Chapter 1: Login Device?
“Zzzt… Zzzt…”
“This is… Zzzt… AM990… Survivor’s Light Radio Station… Zzzt… Apocalypse… Five Years… Zzzt… Believe in the Light…”
“Whether Awakened… Zzzt… Ordinary People… Join…”
“Us… Donghai Province… Zzzt…”
A candle flickered, struggling to dispel the darkness within the room. The intermittent static of the radio was the only background noise.
Inside a nearly 30 square meter empty room, all the daily necessities were neatly arranged, even the floor was spotless.
An oversized double bed occupied the room, yet it still felt overly spacious. The bedding on the bed was folded meticulously.
At this moment, a young girl in a rusty wheelchair sat in front of a dressing table, writing something by candlelight.
“…I’ve written so much, Sister. If you come back and see this letter, don’t be sad. After all, without you, I would have died five years ago.”
“If you really do come back, remember to clean the room regularly, don’t be as messy as before…”
“Without a burden like me, you can also try to go to Donghai Province. The radio says that you can live well there without contribution points…”
“…Oh right, there’s one bottle of Coke left. I hid it in that place, you know where! If you come back, drink it, don’t save it…”
“Also…”
The girl was writing when her hand suddenly stopped. The paper was already full.
“Hoo…”
The girl let out a soft sigh and put down her pen. There was no more paper for her to write on.
She folded the letter, opened the drawer of the dressing table, placed the letter inside, then took something out of the drawer and put it on the tabletop.
Where the writing paper had been on the table, now lay a pistol.
It was a Type 92 modified police pistol, left to her by her older sister. Her sister seemed to have foreseen something before setting out to search for supplies.
The purpose of this gun was not self-defense.
Because there were only two 9mm pistol rounds in the magazine.
For self-defense, two 9mm bullets couldn’t take down a zombie, not even an adult human.
But for suicide, it was enough.
“Knock, knock, knock—”
A soft knock on the door interrupted the girl’s thoughts. She grabbed the pistol on the table and looked expressionlessly towards the door.
“Click—”
The sound of a key turning in the lock. The girl’s eyes flickered, seeming to gain a little life.
But when the door fully opened, a hint of disappointment flashed in the girl’s eyes.
She expertly masked her emotions, forcing a smile: “Grandma, what is it?”
“Jiayao, tomorrow… are you crying?”
Entering was a white-haired, hunchbacked old woman, leaning on a blackened silver-plated cane. She seemed to have immediately noticed the girl’s unusual mood.
The girl’s name was Lin Jiayao. The old woman’s name was Zhang Wen.
Usually, the girl simply called the old woman Grandma Zhang, or just Grandma.
They weren’t related in any way.
If there was anything they had in common, it was that they were both considered “parasites” by the survivor camp’s population.
One was crippled and relied on her Awakened older sister for support.
The other was old and frail, relying on her Awakened son for support.
Thanks to the unwavering support of their Awakened relatives, both were able to receive a considerable amount of contribution points from their relatives and live in the camp.
But recently, the situation had changed.
Their camp was located in a resort villa on the outskirts of Yangzhou City.
The former resort, after years of renovations, now resembled a fortress.
As resources around them dwindled, the camp’s search teams had to venture deeper into the city.
Terrifying zombies occupied the major cities, making such expeditions extremely risky.
About a week ago, a search team led by an Awakened member had gone into the city and lost contact.
Lin Jiayao’s sister and Grandma Zhang’s son were the captain and vice-captain of that search team.
Now, the team was 46 hours overdue from their expected return date.
Including the 5-day exploration time, the team had been missing for almost a week.
In another 2 hours, the team would be declared officially “lost.”
“Lost” was simply a more euphemistic term; in reality, it meant they were removed from the list of survivors.
And the families of the explorers…
Lin Jiayao recalled the scene that morning.
The family of a search team member, Uncle Han, his wife, had been declared to have insufficient contribution points and was to be expelled from the camp.
When the enforcers arrived at Uncle Han’s home, they found his wife had hanged herself.
