The villa was the last line of defense in the SG base. The civilians and scientists disembarked from the transport trucks at the front door, where the SG logistics team directed them into the safe rooms.

Hong Sheng stood at the side and oversaw the process. He carried his custom-built munitions with him, just in case. As he scanned the crowd, he frowned when he noticed that after almost all of the civilians had been evacuated, he still hadn’t seen Lisa Xi.

He went up to the last trailing group and held up a hand to signal the SG escorts to stop. “Where is the head researcher?”

These logistics team members looked at each other in confusion. “Scientist Xi? She said… She would be fine, and that no zombies would be making it in, so she’d stay in the lab to continue her research.”

Hong Sheng looked dully at the man who spoke. He then turned his dull gaze on the rest of the SG escorts who’d been meant to gather everyone to the safe rooms. The team members stiffened, and one of them said, “I’ll go back and retrieve her immediately.”

But Hong Sheng shook his head. “Keep going.” At this moment, Hong Sheng saw the checkpoint of the villa zone open. Another car rolled in. The people in here didn’t belong to the SG. Hong Sheng watched as a mother, a teenager, and two young children got off the car.

The driver of the car noticed Hong Sheng and gave a nod. “Boss’s orders. We’re to keep the kids and their mother safe.”

Hong Sheng nodded in acknowledgment, then turned and walked away. He was headed in the direction of the research wing. Clearly, he meant to retrieve Lisa Xi himself.

The SG members bustled behind him as they continued to direct civilians to safety. Unnoticed by anyone, the teenager slipped away and quietly followed in Hong Sheng’s footsteps.

When he arrived at the research building, Hong Sheng immediately turned toward the restricted laboratory section. Before he took more than a few steps, however, he paused, and suddenly turned around.

His dark eyes scanned the room. It was silent and empty.

After this confirmation, Hong Sheng turned around again and proceeded to the laboratory door. He input the code to go through, and shut the door behind him.

 

A long moment later, something crawled down from the ceiling.

Ji Ling, with her limbs twisted in inhuman ways, had managed to avoid Hong Sheng’s detection. Her bright, eerie eyes had stared down at him from the dark corner, watching as he input the code. She had memorized the numbers.

She repeated the sequence and followed him inside. Through the door, she twisted, once again crawling up the walls and ceiling like a ghostly specter.

“What, you came to see me?” A woman’s voice came from up ahead. Ji Ling silently approached. When she reached the open door to the laboratory, she looked in upside-down, the tip of her head and eyes just barely peeking across the threshold.

“You have to evacuate,” Hong Sheng’s low voice replied.

Lisa Xi rolled her eyes from behind her red-rimmed glasses. “Please. As if a zombie would make it in here. And even if it did, there are safe rooms in the lab.” She gestured him over. “Come on, check this out. You remember that pendant? Well, it’s been reacting strangely lately.”

She took him to one of the research stations, and opened up a large machine. The compartment slid to reveal a small jade pendant, with a red string tied to it. The jade pendant was trembling, shaking against the surface, as if reacting to something.

“See that? I can’t figure it out—ever since this morning, it started moving on its own. There aren’t any kinetic forces that should be causing this, and it’s not like it has any magnetic material in it. It’s almost… supernatural.” Lisa Xi made an amused sound, despite the unease evident on her face. “Hey, I might even believe Lu Hao now. He kept insisting there’s some magical secret in this pendant. Guess he’s not so crazy after all, huh?”

Hong Sheng was silent as he regarded this moving, almost lifelike, pendant.

Behind the two of them, the monstrous eyes of Ji Ling stared with fury.

It all made sense. She understood everything now.

Lu Hao. It had been Lu Hao the entire time.

Those pictures of her that he had collected. Zhang Lie’s betrayal. The theft of her pendant. Her exile to F City.

Everything had been because of Lu Hao!

That pendant was hers! Lu Hao had stolen what was hers! He took everything from her! He made her suffer! He was the one who turned her into this!

All of the hope that she had felt in the beginning, all of the dreams that she once held, turned into dark and all-encompassing hatred.

She had to make him suffer.

And as to where she’d start…

Her terrifying eyes stared at the two people in the room.

 

That piercing gaze caught Hong Sheng’s attention.

From the corner of his eye, he saw something. His pupils constricted, and Hong Sheng seized Lisa Xi’s arm in a tight grip. “What are—“ she started to say, when Hong Sheng hauled her away and shoved her into the safe room at the side of the lab.

