“Where’s Variant 009!? What are you all doing!?”

“I’m sorry! Just now, 009 lost control, it seems… it burrowed into the pipes!”

“Then hurry and find it!”

In the sewers, the air was thick and damp, and the stench was so overwhelming it made one dizzy.

On the dark, wet ground, a pair of crimson eyes suddenly appeared.

‘I… I’ve been reborn…?’

Ping Yan was so shocked that he didn’t notice his voice had turned into an inexplicable rustle.

He remembered, wasn’t he caught by three pursuers and taken to their nest as emergency food?

It seemed he was.

He had a childhood friend.

In his previous life, three months after the apocalypse erupted, he had coincidentally broken his leg.

Because of his cowardice and timidity, his childhood friend, in order to protect him, faced a dozen zombies alone and eventually died…

Ping Yan survived in the apocalypse for a full three years.

During those three years, he had tried to trust others, but he was met with endless betrayal!

On countless nights, he often thought of the girl who was willing to sacrifice her life to protect him…

Her name was Song Ning, and she was a very good girl, confident and brave, usually fond of exercise, and very agile.

Her only flaw was perhaps her quiet nature…

Until the very last moment of her life, she still stood in front of him.

Thinking of this, intense feelings of unwillingness and longing filled his heart.

If not for him holding her back, with Song Ning’s agility, she definitely wouldn’t have been trapped by those zombies.

What time was it now?

If it was before the apocalypse, he was sure he could seize the initiative and establish a shelter that would firmly protect them both!

A palm-sized black shadow moved slowly on the muddy ground beside the sewer.

Ping Yan realized that although he had been reborn, he might no longer be human.

No, definitely not.

Just as he opened his eyes, a “giant” in a white coat tried to bake him with fire.

The sewers were extremely quiet, with only the slight sound of water flowing.

Ping Yan didn’t know what he looked like now, but based on the humans he had seen earlier, he was probably less than palm-sized.

Suddenly, a slight sound of footsteps came from behind him, caused by splashing in puddles.

“Find it for me! Hurry and find it!”

“But it’s highly likely it’s already flowed out through the drainage outlet with the water!”

“Then find it anyway!”

“Thump, thump, thump.”

The heavy and urgent footsteps seemed to pound on Ping Yan’s heart.

Were those people looking for him?!

Ping Yan was agitated internally, but there was nothing he could do…

If he had been lucky enough to fall directly into the sewer water earlier, he definitely wouldn’t have been caught, but he was on the ground, and this strange body could only move one centimeter per second!

Soon, the light from a distant flashlight shone, and suddenly, a strong beam illuminated him.

Ping Yan squinted, and under the light, he saw his own brown, rough, slimy “arms,” which looked like… tentacles?

“Over here, 009 is here!”

A man in a hazmat suit quickly stepped forward.

Ping Yan suddenly smelled a delicious aroma coming from him.

A strange, tyrannical emotion appeared in his mind.

‘It seems… quite delicious…’

The man sneered and walked in front of Ping Yan.

His foot was as big as three Ping Yans.

At the same time, an intense sense of danger appeared in Ping Yan’s subconscious.

Then, he felt his whole body heating up, and his mind was filled with wicked thoughts.

Almost instinctively, he transformed into a black shadow and, with a “splat,” leaped onto the man’s face, the only part of his skin not fully covered.

Countless slender tentacles pierced the man’s skin.

The man struggled violently; he only had time to inject something into Ping Yan’s body, before instantly losing his breath!

‘So sweet… this wonderful scent… what is this… it’s too delicious!’

‘Hahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha!’

Terrifying and twisted emotions appeared in Ping Yan’s mind, but he didn’t lose his sanity.

The man’s body quickly turned into a husk.

As more footsteps approached, Ping Yan, now a football-sized mass of thick tentacles, swiftly jumped into the water.

Two mysterious texts appeared in his mind.

He had never seen them before, yet he understood them; they seemed to be human genes.

Ping Yan had a peculiar feeling; he sensed that he could make slight modifications to the gene text above.

Moreover, he felt he could become even stronger, but it would require more gene text…

In the putrid water, the strange tentacles gradually closed in, merging…

Finally, a 1.5-meter tall girl with black hair, crimson eyes, and a surprisingly cute appearance emerged.

A manic smile played on her lips, and the red glow in her eyes intensified, suppressing the inexplicable desires and destructive urges within her heart.

The power within her body was gradually awakening…

She stood up from the foul water, her fair and tender body covered in many black stains.

Her slender, pale legs were already moving at their fastest speed, but the girl frowned, feeling it was still somewhat slow.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

Suddenly, several bloody holes appeared on either side of the girl’s spine.

Several thick, brown tentacles drilled out, becoming feet that replaced her legs, “crawling” at an extremely fast pace.

Meanwhile, the girl was suspended in the air, supported by the tentacles.

“Haha… Hahahahahaha!”

Feeling the exhilarating power within her body, she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Her ethereal and beautiful laughter, along with her eerie and enchanting red eyes, constantly exuded a terrifying, soul-snatching aura.

