Don't Underestimate the Bond Between Us! [Infinite]

[Updated daily at 9:00 p.m.]

Chi Lin had been cooped up at home for a long time, drifting through life. She had no energy to work, avoided all social interaction, and had lost interest in the outside world. Her life force had long since withered away. The only reason she hadn't died was that she was afraid of pain.

Then the apocalypse arrived. Danger lurked everywhere. Plants mutated, animals mutated, and even inanimate objects began to teem with life. People fled in every direction. One moment they were barely clinging to life, the next their heads were rolling on the ground.

Chi Lin's eyes lit up. She wandered around her home for ages without a scratch, so she took the initiative and went outside to seek death.

The streets were in chaos.

A cockroach six feet tall crawled menacingly through the shadows. Every leaf in the greenbelt had grown a huge, sharp-toothed mouth, and roots writhed out of the soil. Goats in suits stood arm in arm at a traffic light. A scalding red hotpot spun out of a restaurant. A golden pig flew into the sky...

Chi Lin stood rooted to the spot. Could I at least have a dignified death?

A while later.

Chi Lin: Why does it seem like I'm being ignored? Are they going around me because they think I'm gross??

Jiang He, weighed down with supplies and looking worse for wear, passed by. After watching her for a while, she grabbed Chi Lin. "Hi, could you help me with something?"

Chi Lin couldn't say no, so she left and never came back.

Chi Lin followed Jiang He around every day, barely managing to survive the apocalypse. Then the world suddenly froze.

After a distinctive string of firecrackers blasted in her mind for three minutes, a mechanical voice announced: Congratulations, player! You have survived 15 days in the "New World" and achieved the [Comfortable Home] achievement. You have perfectly passed the first round of screening. Rewards: [Beginner Instance *1] [Bond *1]. Executing now.

In a damp, gloomy prison, Chi Lin and Jiang He stared at each other in silence, their hands cuffed together.

A bond...?

They fled from place to place in the instance, with barely a chance to stop and catch their breath. By the time Chi Lin remembered she'd come out to seek death, she looked at the crowd in front of her, bickering and making a ridiculous mess of things.

Never mind. I'll live a little longer.

Chi Lin at first: Who are you? / That's enough. / She's got some nerve. / Learning to say no is an important life skill, but I flunked.

Chi Lin later: Don't underestimate the bond between us!

A gloomy, socially anxious cynic with a faint aura of death x a narcissistic, sharp-tongued troublemaker who's good at manipulating people

Let me see your true face (lifting the veil):

Cold on the outside, warm on the inside x Aggressive but easily flustered

Reading Guide:

1. A girls-only team adventure about courage and passion. Suggestions made with love for women as their starting point are welcome, and I will listen and make changes.

2. Unless otherwise specified, every living being in the story is female.

3. No overpowered skills.

4. Chi Lin's initial state, where monsters go around her, only lasts for the very early chapters. The reason, tied to the worldbuilding, will only be explained much later.

5. Set in a fictional world. Some real-world-related events have been blurred and adapted. All commentary in the story is based on how events appear within the story.

Theme: Not every human is worth saving, but some people are.