"Chapter 1: Bad Luck

“Aw, come on, guys! How about showing some mercy? Quit tailing me already, will ya?”

Out on the desolate grassland, Zhou Yuanqiang trudged along a lonely highway under the blazing sun, a hemp sack heavy on his back. Sweat poured down his face as he half-ran, half-walked. Not far behind, three grotesque zombies, their skin cracked and putrid stench thick in the air, shambled after him. They swayed with low, guttural groans escaping their throats, relentlessly pursuing their quarry.

Zhou glanced back at the trio that had been dogging him for half an hour. His legs felt like they were filled with lead weights, each step becoming an immense effort.

“Guys, slow down, man! I’m practically running on fumes. Look at me! I ain’t exactly a catch – not tall, not handsome, barely any meat on my bones. Even if you do catch me and gobble me down raw, what’s the point? You get nothin’ outta it! Besides,” he panted, desperation creeping in, “you’re already gone, right? Why drag your buddy down with ya? Do a good deed! Maybe earn some karma, reincarnate into a peaceful world next time. Become an average Joe livin’ a quiet life, yeah?”

Zhou was monumentally unlucky. Where he’d materialized – talk about terrible timing – was right by the entrance of a village perched on the highway’s edge. Needless to say, facing a horde of hundreds of ravenous zombies and possessing the physical strength of a wet noodle, Zhou’s only option had been to grab his heavy sack and run for his life.

The sack was stuffed with canned goods, easily weighing fifty to sixty pounds. Zhou wasn’t built for strength, and his running speed barely outpaced the zombies. The pursuing horde behind him had been massive, a dark, swarming tide. Drawn by the commotion, even more roving zombies from the surrounding areas joined in, swelling the ranks of his pursuers constantly.

They say man dies for riches just as birds perish for food, but Zhou, valuing his life above all, gritted his teeth. He started pulling cans of beef from the sack, frantically opening them one by one. He flung chunks of meat onto the highway, hoping the scent would divert the zombies’ attention.

The tactic worked. Zombie noses were keen. The smell of beef quickly snagged the attention of the lead dozen or so. They stopped dead and lunged at the meat scattered on the road, shoving dirt-crusted chunks greedily into their mouths. A single can held maybe ten pieces; it was devoured instantly. The brief halt over, those zombies rejoined the larger horde chasing Zhou again.

Seeing it wasn’t enough, Zhou got smarter. He started hurling the opened cans far into the distance. This worked better. Dozens of zombies would peel off to squabble over the flung meat, effectively abandoned by the main group. By the time they finished scrapping, the main horde was far ahead. Acting purely on base instinct, these zombies didn’t try to catch up; they just wandered aimlessly nearby again.

Bit by bit, this strategy whittled down the pursuing mass. By the time half the beef cans were gone, only three zombies remained stubbornly on his tail.

But this is where Zhou’s frustration peaked. These last three, for some bizarre reason, were utterly unimpressed. Whether he scattered beef on the road right in front of them or flung cans far away, they remained indifferent. Their singular focus remained locked on Zhou Yuanqiang, exhibiting a terrifying determination to chase him down and devour him no matter what.

Zhou was out of tricks. He considered fighting them, but he had no gun – just a pathetic little fruit knife for ‘moral support’. Zombies were toxic; the smallest scratch could doom him with infection. For the sake of his own skin, Zhou had no choice but to keep running, bitter regret flooding him. “Screw me sideways, I was a total idiot! Blinded by those fancy gold bracelets and rings! If I’d just grabbed a handgun instead… wouldn’t be in this mess. Could’ve wasted these three pathetic excuses for monsters ages ago!”

Regret was pointless now, though. Just... run!

The thought of the thirty-plus beef cans he’d sacrificed made Zhou’s heart bleed. “That stuff cost, like, pennies wholesale back home! But here, in this godforsaken apocalypse? It’s priceless! What the hell… tens of thousands, just gone like that!”

Back in his own time, Zhou Yuanqiang was the definition of ordinary: an ordinary college grad, an ordinary tech at an ordinary company. Head to toe, utterly unremarkable. That ‘tens of thousands’ represented a fortune compared to his pathetic, barely-making-ends-meet salary of eighteen hundred bucks a month. And now… vanished. The more he thought about it, the sicker he felt. He redirected his fury onto the three persistent pursuers behind him, unleashing a torrent of curses: “You think it’s easy for a guy to come all the way to this hellhole? Just tryin’ to earn a little sweat-money! But you jerks won’t give a man a break! Had to go and cost me a fortune! Ah… this rotten world!”

Remembering the instructions for the Time-Space Ring, Zhou couldn’t help but bellow skyward in frustration: “This damn thing! The teleport range is random within ten miles! ‘Within chicken’ my ass!… What if it just drops me smack in the middle of a zombie nest? Does it even care if I live or die?”

Utterly defeated, Zhou was almost ready to kneel before the three relentless ancestors trailing him. “Gentlemen! Lords! Please, spare this humble servant! When I sell off these cans, I swear I’ll bring back some tasty treats just for you three! How about it? Gods be my witness, I admit my heart’s a bit black! I shouldn’t charge 10 grams of gold for one lousy can of meat! But sirs, the apocalypse has been going on for years now! You know the rule: scarcity drives value! Was I wrong to price it high? And hey, the trade was voluntary! It’s not on me! Honorable gentlemen, please, this… this is only my second trip here selling stuff! Cut me some slack! Just turn around! Go! Stop following! Give this insignificant man a break!”

No matter how much Zhou pleaded, bargained, or ranted, the mindless trio remained implacable. They bared their blackened, rotten teeth, tongues a discolored, slightly rotting mass, drooling viscous, sickly dark liquid. They matched his pace, unyielding, their expressions screaming a primal hunger to consume him alive.

“Screw you guys! Offer you respect and you spit on it!” Zhou snarled, temper flaring. “Keep it up and piss me off! Soon as I can, I’ll swap for a few SMGs! Come back and ‘brrrrt’ all three of ya! See how cocky you are then!”

Zhou was mostly venting. His feet kept pounding the asphalt, driven by a desperate, last-ditch effort fueled by pure adrenaline, trying to widen the gap. He lifted his head, scanning the terrain ahead. Nothing but open land stretched out; it looked like there’d be no human settlement for at least another mile or two.

“Shit luck…” Zhou groaned, raising his wrist to check his watch. A fresh wave of despair washed over him. “OH GOD!!! 25 minutes left before I can teleport back! This trip is completely screwed! Someone… ANYONE… save me?!”"