Chapter 2

When she came back to her senses, Murong Jiao, who was sitting on the bed, touched the pendant on her chest. It was her family heirloom, passed down through generations since ancient times. Before her father took his last breath, he gave the pendant to her and kept telling her to keep it safe and never give it to anyone.

Remembering her father’s last words, she held onto the pendant tightly and stood up from the bed. Since the world she knew no longer exists, she decides to follow the ancient ritual her father taught her when she was a child. Her father told her to do the ritual only when it was dangerous for her to survive. And for her, now is the time.

Walking to the small kitchen of the dormitory, she picked up a fruit knife and returned to the living room. Since this university is one of the best in the country, the dorms are not like those at other universities. Students have their own rooms, and public places such as living room, kitchenette, bathroom, and dining room. It’s more like a four room apartment than a dorm room.

She is the only one in the spacious dormitory, so it is convenient to do the ancient ritual now. She went to get a whiteboard marker from the desk in the bedroom, and then went back to the living room. She knelt on the living room floor and began to draw the runes and symbols her father had forced her to memorize.

After spending 20 minutes writing runes in ancient language, Murong Jiao completed the ritual circle. She took out the pendant from the necklace and placed it in the center of the circle. She picked up a fruit knife and slashed it on her palm, and blood flowed out, covering the pendant.

Seeing that her own blood had completely submerged the pendant, she got up and bandaged the bleeding palm. With calm eyes, she stood on the edge of the ritual circle and began to chant ancient spells. Not long after, her heart began to ache. The more she recited the ancient spells, the more painful it became.

“Never stop when you start.”

Her father’s words repeated themselves in her dizzy mind and helped her keep going. Enduring the heart-piercing pain, she finally completed reciting the spell. She stumbled on the spot, fell to the ground, and put her palms on the ritual circle.

Her pale lips parted as she said, “Bind.”

The pendant in the center of the ritual circle lit up, sucking all her blood covering it. Before Murong Jiao lost consciousness, she saw that the blood was sucked completely, and the pendant disappeared after flickering. Sighing her bad luck, she whispered in her heart.

‘I’m sorry, Dad. I lost our family heirloom.’

*****

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A loud bang woke Murong Jiao awake. She groaned and opened her eyes. Bleeding profusely, she felt dizzy when she got up from the ground. As she slowly approached the door, the banging was still going on.

Knowing that the world was over, she dared not open the door directly, but peeped out from the peephole on the door. The scene in front of her made her unconsciously take a few steps back. Covering her mouth to keep herself from screaming, she took a few more steps towards the door and took another look.

Outside her door, a zombie was banging on the door with its half-severed hand. Only half of the head was left, and the zombie’s eyeballs were hanging on the face. Looking at the zombie, she felt that her food was about to come out of her mouth.

After leaving the door, she turned around and came to the ritual circle, but she didn’t find the pendant either. Resigned to her bad luck, she went to take a bath. Maybe this is the last time she will be able to take a bath. She doesn’t know when the water couldn’t be used anymore, or when she will die. It’s better to die after taking a shower.

She picked out a set of easy-to-move clothes and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower, but she didn’t dare to let the water get on her lips. She wasn’t sure if there wasn’t anything in the water that could turn people into zombies. After taking a shower, she stood in front of a full-length mirror and looked at herself.

In her reflection, she saw a pale young woman, still wet from a shower. Sighing while seeing her reflection in the mirror, she immediately felt a lot more relaxed. She is not pretty and has an average figure with only 153 cm height. It’s her luck in the apocalypse, as she may run into any unnecessary danger if she was a pretty woman.

When she turned around, she suddenly saw something on her chest and looked down. In her left breast, there is a small pale green leaf. Knowing that she had never had a tattoo, she touched the leaf, and her eyes blurred.

The next moment, she was standing naked in front of a vast plantation. Beside her, there is a wooden board with a word written on it.

‘Murong’s family spirit courtyard.’

After blinking and rubbing her eyes again and again, she was sure that this was not a dream. Looking at the endless empty farmland, she squeezed her arm hard.

“Ouch!”

Rubbing her bruised skin, she turned around and saw a building that looked like a warehouse. The building was so high that she couldn’t see the roof from where she was standing, as it looked like a skyscraper. The sight in front of her still made her dizzy, as she looked down at her naked body and only felt cold.

“…. I should get dressed first.”

Lifting her fingers, she brushed against the leaf shape of her left chest, and her eyes were once again blurred. The next second, she had returned to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. Looking at her own reflection in the mirror, she couldn’t help being silent.

After being shivered again by the cold, she came back to her senses. She wiped her body quickly, and put on her clothes. Coming out of the bathroom, the banging on the door had stopped. She took a look at the zombies from the peephole, but saw nothing outside.

Gathering her courage, she unlocked it and quietly opened a small gap in the door. Looking out from the small gap, there is no one or zombies outside. Half-severed head zombie, who knocked on the door just now, fell to the ground and the rest of its head was smashed to pulp.

Looking at the bloody scene not far from the door, she silently swallowed, then closed the door quietly and locked it again. Seeing the horrific appearance of the half-severed head zombie, she guessed that some brave people had already left the dormitory. Although this is a dormitory building for girls, the possibility of those girls’ boyfriends coming to the rescue can’t be ruled out.

She stood there for a long time, thinking about what she should do in the future. Staying in this room is not an option since she has limited food and water, and she doesn’t know when the door will be destroyed by zombies or worse, humans.

What if stronger zombies decide to visit her? Surely she couldn’t entertain such a high maintenance guest. What’s more, her family heirloom has already brought her a great surprise. She doesn’t need to be afraid of not having enough space for her belongings.

Since this is only the beginning of the end of the world, there are still plenty of supplies. She could try to get some for herself. With more supplies in hand, she will feel more secure about her future.

After deciding, she hurriedly packed up the things she thought would be useful. Food, water, clothes, daily necessities, medicines, and those knives and hard objects that can be used as weapons. After she had packed everything and put it inside the spirit courtyard, she touched the pale green leaf mark on her left chest, and then disappeared from the living room.