His Doomsday Cage of Ten Years Regret Chapter 02

His Doomsday Cage of Ten Years Regret Chapter 02

I never expected to wake up inside my university dorm room.

I lay motionless for a long while before it sank in: this was not reincarnation. I had been reborn, sent back in time.

A familiar ringtone jolted me out of my foggy daze.

My fingertips brushed the screen, where the contact name read “Peyton Hale.”

A sharp, aching soreness twisted deep in my chest.

“Dawn?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

A long stretch of silence fell on the line. When Peyton came back on, his voice shook a little. He fought to keep it calm and rattled off instructions fast: lock all doors and windows, don’t answer the door for anyone who knocks, and he’d come get me immediately.

I glanced at the timestamp on my phone. It was the day before the zombie outbreak.

Had Peyton also traveled back in time?

He called my name a few times, checking if I was still listening.

Memories from my previous life flashed through my mind like a rapid montage.

I tightened my grip on the phone and told a lie.

“I’m not in the dormitory right now.”

“I’m sorry, Peyton. I can’t take your pursuit.”

“I’ve thought it over, and I don’t see you in a romantic way.”

I hung up, blocked his number entirely, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and walked off campus.

I was vain and selfish by nature.

Relying on my good looks, I often did things just to seek attention from others.

Peyton Hale was outstanding, rich and good-looking, a prominent figure at school.

Being pursued by him fed my ego and made me feel important.

So I kept him hanging on with an ambiguous attitude.

Once the apocalypse hit, Peyton awakened powerful abilities, while I remained an ordinary human with no special skills at all.

To gain his protection, I even lied and said I was in love with him.

It made the two lovers Peyton and Winnie Bennett waste ten years of their lives, and several times he nearly died saving me.

If cannon-fodder characters were divided into tiers, I would definitely fall into the most vicious category.

During those ten years I wandered as a spirit, he suffered greatly, and I lived in torment.

This lifetime, I resolved to fend for myself. I would not drag him down again.

After the apocalypse broke out, the northern territories mobilized faster than any other region, home to the most well-equipped and established survivor safe zone—the central command hub for all remaining human forces.

Fleeing north might have been my best shot.

But when I got to the Intercity Coach Terminal, the atmosphere was far more strained than I had imagined.

The waiting area was not overly crowded, yet armed guards patrolled every corridor with strict checkpoints.

Every single ticket heading north was completely sold out.

Even routes to neighboring towns had no seats left.

I settled on a backup plan: head west to carve out a slim chance.

It was a vast, thinly populated land with fewer zombies in the early days of the apocalypse..

If I ended up dying there, rolling mountain ranges and boundless desert would keep me company.

I purchased a ticket for the earliest departing westbound coach, then sat in the waiting lounge to conserve energy for the journey ahead.

There was a commotion by the entrance gate.

I caught a snippet of noise and ignored it. The apocalypse was imminent, and I had no desire to join in such trivial commotion.

I closed my eyes to rest and save every bit of strength I could.

Yet that commotion was heading straight for me.

A tall, lean figure with broad shoulders stepped into view, framed against harsh backlighting.

His voice dropped cold and sharp.

“Dawn Carter.”

I flinched hard when I saw who it was.

It was Peyton.

His dark eyes were pitch black with no trace of emotion.

The hand hanging loosely at his side trembled almost imperceptibly.