Apocalypse: Escape from Day One

Xie Ning awakens on the first day of the apocalypse with a raging fever, only to be betrayed by her best friend Ma Yu, who attempts to push her out of a dormitory window to feed the zombies outside. Ma Yu believes Xie Ning is mutating due to her high temperature, ignoring the possibility that the fever signals an ability awakening. Xie Ning, having lived through twenty years of the apocalypse in a previous life, retains her memories and combat experience. Instead of succumbing to the push, she overpowers Ma Yu, ignites her hair with a lighter from her spatial ability, and kicks her out the door. Ma Yu falls onto a horde of zombies, setting them ablaze, and jumps from the third floor to escape the fire. Xie Ning then confronts the remaining classmates, revealing her changed, ruthless demeanor, and leaves the campus to rescue her family.

Driving through the chaotic streets, Xie Ning heads to the Ruihua Residential Area to save her younger cousin, Song Kexin. Along the way, she encounters a group of survivors led by a calm, refined man and his baby-faced companion. These individuals recognize Xie Ning’s potential as an Ability User but allow her to pass. Xie Ning arrives at Song Kexin’s apartment just as her cousin is hiding in a wardrobe, terrified by the reanimated corpse of her boyfriend, A’Bin. Xie Ning kills the zombie with a long black blade gifted by the baby-faced man and rescues Song Kexin. She instructs her cousin to pack essentials and escape, emphasizing the harsh laws of survival in the new world.

As they flee, Xie Ning’s fever persists, indicating her ability awakening is incomplete. She drives recklessly, using a burning car to block a horde of zombies chasing them, demonstrating her tactical brilliance and willingness to sacrifice resources for survival. After escaping, she drives to the Aijia Supermarket where her mother, Song You’ai, works. Inside, she finds her mother held hostage by selfish colleagues who refuse to let her leave, fearing the zombies outside. When a zombie breaks loose inside the office, Xie Ning intervenes, killing the threat and the woman who tried to sacrifice her mother. She rescues Song You’ai, and together they loot supplies. Xie Ning discovers her spatial ability has mutated; her storage space has expanded from a tiny two-square-meter area to the living room of her family’s villa, allowing her to store large items like freezers and bulk food.

The family reunites with Song Kexin and continues their journey to the countryside, aiming for the Songjiage area where they believe they will be safer and eventually evacuated to a government Safe Zone. During the drive, their vehicle is T-boned by an SUV driven by a zombie. Xie Ning quickly extracts her family, kills the zombie driver, and loots his trunk for supplies. She then spots a modified RV at a gas station, which had crashed into a convenience store. After clearing the vehicle of zombies, including the driver who was bitten by his own mother, she adds it to their convoy. The group leaves behind a panicked couple trapped on top of their van, prioritizing their own safety over rescuing strangers. As they drive away, a military rescue team arrives at the gas station, eliminating the zombie horde and rescuing the abandoned couple, highlighting the contrast between Xie Ning’s ruthless pragmatism and the collapsing societal order.

Xie Ning reflects on her transformation, acknowledging that she has become a selfish individual capable of abandoning anything for the sake of her family’s survival. She teaches her mother and cousin basic survival skills, including how to kill zombies, while hiding the full extent of her spatial abilities. The story concludes with the family traveling in the RV, moving toward the countryside, as Xie Ning prepares to navigate the dangerous new world with her loved ones, armed with her expanded space and combat experience.