Chapter Two: The Secrets of This World

Qi Xi was unaware that Watermelon had already regained consciousness. He crouched in the corner, searching himself, trying to find his phone.

“When he wakes up, let’s discuss how to get food from the supermarket across the street,” Li Feidao also sat down, his voice soft, but the room was so quiet that every word was clear.

Everyone present looked lost and terrified. Even Li Feidao, who tried to appear calm, and Nan Housheng, who feigned indifference, both had a trace of confusion in their eyes.

What would the future hold? How could they survive in a world overrun by zombies?

Perhaps, before long, they would all be dead.

How could anyone possibly remain composed in such a moment?

Yet Qi Xi seemed untroubled, calm, and at ease. When his hand found the phone, he couldn’t help but smile as he turned it on.

It was the latest Samsung model, with a large screen. The background photo showed a girl with delicate features, as fresh and lovely as a lotus just emerged from the water—graceful and striking, a sight to behold. If the photo wasn’t clearly taken with this eight-megapixel phone, Qi Xi would have suspected it was an artful image downloaded from the internet.

This woman was probably the girlfriend of the original owner of this body—or perhaps just a secret crush, Qi Xi mused.

He narrowed his eyes, dismissing such idle thoughts, and swiped through the phone until he found the message he needed—

At that moment, Watermelon stirred, letting out a groan.

“You’re awake?” Qi Xi switched off the screen, slipped the phone into his pocket, and walked over.

“My head hurts... huff... huff…” Watermelon clutched his forehead, his skin slick with cold sweat, breathing heavily from the pain.

“I... I... I…” Watermelon seemed agitated as fragments of memory flashed through his mind—pain, sorrow, joy, relief—too many emotions flooding him with the onslaught of these memories.

These were the so-called memories of a past life.

Having received so much unfamiliar memory, it was inevitable that Watermelon’s emotions would spiral out of control.

“Calm down.”

Qi Xi covered Watermelon’s mouth, preventing him from blurting out anything. If the others found out about their identities as travelers from another world, even if they didn’t believe it, trouble would surely follow.

Li Feidao, Nan Housheng, and Qiu Xiaoyan watched Qi Xi’s actions and Watermelon’s distress without surprise.

After all, with the apocalypse upon them, too many people had become zombies. The unavoidable death of loved ones, the permanence of separation, would easily drive anyone to lose control.

“Mm…” Only after Watermelon grunted did Qi Xi release him.

“Did you remember those things?” Qi Xi asked, his words carrying a double meaning.

To the others, the question sounded perfectly ordinary, but to Watermelon, “those things” could only refer to memories of a previous life.

Watermelon nodded.

“Alright, take your time. When you’re finished remembering, tell me,” Qi Xi said, patting him on the shoulder and crouching down beside him.

This seemingly random remark puzzled the others in the room, but none dwelled on it.

Watermelon slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. He forced down the excitement of transmigration, the bittersweet flood of past life memories, and his mingled fear and curiosity of the unknown. Without betraying any emotion, he quietly sat beside Qi Xi, recalling his former life.

Qi Xi, meanwhile, took out his phone again to check the information he needed.

These weren’t notes left by the phone’s original owner, but hints given by the gods.

[August 21st, 2015: A massive human mutation event swept the world.]

[The mutated humans are called zombies. They have lost all consciousness. Though slow-moving, they are vicious, fearless of death or injury, driven to seek out all living things, and crave flesh and blood.]

[Zombies are highly infectious, each one a walking source of contagion. Any wound inflicted on a normal human causes immediate infection, and in just one hour the victim will mutate, becoming a new zombie and a fresh source of infection.]

[The sudden appearance of zombies is a mystery. Who created them? Is it nature’s revenge? An alien conspiracy? The result of cosmic radiation? Or perhaps... none of these?]

[Unraveling the zombie mystery will help reveal the world’s true origin.]

Because of certain laws, the gods could not provide professional travelers with complete information, only obscure hints.

Qi Xi frowned at the messages on the screen. If he wanted to understand the roots of this world, he would have to discover what had caused the human mutation into zombies.

By now, Watermelon had finished absorbing his memories and was also staring thoughtfully at Qi Xi’s phone.

Without a word, Qi Xi deleted the message, glanced at Watermelon, and whispered, “Do you know?”

He was asking if Watermelon had learned the cause of the zombie mutation from his past life’s memories.

“I don’t,” Watermelon replied, sheepish. He shook his head.

Qi Xi rolled his eyes and muttered, “What a waste of such a powerful cheat…”

Watermelon could only manage a wry smile. This was his first transmigration—what he’d recalled from his past life was impressive enough. “Sorry, senior. I don’t know the answer, but I do have a few clues. It’ll make searching much easier.”

“That’s better,” Qi Xi nodded.

“What are you two whispering about?” Li Feidao looked over.

“Oh, nothing. Just chatting,” Qi Xi answered with a smile.

Though he smiled, it was the kind that could easily grate on someone’s nerves.

Li Feidao knew Qi Xi meant no harm and nodded. “We’ve rested enough. Let’s discuss how to get supplies from the supermarket across the street.”

At that, everyone turned their gaze, including the three women huddled in the corner, their tears spent. Hungry and desperate to survive, they knew cooperation was their only option—no one would be foolish enough to sob and beg for food.

The discussion was brief. The plan: create a diversion—four women would draw attention on the opposite side of the street, while the four men would seize the chance to gather water and food from the supermarket.

The plan itself was simple, but its execution fraught with danger—causing a distraction was risky, and so was searching the supermarket. But for the sake of survival, they could no longer afford indecision.

With the plan settled, they had twenty minutes to prepare and rest.

The plain-looking woman handed a dagger to Qi Xi.

Qi Xi used his ability to “quantify the world” and checked its stats.

[Name: Unsharpened Dagger]

[Type: Equipment]

[Quality: Poor]

[Attributes: None]

[Attack Power: Weak]

[Note: Though unsharpened, it can still kill someone if necessary.]

Pathetic…

Better than nothing, Qi Xi thought, but he handed the dagger to Watermelon without hesitation.

Watermelon hesitated, but Qi Xi pressed the weapon into his hands. “If you don’t want to die, keep it.”

After all, Qi Xi still had the “World Quantification” skill, which allowed him to detect any zombies nearby, plus a random skill and the experience of a previous transmigration. Compared to Watermelon, he was much more seasoned. A weak, poor-quality, unsharpened dagger was hardly essential.

After handing over the dagger, Qi Xi began searching the room for a more suitable weapon.

But this was a phone recharge shop—what weapons could he possibly find?

Surprisingly, he did manage to find something, hidden under the counter, though whether it qualified as a weapon was debatable.

[Name: Sharpened Chopstick]

[Type: Equipment]

[Quality: Trash]

[Attributes: None]

[Attack Power: Feeble. Maybe you could stab someone to death with it?]

[Note: A sharpened chopstick. If you really think you can use this to kill a zombie, you’ve already lost.]

Qi Xi stared at the twenty-centimeter sharpened chopstick in his hand, momentarily speechless. Was his luck really this bad? How could this possibly count as equipment? It was nothing but a stick! And what did they mean, “Maybe you could stab someone to death with it?” Was this chopstick, hidden under the counter for who knows how long, a murder weapon in disguise? And another thing—what was with the snide, sarcastic notes? Was this system designed just to annoy him? Could he block it somehow? How infuriating!