A rat, merely glancing at her from a distance, had its head impaled by a tentacle that seemed to come from nowhere!

In less than ten minutes, outside the iron grate of the drainage outlet, countless sanity-dropping tentacles squeezed out like a mollusk.

They then gathered together again, strangely merging into a girl.

What time was it now?

The girl looked up at the sky.

The night was pitch black, a murky expanse, with no sign of the moon.

The air carried a familiar smell of dust.

The earth was cracked, and distant skyscrapers lay in ruins.

A layer of mist enveloped the land, making it appear extraordinarily eerie.

Had the apocalypse already begun?

Anxious emotions filled her heart; she was eager to know exactly what time it was!

At the same time, a feeling of weakness spread through her body.

The man she had killed seemed to have injected something into her.

A sense of powerlessness gradually spread throughout her slender body.

Ping Yan instantly felt as if she had become a true little girl!

This was a sewage treatment plant.

She casually found some clothes to put on.

Stepping out of the treatment plant, familiar scenery appeared before her eyes.

The city was a ruin of broken walls, dust covering the tall buildings.

In the distance was the “Phoenix Statue,” S City’s landmark building, broken in half.

It was the city where she and Song Ning had been when the apocalypse began in her previous life!

But she always felt something was missing.

“Roar!!”

“Roar roar roar!!!!”

That’s right, that’s what was missing!

Countless hidden zombies caught the scent of living humans.

Dragging their blood-soaked, decaying bodies, they furiously charged towards Ping Yan from all directions in the darkness!

Ping Yan was anxious internally and drove the girl’s body to sprint frantically!

She intentionally tried to unleash her tentacles, but found she couldn’t use her abilities at all!

The needle the man injected seemed to have an effect that suppressed her abilities!

“Beep! Beep!”

A distant off-road vehicle approached like a savior; it was a police Saber-toothed Tiger!

It was like a black beast, its headlights blazing, knocking the zombies in front of Ping Yan away like bowling pins, finally stopping steadily before Ping Yan.

The driver’s side window rolled down, and a girl with a neat high ponytail called out to Ping Yan: “Get in quickly!”

Ping Yan’s pupils suddenly contracted, then she was overcome with wild joy.

Song Ning!

After getting in the car.

Sitting in the back seat, there were two other people in the car besides Song Ning.

In the passenger seat was Ping Yan from her previous life, and beside her sat a middle-aged man.

“What’s your name? How are you here alone?”

Song Ning drove the car, occasionally knocking away obstructing zombies.

The car windows were smeared with black blood, somewhat affecting visibility.

Ping Yan hesitated slightly, then casually gave herself a new name: “My name is Ping Chengcheng.”

“Oh, the same surname as me.”

Ping Yan in the passenger seat was a bit surprised, as this surname was relatively rare after all.

The middle-aged man snorted coldly, his words somewhat unfriendly,

“Miss Song, you know our food supply is tight, and everyone has to go out to collect supplies. Why are you saving such a useless brat?”

Song Ning frowned, straining to see the road through the blood on the car window.

It was still deep night, which especially tested her driving skills.

“Heh, I won’t take any of your food, I’ll give her my own share.”

The middle-aged man gave Ping Chengcheng a cold glance.

“Once we get to the shelter, behave yourself. Even if Miss Song saved you, you’ll still have to work, understand!?”

Ping Chengcheng turned her head, her crimson eyes, like a pool of blood, gazing at him.

The middle-aged man shivered, feeling a bit unnerved by her stare.

But Ping Chengcheng’s voice was full of a wronged, pathetic tone: “I-I know…”

Seeing the man’s somewhat flustered expression, Ping Chengcheng felt a slight urge to laugh.

She bit her tongue hard, forcing a single tear from her eye.

This was the first lesson in apocalypse survival – playing the pig to eat the tiger.

“You… could you be infected with the virus too?”

The middle-aged man swallowed with a gulp.

He then quickly pulled a bundle of rope from under the car seat and, in a few swift motions, tied Ping Chengcheng up!

Ping Yan hesitated for a moment, deciding to temporarily act as a little girl, so she struggled violently and cried out.

“I didn’t, I really wasn’t bitten by zombies!”

“My eyes, they’re naturally red! And zombies’ eyes are white!”

Song Ning also saw the girl’s red pupils through the rearview mirror.

Although a bit surprised, she didn’t object to the middle-aged man’s actions.

She comforted Ping Chengcheng: “It’s alright, little sister. When we get to the base, I’ll just check your body. Don’t be scared.”

“Okay…”

Ping Chengcheng lowered her head and softly sobbed, which made Song Ning feel a pang of sympathy.

Ping Chengcheng quickly glanced at the people in the car out of the corner of her eye, secretly calculating in her mind.

For now, she wouldn’t expose her identity and would act as an ordinary little girl.

Once her powers recovered, then…

The middle-aged uncle beside her had kicked Song Ning when she was down in her previous life.

She absolutely had to eliminate this threat in advance!