In some households, it’s chaotic, but for many students and their families, the remaining semester is solely dedicated to preparing for the college entrance exam.
Not long after the semester began, all the topics for each subject were already taught, and teachers began the most significant systematic review session of the entire high school career with the students.
Whether during lunch break, self-study sessions, or evening study sessions, teachers could be seen in the corridors, sitting on chairs, ready to answer students’ questions at any time.
Day by day, exams are taken, mistakes are noted in the workbook, words and passages are memorized, and in the blink of an eye, over a hundred days have passed.
The last weekend before the college entrance exam starts on Friday afternoon, and there are no more makeup classes on Monday because the school needs to prepare the exam rooms.
Before school ends, banners are hung on the teaching building for freshmen and sophomores to cheer for the seniors.
At that moment, Xu Yin and his classmates are leaning against the corridor.
They listen to the sounds coming from the teaching building for freshmen and sophomores, closing their eyes.
When the sounds stop, they open their eyes and look at the evening sky outside the teaching building they’ve been looking at for three whole years.
After withdrawing their gazes—
Xu Yin smiled at Yan Ningchuan and said, “Let’s aim for good grades on Monday.”
Yan Ningchuan also smiled and replied, “Let’s aim for good grades on Monday.”
Classmates said to each other, “Let’s aim for good grades on Monday.”
Teachers said to the students, “Let’s aim for good grades on Monday.”
On Monday, the college entrance exam begins.
*
In the province where C City is located, apart from the four main exam papers, there will also be an additional paper. This additional paper consists of one question in total, with two questions each from biology, chemistry, and physics, each question worth ten points.
The total score for all subjects in the college entrance exam is 810 points, spread over two and a half days.
During these two and a half days, Xu Yin is with Yan Ningchuan the whole time—except inside the exam room.
Although they are in different exam rooms, they are both very fortunate to be assigned to the same test center in C City.
Being in a familiar environment helps students reduce some psychological pressure. When they see Lin Jia and others in the waiting area on Monday morning, everyone seems relatively relaxed.
Meanwhile, in a corner, Xu Ling is absent-mindedly holding a book, not even aware of what he’s reading.
The first exam was Chinese.
Classical Chinese was relatively simple, but modern Chinese was difficult to understand, and the essay topic was challenging to write about.
Xu Yin managed to finish the paper half an hour before the exam ended and looked at his essay, feeling somewhat satisfied.
At noon, since Yan’s parents were away on a business trip, no one was supervising them. So after Xu Yin and Yan Ningchuan had lunch together, they went to the nearby library to review for the afternoon mathematics exam.
The second exam was Mathematics.
The difficulty was extremely high, with many twists and turns starting from the first multiple-choice question. By midway through the exam in Xu Yin’s test room, someone started crying, and the sound of sobbing could be clearly heard in the quiet exam hall.
Xu Yin’s pen paused for a moment before he continued.
That evening, Yan Ningchuan had originally planned to order takeout, but Xu Yin suddenly felt inclined to cook, so he bought some groceries and cooked at home. After finishing the meal, Yan Ningchuan seemed energized, feeling as if he could run a thousand meters the next day.
The third exam was Integrated Science.
The difficulty remained extremely high.
Xu Yin barely finished writing his paper in the last fifteen minutes of the exam. He remained highly focused, using the remaining fifteen minutes to review the entire paper. Many students in the same exam room didn’t even finish writing.
After leaving the exam hall, many students’ mental states were already crumbling.
The fourth exam was English.
The difficulty was moderate. After checking his paper, Xu Yin tried to estimate his score.
In the last half-day, there was the Additional Paper.
The difficulty remained quite high.
…
After the exam, unlike before, nobody was in the mood to go over the answers. The whole Class 12 went out for a meal and then continued to play until late at night at the KTV before returning home.
Yan’s parents hadn’t returned from their business trip yet, but they did make a video call in the afternoon to check on the situation of the two.
