“Um…I’m a bit confused.” Yan Xing murmured, holding a little flame in his hand.

“You seem to understand it, though?”  Jiayi said and watched the flame in his hand.

“Well…I know how to use it now…but…” Yan Xing murmured, he was easily able to control the flame as he pleased after a few days of practicing with Jiayi.

Yi Boqin was getting the hang of it and He Guang was starting to learn how to do it as well. Wu Yanyu had been advised against trying her powers until another zombie came along so she didn’t accidentally poison someone but she was watching everyone to try and prepare for when the time came.

“Doesn’t this mean other zombies will come along that have abilities…?” Yan Xing whispered. He didn’t get rid of the flame in his hands as he leaned closer to Jiayi. His hands were the least covered part of him and they were outside so he didn’t want to get cold.

“Most likely,” Jiayi murmured.

“Isn’t that really bad?” Yan Xing asked and gulped.

“It’ll be fine. For zombies, it will be harder for them to use their power since most of them aren’t really aware of things.” Jiayi explained, “And if we meet zombies who are like you, there will probably not be very many of them.”

“…okay…” Yan Xing murmured.

Jiayi turned to look over at He Guang who just managed to lift parts of the ground off into the air without touching it. He still seemed to be struggling a little but he was doing well.

“Everyone is doing well…” Jiayi said and turned to face Yan Xing. He was a little surprised as he watched Yan Xing as he spaced out while staring at his neck.

“Are you getting hungry?” Jiayi asked quietly.

Yan Xing snapped out of his trance and gulped before nodding and taking a step back, “S-sorry!”.

“It’s okay…I’ll feed you in a bit.” Jiayi chuckled quietly.

Jiayi went to feed him after checking that everyone was doing okay. They just went to the room they had started to share and Jiayi gave Yan Xing his energy by touching his face like usual.

“It’s really starting to not work as well as before..” Jiayi murmured, rubbing Yan Xing’s cheek with his thumb as he continued to give him energy.

“Hmm…You said the other method you could try would be more embarrassing?” Yan Xing asked and tilted his head a little.

Jiayi laughed and nodded, “It’s giving you energy in a more direct way.” 

“Direct?” Yan Xing asked with a confused expression.

“Source to source,” Jiayi said and pointed to himself—mainly his mouth— and then to Yan Xing. He refused to elaborate when he realized that Yan Xing still didn’t understand.

“Wait, I'm confused— what’s that sound?” Yan Xing asked.

Jiayi seemed to also hear it and went over toward the cameras since it seemed far away.

“Oh…already?” Jiayi murmured.

“People??” Yan Xing asked as he watched an all-terrain vehicle making its way toward the warehouse.

“They must be from the military base where Hu Shu’s parents are.” Jiayi explained, “I figured they’d come to us but I thought it would take longer.”

‘It’s been less than two weeks…It took two months for me to find them the first time.’ Jiayi thought as he looked at the calendar.

“You’re always thinking ahead…” Yan Xing murmured.

“I’m determined to save everyone, Y’know?” Jiayi said and smiled.

His real reasons for being like that were much more depressing but he clearly couldn’t explain that to Yan Xing….Every single mistake that Jiayi made in his first life stuck to him and would not remove itself from his conscience no matter how he tried to fix it. He had to remember everything, he had to plan for everything, he had to save everything. He didn’t have a choice, he would hate himself even more if he knew that he failed even after getting a second chance.

“…you don’t have to do everything yourself…” Yan Xing murmured.

Jiayi was surprised but he just smiled at him a little and ruffled Yan Xing’s hair silently.

—

Everyone was cautious as the car drove up to the warehouse and they got ready for anything that could happen. Jiayi assured them that it wasn’t zombies but they were all still anxious.

“Ge!” Someone suddenly exclaimed and Jiayi just smiled as Su Ling got out of the car.

“Su Ling!?” He Guang and Yi Boqin exclaimed in shock.

“Geez…everyone’s here huh…” Su Ling said and rushed up to them.

“Stop!” Ha Yuexin quickly exclaimed.

“Please prove that you haven’t been—“

“It’s fine.” Jiayi said and just pulled down Su Ling’s collar and looked at his wrists, “He’s fine.” 

Su Ling hugged Jiayi tightly.

