"Ah!!!"
Fan Xi sat up in bed, touching his neck.
It was intact.
But the excruciating pain of his neck being bitten off, the warm blood smearing half the car's windshield, and his friend's emotionless eyes—these memories lingered in his mind, as if they had just happened.
"Boss...where...did you put it?"
Fan Xi then noticed a woman sitting on the bed, wearing a spaghetti-strap bodycon dress, her fingers glistening with oil.
"Hmm?"
He immediately turned his head and looked around, realizing he was at home.
And the woman in front of him...was the in-home masseuse he had ordered; she looked somewhat familiar.
Fan Xi shook his head, and, wearing only disposable tear-off shorts, immediately found his phone.
January 24, 2026, 22:01.
"Hmm?"
Fan Xi looked at his phone, feeling something was off.
He looked up at the masseuse sitting on the bed; she seemed somewhat bewildered.
She had just been applying oil to Fan Xi's groin, thinking she had scratched herself with her nail.
Fan Xi lay back down. "Let's continue, it's okay."
The technician continued applying the essential oil to Fan Xi.
As soon as Fan Xi opened WeChat, his friend Chen Taohe sent him a voice message.
"Log in and get some porridge! It's almost the end of the season, and I still haven't gotten the trophy! I'm waiting for you!"
'Fatty...'
Fan Xi felt this scene was familiar. He tapped the plus sign and made a video call, which was answered instantly.
"Log in quickly! I'm only missing the trophy, hurry up! Even the jerk logged in! I'll name you Liu Tao!"
Chen Taohe on the other end of the video call wasn't looking at his phone, but staring at his computer.
"You...don't remember?"
"Huh? Remember what?"
Chen Taohe moved his earphone behind his ear and asked.
"You already got it...it's okay, you guys play first, I have something to do."
Fan Xi hung up the video call and placed his phone next to his pillow. He didn't think he was dreaming.
It felt too real.
Even though he didn't remember many details clearly, on the night the virus broke out, he, Chen Taohe, and Qian Kangwei spent the whole night freezing on the rooftop, and also learned a lot about the impending apocalypse through the internet.
Especially the last minute before death.
But...
Fan Xi looked at the masseuse giving him a massage.
He had a habit of never choosing the same masseuse twice.
He clearly remembered that this masseuse, who occasionally touched his groin with her fingers, had a small mole under her chest, and below that was a red birthmark the size of a fingernail.
"Boss, is it comfortable?" the masseuse asked softly when she saw Fan Xi looking at her.
"Hmm, very good technique. Do you have a mole under your chest?"
The masseuse paused for a moment, "Why don't you add an hour and see for yourself..."
Fan Xi's lips curled up, and he reached out to lift her pencil skirt, but the masseuse grabbed his hand and placed it on her lap.
"Boss, can I add an hour?"
"I'll give you two hundred, I'll just take a look."
The masseuse's face lit up; two hundred for just one look, a steal!
As his skirt was lifted, Fan Xi saw the birthmark and mole, their location and size exactly the same as he remembered.
He was 100% certain he hadn't booked this masseuse twice; that didn't fit his habits.
Connecting this to his past 'experiences,' the only explanation was...
he had been reborn.
The masseuse left, and Fan Xi went to the computer room, turned on the computer, and logged into the game.
Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei were playing duo queue. Fan Xi didn't rush to join, but instead considered what to say.
He had most likely been reborn, so the apocalypse was very likely to return.
He didn't feel he had anything to hide from them about being a reborn person.
Fan Xi still vividly remembered what had happened that night and during the day; it felt like it had just occurred minutes ago, especially the text messages he received that night and in the early morning.
[Urgent Notice: An unknown virus is spreading nationwide. Infected individuals will attack humans. Everyone, please stay home and do not go out!!!]
[If you encounter an infected person, remember not to contact them!!!]
This global mutation was not something he could handle alone; to survive, unity was essential.
At least Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei could be trusted last time.
After finishing a game, Chen Taohe saw Fan Xi online and immediately sent him an invitation.
"Damn it! I'll name you Liu Tao, that jerk only knows how to spend money! He wouldn't even come with me to find trophies."
"If I hadn't ambushed one of them last game, would you have been able to escape safely?"
"Alright, let's not rush the game. I have a question for you guys."
"What question?"
"You guys really don't remember what happened yesterday?" "
Yesterday? What happened yesterday? Weren't we at work yesterday? I even got a beating from my supervisor, you know that." Chen Taohe asked疑惑地.
"Jerk, what about you?"
"I ate at my mom's yesterday, so what?" Qian Kangwei said.
Fan Xi took a deep breath, "I might have been reborn."
There was a moment of silence in the headphones, then Chen Taohe said, "I am Qin Shi Huang."
