The towering glass skyscrapers of the city center had gradually given way to the shorter, boxier commercial buildings of the industrial district.
The dense concrete jungle was slowly thinning out, replaced by the sprawling, open decay of the city outskirts.
The roads were no longer choked with the polished husks of expensive luxury cars, but rather littered with overturned delivery vans, shattered commuter sedans, and the scattered debris of panicked evacuations.
Suitcases lay burst open on the asphalt, spilling clothes and forgotten lives into the gutters. The apocalyptic chaos of the main streets had faded into a desolate, hollow silence, broken only by the low hum of the engines.
The military convoy groaned loudly as the heavy tires rolled over the cracked, weed-choked asphalt, turning into the spacious parking lot of a deserted highway rest stop.
A dilapidated gas station stood off to the side, its neon signs completely shattered and its fuel pumps heavily rusted. The convenience store windows were blown out, dark interiors yawning like empty mouths. It was time for a temporary refuel before they hit the open highway.
Lu Chunxia sat entirely alone on the lowered metal tailgate of the third truck. The cold steel bit through her pants, but she hardly registered the discomfort.
Her once-white hoodie was completely unrecognizable.
It was stiff, unnaturally heavy, and reeked of a sharp, metallic copper scent mixed with the foul odor of rot. The fabric was plastered to her skin with large, overlapping stains of dried red blood and the vile, pitch black venom of the mutated Corpse Hounds. Every time she shifted her weight or breathed too deeply, the hardened fabric crunched audibly, a constant reminder of the slaughter.
She looked down at her left forearm, slowly rolling up the stiff, crusty sleeve. The vicious bite wound from the Corpse Hound, the one that had torn deep into her muscle and injected agonizing, burning venom, was completely gone. Where torn flesh and black blood had been just an hour ago, there was only smooth, unblemished pale skin, leaving not even a scar behind.
To the group of frightened refugees, she was an unpredictable anomaly. They gave her a wide, fearful berth, keeping at least ten paces away from the third truck at all times as they carried empty plastic jugs to siphon gas from the abandoned cars in the lot.
Chunxia could hear their hushed, frantic whispers carrying over the faint morning breeze, their accusations like fingers raised at her very species.
They pointed at her miraculously healed arm. They pointed at the sickening amount of blood soaking her clothes.
To them, she had been bitten by a terrifying monster, survived the lethal venom that should have killed her, and then butchered a pack of nightmare hounds with a terrifying, blood-red magic out of nowhere.
They looked at her with the exact same wide-eyed, trembling fear they reserved for the zombies and the beasts roaming the ruins.
'Am I... a monster too?' Chunxia thought, her shoulders slumping down heavily. She stared blankly at the cracked pavement below her sneakers. The surging, intoxicating adrenaline from the battle had completely faded away, leaving behind a hollow, aching exhaustion deep in her chest.
Footsteps crunched over the loose gravel. Chunxia looked up eagerly, a small spark of hope in her chest.
Miranda was walking past the third truck, returning from the Leader's vehicle at the front of the convoy. Chunxia shifted on the tailgate, desperately hoping for a single word of comfort from the woman who had practically dragged her out of the hospital's dark, blood-soaked corridors.
Miranda paused. She made eye contact with Chunxia for a brief, agonizing second. Her eyes, which had been so fervent and expressive when talking about divine punishment, were now completely cold and distant.
They held a profound, underlying distance, as if looking at a ticking bomb. Miranda quickly looked away, tightening her grip on her jacket as she quickened her pace. She practically jogged to join the other whispering survivors near the rusted gas pumps, leaving Chunxia completely alone in the creeping, lonely shadows of the truck.
Chunxia bit her trembling lip hard, fighting with all her might to hold back the hot tears welling in her eyes. She was at her absolute lowest point. She had fought tooth and nail to survive, she had fought to save them from the jaws of the hounds, and now she was entirely isolated and rejected by the very people she protected.
"Mind if I sit here?"
A voice broke through her spiraling, miserable thoughts.
Chunxia looked up in surprise, blinking away the moisture in her eyes. Adam, the Leader, was standing right next to the tailgate. He did not wait for her answer, simply hopping up to sit beside her on the cold metal.
He did not look like the untouchable, serene prophet the others saw him as. He slouched forward heavily, resting his elbows on his denim-clad knees, and let out a long, deeply exhausted sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the world. He ran a hand roughly through his messy brown hair, his shoulders drooping in exhaustion.
"Man, my back is absolutely killing me," Adam complained, his tone entirely casual, whiny, and worn out. He rolled his shoulders, a distinct popping sound echoing from his joints.
Chunxia blinked, completely thrown off by this sudden, jarring shift in his demeanor. "Leader?"
"Just Adam, please," he groaned, rubbing the back of his neck with a grimace of genuine pain. "God, these people expect me to know absolutely everything. They look at me like I have all the answers to this apocalypse, but honestly?"
He turned to look at her, a self-deprecating, tired smile forming on his face.
"I'm just making it up as I go. Every single step. I am just as lost as they are. Don't tell them that, though. Please keep it a secret between us."
Chunxia felt a strange, sudden sense of relief wash over her tense muscles. The shared secret instantly bridged the massive gap between them.
He wasn't a perfect, divine savior immune to the horrors around them. He was just a normal guy, struggling immensely under the crushing weight of their expectations, just like she was struggling with the horrific reality of her new, violent powers.
"It's hard," Chunxia whispered, looking down at her bloodstained hands. "They think I'm a monster. Because of what happened in the hospital."
"So tell me," Adam said gently, his voice completely devoid of any fear or judgment. He shifted closer, giving her his undivided, empathetic attention. "What really happened in there? Ethan said you saved their lives when the guards died."
