The sky was a sickly shade of grey, bruised and bloated like an open wound in the heavens. Occasional flashes of lightning split through the clouds, casting harsh, flickering light over the desolate earth below. The moon had vanished hours ago, swallowed whole by the thunderclouds that loomed like a curse over what was once a thriving city.
It was the year 2029, or so the last functioning calendar suggested. Just a few days before the New Year. Christmas Eve, technically. In the old world, this would've been a time of celebration, where streets lit up with neon cheer, snowflakes falling gently onto bundled-up lovers, children laughing as they chased each other past glittering storefronts. Planes would be full, malls crowded, families gathered around warm dinners, looking forward to another year of resolutions they'd half-keep.
But that world had long since crumbled. Its joy had turned to ash, and its warmth had been devoured by the cold claws of the undead.
Now, only ghosts remained.
Zhang Yuqi stood on the cracked rooftop of an old department store, her back to the cold wind, eyes fixed on the battlefield below. A once-bustling cityscape was now reduced to a skeleton of steel and ash. Roads were torn open. Buildings crumbled like stale bread. Blood—fresh and old—painted the ground beneath the flickering remnants of streetlights that hadn't given up yet.
Behind her was the towering Base 01, a city enclosed by a massive steel wall, forming a perfect circle. It was once part of the government's ambitious eco-city project, a sustainable, utopian blueprint for the future. Alas, the dream never came true. The apocalypse came first. Now, the unfinished marvel had become humanity's fortress to defend against the undead.
Yes, undead.
Zhang Yuqi heard the roaring growls of the dead creatures, and she turned her head back to look at what was ahead.
Chaos.
Bullets whizzed past her, some precise enough to pierce rotting skulls, others shattering kneecaps and slowing the tide. The fallen were immediately finished off by others on the ground, making every inch of land a battlefield.
"Sniper backup!" someone barked through the comms.
"Already on it," came the calm voice of Qin Lanyue, perched on a makeshift tower with her long-range rifle. "Left flank—cleared three runners. You've got about ten seconds before the next wave hits."
Zhang Yuqi felt the familiar surge of energy humming in her bones. Both of her hands were raised, fingers aimed at the direction of the approaching zombie army.
Then, yellow lightning crackled, and she released 10 bolts of lightning that targeted the zombies.
BOOM!
"Zhang Yuqi!" someone called out.
Zhang Yuqi turned her head to the right and saw Murong Xue, flames coiling around her arms like angry snakes. Her short, choppy hair was drenched in sweat and ash.
"The Zombie King is right there!" Murong Xue shouted, scowling. "Don't let that bastard get any closer!"
"Yuqi! You have to buy us more time!" a voice called out from behind.
Zhang Yuqi didn't need to turn to recognize that voice—it belonged to Xin, her closest comrade, the one who had stood beside her since the first outbreak. His voice, usually calm and collected, now trembled with tension. He stood a short distance away on the edge of a ruined overpass, both hands outstretched in the air, drawing on every ounce of his strength.
He was the only one in Base 01 with the ability to open a dimensional rift. A portal. A power he had spent years honing in secret, driven by guilt, vengeance, and the hope that maybe, just maybe, they could end this hell.
He called it the Black Hole—a swirling void of darkness that devoured anything in its path. Not even the undead could resist it.
But it came at a cost.
Zhang Yuqi's gaze flicked back at Xin for a second. His face was drenched in sweat, his knees buckling slightly as he poured his life force into the creation of the portal. The earth beneath him had started to ripple, distorting like heatwaves under a scorching sun.
That portal was their last shot—the only plan they had. The idea was simple on paper: suck the Zombie King into the Black Hole, cut off the hive mind, and cripple the undead army. But creating and controlling such a phenomenon required an overwhelming amount of energy—one slip in concentration, and it could devour them all instead.
Zhang Yuqi turned her focus back toward the battlefield. Her eyes locked onto the grotesque figure moving steadily through the chaos—the Zombie King. Twice the height of a man, and five times as wide, its swollen limbs dragged against the earth, tearing grooves into the ground. Its face, if one could still call it that, was a twisted mess of bone, rotted flesh, and burning red eyes.
