Chapter 6: Vanish.
While the world was still laughing, he was already disappearing. Li Zhen sat in the back of a nondescript SUV, wearing a gray hoodie and a face mask. No suits. No entourage. The windows were tinted black, and the plates were fake.
A convoy of three vehicles followed at a distance—supplies, equipment, and surveillance gear. All routed through shell companies that didn't exist yesterday.
His phone buzzed once. A secure line.
"Sir, the safe house in Changbei has been cleaned. No traffic cameras. We've also rerouted the satellite signal."
Feng Mo's voice was as sharp as always.
"Good," Li Zhen replied. "Begin relocation of storage vaults A through C. No paper trail. No trucks larger than six wheels."
"Yes, sir. What about the Li Group board? They're asking for a press conference."
Li Zhen scoffed lightly. "Let them. A dead man doesn't need to speak."
[Two Hours Later — Changbei Safehouse]
Hidden behind an abandoned lumber facility, the property was nothing special. Peeling paint. Rusted gates. But underground?
A fortress was forming.
Biometric scanners, high-frequency locks, layered qi-array designs carved by Li Zhen's own hand. His previous life's regrets had taught him one thing above all:
The apocalypse didn't reward the loud.
It rewarded the prepared.
He walked into the concrete lab beneath the house. Servers blinked to life. His engineers had wired the power grid directly to a buried solar system weeks ago—while he was still in a coma.
He glanced at the main screen. The news was still dancing around the leaked footage. The girl who died? No official comment. The mutated dog? Already labeled "fake CGI."
"Idiots," he murmured.
He tapped open a private video. Not the dog. Not the girl. A woman—lean, hooded, eyes cold.
Single-handedly taking down two rabid street beasts in a side alley. A third tried to flank her—she didn't flinch. A flame bloomed from her palm.
"You again."
He leaned closer. The video was old—weeks ago. Surveillance from the city outskirts. He remembered her. From his past life. That pendant. That calm. "You survived longer than most. You walked into the fire."
Now she was back—and moving even faster than he expected. "If you're still alive now… it means you're planning to win this time."
[Command Line — Private Command: Project Revenant: INITIATED]
He began the upload. Blueprints. Material lists. Mutated genome logs. Tracking simulations. Contingency files.
He wasn't going to save the world. He was going to own it after it fell. But to do that, he needed strength. Cultivation. Spirit weaponry. Tech fusion. Territory. And maybe… her.
If she survived long enough. "Move your pieces well, mystery girl," he whispered. "Let's see if we're still enemies in this life."
The soft hum of generators echoed through the concrete bunker. The walls were bare, reinforced, layered with lead and obsidian stone—materials chosen not just for defense, but for spiritual conductivity.
Li Zhen stood in the center of his underground lab, fingers flying across the terminal. Dozens of files streamed onto the screen:
Mutation behavior patterns. Strain analysis from corpses gathered post-red rain. Energy signatures matching qi fluctuations
Coordinates of likely spiritual awakening zones
"The apocalypse isn't just physical," he muttered.
"It's metaphysical. Environmental. Dimensional."
In his past life, no one had time to understand it.
Now, he'd make time. He swiped to a separate monitor—surveillance feeds from public street cams, some hacked, others looped from his own drones.
His gaze stopped at one still frame. A warehouse district. Nighttime. Empty. But not quite.
There she was again.
Same woman. Hood up. Calm, precise movements. Standing outside a locked gate. She raised her hand—an invisible force cut the metal clean in two.
"She's already cultivating." He didn't smile. But something shifted behind his eyes.
[Private Data Folder: 'Target X-22']
Identity: Unknown
Cultivation Path: Fire-element, Lotus Qi formation
Artifact: Ancient Jade Pendant (poss. spatial artifact)
Threat Level: Moderate (escalating)
Behavior: Solitary. Strategic. Cold. Not reactive.
He added a final note: "Objective: Observe. Do not engage."
Not yet.
She was still sharpening her blade.
So was he.
[Later That Night — Meditation Chamber]
Li Zhen sat cross-legged inside a formation circle etched with his own blood and silver thread.
He had no teacher.
No clan.
No heaven-sent artifact like her. But he had knowledge. Experience. And time.
He pulled out a sealed vial of beast marrow—harvested from his past life, hidden away by his assistant in one of the Li Group vaults before the fall.
He crushed the vial between his palms. The spiritual energy inside surged, wild and burning. He gritted his teeth. Forced it inward. His veins screamed. But he didn't flinch.
He wasn't born a cultivator.
He would force the world to make him one.
[Qi Awakening: 1st Pulse Achieved]
A thin halo of lightning flickered around his spine.
"One step closer."
The marrow's spiritual energy scorched through Li Zhen's veins. But he endured it.
He had lived through fire.
Through betrayal.
Through the world ending in silence and screams.
This pain? Nothing.
As the final pulse of lightning qi settled into his bones, a sharp sound pierced the air—like a bell in his soul.
Then—
"System initializing…"
"Binding Host: Li Zhen."
"Welcome back, Executor."
His eyes snapped open.
"…You followed me."
A smile, thin and rare, tugged at the edge of his mouth.
This wasn't new.
In his final life, the system awakened far too late—after he'd lost everything.
But now?
It came early. It came with him.
[Executor System: Online]
Main Function: Timeline Vault Access
System Space Unlocked: 46 Items Retrieved from Post-Apocalyptic Timeline
Accessing Inventory…
One by one, digital panels materialized in front of him.
[Lv.3 Mutant Beast Core] ×2
[Refined Tactical Serum] ×5
[Blueprint: Qi-Tek Gauntlet Prototype V2]
[Encrypted Survival Logs - Li Zhen's Final Life]
[Spear of Pulse Flame - Broken (Repairable)]
[Gene Mapping Kit (Advanced)]
[Dimensional Material Sample - Unknown Origin]
[Quantum-Spirit Battery Pack] ×12
[Personal Combat Drone: 'Echo'] - Standby Mode
[Time-Locked Emergency Plan: Project Revenant]
And more.
All the tech, materials, notes, and knowledge he'd gathered before he died—sealed and now returned with him, thanks to the system.
"Perfect," he said, voice quiet.
The system pulsed again.
"Warning: Timeline Synchronization Active. Future events may deviate from original course due to Host's early awakening."
"I know," he murmured.
"That's the point."
[System Function Unlocked — Spatial Node]
A private dimension, not unlike hers.
But colder. Crystalline. Steel and code, not soil and spirit.
In this space, time flowed at 2:1 speed.
Two hours inside = one outside.
Ideal for tech construction, testing, combat simulation.
Li Zhen entered it now.
Stood in the core chamber. His memory logs played on the surrounding panels—images of burning cities, mutated giants, collapsed alliances.
He didn't flinch.
"This time, I control the chaos."
[New Objective — Optional Mission Triggered]
Track Target: Unknown Cultivator - Fire Affinity - Jade Artifact Detected
Suggested Action: Passive Surveillance
Reward: Spirit-Tech Integration Module (Tier 1)
Li Zhen's fingers curled.
He didn't need the reward.
But it confirmed it—she was already active. Already burning.
"I'll find you," he said.
"But I won't interfere. Not yet. Let's see what you become when no one saves you."