Chapter 3: Memories

Memory is like a series of old films, vivid and familiar, playing over and over in Mo Yu’s mind. She wondered, what was it that had landed her here? Looking back, she found her former self so foolish.

In her previous life, just before her rebirth, eighteen-year-old Mo Yu had fallen for a man named Lin Mo. But her cousin, Mo Qing, had also set her heart on him. Wasn’t it just like those melodramatic love triangles that fill television dramas? Mo Yu laughed at herself.

For reasons she never understood, after a certain dinner party, Lin Mo began treating her with harsh words, while showing every kindness to her cousin. Mo Yu and her cousin had never gotten along, and with Lin Mo between them, their rivalry became open and bitter. She would never have guessed that, at a banquet just days before everything changed, Lin Mo would suddenly push her down the stairs from the second floor.

Her parents were furious, but Lin Mo claimed it had been an accident. He left without a backward glance, pulling Mo Qing along, not even offering an apology. After lying unconscious for two days, Mo Yu, heedless of her parents’ worries or their advice, even lashing out at her brother Chi Chi, continued her blind pursuit of Lin Mo.

But what did that gain her? Not Lin Mo’s undivided affection, but rather his equivocal attitude: professing love to Mo Yu while taking Mo Qing out to enjoy himself.

Then, when the apocalypse descended, Lin Mo left for Beijing with his family, abandoning both Mo Yu and Mo Qing. What a scoundrel he turned out to be!

Mo Yu’s grandfather was a general, but favored his eldest son, who had also become a soldier. Because Mo Yu’s father went into business instead, the old man’s affection for his youngest son was always faint, and so, by extension, he doted on Mo Qing, treating Mo Yu and her little brother with coldness.

Yet, though her father never wore a uniform, he was a successful businessman who provided for his daughter like a princess. Mo Yu grew up spoiled and willful. When her parents, disregarding her wishes, had a little brother, she resented them deeply, and from the day Chi Chi was born, she never showed him a kind face—her manner toward her parents was just as icy.

But Chi Chi, for reasons unknown, adored his big sister from the moment he was born. His first word was “Sister,” and as he grew into a bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked child, he gazed at her with hope and said, “Sister, hold me.”

To Mo Yu, though, he had simply stolen the love that should have been hers. With her romance in ruins, she never showed Chi Chi any affection.

But in that past life, when the world ended and zombies ran rampant, it was Chi Chi who, at only six years old, used his small body to save Mo Yu’s life during an attack. When she came to her senses, clutching the lifeless bodies of her brother and parents, there were no more words of comfort, no more sweet smiles from Chi Chi.

In the end, to keep them from becoming zombies, Mo Yu herself delivered the final blow to her loved ones. The bond that had once been closest became, in the end, a cruel torment.

From that day, Mo Yu awakened her psychic abilities. She went from confusion to becoming a formidable woman. But it was also why, when she was eventually sold to the research institute, she did not resist. She wanted to die. She missed her adorable brother, her loving parents.

Now, given a second chance to see them again, she would gladly die a thousand times more. No! She would not! She wanted to live and grow strong, to protect her family.

The gentle evening breeze stirred the wind chimes hanging on the hospital balcony, dispelling Mo Yu’s sorrow and nightmares.

But who could say when disaster would strike again…