“Lock it.” He slammed the door shut.

The moment Hong Sheng turned around, he saw the thing that had been following him this entire time.

Ji Ling stood where Hong Sheng and Lisa Xi had been just moments before. Looking closer, one could see her face was covered in dark, rotting blood, with streaks of black trailing down her eyes and the corners of her mouth. Her eyes had a white film over them, and her skin was inhumanly pale.

It was clear she was no longer fully human.

She reached a hand toward the pendant, like any other girl picking up a necklace at a jewelry store. But Hong Sheng couldn’t allow her to touch it. He drew his shotgun and fired it at Ji Ling.

The explosive boom sounded, and the intense recoil made the muscles in Hong Sheng’s arms and back undergo severe pain. The moment he shot at her, Ji Ling contorted in a creepy pose as she dodged out of the way. She landed on a table, and her head snapped up to bare her teeth at him.

“Hong. Sheng.”

She smiled, all front and bottom rows of her growing, sharpening teeth visible.

“I’ll kill you and make Lu Hao watch!”

Hong Sheng answered with another bullet. The bangs of gunshots filled the air as Hong Sheng fired at Ji Ling, but she was fast, and kept darting out of the way.

With each shot Hong Sheng fired, however, he slowly made his way to the side, until he was next to the machine that held the pendant. He grabbed it with his other hand and put it in his pocket, and the sight of this enraged Ji Ling.

Snarling, she darted forward with her claws outstretched.

“Give it to me!”

Hong Sheng shot at her, and this time, the bullet sank into her chest. But it was like Ji Ling didn’t even care. She staggered, then jumped at him before he could land another shot.

She knocked the gun out of his hand and reached out to claw at his face and throat. Hong Sheng blocked her attack. He had trained in basic hand-to-hand combat, and used precise and swift movements to grab Ji Ling’s arms and try to subdue her.

If she were a normal human, this would have worked. Hong Sheng had spun her around so that her back was facing him, keeping him safe from her face should she try to bite him. But he didn’t expect Ji Ling’s head to twist around at 180 degrees, and for her to contort herself backwards to bring her face right up against his.

Ji Ling’s wide, sharp-fanged mouth arced toward Hong Sheng’s eyes. He leaned back just before they snapped closed. The sudden loss of his balance meant his hold on Ji Ling loosened, and she shoved him off and escaped.

This time, she gained the upper hand. Ji Ling knocked Hong Sheng on the ground and pounced on him. She was like a rabid zombie, wanting to use her teeth to maul him and strip his flesh from his bones.

All Hong Sheng could do was defend. He grabbed at her wrists to keep her claws from sinking into him, and tried his best to push her away and keep her head from coming too close. But this situation wasn’t good. His right arm, that had undergone severe bruising and weakness from days of shooting, was trembling and about to give in.

At that moment, the door to the safe room swung open, and the rapid clicking of heels sounded.

Ji Ling noticed this quickly, and her head snapped up and spun around in alarm.

Lisa Xi had rushed out of the safe room. Without a moment’s hesitation, she picked up Hong Sheng’s shotgun and fired it right at Ji Ling’s head. Ji Ling growled, and she quickly jumped up and fled. The bullet sank into the floor next to Hong Sheng, who rolled to his feet just in time to avoid another attack from Ji Ling.

Ji Ling wasn’t ready to give up. As long as she wasn’t shot in the head, nothing would stop her.

Hong Sheng pulled out a combat knife from his holster to fight off Ji Ling. Lisa Xi couldn’t get a clear shot while the two fought so close together, and cursed under her breath.

The knife cut several wounds on Ji Ling’s body, and black blood oozed out of each one. Ji Ling’s state grew more miserable and ferocious, while Hong Sheng’s endurance slowly wore down.

In the end, Hong Sheng couldn’t avoid getting hurt. He grunted as Ji Ling caught his hand with one of her claws. His gloves tore open, and the red blood dripped down the pale white skin and black cloth.

With that successful attack, Ji Ling cackled. “Does it hurt? I’ll make you hurt more!” She clawed at him again, this time tearing open a wound on his chest.

“Hong Sheng!” Lisa Xi’s voice was panicked.

But Hong Sheng’s expression just grew grim, and something changed behind his eyes as he made a decision.

Hong Sheng gave up defending. Instead, he reached out and grabbed Ji Ling.

