The tenth year of the apocalypse.
A dirty jeep rolled across the snow-covered plains, the edge of which lay the outline of an old city.
With a violent jolt, Yun Wei suddenly woke up.
He was so tired that he actually dozed off.
"Damn it!" The driver spat, then roughly pushed open the door, got out of the car, and ran to the hood to fiddle with it.
It seems they've broken down.
They were on a Class D reconnaissance mission, and the vehicles issued by the base were never very good; it was good enough if they could even get moving.
Ten years after the apocalypse, all the surviving bases had developed a relatively mature system.
The so-called Class D reconnaissance mission is to reach the destination beacon by following the fog of the map that the commander-in-chief has not yet explored, collect information in the vicinity of the beacon, and return safely. It is a advance mission for subsequent collection and strategic missions.
In other words, if they fail to return successfully, the base will not send anyone to rescue them.
The commander-in-chief will paint that area black after the waiting period ends.
But then, the person sitting in the passenger seat spoke up: "Hey, little cat, you're awake?"
Yun Wei looked up and saw the other person peering at him through the rearview mirror with ill intent. The man had a typical Eastern European appearance, with a greasy headband tied around his head, a scar running diagonally across his eyelid, and a fierce look in his triangular eyes.
Yun Wei ignored him and simply turned her head to look out the window.
A small crack was opened at the top of the car window, and although the air after the snow was cold, it was better than the stuffy, smelly interior of the car.
He was also quite vigilant.
Both the driver and the passenger were robust men around thirty years old, neither of whom looked like they were on a D-level mission.
Yun Wei realized that he had probably encountered a "black gang".
The "black gang" differs from the "red gang" in that they are mostly desperate criminals, completely devoid of any moral constraints. When they encounter lone survivors, they mostly commit murder and robbery.
The unfortunate reality is that these desperate criminals are able to survive better than most people in the apocalypse.
Seeing that Yun Wei ignored him, Gregor whistled boredly and pulled over the barrel of his hunting rifle to wipe it clean.
Yun Wei, on the other hand, silently gripped the improved crossbow in his hand.
He was completely listless, and in that brief nap, he seemed to have had an exceptionally sad dream.
Unlike the nightmare that had haunted him for ten years, that dream was truly absurd.
But once he woke up, he couldn't remember anything at all.
The driver finally got back into the car, cursing and swearing, and as he closed the door, a stench hit him.
"Damn it, we'll have to find some fuel on the way back." The burly driver with hairy arms exchanged a smile with Gregor, then glanced at the rearview mirror with ill intent. "Damn it, I haven't relieved myself for over a month."
In the next sentence, however, he used a highly inflected language.
Yun Wei naturally understood, but he remained calm and pretended not to know.
Over the course of ten years, he has moved between thirty-six different bases.
The current "Cartelos" base is his thirty-seventh base, located in the South Caucasus region.
It wasn't that he was restless, but somehow, every time he settled down, a surging horde of zombies would always arrive.
The thirty-sixth base is an Orthodox church.
As the horde of corpses surged in, everyone held candles and bowed their heads in reverence for the grandest mass in ten years.
Unlike them, Yun Wei, when the horde of zombies crashed through the church doors, escaped alone from behind the church by breaking through the stained glass.
He fled in the direction he had planned in advance, until he encountered a reconnaissance team from the "Cartelos" base.
Fortunately, he encountered a "red boat" that time and was taken back to the base by a friendly couple.
However, neither of these bases allows idlers.
There were very few wounded or sick people at this base. As a healing-type ability user with limited abilities, he needed to accumulate enough points by the end of the year. It wasn't too difficult; he just needed to accept a D-level mission.
The management system of the "Carteros" base is quite comprehensive and does not allow solo missions.
And so, the current situation has come to this: Yun Wei and the two villains have formed a temporary reconnaissance team.
They started their journey again.
The filthy jeep restarted amidst the acrid smell of gasoline, its roar echoing through the deathly silent city, creating a unique and unparalleled sound.
When the jeep stopped again, they encountered an old man.
The other person said they had been caught in an avalanche. And his nephew was buried under the snow.
