Chapter 48.9: Lin Ai – Part One
Today is October 10th.
It is currently noon, 12 PM.
My seventeen years are running out of time, and I can’t recharge. I only have twelve hours left to squander.
Eighteen years old, the dividing line between adult and child. In another two hours, I will become something different… Although I wish I could say that, in reality, nothing has changed.
If it weren’t for the text message from my father, who I never usually contact, with only the four words “Happy Birthday” and no other expression.
My father, who was always taciturn at home, never forgot his daughter’s… A warmth flowed through my heart, bringing a smile to my lips as I looked at the message.
This is already the best birthday present.
It allows me, living alone, to feel again that I am not living in the end of the world.
The phrase “all men are created equal” has always been a lie. If fate is a gamble, then from that day on, I had already lost.
After my father was framed and burdened with enormous debt, he hid us to not affect my mother and me, while he himself disappeared.
My father successfully protected us this way. No debt collectors came to harass us, and no one knew about our relationship with my father.
However, it was very hard for my mother to raise me alone. Moreover, to help my father, she always sent the money she painstakingly saved.
Finally, my mother fell ill. She couldn’t even delay it. She passed away in just three days.
That day, my mother left me due to illness. I couldn’t contact my missing father. On the way to the crematorium, holding my mother’s corpse alone, I cried all the tears I would ever shed in my life.
After my mother died, I didn’t continue to attend university. Instead, I started working.
It’s okay. Once I found a job, I could support myself.
Living alone seems to be no problem…
I also learned to cook. Although it’s not as good as my mother’s cooking, it’s not a problem for me to cook for myself.
I formed a habit of taking my temperature every morning. As long as my health is good, nothing else is a problem.
My job is a customer service representative and receptionist at an internet company. Perhaps because my appearance is decent, I quickly got a formal job.
But my tone is still a bit cold. I’m not good at smiling… Although I tried my best to curve my lips, I still feel like something is missing from my smile.
But it’s okay. I’ll get used to it later. Work is like that.
Perhaps for me, who is about to become an adult, I’ve experienced too many twists and turns. But life is like this; there are simply no choices.
I’ve gotten used to saying “It’s okay” and “No problem” to others, and perhaps I’m also saying it to myself.
I have a lot of free time, but I can’t find anything I want to do. Every day is very boring.
I always tell myself that there’s nothing I can do, that I have no choice. The initial freedom and ease of being alone has turned into…
Time passes so slowly… No matter what I do, it feels so slow. In fact, it’s not that other things have changed, but the time scale of my world has slowed down. Everyone’s world is different. We mistake similarity for sameness, but in reality, there is no intersection at all…
I feel as if I have detached from this world.
But it’s okay… it’s okay…
How can it be okay!
Because it is so lonely to be alone. I really want someone by my side! After waking up, all that’s left is the cold… Will I live like this alone until I die?
No. Living so numbly, like a zombie without thoughts… Such me is equivalent to being dead, right?
If only I could meet a master who could live freely alone, I would definitely become their disciple and ask how to enjoy life alone…
Buzzz— Buzzz–
My phone is ringing. Who would contact me at this time?
With a bit of anticipation, I took out my phone, only to find it wasn’t a call, but a text message from my father.
And it’s different from usual; there were several.
I scrolled to the bottom and tapped to open them from the first one.
[There’s no time to explain. After receiving this message, leave this city immediately. Don’t get involved in anything you encounter on the way.]
My eyes widened immediately, and I knew things might have become bad.
He didn’t call because he would be discovered if he spoke, so he sent me these text messages.
He didn’t even use punctuation. It must be very urgent.
Could it be that those debt collectors have finally found me?
Is my father okay?
[Do not drink tap water on the way, and do not touch it. You can only drink mineral water. Do not drink the local kind.]
What is this strange instruction about…
What exactly happened… Water pollution?
Is my father involved in something?
[If you encounter strange people, do not talk to them. Do not mind anyone. Leave this city immediately. You are the most important thing.]
Amidst such urgency, he warned me repeatedly to leave this city. It seems something truly extraordinary has happened.
I immediately got up and started packing. I put a few clothes in my hiking backpack and the bottled water I bought a few days ago into the backpack after confirming its origin.
After packing my luggage, I received another text message from my father. But this time, after opening it and glancing at it, I couldn’t help but break down.
[I regret not being able to see you one last time. I’m sorry to you and to both of you.]
How could this be?
The unease in my heart became reality. I am truly alone in this world now…
I widened my eyes, lowered my head, pursed my lips, and desperately tried to suppress my sobs, but the sounds still leaked out.
Tears dripped onto the screen, scattering due to the vibration.
That was the last text message from my father…
[Daughter, take care of yourself. Dad is leaving first.]
Nothing matters anymore.
