An old building, draped in dead vines.
Lin An stood before the weathered doorplate, chest heaving. Five minutes—hundreds of zombies cut down, blood caked to his uniform, boots soaked in gore. The broken axe was gone, replaced with half a Licker's spine, still sharp enough to kill.
He looked like a monster that had clawed its way from a grave.
"Jingtian! Anxia!"
Ignoring the corpses swaying at the entrance, Lin An stormed into the stairwell, shouting their names.
Inside the room, An Xia jerked upright. Curled in the corner moments before, she now stumbled to the window, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Brother Lin!" she cried, waving frantically. "I'm here!"
Her voice lit a spark of hope—but it also stirred the dead. The zombies outside pounded harder at the door, maddened by the scent of life.
Lin An's head snapped up at her voice. Relief surged—then froze.
On the chair, An Jingtian's chains rattled loose. His wrists had withered, flesh sloughed away, and the iron cuffs slipped free. The chain hit the floor with a sharp clang.
The room dimmed.
From the corner, a pair of blood-red eyes flared open—hungry, merciless.
Lin An's pupils narrowed.
Burst of power.
Golden light surged around him as he burned through his talent again, ignoring the backlash. He charged.
Puff!
The sharpened Licker spine pierced a zombie clean through, pinning it to the door like rotten meat on a skewer.
Boom!
With a roar, Lin An smashed the iron door off its hinges. Metal screamed and buckled under his fist.
Inside—
"Brother?"
An Xia staggered, blood seeping from a gash on her throat. Her brother loomed over her, face torn, eyes blank with hunger, teeth snapping inches from her skin.
"Jingtian!" Lin An's shout cracked the air.
The name hit like a thunderclap. For an instant, clarity flickered in Jingtian's scarlet gaze. His jaw froze mid-bite.
That was enough.
Crash!
Lin An barreled through the doorway in half a second, slamming into Jingtian and knocking him off An Xia. The impact cracked the wall, dust raining down.
But Jingtian wasn't human anymore. His body shuddered, then surged with monstrous strength. The virus had already bolstered his flesh. He roared, eyes burning, straining against Lin An's grip.
Lin An pinned him, muscles trembling, grief clawing his chest.
The boy he'd grown up with—now just a beast. The sister he swore to protect—already infected.
I won't lose them. Not again.
He ripped a strip of metal, slashed open his wrist. Blood gushed, glimmering faintly with gold.
"Don't worry," he rasped. "I'm here."
He pressed his bleeding wrist to Jingtian's chest.
The awakened blood seeped in. Golden light flickered through torn skin. Jingtian's convulsions slowed. His eyes cleared, the madness receding.
It was working.
Lin An's vision dimmed, his body drained, but he forced himself to stay upright.
An Xia's voice trembled with fragile hope. "Brother Lin… can my brother be saved?"
Lin An managed a thin smile. "He'll be fine."
But then—
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
Jingtian's body arched violently, joints snapping as bones grated together. His pupils turned corpse-gray. The golden blood was forced out, dripping onto his chest and hissing into foul vapor.
Lin An's relief was shattered.
"Impossible…"
The skin sloughed off Jingtian's body in sheets, revealing raw, red muscle beneath. The transformation wasn't halted—it had accelerated.
"No!" Lin An's roar was ragged, eyes bloodshot. His fists clenched until his nails dug deep into flesh.
The rumor had been wrong. The blood of the awakened wasn't salvation. It was poison.
Jingtian was gone.
An Xia would be next.
Exhausted, bloodied, consumed with grief, Lin An trembled on the edge of despair.
Why? Why must it end like this again?
And then—
Ding.
Savior mission begins.