To the Start of a New World

3.10

Twenty or so survivors clustered in the villa. Most of them sat on the carpet, exhausted. They were all kinds of people—middle-aged men and women, energetic young teenagers and adults, and even a couple of children and elderly.

A few high schoolers at the side joked with each other. Some doctors and nurses checked over the other survivors for minor wounds. A few of the ability users murmured quietly about the changes in their bodies.

Sitting on the stairs was Lu Hao, their rescuer. The young teenager had sharp sword eyebrows that gave his face a righteous, heroic look. Despite his young age, he was unnaturally calm as he called up survivors one at a time.

"What's your name?"

"Age?"

"Do you have any specialized skills?"

Once people answered, he directed them to the side. His companion, a gloomy teenager, then took the survivors to their lodging. He showed them where they could bathe to get rid of any dirt and zombie matter, and gave them fresh clothes to change into.

Ji Ling's turn wasn't until the end. She had to wait, shivering, still sweaty and bloody, until it was early morning. When she trudged over to Lu Hao, the handsome teenager didn't even glance at her.

"Name."

"J—Ji Ling..."

The teenager in front of her wrote her name with rapid strokes. His hand was elegant and strong, like the kind of hands artists loved to draw. "Age."

"Sixteen..."

"Special skills."

Ji Ling pursed her lips, feeling sour. What could she do? She was useless. "I—I can cook... and clean..."

After writing those few short words, Lu Hao paused. Finally, he glanced up. His deep, naturally-aggressive eyes stared right at her, making Ji Ling's heart thump. He was really attractive, so much more handsome than Zhang Lie. "And your ability?"

"A—Ability? I, I don't have..." They lapsed into silence as Ji Ling stuttered into a stop.

Suddenly, Lu Hao smiled at her. The bottoms of his eyes crested just a little, and the wild, cold, and unapproachable atmosphere around him flew away.

He looked so gentle with just a tiny change of his expression, and Ji Ling couldn't help but stare, entranced.

"Did you sleep very well?"

It took her a bit to register his question. "W—What?"

"Earlier tonight. Had you slept very well? For me, I had a hard time sleeping. I felt like I was having a nightmare, one where everything hurt..."

The gentle voice of the teenager in front of her was soothing, like he was trying not to scare her...

This feeling of kindness and concern made a dark and dry spot of Ji Ling's heart feel moistened and revitalized.

She hurried to admit, honestly, "M—Me too. I, I had bad dreams, and it was so painful... and when I woke up, I-I realized my parents had, had turned into..." The rims of her eyes turned red as she teared up.

Lu Hao was still smiling at her softly. But then he spoke, and the words weren't kind at all. "You might not have known this. People who woke up from disturbed dreams and heavy fevers at the start of the apocalypse—they either became ability users, or they became zombies."

His gaze flicked up and down in assessment.

"So if you aren't an ability user... are you a zombie?"

"N—No!" Ji Ling's blood ran cold. There was no way she could be a zombie, one of those monsters! "I—I must be an ability user!"