Xu Yin felt a bit sleepy and tired. When he entered the house, he sat on the sofa and half-closed his eyes, while Yan Ningchuan went to boil water.
As Xu Yin was dozing off, in a half-dreaming state, he felt someone gently kissing him.
He opened his eyes to see Yan Ningchuan nuzzled the tip of his nose gently, softly saying, “Take a shower and then go to bed.”
After looking at Yan Ningchuan for a moment, Xu Yin suddenly felt less tired.
He reached out and hooked his hand around Yan Ningchuan’s neck, slowly saying, “Your kissing skills have improved.”
Yan Ningchuan’s body tensed, his eyes darkening.
Xu Yin smirked and softly asked, “Do you want to try something even more daring?”
On this night, Class Leader Yan opened the door to a new world.
…
After the college entrance exam, Teacher Zhang, the class teacher, treated everyone to a meal. Lin Jia enthusiastically organized a graduation trip for the whole class to a nearby province.
After exhausting themselves from the trip, the summer vacation began, seeming not much different from the past.
At the end of July, the college entrance exam scores were released.
Unlike the usual practice of receiving scores for each subject gradually at school, this time, students received scores for all five exams at once.
Xu Yin scored 780 points, while Yan Ningchuan scored 782 points.
Yan Ningchuan directly secured the top spot in the province for the science stream, and on the same evening the scores were released, both of them started receiving calls from prestigious universities.
Yan Ningchuan’s first call was from his target university, T University, while Xu Yin also received a call from S University before going to bed. Everything went smoothly.
In the class group chat, everyone discussed their performances, and overall, everyone did quite well this time.
Lin Jia scored 570 points, while Wang Feifei scored 580. It’s estimated that passing the cutoff for admission to tier-one universities won’t be a problem for them. It’s worth noting that these two were previously considered sure bets for studying abroad, and their parents never imagined they would achieve such high scores in the college entrance exam. They were so thrilled that they wanted to set off firecrackers in the streets!
After completing the university application process, Xu Yin went back home to collect the things his birth mother had bought for him.
At that time, there was no one at home. It’s been said that Xu Qunzhi and Wang Yuqi had finalized their divorce, and Xu Qunzhi’s company had officially filed for bankruptcy, leaving them with no choice.
After harassing Xu Yin for a while, it seemed that he realized neither Xu Yin nor Yan Ningchuan’s parents had any intention of helping him. But perhaps out of fear of the Yan family, even so, he didn’t dare to provoke Xu Yin afterwards, and then he seemed to vanish completely.
At this moment, Xu Yin didn’t know where he had gone, and of course, Xu Yin didn’t care.
Just as he was leaving, he encountered someone who seemed to have come to view the house, waiting for the agent and Xu Qunzhi to arrive.
Later, he and Yan Ningchuan went to the capital together, starting their university life and almost completely distancing themselves from anything related to the Xu family. On one occasion at a class reunion, he heard by chance that Xu Ling didn’t pass the university entrance exam cutoff and was forced by his mother to repeat the year. Unable to endure it, he ran away and ended up with an older man.
At that time, Xu Ling was still dating Ye Xuanran. When Ye Xuanran foolishly chased after him, Xu Ling just hid behind the older man without saying a word. As a result, Ye Xuanran was beaten up and ended up in the hospital.
Meanwhile, it seemed that Xu Ling had also fallen out with Wang Yuqi. At the time, Ye Xuanran had brought along another male student from their Class 7, and Wang Yuqi followed them. However, when Ye Xuanran was being beaten up, Wang Yuqi stayed outside. When Xu Ling came out, this mother-son duo also had a quarrel, which was observed by the male student from Class 7 the whole time.
Wang Yuqi tearfully questioned Xu Ling if he only relied on men, to which Xu Ling sarcastically retorted, “Aren’t you doing the same?” This left Wang Yuqi dumbfounded, and they ended up fighting.
