chapter 2

They ran. Like hell.

And they had reason to.

The silence shattered.

Undead—countless undead—rushed from every corner, flooding the area like a plague.

It was a trap.

Not just mindless corpses stumbling aimlessly anymore—they had been lured into it.

Xie Kai didn't need to ask how the boy got caught up in this. Didn't have the time, nor the strength to care.

He could fight. He could try to carve out an opening for the kid.

But at the cost of his own life.

But he didn't want to die.

He wanted to live.

His body screamed at him to run, to abandon everything and just survive—like he always had.

Maybe... maybe they both could make it.

But survival, in this twisted world, had become a selfish thing. A fight for one's own life above all else.

He had long forgotten to see the undead as enemies to fight for anyone else—only obstacles in his own path. Even then, the thought of sacrificing the boy? That thought never even crossed his mind. Not once.

So they ran.

But the undead kept coming. Like a tide. Relentless. Unforgiving. Their grotesque forms moved in a swarm, spilling out from every broken corner, from the alleys and crumbled buildings. The city, once full of life, had become a hunting ground for the dead.

Xie Kai's breath came in ragged gasps, but his mind was laser-focused—razor-sharp. He couldn't afford to slow down. Running wouldn't be enough. The horde was closing in. They were being herded, forced into a corner.

His jaw clenched.

He skidded to a stop, muscles coiled tight like a spring. With a fluid motion, he grabbed his crowbar.

He fought with everything he had—each move calculated and precise. The crowbar became an extension of his arm, swinging with deadly accuracy, cutting down the undead with brutal efficiency. His body was a weapon, reacting on instinct, driven by pure survival.

His bloodshot eyes never left the chaos in front of him, the coldness in his expression more terrifying than the monsters surrounding them. Each swing of his crowbar was an extension of his will, each movement a calculated step towards survival.

Then, the boy fired. A shot rang out, cutting through the chaos. It was a familiar sound, the click of the well-used weapon. How had the boy come to have it? Xie Kai didn't care. What mattered was the shot gave them a slight edge—just enough to keep going.

But then there was a sudden burst—smoke and fire. The boy had thrown something, setting off an explosion at the perfect moment. The undead shrieked in fear and recoiled, giving them a brief window of opportunity.

Xie Kai pushed through the crowd, moving fast and hard, clearing a path. The boy stayed close behind, but as they neared what seemed like a way out, something small darted through the mist.

A child.

Xie Kai's instincts kicked in. He sidestepped with expert precision, avoiding the undead girl's claws. But the boy—he wasn't so lucky.

In a split second, Xie Kai threw his hands forward, pulling the boy out of harm's way, his reflexes too fast for the undead to catch him. The boy missed the shot he'd aimed, but he was safe, and that was all that mattered.

But then,

An undead lunged at Xie Kai from behind, waiting for the perfect moment. Xie Kai wasn't ready for it. The claws raked across his shoulder, sharp and fast. The blow sent him stumbling. His clothes didn't protect him; the undead's strength was too much, and the claw pierced through his jacket and skin.

Xie Kai's heart dropped. The sickening scrape of nails against his flesh echoed in his mind. He could feel the sting of it. He didn't need to see the black blood oozing from the wound to know the damage had been done.

His mind raced.

He had to act. But the scratch was near his shoulder—it was too close to his heart. The infection could spread quickly. He could cut off his arm, sever it before the infection reached his chest, but that would cost him everything. His arm. His strength. His ability to fight.

It was too much.

Maybe he could save himself, but what about the boy?

The undead were numerous, but they were just two.

Xie Kai's eyes darkened with resolve. There was no time to hesitate. He made his decision. It would end here.

The boy didn't notice the injury, the dark blood staining Xie Kai's clothes hidden from his view. He was too focused on the chaos around them, too preoccupied with surviving.

"I have a grenade here," Xie Kai said, his voice low but firm. No need for more words. The situation was clear. There was no time for explanations.

The boy, still reeling from the near-death moments, nodded, reloading his weapon quickly. His hands moved fast, shaky but purposeful. He managed to throw a few more smoke bombs—firecrackers, whatever they were—and they exploded in a burst of thick, choking smoke. The undead shrieked and recoiled, but they didn't give up the chase.

Xie Kai stayed a few steps behind, watching the boy rush forward, his face set with grim determination. His body was already starting to give out, the pain from the scratch near his heart growing more intense with each passing second. But he couldn't stop. Not now.

"Go there," Xie Kai ordered, gesturing toward the small gap between the undead—a fleeting chance for the boy to make it out.

