A second chance at life.

Liam Bennett remembered the major events of his past life clearly.

In March 2036, a sudden drought had spread across the world. It lasted for more than five months. By late August, weather stations across Australia were predicting heavy rain after the long dry spell.

The forecast was correct, but the rain brought disaster to humanity.

On 27 August 2036, the drought ended with a downpour of toxic rain. That was what survivors later called it after the apocalypse.

Anyone exposed to the rain became infected with an unknown virus and eventually died.

By 1 September, people who had died from the virus began coming back to life as zombies.

Driven by an uncontrollable hunger for human flesh, the zombies attacked anyone they encountered. People who were bitten or scratched by them also became infected and turned into zombies.

And so, the apocalypse began.

The disaster spread across the entire world.

However, under the extreme pressure of the apocalypse, some humans began to awaken special superpowers.

Unfortunately, the zombies weren't humanity's only problem. The world was also struck by one natural disaster after another.

Freezing winters, unbearable heatwaves, violent storms, earthquakes and toxic floods took turns destroying the already devastated land.

Survivors struggled to stay alive and rebuild their lives.

More than two years after the apocalypse began, the research institute at Sydney Base finally made a breakthrough in developing a vaccine against the zombie virus.

After experts from different bases gathered at Sydney Base for discussions, they announced that the vaccine could be ready within a year.

Even people who had already been infected could still be saved, provided they hadn't completely lost their sanity.

Following this announcement, Sydney Base began recruiting skilled survivors from all over the country. Once the vaccine was completed, they planned to purify the environment and reclaim the contaminated land.

People with power, money and useful abilities gradually began moving towards Sydney Base, especially those living in smaller settlements that were often the first to be abandoned.

Liam's family had done the same in his previous life.

He had survived more than two years of the apocalypse, spending most of that time locked in the basement of Brisbane Base.

Whether the news was good or bad, he had learned everything from other people.

That was how he had lived until his family abandoned him to die.

“Wuu...”

Tears suddenly filled Liam's eyes.

He lowered his head, buried his face in the doona and began to sob. His quiet crying soon turned into loud, ragged weeping.

All the pain, resentment, fear, helplessness and anger he had buried inside for years came pouring out.

His small rental room filled with the sound of his desperate cries as memories of his previous life flooded his mind.

It had been the summer holidays. He was about to begin his final year at university, but he had spent almost the entire break caring for his seriously ill mum.

After she died, Liam eventually recovered from his own illness and went to Melbourne's southern suburbs to find his father.

During his mum's illness, his father had lent him twenty thousand Australian dollars and told him he could repay the money whenever he could afford it.

With nowhere else to go, Liam temporarily moved into his father's house, planning to stay there until the new university semester began.

Then the apocalypse arrived.

Although his parents had lived in the same city, they had divorced when he was less than a year old.

Liam had stayed with his mum, who had raised him alone ever since.

His mum was strong and independent. She had never even asked his father to pay child support.

His father had occasionally contacted him after he started high school, but Liam had never involved himself in their old disagreements. He understood that adults had their own problems.

Still, their relationship had always felt more like that of strangers than family.

His father had remarried soon after the divorce. Although he later became successful in business, he also started a new family and had twins, Chloe and Ethan Bennett, who were only two years younger than Liam.

When the apocalypse struck, that was the house where Liam's nightmare began.

In his previous life, he developed a sudden high fever the day after the toxic rain fell.

After three days of fever, the zombies began appearing.

That was also when Liam awakened his superpower.

Soon, emergency broadcasts and satellite reports began announcing that people around the world were developing supernatural abilities.

The moment Liam discovered his own power, he told his family.

Unfortunately, compared with combat abilities that could kill zombies or protect survivors, his purification ability seemed almost useless.

At the time, nobody understood its true value.

It wasn't until later, when his family was travelling with a rescue team towards a safe base, that everything changed.

They were ambushed by a zombie horde along the way, and Ethan was scratched.

Desperate to save his half brother, Liam tried using his purification ability on the wound.

He hadn't expected much, but something miraculous happened.

Although the wound didn't heal, the spread of the zombie virus slowed down.

From that moment onwards, Liam became the only person who could keep Ethan alive.

With help from Ethan's girlfriend, Sophie Bennett, the family managed to enter Brisbane Base's central district without going through the usual health screenings.

To protect Ethan, they concealed the fact that he had awakened a superpower.

Sophie even used her family's connections to arrange a private medical team for him. The doctors secretly studied his condition and tried to develop medication that could help him recover.

At first, Liam had willingly cooperated.

After all, Ethan was his half brother. They shared the same father, and Liam had never wanted him to die.

But by the time he realised something was wrong, it was already too late.

His father and stepmother remained silent while Sophie's family encouraged the experiments.

Before long, Liam had become Ethan's personal test subject.

He was locked in the basement and forced to undergo one experiment after another.

Blood tests.

Drug trials.

Injections.

Tissue samples.

The suffering seemed endless.

Eventually, the researchers succeeded in transferring a Superpower Core from one person to another. Around the same time, Sydney Base announced its breakthrough in developing a vaccine against the zombie virus.

Liam's family no longer needed him.

They secretly removed his Superpower Core and transferred it to Ethan.

After everything he had done for them, they threw him away like rubbish.

“...”

After crying until he had nothing left, Liam finally began to calm down.

He got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth.