“You guys didn’t see it. I swear, those two pulled each other’s hair out a lot. I was completely shocked.” The male student from Class 7 deeply regretted going on that trip.
*
In this world, Xu Yin’s ultimate task was to “become a renowned writer,” and he successfully achieved it, receiving 20,000 points higher than the first task world.
Knowing that Yan Ningchuan would follow him to the next task world, Xu Yin ended the task early when Yan Ningchuan was already lying in bed, unconscious. He didn’t want his beloved to endure more suffering from illness.
Golden lights radiated from Yan Ningchuan’s body. Xu Yin gently kissed his forehead and said to 018: “Let’s go to the next world.”
018: “Just wait a moment.”
In an instant, Xu Yin noticed that the surroundings had changed—
They were in a hospital room with an open window. Previously, there were distant conversations, footsteps, and the gentle sound of wind brushing against tree branches and leaves. But suddenly, all these sounds disappeared.
Xu Yin turned his head sensitively to look.
Outside the window, slender flowering trees were bent over, frozen in this position, completely still.
Time had stopped.
018 said: “After the last task world ended, didn’t they open a shop for you? The reward for this task world is a space measuring two meters in length, width, and height. Use your mind to open the ‘space’ and take a look.”
Xu Yin was slightly puzzled. Following 018’s instructions, he closed his eyes and “saw” a clean, square space of moderate size, currently empty.
Xu Yin pondered: “Can I bring things from this world to the next world?”
018 replied: “Yes, the time in this space is frozen. Even if you put a hamburger in it, it won’t spoil for a hundred years, and it can even keep it warm for you. But remember, you can’t put living creatures in it.”
Xu Yin nodded: “Understood.”
However, he also began to contemplate.
First, they opened a shop for him, and now they gave him a space. The system developers must have had reasons for adding these features.
He had already experienced two task worlds. What would come next…?
Xu Yin slowly said: “Is the style of the task world about to change?”
018 couldn’t say for sure because he was accompanying Xu Yin. Until they truly transitioned to the third world, he didn’t know what they would face next. However—
018 replied: “It’s almost time. You’d better bring along some self-defense tools or the like. I’ve frozen time for you to stay here a little longer just so you can properly fill up this space.”
Since 018 had said so, Xu Yin didn’t delay any further. After giving his lover one last kiss, he left the hospital.
In the corridors, on the streets, in the sky, everything was frozen, and Xu Yin briskly walked through this suspended world.
He went back home and stuffed some clothes, two knives, the remaining water and ready-to-eat food, and some basic medical supplies into the space. After some thought, Xu Yin returned to the streets and entered two shops, where he placed a dagger, a baseball bat, and took two buckets of KFC—of course, even though the task world might disappear after he left, Xu Yin still paid for them, as the money would be meaningless if taken with him.
Unable to think of anything else to bring for now, Xu Yin said: “Alright, let’s jump.”
018 replied: “Okay.”
*
When Xu Yin came to his senses again, he found himself in… a supermarket?
At first, he marveled at how he seemed to have gotten food for free, but the next moment, memories flooded back, and he couldn’t help but be glad that he had at least stuffed some sausages and KFC into the space.
Time, a year and a half after the apocalypse.
The zombie virus swept across the globe, causing the destruction of most of human civilization within just six months, let alone now, a year and a half later.
The original host was a college student, orphaned by both parents.
After the apocalypse, he encountered a person named Guan Qi, and they became acquainted after saving each other’s lives. Eventually, they decided to escape the city together and head to the legendary B City, where the first base was established by a man surnamed Li, who was originally in the military.
However, when they reached A City, they encountered a group of elderly, women, and children in need of protection. They also happened upon a suitable place to establish a base. After much deliberation, they decided not to go to B City and instead created their own base on the spot, with the two of them as the protectors.
It should be noted that after the apocalypse, many people gradually developed superpowers. The original host and Guan Qi both had superpowers.
