"Cece!!"
Landon Hughes's scream nearly tore his throat raw, his voice trembling on the verge of collapse.
He struggled like a man possessed, leaning halfway over the city wall. The veins on his arms bulged as he clawed desperately at the air, as if he could somehow catch the falling figure.
But a second later, she smashed hard into the horde of zombies.
The putrid sea of corpses swallowed her in an instant.
"No!"
Landon Hughes's eyes were bloodshot with fury, his voice a broken mess. "She fell! Let me go!"
He violently kicked Gordon Grant away, who was holding him back, and lunged forward, about to jump right after her.
Joel Joyce and Gordon Grant clamped down hard on his shoulders, their knuckles turning white from the force.
"Landon! Snap the fuck out of it!" Joel snarled, his voice thick with suppressed rage. "Look down there! She's already gone!"
Below the wall, the zombie horde was a seething black tide. Rotting arms reached high, tearing and grasping.
A piece of flesh was shoved into one zombie's mouth, the sound of its chewing wet and grating.
Landon Hughes trembled all over, broken sobs catching in his throat. "Cece... Cece..."
Joel Joyce's eyes went cold. He lifted his hand and brought it down in a sharp chop against the back of Landon's neck.
Landon Hughes's body stiffened, then went limp.
"Take him back," Joel said coldly, then turned to Alice Sullivan, his gaze as sharp as a knife.
"Did you push Josie Quinn?"
Alice Sullivan's face was deathly pale as she shook her head frantically. "No! She jumped herself! She's trying to frame me!"
Before Joel could speak, Gordon advanced on her, his eyes blazing. "She'd use her own life to frame you?"
"Gordon! You promised... you'd never doubt me!"
Alice's voice trembled. "And now? Josie Quinn jumps off a wall, and every single one of you blames me!"
Gordon and the other men fell silent, their eyes heavy with roiling emotions.
"Whether we believe you doesn't matter," Joel's voice was like ice. "What matters is whether Landon believes you. Figure out what you're going to tell him when he wakes up."
After speaking, he glanced at the churning horde below. He braced his hand against the wall, his nails digging deep, leaving visible scratches in the stone.
His gaze was fixed on the surging tide of corpses below.
'Josie Quinn, is she really gone just like that?'
「In the center of the zombie horde.」
Josie Quinn was curled into a ball, the sticky sounds of chewing filling her ears.
The moment she jumped from the wall, she had already turned into a rock.
At the same time, she threw out a dead rat she had prepared in advance.
The zombies, instantly drawn by the scent of blood, swarmed the dead rat, tearing and chewing...
The foul, rotten stench was so thick it felt tangible.
She couldn't hold it back, gagging several times.
Taking advantage of the chaos, she began to roll, slowly inching her way out of the zombie encirclement.
Her superpower was [Shapeshifting], and it was because of this power that she dared to plan this fake death.
In her last life, this ability had been utterly useless, only allowing her to awkwardly transform into a few fixed, inanimate objects.
But in this life, after that one night with Cole, not only did her superpower awaken early, but the energy within her was also far more abundant than she had ever expected.
She even found herself secretly looking forward to it. 'If my superpower can level up, what will it become in the future?'
Rolling from the city wall to the grassy field, and then all the way into the woods, consumed a minuscule amount of her power.
Only when she was sure she was safe did she return to her human form and take off running.
She had to get away from the survivor camp.
Because if she stayed, she would either have to continue playing nice with Landon Hughes, enduring his touch and pretending she didn't know how he'd coldly watched her die a horrible death in her past life...
...or she would have to drop the act completely, only to become a plaything for the other superpower users.
So, she chose the third option: escape.
As dusk fell, Josie Quinn ran frantically, panting for breath, a searing pain in her lungs.
"GURGLE... GURGLE..."
Suddenly, the bushes ahead rustled, and two zombies lunged out!
Their ashen-gray faces were smeared with dried blood, and they charged straight for her, letting out hoarse growls.
Josie's pupils constricted. In an instant, she transformed into a rock, falling to the ground with a THUD.
CRUNCH!
The zombie's sharp teeth bit down hard on empty air. It looked around in confusion, seemingly unable to understand why the meal that was right in front of it had vanished.
Josie held her breath, remaining perfectly still.
Only after the two zombies had found nothing and slowly shambled away did she change back into her human form and resume her desperate sprint.
Along the way, she turned into a rock whenever she encountered danger, toughing it out until nightfall.
But her power was nearly depleted. She had to find a place to hide, and fast.
Just before night fell completely, she finally ducked into an abandoned building, curling up in a corner to catch her breath.
'I can't transform again.'
'If I do, my power will be completely drained. The recovery process is incredibly slow, which would add a lot of risk to the journey ahead.'
She took out a cracker she had with her, broke it in half, and swallowed it slowly, chewing carefully.
Her stomach still ached with emptiness, but she didn't dare eat more. The food in her pack was running low.
After taking a sip of water to barely suppress her hunger, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes to rest.
However, the silence of the village was suddenly broken by the low growl of a zombie.
Josie's eyes snapped open. She got up quietly and hid by the window, peering outside.
One look was all it took to see Joel Joyce walking slowly from the village entrance with two other superpower users.
'Why is it him? The guy just won't give up...'
She cursed under her breath, gritting her teeth as she used the last of her energy to transform into a grayish-brown rock, pressing herself flat against the edge of the windowsill.
As the night deepened, the darkness... it was Joel's home turf.
His superpower, [Shadow Shuttle], allowed him to move freely through shadows. Almost no prey could escape his sight in the darkness.
Josie held her breath. She knew very well that if Joel found her, he would undoubtedly lock her up and keep her as his personal prize.
'If I fall into his hands, I'd rather just end it myself with a knife.'
Below, Joel soon vanished on the spot. Josie knew he was using his superpower to search the village for any trace of her.
She hugged herself tightly, praying her power would hold out.
Joel used his power to shuttle through the shadows, turning the entire village upside down in his search.
But to his disappointment, he couldn't find a single trace related to Josie Quinn.
After Josie had fallen from the wall, he had personally driven the zombie horde away.
But he had found no limbs, no scraps of clothing, not even any sign of a struggle.
It was too clean.
So clean... it was wrong.
"Boss Joel, we've searched everywhere. No one's here," one of his men reported in a low voice.
Joel's gaze slowly swept the area. 'Could Josie have awakened a superpower too? Is that how she pulled off this elaborate deception?'
'If not, then what a waste for such a perfect face and body to be gone just like that!'
"Pull out," he finally ordered in a cold voice.
The three of them quickly turned and left.
But Josie remained motionless where she was.
A long while later, a dark figure emerged silently from the shadows in the corner of the building.
Joel had returned. His gaze, sharp as a knife, scanned the abandoned building one last time to confirm it was empty before he left in disappointment.
Time ticked by, and her power was about to run out...
When Josie changed back to her human form, her back was soaked with cold sweat.
She had to hunt zombies and get Crystal Cores as soon as possible.
Otherwise, she would be completely defenseless when the next crisis hit.
However, just as she was about to move, a cacophony of shouts erupted in the distance.
A group of survivors, chased by zombies, were fleeing frantically in her direction...