Chapter 1: Reborn as a Cat

Page 1/3

This was a barren wasteland, devoid of all human presence...

In the collapsed ruins of a stairwell, Xia Tong crouched before a shattered windowpane, gazing up at the star-strewn sky above, while tendrils of gray mist drifted through the city’s remains.

It was the eighth day since she’d been reborn.

She had become... a cat, left to wander the wilds of a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Should she feel fortunate, or desolate?

Fortunate that she hadn’t perished within the overrun, soon-to-fall Mo City Base, swarming with zombies? Or desolate... because she’d turned into a stray kitten, lost in the wild?

She had never imagined that, upon opening her eyes again, she would not be facing a relentless tide of zombies surging like locusts, but instead a wilderness choked with weeds... a desolate wasteland.

Xia Tong would never forget that moment she awoke... The pale morning light fell upon a steep, grass-covered slope, revealing a vista of utter desolation—and yet, to her eyes, it was dazzling beyond belief.

It seemed her wish had come true.

...To walk beyond the high walls, to see the world outside, to taste the feeling of freedom.

...

Since the world became a "wasteland," humanity had huddled together, building new orders behind towering walls to escape the ravages of zombies and mutated monsters.

So far as she knew, only some fifty or sixty such walled bases existed, scattered across the globe.

As for her, Xia Tong... she’d been tested at birth and found to possess S-rank water abilities, then raised by the official “Academy for Gifted Abilities” of Mo City Base, growing up to become an exceptional water-type "Healer."

Thereafter, her days were spent in the monotonous routine of so-called “happiness” within the base.

Yes... Hospital dormitory, hospital, and... hospital cafeteria. A rigid triangle of existence.

“...”

There was little else to say; this was her past life. She had never once left the gates of Mo City Base, never glimpsed the world outside.

Though she had always been well protected, the thought still left her with a touch of melancholy and regret.

...

The cold moonlight poured down like water, and Xia Tong quietly bathed in its chill, savoring the gentle night breeze that brushed her face on the desolate plains.

Compared to the stifling base, the wilderness possessed a wild and free air.

She delighted in these precious moments. Provided, of course, there were no nauseating zombies around.

“Hrrr...”

Suddenly, a low, hoarse sound echoed sharply through the silent stairwell.

Page 2/3

“Hm... How utterly mood-ruining.”

“Those mindless, rotting zombies, always disturbing a cat’s peace.”

Xia Tong shook her head with bored resignation, lips curling into a sly, feral grin like a child about to play a mischievous prank.

In the blink of an eye, Xia Tong transformed into a swirl of clear water, slipping silently down to the open ground below, where she coalesced once more into form. There, in the moonlight, a decayed, pallid zombie wandered aimlessly, as if searching for something.

“Hrrr...”

In an instant, the zombie seemed to catch a whiff of some irresistible, sweet scent. Its shuffling gait halted abruptly, then twisted toward Xia Tong’s position.

Their eyes met.

The cold moonlight etched the outline of the zombie’s rotting body, its hollow, clouded sockets staring straight at Xia Tong.

A stench of putrid decay wafted out as it froze in place.

“Oh... So you were looking for me?”

Within Xia Tong’s jewel-bright feline eyes, that hideous figure was reflected, but showed not a ripple of fear or surprise.

“Hrrr...”

The zombie issued a meaningless growl from its ruined throat, and its withered legs suddenly lurched into motion, staggering toward her with clumsy, desperate hunger for living flesh.

As for Xia Tong, she seemed barely concerned, showing not the slightest intent to dodge.

Such low-level infected zombies—she could handle a whole pack without fear, let alone just one. It was hardly even worth her interest.

Just as the zombie’s claws were about to strike, the little cat’s form dissolved in an instant, as if she had never been there at all.

In her place, a silent stream of clear water slid along the ground, deftly winding past the zombie’s foul lunge.

Behind the zombie, the water gathered once more.

With a shimmer of light, the black kitten reformed, sitting elegantly beneath the moon’s glow.

The zombie, oblivious to the oddity behind it, staggered forward a few more steps, flailing its arms in futile confusion.

Xia Tong tilted her head, her fluffy tail swaying gently.

At the tip, a faint blue glow quietly shimmered—like a drop of condensed moonlight, the pale blue radiance flowed and flickered.

In the next instant—

With a swift motion, a quiet slicing sound split the air.

Her tail, wreathed in blue light, lashed out like the swiftest whip, carrying an overwhelming force as it struck precisely at the zombie’s neck.

Page 3/3

Bang!

With a sharp crack, the zombie’s rotting head flew from its shoulders, describing a perfect arc through the air before landing with a heavy thud amid the rubble a few meters away. The now-headless body swayed unsteadily, then collapsed to the ground, twitching a few times before falling still forever.

The pale blue light faded from her tail as Xia Tong gave it a slight shake, as if she’d done nothing more than a trivial chore.

With light, soundless steps, Xia Tong drew closer to the still-twitching corpse.

In the moonlight, dark, foul blood seeped across the ground, filling the air with a pungent reek.

She paused a few paces away, her glass-like eyes calmly fixed on the fallen, decayed skull.

A thought stirred.

A slender stream of clear water formed out of thin air—like a living tendril, it wove forward with graceful agility. The water slipped gently into the ruined head, searching carefully through the filthy brain matter.

Moments later...

The water withdrew, its tip gripping a tiny, gravel-like crystal. The crystal was a murky gray, but under the moonlight it glimmered faintly with a hidden sheen.

An energy core... Xia Tong recognized it; she’d used many such things in her past life.

To think that even such a lowly, decayed zombie had begun to form an energy core. Had she not happened by, in time this zombie might truly have advanced to the next stage.

But now... this nascent core was hers for the taking.

Guiding the water, she brought the small crystal before her eyes.

The energy was weak, but better than nothing—it was a windfall, and Xia Tong was quite satisfied.

For her now, every scrap of power was precious.

She turned back, preparing to return to the relative safety of the stairwell to absorb her tiny prize.

But just as she lifted a front paw to set it on the first crumbling step—

Without warning, a cold, lucid, yet utterly foreign prompt resounded deep within her mind.

["Origin Core" loading...]

“???” Xia Tong’s fur bristled, but then a thought occurred to her.

“Could it be... one of those systems from the novels?”