The original host’s power was water, not very aggressive, but his strong physical abilities allowed him to fend off zombies even without relying on his powers. Therefore, he became the undisputed leader in the base, with Guan Qi as his second in command.
During this year and a half, more and more surviving humans sought refuge with them.
Some were weak and in need of protection, while others were skilled and could accompany the original host and his group in scavenging for supplies.
Among them was a young man named Yuan Yue.
He was introverted and timid, seemingly eager to contribute to the base but struggling to do so. Every time a team was formed to leave the base, he would request to join, but most people were unwilling to bring along someone who couldn’t contribute anything. Some people, however, took pity on Yuan Yue and agreed to let him come along—though even then, Yuan Yue couldn’t do much and would end up just tagging along like a sightseer.
This matter was always privately complained about within the base.
Just half a month ago, the original host took a few people to the neighboring C City to search for supplies, and Yuan Yue requested to join them.
The original host had refused Yuan Yue many times before, but this time he couldn’t bear to say no, so he agreed to take him along.
They arrived at a supermarket at the border between A City and C City. With the other three people staying downstairs, the original host and Yuan Yue went upstairs.
Xu Yin carefully recalled.
During the daytime, zombies’ mobility would weaken significantly. As long as they didn’t disturb them, they might even just lean against the side and fall asleep, completely unaware of humans quietly passing by in front of them.
However, as soon as they were startled awake by any sudden noise, they would immediately come to life.
Things happened very quickly. The original host was quietly and swiftly scavenging supplies when suddenly, there was a zombie’s roar and Yuan Yue’s scream from a corner behind him. Following that, all the zombies on the second floor woke up and became agitated.
They all simultaneously opened their eyes, crawled to their feet, and started snarling. The original host’s heart tightened as he turned to look in the direction where the sounds originated from—Yuan Yue was backed against the wall, looking terrified as the zombies lunged towards him. It seemed he was about to be torn apart alive. However, the next moment, those zombies that were about to pounce on him froze one by one.
Then, all the zombies on the second floor turned around in unison, their eerie and bloodthirsty eyes fixated on the original host.
Recalling this, Xu Yin felt a chill run down his spine.
The original host was inexplicably attacked by the zombie horde and fell into a coma. He remained unconscious until Xu Yin woke up.
Wait, does that mean he’s now…
Xu Yin had just woken up leaning against a shelf, with a row of toiletries in front of him.
He felt somewhat weak, so he placed his hands on the ground to try to stand up. However, as soon as he touched the ground, he felt that something was off… He lowered his head to take a look.
Xu Yin gasped.
018: “Wow, exciting.”
Xu Yin’s hands and arms had turned grayish-white, with the skin even rotting away from the flesh, hanging down softly. A layer of indescribable sticky fluid covered his entire arm.
Taking another look at his body— the short-sleeved shirt and trousers he wore when he came to this supermarket half a month ago had been torn to shreds, with holes all over his body where zombies had bitten him. A chunk of flesh was missing from his buttocks, revealing white bones underneath.
Well, Xu Yin had originally thought of finding a mirror, but now he thought better of it.
He didn’t really want to see what he looked like now.
He decided to lean back against the shelf and calm down for a moment.
018: “You’re in a semi-zombie state now, aren’t you?”
From the original host’s memories, it was learned that some humans, after turning into zombies, would suddenly undergo a drastic change, usually around half a month after zombification. Their bodies had already taken on the appearance of zombies, but their human consciousness awakened. Once they bit other humans, they wouldn’t infect them with the zombie virus.
This type of existence was called a semi-zombie by the people at their base, A Base.
Semi-zombies were a subtle existence. They didn’t instinctively attack humans or infect them with the virus, yet many humans still feared them. After all, they looked almost identical to zombies, making it difficult for people not to be afraid of them.
The original host had always had a gentle attitude towards semi-zombies. When encountered, he would bring them back to the base. However, he also didn’t want to trouble the other people in the base, so he specifically set aside an area for semi-zombies to live on their own.