"I'm the Emperor of Han? What's wrong with you? Hurry up and start the game. I just figured out a new way to play, I guarantee we can make a fat escape." Qian Kangwei urged.
"I'm serious, I fucking really was reborn!"
Fan Xi then described in detail what happened before his rebirth, especially the ten hours from the apocalypse to the three of them dying.
After a long while, Chen Taohe asked in a low voice, "Well made up, the logic is all right. Are you planning to write a novel? On Dianping or Ele.me? How about Ele.me? Dianping costs money, I'm pretty poor lately."
"I agree!"
"You guys don't even have this little bit of money... damn it! I'm not kidding you guys!"
Qian Kangwei said, "You have to tell us something that humans can't predict. Even if you're writing a novel, the logic has to be right, otherwise it'll definitely flop. So you can make one up now." Fan Xi
was stunned for a moment. Right!
Who would believe it if he just said something about what happened before his rebirth?
Then he racked his brains, recalling the news he had read in the seven or eight days before the apocalypse.
His habit was to check the red dots or numbers on the software when he woke up in the morning, and also to see what news or messages were being released.
Countless fragments flashed through his mind, and a few seconds later,
"There's an earthquake on Easter Island, probably tomorrow or the day after tomorrow morning... anyway, before 9 o'clock. I remember seeing the news push after I woke up, a magnitude 5 earthquake, but we don't know if anyone died."
Fan Xi didn't remember the exact time, but he roughly judged the possible time of the earthquake from the time of the news push.
"Are you serious?"
"I'm really not lying to you guys. If I had a system, I probably would have kept it a secret. What's there to hide about being reborn?"
Fan Xi's words, both in terms of details and logic, made Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei believe him a little bit.
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on it tomorrow morning. Get ready quickly, it's a top-secret space offensive."
Qian Kangwei was unconvinced. In his opinion, apocalypse or rebirth were things that only happened in novels.
Because the idea of a global apocalypse just didn't make sense.
This was also a point he often complained about when reading novels.
"You guys play, I need to look up some information. I'll call you tomorrow morning, and the three of us need to prepare properly."
Fan Xi said and exited the game.
Inside the game, Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei were stunned.
"He's quite the actor,"
Chen Taohe asked. "Could it be real? What if?"
"There aren't that many 'what ifs.' If there really is an earthquake on that Easter Island thing tomorrow morning, I'll run naked down Nanjing West Road! So, do you believe him or do you believe I'm Qin Shi Huang?"
The next morning.
8:00 AM.
[Remember this site's domain name, Taiwan Novel Network is the first choice for reading Taiwanese novels, ᴛᴡᴋᴀɴ.ᴄᴏᴍ Super powerful] Fan
Xi, who hadn't slept all night, stared at his phone. After checking the information on post-apocalyptic survival, he had been waiting for that news.
"It must be today. I have to go to work tomorrow. I remember seeing it this morning..."
Fan Xi kept looking at WeChat. A news article refreshed on the public account.
"Easter Island Breaking News!"
Fan Xi clicked on it and saw that there was an earthquake on Easter Island.
"Great!"
Fan Xi slapped his thigh and immediately made a video call to the two people in the three-person group.
If the birthmark on the technician's body only made him think that there was only an 80% chance of rebirth, now he could be 100% sure.
Chen Taohe answered first.
"Fan Xi? Why are you calling so early? I played with that jerk until 4 a.m. last night." Chen Taohe was still sleepy.
"Sleep your ass off! The apocalypse is coming! Get up!"
"No, just kidding, don't actually fool yourself."
"Search it online yourself! An earthquake struck Easter Island, Chile! Magnitude 5!"
"Really?"
Chen Taohe tapped his phone a few times in the video, fully awake.
"There really was an earthquake?" "
Would I lie to you?" "
Do you remember the next lottery numbers? My fortune depends on you!"
"Buy your sister's lottery! The apocalypse is coming, even if you win, will you be able to cash out the money!"
Just then, Qian Kangwei also connected on video.
"You bastard! Get up and go streaking! Hahahaha!" Chen Taohe immediately burst into laughter.
"What streaking?"
On the other end of the video, Qian Kangwei had his eyes closed, his head buried in the pillow.
"The earthquake Fantasia said really happened! That's fucking amazing!"
Qian Kangwei also quickly woke up, saw the message Fantasia sent him last night, and immediately searched online.
The chat room quickly fell silent.
Earthquakes are unpredictable.
The two realized the seriousness of the situation.
"Fantasy, is there really an apocalypse?"
Qian Kangwei still wanted to struggle a bit.
"I can't be completely sure. Last time... you arrived at Jiangcheng Station on the afternoon of the 31st. I drove Fatty to pick you up, and then we went to an internet cafe to play games and have some porridge. We had barbecue on the pedestrian street at 9 pm. If I'm not mistaken, the apocalypse was supposed to start at 10 pm. I checked the time then, and I was reborn at 10 pm last night."
