002, Slaying the Undead

Qi Ran listened expressionlessly, her heart utterly calm. She was indeed grateful to the Qi family. They had taken her out of the welfare home, given her a higher starting point, and broadened her horizons. That was an undeniable fact. Yet the sacrifices the Qi family claimed to have made for her were not as great as her father and mother often proclaimed. Qi Ran was not merely a parasite who only took and never gave back. Over the years, she had been reciprocating the Qi family's investment.

As her mother often said, the noble school tuition amounted to millions annually. In reality, the Qi family never paid a cent in fees—Qi Ran earned scholarships year after year. Besides that, the Qi family had indeed cultivated her into an outstanding individual. Consequently, families seeking to ally with the Qi family through marriage often received business concessions from her father.

Mu Jingchen had pursued Qi Ran since middle school, and it wasn’t until her sophomore year—just a year ago—that the Mu family finally agreed to their engagement. The Mu family was a prominent aristocratic household in the capital, while the Qi family was merely wealthy in Rong City. Qi Ran’s father gained considerable benefits from this alliance. Over eleven years, the Qi family’s investment in Qi Ran had long since been repaid.

Still, Qi Ran’s mother, worried about Qi Sheng, incessantly lectured Qi Ran about the great kindness the Qi family had bestowed upon her. Qi Ran did not argue back. After all, this was supposed to be her mother’s final call to her.

In the last life, when the apocalypse struck, Qi Ran’s parents were on a business trip to Lin City. After that call, there was no further news from them. This was why, in that previous life, Qi Ran risked her life to protect Qi Sheng. In a way, “You must protect your brother” was her mother’s last message to her.

For someone on the brink of death, Qi Ran had no desire to cause more distress. Though the Qi family never truly regarded her as family—treating her coldly, exploiting her, and maintaining a superior attitude—Qi Ran had indeed enjoyed a worry-free life and received a fine education because of them. That was indisputable.

Her parents never invested much emotional effort in her, but Qi Ran was undeniably well-trained. In the last life, Qi Ran’s parents never betrayed or harmed her.

Even now, despite harboring intense hatred for Qi Sheng, Qi Ran refrained from directing that hatred toward her mother, who was far away. Reassured by Qi Ran’s series of calm affirmations, her mother hung up the phone.

Qi Ran then slung her climbing backpack over her shoulder and headed to the basement.

Phoenix Garden was an upscale community, covering nearly a thousand square meters, divided into residential and villa areas. The Qi family resided in the villa district—a three-story Western-style house with a basement.

The basement was split into a cold storage room and a utility room. Qi Ran went to the utility room, where she gathered sharp weapons like a baseball bat and a cleaver, stuffing them all into her backpack.

After collecting the weapons, she ascended to the third floor to her father’s collection room. The Qi family was wealthy in Rong City, and Qi Ran recalled her father’s penchant for the arts, having purchased many antique calligraphy and paintings. Among them was a finely crafted replica of ancient armor.

In the first three days of the apocalypse, the mutated zombies were not very powerful. Wearing this armor would be just right for self-defense.

Dressed in the armor and with her backpack full of weapons, Qi Ran went to the garage. She pressed a key she had casually taken from Qi Sheng’s room, and the headlights of a red BMW flickered on.

Qi Ran started the car and drove toward the residential area.

The villa district had too few people, and thus fewer mutated zombies. Qi Ran needed to go to the more densely populated residential district to hunt zombies.

During the initial three days of the apocalypse, only a few unlucky souls had been infected and turned into zombies. Human abilities only began to awaken after the third day.

From the fourth day to the tenth day—seven days—was the period of human ability awakening. The strength of these abilities depended on how many zombies one killed during these ten days.

In the previous life, Qi Sheng had gone out to buy bubble tea for the goddess and driven to the bustling commercial street. When Qi Ran received her mother’s call, she truthfully told her that Qi Sheng had left but she did not know where he was.

Her mother, in a panicked, almost commanding tone, insisted that Qi Ran go out and find Qi Sheng.

Qi Ran always remembered the Qi family’s kindness and regarded Qi Sheng as her brother. When the ten-year-old Qi Ran first came to the Qi family, Qi Sheng welcomed her warmly, calling her “little sister” and sharing whatever good things he had.

Qi Ran never forgot that unreserved, sincere kindness Qi Sheng had shown when she first joined the family.

Even though years had passed and everyone had changed beyond recognition, Qi Ran had never escaped those faded memories.

She had been abandoned at the welfare home’s doorstep by her biological mother at five and came to the Qi family at ten. Her parents had mostly exploited her, weighed down by various interests.

Qi Sheng was the only one who had stretched out his chubby little arms, smiling like a warm, radiant sun, shouting, “Little sister, come here, I’ll carry you over.”

Thus, in the previous life, when her mother ordered her to go out and bring Qi Sheng back safely, Qi Ran, worried about him, agreed without hesitation.

Not only did she not hesitate, but she also gently reassured her frantic mother: “Mom, don’t worry too much. I’m going out now. I’ll definitely find my brother. He’ll be fine.”

But her sharp-tongued mother snapped back with biting cruelty: “Shut up! I don’t want to hear your useless nonsense. Just get out there. If your brother’s really in trouble, you can die with him.”

“Why aren’t you the one going out? Why aren’t you the one facing danger?”

Qi Ran was left speechless, silently listening as the line went dead.

Shortly after her mother hung up, Qi Sheng’s desperate call came through. He was trapped in a janitor’s closet on the seventh floor of a shopping mall.

Upon learning his location, Qi Ran immediately drove over.

During those first three days, with the commercial street bustling and the mall crowded, Qi Ran had slain many zombies to protect Qi Sheng.

On the fourth day, after those three days, Qi Ran developed a high fever and awakened an A-rank ability: the Secret Art of Fire.

After awakening her ability, she shared the method with Qi Sheng.

For the next seven days, Qi Ran would severely burn the strengthened zombies, and Qi Sheng would finish them off.

After seven days, Qi Sheng also awakened an A-rank ability: the Secret Art of Gold.

Qi Ran’s second awakening, however, was only a C-rank ability: Healing.

Now reborn, Qi Ran intended to make full use of these first ten days to kill as many zombies as possible and obtain more powerful abilities.

Though she initially didn’t care about Qi Sheng’s fate, recalling the conditions for ability awakening, Qi Ran suddenly sneered and changed her mind.