Volume One, Chapter Eight: Awakening of the Extraordinary Power

The desperate, noisy cries of the dying worm could not stir even a flicker of emotion in Yu Yue. Lin Dahai had only cursed for a few seconds before his body began to convulse uncontrollably; he foamed at the mouth, his eyes rolled back, and he let out guttural, indistinguishable shrieks.

Faint, blue-white electric arcs flickered between Lin Dahai and the zombie. Affected by the surge of lightning, the zombie’s body stiffened abruptly, its movements slowing, yet it remained clamped firmly onto Lin Dahai, refusing to let go.

"Take your sins with you to hell!"

As Yu Yue watched the life fade from Lin Dahai, her words were delivered with a bone-chilling coldness. He was not her only enemy; Zhang Meifeng, the Lin family, the Yu family—these pieces of trash would all face a reckoning once the apocalypse arrived.

The police arrived in a flurry shortly thereafter. Fully armed, they swiftly subdued the paralyzed zombie before hurrying away with both the creature and Lin Dahai’s corpse. Following this, specialized personnel arrived to demand that the onlookers delete any footage recorded at the scene, warning them against spreading panic online.

But those were matters for later. Back at home, Yu Yue felt a complex mix of emotions. There was the satisfaction of having personally dispatched an enemy, coupled with the sense of urgency brought on by the appearance of the zombie, signaling that the end of the world was imminent.

Supplies were not an issue; to ensure nothing went wrong, Yu Yue had paid extra for expedited processing for all her orders. Within the next three days, they would arrive at the suburban warehouse, at which point she would transfer everything into the Peach Garden Space. Her most important task now was to enhance her own strength.

With a thought, Yu Yue entered the Peach Garden Space. Compared to the outside world, the energy particles drifting within this realm were undoubtedly more active. However, as she sat cross-legged, intending to cultivate and boost her abilities, she discovered that her body had a low affinity for this space, making absorption extremely inefficient.

Her beautiful willow-leaf brows furrowed slightly. She could sense that the nature of the energy in this space differed subtly from the elemental energy she had encountered in her previous life. The Peach Garden Space was, after all, a fragment of another world; she surmised that the differing laws of nature were the reason she struggled to absorb its spiritual energy.

She sighed softly. Before the apocalypse, the energy activity in the outside world was so low that cultivation there was even slower than in the Peach Garden Space. Despite the disappointment, she had awakened her powers half a month earlier than others, giving her a head start.

Setting aside her frustrations, Yu Yue devised a training regimen: absorbing energy to boost her powers and physical training to harden her body, with both goals pursued in tandem. The remaining days were busy and unremarkable. She immersed herself in training, and when exhausted, she would reward herself with lavish feasts at high-end hotels, packing away hundreds of portions to store in her space before leaving.

Even when hotels couldn't fulfill her requests for specific quantities, she used that avenue to procure massive amounts of high-end ingredients like abalone, lobster, and shark fin. At her apartment, she ordered endless deliveries: spicy dry pots, burgers and fries, rice bowls, sour and spicy noodles, crawfish, and bubble tea—always in quantities of dozens.

During this time, she had considered heading to the large survivor bases she knew of from her past life to secure a baseline of safety. But the thought was discarded as quickly as it appeared. While safety was important, the dangers of the early apocalypse posed little threat to someone who had survived years of brutal warfare. If she merely wanted to live a cowardly life, she could have hidden in the Peach Garden Space, but that was not what she wanted.

Only by staying in Jiang City and waiting for the chaos to unfold could she hunt zombies along the way, harvest crystals, and rapidly increase her power. Most of her enemies were currently in Jiang City; if only for the pleasure of dealing with them herself, she preferred to stay.

Between training sessions, Yu Yue visited the suburban warehouse to move her supplies into the space. The ten off-road vehicles she had commissioned Manager Wang to modify were completed in just one week. Looking at these "steel monsters," which combined maximum defensive capabilities with peak agility, she was so satisfied that she gave the manager an extra one-million-yuan tip.

As a cheerful Manager Wang prepared to leave, she offered a final, cryptic warning: "Manager Wang, have you been watching the news? Things are getting chaotic out there. There might be serious trouble soon. Just in case, stock up on supplies at home and bring your family to be with you."

In just that one week, more videos of "cannibalism," "rabies," and "mutated zombies" had surfaced online. Some speculated these were signs of the apocalypse, but official censorship kept them from spreading widely.

Manager Wang didn't understand her meaning and looked at her with confusion, but Yu Yue did not intend to explain further. The vehicles were well-modified, and her remark was merely a gesture of kindness; she did not want to prematurely reveal the coming apocalypse.

As for telling the government, she was no saint, and given their current attitude, they didn't take the zombie virus seriously. She knew that in a week's time, the virus would mutate to be airborne; even if she spoke, no one would believe her. Perhaps if one person listened, human casualties might decrease, but why should she make herself a target for people she had never met?

Meanwhile, the incessant badgering and insults from Lin Jiabao continued. Having been injured, he hadn't been detained, and he was still unaware that his scum of a father had turned into a zombie. Yu Yue simply blocked him; she would settle scores when the end arrived.

On the final day before the apocalypse, she cut her long hair. It was a pity, but short hair was more practical. Furthermore, even after her body's purification, her frame was not particularly imposing; with a clean, ear-length cut, she looked like a handsome young man. In the apocalypse, changing her gender could avoid many of the troubles that had made her previous life miserable. She knew full well how striking her appearance was, and until she possessed absolute power, she preferred to act with anonymity.

Yu Yue sat in the Peach Garden Space, meditating to absorb the free-floating lightning elemental particles. Due to the low absorption efficiency, it had taken her nearly half a month of focused cultivation to finally push her lightning abilities to the second level.