The limping zombie, Old Wang, turned his ashen-white eyes toward the mother and daughter.
It was as if he had caught the scent of flesh. He let out a low howl and lurched toward them, his gait a hobbling shamble.
Song You'ai's face paled in terror, but she still desperately pushed Xie Ning behind her. "Ningning, run! Quick, run!"
Xie Ning squeezed her mother's hand, then shot forward. In one fluid motion, her knife rose and fell.
With exceptional control over angle and speed, she plunged the long knife deep into the zombie's brain, then yanked it out, pulling a mess of dark red matter with it.
Song You'ai's limbs felt weak. Old Wang collapsed with a heavy THUD, a sound that seemed to strike her very heart.
Xie Ning turned and wrapped her arms tightly around her round, chubby mother. "Mom, don't be afraid."
Feeling her mother's warmth once more, no matter how steely her resolve, she couldn't stop her eyes from welling up.
To her mother, it had only been a few hours since they last saw each other.
But for Xie Ning, it felt like an entire lifetime had passed.
After experiencing long years of solitude and being mired in perpetual darkness, this reunion with the light left her heart filled with a cautious, trembling unease.
"Mom." Xie Ning leaned her head against Song You'ai's shoulder, desperately fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.
Holding her daughter, safe and sound, Song You'ai was overcome with emotion as well.
She gently patted her back, her voice warm and soothing. "Xiao Ning, don't be afraid. Mom's here."
Xie Ning felt a damnable urge to just break down and cry, an irrepressible tide of emotion boiling up inside her.
What Mom had said were the exact same words she'd spoken as she died in the previous life.
'But in this life, it's my turn to protect Mom, to make sure she wants for nothing.'
"Mom, I'm not scared at all."
Song You'ai held her daughter, looking her over from head to toe. Her voice was slightly choked with emotion. "Xiao Ning, you have no idea... when I got that text message, I was scared to death. I was so worried about you. Thank goodness you're here. Now that I can see you're okay, I can finally breathe a little easier."
"A text message?" Xie Ning froze for a moment. Then, she vaguely recalled that something like that had indeed happened.
At the beginning of the chaos, before communications had completely failed, the government had sent out several emergency text alerts.
She couldn't remember the exact details, but she had a vague impression of them.
They said something about a virus of unknown origin causing persistent high fevers, and that these fevers would develop toward one of two extremes.
The first was mutating into a mindless, flesh-craving zombie; the second was a genetic mutation that granted superpowers capable of fighting them.
It sounded like a joke, but unfortunately, it was all too real.
Therefore, a persistent high fever didn't necessarily mean someone would turn into a zombie. This was a crucial piece of common sense that everyone needed to have.
If you weren't careful, you could easily end up killing a teammate who was actually in the process of awakening a superpower.
In the early days of the apocalypse, such horrific tragedies happened all the time.
Xie Ning felt her mother's hand trembling slightly. She squeezed it tightly and whispered, "Don't be afraid, Mom."
"These early-stage zombies aren't that terrifying. They move very slowly. As long as we have enough stamina to run, we'll be fine. The one thing we absolutely cannot let happen is getting surrounded."
"Okay." Song You'ai clenched her fist. "I'll do my best to adapt. I won't hold you back."
The mother and daughter descended the stairs cautiously, doing their best not to make a sound and attract unwanted attention.
In the silent supermarket, a roar or two would occasionally echo, accompanied by chewing sounds that were enough to make one's blood run cold.