The moment his arms came close to her, Ji Ling tried to snap her jaws into one of them. If this happened, it would be over. Once her zombie fangs pierced through the skin and into the flesh, the zombie virus would be injected into Hong Sheng’s bloodstream. Soon, they would infect his body, and begin the transformation of his DNA into a monster.

By quickly hooking his arms under Ji Ling’s neck, Hong Sheng avoided the first bite, but he wouldn’t be able to restrain her for long. There was only one chance to take her down before she retaliated.

Lisa Xi screamed. “Fuck! God fucking dammit!” Tears welled in her eyes as a ferocious, raging expression crossed her face. She knew why Hong Sheng had done this. If they didn’t kill Ji Ling here, neither of them would escape alive, and that pendant would be lost.

Ji Ling and Hong Sheng’s bodies overlapped as they struggled together, but Hong Sheng tried his best to restrain Ji Ling and give Lisa Xi a clear shot. Lisa Xi took a shaky breath, steadied her arms, and watched the scene in front of her with a deadly calm.

She wouldn’t let Hong Sheng’s efforts be in vain.

Lisa Xi took aim, and fired.

The bullet traveled through the air. For a moment, it seemed that it might strike Hong Sheng in the neck. But then, Hong Sheng yanked Ji Ling at just the right angle for the bullet to sink straight into Ji Ling’s forehead.

Ji Ling’s body twitched, her head snapping back from the inertia of the shot.

Her wretched, miserable screams suddenly cut off.

And then, she went limp.

 

Hong Sheng and Lisa Xi both panted heavily from the aftermath, exhaustion running through them. Hong Sheng let Ji Ling’s body fall to the floor, and he staggered, moving to one of the tables to lean against it.

“Fuck,” Lisa Xi said, lowering the shotgun. She’d used all of her focus to steady her arms, and now, they trembled uncontrollably. “Shit. Glad I didn’t miss. All that practice in the firing range back when I was studying in grad school really paid off.” She set the shotgun down on the table and looked over at Hong Sheng. “You okay?”

Labored breathing was all that answered her. She looked over and saw blood dripping from Hong Sheng’s wounds. His focus was on the corpse of the zombie that attacked them.

“Shit. Hold on, medkit, we have one here.” Lisa Xi hurried to get out the medkit and start treating Hong Sheng’s wounds, starting with the gashes on his chest. “That girl… what was she? She seemed lucid, but the progression of her infection meant she should have become a full zombie for days, at least. How was she still able to speak and retain her intelligence?”

Hong Sheng didn’t answer. He kept his eyes on Ji Ling’s body, and his brows furrowed. He moved his uninjured hand to pat at the pocket that held the jade pendant, which was still vibrating against his leg.

“If this is a sign of things to come, then I’m fucking terrified. Alright, we need to get this shirt off—where are my scissors…” Lisa Xi continued to speak, as if having someone talk would help to soothe her nerves. But before she could turn to look for her scissors, Hong Sheng grabbed her wrist. “What?”

Opening his mouth, Hong Sheng was about to speak when the rapid sound of footsteps came from the hall. A second later, Lu Hao burst into the room. “Hong Sheng! Are you alright?”

“Lu Hao.” Clear worry filled Hong Sheng’s gaze. He took in the exhausted, dirty appearance of the other man with concern, and he stood, wanting to walk over. But Lu Hao came to him first, stepping next to Hong Sheng and gripping Hong Sheng’s arms.

“You’re injured!” Lu Hao cursed. “Damn it. I thought you’d be safe back here. What the hell happened?”

Hong Sheng frowned, a keen sense of urgency rising in him. Something didn’t feel right. But what was it?

As Lu Hao inspected the wounds on his chest and hand, Hong Sheng glanced over to Ji Ling’s body, and his pupils constricted.

The jade pendant rattled violently in Hong Sheng’s pocket, and jumped out.

The streak of green and red soared through the air, and the jade dug into the hole in Ji Ling’s skull. The wounds healed at a visible rate.

Ji Ling rose to her feet, yet neither Lu Hao nor Lisa Xi had any reaction at all. It was like they couldn’t see her.

Ji Ling’s ability was active!

Thoughts flashed through Hong Sheng’s mind quickly. As he looked at Ji Ling, she, too, looked back at him—her cold, pale white zombie eyes receded into the lovely and clear brown that Hong Sheng had once seen years ago.

Was this how Ji Ling had been able to mimic human form as a zombie? Through that pendant?