"The 31st... exactly one week?"
"That's right. As for this time on the 31st, I think there's a high probability that there will be another apocalypse. The good news is that we still have 6 and a half days to prepare. By the way, I remember there were two earthquakes this week. One was in Gannan, our country, which was around magnitude 5 and caused no casualties. The other was in Japan, I think it was... magnitude 4.6."
"What about my parents..."
"Last time when we were on the rooftop, you two both called, but no one answered."
The chat room fell silent.
Fan Xi comforted the two, "Maybe not everything has changed. Since I chose to tell you, you still have a chance to make amends. On the night of the 31st, we can separate Uncle and Auntie, because it's possible that only one of them has mutated, or maybe neither has changed. After all, if they hear any noise and go out, they might get bitten."
Chen Taohe immediately said, "Right, right! My parents love watching the excitement!"
"Good brother, we owe you a favor."
"We're all brothers. If I can be reborn, you won't just owe me one thing. The most important thing now is to discuss a strategy. You bastard, come back and let's deal with the apocalypse together."
Qian Kangwei hesitated.
Although Fan Xi predicted the earthquake, the apocalypse theory was a bit far-fetched, but he couldn't explain what Fan Xi said either.
Weather could be predicted based on cloud maps, but earthquakes were definitely not.
"Fanxi, are you really sure?"
Fanxi hesitated for a moment. "Actually, I can't guarantee it 100%, but... at least I feel like it's possible. I'll test the next earthquake myself, and I don't even know if I'll be reborn next time."
"Okay, buddy, I believe you! But I need to figure out how to trick my mom into going back, otherwise she won't go back to her hometown now."
"Alright, let's discuss where to prepare for the apocalypse."
Fanxi described what he had seen and heard last time again. After discussing it, the three of them decided to go to the countryside.
Because Fanxi's parents left him a two-story house in the countryside after they passed away. Although no one had lived there for several years, the three of them agreed that the countryside was safer than the big city.
"Isn't this what they call building a safe house in the apocalypse? I've read several novels like this. Let me find out how it's written in those books, and we can follow what they say." Chen Taohe said.
"You'll lose if you believe me. Do you have that much money or do I? Fantasy, I have about 18,000 in my bank account, and I have 40,000 in my mom's account. I'll see how much I can get from online loans later."
"I have 50,000 in savings. I'll take out online loans later."
"I just bought this car and haven't registered it yet. I'll ask how much I can get for it later. I don't have much savings, less than 20,000, but my Alipay and JD Pay limits combined are over 50,000. I should be able to get about 20 online loans."
"You're planning to sell the car?" Chen Taohe asked.
"You forgot... we have to sell! If it weren't for having to pay the bank after selling the house, I'd be willing to sell it at a bargain price,"
Fan Xi said viciously.
Before the last apocalypse, the three of them had just finished eating barbecue on the pedestrian street and were about to leave when the apocalypse struck. They had to hide in a nearby residential building and spend the night freezing. The next morning, the three of them finally arrived safely at the parking lot, but one of the cars suddenly made a noise, attracting dozens of zombies that chased and bit them.
Chen Taohe, who was 1.75 meters tall but weighed over 200 kilograms, couldn't run at all.
So he turned around and rushed into the horde of zombies, sacrificing himself to save Fan Xi and Qian Kangwei's lives.
The two of them safely reached the car and were about to leave when the AEB in the ditch automatically braked before hitting the horde of zombies.
Fan Xi's car was the latest model, the Wenjie, equipped with radar all around. The car detected people in front and behind, so no matter how he operated it, the car wouldn't move.
In the end, he and Qian Kangwei could only watch helplessly as the car window shattered, and the mutated Chen Taohe squeezed in and had a good meal.
Cars with higher safety features became a joke in the apocalypse.
And houses...
Fan Xi bought them at the peak of 2019.
"Fan Xi, I think we still need a car," Qian Kangwei said.
"I've thought about that. I plan to rent a Great Wall Cannon or a rugged off-road vehicle, find a place to modify it for our future use." "Okay
, anyway, we've discussed it enough. I'll trick my mom into going back home these few days. You guys need to take care of things back home first. Send me your bank account number."
"No problem."
The video call ended, and Fan Xi sent the two of them information about the other two earthquakes. A short while later, he received a transfer from Qian Kangwei.
Chen Taohe sent a text message saying his bank card had a limit of 20,000 yuan per day, and he needed to go to the bank to get it sorted before transferring it to Fan Xi.
However, Fan Xi didn't let him transfer it, but instead told him to get ready and drive to pick him up later.
