Chapter 4: The Prelude to Survival

The smell of breakfast still lingered in the air as Li Wei sat alone in his room. His brothers had left for their respective works, and his parents have gone out to visit friends, and so the house, now quieter than it had been just an hour ago, seemed almost surreal to him. He kept pinching himself, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Had he really just shared a meal with them? Had he really laughed with his brothers and felt his mother’s warmth again? He could hardly believe it. Everything he had experienced—the pain, the loss, the unrelenting sorrow—felt like a distant nightmare now, one he had woken from, but with the nagging uncertainty that it might return.

He sat down on his study chair and, for a moment, just stared at the empty desk. The weight of the situation was starting to hit him. He had been given a second chance—a chance to prepare, to protect, and to change the course of history. But how could he do that? How could he prevent the events that led to the end of times from unfolding again?

He reached for a piece of paper and began to write.

The first thing that came to his mind was the change in the weather. It had all started so subtly that no one had suspected anything was wrong. At first, it was written off as global warming, an issue that had been gaining attention for years. But then, as the days went by, the changes grew more severe. Heavy rains flooded entire cities, and hailstorms became a frequent occurrence. Cold weather swept in unexpectedly, followed by an intense tsunami that devastated coastal towns. Then came the earthquakes, floods, and droughts, the earth itself seemingly torn apart. But it was the final shift, the heatwave, that was the real warning.

The heat, relentless and oppressive, ushered in the apocalypse. But before it all began, there was something that had gone largely unnoticed—the meteorite showers. They were said to have occurred just before the weather started acting weird, bringing with them a mysterious force, an ability that had transformed humanity forever.

Li Wei stopped writing for a moment, his hand hovering over the paper as he stared at the words. The meteor showers were coming again...soon. He checked the calendar on his phone. The date was August 10th, 20XX, and there were only two months left until the fateful day. In this life, he had the advantage of knowing what was about to happen. But the question was: How could he prepare?

He leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. If the meteor shower was coming, then he had to act now. The abilities that would emerge from the meteorites wouldn’t manifest until the heatwave arrived. It was as if the heat itself triggered the powers to awaken, and when it did, the world would be changed forever. People would fall asleep, only to wake up in a world filled with horrors. zombies, creatures born from the remnants of the meteor energy and the heatwave.

He thought about his family, about how much he had failed them in his past life, about the pain he had felt when he couldn’t protect them. But this time—this time, things would be different. He would make sure of it.

The first thing on his list of preparations was simple: get his family ready. He would start by convincing them to exercise more. His eldest brother, of course, already worked out frequently, visiting the gym on weekends when he wasn’t working. His second brother, being an actor, also kept in good shape, always concerned about his appearance and stamina. As for his third brother, Li Wei wasn’t worried—his brother was in the military and had access to all kinds of training that Li Wei could never have dreamed of. But Li Wei and his parents, they were a different story. His mother and father had always been more sedentary, dismissing exercise as something they didn’t need at their age. Li Wei knew he had to change that. He couldn’t let them be weak when the apocalypse came. He needed them strong—physically and mentally.

As he made his list, Li Wei’s mind drifted to the second major challenge: how to gather the supplies they would need for survival. Food, water, medicine, medical supplies, clothing, weapons ... everything would be necessary. The apocalypse would be unpredictable, and they had to be ready. But where would the money come from? His family was wealthy, but he couldn’t simply ask them for hundreds of billions to prepare for a crisis that hadn’t even started yet. It was hard to imagine how he could explain the need for such a vast amount of resources without sounding completely insane.

Lost in thought, Li Wei stared blankly at his list. It felt impossible. How could he ask for that much money? How could he justify spending so much on things that might never be needed? he is pretty sure he will be sent to the hospital for a brain scan just so they know he is not going mad.Just the thought of it was overwhelming. He had to be clever...he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.

But then something caught his eye... a glint of light from the bedside table. He stood up from his chair and walked over to investigate. There, resting on the table, was a jade pendant—an object that shouldn’t have been there. It was small and simple, a delicate piece of jade with intricate carvings. But what caught his attention wasn’t its beauty; it was the fact that it had no business being here.

The jade pendant had been with him in his past life... a relic of a memory he had almost forgotten. It had been a gift from an old lady. Li Wei remembered the encounter clearly. He had been returning from a hunting trip with his comrades, exhausted and ready to rest, when he had seen the old woman on the entrance of the base. She was frail and hunched, begging for food and water. Her eyes, though tired, held a certain pleading sorrow that struck a chord deep within him.

It reminded him of his own family...his mother, his siblings, all of them taken from him in the chaos of the apocalypse. Perhaps that was why he felt compelled to help. Without hesitation, he offered her the water and food he had left from the hunt, not caring about the small provisions that could have been saved for himself. He had never forgotten the look of gratitude in her eyes when she accepted them.

The old lady, in turn, had wanted to repay his kindness. She insisted, though he tried to refuse, that he take something in return. She handed him the jade pendant, saying that it was a gift for his kindness, a token that would bring him protection and luck. At the time, Li Wei hadn’t thought much of it. It was just a simple piece of jade, nothing special. But he kept it with him, tucked safely in his pocket, as a reminder of that moment of compassion.

Now, sitting here in his room, staring at the pendant on his bedside table, Li Wei couldn’t understand how it had gotten there. He had died in his past life. The pendant, along with everything else, should have perished with him when he was ambushed by the pack of zombified wolves. There was no way it could have survived, let alone end up here, in this new life.

How could this be possible? Was it some kind of sign?

Li Wei’s fingers traced the jade’s smooth surface, turning it over in his hand as he tried to make sense of it. The pendant had no place in his current life, and yet here it was.

As his mind raced with questions and possibilities, one thing became clear: This pendant wasn’t just some trinket. It had somehow found its way back to him, and in a way, it felt like it was calling him to remember the lessons of his past life—lessons he couldn’t afford to ignore this time. The jade could be more than just a token of the old woman’s kindness. It could be a key to his survival, a symbol of the protection and strength he needed to gather before the impending apocalypse.

Li Wei looked at the pendant one last time before slipping it into his pocket. It felt oddly reassuring, almost like an anchor to the world he had left behind—and to the world he was about to face.

With the pendant secured, he returned to his desk and continued his preparations. There was no more time to waste. The meteorite shower was coming soon, and he had a lot to accomplish. He couldn’t let his family face what was coming unprepared. Not this time. He would make sure of it.

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