In a parallel world, in the city of A, during autumn, the sunshine was bright, and the air was fresh.
In the picturesque Fengfeng Park stood a towering yellow fruit tree, reaching up to nineteen meters. Perched on a branch of this tree sat a young lad, barely seventeen or eighteen years old. He possessed a handsome countenance, with features that seemed captivating and imparted a sense of intellectuality.
"So, did I manage to kill myself by taking a dump?" The young man furrowed his brow. Simultaneously, he gazed at the dozen or so zombies groaning below the tree, lost in contemplation.
This young man went by the name of Baiyin, aged seventeen, and on the surface, he masqueraded as a high school student. Yes, he was an orphan.
Baiyin had a younger stepsister named Heiyu, and both grew up in the same orphanage since childhood. At the age of ten, Baiyin was adopted by a wealthy family and lost contact with his stepsister thereafter.
Recently, Baiyin returned to the orphanage only to discover that shortly after his departure, his stepsister had been adopted by another affluent family. The kind-hearted orphanage director provided Baiyin with the family's address, which happened to be in the neighboring county. Baiyin was delighted and planned to visit them the next day.
That night, in celebration, he purchased a large quantity of frozen beef balls from the market to prepare a hot pot. Alone in his single-person apartment, he indulged in the feast. However, in the middle of the night, his stomach churned violently, prompting him to rush to the restroom. After a bout of relief, wiping himself clean, he stood up, intending to fasten his belt. Suddenly, a dizzy spell struck his mind. The next moment, he collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.
Upon regaining his senses, he found himself lying under a yellow fruit tree, his shirt stained with blood, and a bloodied knife clutched in his hand. Before his eyes, a group of groaning zombies rushed towards him. Startled, Baiyin scrambled to his feet and climbed up the tree. Thus, ensued the scene of him sitting on a branch, deep in thought.
A memory not belonging to him flashed in his mind.
In simple terms, he had crossed over to another world, inhabiting the body of his parallel self. This world was supposed to be no different from his original one. All the changes had occurred half a year ago when a zombie outbreak led to a massive loss of human life.
Baiyin was, relatively speaking, a lucky survivor. He managed to acquire a stash of supplies early on and had been holed up in a rented room, leading a solitary existence. The reason he ventured out this time was that his food supplies were running dangerously low, barely enough to last a week. However, halfway through, he was cornered by a horde of zombies and, in a moment of desperation, chose suicide. The isolation of half a year had already driven him to the brink of madness, and suicide had strangely become a form of release. He decisively slit his own throat and collapsed to the ground, gasping his last breath.
At that very moment, the Baiyin from the parallel world crossed over directly. In other words, he replaced his deceased self in the world of zombies. Baiyin, perched on the tree, felt his neck, finding only a pool of blood. Fortunately, the wound on his neck had vanished. He then glanced at his arm, and unsurprisingly, the torn skin from the zombie's grip had healed as well.
[Ding! Welcome to the parallel world]
[Ding! System (Walker Binding Successful!)]
[Task Released: Kill ten zombies to obtain the ability [Corpse Companion] (Corpse Companion: Be recognized as one of the zombies!)]
The icy mechanical voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
However, for Baiyin, who had already accepted his crossing, the appearance of the system did not surprise him too much. Crossing over with a system? A typical novel plot. But compared to these, Baiyin was more concerned about whether his parallel self in this world could find his stepsister. The reason his suicidal self didn't go searching was due to the lack of his stepsister's address.
But Baiyin was different; after all, he came with the address in hand. Baiyin surveyed his surroundings, not just at his feet, but also in the distance where sporadic zombies roamed. He reached for the axe hanging from his waist and jumped down from the tree. Then, without looking back, he ran towards the nearest tree with all his might.
After about half a minute, he glanced back, only to find that he had left the pursuing zombies far behind. Baiyin was fortunate because among those zombies, there were no exceptionally fast ones. Feeling somewhat lucky, he proceeded directly towards a lone elderly zombie.
"Splat!!!"
Its head exploded, a scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere. The old zombie twitched a few times before lying motionless on the ground. The first zombie was easily dealt with. What followed was increasing proficiency. Dodging and weaving left and right, he finally managed to handle ten solitary targets. After the last female zombie fell to the ground and didn't get up again, the system's voice echoed in his mind once more.
[Ding! Congratulations on obtaining the [Corpse Companion] title. From now on, zombies will regard you as one of their own!]
"The Corpse Companion has nothing to do with killing zombies!" Baiyin expressed his perplexity regarding the logic of this task. After congratulating him, the system remained silent. Baiyin attempted to converse with it, but it simply ignored him.
At the same time, the zombies that were originally chasing Baiyin stopped in their tracks. Soon after, they dispersed in all directions. It was as if the Baiyin they were chasing just moments ago had vanished into thin air.
"In a parallel world..." Baiyin glanced around and decided to return home first. With the ability of the Corpse Companion, he no longer needed to be as vigilant as before.
Half an hour later, he arrived back at his rented building.
The hallway of the building was filled with long-decayed remains, many of which were corpses trampled to death. This indicated that a large-scale riot had occurred here before.
Baiyin's room was on the third floor, and he unlocked the door with a key. The room was tidy, albeit a bit dim. Baiyin took a shower in the bathroom and changed into fresh clothes. His place had been without electricity for a long time, but fortunately, gas and water were still functioning normally.
However, he estimated that this stroke of luck wouldn't last much longer. After finishing his shower, Baiyin retrieved a cardboard box from under the table. Upon opening it, he found several loaves of bread, seven or eight packs of instant noodles, and a dozen bottles of mineral water.
These supplies would barely last a week at most.
Baiyin cooked two packs of instant noodles and, after finishing his meal, fetched a large hiking backpack. He packed all the food and water into the bag. Next, he pulled out the secret black box from under his bed. He placed the weapons inside the bottom compartment of the backpack's concealed layer. After tidying up a few more things,he lay down on the bed early.
He planned to set off the next day to search for his stepsister in the county where she resided. After all, in his world, that stepsister with no blood relation had become the only person he cared about. But it had been seven years since they last met. Would she even recognize him?
But regardless, he thought to himself, there's always a way forward. Having a goal to pursue was better than aimlessly drifting through each day, waiting for death.
With these thoughts in mind, Baiyin gradually drifted into slumber. In his dream, his stepsister, whose features were indistinct, was smiling and waving at him.