The Absolute Favorite in the Apocalyptic Rebirth

What if the story continued like this:

Seven years into the apocalypse, after China mobilized the entire nation to eliminate the first Zombie King, a new one emerged every year. However, humanity's cultivation speed and strength had essentially reached parity with the zombies. Under these circumstances, with rapid technological advancements, China, previously isolated due to magnetic field disruptions, finally reconnected with the outside world.

The situation in other countries wasn't good!

If the media were as pervasive as before the apocalypse, several former world powers would surely be clamoring: "We're all inhabitants of the same blue planet! How can you be so heartless, so cruel as to stand by and watch? China, why are you being so smug?"

"Ahahaha, America, you've finally met your match! The little Japanese archipelago has sunk, the Koreans can no longer claim the universe belongs to them, and what are you Americans still trying to pull?" Lin Bao slapped the radio, abruptly silencing it.

Hearing the noise, the man on the living room sofa looked up. He saw her standing barefoot on the coffee table. His gaze lingered on her exposed, shapely calves, inexplicably unable to look away.

"What are you looking at?"

Hearing her harsh voice, he looked up blankly and suddenly asked, "Sister, I… I think I have a headache…"

Lin Bao immediately became anxious. She cupped his head in her hands, examining it from all angles. "Why would you have a headache? What happened?" she muttered.

Tan Mo rested his head in the crook of her neck, refusing to speak. He didn't understand why, but whenever he was near her, he felt a mixture of sadness and heartache. Yet, when her gaze fell upon him, he was filled with boundless joy.

Back then, when he awoke from the long darkness, the first thing he saw was her. She looked at him with an uncomfortable expression that made him uneasy. Especially when she tried to back away, he involuntarily called out, "Sister," which stopped her in her tracks, making her look at him in surprise.

Lin Bao didn't suspect anything, wondering why he had been having headaches lately. She worried if it was a lingering effect from his time confined in the research institute.

To this day, she still didn't understand how Tan Mo ended up in that research institute, or how he became a test subject. But after the modifications, his abilities and physique were formidable, making him well-suited for survival in this apocalyptic world. However, if the price was his intelligence, it seemed too cruel.

Nevertheless, this somewhat foolish Tan Mo was the most acceptable version to her. If it were the arrogant Young Master Tan from before the apocalypse, she wouldn't have given him a second glance, let alone share a bed with him every night.

Seeing him complain about a headache but unable to explain anything further, Lin Bao, though worried, had no choice but to let him go back to his room to rest. Tan Mo refused. Seeing her about to leave, he clung to her tightly, unwilling to let her go.

So, Lin Bao had to go out with a large "dog" in tow.

She was going to the Ability User Hall to take on a mission. Not long after leaving, she saw Lou Ling taking her son to the market.

"Lingling, Dingding!" Lin Bao waved happily.

Tan Mo also greeted them. "Sister Ling, Dingding, are you going to play?"

Lou Ling handed her son to Tan Mo and smiled at Lin Bao. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to take on a mission. Staying in the base any longer will make me go stir-crazy," Lin Bao replied, then added with a worried tone, "Tan Mo has been complaining about headaches recently. The checkups haven't revealed anything, and his physical condition is unique. I don't want to take him to the research institute for those lunatics to examine, in case he attacks someone again…"

Lou Ling was surprised. She instinctively looked over and saw Tan Mo carrying the little boy on his shoulders to a barbecue stall. The little boy, despite his young age, loved meat and was calling out in a childish voice what he wanted to eat. Tan Mo patiently responded with "Mm-hm."

Apart from the initial period when he was difficult to control and hostile towards all humans, Tan Mo had restrained himself a lot under Lin Bao's guidance. Now, although he was usually taciturn and spoke with a certain simplemindedness, he seemed quite normal, almost making her believe he was a regular man.

"Besides the pain, are there any other symptoms?" Lou Ling asked.

"No."

Hearing this, Lou Ling couldn't figure out the reason. The research institute had the most sophisticated equipment and could examine him, but Tan Mo likely wouldn't like that place.

As they were talking, Tan Mo, under the little boy's coaxing, had already ordered a pile of food. The barbecue stall owner was sweating profusely as he worked, while the greedy little boy, still smiling brightly, continued to point at this and that.

