Chapter 1 Starting Over

Mo Chu collapsed to the ground. At the edge of consciousness, she saw someone kneeling in front of her, his expression tightly restrained, his eyes bloodshot red.

His voice was hoarse. “You’re not allowed to die.”

Mo Chu could no longer speak.

Even at the very end, she had never imagined that the only person who would come to save her as she lay dying… would be him.

…

The moment the outer walls of the base were breached, the entire settlement descended into hell.

Screams rang out alongside the wet thuds of severed limbs hitting the ground. A young girl suddenly stumbled and fell in front of Mo Chu, and behind her, a rank-six zombie raised its claws.

Mo Chu kicked away the zombie lunging at her from behind, spun around, and roughly hauled the girl to her feet before shoving her backward.

“Run!” she snapped coldly.

The girl looked completely frozen with terror, unable to react at first. Slammed against the wall by the force of the shove, she stared blankly at the woman standing protectively in front of her.

“M-Medic Mo…”

Mo Chu had no patience left for comforting anyone.

Like she was facing a deadly enemy, she stared fixedly at the rank-six zombie before repeating, harsher this time, “Run!”

“But…”

But you’re only a healer.

The girl never managed to say it aloud.

The Mo Chu before her—the woman respectfully called “Medic Mo,” the elegant and composed beauty admired from afar by countless people in the base—was now covered head to toe in blood and grime.

She looked nothing like a doctor.

She looked like a warrior.

Half an hour earlier, because their squad had insisted on joining the mission to eliminate that devil, Medic Mo had gotten into a fierce argument with the base leader. The squad members had spent nearly thirty minutes cursing her behind her back, and the girl herself had slipped away out of boredom.

And now, half an hour later, the very woman they had mocked had saved her life.

But there was nothing she could do.

She was only a newly awakened first-rank ability user. Compared to Medic Mo—even a healer—she was even weaker.

Clenching her teeth, she turned and fled.

She sprinted across the street, and through the wall behind her, she clearly heard the sound of claws piercing flesh.

The sound was horribly familiar.

Exactly the same as the sound she had heard years ago, from far away, when her brother died beneath zombie claws.

Tears burst from her eyes instantly, but she didn’t dare look back.

Run.

Run for your life.

By the time Mo Chu used the machete she’d picked up off the roadside to pry the crystal core from the zombie’s skull, the creature’s claws had already pierced straight through her chest.

Perhaps it had happened too suddenly.

For a moment, she didn’t even feel pain.

She let the machete fall and glanced down at the gaping wound in her chest.

One look was enough.

There was no saving her.

Leaning weakly against the wall, she slowly slid down to sit on the ground. The pain came belatedly, crashing over her in waves.

As a doctor, she was ultimately dying like a soldier.

And strangely enough, she didn’t regret it.

Only… a little unwillingness remained.

The defensive walls of the settlement had fallen. With absolute clarity, she understood that everyone in this entire safe zone would die here today.

Whether sooner or later, death had always been waiting for her.

Her life slipped away like sand through her fingers.

She tilted her head back to stare at the dim sky, and absurdly enough, her thoughts drifted to the past.

To the fortunate yet helpless life she had lived since the apocalypse began.

She had been fortunate because she awakened an ability. In this brutal world, that gave her the right to survive. Compared to ordinary people struggling desperately at the bottom, she had lived far better.

But she had also been unfortunate.

Because the power she awakened was healing.

A healer could only survive under the protection of others. Too many things were forever beyond her control.

Before she became “Medic Mo,” she had spent her entire life powerless.

At first, it was during the earliest days of the apocalypse.

Back then, she had watched helplessly as that person was shoved into a horde of zombies right in front of her eyes. Rage burned inside her, but she couldn’t resist. Like useless baggage, she could only follow the murderers and leave him behind.

She never knew what he experienced afterward.

But later, he became the devil feared by all humanity.

His name was even more terrifying than the zombies themselves.

Then there were her closest friends. The strangers who had once helped her. The companions who had fought beside her.

One by one, because of her helplessness, they all left her behind.

Until only she remained.

And finally, “Mo Chu” became “Medic Mo.”

She had struggled through six years of apocalypse.

Today, at last, it could finally end.

As her consciousness drifted in and out, she suddenly sensed a tall figure kneel in front of her, blocking out the light.

The man’s breathing was heavy. His broad frame trembled faintly, as though suppressing some overwhelming emotion… or perhaps unbearable grief.

Who was it?

She had long since become utterly alone.

Who would grieve for her now?

She forced her eyes open, but all she could see were blurred shadows and wavering light. She tried to raise a hand, wanting to grasp something, but her fingers barely lifted before falling weakly again.

A large hand suddenly seized hers.

That hand was even colder than her own dying one.

Her vision sharpened slightly.

She widened her eyes and saw a tall man kneeling before her, his face covered by a black mask.

Somehow familiar.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. In a suppressed voice, he said, “You’re not allowed to die.”

Who was he?

And why… wasn’t she allowed to die?

Her lips parted slightly as she whispered instinctively, “Who… are you?”

But the man only stubbornly repeated, “You can’t die.”

He tried to pick her up, but the moment he moved, blood surged violently from her chest wound.

The atmosphere around him grew even heavier.

He abruptly stood. “I’ll get a doctor!”

