“As always, this’ll be a slow-burn pace, folks~”

…

Today marks the third full year since humanity’s victory. At present, ninety-five percent of the regions once occupied by zombies have been restored as human residential zones. And now, let’s turn to our reporter on the scene.

The smiling face of a reporter appeared on the television.

“We are currently in a newly reclaimed residential zone in the northern region. As you can see, sterilization procedures and door-to-door inspections are underway.”

She turned and held the microphone toward a soldier clad in silver-gray armor behind her.

“Hello, may I ask how the sterilization efforts are progressing so far?”

The soldier cleared his throat and lowered his head toward the mic.

“Ever since An Muning disappeared, the zombies have completely lost the ability to resist. At present, ninety-five percent of humanity’s habitable zones have been reclaimed…”

The TV screen went black as the remote was casually tossed into the corner of the sofa.

An Muning turned to look outside the window.

Rain poured endlessly from the sky, blurring everything beyond the glass into a hazy smear.

This place… was the edge of the world.

“Hah…”
A cigarette hanging from his lips, he rose from the couch.
“It’s already been three years?”

He pushed open the front door, and the rainstorm rushed at him with the wind.

Below him wandered zombies, withered like dead trees.

Rainwater mixed dried blood with mud, and the air carried a strangely fresh scent of wet earth and blood.

“What a view.” He chuckled softly, then muttered to himself,
“If only there were a beautiful zombie girl around…”

“Your taste is still awful… cough cough…”

The voice came suddenly from beside him—familiar.

An Muning raised a brow in surprise and turned, pulling the door shut behind him.

A woman sat against the wall.

She leaned there weakly, blood dark beneath the night.

Her long black hair, soaked with blood, looked like strips of dark satin. Her clothes were torn to rags, revealing pale skin covered in horrifying wounds. Blood pooled across the floor like a black mirror.

An Muning stared at the blood on the ground.

So that was where the smell had come from.

Those few words seemed to have exhausted the last of the woman’s strength. One hand pressed against her abdomen, her dark, weakened eyes fixed on him like an abandoned stray dog.

“Heh… long time no see.”
An Muning suddenly laughed.
“I figured something like this would happen eventually… though I didn’t expect to see it at my own doorstep. I thought I’d end up watching the ‘great hero of humanity’ get exposed as a traitor on live TV instead.”

The woman said nothing more.

An Muning looked at her in silence, momentarily dazed, the faint ember of his cigarette flickering between his fingers.

Only when the burning tip pricked his skin did he snap back to himself. He stepped forward and dragged the barely conscious Fan Ningyue inside.

…

Fan Ningyue’s clothes had already stuck to her skin with dried blood. It took An Muning quite a while to cut away her upper garments.

Blood and wounds tangled together, shards of broken blades still embedded in the flesh.

Looks like she’d been ambushed…

Then again, unless they ganged up on her, there was no way the people from the Esper Association could defeat her one-on-one.

At a time like this, there was no room to worry about propriety.

Not that there was much propriety to speak of anyway.

She wasn’t exactly a beautiful zombie girl.

It was An Muning’s first time treating someone else’s injuries, and it took him a full hour before he finally wrapped the woman up like a rice dumpling.

Yeah. A rice dumpling.

What else could he do? He’d never suffered injuries this severe himself.

After bandaging her up, he sat on the sofa opposite her and quietly watched the woman before him.

Back during the final battle, he’d already warned her:

When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbits die, the hunting dogs are cooked.

But back then, Fan Ningyue had still clung to unrealistic faith in her so-called companions.

…

It wasn’t until three in the morning that Fan Ningyue finally woke from unconsciousness.

“Ah…”
A dry, hoarse sound escaped her throat. The pain of thirst made her frown.

“You’re awake?”

Hearing the voice, she lifted her eyes toward the man sitting opposite her with folded arms.

“What happened?” An Muning asked.

She lowered her gaze and said nothing, as though she hadn’t heard the question.

“I remember warning you during the final battle,” An Muning said with a raised brow and a faint smile. “‘Once the birds are gone, the bow gets hidden…’ Your ability ranking was far too high compared to theirs. Sooner or later, they were bound to fear you. Once the zombies disappeared, human conflict would inevitably come to the surface.”

