System, Superpowers, and Survival in the Apocalypse: Zombie Crisis

Three minutes before the apocalypse, Lin Wan's fingertip is swiping across a broken phone she found. Its screen is webbed with cracks, but it suddenly grows hot as thunder booms.

[Awakening of All Things: Bound Item: Smartphone]

The crimson words vanish, and in an instant, chaos erupts outside her window. In her panic, she opens the map app. Its route changes into a bright red dotted line, with “Safe House, 1.2 km” marked as the destination. A red dot moves along with a monster. The camera shutter clicks, and the moment a flash of white light shoots out, the charging zombie freezes into an ice statue.

Every app on the phone has changed. A song played through the music app can create a sound-wave barrier. When she writes “iron bar” in the notes app, a metal rod appears in her hand. Even the food-delivery app lets her place orders, with compressed biscuits and first-aid kits in the product list and a note saying, “Payment required: 3 zombie cores.”

As zombies howl in the rain, Lin Wan grips her burning phone. Having read countless apocalyptic novels on it, she suddenly understands: when survival becomes the only goal, every app icon represents a choice between life and death. Her ability is to turn virtual convenience into a weapon that keeps her alive.