Bai Li stood still by the window for a brief moment, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the edge of the curtain as she looked outside. Even though she had prepared herself mentally for this day again and again, the moment it truly arrived still carried a strange unreal feeling that no amount of prior knowledge could completely erase. Down below, the scene unfolding in the apartment complex was already beginning to lose its normal shape. What had been an ordinary afternoon only moments ago was now breaking apart in front of her eyes in the most abrupt way possible. A man near the pathway suddenly threw himself at another person with such violent force that both fell hard to the ground. A woman nearby screamed and stumbled backward, dropping the grocery bag in her hand, oranges rolling across the pavement while another figure, one that had clearly begun moving in a way no normal person should, rushed toward the sound.

For a moment Bai Li was genuinely startled, not because she did not know this would happen, but because seeing it with her own eyes felt completely different from imagining it. The strange jerking movements, the sudden bursts of aggression, the confusion spreading among ordinary people who still had no idea what was happening, all of it made the entire scene feel disturbingly real in an instant. Her first reaction was almost disbelief, as though some part of her still wanted to question whether her eyes were truly seeing the beginning of the apocalypse or whether this was some terrible misunderstanding. But then the cold reminder inside her mind arrived almost immediately, steady and unmistakable, leaving no room for doubt.

The system’s voice rang clearly in her head.

"Be careful, host. Also, please kill as many zombies and monsters as possible to obtain points and crystal cores. The more crystal cores you earn, the more you can upgrade your soul weapons. Points received from the system can also be used to improve your overall physique even further, strengthen your mental power, and later enhance your awakened superpowers as well. Best wishes to you, host."

Bai Li nodded almost unconsciously, though her eyes remained fixed outside. Then another thought struck her and her brows tightened slightly.

If every zombie had a crystal core inside its head, collecting them one by one would become troublesome very quickly. In small numbers it was manageable, but once large groups appeared, digging through skulls while surrounded by dozens or hundreds of zombies would be almost impossible.

Before she could even finish the thought, the system responded immediately, clearly reading her concern.

"And host does not need to worry about collecting crystal cores manually. That is precisely why I am here. Any zombie or monster properly killed by host will be automatically counted by the system. Crystal cores will be extracted and stored directly without delay. Points will also be allocated according to battle performance, kill efficiency, affinity growth, and influence on the female protagonist."

Bai Li listened carefully, her attention not leaving the scene outside even while the system continued speaking inside her head. The screams below had not fully stopped yet. More voices were rising now, mixed with panic, disbelief, and the sharp sound of something falling over near the main pathway of the complex. But even with all that happening outside, her thoughts were quickly pulled toward what the system had just said, especially the final line that sounded far too specific to ignore.

After a short pause, she finally asked the question directly.

"What exactly do you mean by affinity and effect with the female protagonist?"

The system answered immediately, sounding much more serious than before, almost as if the playful tone from earlier had been deliberately put aside.

"It is exactly as host heard. Points are extremely precious. Even a single point carries value beyond ordinary understanding. Strictly speaking, they are not simple points at all but concentrated soul energy, or in terms easier for host to understand, spiritual essence. Every point obtained can transform your body at an atomic level. That means true internal change, not superficial improvement. Strength, endurance, reaction speed, cellular stability, mental resistance, spiritual perception, all of it can evolve through points."

The voice paused only briefly before continuing.

"If accumulated to a sufficiently high level, these points can push a living being beyond ordinary limitations entirely. In extreme theory, enough points could even place host on a path approaching godhood."

Even Bai Li, who had already accepted many impossible things in the last few days, felt her expression tighten slightly hearing that. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The system continued in a slower tone.

"That is why the gods cannot distribute them casually. They are allocating them only according to performance tied to the singular task that matters most. This world has already reached its final correction point. For the gods, this is their last chance. For you, it is also your last chance. And for the female protagonist, this is her final path."

Its tone lowered even further.

"If she collapses again this time, if she follows the same destructive route as before, then the damage done to this plane of existence will no longer remain repairable. Certain chains have already weakened across repeated cycles. One final collapse may permanently affect the world itself."

Bai Li stayed silent, letting that sink in.

The system went on.

"Because points are so rare, every point matters. They can refine your physical state until even the strongest beings in this world may no longer compare to you, provided host survives long enough and performs well enough to obtain them. Superpowers can also be upgraded through points. A low level ability may become something terrifying if nurtured correctly. But the path will not be easy. Host should prepare mentally."

Bai Li kept listening, but after nearly a full minute of thinking, her mind returned to the earlier part that still remained vague.

"So then what exactly is this affinity and effect on the female protagonist?"