Somehow, Mo Chu found the strength to grab his hand tightly.

“I am the doctor,” she said.

The man froze.

Looking at him, the vague feeling in her heart became clearer and clearer. In a voice so faint it was barely audible, yet utterly certain, she said, “You saved me before.”

Those inexplicable moments over the past six years when she narrowly escaped death again and again.

She heard the man respond in a hoarse whisper.

“…Yes.”

A strange sense of finality settled over her heart.

And the feeling of life slipping away became even clearer.

She asked again, “Who… are you?”

The man remained silent, like a storm gathering around him.

Then she saw him slowly raise a hand and remove the black mask covering his face, revealing features both familiar and unfamiliar to her.

“I’m Li Chen,” he said quietly.

Mo Chu stared at him, overwhelmed by a crushing sense of absurdity.

Li Chen?

How could it possibly be Li Chen?

Back then, she had abandoned him together with everyone else.

And now, the person who came to save her in the end… was him.

Her eyelids grew unbearably heavy.

They slid shut before she could fight them open again.

Then she felt Li Chen carefully support her body, letting her lean against his shoulder.

She heard herself ask softly, “Why?”

Li Chen fell silent for a moment.

Her consciousness was fading fast now. She knew she wouldn’t hold on much longer.

A little regret surfaced in her heart.

Her final question might never be answered.

Then she felt the man lower his head and press a kiss against her forehead—heavy, restrained, trembling with emotion.

In a hoarse voice, he whispered:

“Because… I love you.”

For a moment, Mo Chu thought she must have misheard him in some dying hallucination.

But… why?

Her consciousness sank completely before she could ask.

…

“Li Chen! There are too many down there! The vehicles can’t get through anymore!”

“Everyone except the drivers, onto the roof.”

The calm, steady voice formed a sharp contrast against the panic around them, gradually soothing the terrified crowd.

The instant Mo Chu regained awareness, she heard that voice.

Her heart trembled violently.

Li Chen…

Before she could even open her eyes, someone wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up effortlessly. The man carried her steadily onto the roof of the vehicle.

His hands were careful and restrained, touching only her waist, never lingering anywhere unnecessary.

The moment he set her down, he immediately released her.

Mo Chu’s heart shook.

She opened her eyes abruptly and instinctively grabbed his hand.

The man turned back in surprise.

The face before her was much younger than the one she had seen before dying. More youthful, more unpolished.

And yet closer to the Li Chen she remembered.

His hands were warm.

Too real to be any dying illusion.

The younger Li Chen hesitated for a moment before speaking. “You…”

Mo Chu suddenly snapped back to herself.

After a brief pause, she slowly released his hand.

Under his puzzled gaze, she lowered her head and smiled faintly.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

Li Chen merely glanced at her before turning away to continue organizing the others.

Mo Chu took a deep breath and looked around.

She was sitting atop an off-road vehicle. Around her were six or seven other people crammed onto the roof, men and women alike, all pale with fear.

Many of them were deeply familiar to her.

A small number had died during the first year of the apocalypse.

Most of the others had died at Li Chen’s hands during the second year.

There was no way they should still be standing here.

She lowered her head and looked at her hands.

Slim. Delicate. Weak and utterly lacking strength.

The hands of someone pampered and protected.

Then she looked up at the sky.

The city’s skyscrapers still stood bright and intact, far from the desolate ghost city the world would become six years later. The wind brushing against her skin felt vivid and real. Around her, terrified screams rang nonstop.

But in the sixth year of the apocalypse, even five-year-old children knew better than to scream in front of zombies.

Those monsters tracked sound.

As she stared blankly upward, a girl beside her suddenly grabbed her hand tightly, her voice trembling with tears.

“Mo Chu… what do we do?”

Mo Chu nearly threw her off the vehicle on reflex.

Although she restrained herself in time, her grip on the girl’s wrist tightened painfully, and the cold sharpness in her gaze frightened the girl silent.

The girl shrank back timidly before whispering after a while, “Mo Chu… what’s wrong? You’re hurting me.”

Mo Chu let go.

Only after a long moment did she finally pull the girl’s name from her memories.

Qin Xue.

She barely remembered her.

Because Qin Xue had died in the first year of the apocalypse.

This woman—who never truly grew stronger even after the world ended—had eventually become the mistress of an ability user in their team. Perhaps out of jealousy or resentment, she repeatedly helped that man scheme against Mo Chu.

In the end, during a dangerous mission, the same man shoved her out as bait to save himself.

Mo Chu no longer felt anger over those old grudges.

She merely glanced at Qin Xue indifferently before looking away and confirming something once more.

This was not the world she died in.

This was… the very beginning.

The fifth day of the apocalypse.

The day she had just awakened her healing ability.

And also—

“Chu Ming! Have you lost your mind?! What the hell are you doing?!”

Mo Chu whipped around abruptly.

As though history were replaying itself before her eyes, she saw a grim-faced man shove Li Chen straight into the zombie horde below the vehicle.

As Li Chen fell, the disbelief in his eyes slowly turned into lifeless, freezing cold silence.

This was the moment Li Chen had been pushed into the zombies.

Mo Chu’s mind went blank.

Without thinking, she lunged forward, throwing herself over the edge of the vehicle and grabbing his hand tightly.

This time…

I caught you.