When he opened his eyes, everything was blinding white. For a moment, Qi Yue couldn’t tell where he was.
All around him echoed cries and screams. Pain. His whole body ached, a deep, searing pain.
How could it not hurt? So many zombies… he gave a bitter laugh. So what if he was her biological son? In the end, he still couldn’t compare to that other man’s child. To save that man’s son, his mother had pushed her own son straight into a zombie’s mouth.
Yes, even if the other wasn’t her own flesh and blood. She’d raised the other for twenty years while she’d only raised him, her real son, for five. He’d just never been able to face reality.
For this mother who gave him life, only he knew how much he’d sacrificed.
How many times had he died searching for her?
How many times had he died fetching supplies for her and her new family?
How many times had he died protecting her on her way to her new husband?
He hadn’t expected this last time to be the cruelest of all, the one that froze his heart completely.
So this was his end.
Even a dog raised for years would have feelings, was he worth less than a dog?
Pain. Trembling. His whole body shook.
Scenes flickered rapidly through his mind: joy, sorrow, laughter, agony, like a film being fast-forwarded and rewound endlessly.
He stared blankly at the ceiling. Ten minutes passed. Then, a familiar voice reached his ears.
“It’s time to change the dressing.”
A young nurse stood beside his bed, face flushed red. So pretty.
Even though he’d been unconscious for two days and was still a little pale, it didn’t affect his looks at all.
It was the first time she’d seen someone so beautiful. Words couldn’t describe this person—no, this boy. A boy with an androgynous face, prettier than any celebrity on TV by a hundredfold, no, a thousandfold.
As the little nurse stared openly at him, Qi Yue cursed silently in his head. D*mn, d*mn, d*mn, it’s starting again. The thirty-eighth round.
Qi Yue’s life was like a game. Dying again and again, trying to pass each level.
Yes, this was his thirty-eighth rebirth. He’d died thirty-seven times before. The shortest round: two days; bitten to death by zombies right after stepping out of the house. The longest: seven years; the previous life, when he still ended up dying by his own mother’s hand.
He’d died in every way imaginable, in every kind of place.
Now it was starting over again. He made up his mind, never again would he sacrifice for so-called “family,” “friendship,” or “love.” He would stay as far away from those “little” and “old” women as possible. Every time he’d fallen for one, he’d paid the price, each seeming kind and sweet, but with hearts like knives.
Even this hospital stay had been because of one. He’d gone out to hand in an article, saw an old lady fall at an intersection, and being soft-hearted, helped her up and sent her to the hospital. He even called her family for her. And what happened when her son and daughter arrived? They refused to believe he was helping, insisted he was the one who knocked her down. They held him back, wouldn’t let him leave, and during the argument, the old woman’s son hit him on the head with a cup.
He’d been unconscious for two days. That meant there was only one week left until the apocalypse.
Would he awaken an ability this time? And what would it be?
Each rebirth, his powers were different:speed, strength, agility, vision, healing, wind, fire, lightning, earth, plants, space… he’d had them all. But ugh, some of them had been useless.
Appraising jewels. Predicting the weather. Universal lockpicking. Perfect memory. And once, unbelievably, his ability had been “loud voice.”
Seriously, what use was that? In the apocalypse, no one comes when you scream, only more zombies do.
He could only hope this time’s ability was actually useful.
Qi Yue quickly signed the discharge papers. Then he visited the old lady, paying her 8,000 yuan for her medical expenses.
Though he’d been wronged for doing good, he didn’t have the time to argue.
He sold his house, modified a car, bought supplies, so many things to do.
Before the apocalypse, Qi Yue had been a homebody. He wrote for a small magazine, only going out once a week to submit his work. The rest of the time, he stayed home.
His father had died in a car accident when Qi Yue was five. Two months later, his mother remarried, her first love. She left Qi Yue with his grandparents to raise.
After his grandparents passed away, Qi Yue lived alone.
Lonely, yes but he got used to it.
Over the years, his mother only visited a few times, always saying she had “no choice.” Sure, being someone else’s stepmother wasn’t easy. And he had believed her.
But really?
Abandoning your own son to care for your lover’s child left behind from a difficult birth, what a grand act of “motherly love.”
After so many lessons, he should have learned better.
Shaking his head, Qi Yue pushed the thoughts aside.
He went to the real estate office and listed his three properties.
Two were downtown; the third was in a soon-to-be-demolished area. He priced them ten thousand below market value, cash only, but they should sell fast.
Next, he went to the car market and took out a loan to buy a military jeep. His current car’s chassis was too low, no way it’d last in the apocalypse.
After buying it, he drove it straight to a repair shop and spent a fortune having it reinforced. He arranged to pick it up in three days.
The most important things done, he felt exhausted. He’d buy supplies tomorrow, after all, there was still a week left.
For now, the priority was to test whether he had awakened any power, his only hope for survival.
Back home, Qi Yue stripped and went straight into the shower. Wiping the fog from the mirror, he saw the same face he’d had through all thirty-seven past lives: smooth pale skin, flawless, with a body better than a model’s.
A perky butt, delicate features, long narrow peach-blossom eyes that shimmered even when glaring, so alluring it was almost sinful.
D*mn it, he thought. Same as always, each rebirth made him even prettier, his skin smoother, his body more delicate. This time was the most absurd yet.
What good was a man looking this beautiful?
Was this supposed to be a “rebirth bonus”? He’d rather go without it.
He sat down to meditate, testing his spiritual power.
Good, it was there. That meant he had awakened an ability this time.
But what kind?
He focused, summoned energy but nothing.
No sensation in his hands.
No wind, no fire, no lightning, no earth, no space.
No strength, no speed, no agility.
He tested everything he could think of.
Nothing.
Disappointment washed over him.
D*mn. Don’t tell me it’s another one of those weird, useless abilities again.
