Chapter 14—Lan Zhou’s Past

by Bocchan13

The last few remaining days, Song Yu spent being idle. He played with the puppy and fed the animals. He wanted to get into the groove of what his days would like and see if he needed anything else. So far, he was content. The heat rose exponentially that many people refused to go outside. Song Yu watched the news as more and more people flocked to hospitals to get medicines for heatstroke.

He just stared at the large TV as country after country went into lockdown. The whole world was burning. A wildfire in D Country, ice caps melting in the northern seas, dead animals surfacing from the hot springs that used to be normal water.

Plantations scratching their heads when their crops failed. The passing comments about the meteor shower coming in a few days were just a small blimp on the news.

Song Yu paid attention to the photos appearing as they predicted the meteor showers trajectory. One small meteor will fall. And that will kill everyone. The news did not make Song Yu happy, so he closed the TV and stared at nothing for a while.

He needed to vent. He went to the training room and got dressed. He wore a skin tight vest, zipping it up in the front. The black looked sleek on his thin frame. He wore breathable pants and no shoes. Signs of muscle would soon appear on is body, he mused as he stared at his beautiful body. He was indeed beautiful. Keep that beauty! He smiled in the mirror and started a machine.

He spent 3 hours in the training room before coming back to the house for a quick shower. He was extremely tired, so he napped in the living room. The puppy wagged his tail and barked cheerfully and tried to jump on the sofa. His build was still too small, so he jumped on his back legs, looking like a clown.

Song Yu laughed mirthfully and picked up the tiny thing.

“I won’t name you until after the meteor hits. Who knows if you become a zombie and bite your master?”

The dog licked his nose and tried to squeeze himself in is the crook of his arms. Song Yu chuckled and petted his head before leaning back and closing his eyes for a nap.

…

Lan Zhou’s mood was getting more irritable. After the headache, he had several more. All piercing his brain. He had to send himself to the hospital and do a full check-up but no one could figure out why he was getting these headaches.

He slumped on the sofa in his apartment. His grandiose duplex was  close to the company, so any pressing details could be said immediately during his recuperation. Lan Zhou ate a small breakfast as he stared at the picture of Song Yu. He smiled and finished cleaning up. This was a mini-break, so Lan Zhou decided to watch the news.

The heat wave was very intense. So much so, that Lan Zhou got worried. Is Song Yu okay as well? He pouted as the news continued its onslaught of terrible news. Amidst the news, Lan Zhou’s ears perked when a newscaster talked about the oncoming meteor shower.

It was as if his brain cracked. He gripped his head in agony, falling to the floor. He clenched his teeth, tasting blood as waves of memories resurfaced. That niggling presence in mind blew up, showing a cacophony of pictures, going so fast he couldn’t understand anything. He yelled in pain, showing everything. All of those bad memories. Those deaths. The hardships he had. The pain of loss.

Everything.

Lan Zhou cried. He was back.

When the pain subsided, Lan Zhou stared at this duplex apartment.

He was back.

He fist-pumped the air.

“I’M FUCKING BACK!” He looked at the pristine kitchen and opened the fridge to see a full set of vegetables, food and drinks. Not caring that he already had breakfast, he shoveled food in his mouth. Oh! The food! He happily ate the food, looking around.

It wasn’t the apocalypse anymore. He could hear the sound of pedestrians walking the streets, the cars honking and the whizzing of birds flying past his apartment.

He opened the window, the intense heat enveloping his face. He quickly closed the window and sighed. Too hot. Much too hot.

The happiness was short-lived as he stared at the day.

June 7^th XXXX. Less than a week before doomsday. Cursing himself, Lan Zhou first called Wang Cheng.

“Hello?! Old Lan, I was just about to call you! Listen, this might be ridiculous, but please believe me! I am reborn and in less than a week there will be a zombie apocalypse!”

“Yeah, I know. I was just reborn too.”

“Old Lan, I’m telling you the goddarn truth, we have to—wait, what? You’ve been reborn too?!”

