It Is Said That I Have Been Crushed By Dimensionality Reduction (Quick Travel) - Chapter 25

A scream tore through the still air.

The end of the world had arrived.

No one knew exactly where the virus began, only that once bitten, people lost all sense of self and turned into relentless, pain-immune monsters driven only by the hunger for human flesh.

To kill a zombie, one had to destroy its brain.

But the virus evolved faster than anyone anticipated, and humanity’s defenses crumbled. Still, through bl00d and sacrifice, a base was eventually established in a remote area, offering the first fragile foothold of safety.

Many civilians were left stranded, desperate for rescue.

Amid the chaos, fear, and starvation, society fractured. Arguments erupted, theft and violence became commonplace. Trust became a luxury no one could afford.

Some of the infected didn’t turn. Instead, they awakened strange abilities and were dubbed “superpowers.” These people quickly became central figures—saviors or tyrants, depending on who held power and how they chose to wield it.

As the third month of the apocalypse began, cities that once bustled with life lay broken and still, their streets filled with overturned vehicles and shattered storefronts.

In Linhe City—once proud of its cultural heritage—zombies drifted through the ruins like leaves in the wind.

And then, in the shadow of an apartment block, a young zombie lifted his head.

His eyes were dull gray, hollow. His thin frame twitched with unnatural stiffness as he tilted his head and made a strange clicking sound.

He looked at his own hand and frowned inwardly.

What… happened to my body?

A voice echoed inside his mind.

【Host, you’ve become a zombie. I’ll now upload the world’s information and your tasks.】

Bai Yuan, the former human now turned undead, tried to speak. His jaw worked, but all that came out was a low, eerie groan. His tongue felt foreign, like it no longer belonged to him.

…Transmit it, he thought silently.

His name, before everything fell apart, was Lu Yuan.

His mother, Liu Wan, had grown up an orphan after her parents passed when she was eight. Raised in a welfare center, she later found work in a small company and often ate lunch at a nearby restaurant.

The owner, Lu Tianyu, fell for her at first sight. They slowly grew close, eventually marrying. Their son—Lu Yuan—was born into a loving family, cared for by both parents and grandparents.

He lived a blessed life, never knowing real hardship.

Then the world ended.

The neighbors who had always been warm and kind turned cold overnight. When the virus hit, they demanded food from the Lu family’s restaurant, leveraging their past friendship.

The Lus, kind-hearted by nature, believed help was temporary. But after sharing their supplies once, they were pressured to keep giving.

When they stopped, their former friends turned vicious.

An elderly woman, forced outside by her own family, was injured by a zombie. Instead of blaming her children, she blamed the Lus. She screamed outside their door, smashing windows and walls, attracting a swarm of the undead.

Zombies overwhelmed the area, pounding against the Lu family’s iron shutters. The family knew it wouldn’t hold forever.

Lu Tianyu and his father devised a plan—lure the zombies away to give the others a chance to survive.

It worked.

But just as the family finished cleaning up, the old woman’s relatives—watching from upstairs—began shouting intentionally, drawing even more zombies their way.

Lu Tianyu’s father, already bitten, took his rage and grief and ran straight into the traitors’ building, howling curses as he smashed windows and doors, drawing the horde.

As he was torn apart, he spat one last bitter sentence:
“If our family can’t live, then neither will yours.”

Lu Tianyu tried to fight, but his father’s dying plea forced him to turn and run.

He had a wife. A child. A mother.

They needed him alive.

But fate wasn’t done.

By the time he returned, a mutated zombie had appeared. Faster and smarter. Lu Yuan, just a teenager, reacted first, pushing the others out of harm’s way and running to draw it off.

The creature followed.

The family screamed in terror.

“Take me!” they cried. “Leave our child alone!”

They chased after him, desperate, but their worn bodies couldn’t keep up.

They waited through the night, tormented by grief. By morning, hope had nearly died.

They didn’t know that their son—bitten and broken—had still fought to survive. He tried to become something more. A mutant. Something strong.

But he failed.

When he died, a group of so-called heroes—superpowered scavengers—found the family’s shop, looted everything, and tossed his grieving parents into the zombie horde.

The neighbors, now at the mercy of those same superpowers, quickly turned on each other. They fought, betrayed, and eventually perished in the same streets they once ruled.

From death, Lu Yuan rose.

But not as he once was.

He was now Bai Yuan.

A zombie with awareness. A mind. And only one goal.

Protect his family.

Looking at his gray, decaying skin, Bai Yuan felt a mix of disgust and urgency. His tongue still wouldn’t move properly, but his thoughts were clear.

He needed energy—fast.

As he tapped into the strange, virus-infused atmosphere around him, he noticed something change. His joints loosened. His mind sharpened. A glowing white crystal core began to form inside him.

Was this… an evolution?

The system confirmed.

【White usually signifies mental powers. Try focusing.】

When he did, the zombies around him—aimless moments ago—suddenly dropped to their knees.

They felt his power.

He tested further, realizing that these low-level undead responded to basic emotional cues and instincts. By expending his core energy, he could control them.

So this is what it means to become a Zombie King…

He commanded them to find food, but they couldn’t process complex orders. He’d need to micromanage—or evolve smarter subordinates.

Still, it was enough.

He turned his attention toward home.

Along the way, he looted what he could—canned goods, potatoes, wilted apples, garlic. Even in his undead state, he remembered what his family liked to eat.

They must be hungry.

Inside the Lu family’s shuttered shop, grief clung to the air like smoke.

Liu Wan clutched at hope like a drowning woman.

“I have to find Xiaoyuan,” she whispered.

But just as despair threatened to pull them under, someone knocked.

Not a loud bang. A soft, regular knock.

Then a groan—low and stiff.

“A zombie,” Lu Tianyu muttered, weapon in hand.

Another knock.

Then, a garbled but chillingly familiar voice.

“…Me… Yuan… home…”

It was rough, mechanical, yet undeniably close to their son’s voice.

Liu Wan sobbed, scrambling toward the door.

“Wait,” Lu Tianyu begged. “That’s not him. It can’t be him.”

But deep inside, his heart had already begun to break again. Because what if it was?

The voice came again. Clearer.

“Carrot. Radish. Garlic. Apple. Orange…”

It was a list.

Of groceries.

They lifted the shutter, slowly.

And there he stood.

Hair messy, eyes dead gray, skin purple and cold. But dressed in the clothes their son wore. Holding a bulging bag of food.

He had come home.

The silence broke. Liu Wan rushed forward and embraced her child. Lu Tianyu joined, trembling with emotion.

“You’re back,” they cried. “We missed you so much.”

Even if he was no longer alive.

Even if he wasn’t fully human.

They didn’t care.

Because family wasn’t something so easily broken—not even by the apocalypse.