Beneath The Scars

The slap landed hard, and the impact left my palm tingling. In response, the eyelashes on the woman on the bed fluttered, then her eyes snapped open.

I jumped in shock. Wasn’t she supposed to be in a coma? How did she wake up the moment I slapped her?

Her eyes were blood-red. The instant our gazes met, my breathing stalled.

So this was an S-class ability user?

The floating comments exploded across my vision.

[Holy cr*p! The PC hit her! That’s the future zombie king, Ruth Smith!]

[It’s over, it’s over. Ruth has terrible morning rage when she first wakes up. The PC is dead.]

[Relax. Ruth’s memories are scrambled right now. She’s basically an idiot with a strong imprinting instinct.]

Her memory was scrambled?

Just as that thought crossed my mind, Ruth’s fingers twitched slightly. The metal equipment around the bed began to twist with a teeth-grinding screech. A terrifying presence closed in on me, and I knew she was about to kill.

At the last possible second, I lunged forward and wrapped my arms tightly around her waist, bursting into loud sobs.

“Wah! Honey, you’re finally awake! You scared me to death! Those b*st*rds abandoned you and ran away. I’m the only one who refused to give up on you! Even if we die, I’ll die here with you!”

The tension in the air froze for a moment.

Ruth stiffened in my arms. After a long pause, a cool and hesitant voice sounded above my head.

“Honey?”

I looked up at her with the most determined, affectionate expression I could muster.

“Yeah. I’m your husband. You got hurt saving me and fell into a coma. If you can’t remember, that’s okay. I’ll tell you everything, little by little.”

Gathering my courage, I hooked my finger around hers. My voice trembled slightly as I said, “There are zombies everywhere outside right now. Honey, you’ll protect me, right?”

Ruth stared at me for several seconds. Her brows knitted together as if she were desperately trying to search through the chaos in her mind for any trace of me.

In the suffocating silence, I felt like every bit of my act was being stripped bare under her gaze. Then, after a moment, the dreadful tension slowly faded away.

“Stop crying. You’re too loud.” She said coldly and bluntly, “I’ll kill them all.”

The comments went crazy again.

[The PC is a schemer! But I like what I’m seeing.]

[Ruth must think you’re lying to her, but she can’t find the evidence.]

[If Dan finds out the “dead weight” he abandoned got picked up by the PC, he’s going to burn up with rage.]

My gaze turned colder and colder.

Dan and Callie, that cheating pair, had been fooling around behind my back for a long time already. If he really did burn up with rage, good. He deserved it.

Suddenly, a thunderous crash shattered my thoughts. The shelter’s main gate collapsed, and a tide of zombies poured inside, roaring and screeching.

“Honey, this one’s on you.” I hid behind her and pointed at the incoming swarm.

Ruth raised her hand without a trace of emotion. As a deep, dull hum filled the air, the dozen zombies charging in front exploded instantly into clouds of blood mist. Flesh and blood splattered across the walls. The zombies behind them hadn’t even had time to react before a horrifying force crushed them flat into pulp.

This was the S-class ability—gravity manipulation. It was the ultimate wipe-out skill.

Watching the scene unfold, a trace of fanatic excitement flashed in my eyes. I had gambled right. In this apocalypse where all order had collapsed, Ruth was the strongest cheat code, the biggest powerhouse I could cling to. And Callie’s armored vehicle? What was that compared to this?