Chapter 7: Demon

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

An Sheng stood before the mirror staring at his reflection – it was a strange and eerie face! Purple skin, blood-red eyes emitting an uncanny crimson glow, and amidst disheveled hair, a pair of demonic horns still burning with blood-colored flames!

“Who are you?” An Sheng fearfully asked the monster in the mirror.

The monster in the mirror didn’t speak, only watching An Sheng with an eerie smile. Suddenly, a powerful hand gripped An Sheng’s neck, and no matter how he struggled, it was useless. Just as he was about to suffocate…

An Sheng abruptly sat up – it was just a nightmare. After breathing heavily for a moment, he lay back down, feeling completely exhausted with sore limbs. Most importantly, he was really hungry, extremely hungry. Lying in bed observing his surroundings, this was an unfamiliar room with white walls covered in various paintings and certificates. He initially determined this was a child’s room, and the room’s owner was a child who enjoyed painting and had good grades. But An Sheng was still hungry, extremely hungry.

“Creak~~” The door opened, and a small head peeked out from behind it. It was a cute little girl with big, watery eyes, two bun hairstyles, and a playful pout. When the little girl saw the uncle sleeping in her bed staring back at her, she froze for a moment before scampering away, leaving only the pattering sound of small slippers hitting the floor.

An Sheng felt the little girl looked familiar. After thinking carefully, he remembered where he’d seen her before – wasn’t this the young daughter of his neighbor, the single young woman named Su Yao? He had seen her a few times before. As if confirming An Sheng’s thoughts, soon Su Yao entered the room with the little girl.

“Brother, you’re awake!”

Seeing Su Yao, An Sheng quickly sat up and asked somewhat confused: “Sister Su, why am I sleeping in your house?”

An Sheng’s memory still lingered on the battle on the third floor – he seemed to have been knocked flying by a monster, and then he remembered nothing. He had lost consciousness at that time, but Su Yao had witnessed everything that happened next. It was a massacre, one monster slaughtering another group of monsters!

“Brother, are you feeling unwell anywhere?” Su Yao didn’t answer An Sheng’s question, deliberately changing the subject, mainly because she didn’t want to mention anything about that day.

She looked at the man before her, still feeling somewhat apprehensive. After all, An Sheng had single-handedly dealt with all the Mutated Monsters on the entire third floor. At that time, he was like a Demon from Hell. However, they also discovered that An Sheng held no hostility toward humans, and after killing all the Mutated Creatures, he had restored his human appearance. Only then did Su Yao gather the courage to carry him back to her home. After experiencing life-and-death changes together, the survivors shared an inexplicable sense of closeness.

“I’m not really unwell, just hungry.” An Sheng said somewhat embarrassed, and as soon as he finished speaking, his stomach betrayed him with two rumbles.

Su Yao said with a sigh: “It’s normal to be hungry – you’ve been unconscious for three days. I’ll go make you something to eat.” With that, she went out to prepare food for An Sheng.Upon learning of An Sheng’s awakening, many people gathered outside Su Yao’s door, though few had the courage to actually enter. To be precise, aside from Old Zhang, no one else dared to step inside. The events that had occurred on the third floor were witnessed not only by the residents of the temporary rescue team but also by many others. An Sheng’s demon-like appearance had become a frequent topic of conversation during meals. Opinions among the residents about An Sheng’s presence varied: some believed he was a Mutated Creature, as dangerous as Zombies and other Mutated Monsters, potentially viewing them all as snacks to be devoured someday; while others argued that An Sheng possessed self-awareness and might even protect their safety, especially since he had indeed slain all the Mutated Monsters to defend the third-floor residents. Over the past three days, the two sides had engaged in repeated debates, but when it came to actually disposing of An Sheng, none of the opposing residents dared to take action.

“Xiao An, do you remember what happened that day?” Old Zhang sat opposite An Sheng, asking cautiously.

“Brother Zhang, what exactly happened that day? Why do they all look at me like I’m a monster?” Even through the window, An Sheng could feel the peculiar gazes from the residents of the Tube-Style Apartment Building.

Old Zhang remained silent for a moment before slowly recounting the events of that day.

An Sheng had transformed into a Demon with purple skin and blood-red smoke emanating from his body, fully embodying the term “Demon” in strength. There were over twenty Mutated Creatures on the third floor, and An Sheng had killed them all barehanded, with extremely brutal methods! Most of the Mutated Monsters were dismembered to death. The only exception was the Praying Mantis-like Mutated Monster, which seemed more intelligent than the others. Sensing it was no match for An Sheng, it sprouted a pair of fleshy wings from its back in an attempt to fly away. But just as it rose into the air, An Sheng pierced its head with his homemade Bayonet. After that, An Sheng reverted to his original human form, with the injuries from the Lizard Monster’s tail whip mostly healed, and then he collapsed unconscious.

After hearing Old Zhang’s account, An Sheng was so shocked he forgot to eat the rice in his mouth. The image Old Zhang described was exactly the monster he had seen in the mirror in his dream—purple skin, blood-red eyes—the only difference being the absence of demonic horns on his head. It seemed he wasn’t as lucky as he had thought; those exposed to the Blood Rain either turned into Living Corpses or monsters, so how could he be an exception? Still, he found some comfort in the fact that he retained his human form and consciousness. An Sheng didn’t want to gain any so-called power like protagonists in novels; he just wished to live a plain and ordinary life. Though, in this post-apocalyptic world, how could such a wish be anything but elusive?