Chapter 2
Song Xun woke up with a start.
Her eyes snapped open, pupils constricting violently. Her mind was muddled and groggy, her lingering consciousness still trapped in the agonizing cycle of her self-detonation, replaying it over and over, finding no release.
It took a long time before she finally began to calm down.
The murky torment in her eyes gradually found a focal point, and her consciousness slowly cleared amidst the heart-wrenching pain.
She was lying on her back, and her vision gradually focused. But when her eyes clearly registered what was in front of her, Song Xun froze.
Blue-striped curtains covered a half-open window. A breeze wafted in, making the curtains rise and fall. The off-white walls were pristine, even adorned with floral and leaf patterns.
Song Xun gasped for breath and instinctively propped herself up with her arms to survey her surroundings. She was lying on a light-blue double bed. The bedroom was large, with a computer desk against one wall. On the desk were scattered pens and notebooks, and even a book left open halfway.
Not far from the bathroom door was a black beanbag chair, and on it sat a fruit platter with apples, bananas, and a few mangoes.
These were things she only saw in her dreams.
So… was this a dream?!
Song Xun was bewildered, her muscles tensing with a wary alertness.
After seven years in the apocalypse, amid endless natural and man-made disasters, where could one possibly find such a clean place to live, let alone food like this?!
Even for her, a famous Level 6 Ability User in Xifeng Base, her living quarters had never been this… clean?
And this decor?
This computer?
And so many colors?!
Moreover, she vividly remembered being betrayed by Su Qingyu and self-detonating to take everyone with her.
How could she suddenly be here?
Even if it was a dream, the things she was seeing were far too… realistic.
So real they were familiar.
This bedroom setup, buried deep in her memory…
Ring, ring, ring!
A sound suddenly erupted from behind her, making Song Xun jump. She leaped off the bed and spun around, her eyes filled with undisguised ferocity, her fists clenched in a defensive posture.
But as she looked, the source of the sound was a white mobile phone lying next to the pillow.
A mobile phone?
The screen lit up, displaying the caller ID… Qingyu.
Su Qingyu?
The name sent a tidal wave of hatred and gloom through her, making her eyes instantly turn red.
Song Xun didn’t answer. The phone rang a few times and then automatically disconnected. The page that popped up was a photo of two dogs, with the Beijing time ticking away in seconds at the top.
June 1, 2123, 8:11 AM.
Song Xun’s pupils shrank. A certain possibility came to mind, and she was struck with astonishment.
Perhaps due to the sheer shock and horror, even her heart began to race. After a long moment, she moved her stiff neck and slowly looked down at herself.
Sure enough, her skin, though not fair, was firm and healthy, not the scarred and battered body forged through life-and-death struggles in the apocalypse.
So, had she really been reborn?
No, it wasn’t just being reborn. She had even returned to… one month before the apocalypse began.
Even after seven years in the apocalypse, Song Xun still clearly remembered that it had all started with a tornado that swept the nation on July 1st.
The reason Song Xun remembered that day so clearly was because July 2nd was Su Qingyu’s birthday.
How could she possibly forget her girlfriend’s birthday?
So, had she truly been reborn?!
Song Xun’s expression was a whirlwind of excitement, bewilderment, helplessness, vigilance, and worry—a mix of countless emotions.
She subconsciously swallowed. The tension in her half-crouched, wary posture suddenly slackened. She abruptly reached out and pinched her left arm with her right hand. The force was so great that the sudden pain made her cry out.
“Hiss… ha…”
It hurt.
It really hurt.
Did that mean this wasn’t a dream? This was real. She could really start over?
“Hahahahaha—”
After a long stunned silence, Song Xun finally burst out laughing. And as she laughed, tears began to stream down her face uncontrollably.
“Woof!”
“Woof, woof!”
Perhaps due to the strange noises in the bedroom, heavy scratching and barking came from outside the closed door.
Song Xun shivered involuntarily, but it wasn’t from fear. She turned her head, her face tense, and stared at the door.
Soon, the door was pushed open, and two large dogs charged in, immediately pouncing on their owner.
A chorus of whimpers and whines erupted as one dog leaped onto her from behind, its paws on her shoulders, while the other hugged her arm and refused to let go.
Song Xun began to cry even louder.
