March 17th, 20xx, 02:58 am.
I gazed at Qinglan, stroking her soft hair gently, knowing she smelled like my shampoo made me excited.
But there were other things I needed to do.
’System, Qinglan is fine right?’
There was a beat of silence while I bit my lip, nervously.
[System Message: Mu Qinglan is no longer infected. Her immunity remains, and many other benefits. However, to call her human would be wrong, too. She is an evolved human, or a mutant, using your knowledge and hobbies.]
’I see...’ Relief, that’s what I felt hearing these words, mutant or cat girl... who cared if she was alive and safe.
The bigger changes might be mine...
’System, how did I reach Stage Two so suddenly?’
The question was filled with concern and worry, because after curing Qinglan, something changed inside my body. Now I only needed two hours of sleep a day, which made it difficult to adjust.
[Because you swallowed a large amount of the red-core and top-grade marrow, which integrated directly with your blood because of your tongue... Your genes have mutated thanks to your Titan Marrow Sutra.]
I didn’t answer straight away and closed my eyes.
No matter how much I wished for sleep to come, it didn’t. I became jealous of Qinglan, who curled into a ball, wrapped in the warm quilt and found peace.
"You said I was exhausted..." I found the irony that I couldn’t sleep even if that might be true.
The next moment, I tapped the screen, opened up my status screen and organised my thoughts. Jiang Roulan probably worried about me, but I didn’t give her my number to contact me using the system...
What made me nervous was that Jiang Roulan and Shen Yifei were fighting right now.
Somewhere outside, they were killing zombies.
Title: Harbinger of the Lunar Beast
Cultivation: Titan’s Marrow Sutra (Stage 1 - Hardened Core)
Rank: Raid Leader [4/25]
∟ S-Tier: Mu Qinglan [336/500]
∟ S-Tier: Wang Yin [500/500]
∟ S-Tier: Jiang Roulan [207/500]
∟ B-Tier: Shen Yifei [215/500]
With the improvements to my physique and strength, I could probably deal with a Stage Two without suffering now.
However, thoughts about Stage Three zombies and how strong they might become lingered on my mind. Mu Qinglan’s speed increased explosively from the moment she evolved to Stage Three, which meant those undead freaks would too...
March 17th, 20xx, 03:12 am
The soft whirr of the system screen dimmed as I blinked it away.
Mu Qinglan still hadn’t moved.
Her back rose and fell under the warm quilt, her breathing steady, her fingers curled loosely beneath her cheek like a child pretending to sleep. Strands of raven-black hair lay scattered across the pillow, tangled and wild, streaked faintly with silver where moonlight caught the strands.
Almost as if everything returned to normal.
But it wasn’t. She wasn’t.
The more I stared, the more I noticed.
The subtle way her muscles twitched beneath the skin, even in sleep. The faint pulse glowed once beneath her collarbone and then vanished. Her skin no longer just warm, but radiating something... denser. Like her body was still working beneath the surface. Still processing the changes.
Still my shampoo, sure—but sweeter and enticing.
"...You really are something else," I whispered, knowing she couldn’t hear me.
Who the hell knew anymore?
I slid my legs from under the covers and stood.
The floor was cold under my bare feet, but my skin didn’t react like before. No goosebumps or reaction, just comfort as the flooring felt cool.
Everything felt stronger.
My senses. My balance. My heartbeat, deep and slow, like it knew something I didn’t.
I walked to the window, the half-rusted blinds rattling as I moved them aside.
Outside, there were no footsteps, just the low hum of the dead city, broken windows and cars and the distant groans of zombies replacing the insects and animal calls. The living and the dead were reshuffled by a world still trying to decide who it belonged to.
Two hours of sleep a day, that’s what the system told me... and I’d already got that earlier.
I didn’t feel tired, exactly. But neither did I think... right, either.
I lifted my hand and flexed my fingers, bones cracking slightly with the motion. Qi pulsed faintly through my veins. It didn’t just gather in my stomach. Now it shivered, hot and pressurised, like it was too much for the casing it lived in.
The Titan Marrow Sutra was dormant because I was idle.
So I started squatting, a posture I could never forget. My feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing out, keeping my back straight and chest lifted. I was desperate to keep my body with the minimal time to do so.
A rolling wave from the base of my abdomen to the crown of my skull, like someone had lit a fire in my veins and it was clawing outward.
The sutra stopped on its own after a cycle. I didn’t command it to.
I spent almost an hour practising and learning how to trigger it and how to maintain the flow cycling for longer.
Sweat dripped from my forehead and muscles after a quick session of cardio.
The floor was a little wet from my bare feet and hair.
I stood still for a long time.
But to the thudding beat that had replaced my pulse.
As if not finished transforming... this was just the beginning.
The system flashed without warning.
[System Alert: Raid Signature Detected.]
[Jiang Roulan — Combat Flag Triggered. Location: Zone 3B-Δ. Status: Unknown.]
[Would you like to view her current state?]
I stared at the blinking prompt.
Qinglan breathed softly in the bed behind me.
My finger hovered over the [Y].
— Raid View Activated —
System windows flickered across my vision, then locked onto one.
[Raid Bond • Jiang Roulan – Status: Engaged]
— Live Feed: Active —
Vital Signs: Stable... declining.
Combat Aura: High... dropping.
[Stage 1 - Mixed Undead: 120]
[Stage 1 - Unknown Human: 15]
[Stage 2 - Unknown Human: 1]
My heart didn’t race, but something twisted low in my gut, and my blood boiled... this was dangerous, and the idea that they might leave my side made me angry.
She was standing on a scorched rooftop, hair soaked with blood, red jacket hanging off one shoulder. A large crack down the centre of her tonfa.
Her other hand clutched her side—blood seeping between her fingers, and struggling to breathe.
Behind her, Shen Yifei knelt on one knee, her left arm twisted awkwardly at the elbow. Spear impaled in the dirt. With dull bruises on her cheek, she breathed rapidly, but shockingly, her eyes remained clear.
Yifei’s chest rose and fell in quick, hard gasps.
Her good hand reached for the haft of the spear—but it didn’t move. Her knuckles turned white, trembling from either pain or sheer exhaustion.
Jiang Roulan took a slow step forward, shielding her, blood trailing behind like a broken ribbon. Her mouth moved before any words came.
"You came all the way out here for me," she whispered, not turning around. "So don’t you dare die first."
Yifei laughed—sharp, broken. "Then stop looking like shit."
A low groan rolled from below the rooftop, like metal dragging over gravel. Then came the sound of boots. Many humans were clashing with the zombie horde below.
But I noticed... Five humans were lying on the ground near Jiang Roulan and Shen Yifei, wearing body armour and carrying weapons.
I scanned the live feed, focusing on the new data.
[New Threat Approaching: 15 humans, 1 awakened.]
[Estimated Time to Contact: 00:10:21]
These weren’t just random survivors. That many people together, and armed, at this hour?
"System," I said aloud, my voice low. "Show me the awakened signature."
A side window opened.
A man. Maybe late twenties. Shirtless. Dark veins bulged beneath his skin like old scars. His right arm fused with some kind of metal beam—no, not fused. Grown into like a blade.
[Stage 2 Human | Awakened | Type: Parasite Caster]
[Mental Resistance: Low]
[Symbiotic Weaponry Detected]
[Combat Efficiency Estimate: 2.0x Jiang Roulan]
He looked like the kind who didn’t stop once he started killing.
Jiang hadn’t seen him yet.
They didn’t have time.
And I didn’t have options.
’System... show me where they are! Guide me, with a visual aid!’