011, arriving at the commercial street!

Years passed, and Qi Sheng’s attitude toward Qi Ran changed—his feelings shifted. Yet Qi Ran remained unchanged.

The lack of love in childhood made Qi Sheng deeply reliant on Qi Ran’s one-sided, selfless devotion. Like his parents, he repeatedly emphasized the family’s debt of gratitude to Qi Ran. He enjoyed how she, like a loyal dog, fulfilled his every whim.

Qi Ran was outstanding and highly capable. Whatever Qi Sheng demanded, Qi Ran always found a way to achieve it. Over time, Qi Sheng grew accustomed to treating Qi Ran not as a person, but as a Doraemon who could grant all his wishes.

Yet, no matter how cold-hearted Qi Sheng could be, when he heard that she had narrowly escaped death, he did not shrink back in fear or give up on rescuing her. Instead, he worried incessantly about her safety, anxiously reminding her to hide well.

At this moment, Qi Sheng, rare as it was, was seized by a pang of conscience. For a fleeting instant, he worried that Qi Ran might face even greater dangers on the road than she had in the underground parking lot.

That one second of conscience barely surfaced before Qi Sheng hastily ended the call. If he had delayed even a moment longer, he feared he might have blurted out uncontrollably, “Maybe it’s better not to go. It’s too dangerous on the road, and you might not even make it here! You... just turn back! If I die, all the money in my account and the company will be yours!”

Qi Sheng could not decide over the family fortune or the Qi family company. The only things he controlled freely were the few million in his own account and the billion-yuan company he founded in his freshman year.

He hung up.

Qi Ran was unaware of the turmoil within Qi Sheng’s mind. She sped along the road, swiftly reaching Lan Yin Bridge.

Thankfully, the bridge was still intact.

Someone was planting explosives on the bridge, but Qi Ran did not hesitate. She drove straight onto the bridge, pushing the speed to its limit.

One minute later, Qi Ran successfully crossed the bridge and reached the other side.

At this point, the time was 15:31. She had used only five minutes to traverse a route that usually took eight.

After crossing, she didn’t stop, pressing forward. After all, the bridge would soon be destroyed. She couldn’t afford to rest by its side.

Moreover, having awakened two powerful, top-tier talents, Qi Ran was eager to rush to the commercial street and slaughter zombies.

Having passed Lan Yin Bridge safely, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

She opened the virtual panel in her mind to check on the status of her zombie servant.

Now that Qi Ran had awakened the Grade A talent “Secret Art of Fire,” she was no longer worried about her contract breaking and the zombie servant turning against her. Summoning the zombie servant for close protection would greatly increase her safety.

However, because Qi Ran had initially chosen to have the zombie servant remain on standby where it was, she didn’t know how to summon it over.

If the original choice was unchangeable, and the zombie servant could only wait in place, then Qi Ran would have to order the servant to self-destruct and re-contract a new one to come protect her.

Fortunately, upon opening the virtual panel, Qi Ran was surprised and delighted to find a “Chat” option at the bottom.

She clicked it, and the name of her zombie servant, Li Fukan, appeared in the list.

Wow! Her zombie servant was reachable!

Qi Ran was ecstatic. In her previous life, the chat function in the virtual panel only appeared in the sixth year after the apocalypse, and only after joining a base.

So now, seeing only Li Fukan in her contacts made sense.

She tried sending a mental message: “Come protect me immediately!”

Soon, a mysterious sensation filled her mind. Although the zombie servant didn’t reply with words, Qi Ran knew it had received her command and was on its way.

Ten minutes later, Qi Ran arrived at the entrance of the commercial street.

From the villa to the commercial street was roughly a twenty-minute journey.

In the previous life, Qi Sheng almost immediately encountered the apocalypse upon entering the commercial street. It seemed as if fate itself wanted him dead.

Yet, no matter how ill-starred Qi Sheng was, the reborn Qi Ran would not let him die so easily.

In the past life, she had risked everything for Qi Sheng, fighting through life and death with a heart full of sincerity, only to be repaid by such ingratitude.

She would never allow Qi Sheng to die so easily in the early days of the apocalypse.

That would be far too easy for him.

This time, Qi Ran vowed to leave Qi Sheng with nothing.

To survive, he would have to bow and scrape before others, lowering his head and losing all dignity.

This time, Qi Ran would let Qi Sheng truly experience the apocalypse.

---

As Qi Ran stepped out of the car, a muscular zombie strode straight toward her.

With one glance, she sensed that this was her contracted zombie servant.

When it reached about fifty meters from her, Qi Ran used the chat function in her mind to order the zombie to stop.

The zombie showed no desire or aggression toward her. Instead, throughout its approach, the powerful zombie servant displayed a very respectful attitude.

Qi Ran felt deeply satisfied.

She commanded the zombie servant to protect her within a fifty-meter radius.

Then, Qi Ran activated her skill, “Fire Serpent Coil.”

Though she had just leveled up, gaining five additional physical points, her total physical strength was only 25—enough to cast “Fire Serpent Coil” once.

The moment she activated the skill, ten fiery spirit serpents about two meters long erupted from behind her.

Guided by her will, the serpents swiftly flew toward ten zombies standing fifty meters away.

Meanwhile, Qi Ran wielded a kitchen knife in her left hand and a baseball bat in her right, killing zombies furiously within the protective circle of her zombie servant.

Although leveling up had only increased her four attributes by five points, never underestimate the power of a slight boost in strength and agility at the beginning of the apocalypse.

The efficiency of slaughtering zombies increased dramatically.

Moreover, having just leveled up, Qi Ran’s stamina had recovered.

In excellent condition and wielding her eagerly awaited dragon-slaying kitchen knife and baseball bat, she was ready for a murderous rampage.

With a powerful zombie servant protecting her ahead, Qi Ran fought joyously, left hand with knife, right hand with bat, following closely behind.

“226!”

“239!”

...

“300!”

Qi Ran counted silently in her heart the number of zombies slain beneath her knife and bat.