Compared to suicide, being expelled from the camp was more despairing.
This despair wasn’t brought about by the ordinary biting zombies surrounding the camp, but by the other ordinary people in the camp.
Inside the camp, with the C-rank Awakened leader in control, there was still some order.
Outside the camp, it was pure apocalypse, devoid of any law or morality.
In the early years, when the female family members of some deceased explorers were expelled from the camp, that kind of scene could still be seen – a group of beasts like jackals following behind the expelled, their eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the person ahead, waiting for the moment she left the camp.
So later, most families of missing explorers, who lacked the ability to survive, would choose suicide directly…
In this situation, suicide was the best solution.
Grandma Zhang and Lin Jiayao were family members of Awakened, so their expulsion deadline was extended by 24 hours.
But in another 2 hours, the deadline would arrive.
“I’m fine, Grandma.” Lin Jiayao smiled, turning her wheelchair to block the pistol behind her. “Aren’t you asleep yet?”
“Don’t do anything foolish, Grandma is here…” Grandma Zhang’s pale lips trembled, but she couldn’t offer any reassuring words.
She also wanted to comfort Lin Jiayao, but she was in the same situation.
Her son hadn’t returned either.
She was an old woman; those beasts wouldn’t care about her, at most they’d leave her in the wilderness to be bitten to death by zombies.
But Grandma Zhang was worried about Lin Jiayao.
Lin Jiayao was the most beautiful, most sensible and well-behaved child Grandma Zhang had ever met.
When her sister went out exploring, even though her movement was inconvenient, Lin Jiayao would keep the room spotlessly clean.
Sometimes, after cleaning her own room, Lin Jiayao would even come over and help her, who was also mobility-impaired, clean her room, chat with her, and listen to her ramble.
Grandma Zhang had already treated her as her own granddaughter.
“This is all I can do.” Every time Grandma wanted Lin Jiayao to rest, she would reply with this same indifferent sentence.
She was a child so sensible it made one’s heart ache…
If there were no apocalypse, no zombies, a child like her would probably be very popular…
Recalling all the help she’d received from Lin Jiayao over the years, Grandma Zhang seemed to make up her mind.
“Don’t think about doing anything stupid, trust Grandma…”
Grandma Zhang reached out and stroked Lin Jiayao’s soft hair, then turned and left, leaning on her cane, locking the door for Lin Jiayao.
“Tap… Tap… Tap…”
Listening to the sound of the cane fading away, Lin Jiayao withdrew her gaze.
“Surviving for five years in the apocalypse, it’s a profit.”
Lin Jiayao murmured.
If she could, she didn’t want to die either.
But she had no resources to live on, and no faith to live for.
Her sister, who had been so good to her, was missing, and she couldn’t even go look for her.
Grandma Zhang, who often took care of her, couldn’t escape the fate of being devoured by zombies, and she was powerless.
She was just a flower vase in a wheelchair, without even the aptitude to become an Awakened.
“Like a useless piece of trash…”
“Next life, be someone strong.”
Lin Jiayao turned her wheelchair, took the pistol from the table by the candlelight. The entirely black gun body appeared icy cold even reflecting the soft candlelight. Lin Jiayao released the safety and, with all her strength, chambered a round.
“Becoming a zombie is better than being human, at least you don’t have to think…”
Lin Jiayao slightly opened her small mouth and, with effort, placed the barrel of the gun inside, her body trembling slightly.
The small house where the two had lived together for four years, Lin Jiayao had cleaned it for the last time.
She thought, if there’s a next life, she must be a healthy person.
At this moment, her heart became strangely calm, and she made the choice most desperate people would make in the apocalypse—she slowly pulled the trigger.
“Click—”
The atmosphere froze.
The poorly maintained Type 92, lacking care, jammed.
But then, another image, accompanied by a strange sound effect, abruptly appeared before Lin Jiayao.
「Ding—」
「Adjusting parameters…」
「Performing mental synchronization…」
「Login Device bound」
「Please select your spawn point—」
Lin Jiayao stared blankly at the illusory world map in front of her.
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