Before everything, Ren Xiyang had just been a normal person. He had been among those concerned when the temperature became more and more wild around the globe. Many people had fallen ill, but the cause wasn’t clear. Hospitals became overburdened quickly.

Then the sky turned red. That was the start of the zombie apocalypse.

Most of the ill people died and turned into zombies and started indiscriminately hunting for human flesh. The hospitals were the hardest hit as many doctors and nurses were turned into zombies.

At first, society kept trying to run. But the zombie virus spread too quickly, massively reducing the work force and making it unsafe to keep up key infrastructure. More and more people were being turned into zombies.  Resources became a free-for-all.

However, as the days passed, some people found out that they had powers, like super strength, or the ability to control water. Humans died under the claws of zombies, humans died in the hands of other humans fighting over resources, but humans also banded together.

As a fire-ability user, Ren Xiyang had been treated well…provided that he followed orders. Which meant going out frequently to cull down zombie numbers and acting as security detail.

Dying was expected. The important thing was that he wouldn’t turn into a zombie afterwards.

Eternal rest, the void of nothingness—

—Was not the burning building he was in, where the colours were that of an office building.

Ren Xiyang mentally flipped through the contents of the het romance novel, feeling increasingly disinterested in following the novel’s script, and feeling increasingly disgruntled about his future lack of an infinite holiday.

He didn’t know what force, sentient or otherwise, transmigrated him into the body of a young girl. But he didn’t sign any contract, and there was no annoying ‘system’ bugging him, so he wasn’t legally obliged to anything. However, assuming that the information in the novel was correct (which Ren Xiyang wasn’t entirely convinced of), there were a lot of important things to do.

Such as dealing with the current situation.

Ren Xiyang walked out of the room he was in into the hallway. Thankfully, the fire had started from halfway up the building, so the lower floors would be relatively safe. There were some fires that started from the dried up paperwork that nobody would miss, but they were relatively small.

Ren Xiyang found he could control the fire, at least somewhat. He frowned in thought. This wasn’t an ability he originally had. Usually, fire that was started naturally was something that didn’t register under the “influence” and “authority” of his ability, so he couldn’t control it.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t suffocate or absorb the flames, just move them. However, that was already a pleasant addition to his ability. He remembered some passage in the novel that mentioned how the original Alyssa’s ancestors had the ability to control fire. Perhaps his fire ability absorbed the neglected potential of this dormant ability.

Regardless, Ren Xiyang moved on. While the intense heat from multiple burning fires made it hard for Ren Xiyang to distinguish between people and the fires, on the floors where the fires hadn’t spread too far, he could still sense people.

Ren Xiyang decided to at least attempt to save a few people. While he wouldn’t normally do such a thing, Ren Xiyang had a slight understanding of the current situation. Namely enough, he was a fire user inside a burning building.

Ren Xiyang climbed several flights of stairs, as the elevator had long given out. By the end of it, his body was physically very tired, but Ren Xiyang convinced himself it was good stamina training for the future.

Along the way, he had looted several pieces of clothing. Somebody had tossed off their shirt and part of their uniform. Not the pants, unfortunately enough, but he had found a janitor closet and looted the pants from there. Obviously, the clothes were far too big to fit on a 12 year old girl, but Ren Xiyang would have to make do.

Ren Xiyang stripped off the burnt dress and other clothes from his new body. The body was still young, so he didn’t need a binder yet. He pulled the long red hair back into a low ponytail and burnt off the bottom portion of it to reduce the length and dispersed the smoke.

The further up he climbed the stairs, the more screaming he could hear. Sobs and cries of begging for help caused a crease to form on Ren Xiyang’s face. It brought up bad memories from the apocalypse, which only furthered his resolve to prevent the apocalypse from happening in this world.

His hands swept out, his newfound powers finding purchase on the non-magical fire, and moved it out of the way of anybody who was still alive. Many of the people still alive on this floor had fainted, but the firefighters would arrive soon enough to carry them out on their own.

Many of the people were initially very confused, some of them even whispering, “God?” under their breaths. Only the sound of Ren Xiyang’s facepalm brought them back.

The rest of the hallway was speechless, so Ren Xiyang spoke up, “I’m currently controlling the fire, but I can’t do it for long. The firefighters will arrive soon, so make your way down the staircases slowly and calmly.”

The employees quickly snapped out of their trance, before quickly making their way out and down the closest stairs.

