reaching the deserts, delivering a rare and fierce acid rain.

Though the rain caught many by surprise and left people drenched, it brought little lasting harm, barely wetting the ground before it moved on.

At most, it was an unexpected cold shower for those caught outside.

Chen Jiazi, still irate, blamed Jiang Yi, who had no choice but to appease her with several unequal concessions to calm her fury.

The incident might have passed quietly but for the strange fever that afflicted Chen Jiazi the very next day.

Not only her, but nearly a third of the students at Long Province Institute of Technology suddenly suffered high fevers.

As news spread online, it became clear this fever outbreak was global. When Jiang Yi tried to take Chen Jiazi to the hospital, he found it overwhelmed and refusing new patients.

At this moment, the power of the nation manifested swiftly. The capital immediately issued various disease control orders, mobilizing all medical resources.

Thankfully, tests showed that most fever patients were suffering from a common flu virus, with their immune systems fighting it off.

Except for a small number of severe cases, most could recover at home with flu medication within about three days.

Curiously, every infected person had been caught in that rainstorm. Those like Jiang Yi, who had avoided the rain, did not contract the illness, even after close contact with patients.

This discovery reassured the world, but the mystery of the acid rain lingered. Because it passed so quickly, no samples remained for study—only the knowledge that the rain was intensely acidic, a once-in-a-century acid rain.

Speculation erupted online. Some claimed it was a covert biochemical weapon deployed by a European nation. Others blamed terrorist groups or saw it as divine punishment or a harbinger of the apocalypse, especially in nations with strong religious beliefs.

Jiang Yi paid little attention to these theories. For three days and nights, he tirelessly cared for his feverish girlfriend. While Chen Jiazi seemed to tire little, Jiang Yi grew increasingly exhausted and gaunt.

Just as Chen Jiazi’s condition improved, the world was shaken by news of mass sudden deaths among severe flu patients in hospitals.

The deaths were abrupt—patients who had been breathing steadily moments before collapsed and died instantly, giving doctors no chance to intervene. It was a catastrophe.

On that single day, hundreds of thousands perished in Long Province alone.

This sudden mutation overwhelmed even the strongest nations, plunging the world into panic. Almost every industry stalled as survivors frantically hoarded supplies, sparking chaos and riots.

Jiang Yi was unaware of the situation in other countries, but fortunately, China’s swift response calmed the populace and implemented countermeasures, managing to contain public unrest, at least temporarily.

But this was only the beginning. Before the nation could catch its breath, an even more dreadful event unfolded—zombies emerged.

Nearly a tenth of those who died from the flu reanimated within twelve hours, immediately attacking the living who handled their bodies.

There was no time to react; the world plunged into a nightmare apocalypse.

Jiang Yi was lucky. Because Chen Jiazi’s condition improved, they had gone to the cafeteria to eat and were trapped there during the initial outbreak, thus avoiding the first wave of zombies.

The cafeteria was stocked with ample food, and over the following days, survivors across campus gathered there.

At that time, a shocking discovery was made among the survivors—some had awakened supernatural abilities.

Yes, the kind of powerful abilities often seen in apocalyptic fiction.

Among the roughly one thousand people in the cafeteria, over a hundred possessed strange powers.

But these were not the elemental or fantastical powers one might expect. Most simply had enhanced strength or extraordinary speed. Only a few possessed truly unnatural abilities.

What thrilled Jiang Yi most was that his girlfriend, Chen Jiazi, had awakened water abilities—the power to conjure fresh, clean water from thin air.

This gift made Chen Jiazi stand out among the survivors and earned Jiang Yi some preferential treatment as her boyfriend.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yi winced at the pain in his arm and pulled from his inner pocket a crystal about the size of a quail egg, his face darkening.

It was a pure, translucent orb, extracted from the brain of a zombie.

With the emergence of these powered survivors, the imaginative college students speculated whether zombie brains might contain special crystals like those found in novels, which could be absorbed to gain power.

Early on, bold individuals smashed open several corpses but found no such crystals, and the idea faded.

Yet a few days ago, when another group of survivors attracted zombies into the cafeteria, Jiang Yi—lacking powers himself—discovered this crystal among the shattered remains while moving bodies.

Not a fool, Jiang Yi secretly hid the precious orb, so well that even Chen Jiazi did not know he possessed it.

Despite the relentless pounding on the door behind him, Jiang Yi examined the orb grimly. As more survivors gathered, the crystal was discovered and they began to understand how to use it.

The orb, called a “corpse core,” was the energy source of zombies. Ordinary zombies lacked these cores; only evolved first-tier zombies possessed them. Thus, even after ten days of apocalypse, fewer than ten cores had been found among all survivors.

Its effect was simple: it enhanced the strength of those who wielded it.

For ordinary humans, however, swallowing a corpse core meant only one outcome—death followed by zombification.

Jiang Yi had intended to clean the core and give it to Chen Jiazi, but in the end, he never did.

Now, feeling the numbness in his wounded arm, he smiled bitterly. A cold, ruthless light flickered in his eyes.

“Shen Tong, Wang Hai! If I ever live to see you again, I will tear you to shreds so completely that you won’t even become zombies!” With these venomous thoughts, Jiang Yi lifted his head decisively and swallowed the core.

The once solid orb melted instantly on his tongue. A clear liquid slid down his throat as warmth spread from his abdomen throughout his body, coursing along some strange substance.

Just as relief washed over him, the warmth turned into a terrifying heatwave.

A surge of immense energy exploded within, tearing at his skin until it began to rip apart.

“Ah!” Jiang Yi screamed in agony, collapsing to the ground and thrashing wildly.

The pain in his skin was bearable compared to the excruciating sensation of countless sharp blades slicing through his blood vessels and tendons from within.