When he looked up and saw his reflection in the mirror, he froze.

The young man staring back at him was twenty one years old.

Although he looked tired and had lost some weight after his illness and his mum's death, his skin was still healthy. His naturally smiling, almond shaped eyes were bright and full of life.

He was 183 centimetres tall, with a gentle, bookish appearance that made him look approachable.

He wasn't the sort of man who would leave everyone speechless with his looks, but he was tall, well built and charming.

He had the kind of face that made older people feel comfortable around him and children warm to him almost immediately.

Ever since his teenage years, he had rarely lacked attention from others.

Perhaps that was why Liam had never been interested in people who openly pursued him.

Instead, he preferred chasing those who were difficult to win over.

Jack Sullivan had been one such person.

Jack was two years older than Liam. They had met during an interschool sports competition when Liam was in high school.

Back then, Liam had been young, confident and a little arrogant. When he learned that Jack was famous for being distant and completely unaffected by other people's charms, Liam immediately became interested in him.

Winning Jack over had become a challenge.

Later, Liam enrolled at the same university as Jack in Melbourne.

They officially started dating shortly before Liam began his first year.

By then, Jack was already in his third year. He had moved out of student accommodation and rented an apartment between their two campuses.

However, once Liam finally won his heart, Jack's cold and untouchable image quickly disappeared.

The reserved, disciplined young man became clingy, possessive and almost controlling.

No smoking.

No drinking.

He had to be home by ten at night.

If anything happened at university, Jack expected him to give advance notice.

Whenever Liam went out on weekends, he had to check in regularly.

Bars and nightclubs were completely off limits.

Sometimes, Jack was even stricter than Liam's own mum.

Still, aside from those overbearing rules, Jack treated him incredibly well.

He was attentive, affectionate and willing to spoil Liam whenever he could.

Unfortunately, their relationship had not lasted long before trouble arrived.

Liam's mum was diagnosed with stomach cancer.

He had been preparing to tell Jack about her condition when Jack suddenly dropped a bombshell of his own.

He was taking leave from university to enlist in the Australian military.

Liam swallowed the words he had been about to say.

He didn't tell Jack about his mum's illness. Instead, he waited until Jack made his first phone call from military training.

During that call, Liam abruptly announced that their relationship was over.

Jack refused to accept the breakup. He was furious and kept arguing with Liam over the phone.

But Liam had already made up his mind.

He changed his phone number and disappeared from Jack's life.

With no way to contact him, Jack was left without an explanation.

Their first love ended without a proper goodbye.

As his mum's condition worsened, Liam hired a carer to help look after her while he rushed between casual jobs to keep their household running.

Between university, work and his daily calls to his mum, he barely had time to think about anything else.

He only heard news about Jack through other people.

After completing his military service, Jack returned to university to finish his degree. At the same time, he started a private security company with several well connected former military colleagues.

The business grew rapidly.

Before long, Jack had become wealthy and influential, leaving many of his former classmates far behind.

After their breakup, Liam and Jack never saw each other again.

Even when his mum died, Liam's first instinct had been to contact Jack.

He wanted to tell him what had happened.

He wanted to see him again.

But in the end, he had swallowed his feelings and done nothing.

I never thought our next meeting would be our final goodbye.

In his previous life, Liam had died at twenty three.

Jack had been twenty five and had appeared to be doing well, even in the middle of the apocalypse.

Now, Liam was twenty one again.

He was about to begin his final year at university, worn out by years of caring for his sick mum and struggling with the debts she had left behind.

He was nothing like the bold, carefree teenager he had once been.

Meanwhile, Jack was twenty three and had already become one of the university's most successful former students, often praised in its alumni network.

Splash!

Liam splashed cold water over his face.

The memories finally stopped.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to put aside the sadness of his previous life.

Fate had given him a second chance.

He wasn't going to waste it.

He had paid for this opportunity with his life, and he would make sure it counted.

His mum was gone, and there was nothing he could do to bring her back.

But the world was about to end anyway.

There was no point wasting time worrying about what might happen.

He would find Jack.

Whatever happened after that, he would give their relationship another chance.

After washing up, Liam went into the kitchen and prepared a simple breakfast of egg noodles.

The familiar taste brought him a small amount of happiness.

For a moment, he almost forgot about the apocalypse.

Then he remembered his mum.

He would never get another chance to see her, hear her voice or tell her how much he loved her.

The thought hurt more than he could explain.

Still, he couldn't change the past.

After finishing breakfast and getting his emotions under control, Liam picked up his phone and dialled Jack's number.

Although he had ended their relationship on his own two years earlier, and had changed both his number and his phone since then, he had never forgotten Jack's contact details.

Besides, ambitious people rarely changed their phone numbers without a good reason. Their contacts were important for work and future business opportunities.

Liam decided to take a chance.

Perhaps Jack was still using the same number.

The phone rang three times before someone answered.

A familiar yet strangely distant voice came through the speaker.

“Hello, who's this?”

Liam's heart began to race.

“Hi. Is this Jack Sullivan?”

He instinctively lowered his voice, trying to hide his excitement and nervousness.

The person on the other end fell silent for a moment, as though trying to work out who was calling.

Then he replied.

“Yes, this is Jack. Who's speaking?”

“It's me... Liam Bennett.”

Liam tried to sound calm and casual, but his trembling voice betrayed him.

His grip tightened around the phone as he waited for Jack's response.