Two hours later, Fan Xi and Chen Taohe drove out of a used car market in a Great Wall Cannon.
Because Fan Xi's car wasn't registered yet, it sold for 310,000. The 7-day rental plus deposit cost 10,000.
"I took out 125,000 in online loans, which, combined with my savings, brings my total to 175,000. I also have 17,500 in credit limits from Alipay and JD Pay." "
Yeah, that jerk transferred all his money to me. I have a little over 510,000 available."
"Including that jerk?"
"Yeah, he only managed to get 90,000 in online loans."
"Then we have over 700,000 together. Many
hands make light work!" "Time is tight and we have a lot to do. Take a taxi back and pack your things. I need to go back and pack before I pick you up."
"Okay!"
700,000 can do a lot.
Last night, Fan Xi checked the data; food and water don't cost much, at most 30,000 per person.
Based on the number of their parents plus himself—a total of six people—Fan Xi roughly calculated that they only needed less than 180,000 to survive for three years.
But Fan Xi wasn't so optimistic. He planned to only stockpile enough food and water for four people for three years, since they still had a vehicle to go out and gather supplies. He would use the extra money to buy other things.
That afternoon, on the way back, Chen Taohe bought everything Fan Xi had listed that could be purchased online.
In case of another earthquake and the goods weren't delivered, they could be returned, at least the financial loss wouldn't be too great.
The doors of the neighboring houses on either side of Fan Xi's parents' house were all closed; no one had lived there for years.
After moving the items inside, the two immediately went to a hardware store in the county's building materials market.
"Boss, do you sell pneumatic nail guns?"
"A nail gun? What wattage do you need? What's it for?"
The bald shop owner, sitting by the fire in his shop, raised his eyelids slightly.
"I need to build cabinets at home. Hiring someone is too expensive, so I'm planning to do it myself. The higher the wattage, the better."
"The gun and air canister are 200 yuan. I'll throw in a box of nails. Nails are 10 yuan a box, 360 nails a box. Air canisters are 20 yuan each."
"I'll take five sets first. Also, get me 100 air canisters. Can you give me a discount?"
"Five sets?"
The bald shop owner was puzzled, but he didn't bother to ask further.
"The lowest price is 2700 yuan. I can't sell it any lower."
"Okay!"
Fan Xi scanned the code and paid directly. The bald shop owner immediately brought everything out of the warehouse.
The two of them loaded the items into the car and then went to a door and window shop, taking the shop owner to the countryside to take measurements.
"All eight windows are the same size, plus the first-floor bathroom, totaling 23 square meters. It depends on whether you want thermally broken aluminum or PVC windows, and whether you want tempered laminated glass or just laminated glass; the quality and price will differ,"
the building materials store owner said, smoking a cigarette.
"It must be finished before the 30th."
"Then I can only use double-glazed laminated glass. Tempered glass has to be custom-made, and there's not enough time. If you use laminated glass, it can be installed by the 28th."
"The first and second floors, plus the four backyard doors, all need to be replaced with the sturdiest steel doors. Can you calculate the total cost for me?"
"I'll calculate it for you based on thermally broken aluminum; wait a moment."
The building materials store owner pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and quickly calculated the price.
"The windows will cost you 19,000, the four doors will cost 20,000, and you can give me 1,000 for labor, making it 40,000 in total."
"I also need 17 steel plates, each 2.5 meters long, 1 meter wide, and 1 centimeter thick."
"Steel plates? The market price for this size is 500 each, so you can give me 8,300."
Fan Xi didn't haggle. "Okay, can I pay a deposit first, and I'll pay you the balance on the 1st?"
"Deposit of 10,000."
Scan the code and pay.
After the building materials store owner left, Chen Taohe couldn't help but ask, "Did Number 1 pay? Will he even receive the money? And you should at least have negotiated a price!"
"Fatty, 700,000 isn't much. We should save where we can and spend where we can. Whether we negotiate or not, I estimate it'll be a 10,000 deposit anyway, so I'm too lazy to argue."
"So you really think the apocalypse will come?"
"If it doesn't, I'll just consider it a house renovation."
"True, replacing a door and window won't cost much, but what about your car...?"
"At worst, I'll just take out a loan of tens of thousands to buy it back. Now let's go back and clean up the house; no one has lived here for a long time."
As it got dark, the two only mopped and swept the floor once.
For the next three days, Fan Xi and Chen Taohe shuttled between various wholesale markets in the county, buying everything except food.
Because the Gannan earthquake also occurred on the 26th.
The items ordered online also arrived one after another, and six 500W solar panels were installed on the roof.
Two batteries, each capable of storing 15.36 kWh, were placed in a storage room on the second floor.
In the backyard, Chen Taohe, holding a welding mask in one hand and a welding gun in the other, was welding two pieces of threaded steel.