This time the system gave a lighter reply, though still clear.

"It means exactly what the words suggest. Host must gradually increase affinity with the female protagonist. Become her trusted person, her ally, her friend, or perhaps something deeper if naturally possible. More importantly, host must affect her thoughts and future decisions in a way that prevents her from walking toward complete destruction."

Then it added carefully,

"All of this must happen naturally. Host cannot force outcomes, cannot create obvious suspicion, and cannot behave in ways that expose unnatural intent. If she notices manipulation, the result may become worse."

A brief pause followed before the system added dryly,

"Though to be fair, forcing her is not realistically possible anyway."

Bai Li quietly absorbed everything while already beginning to organize plans in her mind. Outside, the world had begun collapsing. Inside, a completely different kind of task had just become clearer.

Bai Li stood by the window for a while longer, but her eyes were no longer truly focused on the chaos below. The screams, the sudden running figures, the first panicked collapse of order inside the apartment complex were all still happening in front of her, yet her thoughts had already shifted far ahead, toward something much more complicated than simply surviving the first day.

The female protagonist.

That was the center of everything.

No matter how many zombies she killed, no matter how many supplies she gathered, no matter how strong her weapons became, all of it would only remain secondary if she failed at that one task the gods had forced onto her.

She needed to come into proper contact with that woman.

And not just meet her casually, not just cross paths once or twice like now, but truly enter her life in a way that mattered.

According to the original plot, that would not happen immediately.

In the book, the original Bai Li had no special fate at the beginning. She was simply one among countless ordinary survivors thrown into chaos when the world collapsed. She survived the early stage not because she was powerful but because she was cautious, practical, and luckier than most. She had awakened only a very low grade ability later, nothing impressive enough to stand out in the beginning, and for several months she remained just another struggling survivor moving from one dangerous place to another while society completely fell apart.

It was only after enduring those first brutal months that she finally reached Beijing.

At that stage, Beijing had already become the largest military stronghold left in the country and, according to the novel, also the final major organized government controlled base before even that structure eventually began breaking apart under internal and external pressure. The military still maintained visible order there at first. Armed divisions still operated. Superpower users had begun gathering. Survivors from different regions kept arriving in waves, bringing supplies, information, desperation, and conflict.

In the original book, everything before reaching Beijing was only considered the first arc.

The true expansion of the story began there.

Because that was where the female protagonist truly started gathering her people.

That was where her team began forming.

One by one, powerful individuals, strange talents, survivors with unusual abilities, people who would later become known across the apocalyptic world, all gradually entered her side. Some came because of admiration, some because they owed her their lives, some because they had nowhere else to stand, and some simply because no other leader in that collapsing world carried the same terrifying sense of certainty she did.

It was there that her influence truly began to show.

The military gave her authority that no civilian should logically receive.

Not because of politics.

Because they had no choice.

Her strength had already reached a level that ordinary command structures could not easily restrain, and more importantly, she possessed something much rarer in that world than raw power.

Absolute control.

Calmness.

Judgment.

And a frightening natural authority over superpower users who normally obeyed no one.

In the book, she was later officially granted a Major General rank, something that shocked many people at the time because she was still so young, but nobody who had seen her in action truly questioned it for long.

Bai Li remembered that very clearly.

Because that was also exactly when the original Bai Li first came into real contact with her.

Not before.

Not in the first days.

Not in some dramatic early encounter.

It happened during a mission.

And tragically, that same mission became the first and last truly meaningful intersection between the original Bai Li and the female protagonist.

Because that mission was also where Bai Li died.

Bai Li closed her eyes briefly as the details returned clearly from memory.

At that point in the story, the military base had already begun organizing active elimination missions against high level zombies that posed serious threats near surrounding zones. One particular zombie had been discovered moving alone near a strategic region close enough to become dangerous if ignored. It was not yet at the level of later horrors, but even then, high level evolved zombies were difficult enough that ordinary squads could not handle them.

So the military requested her.

Naturally.

She led the operation.

A military team was assigned alongside her, and among that team was the original Bai Li.

That should have been a standard mission.

Difficult, but manageable.

At least on the surface.

But later the truth came out.

It had all been arranged deliberately.

That so called isolated high level zombie had never been the true target.

It was bait.

A carefully designed trap created by one of the men who had long been haunting the female protagonist throughout the story.

At that time he had already begun secretly moving pieces against her.

What made the trap terrifying was not the zombie itself but the mutated plant core he possessed.

A rare mutated plant core with a special property.

Extreme attraction.

Any zombie within range would be drawn toward it almost irrationally, especially evolved zombies who instinctively craved such rare energy sources for growth.

.

.

.

To be continued.