Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Liu Wei looked at his grandfather after contemplating just how he was going to kill off Wu Bai Hee and spoke; "We will be leaving tomorrow morning as Wang Chao had said. It is up to you to come with us or not."  He understood that once his grandfather had made a decision, that was the end of it, and there would be no point in wasting his breath. He would leave with Li Dai Lu and Wang Chao and whoever else wanted to go with them.

"I think it would be best if we all stayed here," said Wu Bai Hee in a soft, soothing voice.

"Yes, yes! That would be for the best, we should all stay here," agreed the Old Master looking at both of his grandsons and Chen Zi Han. Waving his hand to one of the loyal bodyguards behind him, the Old Master continued. "Lock everything down. Those that try to leave, kill them."

Once again, the Old Master looked to Wu Bai Hee for approval, and once again, she nodded her head. The old man visibly sighed in relief and slumped down in his chair.

"Understood, Grandfather," said Liu Wei as he stood up and bowed towards the old head of the Liu Family. "If it is okay with you, we will just go and unpack our stuff." Receiving permission from the Old Master, the three men stood up, offered a bow, and then quickly but steadily, exited the room and the house.

"Where are we going?" Asked Liu Yu Zeng as he and his second followed Liu Wei across the front lawn and towards a camper they saw set up.

"To find Li Dai Lu," replied Liu Wei as his strides ate up the ground between him and the RV he knew was Li Dai Lu's.

"Why?"

"Because something is clearly going on and she is probably the only one to know what it could be and how to deal with it," replied Liu Wei.  The scene he saw inside had set off warning bells in his head and he was anxious to figure out why.

"How could she possibly know that?" Asked Chen Zi Han as he too quickly matched steps with the other two men in front of him.

"Because this isn't her first zombie apocalypse," said Liu Wei in a deadpanned voice.  Making it up the two steps to the front door, he quickly barged into the RV.

----

"What does it mean when I can't read someone's mind," asked Wang Chao, scaring the shit out of me as I came out of the shower wrapped only in a towel.  I looked at the door to the RV and could have sworn that I had locked that thing.  Shrugging my shoulders, I grabbed my pajamas and went back into the bathroom to get changed.

Finally ready to deal with the unexpected visitor… like seriously, I thought for sure the man would have been doing one of a million other things before coming in here and asking me weird questions… I said down on the couch beside him and handed him the towel to dry my hair.  If he was going to be just sitting there scaring me, then I would put him to work.

"What do you mean?" I asked, somewhat in a haze from how good it felt when he dried my hair.

"What does it mean when I can't read someone's mind?" the man asked again as he focused on my hair. "It has not happened before."

I searched my head, trying to think of an answer. "It's because they are another spirit user," I finally said, suddenly remembering the one weakness that the spirit users had. However, it was also one of the biggest indicators that they were dealing with another spirit user.

In fact, there were a lot of weaknesses that a spirit user had, and they were all limited to their own mind. They were only as strong as they believed themselves to be, and they could only control what they thought they could control.

Like Wang Chao could manipulate people with his voice or thoughts but because it was not an aspect of his power that he actually thought about, then he would be significantly weaker than someone that exercised it more.  Same with the mind reading.  Wang Chao was probably one of the strongest mind readers that I had come across, to the point he couldn't turn it off because he was always reading someone's mind. Even his ability to freeze people only happened once, and if he did not continue to practice it, it would not be strong enough to eventually use in a fight.

Some spirit users were stronger when it came to levitation or telekinesis, while others had perfected teleportation or telepathy.  However, I (and the scientists at my old compound) had a theory that all spirit users could use all of the different aspects of their spiritual power… they just make an unconscious decision not to.

For example: if Wang Chao wanted to, he could have access to everything that came with psychic powers including levitation, time control, telepathy, mind control, telekinesis, hypnosis, and teleportation… but he was limited in that he thought that his spirit power was only reading minds and maybe freeze them in place.

But that was one of the biggest secrets that was never revealed before my death: while all other powers were limited to that particular power (earth to the ground and soil, water to water, air to air, fire to fire, etc.) the spirit power had no such limitations. They could control every aspect of a person, and most didn't even know it.

The one spirit user that I had known about before that tried to use both his telepathy and mind control was killed by another spirit user for being too powerful. He was actually able to manipulate his opponent's mind enough to convince them that they were dead… and so their brain shut down their breathing and heart and they… became dead. Manipulating the mind was one of the most powerful offensive and defensive weapon that any individual could have, making spirit users the uncontested superpower of the new world.

In fact, pretty much every successful base, compound, or safe zone in the apocalypse was run by a spirit user because, even if they only concentrated on one aspect of their power, they were the strongest among all humans. The Phoenix Compound… my compound… was the only exception to the rule.

Wang Chao stopped rubbing my head and froze for a second. "You mean, it is more than just being able to freeze people and read minds?"

Realizing that he was reading my mind (duh), I nodded my head… both to agree with this statement and to call his attention back to my hair which needed more attention. "You have no idea the infinite possibilities that have fallen into your hands simply by being a spirit user," I said as he went back to rubbing my hair. "Now, whose mind could you not read that started this whole conversation?"

Before he could utter a word, the front door of my RV flew open, and a very… determined… Liu Wei came in followed quickly by Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han. At least Chen Zi Han was polite enough to close the door behind him, even if Liu Wei was not polite enough to knock.  What was it with these men and just barging into my place?!?

"You okay?" I asked Liu Wei as he sat down on the floor in front of me and just stared at me.  I would have called him frazzled, but I don't think that would ever be an expression to describe Liu Wei.  I looked around the small space and saw Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han taking their own seat around us… on the chairs.

I rolled my eyes at Liu Wei who was quite comfortably sitting at my feet.  He nodded and then shook his head.  I sighed and took a deep breath. "Okay," I started looking at the other two men that might be able to make a bit more sense. "What is the problem?"

"There is something going on," said Liu Wei as he looked up at me. That made me raise my eyebrows. "There are zombies outside, the world is plunged back into the dark ages and humans have mutated into having supernatural powers. I think there are a lot of things going on. Can you be a bit more specific?"

"There is something going on with my grandfather," Liu Wei explained as if I would immediately understand what he was talking about. Having never met the man before today, I couldn't really say either way.

"In what way?" I asked, still trying to put all the pieces together.

"He is weaker than before," came the instant reply.

I shook my head and placed a hand on Liu Wei's cheek. "Sweetheart," I stated. "You have not seen that man in years, and he is like 75 years old. It would only make sense that he is weaker than before."

"Not that," Liu Yu Zeng cut in, "He is now looking to Wu Bai Hee for decisions, unable to make up his own mind. This is something that never would have been acceptable in the past."

Confused, I looked at the man, "Why not?" Ask a dumb question, get a dumb answer.

"Because she is a woman," cut in Chen Zi Han. I glared at him. But until I understood exactly what was going on, I would not snap at him.

"Remember how you asked whose mind I couldn't read?" Wang Chao said as he put his hand on me and drew my attention back to him.  I nodded in response.

"It was Wu Bai Hee."

"Well, fuck."