Fan Xi, after connecting the inverter to the batteries, came to the backyard and asked, tilting his head, "How's it going?"
"Look, I think it's okay."
Chen Taohe put down the welding mask, turned off the welding machine, and picked up the threaded steel from the ground.
The two of them grabbed the threaded steel and pulled it back, almost causing Fan Xi to fall over.
"It should be fine. As long as the expansion bolts on the wall can hold, it shouldn't be a problem."
"I really admire you. How did you even think of inserting steel plates inside the window?"
"It's already 2026. Don't you know to ask Doubao?"
Chen Taohe gave a thumbs up. The only thing he could think of was sealing the window from the inside with steel plates.
Fan Xi's idea was to drive expansion bolts into the wall, then weld two barriers above the window and on the ground using threaded steel, and insert the steel plates into the first-floor window on the night the apocalypse arrived.
A steel plate weighs about 300 pounds, and three people can lift it together.
"So you're not planning to return this welding machine?"
"Return it my foot! We'll have to find another one if we need welding later. Anyway, we paid 500 yuan to rent it for a week, no problem."
"How much money do we have left?"
"Except for the 120,000 yuan for food, 100,000 yuan for doors, windows, wall heightening, and waterproofing, 10,000 yuan for surveillance, 70,000 yuan for solar panels, 60,000 yuan for medicine, 13,000 yuan for daily necessities, 12,000 yuan for the kitchen gas stove and LPG tank, 30,000 yuan for satellite phones and walkie-talkies, 50,000 yuan for five drones and batteries, 22,000 yuan for a drone, and 6,700 yuan for a ton of gasoline..." "
..."
"That bastard transferred an extra 50,000 yuan to me a couple of days ago. He probably saw the news about the earthquake in Gannan and hid it from me. Anyway, we have about 50,000 yuan left."
"Only 50,000 yuan left?"
"The stab-proof vest, riot shield, compound bow, arrows, etc., cost 100,000 yuan. Most of them are consumables like carbon fiber arrows. Oh, and I also bought two PS5s, 10 controllers, and over 100 games. This stuff is quite expensive."
"You were right to have foresight."
Chen Taohe wasn't talking about games, but rather the house renovation.
Fan Xi paid in full for the bricks, but for everything else, he gave a deposit, and the settlement was scheduled for the 1st.
Otherwise, the house renovation alone would cost at least 100,000 yuan, making it unlikely that he could buy a PS5 and games.
"Alright, that bastard will be back tomorrow, we need to discuss this."
The following afternoon, Fan Xi picked up Qian Kangwei in the county town and headed straight to the countryside.
He had visited once when Fan Xi's parents passed away, and when he saw the house again, the windows had been replaced and the exterior walls had been repainted.
"Painting walls in the face of the apocalypse?"
"Waterproofing. My house is old, what if it leaks when the apocalypse comes? So I simply had someone waterproof the whole house."
The two got out of the car, and Chen Taohe was welding in the backyard.
"You've finally arrived. Fan Xi has been treating me like a donkey. I need to rest for the next two days, so I'll leave everything to you."
Chen Taohe immediately stood up when he saw Qian Kangwei come in.
Qian Kangwei went into the house and realized what they had been doing these past few days.
"Actually, I've always hoped the apocalypse wouldn't come."
"That won't do! I've already taken out all my online loans. If the apocalypse doesn't come, I'll explode!"
"Fantasy, we still have a little over two days left. What else do we need to do?"
"Only buying food supplies. The doors and windows were just replaced this morning. I'm worried that some of the installers might not mutate and come to steal them, so I haven't bought them yet."
"Okay, let's go buy them together tomorrow."
"Hmm, but there's one more thing I need to discuss with you."
"What is it?"
"I'm sure you called your aunt and uncle, but they didn't answer. Of course, I hope they're okay, but what if they've turned into zombies..."
Even if their relatives turned into zombies, Fan Xi didn't think they could bring themselves to do it.
He only had an aunt in the county town. He called her too, but the result was the same—no one answered.
His aunt lived alone in the county town, so the outcome was obvious, but Fan Xi wasn't going to give up.
The two fell silent.
Even if their relatives turned into zombies, how could they possibly do it?
"Then... what do we do?" Chen Taohe looked at Fan Xi.
"There's only one way, though it's a bit risky."
"What way?"
"Drug them. Invite them all over that day, then drug them. Before the apocalypse, I'll drive them away early. There are hardly any people in the village at night. If my uncles, aunts, and my aunt haven't changed, I'll drive them back. If they have... I'll abandon them and come back myself."
"Drug them?!"
Chen Taohe threw off his welding mask, his face turning bright red.
"Fanxi! Those are my parents! You want me to drug them?!"
