Fan Ningyue had fallen asleep against the sofa.

She dreamed of many things.

Former companions, her clashes with An Muning, the cheers of humanity after the final victory.

The zombies dwindled, and humanity began to rebuild.

Then came betrayal.

Blood filled her dreams.

When Fan Ningyue woke up, she was still somewhat dazed. The intense pain coursing through her body reminded her that the dream had been a different kind of memory.

A thick smell of smoke drifted into her nose. She looked toward the window.

An Muning stood there smoking, the door left open.

To be honest, Fan Ningyue never understood why An Muning chose to live in an old residential block from the eighties or nineties instead of some deserted villa or luxury mansion.

This place wasn’t exactly safe.

Maybe there was a hidden basement or something here? Fan Ningyue frowned as she pondered.

“Awake?” An Muning turned his head just in time to see her wobbling around in a body wrapped almost completely like a rice dumpling, her eyes scanning the corners of the room as if searching for something.

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What are you looking for?”

“I was wondering why you chose a place like this…” Her voice was still hoarse. She paused, thinking about how to phrase it. “To hide away in.”

“I’m more used to living in places like this.” An Muning chuckled lightly. “Before the apocalypse, this was the kind of place I lived in.”

Fan Ningyue froze for a moment. “But they said…”

“I know. I know everything they said.” An Muning walked over to the coffee machine and poured in the beans. “They said I was morally twisted, that when the apocalypse broke out I was supposed to be sitting in prison waiting for my death sentence. That’s the version of the story you all heard, right?”

Fan Ningyue nodded. “Yeah.”

“The truth is, before the apocalypse, I was the kind of nobody those important people wouldn’t even glance at if I passed them on the street.” He laughed softly. “They spread those stories because it gave our opposing sides a convenient justification. It let them paint themselves as the righteous ones.”

“Think about it. If I had been some model citizen, some national hero who moved the whole country, then when you stood against me, you’d start wondering what I’d gone through to end up walking a different path from you.”

“But if I was a naturally evil madman with no morals…” He laughed. “Then none of you would feel any burden opposing me.”

“Though they weren’t entirely wrong. I am a bad person.”

“I just don’t understand…” Fan Ningyue murmured softly, her back facing him. “Why did you oppose the survivors? People could’ve worked together to survive the apocalypse.”

“Good question. Shame there’s no answer to it in this world. Even I don’t know.” An Muning carried his coffee over and sat across from her. “Know what’s even more unfortunate?”

“What?”

“The apocalypse lasted eight years. It’s been three years since it ended. Eleven years total, and this is the first time we’ve actually sat down peacefully to talk about each other’s pasts… Well, sorry, just my past.” He smiled.

“…Eight plus three is eleven.”

“Ah, eleven? Right.” An Muning shrugged and leaned back into the sofa.

Fan Ningyue’s gaze settled on him.

The man carefully savored his coffee, one arm resting lazily on the sofa armrest, legs crossed, sitting there with the ease of an emperor at peace.

He really had once been the emperor of the apocalypse.

Could someone like him truly have been an insignificant nobody before?

Or could eight years of apocalypse really change a person that much?

Fan Ningyue shifted slightly, feeling the wounds across her body again. Though An Muning had wrapped her into a human-sized rice dumpling, she could at least move around a little.

An Origin-Level esper possessed powerful regenerative abilities, but the wounds on her body had been inflicted by someone equally powerful. Recovery would still take time.

“What reason did they give?”

“What… reason?”

“Yeah.” An Muning nodded. “You were humanity’s great hero. They had to come up with a reason for it. You couldn’t exactly be hunted down for no reason at all.”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Mhm…” Fan Ningyue said blankly. “I was ambushed. I don’t know what reason they used.”

“And you ran all the way here?”

“Yeah. Hunted the entire way.”

So this was the miserable end of a former hero.

“See? I told you so.” An Muning set down his coffee cup and spread his hands.

“Maybe…” Fan Ningyue gave a bitter smile.

“Don’t look so dead inside.” An Muning waved dismissively. “If you’d really lost the will to live, you wouldn’t have come to me. This place is great—around here, there’s nothing but zombies. Zombies don’t play those political games.”

“Zombies…” Fan Ningyue turned toward him. “Without food, zombies should gradually wither away. So why are there still so many here?”

“They eat each other.”

“Cannibalism?”

“Mm. Exactly.” An Muning smiled. “The apocalypse is going to break out again.”

“Why?”

“The people at the top will never allow zombies to disappear completely. They need the support of ordinary civilians and lower-level espers.” An Muning smiled faintly. “Without a common enemy, class oppression would be exposed for everyone to see. And this superpowered society benefits them far more. The old harmonious society was too dull.”

“That’s why you don’t even know why you were ambushed. Just wait—they’ll come up with a suitable reason for you too…”

“If I had to guess…” An Muning waggled his eyebrows at Fan Ningyue, “your ‘crime’ is probably something like secretly raising zombies, intending to preserve your own status. And by the time they started hunting you down, you’d supposedly already released quite a few zombies.”

Fan Ningyue’s brows knitted tightly together.

“I know you didn’t do it. That’s just the charge they pinned on you—a fabricated accusation.” An Muning grinned. “And then what happens? Zombies start roaming around, human settlements become unsafe again. Who benefits from that? The strong.”

“Female concubines, male concubines, extravagance and debauchery…” He smirked. “That’s how the saying goes, right?”

Fan Ningyue shook her head, her breathing turning uneven. “The apocalypse only just ended. They should understand how hard it was to finally bring it to an end.”

“Everyone understands how hard it was. I understand too. But didn’t we still stand against each other for years?” As he spoke, An Muning picked up the remote nearby. “Why not just watch and see?”

The television flickered on, static dancing like snow before a colored image appeared.

A news anchor sat before the camera, expression grave.

“[We regret to report that, according to confirmation from the Survivor Alliance, former captain of the ‘Savior’ Squad and once hailed as one of humanity’s saviors, Fan Ningyue, rebelled at 23:35 last night. Investigations by the Survivor Alliance revealed that Fan Ningyue had secretly been raising zombies with unknown intentions. It has now been confirmed that Fan Ningyue confessed her crimes and was executed during the Alliance’s siege. However, the zombies she raised have already been released and are currently unaccounted for. Citizens are advised to inform one another, remain vigilant, and minimize unnecessary travel…]”

Buzz—

It was like a muffled thunderclap exploding beside her ears. Fan Ningyue’s vision blurred, her body swaying as she nearly collapsed onto the sofa.

After a long moment, she finally seemed to find her voice again.

“Why did they say ‘unknown intentions’?”

“Because people in power never state things too absolutely.” An Muning yawned lazily. “Leave it vague and let the public speculate. The rumors will grow more outrageous on their own. Eventually, maybe some imaginary former male lover you supposedly kept will jump out to ‘confirm’ it all.”

“I—!” Fan Ningyue’s face flushed bright red, made even more obvious against the white bandages wrapped around her body. “I never had anything like that…”

“Whether you did or didn’t isn’t for you to decide.” An Muning folded his hands behind his head. “So? See it clearly now?”