Amidst the other person's pleas, Serski grinned maliciously and rolled up the window. They continued driving towards their destination, which was now within reach.
Yun Wei had no objection to this.
However, before they had gone very far, Gregor opened the sunroof with the barrel of his gun. He hummed a little tune as he prepared to aim behind him, his muddy hiking boots landing right in front of Yun Wei.
Noticing Yun Wei staring at him, Gregor grinned, "Little cat, don't be nervous. Someone like him, all alone, will turn into a zombie in no time. I'm just lending him a bullet in advance."
After saying that, he tilted his head down and began to look at the crosshair.
Yun Wei silently counted to two in his mind, then suddenly raised his hand and released his supernatural power at the boots in front of him.
The gun fired, deafeningly loud.
A sudden, sharp pain in his right foot caused Gregor to miss his shot, while Serssky had already turned the corner, leaving the helpless old man in the snowstorm behind him.
Inside the carriage, Gregor, having regained his senses, turned around and silently confronted Yun Wei.
He glanced at the crossbow in Yun Wei's hand, then suddenly laughed, revealing a set of yellow teeth. "Oh, little cat, you're actually a superhuman?"
Yun Wei remained silent, his knuckles tightening subtly around the firing point.
In the awkward silence, Serski said calmly, "Hey, we're all brothers, why are we being so tense?"
But before he could finish speaking, he added, "Hey, look over there! We can already see our destination!"
With the crossbow pointed at him, Gregor turned his head away, completely disregarding Yun Wei. "Indeed, you'd better take it easy and find a smooth bridge to get to the other side."
The apocalypse broke out too suddenly, and bridges and roads were often blocked, piled with vehicles ravaged by zombies.
Yun Wei also looked out the window.
Across the frozen riverbank, an exceptionally tall cathedral stands majestically amidst the snow and ice.
That was their beacon for this journey.
They had to go inside the church and collect a token that would prove they had indeed come close to their goal before they could return.
Fortunately, the rest of the trip went exceptionally smoothly.
The car stopped outside the church, which was covered in snow.
"Damn it, what's the point of searching this shabby church?" Serski complained boredly. Even before the apocalypse began, he never went to church.
However, Yun Wei offered a rare explanation: "These orthodox churches brew wine in their cellars. It is the blood of the Son of God that the saved must drink."
Therefore, there will be plenty of food.
Vodka was originally brewed by monks in monasteries in this way.
And the medical alcohol used for disinfection also originated in monasteries in this way. It is hard to imagine that medieval monasteries actually possessed military power comparable to that of lords.
And these are all things that Yun Wei learned from the previous base.
The leader of that base was once a member of the Knights Hospitaller.
Upon hearing this, Serski looked Yun Wei up and down without any restraint, and finally said in a rude and unhelpful tone, "Damn, I used to only drink bath gel."
This is a Slavic joke that Yunwei doesn't understand.
Seeing Yun Wei's bewildered expression, Gregor grinned wickedly. "Vodka is heavily taxed. We poor people can only afford to drink shower gel, which contains alcohol, and might even blind you."
After saying that, he pointed the gun barrel at Yun Wei and said, "You go. We'll wait for you here. When you come back, our score will be settled."
Yun Wei remained silent for a moment before finally opening the door and going downstairs without hesitation.
If he continues to follow these two, he's likely to meet with a grim fate.
He looked up and gazed at the unnamed church, which was buried in the snow, with only its spire sticking out.
Yun Wei quickly made up his mind.
He planned to climb to the top from the side and then go down to the bottom of the clock tower.
But at that moment, he suddenly had a bad feeling.
He immediately lay down, and at that moment, a gunshot did indeed ring out behind him.
The world is quiet.
The tranquil earth seems to be peacefully asleep, awaiting the next awakening of insects.
"You fucking insane!" Yun Wei heard Serski's curses coming from afar. "I don't have any ice fetishes!"
Gregor's nonchalant reply followed immediately: "He's a superhuman, aren't you afraid he'll bite the little bird off?"
The two immediately began to laugh and curse in extremely vulgar ways.
Yun Wei turned his neck and discovered that his right arm had been shot. He hadn't felt anything before, but now it suddenly started to hurt, a sharp, throbbing pain.