Qian Kangwei frowned, his voice low. "Fanxi, we can invite them over beforehand, lock the door, just in case... just in case things really change, we can... we can..."
"What can we do?"
Fanxi stared at him, his voice hoarse. "Deal with them ourselves? Or watch them turn into zombies and bite us to death? I didn't get reborn to die again! And certainly not to watch you all die! Last time Fatty charged into the horde of zombies, I remember his last scream perfectly!"
Chen Taohe's fat trembled. "What about your aunt? You'll drug her too?"
"Drug her!"
"I know this is wrong, but drugging them is necessary. Otherwise, do you think you can be so heartless as to see them mutate? Or you can think of a safer way, I promise I'll agree."
"You're a reincarnated person, but we aren't. In this timeline, I haven't encountered the apocalypse yet. I understand your concerns, but I don't agree to leaving my mother outside," Qian Kangwei said firmly.
Fan Xi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, let's compromise. The family next door moved away a long time ago and hasn't come back for several years. We'll put them next door, and I'll install surveillance cameras there so you can check on them anytime."
Fan Xi paused. "But let's make it clear first, if Uncle and Aunt mutate, you can't feed them."
Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei nodded.
Fan Xi breathed a sigh of relief when they nodded.
He finally understood why apocalyptic novels always feature orphans, or why the whole family treats the protagonist badly.
Blood relatives are an insurmountable obstacle.
Fan Xi asked himself honestly, even he probably couldn't bring himself to kill his mutated parents, and he wouldn't be willing to leave them outside either.
Afterwards, the three discussed using sleeping pills to put their relatives to sleep in advance, then sending them next door to await the apocalypse.
That night, Fan Xi sent the other two to the county town to be with his parents, while he stayed behind to continue welding.
The car was rented; the welding shops in the county wouldn't take on modification work because Fan Xi didn't have the necessary license.
So, Fan Xi bought pre-cut steel plates and rebar, and had Chen Taohe weld the crash bars in advance.
They didn't plan to go out for the first few days after the apocalypse, so they could work on it at home later.
On the morning of January 31st,
Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei drove their pickup truck several times to deliver all the supplies to the safe house.
In the afternoon, the safe house, except for the first-floor hall, was filled with supplies.
Five hours before the apocalypse, Fan Xi called his aunt.
Two hours before the apocalypse, Chen Taohe's parents, Qian Kangwei's mother, and Fan Xi's aunt all fell asleep in their cars.
Fan Xi drove back from outside, and Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei, who had been waiting at the door, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They were afraid that Fan Xi had really left the person outside.
"They're all asleep. I turned the heat up really high."
Half an hour earlier,
Fan Xi's aunt had finished eating and said she had to go back first, feeling sleepy.
So Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei's parents also got up to leave, and Fan Xi drove them.
However, Fan Xi deliberately drove slowly and turned the heat up high, so the four of them fell asleep shortly after getting in the car.
Fan Xi drove around outside for almost half an hour before returning.
"So what do we do now?" Chen Taohe asked.
"Let them sleep in the car. Get the stretcher ready later. I've finished cleaning up next door these past two days. Although there's a lot of dust, if they haven't mutated, we'll bring them back. There's water in the well, so taking a bath won't be a problem," Fan Xi said after getting out of the car.
"Okay."
Then, Fan Xi went to check the doors and windows, while the two of them stayed by the car watching their sleeping parents.
Today, Fan Xi invited them over for dinner, pretending he had a girlfriend and had come back to tidy up the house in preparation for the wedding, asking for their opinions.
Elders never refuse these kinds of requests, so they were easily fooled.
The excuse was lame, but it worked.
9:40 PM.
Fan Xi came downstairs.
In the lobby, Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei immediately tensed up.
"We can begin,"
Fan Xi said, unfolding the stretcher and opening the passenger door.
Chen Taohe helped him lift Fan Xi's aunt onto the stretcher, while Qian Kangwei ran to the backyard to open the door.
Behind the yard was a vegetable garden; two days ago, Fan Xi had pried open the neighbor's back door and changed the lock.
The four were moved to an empty house next door and placed separately, each in their own room.
9:55 PM. Fan
Xi locked the door and turned to look at the two men.
"The monitoring room on the second floor can see what's going on inside. Here's a walkie-talkie. Fatty, go check the monitors. I'll stay here with that bastard. Go over there and turn on the phone in the monitoring room to make a video call to me, because I'm not sure if I'll still be affected by the drugs after the mutation."
Chen Taohe nodded, took the walkie-talkie, and walked back quickly.
Two minutes later, Fan Xi's phone vibrated.
"Push the phone stand forward a little bit."
On the other end of the video call, Chen Taohe did as instructed.
"Okay, Fatty, turn off all the lights."