Ren Xiyang spared them a quick glance, before focusing back on his task. He climbed up higher, saving more people on the next two floors. Unfortunately, the floors higher up had much wider and stronger fires, so his heat sensing ability wasn’t as accurate.

He also didn’t have nearly enough energy to force the fire to move. In this world, magic saturated the air, making it easy to replenish his energy. However, it wasn’t exactly plentiful, and Ren Xiyang noticed early on that many of his actions cost more energy to do than in his previous world.

Regardless, Ren Xiyang decided to give up while he was ahead. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t save more people, but in the first place, he wasn’t a saint or a savior. In fact, the only reason he was saving people was so he could have a way to distinguish himself from the mercenaries who set the fire. He didn’t truly care about the lives he saved, as callous as it was.

Ren Xiyang decided to move onto his second objective, apprehending the mercenaries. He could sense sources of heat moving in and out of the building. One of the groups running out of the buildings was the people he saved.

He could also sense what he assumed to be firefighters, as they rushed about and focused on reducing the fire. Approaching the edge of his sense were people who through alleyways and down streets with practised ease… and also, the people he was hunting.

Ren Xiyang rushed to the nearest window, which was already conveniently smashed open for him, and dove on down. People pointed and gasped, the firefighters quickly noticing the small figure getting closer to the ground… until it wasn’t anymore.

Fire seemed to highlight the silhouette of the figure, as it began to fly off into the distance, shocking many. People began to pull out their phones to dial the police, ignoring the people who recognized the small figure who could control fire.

…

Ren Xiyang blasted off, tracking down the team of mercenaries like a rocket. It was already starting to become early morning, the sun’s rays beginning to highlight the horizon in shades of reddish, orange-y hues.

The mercenaries had just made it onto an open street, when one of the more cautious members pointed at the sky with a fearful expression, and shouted something. The inexperienced members turned to look at the sky, while the more experienced members quickly began to bolt away, hoping that one of them could finish the task and bail the rest out.

It was no use, as Ren Xiyang stretched out his hand, tethers of fire springing forth. It wrapped around their necks, before turning into domes of fire that burned away at the air inside. A few moments later, and the mercenaries had fallen to the floor, slightly singed and burnt on the edges, but fine for the most part.

Ren Xiyang took one of their phones, and called the police, telling them he had caught the criminals who started the fire in the RC(Rosewood Conglomerate) building, and what street he was on.

It didn’t take long for the police to arrive, guns drawn but not raised. They were greeted by an unusual sight.

A short boy with a soft face, in clearly oversized clothes, sat on a group of people with both office uniforms and military grade equipment on. The young boy had a cold expression. His straight posture, dark clothing, and the deep shadows across his face made him look villainous. Surrounded by discarded weapons and slightly burnt people, he looked like a little gangster.

The lead officer cleared his throat awkwardly, and asked, “I assume you’re the one who called us, and these are the criminals you apprehended?”

Ren Xiyang nodded, his face cold and fierce. His voice was high and young, but the tone was deeply serious. “These are the people who set fire to the Rosewood Conglomerate building. My family would want them sentenced justly.”

The officers were very confused. On one hand, here was a child, with distinct and vibrant red hair that belonged only to the Rosewoods, who claimed to be a Rosewood with suspiciously armed men defeated and quite literally under his feet. On the other hand, many witnesses claimed to have saw a short figure who could control fire fly out of the RC building.

The lead officer mentally prepared for a conflict, and asked, “I’m sorry sir, but we’ll also have to detain you, at least momentarily. While I would like to believe you, we must ensure that justice is served equally and fairly. Would you please come with us peacefully?”

Ren Xiyang nodded. While he would’ve liked to not have been detained, it wasn’t the worst case scenario. In addition, it showed that at least some of the police officers in this universe would be fair.

He obediently raised his arms above his head, climbed down slowly from the pile of bodies, and slowly walked around the cluster of discarded and dangerous weapons under the disbelieving eyes of the officers.

The lead officer stuttered out in shock, “T-thank you for coming peacefully. As usual, you have the right to remain silent…?”

Ren Xiyang merely nodded as the car door shut, before closing his eyes and decided to take a small rest.

…

Ren Xiyang: First few hours of transmigrating, and I’m already arrested. What a great start. (≖_≖) ...

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Second chapter in, already a large change in the plot! Also, did you notice the reference I've hidden?