“Shangtian, Ru Hai…”
Hope had become reality. For Song Xun, who was filled with anticipation and guilt, this felt like salvation.
She hugged the two bewildered dogs, crying her eyes out as if releasing all her emotions.
It was as if she was trying to cry out all the pain of the past seven years, along with the unease, guilt, and regret of learning the truth at the very end. She cried so hard that the two dogs grew anxious, and only when they started struggling and whining did she let them go.
Of the two dogs, Shangtian was a purebred Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, and Ru Hai was a German Shepherd.
Shangtian, the Wolfdog, had been a gift from her parents when they were still alive. As for Ru Hai, her cousin Song Ye had gotten him after seeing how much fun Song Xun had with her dog. Later, when Song Ye joined the army and couldn’t keep the dog, she had entrusted him to Song Xun.
That was the story of the two dogs.
Song Xun had raised them both from puppies. But sadly, in the hellish apocalypse, Shangtian had gone missing in the third year. Song Xun had searched everywhere but couldn’t find him.
Only Ru Hai remained to accompany her, walking with her until the seventh year of the apocalypse, only to also die at Su Qingyu’s hands.
And then there was her cousin Song Ye, Chang Wan, Chang Fei, and Shi Tou.
Thinking of them, could they, like her two dogs, be standing before her once again?
A jolt went through Song Xun’s heart. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, her fingertips trembling as she picked up the phone. She paused for a long moment before clumsily unlocking it and opening her contacts.
She hadn’t touched a phone in seven years. Although her movements were clumsy, she hadn’t forgotten how. She finally managed to dial a number.
As always, Song Ye’s call didn’t go through.
But Song Xun wasn’t surprised. Song Ye had joined the army several years ago, and it wasn’t always possible to receive calls there.
Song Xun understood, though she felt a twinge of regret and unwillingness. She then called Chang Wan.
The phone rang a few times before it was answered.
The moment the call connected and she heard that familiar voice, Song Xun almost broke down in tears again.
Although she held it together, her hoarse, strained tone still gave Chang Wan on the other end a huge shock. “Big Sis, what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
Hearing that familiar, concerned voice, Song Xun forced herself to slow her breathing and calm her tone. “Xiao Wan, you and Xiao Fei need to come back right away.”
Chang Wan was surprised. “Big Sis, right now…”
But then she considered Song Xun’s personality. She wouldn’t be so hurried and strange unless it was an emergency. Chang Wan immediately grew anxious and nodded. “Okay, my brother and I will head back right now.”
After hanging up, Song Xun scrolled through her contacts and called Shi Tou. The call connected quickly, and Shi Tou’s deep, booming voice came through the phone. “Big Sis?”
The background noise on his end was loud. Song Xun’s throat moved, but she didn’t say much, just giving a direct order. “Something’s come up. Come back immediately. Don’t worry about what you’re doing. The faster, the better.”
“Okay.”
Shi Tou didn’t say anything else or ask any questions. He simply agreed upon hearing Song Xun’s words.
He trusted Song Xun unconditionally.
That’s why he was willing to die for her.
After hanging up, Song Xun stared at the bright phone screen in silence for a while. After a long moment, she closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
The look in her eyes became firm.
This time…
This time, she would not be as blind as she was in her past life, trusting Su Qingyu only to be sold out and betrayed, bringing ruin not just upon herself but upon everyone.
At least Su Qingyu was right about one thing: she had indeed been too stupid.
This time, she would make sure her dogs, her family, and her friends lived long and fulfilling lives.
This time, she would find Ji Tang and her two children and be a good Alpha and a good mother.
This time, she would absolutely not let herself live such a wretched, painful life.
This time, she would make Su Qingyu taste the bitterness of falling into a hell she couldn’t escape.
Song Xun took a deep breath and calmed down.
She patted the two dogs clinging to her, got out of bed, and sat down at the computer desk.
She picked up a pen and opened a new notebook.
It had been years since she had used a pen and paper. Song Xun’s movements were stiff and awkward, but thankfully, her writing grew smoother as she went on.
She had lived seven years in the apocalypse and died during the Eternal Night of the seventh year.
By that time, Earth had long since become an era of bases and abilities due to the continuous apocalyptic disasters.
