After so many months of intense training, if any of the Gu Mansion's children went out now, they would definitely be mistaken for celebrities.
Not the delicate, flower-vase kind either.
It was the kind of presence that made people unconsciously straighten their backs—clean lines of muscle, calm eyes, restrained power coiled beneath skin that looked unnaturally flawless. The cleansing had not only removed impurities; it had dragged their bodies across several invisible dragon gates in one go. Their skin was clear, their posture sharp, and their gazes steady.
Gu Yunchen himself looked no older than his late thirties.
Broad shoulders, narrow waist, an aura of authority sharpened by cultivation—he was practically radiating explosive manliness.
Haaaiiiii…
What a sin.
Or was it…?
Gu Mian, leaning lazily against the railing on the upper floor, watched her father spar with two of her brothers in the courtyard below and silently concluded that the world was absolutely not ready for the Gu family.
Not at all.
---
The weather, as if offended by humanity's continued existence, began acting up even more violently.
One day scorching heat, the next day freezing rain. Winds came without warning, clouds churned unnaturally low, and animals grew restless. Birds migrated in chaotic patterns, insects vanished overnight, and even the sky itself seemed… impatient.
Then, on August 21st, the heavens finally cracked.
Meteorites fell across the world.
Not a poetic drizzle. Not scattered fireballs.
It was a bombardment.
Flaming streaks tore through the atmosphere, smashing into cities, oceans, forests, and mountains. Shockwaves rippled through the earth. Buildings collapsed. Fires erupted. Sirens wailed for hours before falling silent one by one.
One meteorite landed directly inside the Gu Mansion grounds.
Several more slammed into the surrounding mountain.
Gu Yunchen had called Gu Mian the moment the phenomenon began.
"They're important to you," he said without hesitation. "They contain energy."
That was all he needed to say.
The family immediately moved.
They didn't panic. They didn't argue. They simply acted.
Surprisingly, the moment Gu Yunchen touched one of the meteorites, he felt it.
Dense, violent energy—foreign, powerful, but not hostile.
Useful.
That very night, Gu Yunchen led all of his children with space abilities out of the mansion.
They worked like clockwork.
They would teleport or drive out, collect meteorites into their spaces, return to the mansion, unload them into designated zones, then head straight back out again. Over and over. No complaints. No wasted movement.
Gu Yunchen even called in old favors.
Private shipments. Discreet routes. Meteorites transported under the cover of chaos.
While the world burned, the Gu family harvested.
---
Gu Mian was doing the same.
In C City, over a hundred gigantic meteorites fell.
She personally secured more than fifty.
Her teammates gathered ten more.
She moved like a ghost through the city, teleporting at the exact moments meteorites struck, plucking them out of buildings, intersections, rooftops—sometimes mid-collapse. Her space quaked violently as it absorbed meteorite after meteorite, the internal ground splitting and reforming as energy flooded in.
Gu Ruisheng discovered something important that night.
The moment his space ability absorbed a meteorite, the energy surged violently through him.
An hour later, he broke through to level three.
Without hesitation, he began teleporting across the capital, removing meteorites embedded in skyscrapers, bridges, and densely populated areas—preventing further collapses, though the casualties had already mounted.
By dawn, over 2,000 meteorites had fallen across Hua Country alone.
Not counting those swallowed by the sea.
It was a catastrophe.
Thousands died.
---
Tang Guo was also on the move.
He absorbed as many meteorites as his ability allowed, knowing exactly how precious these fragments would become in the future. Xiao San drove without complaint, following Tang Guo's directions through burning streets and abandoned districts.
That night, Tang Guo finally told Xiao San the truth.
About the apocalypse.
About zombies.
About what was coming.
Xiao San didn't believe him.
But he listened anyway.
And for the sake of safety, he gathered his people and began preparing through the night.
Sometimes survival started with disbelief—but continued with action.
---
The meteorite fall threw the world into chaos for two full days.
At the Gu Mansion, Gu Yunchen and his children did not directly absorb the meteorites. Instead, they cultivated beside them, drawing the spiritual energy into their bodies in a controlled manner.
In total, fifty meteorites lay scattered across the compound.
Seventeen were carefully set aside in a secluded corner—for Gu Mian.
Others remained inside the spaces of the children, to be taken out and used gradually.
Gu Mian's team mirrored the same process in their own compound.
Two households.
One rhythm.
A week later, cultivating day and night, all meteorite energy had been fully absorbed.
What remained were dull, lifeless stones.
They didn't discard them.
Radiation-free, mineral-rich—perfect for improving soil.
The stones disappeared into various space abilities.
By then, the world was already ending.
---
August 29th.
People died en masse.
Ten minutes later, they stood back up.
And bit the living.
Chaos exploded across the globe.
While outside screamed and burned, the Gu family children calmly broke through to level four.
Gu Yunchen and Gu Ruisheng advanced to level five.
They trained as though the apocalypse was nothing more than inconvenient background noise.
They could now form bows and arrows instantly—within a second—along with swords, sabers, and customized weapons shaped entirely to their preferences.
The Gu Mansion housed fifty-four people.
Every single one of them stood at level four.
Mu Qiao, Gu Yunchen's assistant, awakened only a normal ability. But he trained harder than anyone. With guidance from Gu Ruisheng, his combat strength and technique were not inferior to anyone in the mansion.
His relationship with Gu Yunchen had long since evolved beyond employer and subordinate.
They were friends now.
They trained together. Ate together. Sparred daily.
Gu Yunchen personally demonstrated, again and again, that no ability was useless—not even mental or auxiliary ones.
---
September arrived.
Cities emptied as people fled in search of family, safety, or rumored government shelters.
The Gu Mansion did not move.
For the first time since awakening his ability, Gu Yunchen spread his mental power outward deliberately.
Zombies responded.
They gathered.
Zombie animals emerged from the forest reserve behind the mountain.
Zombie birds circled overhead.
At first, the children were injured frequently.
Mistakes were made.
Timing was off.
Fear slipped through cracks.
But they adapted.
By mid-September, movements sharpened. Coordination improved. Injuries decreased.
Then winter arrived early.
Snow fell.
Cold claimed more lives than zombies.
Tang Guo and Xiao San set off toward L City, targeting the national maximum-security prison to establish a base. Along the way, they raided abandoned supermarkets—taking everything, even what others had deemed useless.
Two months on the road awaited them.
By November, only radios remained.
Gu Mian informed her family of her next move.
D City first.
Then the capital.
Then—the preserved wild forest.
The largest modified RV rolled out.
Gu Mian took the wheel.
The road ahead was blocked by abandoned cars.
She smiled.
Driving was easy.
What came next wouldn't be.
- 🤍