Chapter 1

When Su Hao opened his eyes, he saw a daisy.

The white petals bloomed under the morning light, adorned with glistening dewdrops, reflecting a very faint, colorful rainbow.

It was very close to where Su Hao was lying, only five centimeters from his nose, and he could even smell its faint fragrance.

In the distance, the solemn sound of the morning bell echoed.

Su Hao silently counted the numbers, from one to eight.

That direction was the train station to the south of the city. The most prominent landmark was a huge clock tower.

His memories matched reality perfectly.

He smiled and got up from the ground, glanced at the road where the traffic and pedestrians were already dense, turned around, took a deep breath, and stepped into the "Baiseng" commercial plaza, where the glass doors were already open. After making sure no one had noticed him, he slowly walked to the public restroom, fiercely smashed the red display case with the prominent "119" sign, and took out the heavy fire axe inside.

...

No one knew that Su Hao came from fifty-six years in the future.

That was the future.

It was a world filled with decay and death, where the clearest part of his memory was completely dominated by blood, bones, and shredded flesh. The sky was dark, and the sun rarely appeared.

Su Hao created a time travel machine. However, the dimensional pressure generated by faster-than-light travel caused extremely intense mental shock to living beings. Out of necessity, he could only adopt a backup plan—using various materials to create the strongest body, which concentrated all the best physical traits of humans, and through consciousness infusion and energy catalysis, he successfully returned to 2020 after his rebirth.

...

The Su Hao in the mirror was no longer the old and frail figure in his memory.

He was now very tall, with broad shoulders. The leather jacket he wore, though old, showed the perfect golden ratio between his waist, legs, and upper body. The buttons on his chest were open, revealing well-developed pectoral muscles under a thin sweatshirt. His high nose and slightly sunken black eyes made him look full of strength and charm.

He turned his head and glanced at the quartz clock hanging on the wall—the hands had just passed 8:15 AM.

The time was just about right.

Su Hao squinted his eyes and smiled with a hint of melancholy. He remained silent for a few seconds, picked up the axe, walked through the corridor, and descended into the basement of the mall. Following the directional arrows, he arrived at a metal gate with a red circle on a white background, marked "Warehouse Restricted Area, No Trespassing."

A security guard in a gray uniform walked out of the duty room. He was somewhat dazed, clearly not understanding why Su Hao was there. His gaze then fell on the fire axe in Su Hao's hand, and his expression turned fearful and tense.

He instinctively reached for his self-defense stick, gripped it tightly, and asked loudly and cautiously, "Stop—Who are you? What do you want?"

Su Hao smiled faintly, suddenly exerted force with his feet, and charged forward at a speed exceeding a hundred-meter sprint. Before the guard could react, he had already rushed into the warehouse, closed the gate behind him, and firmly locked the heavy iron bolt.

The energy collected from the future was only enough to bring the time machine to this point.

He couldn't make more preparations and could only wait quietly in the safest possible situation.

Angry shouts and calls came from outside the gate. Soon after, there were hurried footsteps and phone alarms. More and more people gathered outside, making a lot of noise. Keys were inserted and turned forcefully in the lock, and there were heavy impacts on the door, accompanied by curses and reprimands. The voices were muffled, but he could barely hear words like "police," "might be trying to rob," and "could be an escapee."

The bolt was already locked from the inside, and to break through from the outside, they would have to use explosives, oxyacetylene cutting, or destroy the walls.

Su Hao turned around and scrutinized the warehouse with a critical eye.

The shelves were neatly stacked with hundreds of cardboard boxes. From the external labels, the stored items seemed to be shoes and various bags. He very patiently sifted through the mountain of goods, picking out a sturdy and durable multifunctional hiking backpack and a pair of air-cushioned sports shoes that matched his size.

Time travel was fraught with unknown dangers, and he couldn't bring more things from the future. Except for some weapons and medicines that were sent to predetermined coordinates in advance... most of the equipment and essential items could only be obtained from the real world.

Time ticked by, second by second.

More than six hours later, there was no sound outside the gate, a deathly silence.

Su Hao gathered all the things he needed, picked up the fire axe leaning beside his feet, and slowly gripped it.

The corners of his mouth were gradually curling upward, and his face was pale and sickly.

He grabbed the cold steel bolt and turned it to open. With a grating sound of metal, the heavy gate slowly opened a crack.

Looking at the light seeping through the crack, Su Hao suddenly hesitated. He lowered his head, remained silent for a moment, and then raised it again. The confusion in his eyes was gone, replaced by unprecedented ferocity, decisiveness, and determination.

"Whatever the future may become, this is the path I chose myself—"

...

