It started with a sound.
Not a scream. Not an explosion. Just… a crack in the sky.
Yu Ren was carrying two coffees back to the office when the clouds above Beijing split open like torn paper. There was no warning. No tremor. No sirens. Just light—blinding, white-hot light—pouring from a line across the sky like a jagged wound.
Then came the silence.
And then, the screaming.
He dropped both cups. The boiling liquid scalded his wrist, but he didn't feel it. People around him stood frozen for one impossible second, staring up as shadows slipped through the crack in the sky—dozens of them, then hundreds. Massive figures, winged, twisted, grotesque. Monsters that shouldn't exist.
The first one landed on a moving bus and tore it open like a tin can.
That was the last time Yu Ren saw the sun.
---
The next few days were chaos. The military fell in less than forty-eight hours. Communications failed. Cities became slaughterhouses. Electricity died on the third day, water on the fifth. The System came on the sixth.
[System Notification: You are eligible to awaken.]
[Loading affinity parameters…]
[Welcome, Yu Ren.]
[Your survival probability: 3%.]
[Special Condition Detected: Affinity-based Survival Protocol Initialized.]
[Find "Lian Zhou." Proximity to target increases life expectancy.]
[Current location: Unknown.]
Yu Ren stared at the flickering text floating in front of his eyes.
He hadn't slept in two days. He was holed up in a shattered bookstore, nursing a knife wound on his leg and the last of his canned soup. He was alone. The streets outside were crawling with creatures that looked like wolves with insect eyes.
And now… a system interface? Like something out of a game?
[New Quest Received: Locate Affinity Target - Lian Zhou.]
[Reward: +20% survival chance. Affinity Bond Level: 0/100.]
He blinked. "Lian… Zhou?"
A name he hadn't heard in over a year.
---
Yu Ren used to work in logistics for a mid-sized import company. Lian Zhou had been a courier from a third-party contractor—tall, quiet, always wearing black gloves even in summer. He rarely spoke, but he remembered birthdays. Brought umbrellas when it rained. Stayed behind to help when the elevators broke down.
Yu Ren never asked for help. Lian Zhou offered it anyway.
They weren't close, not really. But now, in a world filled with monsters and rot, Lian Zhou's name was glowing in front of him like a salvation.
[System Hint: Target last seen at East Sector Evacuation Zone.]
Yu Ren tightened his grip on the blood-stained kitchen knife.
He didn't know if the System was real. He didn't know if Lian Zhou was still alive. But if staying near him could keep him from dying like the others…
Then maybe it was enough.
He tied his leg with a belt to stop the bleeding, grabbed a half-full water bottle, and limped toward the door.
---
Outside, the city was unrecognizable. Ash rained from the sky. Burnt cars lined the roads. Corpses, too. The monsters had thinned for now, but Yu Ren knew better than to assume they were gone.
The East Sector was ten blocks away.
Ten blocks of hell.
He stayed low, moving between debris, ducking under broken signs and shattered windows. Once, he saw a creature crawl out of a sewer grate—its limbs backward, its face split down the middle. It sniffed the air.
Yu Ren held his breath and didn't move. His heart pounded in his ears.
It passed.
At the eighth block, he found an abandoned gas station. Blood smeared the walls, and the door hung open. A dead soldier lay slumped behind the counter.
Yu Ren took his gun.
It was heavier than he expected. He didn't know how to shoot.
[Survival Instinct Activated. +1 to Luck.]
[Passive Skill Acquired: Improvised Weapon Handling (Lv.1)]
Yu Ren stared at the text, blinking.
"What the hell…?"
---
By the time he reached the edge of the East Sector, the sun had dipped below the horizon. The sky glowed orange behind the smoke.
Then he heard it.
Gunfire.
Screams.
And a voice—calm, low, deadly—cutting through the noise like a blade.
"Move. Stay close. Don't look back."
Yu Ren turned toward the sound—and froze.
There, in a circle of flame and ash, stood Lian Zhou.
Alive. Armed. Eyes like steel.
Yu Ren's chest squeezed. His knees buckled.
The system chimed softly.
[Affinity Target Detected.]
[Affection Level: 1/100]
[Survival Probability: 14% → 33%]
[Quest Updated: Stay within 10 meters of Lian Zhou for 24 hours.]
Then Lian Zhou looked at him.
And for the briefest moment…
His expression faltered.
"…Yu Ren?"
---
To be continued.