However, there were quite a few people in the base who expressed dissatisfaction with this approach.
Now, even Xu Yin had become a semi-zombie himself.
Calculating the time, it happened to be exactly half a month after the original host was attacked and turned into a zombie.
Semi-zombies would slowly regain their human appearance over time, but the progress varied and was extremely slow. Anyway, Xu Yin didn’t need to look in the mirror to be sure that he currently looked absolutely dreadful.
Although Xu Yin had never been narcissistic enough to think he was very good-looking, nor did he believe that being good-looking would make much of a difference, but… But that didn’t mean he could accept being disfigured!
He took a deep breath… but his windpipe was directly ruptured, making strange noises with every breath. So Xu Yin closed his eyes again and exhaled the air…
He decisively opened the shop.
018: “You’re finally going to spend money!”
Xu Yin currently had no clues about his Lao Gong, but he didn’t want to meet him looking like this.
He asked: “Is there any medicine that can accelerate the self-repair of a semi-zombie’s body?”
018: “Of course, let me show you.”
018, after all, was an employee from the entire task system, and spending money by the host counted towards his performance, so he eagerly showed Xu Yin a pill.
Xu Yin checked the pill instructions.
After taking it, sleep for one night, and any injuries can be healed [cannot resurrect the dead]. The pill is only for the host, costing 5000 points.
Xu Yin immediately bought one, and the moment his points were deducted, the pill appeared in his palm.
Without hesitation, he swallowed it directly and soon felt a heavy drowsiness.
Before falling asleep, Xu Yin glanced at his remaining points.
In the previous world, due to his active completion of tasks, he currently had a hundred thousand points left.
In the post-apocalyptic world, there were too many unknowns, and the mall might be needed again, so Xu Yin kept over 30,000 points and used 70,000 points to repair bugs with 018.
Soon, 018 completed the repair and said: “This time the repair is up to 20%.”
The progress slowed down again.
Xu Yin sighed.
He put on clean clothes from the supermarket warehouse, found a staff office, closed the door, and went to sleep—initially, semi-zombies would be regarded as the same kind by zombies and wouldn’t attract their attention, but as their human appearance slowly recovered, the zombies’ instinct to attack them would return.
Xu Yin needed a safe room to rest after spending the night recovering his human form.
Once the door was closed, he lay down on the old sofa and drifted into sleep.
…
He woke up the next day, and it was already bright outside.
Standing in front of the glass window, illuminated by the shadow cast on it, Xu Yin confirmed that he had regained his appearance.
His skin was no longer grayish-white but had returned to a healthy, rosy complexion. His flesh had solidified again, very sturdy. As for his hair, well, it seemed fine. Although he didn’t know what his hairstyle was like last night, now it looked normal, even clean and fluffy.
Xu Yin looked at his familiar self, very satisfied. The five thousand points spent were worth it.
He took off the ragged clothes, dampened a towel with water stored in his space, wiped himself clean, changed into new clothes, and then moved his limbs to feel his current body.
There were two very special phenomena about half-zombies.
Firstly, after being injured, wounds could heal rapidly, although severe injuries still required manual treatment.
Secondly, their abilities could undergo changes.
The original host’s ability was water.
And now, Xu Yin’s current ability is…
With a turn of his mind, over ten sharp icicles quietly appeared around him, floating in the air, emitting waves of cold air.
Xu Yin opened his eyes.
The icicles turned into powder and fell downward silently, transforming into water vapor as they fell.
— His ability, in addition to water, now included ice, and he could feel that his ability had become much stronger than before.
With a clearer understanding, Xu Yin sat back on the sofa and began to contemplate his next plan.
It wasn’t realistic for him to stay alone in this supermarket indefinitely.
Where could his Lao Gong be now? Would he be in any base?
The place he was in right now was the junction between C City and A City.
He was familiar with the base in A City, and he knew for sure that his Lao Gong wasn’t there, so he couldn’t go back to A City. As someone who had come halfway through, he didn’t have much attachment to that base.
