To the Start of a New World

2.16

F City was mostly intact. It was only the core of the base in ruins. It was a good thing, too; there were still parts of F City that Ji Ling enjoyed, and once this place became fully hers, she could order her people to restore them.

After feeding Lu Hao her healing spring water, Ji Ling dragged him toward the vehicle storage. Everything was all a mess, and Ji Ling felt momentarily furious at Lu Hao for causing such a commotion.

Where did it all go wrong?

She didn't even have to think.

It was all because of that depressing stalker Lu Hao kept around him.

She really should have just snapped his neck and dumped him out in a ditch. If only Xiehang hadn't lied to her back then. If he had just let her know he had met Lu Hao and immobilized him, Ji Ling wouldn't have had to worry about being caught by Lu Hao. She could even have immediately killed that creepy hanger-on when he had somehow wandered into the underground laboratory.

And now everything had spiraled so quickly. Lu Hao had nearly been ruined. Thankfully Ji Ling had made it in time. Though his ability core was fractured and would never recover to what it was, Lu Hao had at least kept his good looks.

The zombie emperor Xiehang had disappeared, taking Kai with him. They needed to heal and lay low, and after Lu Hao's attack, Kai was already on the cusp of death; luckily Kai had become sturdier after his zombie transformation.

At least now, things were going to go back on track.

As Ji Ling loaded Lu Hao's unconscious form into the SG truck, she smiled, a triumphant look flashing through her eyes.

At the ruins of the SG Base.

No one knew why the zombies had retreated.

Almost everyone had died. Only around a hundred people had survived by the end. The atmosphere was dim and quiet, only occasionally disturbed by muffled sobbing.

Hong Sheng gazed blankly into space. His face was unwashed, covered in grime, a mixture of blood, ash, and dirt. He looked and smelled filthy. But no one else in the base was faring much better.

"Chin up."

A wet towel landed on his head. Lisa Xi walked over and sat on a crate next to Hong Sheng. She sipped from a water flask as Hong Sheng robotically took the towel and wiped it 'til the cloth turned brown and black.

"You thinking anything?"

Hong Sheng didn't spare her a glance. He just tossed the towel aside.

Lisa Xi didn't mind the lack of response. "Well, what's going through my head is... She really wants to kill us all. The only reason she hasn't, the only reason we're still alive... Is because we're convenient."

Lisa Xi had long abandoned the idea that fate moved in mysterious ways. Ever since that talk with Hong Sheng, she was adamant that everything in this world tied back to Ji Ling. Even something like the enormous zombie wave moved according to her whims. It was a ridiculous idea. How could everything in the entire world revolve around one woman?

But Hong Sheng wasn't the type to argue or dissuade her. He didn't say anything and just sat there, curled up, like an inactive automaton waiting for its master's command.

With a sigh, Lisa Xi got up. Her lab had been destroyed. There was no reason for zombies to have gone after her laboratory; no people had been in there, so they should have left it well alone. But the machines had been trashed, the files torn, everything in shambles. The only explanation was that either the zombies, or the human survivors, had purposefully gone to destroy it.