Chapter 1
"Watch out!" The last thing Xue Ling heard was the hysterical scream of her deputy commander as his warning came too late.
The high level 8 zombie tore through her chest as her still beating heart pulsated in his rotten hand.
A string of blood dripped from the corner of her lips as her body kneeled before falling back. Was it pain? But she couldn't feel it.
Xue Ling felt like she was lost, nothing felt real. Everything blurred and darkness slowly crept in.
Just then a blinding flash blurred her vision and the last thing she remembered was a purple glow emitting from her.
Xue Ling gasped as she felt her lungs burning like fire, desperate for air. Her eyes snapped open.
She couldn't remember anything for a moment and the place was unfamiliar to her too. It had a retro vibe that was a complete contrast to the cold metal rooms with virtual interior in the tech era.
Xue Ling sat upright, her lungs still greedily accepting the oxygen in desperate deep breaths. She looked down at her hands.
Her hands were small and pale with slender fingers and no scars. It wasn't her hand, not the one that has witnessed years of blood and dust.
The room was not too big. She was lying on a bed that was placed in the middle. There was a dressing table with a mirror in the right,a wardrobe with double door beside it.
On the left was two door, one to the outside and the other was perhaps a adjacent washroom.
The only window was directly opposite to the bed, with a cotton curtain blocking the harsh sunlight's from streaming in.
Xue Ling held onto the bedpost as she slowly dragged her weakened body to the mirror on the dressing table.
She stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar face in a daze. It looked like her yet she knew it wasn't her.
Driven with a strong urge, she slowly extended her hand towards the face in the mirror as her fingertips slowly touch the reflection.
The mirror felt ice cold against her fingertips, just as she was about to remove her hand a burst of memories flashed in her mind.
A sharp cry of a baby
"My daughter, my precious gem"
"Song Wen, look how quickly our Xiao Ling is growing up."
"Today senior brother reported master to the higher ups, he has been sent down for reform... I- I never expected she would betray us like that."
"Xue Liang, how long will it take for this mission? You are scaring me. You promised we will leave."
""We are sorry but Regiment Commander Xue is no more."
"No...No....NO! HE PROMISED!" The breakdown, the mournful cries.
The silence
"Mom? Mom please- please wake up."
The despair, the betrayal...
The last cry for help.
Xue Ling fell to the ground as she clenched her head tightly inside her arms. A loud scream tore through the room as tears streamed down her cheeks.
So many emotions, so much pain tore through her all at once as she experienced the past 16 years of this girl whose body, name and even parents matched her own.
Xue Ling slowly flipped herself on her back as her breath grew shorter and exhaustion consumed her.
Her eyes closed as she lost consciousness on the ground, the emotional turmoil was too much on the body and mind. Her soul still not being stable in this new world made her more weak.
Later when Xue Ling regained her consciousness she found that she was still in the same room, although the surrounding were now shrouded in darkness.
She slowly pulled herself off the ground. The throat felt like rough parchment paper due to thirst.
The stomach started to hurt as she felt immense hunger growling for food.
Xue Ling walked to one of the doors and opened it, the bathroom was clean with white walls. It had a ceramic squat toilet and a flushing tank too.
From her memories she remembered that the outlet was connected directly to the city sewage line. Just this details were enough to showcase the status of the Xue Family in this era.
Turning on the faucet, Xue Ling took the washbasin and splashed water onto her face. The ice cold water waking her up completely and making her more aware and vigilant.
Xue Ling considered for a moment if she should boil water for a bath, but the smell on her body told her the original owner has been neglecting her personal hygiene for some time.
Taking a new piece of cloth from the wardrobe, Xue Ling took the bucket and filled the wooden bath tub in the washroom with cold water.
The water felt like ice prickling against her delicate skin, her pale skin taking a blue hue from the cold before a red blush formed as her body heat up trying to fight the coldness.
From the wardrobe full of clothes, Xue Ling choose a simple black long sleeved shirt with pants. The outfit resembling mournful grief and sorrow for her own death and the death of this family.
Turning towards the other door, Xue Ling turned the knob, revealing a nicely decorated and spacious living room. Adjacent to her room should be her parent's room that the original hasn't entered since the new of the death of her parents.
Xue Ling didn't want to enter that room yet, her growling stomach was constantly reminding her that she urgently needed food and recharge her body.
The kitchen was well equiped. There was a gas stove connected to the gas cylinder. The cylinder was required to be changed every three months, and it was last changed before her father left for the mission.
The house was shrouded in darkness, Xue Ling pressed the switch of the light and watched the kitchen lit up. Electricity was expensive in this era and people try to keep the lights off to save money.
Xue Ling rummaged around the kitchen to find there was half a dozen egg, two dried chicken, two packets of beef jerky, 4 pound of white flour, 10 pound of rice and 3 packets of noodles. These were the staple food.
There was sufficient onions, garlics, potatoes, green onions, green chillies, some vegetables for a few days.
She also found 2 packets of brown sugar, salt, turmeric, cumin powder, chilli flakes and chilli powder and finally 2 litre rapeseed oil, 1 litre of peanut oil, 500ml of sesame oil and 50 gm lard. These was all the spices and condiments in the house.
As for snacks she found a packet of white rabbit candy, 2 can of malted milk, a packet of milk powder, 2 can of tea leaves, a pound of chicken cake and a pound of red bean paste cake.
The original owner seemed to have been starving herself for days, since the kitchen had no leftovers and the dishes had a very thin layer of dust.
Xue Ling looked at her finding, satisfied to know she had sufficient food. She heaved a sigh as she was once again reminded of the original owner who gave up her life in grief.
As least it soothed her consciousness that it wasn't because of her crossing over that the original owner died, it was because the original owner died that her soul crossed over.
Yet she didn't understand why exactly they both looked so alike while being separated by the decades and centuries that separated them.
Xue Ling momentarily snapped out of her thoughts as she took a pot and filled it with water. She turned the stove on and put the pot on fire to heat up the water.
She properly salted the water and added two drops of rapeseed oil as it heat up. Then she took some noodles and put them aside.
Finishing the preparation here, Xue Ling took some garlic cloves, an onion, some green chillies and coriander. She chopped up the onion, coriander and chillies and smashed the garlic cloves into a paste.
Then she took a bowl and put some cumin power, chilli flakes, salt in the bowl and added the garlic paste and mixed them well. She heat up a iron wok in another stove and heat up some oil.
Meanwhile the water in the pot started to boil so she put the noodles to cook. Then she put the chopped onions and chilli in the oil and fried them slowly till they caramelized.
She took a strainer and poured out the noodles, separating them and cooled the noodles with cold water.
Xue Ling then took the wok and poured the oil with onion and chilli into the bowl and mixed the spices and the oil well with a chopstick. She then poured the noodles in the bowl and mixed it.
She quickly fried another egg with little oil in the wok with some cut slices of beef jerky and put it all on top of the noodles. Finally she garnished them with chopped coriander and added 2 drops of sesame oil for flavour.
The noodles tasted like heaven in her mouth as she ate hurriedly to satisfy her hunger. Xue Ling never thought that one day she would be so satisfied with just a bowl of noodles.
As she ate her mind slowly drifted off to her own life.