Lou Ling rolled up her sleeves and smacked the little boy's bottom. "Don't push your luck! Can you even finish all that?" He even dared to order the honest man around, what a little rascal!

"…Daddy can help Dingding eat," the little boy said, pouting.

Lou Ling smacked his bottom again. Only three years old and already so greedy, what would he be like in the future? And eating so much barbecue, what if he got diarrhea?

In the end, under the little boy's aggrieved gaze, Lou Ling only allowed him to eat a few skewers of meat. The rest were grilled vegetables. The little guy wrinkled his face miserably and said in a childish voice, choked with tears, "Dingding wants Daddy, not Mommy…"

"Fine, then go play with your Daddy. Mommy and Auntie will leave the base for a mission. Play by yourself," Lou Ling said coldly.

"…"

"Waaah, Mommy is bullying Dingding…"

Watching the mother and son walk further and further away, Lin Bao and Tan Mo withdrew their gazes. After finishing their barbecue and paying with crystal cores, they continued towards the Ability User Hall.

After clearing the zombies in the small town, Lin Bao collected the crystal cores. Her gaze fell on the two men and women across from her, feeling disgusted. The Japanese islands had sunk, yet these Japanese people were still living so comfortably in other countries. How annoying.

Seeming to sense her annoyance, Tan Mo clasped his hands in front of him, staring at the two. His handsome face took on a fierce and ruthless expression, making the two tremble. They had just seen him raise his hand, and a zombie was instantly sliced in half. He held a very sharp weapon in his hand.

"Tan Mo, let's go." Lin Bao picked up her backpack and said, turning her head. Seeing him still staring at the two Japanese people, she walked over and took his hand, leading him away.

After leaving the town, they continued to the next one.

At night, Lin Bao suddenly felt a pang of anxiety. She abruptly opened her eyes and swung her hand, stopping just short of hitting the man's shoulder above her.

"What are you doing, not sleeping in the middle of the night?" Her voice was still drowsy. "Is your head hurting again?" He seemed to have headaches that kept him awake late at night recently.

Seeing him just staring at her without speaking, Lin Bao yawned, sat up, and then pushed him down onto the bed beside her. Before, Tan Mo would sleep curled up in a corner like a wild animal. Later, after they started living together, he learned to lie in bed, but only if it was next to her. Over time, she had also grown accustomed to having someone beside her. In this world, traveling with a companion outside the base was much safer than being alone, so she wasn't being sentimental.

After he lay down, he suddenly reached out and hugged her, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

Lin Bao shifted, facing him. His breath brushed against the skin of her neck, making her feel strange. But after ten years of companionship, as partners, as family, this person had become an indispensable part of her life, so she didn't think much of it.

"Sister…"

"Hmm?"

"Lin Bao!"

"…"

She was startled and instinctively wanted to kick him away. He reacted faster, holding her tightly in his arms, his entwined limbs suppressing all her resistance.

When she was forcefully pressed onto the bed, Lin Bao's mind was still in a daze. Looking at the bright eyes so close to her, her mind went blank.

This wasn't Tan Mo… It was that annoying Young Master Tan!

This sobering realization left her feeling a sense of loss, but also a clear understanding that the time for parting had come.

The next day, Tan Mo seemed to have reverted to his intellectually deficient state. Lin Bao silently watched him for a long time, her lips moving, unsure of what to say.

In the following days, the intellectually deficient Tan Mo still complained of headaches. As the frequency of his headaches increased, he seemed to be gradually returning to normal. Lin Bao had initially been worried about his headaches, but when she realized that these headaches were restoring his lost intelligence, turning him back into that annoying Young Master Tan, she no longer needed to worry.

After two months, they completed their mission, clearing the zombies in their assigned area, and returned to the base to report.

Both of them were very quiet when they returned. They silently went to the Ability User Hall, collected their mission rewards, and then silently returned to their shared apartment, unlike usual, when they would always visit Lou Ling and her family after returning from a mission.

Early the next morning, before sunrise, the sky was still gray, but the base gates were already open. A few early-rising ability users could be seen heading out on missions.