Sunlight filtered through the glass display cases, casting a stifling heat on the ground.

The basement corridor was not long. Soon, Su Hao had reached the end and climbed the stairs leading to the ground floor.

No one was there. The white terrazzo steps were stained with shocking bloodstains.

Like a vigilant and agile cat, Su Hao moved up the stairs quickly and nimbly. The moment his gaze met the space of the ground floor mall, he immediately spotted a figure about ten meters ahead.

It was a woman.

She was wearing a black suit, and from her appearance, she seemed to be an employee at one of the mall's counters. Her stockings were torn, and she was barefoot. Her white shirt was ripped at the shoulder, exposing the straps of a pink bra. Her skin was as gray as cement, with very noticeable, irregularly shaped livor mortis. The foundation on her face had cracked, forming a dense network of fine lines. Her eye sockets were swollen, and her eyes were rolled back, like those of a corpse.

She clearly wasn't relying on vision to detect her target. She tilted her head and sniffed the air, trying to catch the scent of a living person... Suddenly, she noticed Su Hao, who had just climbed the stairs. She immediately opened her dry, cracked lips, which were oozing yellow-green pus, revealing sharp teeth, and let out a terrifying "huhuhu" sound, stumbling and lunging forward.

"Crack—"

Su Hao's fire axe accurately struck the woman's forehead, easily breaking through her hard skull. The woman, as if drained of all strength by some machine, opened her eyes wide and collapsed like a pile of mud.

On May 11, 2020, a mysterious virus storm swept the globe. This invisible demon spread through the air and suddenly bared its fangs at the unprepared human race at 8:15 AM.

Less than fifty percent of the human population survived, but they had to face a reality even more cruel than death—zombies, who had a strong interest in all moving objects. Although they moved slowly, they were carnivorous creatures. Biting, tearing, and even being scratched by their nails could lead to the virus entering the body, reducing the number of survivors and expanding the vast zombie army in the most brutal and direct way.

In the future, this was a well-known history.

Now, it was just a memory in Su Hao's mind.

He reached down and grabbed the clothes of the female corpse, which was still twitching, flipped the body over, and raised the axe, aiming at the junction between the lower back and buttocks, and struck hard. The sharp metal blade cut through the fragile flesh and sank deep into the spine.

Su Hao crouched down and used the axe tip to pry through the sticky flesh. Soon, a small, white bone fragment, growing in reverse from the coccyx, appeared before his eyes.

It was very small, only the size of a grain of rice. It was very white, with a luster characteristic of chitin-like substances.

This was called the "Luther Aggregation Layer," or "Silver Bone" for short.

After the virus outbreak, many people studied zombies. In 2021, the British researcher Luther Cavies discovered during the dissection of a zombie specimen that there was an abnormal protrusion in the second coccygeal vertebra. This strange growth was verified in hundreds of zombie specimens. Based on the living habits and movement characteristics of zombies, this hard protrusion was eventually confirmed to be a deposit formed by the interaction of the virus and trace hormones in the zombie's body.

A strange active substance could be extracted from the silver bone. Researchers soon found that it could enhance the hardness and toughness of metals, significantly increasing the K value of steel. Its greatest use, however, was its significant calming and element-aggregating effect on the human central nervous system. From that point on, silver bone was listed as one of the most important strategic resources by all major groups.

Through the glass display cases, one could see a dozen slow-moving zombies staggering outside the mall. The streets were cluttered with various vehicles, some with doors wide open, others with seats covered in blood. In the distance and inside the mall, the sounds of hurried footsteps and terrifying screams could be heard from time to time.

Su Hao walked to the mall entrance, looked up, and gazed at the bright sky with a mix of emotions.

Yes, this was Earth, the beginning of chaos, violence, killing, and death, the start of all evil.

I can't change anything, nor can I turn the tide with my own strength.

I just want more.

He lifted his foot, stepped down the stairs, and walked down the street, reciting the map he had memorized in his mind.

...

This was Kunming.

A double-decker bus marked "389" had overturned in the middle of the road. The rubber tires and metal body had left a thirty-meter-long friction mark on the asphalt, and more than half of the windows were open, with dark red bloodstains trailing out. The glass was smeared with bloody handprints, and a dozen infected individuals were gathered around a corpse, tearing at the flesh of what was once one of their own.

The traffic lights were still changing between red and green, and the streets were congested with densely packed vehicles. Under a tall silver birch tree, a traffic police officer who had been dead for a long time was slumped. His legs had been crushed by a "Jetta" that had veered onto the sidewalk, and his helmeted head lay beside the tire, with a clear bite mark on his neck. The fresh red blood that had spurted from his chest had soaked his fluorescent vest and was slowly absorbed by his cotton police uniform, turning into damp, dark red patches.