Natural disasters and abilities had become the opposing main themes.
After she died, after that seventh year, did the Eternal Night end?
Were there other disasters after that?
Song Xun didn’t know, but she knew that her most important task now was to write down all the disasters and events of the past seven years.
Seven years was long enough to forget many things, but Song Xun still had some impression of the major events.
She was afraid she would forget something if she relied solely on her memory.
She remembered very clearly that on the morning of July 1st of this year, at 7 a.m., she was about to go pick up Su Qingyu…
Hmm, what for? Song Xun thought for a moment. It wasn’t important. Never mind. Around that time, a strong wind had suddenly kicked up, and then, in less than half an hour, before it was even 8 a.m., a tornado had formed.
She hadn’t even left her house, and she was already trapped.
But at the time, no one had expected that the tornado formed by that strong wind would officially mark the beginning of the apocalyptic disasters.
The tornado enveloped the entire Xifeng City, like the claws of a ferocious beast, imprisoning this once-prosperous metropolis. No, it wasn’t just Xifeng City.
It was happening all over the country.
The tornado, accompanied by rain, destroyed countless tall buildings, shattered glass doors and windows, and swept countless people to their deaths.
Five days. It took a full five days for the tornado storm to gradually subside.
Then, just as people were rejoicing that it was finally over, the incessant rain instantly turned into a downpour, which in just one day evolved into a torrential storm.
The storm, accompanied by booming thunderstorms, fell as if a huge hole had been torn in the sky, a boundless, massive waterfall.
In just a few days, everything began to be submerged.
The first floor, the second floor… In the end, after more than a month, nearly two months of torrential rain, Xifeng City was submerged up to the eleventh floor. And that was only because her residential complex was on higher ground. The low-lying complexes, as well as the counties and villages under Xifeng City’s jurisdiction, were all completely submerged.
Countless people died in this disaster.
They either drowned, starved to death, or were killed fighting over food.
In the face of death, with no clean water or edible food, the evil in human nature was magnified infinitely.
Everyone wanted to live, even if it meant doing everything in their power. When there was no food, cannibalism was not just a legend.
For a bag of expired instant noodles, for a pack of moldy biscuits, for a sip of drinkable water, for the chance to survive…
Countless people risked their lives.
Money became worthless paper—the kind that was too stiff to even wipe your ass with, as they say.
Civilization had long ceased to exist.
A living hell on earth. That was what it was.
After the torrential rain stopped, it was followed by a year and a half of flooding.
After that, two years of extreme cold.
It was during this time that the remaining animals and plants almost all mutated.
And similarly, as animals and plants were constantly adapting to the environment and mutating, so were the surviving humans.
Unfortunately, the degree of human mutation was a step behind that of animals and plants, and it was incomplete.
Only a few gifted individuals evolved abilities, while most people remained ordinary until their deaths.
And she had evolved her Thunder-type ability during that time.
Following that were three years of extreme heat.
And then, the Eternal Night, during which she died.
The ballpoint pen stopped. It ended there.
Song Xun’s eyes were thoughtful. What came after the Eternal Night? What other disasters would there be?
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, did those count?
If there was an Eternal Night, did that mean there would also be an Eternal Day?
Song Xun suddenly felt a headache coming on. She really couldn’t remember. But thankfully, her gaze fell upon the phone she had casually placed on the bedside table after her calls…
Oh! Right, she could search online.
After so many years without the internet, she had forgotten about it.
Song Xun patted Ru Hai, who was beside her, and pointed at the phone. The German Shepherd barked once and obediently brought the phone to his owner.
Even though it was covered in dog slobber, Song Xun didn’t care at all.
She wiped it with her hand, unlocked it, went to Baidu, and searched for various types of natural disasters.
Typhoons, droughts, sandstorms, tsunamis, hail, blizzards, freezing rain, smog, frost, acid rain, melting glaciers, landslides, viruses, insect plagues, ball lightning…
And so on, and so on.
“…” Song Xun.
Her face immediately darkened.
How could there be so many more?!
With all kinds of extreme weather taking turns, one after another, Song Xun had reason to suspect whether anyone would really be left alive on Earth in the end.
Surviving was just too damn hard.
But if she didn’t live, could she really just die again?
Song Xun gave a bitter smile.
