Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



Liu Wei could feel Li Dai Lu chuckling along their link until she cut it off, allowing him to concentrate on the situation in front of him.

Taking her advice, knowing that she saw the flames before any of them did, he took off his glasses and put them in the inside pocket of his leather jacket. As soon as he took off the glasses, the world went blurry for a few seconds.

Normally, this would cause something inside of Liu Wei's stomach to churn, making him quickly pull out his glasses again. But this time, he fought the need. After a few seconds, everything turned a varying shade of grey, and countless flames appeared.

Was that all he had to do to be able to see the flames? Take off his glasses?

He blinked a few times, causing the flames to become more and more clear until he felt like he was looking at them with his normal vision.

'Shuck the human trappings,' grunted Reaper in approval before going blessedly silent.

Liu Wei turned around, taking in all the different colors of flames before coming to a stop, facing the same direction that he was before. 'Liu Yu Zeng is white, Wang Chao is red, Chen Zi Han is black, and Bin An Sha, I am assuming, is green. Humans are pink, while zombies are either blue or purple,' came the sweetest voice he had ever heard inside his head.

'What color am I?' asked Liu Wei, much more relaxed now that he had figured out the biggest hurdle to using his power.

'Silver,' came the chuckle. 'And as a reward for all your hard work, you can kill as many of them. I would say try to consume some of the flames to see how they make you feel, but I don't want something to happen to you if that backfires.'

'I'll be good. I know that consuming them gives me more energy,' answered Liu Wei. 'Now, go have fun, and don't worry about us.'

'How can I not worry about you? You might as well ask me to stop breathing,' she replied before the link was severed.

Feeling much more confident, Liu Wei stood up straight and looked out at the blue and purple flames in front of him. He would only take the flame if it came close to them; otherwise, he would leave it to join Li Dai Lu's troops and whatever she had planned for the future.

-----

Bin An Sha stared at the four men who were protecting him inside a circle, not used to, or enjoying the feeling of being protected.

'Still so useless,' sneered the voice inside of his head. 'You haven't even apologized to the Queen yet.'

'Unless you are all of a sudden going to tell me how to develop another power, then please, shut the fuck up,' sneered Bin An Sha, studying the buildings surrounding them. The men who originally held them at gunpoint had disappeared too quickly for them not to have gone into some of the buildings.

Not trusting them not to attack them when they were otherwise occupied, he maintained his vigilance.

'That's right, always jumping at shadows instead of facing the actual problem in front of you.'

'And just what is in front of me?' demanded Bin An Sha, not at all amused about the voice. Apparently, Wang Chao was able to kill it; he would have to try and figure out how to do that too. Even to get a few hours of peace and quiet.

'You are surrounded by the very men the Queen loved more than you, and yet, you are still keeping them alive. Just kill them,' whispered the voice, and Bin An Sha was forced to close his eyes as the seductive words sunk into the very depths of his heart.

Not once in his life had he ever questioned his existence. He fought and clawed to become the best at whatever he was trying for. He was the best assassin, the best doctor, the best surgeon, and not once did he question if he was useful or not.

At least not until Wang Chao walked back into his life.

Should he turn around and go back to City A, pretending like this was nothing more than a bad dream? But if he did that, would he ever be able to look himself in the mirror, knowing that when things got hard, he turned around and ran?

A strong hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he turned around to look at the giant Chen Zi Han.

"Whatever thoughts are going through your head right now, push them down. The voices don't actually have our best interest at heart, no matter what they say," said the giant, and the other three men simply grunted their agreement.

"You don't have to be good at killing zombies like we are. You have a gift that none of us can compare to; you can heal our woman with a simple touch," continued Chen Zi Han. Of course, he didn't mention that as long as the four of them were together, she could heal on her own. Bin An Sha's gift came at the perfect time, and he would not discount the other man's usefulness when it came to looking after his Princess.

Besides, at the end of the day, everything depended on Li Dai Lu and how she felt about the newcomer.

"I am a bit more used to getting my hands bloody," replied the other man, doing his best not to sneer at Chen Zi Han. It was easy to talk when you knew where you stood.

"If that is the case, then go cut their heads off. I will follow behind and make sure that their flames are extinguished so they can never come back again," shrugged Chen Zi Han, not concerned at all. Even if Bin An Sha didn't understand where he was coming from, he did. He knew what it was like to be unsure of your position in the group, but Li Dai Lu helped him understand just how important he was. He was just trying to pass that on.

"Flames?" asked Bin An Sha, cocking his head to the side as he saw a line of zombies coming toward him, their bodies swaying back and forth like waves in the ocean.