“I was worried sick, Ge! I thought you all might’ve…” Su Ling murmured and winced.

“Nope, we’ve all been here for the past two weeks.” Yi Boqin said and smiled.

“H-How are my parents?!” Hu Shi suddenly exclaimed.

“Oh, they’re fine. We’ve secured a place for a large group of people to stay under our protectio—”

“You all have been here since before the zombies even broke out and you told the Hu couple to join you days in advance….How did you know what was going on?!”  One of Su Ling’s superiors exclaimed as he got out of the car and pointed his gun at the group, mainly at Jiayi. The other man who was in the passenger’s seat did the same. Yan Xing jumped a little as he saw this and grabbed onto Jiayi’s shirt, worried about what was about to happen.

“Woah Woah! Major, sir! This is Zhao Jiayi! Former Lieutenant Colonel!”

‘Lieutenant Colonel..?’ Yan Xing thought to himself with a surprised expression. ‘He was pretty high ranking…’ he removed the thought from his head as he noticed that the Major did not stop pointing his gun at Jiayi after learning this.

“We know who he is, Sergeant Su! That does not change the fact that he is very suspicious!” The other man, a First Lieutenant, said and continued to point his gun at Jiayi. 

“My father, Chief researcher Zhao Jianguo, went missing before the virus broke out. Because of the nature of my father’s job I decided that it would be best to prepare for the worst-case scenario and so I advised those close to me to come with me. While I’m not sure of my father’s role in this I can assure you for the past few years I’ve been nothing more than a college professor. I have nothing to do with the Virus.” Jiayi said and raised his hands in surrender.

The Major didn’t seem convinced but he lowered his gun and so did the Lieutenant. Yan Xing looked on with relief and let go of Jiayi’s shirt.

“…It’s really not the time to argue about this, the world is practically over.” Su Ling murmured.

The Major didn’t respond to that. Jiayi just shrugged, he knew what that was really about, it had been the same in the first timeline too…this man felt threatened by him. As many people in the military did, before and after the apocalypse.

“How is the city?” Jiayi asked Su Ling as if he wasn’t just at gunpoint.

“Full of zombies… we managed to save people the night before it really kicked off like Hu Shi Ge’s parents but after the first day we haven’t managed to find many people who weren’t infected.” Su Ling murmured.

“Other nearby cities have found more people, Shanghai and Beijing have huge areas already locked down and ready but it will take a while to get there with all the zombies along the way, there are lots of small communities forming along the way though, they’re just not as safe since they weren’t military established.” Su Ling explained.

Jiayi nodded and took a map out of his pocket. 

“Mark your base and wherever you know there are other small cities. I don’t know if we’re planning on leaving anytime soon but it’ll be useful.”  He said to Su Ling.

“Our base has extra rice if you need it. Everything else is a bit more scarce but we’re willing to give some stuff.” Jiayi said to the Major and motioned for him to come over.

“… you guys…don’t want to leave anytime soon right?” Jiayi asked the group.

“No…but…Hu Shi’s parents…” Yi Boqin murmured.

Hu Shi seemed conflicted. The journey to and from the warehouse wasn’t safe but he desperately wanted to be with his family. He didn’t respond, all possible options carried great risks.

“Only one Zombie has reached here so far…” Ha Yuexin murmured.

“That will change soon, the zombies have begun moving more actively during the daytime. Being here is going to become unsafe soon enough.” The Major said and got everyone nervous again.

“You should stay with the military, we have plenty of trained people and people who seem to have begun developing strong abilities that can help against the zombies.” Su Ling suggested.

“So do we,” Jiayi said and created a flame from his hand and glanced at the other ability users. Yan Xing also made a flame appear in his hand but a small one. Yi Boqin summoned a vine and He Guang raised a boulder from the ground. Wu Yanyu didn’t do anything because she didn’t want to hurt the others.

“That many of you have abilities?!” The major exclaimed in shock. Jiayi could see the wheels turning in his head. This group wasn’t full of suspicious people, this group was full of very valuable —and still suspicious— people. They could be good additions to their force.

“Yes… it just ended up being that way.” Jiayi murmured, he was also very conflicted on what they should do.

“Do your military communication systems still work?” Jiayi asked.

