In a small human settlement, humans were bustling in the night market. Loud haggling sounds can be heard. A small dark figure dashed into one of the dark alleyways completely hiding his presence from others.

Zou Yue carefully scurried into the abandoned alleyways.

At nights like this it was quite a risk to take these passageways, but he was not that bothered. He came across an alley cutting into three. Standing in the intersection, he keenly watched all directions. “Coast is all clear,”

He dashed into the left alley way as fast as he could. His legs moved so fast that they only left a vague white shadow. Laughing a little, Zou Yue happily held the small piece of bread in triumph. ‘I don’t have to worry about food for two days, he-he.’

.

All of a sudden, something caught his legs, and he tripped. His whole world was tilting. With the speed he was running this could cause substantial damage to his face or even cause death. He moved quickly and protected his face with his hands.

He fell down with a loud thud. Small gavel scarped through his wrist and his hands, leaving behind gruesome red gashes all over. “hisss….” he sat up and patted the small sand particles off of his bleeding wound. “What the hell did I trip on?” he glanced back to find a huge wire rope being hammered to either side of the wall.

“Shit,” he tried standing up, but his leg took the most damage from the fall.

“Oh ho, it’s our little rat. He is back people,” a small group of people climbed down from above the roofs, their clothes all torn up and their faces dirty; they were the absolute image of a homeless hooligans.

Zou Yue subtly glanced back and checked up on his shin. It was bleeding profusely because of the ragged edges of the metal rope they had used. With his leg in that stage, running was not an option. ‘It’s better to talk cordially with them,’ sighing he glanced up at their leader. “Guys, you didn’t have to do that. If you had asked I would have given all my food,” Zou Yue whispered.

“But it’s fun watching you fall, eh mighty Zou.” The taller man snickered. “Now what food did you have to make you smirk like that.” he squatted down and rummaged though Zou’s shirt pockets and his small duffle bag. “ah, looks like you hit the jackpot, it’s a loaf of bread!”

The other hooligans cheered loudly and pushed and pulled at the bread, tearing it to pieces.

Zou Yue silently watched this. His eyes went cold from the sight. After working hard for days he got this as a reward, but it was so easily stolen away by others. ‘Strength….. I need to become strong. Stronger than these annoying pests.’

His loose hand clenched tightly into a fist.

All of this was a vain wish of his.

This world was much crueller than that. Because the world they were familiar with had long ended, leaving behind a huge hoard of Zombies, mutated beasts and a small surviving group of humans.

Ten years ago the end of the world as we knew it came to an end unexpectedly. A meteor struck the earth, bringing out a strange virus from outer space. The virus not only killed almost half the population of humans, it also mutated them into Zombies monsters that crave flesh.

It was a complete blood bath. The streets were filled with screams and wails as the surviving humans struggled to escape the gasps of the Zombies.

After a month the remaining human population went into hiding. May it be bunkers, secret rooms. Anywhere they can find, they all had from them with any food they could stockpile.

It was the calm before the storm. Living in these safe spaces, the humans learned how to fight against the Zombies. A bullet or a strong blow to the brain did the job. Little by little human population fought back, gaining back their strength.

But another catastrophe hit. Another meteor hit earth on may 2020 brings about another deadly virus. This time the entire human population was infected, making burn a fever for three days. Some survived, but some succumbed to the fever.

Even Animals were not spared. Some died immediately from the virus, while the others mutated into powerful beasts. This tipped the fine balance between humans and animals.

From then on, both the Zombies and the mutated beasts started hunting the remaining humans.

The plus side of this new virus was that the surviving humans got strange abilities. Ice, fire, wind, water, earth, speed, and rarer ones like thunder, space and other abilities.

With these newly gained powers they were able to fight back the Zombies.

Thinking about all this, Zou Yue sighed loudly. He glanced at the dirty ground with his eyes hooded. He had gained the power of speed.

Back then it was a valued ability to be able to run away from Zombies easily. But later on, humans evolved and their abilities evolved as well, making them stronger and faster, making his speed ability obsolete.

A strong kick to his chin woke him up from his day dream.

“What are you dazing about, huh? Is that all the food you’ve got? I thought your client paid you well this time?” the burly man scowled at him.

Zou Yue calmly glanced up. “Information running does not bring too many benefits,” he mumbled softly.

“Hump, lies. Next time you better bring about more food, I have more mouths to feed now,” the man arrogantly said and walked out of the dark alleyway.

Zou Yue slowly stood up and hobbled over to his resting place. He pushed the huge bushed away and crawled through the small space inside a hidden spot.

There was a small mushroom shaped structure that is usually found in children’s playground with various holes in its sides. He crawled through one of these holes and tiredly leaned against the rugged plastic surface.

A small squeak greeted him.

“La Trexa, baba is back,” he whispered, and gently held the little rat in his palm. It was just a common grey rat that lives it the sewers, but this little rat was Zou Yue’s only friend. “I saved you some food.” he pulled out a small crumble of bread that he sneaked inside his sleeve.

The little rat happily squeaked and chewed on it loudly.

“Baby Trexa, baba is starving. I wish I had awoken a stronger ability.” he pushed the small plastic tarp away and peered out the huge hole in his mushroom house. The huge city walls stood mightily in the distance. He could even see small human figures walking on top if the wall. “Don’t want to go out too La Trexa?”

The little rat tilted its head, confusedly.

“Don’t overthink it, your little brain can’t handle so much information.” he hugged the little creature to his chest and tiredly closed his eyes.

It was just a year ago that he found La Trexa crawling through the mud. She was just a little pink blob then.

He kissed her little dirty head. “Good night, my little munchkin. Wish me luck that I could earn some food tomorrow,”