If my father has already left me, then why should I live in this world…
My father told me to take care of myself. He even told me so many things at the last moment. If I give up now, it would be tantamount to wasting his last efforts.
I can’t end it like this.
At the very least, I won’t die in this city!
Escape!
Escape this city immediately!
I used this last reason to persuade myself to act again. Grabbing my packed backpack, I left my rented apartment.
After I went out, I realized it was already nighttime.
Unconsciously, four or five hours had passed. Time passes so quickly at moments like this…
For some reason, the streetlights were not on. Not only the streetlights but also the buildings nearby had no lights on. It seems there was a large-scale power outage.
The street is empty… Although the street I’m on is not a bustling one, it’s not so deserted that there’s no one around at six or seven in the evening. What on earth has happened?
Never mind. My father also told me not to talk to strange people. All I need to consider now is how to escape this city.
Anyway, I’ll just walk. If I can find a taxi, I’ll take a taxi out of this city.
I walked further for a while, but I still encountered no one, not even a car.
This situation is too strange.
What in the world has happened?
As I was wondering, I saw a light appearing ahead. A car was heading this way, so I quickly waved at the car.
“Hello! Can you give me a ride?!”
SH
However, the car had no intention of slowing down. It just sped past me, creating a gust of wind.
“…What the heck…”
Boom!!!
The violent explosion and shockwave threw me to the ground. A raging fire erupted behind me. I looked back in a daze, and the car that had just passed had crashed into the gas station and exploded…
Then, even more terrifyingly, a figure stood up from the blazing inferno and walked towards me, arms outstretched.
That was no longer human… It was just a ‘walking corpse’.
Has a zombie crisis broken out?
How could that be… How could something from a movie happen in reality…
I have to escape…
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!”
ESMi
Even without turning my head, I could see a horde of zombies approaching from the corner of my eye…
Were they attracted by the explosion of the car just now?
They don’t seem to have noticed me… If I don’t make a sound, will I be okay?
And the zombie, covered in flames, was also walking towards me. If that zombie gets close to me, I won’t be able to stay still.
Trapped… Am I going to die like this?
If there is a “next life”, I hope I can give up all my worries and live a carefree life.
No!
There is only this life. There’s no such thing as reincarnation!
Living once is enough! Precisely because there is only one life, I must go all out!
I want to live!
I gritted my teeth, got up from the ground, pushed myself up with my hands, and started running. All the zombies noticed the sound and turned towards me.
Fortunately! Their movements are still somewhat slow. With this, there’s still a chance to escape!
I quickly left the main street and ran into a residential complex.
“Ugh ahhhhhhhh.”
Suddenly, a zombie appeared from the side. Just as I was about to be bitten, I ducked down and dodged it. The zombie tripped when it bumped into my body.
Where did it come from!
…In the residential building?
SE.
SF Light Novel
I could hear sounds from ahead as well. This is terrible, I’m completely surrounded.”
“Miss! Over here! Come this way!”
At this moment, I heard a voice. I noticed a boy, about seventeen or eighteen years old, standing on the outer wall of a villa, waving at me.
There are still survivors!
Without any hesitation, before the zombies could surround me, I quickly ran towards him, constantly accelerating, then jumped high up the wall.
One hand successfully reached the top of the wall. With a forceful push, I managed to support my upper body, but just as I was about to pull up my lower body, a zombie grabbed my ankle.
“…”
Damn it, still not going to work?
“Let go! You perverts! Watch my Super Mario stomp!”
“Huh? Ah, hey!”
The boy actually jumped down! The zombies have all surrounded us! Is he trying to die!
The boy precisely stepped on the head of the zombie that was grabbing my ankle, making it loosen its grip, preventing me from being bitten, and successfully using the recoil to jump back onto the wall.
I seized the opportunity and climbed over the wall. At this point, the zombies couldn’t reach us even by stretching their hands.
Then the young boy immediately jumped down from the wall and looked at me with encouraging eyes after landing. I instantly understood his intention and also jumped.
However, I didn’t expect that the zombie just now had injured my ankle. I lost my balance and fell forward.
The young boy was also startled and quickly extended his hands as if to catch me.
But how could he, who was not even as tall as me, catch me? In the end, I used him as a cushion to break my fall…
It seems I’m not injured. How lucky… I didn’t expect to actually survive…
“Mmphm” Ah!”
I quickly crawled to the side. Just as I was about to check on the young boy, he got up on his own, scratched his head with a helpless smile, and said to me.
“Miss, are you hurt?”
I should be asking you that!
“Ah, my name is Juncheng… Um, Miss, what’s your name?”
Speaking my name…
For some reason, I didn’t give my real name. Instead, I said to him on impulse.
“Lin Ai.”
The story of what will happen in the future.
This is when Juncheng An was young, and Li Nai (Lin Ai) had not yet changed.