Lan Zhou’s entire aura shifted. The years of bloodshed settled his body into a killing machine. He snapped his fingers as a bright blue flame appeared. He smiled, his eyes cold.

“Wang Cheng. We are going to save Xiao Zi this time. Get the group together. We have a lot of preparations to do.”

Wang Cheng had been by Lan Zhou’s side during the apocalypse. He immediately shifted his body to stand straighter as years of fighting and valor had taught him.

“Yes, sir.”

Lan Zhou ended the call, before immediately handling his company. Everyone would have a working holiday of two weeks. No exceptions. Using the excuse of the heat, Lan Zhou closed his company down.

He felt the buzzing on his cellphone and saw that Wang Cheng rallied the gang. Xiao Zi was also there. Lan Zhou sighed in happiness.

In the beginning stages of the virus, Lan Zhou and his group were in B Base. However, his fucking family sent him out on a wild goose chase and stole all of the doctors and trusted men. He could no longer enter B Base since his father took over. Because the team of doctors was there to sample the meteor, they were highly coveted.

 “What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine”. His father was a mocking son of a bitch, but he was parasitic in nature, taking everything he built up and made it into something ugly.

It took him eight months to get back inside B Base, burning everything to the ground. He had heard that the doctors had experimented on young ability users, but they had escaped a few months ago. He was glad they did. However, some ability users died by their hands. He could no longer endure this inhumane treatment and killed all of the leaders of B Base, eventually dyeing it red.

Lan Zhou spent the next 15 years fighting in the war zones. He went to the tropic areas where the heat was highest, and the zombies were the most rampant. His friends followed him, and he was known far and wide. His accomplishments got him high accolade, and like a general going to war, he did his best to lead his people.

He and his friends had abilities. Lan Zhou had Grade A fire abilities, Wang Cheng had Level 5 space abilities, which was good for storage. Yu Ci had Level 9 strength abilities, Lu Jingxiu had Level 7 water abilities, and Xiao Zi had Level 9 healing abilities.

However after 15 years of fighting, he wanted to do more in the back scenes. He was no longer young, but his determination was strong. He was a pillar in the military, and his friends were right behind him, supporting him through thick and thin.

Xiao Zi, as a healer used to be a biochemist and pharmacist. After extensive research into the zombie’s, he was on the cusp of a breakthrough, when the chemicals were blackened. The virus in the air had contaminated many parts of the world, and nowhere was safe. They needed pure ingredients.

Lan Zhou remembered that in the deep south, there was Paradise Base.  A base that got its name because they restarted economy and infrastructure, factories, and buildings. The leader of the base had a unique ability to purify any and all things.

He didn’t know the man’s name, but if they could purify the chemicals, then the world would ultimately be saved. The journey to the south was harsh. A zombie hoard overcame them, and Wang Cheng died. Soon thereafter, Yu Ci’s leg was bitten off, and Xiao Zi fixed it, but a man with one leg would not make it far. Yu Ci committed suicide, grenading himself along with a pack of zombies.

Lu Jingxiu had to go back to the military base for back-up, and never returned.

And lastly, a few days later, Xiao Zi died under enemy fire.

Yes. People killed Xiao Zi. They sought sanctuary in a small base on the outskirts of Paradise. And the people came into their rooms, and tried to shoot them dead. Lan Zhou was not young anymore, but his powers were still strong. He killed everyone, but Xiao Zu still died with a bullet to his heart.

In the end, Lan Zhou broke through to Grade A, but self-destructed.

And then, he woke up a week prior to the apocalypse. He wouldn’t let them die again. His friends that suffered alongside him. Did their best for a new future, and died by this world’s hatred.

 He had saved hundreds of thousands in his last life. Killing himself every day for 20 years…just to die. This time he was going to keep his friends safe. He was going to do it right. Save Xiao Zi, find the pure ability user, kill his bastard father again, and dissolve that pack of doctors, so they could not hurt another ability user ever again.

And now he was going to live for himself and his family.