The zombie chihuahua died in a way that was deeply unsatisfying.
Tang Li Yue had expected something dramatic.
A final showdown perhaps. Even a blaze of glory or at the very least, an explosion.
Instead, the demonic little beast launched itself at her face for the third time that day and was promptly swatted midair by her dezombified companion with a crowbar.
If Tang Li Yue didn't have this chicken noodle physique, she could have done that too.
In fact, she would have no trouble disposing of the annoying mutt from hell.
Alas! She only got to do one round of the body strengthening process. All it did was increase her stamina. Which was still a timely boon.
The dog hit the warehouse wall with a squeak and slid down.
Then, because apparently hell had no intention of releasing her from its entertainment package, it got back up, still growling.
It twitched intermittently, and was still very much committed to ruining her existence.
Tang Li Yue stared at it in disbelief.
"Why are you so durable?! You're the size of a loaf of bread!"
The chihuahua barked. She thinks it was an insult, probably.
Her formerly undead companion moved before it could leap again.
His gait was fast, his hits were precise.
He then stepped forward and brought the crowbar down in one clean arc.
The impact crushed the creature's skull instantly.
Its body jerked once.
Then finally stilled in a heavy silence.
Li Yue stood there for several long seconds, gripping her vacuum cleaner like it was a holy relic.
"Good. Stay dead."
She glared at the corpse for another moment before muttering under her breath, "I refuse to lose my life to something that fits inside a handbag."
Then she pointed at the dead dog.
"I hated that thing." Tang Li Yue said to the man. There was genuine offense in her voice.
As if the universe had personally slighted her.
Well, it really did.
The man lowered the crowbar.
"I gathered."
Tang Li Yue turned to him, insistence in her eyes.
"You have no idea what I've endured."
The man paused, then, to her immense irritation, the corner of his mouth lifted.
He was laughing at her.
Tang Li Yue narrowed her eyes.
Hmmp!
He had no right being that composed after having spent the previous hour as one of the undead.
Even less right was looking as immaculate as he did while doing it.
Some people were favored by heaven. While others, like her, were personally selected for stress testing.
They retreated back into the warehouse after ensuring no other zombies lingered nearby.
The dented door was reinforced with metal bars and whatever crates they could drag into place.
Only then did they finally stop.
The warehouse interior was larger than she initially thought.
Storage shelves lined the walls, stacked with supplies in sealed containers. Weapons crates occupied one corner. Portable generators, fuel reserves, dry goods, bottled water, emergency kits.
It was straight out of a survivalist's dream, a conspiracy theorist's treasure chest.
Li Yue dropped onto a nearby crate with all the grace of someone whose legs had emotionally resigned.
Sir Edmund leaped onto her lap. Who knows where this cat hid?
Tang Li Yue didn't want to think about it further, as long as he was safe.
The cat had an even stronger survival instinct than her.
Lu Chengran remained standing for a while, his sharp gaze sweeping across the space as if confirming every detail.
Only after he seemed satisfied did he place the crowbar down and took the time to think over the things that had happened to him recently.
The strange ache beneath his skin had mostly faded.
Lu Chengran felt his body was impossibly restored. It felt stronger than it had in weeks.
Too strong, perhaps. It was like every sense had been sharpened, every nerve newly rewired.
But for now, he ignored it. He had more pressing matters.
Such as the woman sitting atop a supply crate, breathing as if she had just outrun fate itself.
Which, considering the circumstances, was not far from the truth.
It was her.
The same woman had appeared in his life twice.
Both times in impossible situations.
Both times also changing the course of it.
She looked up at him, brushing stray hair from her face with visible annoyance.
Even covered in dust and zombie residue, she carried herself with a peculiar sort of dignity.
Lu Chengran couldn't put a finger on it.
It was the sort of thing that was not polished nor cultivated.
It was something deeply ingrained in her bones. The kind one was born into and was further forged through hardship.
He had noticed it the first time they met that night in the alley, albeit it was only an inkling then.
The memory surfaced with startling clarity.
It had been a failed operation.
So simple in design yet catastrophic in execution.
He and his unit had infiltrated a private gathering hosted by one of their targets, a businessman publicly known for his charity foundations and privately linked to trafficking routes across three provinces.
The objective was to secure encrypted records. Instead, they walked into a trap.
Someone had leaked their presence. He had been separated from his team during extraction.
Poisoned.
The blade had barely nicked him, but the toxin was efficient.
An unknown substance, most probably sourced from black market channels.
It was fast-acting and made him feel as if his heart was going to burst while his internal organs burned to ashes.
He had escaped only through sheer will and familiarity with urban terrain.
By the time he staggered into that narrow alley, his vision had blurred.
He remembered leaning against cold brick. Remembered calculating how long he had left.
Then he heard footsteps. He expected an enemy, after all, he was being chased.
Instead, a woman crouched in front of him.
She was annoyingly calm and unreasonably composed.
She examined him with narrowed eyes.
Then said, with complete certainty and a hint of complaint, "If you die here, you're going to inconvenience me."
To this day, Lu Chengran still had no proper response to that.
She treated him with an antidote she should not have known about or even known how to create.
He wanted to ask her why she was helping him. There was no need though. She had already blurted out why. She wanted merit before the end of the world.
Lu Chengran couldn't make sense of why she said that back then. Or even the dubious note she left that he almost dismissed as delirious nonsense.
He only followed through on a whim, for his own amusement and a precaution he had not expected to need.
Until now.
Now, it all made sense.
Who would have thought the end of the world would really come?
Lu Chengran certainly didn't have time to dwell on it then. He had things to deal with.
After completely recovering from the poisoning, the order for the second operation came down.
He know the risk of betrayal and a repeat of last time was possible. Yet, Lu Chengran still went through with it.
They had to lure all the perpetrators, even the ones in hiding.