Apart from that, the nearest base was still the first one built in B City.
To get from here to B City, he would definitely need a car.
Xu Yin knew how to drive, but finding a usable car now wasn’t that simple…
Just then, he suddenly heard faint screams coming from downstairs.
Xu Yin opened his eyes, walked to the window, and looked down. He noticed a car parked at the entrance of the supermarket, though he wasn’t sure when it had arrived.
Raising an eyebrow, he stood up, opened the door of the staff room, and walked out.
A man and a woman were scavenging for supplies in the supermarket, but the woman accidentally knocked over a can of food, causing it to crash to the ground. The noise alerted the zombies on the first floor of the supermarket, and the two of them were now in a dilemma, trapped in the middle of the supermarket.
The man smashed the zombie’s head with a bat, splattering its fluids onto his face. Shuddering, he shouted, “Are you stupid? I told you to be careful, yet you broke the glass bottle on the floor!”
The woman, her face pale, swung her bat a few times but missed the zombies. One of the zombies tackled her, causing her to lose her grip on the bat. She screamed, dodging and using fallen items to fend off the zombies, calling for help, “Save me, Li Dongxiang, please!”
Li Dongxiang, busy dealing with his own problems, glanced up and saw the woman cornered by three zombies. Gritting his teeth, he turned his attention to the supermarket’s entrance.
Right now, there was still a chance to escape—
Just as he was about to turn, suddenly, at the moment when the woman’s screams were loudest, a louder noise erupted!
The zombie in front of the woman was swung away with a single blow, crashing into the shelves, causing them to collapse with a clatter, scattering everything on top onto the floor!
The woman, already crouched down with her head covered, feeling doomed, was suddenly pulled up with force the next moment. A warm voice sounded above her head, “Get up, hurry.”
Trembling, the woman looked up in a panic, meeting a beautiful face.
A young man, male, with a face so handsome it was almost unreal.
She stared blankly.
The man who was about to flee not far away also froze for a moment.
Moments ago, Xu Yin took advantage of the zombies on the second floor being still dormant, sneaking down quietly. Now, however, the zombies on the second floor were mostly awake, drawn downstairs by the noise.
He didn’t want to linger here any longer. Seeing the woman standing there dumbfounded, he let go and asked, “Not leaving?”
The woman jolted, tears streaming down her face as she scrambled up, “Let’s go, let’s go, hurry!”
So Xu Yin turned around, smashing the oncoming zombies with the baseball bat like smashing watermelons, while leading the woman out of the supermarket.
The zombies in the supermarket followed them relentlessly. The man shouted, “Get in the car, quick!”
The woman crawled into the back seat, and Xu Yin followed suit, their movements fluid and natural, without any sense of awkwardness.
As the car swiftly started and drove away, both the man and the woman were still catching their breath, their hearts pounding with fear.
The man glanced at Xu Yin through the rearview mirror.
In the apocalypse, many people turned into zombies, and many others died. With shortages of supplies and frequent battles with zombies, even in some bases, few people could maintain such cleanliness and… attractiveness.
Even his girlfriend, due to prolonged hunger and nervous exhaustion, seemed to have aged ten years, with her yellowish complexion and emaciated figure, gradually losing his appetite for her.
And this young man, with fair skin and rosy complexion, his almond-shaped eyes seemed to be able to captivate people.
He subconsciously licked his lips.
The next second, in the rearview mirror, the young man seemed to sense his gaze, lifted his eyes, and met his stare.
In that moment of eye contact, the young man seemed to smile ambiguously.
Unexplainably, the man’s hair stood on end. 1TL: Hi! I apologize for not updating for quite some time, cause I’ve been busy with the school activities and the consecutive quizzes last week was draining. I needed some time to recuperate to recollect my mental stability hehe.. and here it is, the update. We’re now on the 3rd Arc and I hope you’ll have a good read. Have a nice day ahead. 💜