Lin Bao quietly changed her clothes and picked up her packed backpack. She planned to leave the base, maybe returning after a while, maybe after she had recovered and completely forgotten the ten years they had spent together, so she could face the recovered Tan Mo calmly.

The door creaked open, and a figure stood at the entrance, leaning against the doorframe, looking at her expressionlessly.

The morning light fell on his face, half of it shrouded in shadow. The ambiguous light made him appear half lonely, half cruel, but when he saw the backpack in her hand, a terrifying aura emanated from him.

"You…"

Before she could finish, he grabbed her hand, pulled her back into the room, slammed the door shut, and pushed her to the floor. His tall, powerful body pressed down on her.

"You're leaving?" he asked in a furious tone, his aura terrifying, as if he was suppressing immense rage.

She lay on the floor, pinned beneath him. Hearing his question, she couldn't help but turn her face away, muttering, "You're back to normal now, you don't need me to look after you… Let's just… like before the apocalypse, you're you, I'm me… If you like living here, I'll leave it to you. I'll go on another mission…"

"Shut up!" He fiercely interrupted her, forcefully gripping her face and turning it back to make her look at him. He sneered, "You think it's that easy to make me spit out what I've already swallowed?"

Swallowed… Lin Bao looked at him in confusion. When she noticed the pressure against her abdomen, her face changed drastically. She looked at him in disbelief. This man… could actually be aroused by a woman he hated…

"Yes, I've watched over you for ten years, and now you want to run? It's not that easy."

"…Weren't you intellectually deficient?" Seeing the former elite nobleman turned into a fool, she couldn't deny that she had been truly happy then.

Tan Mo didn't want to argue with her about his ten years of intellectual deficiency. He lifted her up, threw her onto the bed, and pounced like a wild beast, tearing at her clothes.

Lin Bao struggled at first. He was completely unguarded, and she could easily kill or injure him and escape. But… her strength gradually weakened, and she instead wrapped her arms around his neck, accepting his savage, biting kisses and fierce possession.

It was as if they were both trying to vent. Although it was their first time, she was in so much pain that she bit him hard, drawing blood from his shoulder. He just silently embraced her, accepting all her temper and whims.

But in the end, it was purely an intimate embrace.

He said he had watched over her for ten years, but hadn't she also spent ten years getting used to his presence?

What if Tan Mo was also reborn a month before the apocalypse:

Tan Mo looked around, taking a long time to match the room before him with the one in his memory from the Tan family villa.

This was his room, his room in the Tan family home. The room was decorated primarily in gray, the only color coming from a photograph on the bedside table. The photo was bathed in sunlight, showing a young girl with a baby face in a plaid dress standing under a tree, smiling stiffly, her eyes filled with a coldness that even the sunlight couldn't mask.

He stared blankly at the photo, as if remembering the warm body in his arms gradually turning cold, becoming as cold as his own monstrously modified body, almost breaking down.

"Sister…" he choked out, finding his throat terribly dry.

When he realized he had become human again, he jumped out of bed, rushed out of the house, booked a flight to City C, and headed straight for the airport.

On the crowded campus, the handsome, silent man walked through the crowd. His exceptionally good looks and unique aura earned him many admiring glances. Many girls, even after passing him, looked back longingly, excitedly whispering to their companions about the handsome and elegant man they had just seen.

Returning after seven years in the apocalypse, the ruthlessness and decisiveness of killing were deeply ingrained in his bones. He carried an aura of bloodshed, out of place in this peaceful society, yet strangely attractive.

It was lunchtime, and students were pouring out of the various university buildings.

Among them, two girls walked with textbooks in their arms, discussing the problems from the previous class, oblivious to the commotion ahead. As they approached, they noticed a clear space in the crowd, and, engrossed in their discussion, they inadvertently walked into it.

The cause of all this was a handsome man.

As one of the baby-faced girls looked at the man who had suddenly appeared in surprise, the initially dazed man suddenly unleashed all his potential, appearing before her in an instant and pulling her tightly into his arms.

He embraced her as if he had the whole world in his arms.

He sincerely thanked God for allowing him to embrace this warm body, radiating with life, once again.

Author's Note:

This extra chapter is at your request. It was killing me to keep it in…

Alright, this story probably ends here. See you all in the next interstellar story~~

[End]

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