In the distance, the sounds of frantic and hysterical shouts could be heard. The air, heated by the sun, was filled with a thick, almost suffocating stench of blood. Everywhere he looked, there were staggering infected individuals, some on the brink of losing their sanity, and more who had completely turned into zombies.

Su Hao bent his body and quickly moved through the gap between the green belt and the wall. His old leather jacket and gray trousers, though ordinary in style, blended well with most environments, making the best camouflage.

A few minutes later, he had passed through the alley formed by the mall building and nearby structures, and saw the prominent blue "P" sign hanging at the top of a utility pole. Directly below it, a red arrow pointed to the entrance of the underground ramp.

If not for accidentally obtaining some old urban renovation plans, Su Hao would not have chosen this city as the receiving point for the time beacon. In the era he came from, the yellowed and worn-out plans were just antiques waiting for buyers in the black market. After memorizing all the street and building coordinates on the plans, the storage room in the basement of this parking lot became the landing point for his first batch of important supplies.

A black-and-yellow striped barrier blocked the entrance to the ramp. In the narrow surveillance booth beside it, a zombie in a black suit was trapped. Its left arm, along with the sleeve, had been torn off, and the wound was oozing pus and half-rotten gray flesh. The nameplate on its chest indicated that it was originally the parking lot attendant of the building.

"Thud—Thud Thud—"

The sound of the zombie's head and body colliding with the wall was muffled but clear. It had likely been attacked by an infected individual and fled into the booth to avoid danger. The virus that entered through the wound quickly took over its body, turning it into a terrifying creature that craved fresh meat.

A cruel and excited expression crossed Su Hao's face. He quickly approached, raised the axe, and smashed the side glass of the booth. The infected attendant immediately stuck its head out through the sharp glass shards, struggling to free itself from its prison. Before it could let out its first roar of freedom, the fire axe, which had fallen again, accurately struck its neck, severing the ugly, grotesque head.

Amidst the stench of the corpse, Su Hao accurately found the tiny but precious silver bone. Without wasting time, he placed the trophy in a pre-prepared metal tube and immediately walked around the barrier, heading deep into the dark parking lot.

...

It was not as dark as he had imagined, despite the lack of sunlight. Energy-saving lights were installed at the corners of the walls, and although they were not very bright, they provided enough light to see the road and obstacles.

On the car wash platform about twenty meters from the first-floor exit, a luxurious "Mercedes" SUV was parked. The doors on both sides of the driver's seat were open, and the windshield was shattered. Dozens of zombies were wriggling inside the car like maggots. Through the gaps in the windows and bodies, one could see the targets of the zombie horde—two men and women who had been gnawed beyond recognition. They had been dead for a long time, and if not for the lace thong hanging from the mouth of a zombie gnawing on a buttock and the blood-stained men's leather shoe at the other end of the door, Su Hao would not have been able to determine the true gender of the two piles of bones and flesh.

He moved silently in the shadow, like a swift lizard, leaving no trace that could be found.

Su Hao was not a martial arts master or an invincible hero from a comic. Although his current body possessed the best human genes, he was still, in essence, an ordinary person.

He had not yet evolved.

In the long years of fighting zombies and various monsters, humans had accumulated a wealth of experience. All non-human species that appeared after the virus storm had color illustrations and descriptions in future textbooks. Su Hao knew their living habits and their weaknesses.

Due to the damage the virus caused to the central nervous system, zombies had almost no visual ability. To compensate, their hearing and sense of smell became particularly acute. They moved slowly and clumsily but felt no pain, and their hunger for food made them incredibly strong. The only way to kill them was to destroy the brain, which had shrunk by a third but still controlled the entire body.

Su Hao could use terrain, distance, and smell to deal with isolated infected individuals. However, he could not handle more than two zombies at once, let alone a dense horde.

Fresh flesh was irresistibly attractive to zombies. No one knew how long the horde's meal would last. He had to quickly retrieve the equipment he had sent in advance. The longer he delayed, the greater the possibility of an accident.

Fortunately, the horde did not notice Su Hao sneaking in the shadows. Following the fluorescent arrows on the walls and the map he had memorized, he soon arrived at the end of the third underground level of the parking lot and entered the storage room that matched his memory.

This was just a small, roughly thirty-square-meter area without a door. Due to the narrow distance between the columns and pipes on both sides, it was used to store heavy and inexpensive boxes and other items.

Maintaining a steady and agile pace, the moment Su Hao stepped into the storage room, he immediately felt several pairs of eyes on him, accompanied by a faint killing intent and fear.

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