After Fan Xi finished speaking, he looked at his house, and the lights in the yard quickly went out.
Time slowly passed, and Fan Xi's hand holding the phone became sweaty.
22:00.
There was no change in the four images on the monitor.
"Fantasy, does this mean my mom hasn't changed?" Qian Kangwei stared at the lower left corner of the screen and found that there was still no movement, his tone was a little nervous.
"Is there no apocalypse?" Chen Taohe's voice came from the phone.
"Wait...wait a minute!"
Fan Xi stared at his phone. "Tap the top left corner to zoom in."
Chen Taohe immediately operated the screen, turning the four monitor images into one.
The next second after the image was zoomed in, Chen Taohe's father sat up in bed.
"Four frames, switch to four frames!"
The next second, the monitor returned to the four-frame view, and Fan Xi's heart sank when he saw the other three monitor screens.
Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei realized it too.
"It seems... there are no survivors..."
Chen Taohe's crying could be heard in the video. Fan Xi clicked mute, then patted Qian Kangwei beside him.
After dinner, Fan Xi gave each of them three sleeping pills.
Only two hours had passed; under normal circumstances, they shouldn't have woken up, let alone the four of them already pacing around in the room.
The neighbor's house was built earlier than Fan Xi's parents', and since it was night, he could already hear the faint roars of the mutated beings outside.
"You bastards, go back, it's not safe outside."
Fan Xi looked at the vegetable garden, his modified nail gun gripping tightly in his hand.
When Qian Kangwei followed Fan Xi back, looking utterly dejected, Chen Taohe was almost crying himself to death.
Fan Xi glanced at the monitor screen, then clicked the mouse a few times to switch the view to the outside of the house.
"Ah!!!"
"Help! Help!"
A faint cry for help came from outside. Clearly, some people in the village hadn't mutated, but those around them had.
Fan Xi went downstairs to check the doors and windows, and only returned upstairs after confirming everything was alright.
At 8:10 PM, his phone received a warning text message as expected.
[Urgent Notice: An unknown virus is spreading nationwide. Infected individuals will attack humans. Everyone, please stay home and do not go out!!!]
[If you encounter an infected person, remember not to contact them!!!]
Fan Xi glanced at the message, then at the two people sitting there silently weeping, before taking the inventory list and going down to the warehouse.
Because the amount of food the three of them ate each day needed to be controlled, and since they had prepared enough supplies for one more person, Fan Xi needed to inventory the food and drinks with the closest expiration dates to make a plan.
More than an hour later, Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei, having calmed down a bit, arrived at the warehouse on the first floor, which was being used as a food storage area.
"Fan Xi, thank you."
"Thank me?"
"If it weren't for you, they probably would have really turned into...monsters."
In their eyes, even though they had mutated, they were still human.
[I hope readers remember our domain name, Taiwan Novel Network, for easy access: t̆̈̆̈w̆̈̆̈k̆̈̆̈̆̈ă̈̆̈n̆̈̆̈.c̆̈̆̈ŏ̈̆̈m̆̈̆̈]
"Please don't blame me. My parents have been gone for several years, so I hope my aunt and uncle won't mutate."
"We saw the message. What's the next step?"
Fan Xi stood up, casually placed the inventory list on the shelf, and shook her head. "I don't know. This is my first time being reborn. Last time, we only lived until a little after eight o'clock the next morning, and that was in Jiangcheng Pedestrian Street. So I don't know what the situation is like here. Let's take it one step at a time."
Qian Kangwei immediately asked, "Then can you be reborn again?"
"The three of us have known each other for 20 years, and I won't lie to you. I didn't know anything about this. In fact, I'm completely clueless about this rebirth. There might be a next time, or there might not be,"
Fan Xi said without hesitation.
Because if there is a next rebirth, the other two still won't know. If there isn't, then it's even less important; how long they can live is also unknown.
Chen Taohe asked eagerly, "I watched 'Sleepless Day' a while ago. Do you think it's possible for you to be reborn five times? The apocalypse is here, so being reborn multiple times isn't impossible, right? Or like in 'The Beginning,' could you be reborn many times?"
Fan Xi leaned against the shelf. "I've thought about that too. Assuming I can continue to be reborn, my rebirth time is likely fixed, which is 168 hours before the apocalypse, exactly 7 days. The protagonist in 'The Beginning' was reborn earlier, so it's possible I can only be reborn... 5 times."
"If it's five times, then we have a lot to do. Fan Xi, next time you should report directly to the government. Maybe we can stop the apocalypse from happening earlier."
"What reason can I give the government to believe me? Earthquake prediction? Lottery numbers? Even if the government believes me, what about the mutation mechanism? Although I only lived for less than twelve hours last time, this disaster covers the entire globe. Can the government resolve this within 7 days, causing so many people to mutate simultaneously?"
