In a world that still believed in peace, Lin Xue moved like a shadow through cracks in reality.
She'd spent the last five days building up quietly—three storage units hidden in different districts, each stocked with supplies that would be worth more than gold in half a year.
She didn't speak to her neighbors, didn't reply to friends, didn't update her socials. Let them think she was gone.
[April 6th — Agricultural Supply Center]
"Buying more seeds again?" the clerk said, a little too loudly.
Lin Xue didn't answer. She pushed a cart stacked with heirloom vegetable seeds, nitrogen boosters, and LED grow lights toward the register.
"Are you starting a farm on the moon or something?" the girl at checkout joked.
The other customers laughed. Lin Xue didn't. She scanned her card, took her receipt, and left.
[April 7th — Back in the Spatial Realm]
Inside the pendant's hidden space, the world was different.
Spiritual mist hung low over rows of freshly sprouted crops. The tomatoes had bloomed overnight, pulsing with faint energy. The spinach had thickened, rich with spiritual qi.
Lin Xue stood barefoot on the soil, dressed in a plain training robe, her hair tied back.
She activated her technique.
— Lotus Flame Art: Circulation, 5th Layer.
Qi surged through her veins, refining itself into flame at her core. Sweat slid down her back. Her fingertips trembled.
A thin lotus-shaped flame flickered to life in her palm.
She gritted her teeth, forced it to stabilize, and aimed it at a stack of dried wood beside her. The flame landed silently—and the wood turned to ash in seconds.
"Still too unstable," she muttered. "But it'll do."
[Later That Night — Apartment Complex]
She sat quietly on her balcony, watching the city lights. Somewhere below, her neighbors were having a barbecue. Laughter echoed in the courtyard. Dogs barked. Someone played guitar.
They had no idea.
No one knew the red rain would fall. That their pets would turn. That their lovers, friends, children—would mutate.
She sipped warm tea in silence.
"The world always mocks the first to prepare," she said softly.
"Until it's too late."
The wind that night was oddly still. Lin Xue sat on the floor of her apartment, a candle lit beside her, the soft glow dancing over jade scrolls and notes spread before her. Her laptop was shut. Her phone powered off. She didn't need distractions.
"Red rain falls on October 4th."
"First mutation spotted late April."
"Virus carriers—already walking."
Her handwriting was clean, methodical. She documented everything. Not because she needed to remember—but because someday, someone else might.
She flipped to the cultivation section of an ancient scroll pulled from the pendant's library.
— Spiritual Sense Activation Method
She hadn't unlocked it yet. But soon. That technique would let her sense danger before it arrived. It was the next step. She would need it when the dead stopped staying dead.
For now, she focused on circulation. Her core burned with heat as she cycled her qi through her inner channels, over and over until she could hear the blood rushing in her ears.
Her flame was no longer unstable. It danced in her palm like it belonged there.
"Good," she murmured. "Then let's start live testing." She pulled a small slab of corrupted beast meat from the spatial realm—something she'd killed in her last life. She'd managed to store a few samples before death.
She dropped the meat into a small ceramic bowl and summoned the lotus flame.
With a flick of her fingers, the flame hit the surface—and the meat screamed. The sound was high, sharp, almost psychic.
"So it's already tainted… even now."
The corruption wasn't visible yet. But it was already in circulation. In meat. In air. In bloodlines. This was how it began.
[Next Morning — Apartment Elevator Lobby]
Lin Xue stepped out with a canvas tote full of emergency meds and shelf-stable milk. She ran into a neighbor.
Zhou Lili. University student. Bright smile. Kind, dead by June, in the previous life.
"Oh my god, Xue-jie," she laughed. "You've been off the grid lately! Don't tell me you're one of those preppers now?"
Lin Xue gave a small smile. "Something like that."
"You really believe all those crazy apocalypse rumors? The red sky, the monsters? That's just Internet stuff, right?"
Lin Xue paused. "Believe or not. It's coming either way."
Zhou Lili blinked. "Whoa… okay, cryptic queen."
She waved and left, earbuds in, phone out.
"You won't survive," Lin Xue whispered once the door closed.
"Unless you change now." But she wouldn't. Not yet. Most people wouldn't believe until they were bleeding.
[That Night — National News Clip, Briefly Aired, Quickly Pulled Offline]
"Local man hospitalized after being mauled by his pet husky in City District 4. The dog showed extreme aggression, bit through bone, and was shot by police on-site. Officials deny any link to animal disease…"
Lin Xue's eyes narrowed. "It's started."
By midnight, the city was quiet again. Too quiet.
Lin Xue stood by her window, overlooking the skyline. Her tea had gone cold in her hands, untouched. Somewhere, a car alarm blared and cut off. A dog barked, frantically, then… silence.
Her eyes narrowed. "It begins with one," she murmured. "Then it spreads fast."
In her last life, no one noticed when the first animal attacks began. The authorities called them "isolated incidents." Veterinarians blamed bad breeding or undiagnosed rabies. But it wasn't rabies.
It was the mutation waking up. A virus buried in the red rain, carried by air, absorbed through the skin. It sat dormant in animals first—before jumping to humans.
By the time people realized it wasn't natural, half the cities were gone.
Lin Xue opened her phone. Searched "District 4 dog attack."
[Post deleted. Violation of content rules.]
She wasn't surprised. The government would suppress it until it exploded in their faces. They did it last time. She remembered watching their staged broadcasts while streets burned behind them.
"I won't wait this time."
[Inside the Spatial Realm — 02:12 A.M.]
She returned to the hidden realm and opened her storage section. The inner warehouse now held:
140 crates of food, 28 types of medicine, Over 3,000 seeds, 12 spiritual herbs planted and growing, Two spirit chickens, newly acquired, alive and healthy
She moved methodically, rotating the crops and placing spirit talismans around the borders. She didn't understand all the formations yet, but the pendant guided her.
"This space is alive. A remnant of the Lin Clan."
She felt its presence more clearly now—a quiet will, not speaking, but aware. Watching her. Approving.
When she placed her palm on the jade altar in the center of the realm, warmth flowed into her veins.
"You accept me," she whispered. "Then help me grow faster."
A surge of qi pushed into her dantian. Her core blazed with golden fire. Her skin trembled. Her spirit broke through—
Qi Gathering, Late Stage. She opened her eyes. Stronger. Sharper. Clearer.
"Come, then," she said to the silence. "Come and burn."