1 Chapter 1: the start of the apocalypse

Looking out of the window, a girl sighed as the storm continued. "How am I supposed to go to lecture with this kind of weather?"

Though she had loved the sound and smell of rain as a child, one could get tired of the endless rain that had gone on for days.

In a college dorm, a girl who could be described as a goddess sat. Black, long, lustrous hair flowed down her back, and a face that could start a battlefield blankly stared out of the window.

Her name was Hu Zhu, a 19-year-old student studying at Beijing University. She was named for her red, vibrant eyes that she was born with, though her parents were worried at first. The doctor passed it off as a genetic mutation with no serious health concerns.

"Hu Zhu, are you done yet?" A voice at the door called to her. Looking at her attire one more time, she reached for the door handle, but suddenly the whole building started to shake.

"What the—earthquake?" Responding appropriately by finding cover below her desk, screams could be heard from outside the window, perplexing her.

[The Soul Record has arrived on planet Earth. You can now view your status window whenever you wish.]

A floating green message covered her eyes, confusing her even more.

Once the shaking stopped, she quickly looked outside to see students running for their lives.

Looking over to see what they were running from, her eyes widened as creatures with white eyes could be seen gouging at a student's corpse.

"Zombies?"

Students frantically ran from the mobs of congregating zombies.

Suddenly, banging could be heard from her door. As a small fear sprouted inside her, quickly suppressing the fear, she went to the kitchen and retrieved a knife.

The door burst open as one zombie slowly walked towards her. Her eyes sharpened to focus, looking for a chance to strike.

The zombie lunged towards her but was dodged by a sidestep.

'A Chance!' Not wasting the opening, she drove the knife into the zombie's chest, hitting the heart, and quickly ending its life.

[You have acquired the soul power of a normal zombie Level 6. You get 5+ Stamina]

Green text filled her retina once more.

Looking at the broken door handle, she quickly closed the door and blocked it with furniture, giving her a short haven.

She tried to ignore the pungent smell coming from the zombie.

"Now what's with this status?"

[Name: Hu Zhu

Level: 0

Race: Human

Job: None

Title: None

Strength: 10 / Agility: 15 / Health: 10 / Stamina: 55 / Mana: 10 / Magic: 5]

Looking over all her stats, Hu Zhu was surprised to find her highest was stamina, sitting at 55. Killing the zombie before had granted her +5, meaning her original stamina was 50.

Dismissing her status window, she saw a glint on the zombie corpse and retrieved it. It was a scroll of sorts.

[Monarch's Indifference (Unranked Passive Skill) Level 1: See the world as it is; people are only moving chess pieces, and food is just organic energy to keep the body moving.]

A skill? It seemed pretty useful, as it would throw away her feeling of fear in a fight, but the downside was that she no longer contained any feeling, be it hate or love.

Weighing the pros and cons, she decided to figure out how to use it later. She was not in any immediate danger, and she might regret using it now, as the downside was pretty large.

Looking at the window once more, she quickly grabbed her backpack and packed all the food, water, clothes, and meds, she left the room.

Encountering two zombies banging on the door, she lowered herself, making herself out of a vision of the zombies.

Slash, slash Two quick slashes toward their necks ended their lives.

[You have acquired the soul power of a normal zombie Level 4. You get 3+ Stamina]

[You have acquired the soul power of a normal zombie Level 2. You get 1+ Stamina]

[You have leveled up to level 1. You get 2 status points to distribute freely]

Looking at the door the zombies were banging on, she knocked.

"The zombies outside are killed; it's safe."

"Re-really!" The door slowly opened, revealing a girl with a scared expression.

"Th-thank you!"

"Be quiet, follow me," Hu Zhu commanded, and she nodded vigorously.

Raiding every empty dorm for food and water and rescuing any hiding survivors, Hu Zhu managed to rescue 10 other females in the dorm, including a popular girl named Wu Yijun—a girl with beautiful long black hair, a charming oval face, beautiful pair of bright eyes, and an impressive body.

With the zombies she encountered along the way, she managed to reach level 5, acquiring her 10 unused status points.

Peeking into the reception room, she saw a skinny zombie, different from anything she had encountered before. While normal zombies only stood straight up, this one was crouched down and frantically looking around.

Guessing this was a special zombie, she turned around.

"Let's go find another way." But before she could start walking, a screech directed at her sounded, as hasty footsteps were heard.

Quickly turning around and raising her knife, she blocked the incoming attack.

"Ugh." Feeling the strength behind the strike, she was forced to back off. Raising her right foot, she kicked it away.

"Run upstairs! If you don't see me in a few minutes, then you will know what happened." All the girls panicked and ran up, trying to quickly find a room to barricade themselves into.

Some girls hesitated and wanted to help her, but with a quick glare, they understood and gave up, knowing they would be a hindrance.

"Now, big boy, it's just you and me." A smile formed on her face, suppressing her growing fear.