A corrupt aura pulsed around its form like a heartbeat, sending waves of oppression that could drive ordinary men to madness. Wherever it walked, zombies grew more feral, their eyes glowing a brighter red.
Zhang Yuqi narrowed her eyes. "I've got this," she muttered to herself, more as a promise than a declaration.
Golden arcs of electricity flickered along her arms as she clenched her fists. Power coiled through her veins like liquid fire. The battlefield lit up in brief bursts of light as she stepped forward, then vanished into a blur—lightning incarnate.
With a furious war cry, she launched herself at the Zombie King, her body streaking through the air like a comet. The impact was seismic—her lightning-charged fist met the monster's clawed hand with a thunderous explosion. The shockwave flattened the surrounding rubble, sending nearby zombies flying like rag dolls.
From behind her, Xin gritted his teeth. "C'mon... hold him off just a little longer..."
The Black Hole continued to expand slowly behind him, its center pulling violently at everything nearby—dust, pebbles, broken bricks—all dragged toward the void. It shimmered with unnatural light, barely contained.
Meanwhile, on the outer perimeter of Base 01, chaos had erupted. Survivors, government-trained soldiers, and low-level Ability Users all fought with whatever they had—rifles, molotovs, scrap-metal blades. Makeshift barricades rattled under the weight of the undead pressing against them. For every ghoul brought down, two more took its place. And still, they did not falter. Not one of them backed down.
"Hold the line!" a commander barked, blood running down the side of his face. "Protect the portal at all costs!"
"Damn things just keep coming!" someone screamed, unloading a magazine into the swarm.
Murong Xue, her arms blazing with fire, slammed both palms onto the ground. A wave of flames erupted forward, incinerating dozens of the undead. She looked up, panting. "Zhang Yuqi better take that monster down fast—we're barely holding this side!"
Back on the front line, Yuqi ducked a massive swing of the Zombie King's arm, flipping back and releasing a lightning spear into its face. The creature shrieked, but barely staggered. Its regeneration was unnatural—wounds that would cripple any other were closing even as she struck them.
"You're not getting through me!" she shouted through gritted teeth, her voice raw with determination. Golden light enveloped her body again as she charged up a massive burst of electricity.
She thrust both hands forward. "Thunderbreak!"
A wave of blinding lightning surged from her, striking the Zombie King dead in the chest. The ground trembled beneath the sheer magnitude of her power, and yet... the monster endured. Smoke hissed off its rotting skin, but it roared back defiantly.
And then, it happened.
The earth trembled violently—not from her attack, but from something else.
The sky above darkened further, and the thunderclouds that had hung ominously all night began to churn.
Then—a crack.
A blinding scarlet lightning bolt split the heavens like divine judgment. It tore through the atmosphere, colliding violently with Zhang Yuqi's golden lightning.
"What—?!" she gasped, reeling back. The sheer force of the impact sent her skidding across the cracked pavement.
The energies twisted, warped, and folded into one another. Zhang Yuqi tried to regain control of her power, but the collision had destabilized everything. The air turned heavy, thick like molasses, vibrating with power she couldn't explain.
And then the pull came.
A sudden suction, like a vacuum tearing at the fabric of reality. The Black Hole, already unstable, reacted to the chaotic energy.
Zhang Yuqi's eyes widened in horror as she felt her feet lift off the ground. The Zombie King howled as it, too, was caught in the pull.
The Zombie King let out a roar of rage—deep and guttural—as the spatial energy around them began to collapse in on itself. The portal twisted and widened into a vortex of madness.
And before anyone could react—
Zhang Yuqi and the Zombie King were sucked into the spiraling void.
The last thing she saw before darkness swallowed her whole was the battlefield shrinking beneath her… the terrified face of Xin as he reached out in vain… the flaming silhouette of Murong Xue trying to run toward her… the glint of Qin Lanyue's rifle barrel reflecting the lightning above… the chaos… the noise…
And then, they were gone.
The Black Hole collapsed, as well as its exhausted user.