But there was no time to wonder. In the span of less than a second, Ji Ling had gotten to her feet and opened her mouth, and inside, a horrible row of razor-sharp teeth surged toward Hong Sheng and Lu Hao.

Hong Sheng’s eyes widened, and out of instinct, he moved to block Lu Hao’s body with his own.

But Lu Hao wasn’t as weak as he had been in the past.

Even if he didn’t sense Ji Ling at all, Lu Hao had been carefully watching Hong Sheng. He saw Hong Sheng’s expression shift, the tightening of his pupils, the sharp intake of breath. And when Hong Sheng tried to push him away the same way Hong Sheng had done back then, on that one day Lu Hao would never forget—

Lu Hao, too, reacted on instinct.

Lu Hao grabbed Hong Sheng and shielded him in his arms, and he reached out to blast a wave of lightning at the space behind him.

A sonic boom rocked the laboratory. Glass shattered, and papers flew all around the room. A thud of something organic falling to the floor caught everyone’s attention, and suddenly, Lu Hao and Lisa Xi could both see the body of the girl once again collapsing to the floor.

Lisa Xi let out a yell, half out of rage and half out of anxiety over her lab, while Hong Sheng was completely submerged in horror.

Lu Hao withdrew his outstretched hand, the one he’d used to channel his ability. There, in a tight and bloody ring around his forearm, was a deep bite mark.

“Lu Hao…!”

“Shh.”

Lu Hao hugged Hong Sheng, and buried his face against Hong Sheng’s hair. With his lips pressed to Hong Sheng’s head, he smiled, bittersweet.

“I kept you safe this time.”

But Hong Sheng didn’t feel safe. He beat his fist against Lu Hao’s chest, his body wracked with rapid, heaving breaths as he tried to control his spiral of panic.

Lu Hao had been bitten by a zombie.

The consequences of this didn’t have to be said aloud.

The strongest zombie known to the F City region right now was only a level-4 zombie. But Lu Hao, who had always been an anomaly, was currently as strong as level-8, and his upper limit had never been found. If he transformed, he could slaughter the entire city, if not the country, and nothing could stop him.

So it was an unspoken understanding that Lu Hao could never be allowed to turn.

If he ever became infected, then…

He’d have to die before the virus could change him.

Hong Sheng let out a tiny, miserable whimper. With his face buried against Lu Hao’s chest, the soft cry was nearly inaudible. But Lu Hao heard it, and it tore at his heart.

“Hong Sheng.” A strange calm had settled over Lu Hao. Ever since his previous life ended, he had always thought about returning to that day.

If he had been the one to take Hong Sheng’s place, and to become infected and live as a mindless zombie, he wouldn’t have regretted it.

Now that day had come. But what he hadn’t realized was how heartbroken Hong Sheng would be. “Hong Sheng, I have to tell you something. I… to tell you the truth, I…”

“Fuck!”

A discordant curse from Lisa Xi suddenly broke through the moment.

She pointed at the corpse of Ji Ling, that had started to twitch again despite having been burnt to a crisp by Lu Hao. “She’s getting up again! Stop saying your goodbyes and keep yourselves alive first, dumbasses!”

True to her words, Ji Ling’s body had begun to regenerate again. An eerie, hoarse groan sounded from her corpse. Lu Hao looked at her with rage, and he shot her corpse through with lightning again, then manipulated strands of electricity to mince Ji Ling’s body into pieces.

The gruesome sight of the gore made Lisa Xi recoil, while the two men had little reaction. But as the body pieces fell to the floor, a sudden thought crossed Hong Sheng and Lisa Xi’s minds. Lisa Xi turned to Hong Sheng and said, “The pendant. What happened to it?”

“It left my pocket and flew into her body.” Hong Sheng’s dark eyes whirled around the mess of body parts.

“You’re talking about the pendant?” Lu Hao had come late, and he hadn’t seen how the pendant had started moving on its own.

Despite Lu Hao’s confusion, Lisa Xi and Hong Sheng didn’t bother to explain to him. Time was of the essence. Hong Sheng stepped into the mess of Ji Ling’s body, hurriedly digging through the pieces, not even caring about the blackened blood getting all over him.

Then he saw it. The glint of something green in the middle of what had once been Ji Ling’s brains.

Hong Sheng grabbed it and pulled it out. Strangely enough, the stone of the jade pendant slid out as clean and dry as it had been before. The moment Hong Sheng pulled it out, the jade pendant vibrated, swinging back and forth intensely as if haunted.