The bright red blood seeped into the ice below, fading in color and becoming as beautiful as a pink rose.
Icicles began to fall softly.
Yun Wei saw that the inscriptions covered by ice on the top of the church door were also revealed.
Although only a portion of the characters were visible, Yun Wei knew that it must contain a famous verse from the Gospels—
"I am life, and I am resurrection."
He gritted his teeth, mustered his strength, and stumbled and scrambled toward the side of the church.
The two thugs inside the car seemed to have the upper hand. As Yun Wei escaped, they continued to watch the show with calm and collected laughter.
But when the avalanche above the church began, it was as if fate had seized them by the throat, and their smiles immediately froze.
After the snow mist dissipated, an even more chilling sound followed.
This commotion has lasted for a full decade, from the beginning of the apocalypse to the present.
The stained glass suddenly shattered, and the first zombie crawled out of the church, followed by countless others, baring their fangs and ravenously hungry...
The jeep got stuck in the soft snow and wouldn't start.
That wicked hunting rifle rang out helplessly again and again, finally drowned out by the screams of bones being chewed up.
Yun Wei ignored the horrific scene behind him and continued his relentless climb toward the clock tower.
Not far behind him, several zombies, drawn by the scent of blood, lingered.
They screamed as they fell and got up again on the ice.
Once their companions had devoured all the wreckage in the jeep, they would turn around and charge towards Yun Wei.
Yunwei had experienced similar scenarios countless times before.
He stared expressionlessly at the towering top of the tower, gripping the icy icicles with all his might.
He wanted to live forever.
He wanted to live on.
This seems to be his natural belief, and the cornerstone that has led him to this point.
No matter what the situation, he would not easily give up his life.
Yes, he always has been—
I remember in first grade, my gentle teacher asked us what our dreams were for the future.
The answers were invariably scientists, doctors, police officers, big businessmen...
Occasionally, when a classmate mentions a prestigious-sounding profession like "lawyer," it elicits exclamations of wonder and admiration from the children.
That's a profession beyond the comprehension of first-graders.
When it was Yun Wei's turn, his answer was equally resolute: "I want to be an immortal, so I can live forever!"
The room fell silent, but then the entire room erupted in uproar.
Without a doubt, his parents were called in.
He was then beaten again because he had made his parents "lose face".
...
As dusk fell that day, Yun Wei finally tumbled into the clock tower. Icicles outside the tower broke and fell, smashing onto the heads of the howling zombies below.
He could expect to get another night of peace and quiet.
His face was pressed against the cool surface of the marble as he quietly treated the wound on his right arm.
Fortunately, he lay down in time, and no shrapnel remained in his body; he only suffered minor abrasions.
It's so cold.
Yun Wei realized that he might soon lose consciousness.
He never doubted whether he would wake up again.
Because he was almost instinctively fixated on the concept of 'eternity'.
But at that moment, ripples suddenly appeared in a corner of the calm space, and time seemed to stand still in a strange way, because he could no longer hear the terrifying roar below.
Instead, a pleasant voice emerged.
The other person was reciting an exaggerated aria, as if chanting a poem:
"Well, I've finally found you. It's all your fault! Why did you have to come to a church? You made me go through so much trouble and almost ruined the lovely lady's appointment!"
The other person seemed to be talking to themselves, oblivious to everyone else.
In Yun Wei's darkened vision, he saw a pair of exquisitely crafted leather boots land on the floor tiles in front of him.
These are by no means products made with shoddy modern craftsmanship; the alternating light and dark colors on the shoe upper alone convey an information of immense expense.
But how did they get up to the top of this towering clock tower?
It couldn't have just appeared out of thin air, could it?
With his last ounce of strength, Yun Wei asked with difficulty, "Who exactly are you?"
However, the other person simply raised their voice and exclaimed, "Why are you asking me such an ultimate question the very first time we meet?"
Clearly, the visitor's brain had been eaten by the zombies.
Yun Wei finally couldn't hold on any longer and closed his heavy eyelids.
In that final, brief moment, he heard the other person's impassioned lament, so out of place with the apocalyptic atmosphere—
"I am the one who steals destiny!"
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