Chapter 1
Leo’s eyes, wide and pale, were fixed on me.
My heart grew heavier and heavier. All I could do was numbly raise the pistol.
To end his suffering quickly.
Only when Grandpa Arthur arrived could I cross the electric fence and reach my son.
The rope binding Leo had two distinct marks. I gripped it tightly, replaying the footage on the camera.
Originally, he was still far from the zombie horde.
But hearing the sobs from the other end of the phone, Julian immediately loosened the rope, letting it drop significantly, afraid that Serena would think his apology wasn’t sincere.
My heart churned with unbearable turmoil. He would hurt his own son for a woman who caused a death!
Grandpa Arthur coughed, sputtering with rage. He had someone call Julian while he continued to curse.
“He’s an animal!”
As Grandpa Arthur ranted on, Julian’s bodyguard delivered a box of tranquilizers. The expiration date was a year old.
That lit a fuse in him.
“This scoundrel! Is the Pei family short on medicine or money, that he’d use expired tranquilizers?!”
“Is that little tramp so important that she’s made him abandon his wife and son completely?!”
He coughed, choking on his anger, and seeing the pistol in my hand, he nearly exploded with rage.
“You’re just as foolish and cold-blooded! A good child, and you just had to kill him? Was there absolutely no way to save him?”
“You’re a mother!”
His own son didn’t want his wife and child, yet he called me cold-blooded?
I stared at Grandpa Arthur, a chilling emptiness in my eyes. If there was a bullet left, I would have put it through my own head, just to be with Leo.
Julian suddenly called, his voice furious the moment I answered.
“Ava, can you stop exaggerating everything? I just wanted Leo to film a video, and you act like you’re suffering? Grandpa Arthur is so old, why are you making him worry? You have no shame!”
“It was just for a video. You act like I was trying to kill our son. Besides, aren’t you some elite combatant? If Leo was in danger, you should have saved him! A few zombies are nothing for you, right?”
“Oh, I forgot. You’re a liar, a manipulative bitch who only steals others’ credit and plays the victim.”
“And didn’t I send the tranquilizers over? If Leo’s scared, give him a shot. Serena is too shaken up to be left alone. If you bother Grandpa Arthur again, I swear, I’ll make your life hell!”
The call was on speaker. Hearing his son’s utter lack of remorse, his insufferable arrogance, Grandpa Arthur slammed the tranquilizer box onto the ground.
The coffee powder spilled everywhere, mixed with some unidentifiable yellowish-green specks.
Grandpa Arthur was too furious to speak. The moment I smelled the coffee powder, my skin began to itch.
He sent a fake product, but beyond that, as a husband and a father, he didn’t even know I was allergic to coffee, and Leo couldn’t even be near the scent.
I laughed, tears streaming down my face.
My son was pulled up, wrapped in a suit jacket.
Grandpa Arthur saw the abnormal purple-black on his body and his swollen arm. He was speechless for a long time.
After a long silence, he knelt on the ground, slapping himself repeatedly.
“I was so foolish! How could I raise such a scoundrel who disowns his own wife and son?!”
“Now, all I can do is use this old face of mine to beg you. Just give Julian a chance to atone, and I, this old man, will give you my life!”
I threw the suit jacket to the ground and held the cold Leo tightly.
Ten years ago, he had knelt like this, just as pitifully, begging me to save Julian.
During the harshest times of the apocalypse, Grandpa Arthur had laid my entire family to rest, giving them a final resting place.
To repay that kindness, I had agreed.
How pitiful that I, disregarding my own life, expanded the Pei family’s territory, helping them gain a foothold in this apocalypse, only to receive this outcome.
He was old; I couldn’t bear his plea.
I knelt down with Leo, showing no mercy.
“Back then, the resting place for my family was given by you, Grandpa Arthur. But for ten years, what I’ve done for the Pei family is far more than just marrying and bearing a child.”
“Grandpa Arthur, my debt is repaid. The Pei family cannot stop me.”