Lu Hao went on high alert behind Hong Sheng, electricity crackling around his arm. “What the hell?” Lisa Xi, meanwhile, darted her gaze between the pendant and Ji Ling, her world-view shaking as she realized the truth of certain things.

With a ferocious look in his eyes, Hong Sheng snatched the pendant in his fist, gripping it fiercely as it tried to struggle. This thing was what had allowed Ji Ling to heal and revive so many times. Lu Hao said it contained a cure to the zombie virus. So he had to use it! He had to make it cure Lu Hao!

What Hong Sheng didn’t realize was that he had used his injured hand to hold the jade pendant.

The blood dripping from his wounded hand soaked into the jade pendant. Within his grasp, the struggling jade pendant flashed.

This ancestral pendant was a relic passed down by generations. It recognized its master by blood. It was a blessing for a heroine, a powerful tool meant to bring Ji Ling to greatness. It had struggled to the end to reunite with her and bring her back to life.

But now Ji Ling was dead.

As Hong Sheng tightened his bloody grasp on the pendant, the ancestral mark of Ji Ling’s family faded. Without any inheritors left, the relic became without master.

Then, a new bloodline flowed around it, and the powerful will of Hong Sheng’s desires imprinted upon the stone.

The pendant flashed again, and it stopped moving in Hong Sheng’s grip.

A strange connection flowed in Hong Sheng’s mind. He frowned and looked puzzled at his own fist.

Seeing this, Lu Hao stepped forward with worry. “Hong Sheng?”

He reached out to grab Hong Sheng’s shoulder, just as the pendant flashed again.

This time, it transported both of them into another space.

A vast sea of stars appeared above their heads. The twinkling lights of the cosmos, wrapped in the brilliant colors of distant galaxies, were a beauty that seemed almost as if they had come from another world. Lu Hao and Hong Sheng had been born in the city, and had never seen so many stars in the night sky.

All around them were lush grasses reaching up to their thighs. Scratchy wisps with fluffy tails, long blades, and tiny flowers swayed despite the lack of a breeze.

And in front of them was a pond full of beautiful, clear spring water.

The two of them were stunned silly. Neither Lu Hao nor Hong Sheng could be considered particularly fantastical or imaginative types. They didn’t read very many novels, or even watch much television. They were paralyzed with incredulity, unable to understand how or why they had suddenly found themselves in the middle of such an undisturbed grassland.

Hong Sheng was the first one to react. He had established a connection to the jade pendant, and though he was slow to understand it, instinctively, he knew that the two of them were now inside the world of the jade. He pulled Lu Hao forward to kneel at the edge of the spring, and he dipped his hands into the spring water.

The wounds on Hong Sheng’s hands healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the dirt, the grime, and the blood were all washed away without a trace. A small part of Hong Sheng noted the unhygienic nature of his actions, and how even seemingly clear water could be host to dangerous bacteria and parasites.

But right now Lu Hao’s body was host to worse than that. So Hong Sheng grabbed Lu Hao’s arm and dunked it into the water.

Lu Hao’s bite, too, faded immediately. The man let out a slight hiss as the healing nature of the water and the virus within him battled. Hong Sheng noticed this, and cupped some water for Lu Hao to drink. Lu Hao sipped from Hong Sheng’s hands, and finally, his body relaxed.

The nervousness made Hong Sheng tremble. He looked up at Lu Hao with wide, anxious eyes. “Are… are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Lu Hao smiled, and for this one moment, all of his worries were gone. He looked at ease, peaceful, in a way he hadn’t for a very long time. The warmth in his eyes reflected the dotted stars of the sky above, but all that Lu Hao held in his gaze was Hong Sheng. The bottoms of his eyes curled with joy. “You saved me, Hong Sheng. Thank you.”

He reached up and stroked Hong Sheng’s cheek with his thumb, and as Hong Sheng’s eyelashes trembled, he brought Hong Sheng in for a hug. They sat there under the stars, the hope for all of humanity reflecting their image on the glassy surface of its waters.

 

 

---

 

Meanwhile, in the real world.

Lisa Xi collapsed against a table and stared at the empty space where Lu Hao and Hong Sheng had been standing just a second ago.

Fuck, all this metaphysical stuff was real?!

Fuck! These two really time traveled!

Fuck!!! Lu Hao had been shoving his time-travel romance with Hong Sheng in her face this entire time!!!