Chunxia found herself spilling everything. The words tumbled out of her mouth like rocks falling off a mountain ledge. She told him about the paralyzing fear freezing her in place against the wall, about watching the hounds tear mercilessly into the armed guards, about breaking the glass enclosure to grab the heavy emergency hatchet.
She described the glowing crystal dropping from the corpse, the sudden surge of boiling heat entering her skin, and the overwhelming, intoxicating bloodlust that completely took over her mind when she realized she could finally fight back against the monsters.
"It needs blood to work," Chunxia explained quietly, her voice barely a whisper in the open air.
She reached down to the dusty floor of the truck bed, picking up a small, sharp shard of broken glass from a shattered window. Without hesitating, she pressed the glass against the tip of her index finger and dragged it across the skin. A bright, ruby-red bead of blood welled up from the cut.
[Sanguis Arc]
The single drop of blood floated upwards, defying gravity entirely. It elongated and solidified in a fraction of a second, forming into a tiny, razor-sharp crimson crescent that hovered perfectly still above her open palm. It hummed with a dark, lethal energy.
Adam stared at the floating blade of blood. He kept his face perfectly composed, showing only awe and a deep, sympathetic wonder. But behind his tired, gentle eyes, his mind was racing with an intense and euphoric greed.
'It is magnificent,' he screamed in his mind, absolutely ecstatic. 'A power that directly scales with violence and injury. She doesn't just fight, she thrives in the slaughter. She is the ultimate, flawless weapon to use in this apocalypse.'
He wanted to laugh out loud at his sheer, unbelievable luck. Finding someone with this level of raw, destructive capability who was also this emotionally vulnerable and desperate for approval was a miracle. He would mold her into the perfect, obedient blade.
For his own survival. For humanity.
"That is incredible," Adam breathed out, his voice thick with genuine amazement.
Chunxia dropped her focus as the tiny blade lost its sharp form and dissolved back into a fine red mist, vanishing completely into the air. She looked away, embarassed of the display. "It's scary. It makes me feel like I'm not human anymore. Like I belong with those things."
"Chloe, look at me," Adam said firmly, shifting his body to fully face her.
He reached out and placed a warm, reassuring hand heavily on her shoulder.
"You are not a monster. The people over there by the pumps? They are terrified because they are completely powerless. They do not understand what it takes to survive out here now. They want to hide away, but hiding just means dying slower."
He looked deep into her eyes, his expression carefully crafted to look vulnerable, desperate, and completely sincere.
"I- We need you. I'm just a normal guy with a truck and a half-baked plan. I cannot protect them from those things."
"But you can. You are the sword that can keep us all alive in this hell. Your power is a gift, and I believe in you entirely."
"Or rather..."
"The Axe."
Adam produced a small hatchet from behind him, similar in size to the one she had used briefly in the hospital, offering it to her.
Chunxia's breath hitched in her throat. The heavy, suffocating burden of guilt and isolation melted away under the warmth of his validation. He did not fear her. He needed her. He understood her heavy burden because he carried a massive one of his own.
Looking at Adam's tired but fiercely determined face, Chunxia saw a leader truly worth following to the ends of the earth. He was a human trying his absolute best in an impossible situation. Her mind subconsciously categorized him as an ally, a confidant, someone whose requests she should gladly fulfill.
"I'll help you," Chunxia said, her voice ringing firm and clear with a newfound, unshakeable resolve. "I'll protect the convoy. I promise."
'I'll protect them.'
She took the hatchet from him.
Adam smiled warmly, the crinkles around his eyes deepening as he squeezed her shoulder affectionately.
"Thank you, Chloe. I knew I could count on you."
"Alright, fuel is fully loaded!" Ethan relayed from the front of the convoy, waving his arm wildly. "Let's move out!"
Adam stood up, offering a calloused hand to help Chunxia off the tailgate. She took it, feeling a new, profound sense of belonging.
The scattered survivors piled back into the dark interiors of the trucks. The heavy diesel engines roared to life one by one, spewing thick black exhaust into the clear air. The convoy pulled out of the ruined rest stop, leaving the broken city limits behind them for good. They drove forward, heavy tires chewing up the asphalt, heading directly toward the distant horizon where the morning sun was finally beginning to rise.
Sitting in the back of the rumbling truck, Chunxia looked out at the golden, piercing light cutting through the dark, lingering smoke of the ruined world.
'Maybe things won't ever be the same as before...'
'...But we'll survive and try our best to keep finding meaning in our life.'
'We will survive to see the tomorrow others sacrificed themselves for.'
A spark of genuine hope ignited in her chest.
Behind them, the sprawling city was cast in deep, unnatural shadows. The sky above the tallest skyscrapers began to shift and warp disturbingly. The massive, textured veil of clouds that had covered the entire city slowly, agonizingly slowly, began to lift upwards.
The colossal wing of the Dragon that was disguising itself as the overcast sky, rose high into the atmosphere to reveal the true, terrifying scale of the new world they had been thrust into.
And elsewhere, deep within the crumbling, corpse-filled ruins of that very same city, a young man stepped out of a blood-soaked library.
The yellowish-green blood of a King dripped down his hands as he stepped out onto the shattered pavement, emerging into a city that was constantly descending into a brutal, ecosystemic war.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.....
[Name: Lu Chunxia]
[Level: 4]
[Strength: 15]
[Speed: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Endurance: 12]
[Stat Points: 0]
[Mana Pool: 100/100]
[Skills: Inspect Lv 5, Sanguis Arc Lv 2]
.....
.....
[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 10]
[Strength: 26]
[Speed: 59]
[Intelligence: 28]
[Endurance: 26]
[Stat Points: 15]
[Mana: 280/280]
[Skills: Inspect lv 5, Empty Fang Lv 7, Double Jump Lv 4, ???, ???]
.....