“Yes.” Su Ling said and took a handheld radio from one of his pockets.

“Leave one with me, we’ll keep in touch. I think we’ll be staying here for a while longer. Until it becomes necessary for us to leave.” Jiayi suggested.

“… Fine.” The Major murmured. 4 ability users and multiple military-trained men were very useful in their current situation so they couldn’t just abandon them.

“…How much have you all learned about the zombies?” Ha Yuexin asked the Major as Su Ling and the First Lieutenant were getting rice into their car.

“The most common ways to become a zombie are to get bitten or to take in a zombie’s blood. So make sure to wear protective gear whenever you deal with them. Even safety glasses. You can’t risk getting their blood inside you.” 

Yan Xing paid attention to their conversation secretly, he wanted to know just how careful he had to be.

“You don’t have to be too cautious, even if they’ve been recently infected it’ll be pretty easy to tell, their brain starts to function differently the second it starts to be affected by the virus.” The Major explained.

Yan Xing didn’t know why he was the exception to this but he really didn’t want anyone to know about him being infected. He didn’t want them to turn on Jiayi for taking him in.

“Clear signs are dark veins around their neck and wherever they were bitten, very pale skin and difficulty with high temperatures and slight difficulty moving while the sun is out. They’re also never satiated by food and all food tastes disgusting to them, enough that they’ll throw up.” 

Some of those did apply to Yan Xing but it would be hard for anyone to prove them. He hasn’t thrown up anything and he rarely eats in general, he was also generally really pale. He figured he didn’t have much to worry about. Ha Yuexin noticed him standing around and didn’t seem to stare at him with suspicion or anything so he figured he was fine.

—

“Su Ling. Stay safe.” Jiayi said and hugged Su Ling, patting his back.

“You too, Ge.” Su Ling said and smiled.

Everyone said their goodbyes to Su Ling as he got in the car and they went on their way back. They needed to get back to their base before the sun started to set.

“…So? How long are we staying..?” Ha Yuexin asked Jiayi.

“We’ll leave as soon as possible…I’ll teach you all everything you need to know about guns, and when I decide we’re ready we’ll pack up everything and leave,” Jiayi said and sighed.

He had been hoping for a more relaxed lifestyle for the first few months but that didn’t seem possible.

‘I’ll start revealing more of my powers as we move forward and it’ll be fine.’

—

“Hold it tightly and firmly, or your hand will get hurt,” Jiayi said as he held Yan Xing’s hands up a little as he aimed a gun at a tree with a target.

“Shoot, don’t hesitate,” Jiayi said and held Yan Xing’s arm still, he knew it would hurt a little for him to shoot if he tried to help.

Yan Xing pulled the trigger and did pretty well. He didn’t seem to react very much to the recoil in the moment but he shook his hand a little as if it hurt after a few seconds. He only really did it because everyone seemed to expect it to hurt him because of his thin arms. He was a zombie though so it didn’t hurt at all.

“How was that?” Jiayi asked.

“It hurt a little...” Yan Xing murmured.

“You did really well!” Yi Boqin exclaimed as he inspected the target Yan Xing had shot at.

“Jiayi Gege held his hand through it,  of course, he did well...” Wu Yanyu said and rolled her eyes.

“Hm… Try it on your own.” Jiayi said and let go of Yan Xing’s arm and motioned for Yi Boqin to move.

Yan Xing shot at the target again and got a similar result, it was no bullseye but it was really good.

“Great job,” Jiayi said and ruffled Yan Xing’s hair.

“It’s thanks to you…” Yan Xing murmured.

Jiayi smiled but he knew it was just Yan Xing being humble or not knowing his own talent rather.

“F-Friendly fire?!”  Su Ling exclaimed as he hid away from the view of the windows.

“No…That’s a zombie.” Jiayi murmured, also hiding while clutching his bleeding arm.

“A Zombie with a gun?” Su Ling asked and Jiayi just took a deep breath and clutched his hair for a second before getting his own gun ready.

“Yep, a Zombie with a gun,” Jiayi murmured.  He regretted letting Yan watch him shoot down zombies. Because just by watching…Yan perfected the skill perfectly. Except now he wasn’t using it to help Jiayi but rather to harm him. With a sweet smile on his face too.