Chapter 22: Awakening
Haixin District, Huangpu Avenue West, Jing Street, Anju Huayuan.
A figure sat on the floor of the master bedroom in apartment 402, Building A, leaning against the mattress, surrounded by several empty mineral water bottles.
“Hoo…”
The figure calmly regulated her breathing, the faint outline of her abdominal muscles rippling with each breath.
Finally, as the faintest light began to filter through the window, she slowly opened her eyes.
She couldn’t wait any longer.
Her name was Lin Xiwan, 22 years old, with a sister six years younger.
An unknown number of days ago, she had led an exploration team to Haixin District for a three-day resource survey.
Things had gone well at first. They had found several untouched resource points and marked them.
They had encountered incredibly fast Nest Zombies, fought fierce battles.
These zombies were far more evolved than those in Baiyan District.
But as they were preparing to leave, they were unexpectedly blocked by several Wailers.
If it weren’t for Zhang Mu, the vision-type Awakened on their team, they wouldn’t have noticed the Wailers hidden among the piles of cars during the day.
Later, they encountered a group of people from a camp.
Having never been to Haixin District before, they assumed the camp here was also governed by strong individuals—at least Awakened with some humanity.
But they were wrong. They walked into an ambush.
Fortunately, Lin Xiwan was a D-rank Awakened, and her ability was related to physical enhancement. She barely escaped their “hunt” and broke out of the encirclement.
But she was still hit by arrows and seriously injured.
Enduring the pain, she treated her wounds and immediately began evading the exploration team that was hunting her.
It was extremely dangerous. She faced not only the treacherous hearts of humans but also bloodthirsty zombies.
She persevered through sheer willpower.
Her sister was still waiting for her, her helpless sister…
Whenever she thought of this, Lin Xiwan felt close to breaking down.
But she couldn’t hold out for many days. Evading pursuit during the day and zombies at night, with severely limited food and water, she finally collapsed in a temporary hiding place on the fourth day.
As her consciousness faded, she felt like she was dying.
No, she felt like she was already in hell—in her delirium, she seemed to see a pale-faced White Guard of Impermanence, his forehead adorned with a talisman, forcing her to drink Meng Po soup.
She didn’t know why it was the White Guard giving her the soup, but dreams were often absurd.
But the most absurd thing wasn’t the dream.
The most absurd thing was that she actually started to recover, as if she had indeed been given “soup.”
Without the disturbance of zombies, without the pursuit of the camp team, resting in a coma, her wounds healed remarkably quickly.
She had woken up yesterday afternoon, but the excitement of confirming how long she had been unconscious caused her to faint again, only waking up completely at night.
Upon waking the second time, Lin Xiwan noticed the unusual circumstances. She stared blankly at the water bottles beside her.
Had she scavenged for purified water while escaping?
No, she hadn’t. If she had water, she wouldn’t have been in such a dire state.
Both the broken door and the water bottles indicated someone had been in this room and had seen her unconscious.
But why hadn’t that mysterious person killed her or taken her captive?
Instead, they had brought her water?
These questions didn’t linger in Lin Xiwan’s mind for long. Her confused thoughts were quickly replaced by a single, overwhelming concern.
Was her sister alright?
How many days had passed? How long had she been unconscious?
Thinking of her frail sister, always giving her a warm smile, confined to a wheelchair, Lin Xiwan felt like she was suffocating.
As if someone was choking her.
But even in peak condition, she couldn’t break through Haixin District at night.
She could only anxiously wait for daybreak. During the agonizing wait, she regretted accepting the exploration mission countless times, reproached herself for not returning sooner.
She knew, deep down, that she must be overdue, listed as missing.
But there was still a sliver of hope in her heart. Maybe, just maybe, her sister was still alive?
Perhaps she had left some blood crystals in her room? Perhaps the camp leader had shown mercy and allowed family members to stay a few extra days?
She didn’t dare consider any other possibilities.
Feeling almost fully recovered, Lin Xiwan lifted the mattress with one hand, revealing two blood crystals underneath.
If those people had come for these blood crystals, she would have gladly given them up. Unfortunately, they seemed to be after her.
Putting the blood crystals into her tactical waist pouch, Lin Xiwan took a deep breath.
She decided to take a gamble, no more hiding.
She would run across the bridge blocked by the Wailers, reach the other side—even if it meant being chased by a horde.
Sprinters weren’t as terrifying during the day. She wanted to try.
She didn’t consider what would happen if she didn’t survive. Perhaps, for her now, not surviving would be a relief from this torment.
It was too agonizing…
“Ha…”
She exhaled slowly, her muscles tensing.
The wounds weren’t bleeding…good.
She walked towards the door, moved the fallen wooden door, and reached the iron gate.
Lin Xiwan first turned off the sensor before opening the gate.
As soon as she stepped out, she noticed a bone spike wedged in the opposite gate.
The sharp bone spike gleamed coldly, seemingly taken from a Lurker.
“Where did this bone spike come from?”
Lin Xiwan frowned but didn’t touch it.
Rule number one of survival in the apocalypse: if you encounter something unfamiliar, it’s best to leave it alone.
Lin Xiwan walked down the stairs. Soon, she was drawn to several headless corpses lying on the third-floor landing.
She clearly remembered there being no zombies on the stairs when she came up.
Why were there Biter corpses here?
It was possible that Biters had wandered in, but who had killed them?
Regardless of who it was, Lin Xiwan didn’t want to encounter them now.
She returned to the fourth floor, opened the window in the stairwell, jumped onto the security bars of the adjacent balcony, and climbed down, floor by floor.
Lin Xiwan was incredibly agile, reaching the ground from the fourth floor in less than five seconds, like a professional parkour athlete.
As her feet touched the solid ground, she ran towards the complex entrance.
It wasn’t fully daylight yet; there might still be zombies wandering around, but the camp members wouldn’t be out this early.
She had to use this time to reach the bridge.
Reaching the entrance, she saw the cars blocking the way.
Barely slowing down, Lin Xiwan jumped high, pushed off the undercarriage of the highest car, and flipped over it.
Landing, she stepped on something, a “crack” sound almost causing her to lose her balance.
“Hmm?”
Lin Xiwan glanced down and her eyes widened.
If this were a comic, question marks would be popping up above her head.
Because she had stepped on a plastic bag.
And inside the bag were several cans of premium beef.
When she had crawled into the complex… were these cans here?
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