Without a second thought, the boy rushed toward the opening, his feet moving as fast as they could manage, his heart pounding. Every step was heavy with the weight of fear, but he didn't dare stop. Not when he could see Xie Kai still fighting for both of them.

Xie Kai stood still for a moment, watching the boy move to safety. His chest was tight, his breath shallow. He could feel the infection spreading, the rot clawing its way through his veins, but there was no time to think about that now.

He pulled out his knife, the metal gleaming under the dim light. His hands were already slick with blood, but that wasn't enough. He knew what needed to be done.

With grim resolve, Xie Kai set to work, cutting into his own hand, each stroke of the knife precise and painful. The blood dripped steadily, pooling on the ground beneath him, but it wasn't enough. The dark blood that spilled from his veins was already thick, the infection too far gone to stop. It didn't matter. He had to do it.

With a final, sharp motion, he pulled the grenade pin.

The sound of it was almost soothing in a twisted way. The undead, attracted to the scent of fresh blood, began to move toward him in a frenzy. The smell was distinct, tempting in this place—fresh, human blood—and they weren't about to let it slip away.

The boy, hearing the sudden shift in the undead's movements, realized something was terribly wrong. The horde was no longer just chasing them—they were focused on Xie Kai, drawn to him like vultures to a dying animal.

Horror filled his eyes as he turned, his heart sinking. There was no mistaking what he saw—Xie Kai was surrounded.

But even as the boy's blood ran cold, he heard the voice.

"Go."

Just one word. Simple, direct.

For the first time, he could truly see Xie Kai's face through the thinning smoke and undead swarm—relieved, almost calm. That was definitely not what he had seen when they first met in the tunnel. It was as though Xie Kai had made his peace. There was no fear in his expression, only a quiet acceptance of what was happening.

Xie Kai didn't flinch. He didn't even look away.

And in that moment, the boy knew the truth. Xie Kai had done everything he could for him.

With a sharp breath, the boy turned away, running faster than he ever had before, the weight of what he was leaving behind pressing down on his chest like a crushing stone.

As for Xie Kai, he wasn't sure what the struggle had been for. When he saw the boy running, something stirred within him—pity. The boy, unaware of the truth, was desperately chasing after a false escape. The living thought they understood the way out, but in reality, neither the living nor the undead had any real direction. They were all trapped in a world where survival was fleeting, where even the boy couldn't outrun the inevitable. Xie Kai's pity deepened, not just for the boy, but for everyone. They were all hopeless, spinning in a world where no one truly knew how to escape.

For the first time in a long while, Xie Kai stood tall. The weight he had carried—both physical and emotional—seemed to lift as his posture straightened. His shoulders, once hunched with the burden of survival, relaxed. He surveyed the desolate scene before him, the chaos of the undead closing in around him. There was no hesitation now. He was no longer avoiding the truth; he was facing it head-on. This was his reality, and he was ready to accept it.

All this time, he never knew where he was headed. There had been no clear path, no companion by his side, no plan. The years of survival had left him unattached to the future. Loneliness had become his constant companion, and solitude had, over time, grown familiar. Yet something from his past kept him moving forward. He thought of his parents—his blood kin—who had been selfless in ways no one else ever had been. They were the reason he had made it this far, but now they were gone.

He had walked away from the organization long ago—the one that fought for mankind. It wasn't that he had abandoned their cause, but after the death of his mother, he had no strength left to fight for humanity. He wasn't a hero. All he ever wanted was to protect her. But when she was gone, that became the turning point. He learned to survive alone, trusting no one to stand for his life anymore. He no longer fought for others; he only fought to preserve his own life, something his parents had fought so hard to protect.

As the infection spread through his veins and his body weakened, Xie Kai felt the last traces of fear slip away. The scratch from the undead, too close to his heart, had sealed his fate, but it had also set him free. He wasn't afraid of death anymore. The terror that once held him in its grip had vanished. In this moment, as the infection claimed him, he understood that death was inevitable—but it no longer terrified him. He had become fearless.

The distant explosion of a grenade shattered the silence, its fiery blast tearing through the horde of undead. The blast cleared a brief path, enough to make a difference. It was enough. For the first time in years, Xie Kai felt peace wash over him. Not the peace of victory, but the peace that comes with acceptance. He had done everything he could. Now, it was time to let go. The boy had run, and Xie Kai had given him that chance. The undead were relentless, but for him, it was over.

Looking back, Xie Kai realized that all those years of fighting and running had been in search of something he hadn't known how to find: peace. A way out. The world around him had crumbled, but in that final moment, Xie Kai felt a sense of freedom. Not the kind of freedom that came from escape, but the freedom that came from knowing that peace had finally arrived, in a way he had never expected.

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