"Alright, you guys go about your business. I'll finish inventorying this row of shelves and then go upstairs."
Fan Xi stood up, took the inventory list, and continued inventorying.
Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei stepped forward and silently helped Fan Xi.
With the apocalypse upon them, they didn't know what to do either.
Or perhaps, inventorying the shelves would help them stop thinking about anything else.
With their help, the inventorying process was much faster.
By 1 a.m., all the food and medicine had been inventoried.
The three of them went upstairs and sat on massage chairs, their backs almost giving way.
Fan Xi scrolled through his phone. More and more survivors were posting videos and posts online.
People were asking questions in various car enthusiast groups, anime groups, fitness groups, and so on.
Fan Xi clicked on a few. The messages were from IDs he recognized from his last rebirth, but those who frequently chatted in groups before the apocalypse, although their avatars were still lit up, were probably either mutated or bitten.
Chen Taohe and Qian Kangwei were also scrolling through their phones.
They hadn't seen the mutated people with their own eyes yet, only knowing that, as Fan Xi said, the apocalypse had arrived.
It was 9 a.m. the day after the apocalypse.
When Fan Xi got up, Chen Taohe was snoring on the other two beds in the room, and Qian Kangwei was also asleep.
They had spent almost the entire night on their phones, only falling asleep just before dawn.
After washing up, Fan Xi took his monitoring tablet to the kitchen downstairs and made a bowl of noodles, also cracking two eggs.
Eggs didn't have a good way of being preserved, so he hadn't bought many.
Fortunately, he had collected 10 free-range chickens and 5 ducks, which would still lay eggs.
After breakfast, Fan Xi took his drone directly into the yard and launched it.
He needed to understand the situation in the village.
Because the drone was equipped with a 4G module, its flight range was greatly increased.
Fan Xi stared at the screen; the drone's altitude remained around 100 meters.
There were two routes from his home to the town: one was across the river, which required passing through another village, but the road was narrower, and Fan Xi didn't plan to fly that way.
The other road was a wide tourist highway near the entrance, clear all the way through the village to the town. There weren't many houses along the way, only a dozen or so zombies wandering the roads. With the vehicles fitted with skid plates, these zombies posed no threat.
But the closer they got to the town, the more zombies appeared.
The drone flew over the town, and scattered throughout the main roads and alleys were about three hundred zombies.
"It seems the situation in the town is more serious, but at least the roads aren't blocked, so we can still go to the town's supermarket to collect supplies..."
"Not many zombies, probably because many people didn't have time to escape."
"Coming to the village was the wisest choice; fewer people greatly reduces the danger." *
Ding ding ding!
* Fan Xi, looking at his phone screen, noticed a text message pop up.
He set the drone to automatic return and then glanced at the message.
[Emergency Command Center Urgent Notice (No. 1)]
[Large-scale abnormal attacks by infected individuals have occurred in multiple locations across China. Infected individuals are highly aggressive and pose a risk of contact transmission. A Level I National Emergency Response has been activated.] [
Please immediately follow these instructions: 1. Take shelter in place, lock doors and windows, stay away from crowded areas and public transportation hubs, and do not go out; 2. Properly store water, food, medicine, and other living supplies, and take good care of yourself; 3. Do not contact any suspicious persons; 4. Do not believe or spread rumors; all information should be based on the unified release of the emergency command center; 5. Electricity, water, natural gas, and internet supply in some areas will be interrupted intermittently after one day. Please use a radio or mobile phone to receive subsequent notifications on FM 100; 6. Please wait for rescue.]
[National Emergency Command Center for Public Emergencies, February 1, 2026, 10:00 AM.]
Fan Xi felt something was missing after reading the brief message.
He found the three notifications from last night and reviewed them again, finally realizing the reason after comparing them. The
brief message at 5 AM included a link, stating that the rescue time would be determined based on distance, number of people, and the amount of supplies.
However, the last message removed this link.
"So... there's probably no chance of rescue?"
The drone flew back, and Fan Xi got up to get the radio.
After tuning in, a notification appeared.
"...Preliminary assessment indicates this disaster is a global catastrophe. It is known that the blood and bodily fluids of the infected can infect survivors; after being bitten, humans will mutate within 10 seconds to 3 minutes." "
Simultaneously, the infected will experience decreased night vision and enhanced sensory abilities. Therefore, survivors are urged to remain in place and avoid making noise to prevent attracting attacks from the infected."
"The military is mobilizing, and the nation will begin rescuing survivors as soon as possible."
"The following are some survivor camps in various locations. Survivors should proceed only if their safety is guaranteed: Beijing Workers' Stadium, Forbidden City Museum, Temple of Heaven Park... Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin University of Technology..."