He leaned back slightly.

“Looks like that prediction came true after all, huh?”

“…Thank you.”
Fan Ningyue lowered her head, thanking him for taking her in.

“By the way,” An Muning asked, “how did you even find me? This place isn’t easy to locate. Besides, didn’t humanity officially declare me dead?”

“I knew you weren’t dead… During one of our negotiations before, you said that if the goal was ever achieved… cough cough… you’d come here.”

“Did I?” An Muning tilted his head. “Then why come looking for me?”

“I…”
Fan Ningyue hesitated softly.
“I had nowhere else to go. Probably ninety-five percent of the human territories are searching for me right now… There’s nowhere left willing to shelter me.”

“I… I had nowhere else to go,” Fan Ningyue murmured. “Probably ninety-five percent of the human territories are searching for me right now… There’s nowhere willing to take me in.”

“What do you call this?” An Muning rested his chin on one hand.
“Betrayed by your comrades and then defecting to your nemesis? Comrade, I’ve already entered retirement mode.”

Fan Ningyue said nothing.

Back then, the conflict between both sides had been fierce beyond compare. An Muning had been regarded as humanity’s mortal enemy. Even after his disappearance, those people had still hated him so deeply they practically wanted to eat his flesh and sleep on his skin.

At the time, she could never have imagined that one day she would be betrayed by the very people she’d protected… and end up standing at her former archenemy’s doorstep asking for shelter.

Thankfully, the relationship between the two of them had never deteriorated to the point where they’d try to kill each other on sight.

More than anything, they’d simply stood on opposing sides.

The woman sat silently on the sofa, head lowered, an unconscious aura of brokenness and despair surrounding her.

“Why look so miserable? You’re not dead.”
An Muning propped his cheek against his hand.
“Didn’t plenty of people betray me back then too?”

“…Mm.”
Fan Ningyue glanced at him, her voice hoarse.
“The people who betrayed you all ended up dead.”

“As they should.”
An Muning smiled indifferently.
“I told you before—our positions were different. If you’d learned from me, you could’ve become humanity’s hero too, and avoided ending up like this. Humanity has always needed rulers, not leaders.”

An Muning fell silent again. Looking at the woman across from him, he let out a helpless sigh and stood up.

“Get some rest already.”

Fan Ningyue remained quiet, though it was obvious she had no intention of sleeping.

“What? Afraid I’ll make a move while you’re asleep?”

The woman still said nothing, but that was probably exactly what she meant.

An Muning thought back on his old self…

Yeah, to be fair, he really hadn’t been the honorable type.

Sneak attacks while people slept, firing guns during peace negotiations to seize power… for the sake of victory, he’d done plenty of things like that.

“Ahem… This isn’t wartime anymore. There’s no reason for me to kill you.”
An Muning spread his hands.
“Besides, you can’t kill me in your current state anyway.”

Fan Ningyue looked at him, distrust still lingering in her eyes.

And honestly, her caution made sense.

Back then, An Muning had been notoriously unpredictable. One second he’d be smiling and shaking your hand in friendly conversation, and the next he’d shoot you dead without warning.

In the morning, he could be discussing resource cooperation with a survivor faction—

and by nighttime, that faction’s entire base would already be swallowed by flames.

“Forget it, I’m done talking.”
An Muning yawned.
“If you don’t want to sleep, then don’t.”

Clang—

A crisp metallic sound rang out.

Both of them turned their heads at the same time.

A gleaming dagger lay on the floor.

Fan Ningyue: …

An Muning: …

“Uh… that’s just a habit, you know? Self-defense.”
An Muning coughed awkwardly.
“There’s no way I could’ve known beforehand that you’d show up and started preparing in advance, right?”

Fan Ningyue closed her eyes tiredly, as though she no longer had the strength to care, nor any intention of guarding herself anymore.

Right now, she was meat on the chopping block.

Even if An Muning truly wanted to kill her, she had no ability to resist.

So she simply resigned herself to fate—

after all, she had nowhere left to belong.