Zombie Apocalypse: I Have Safe Zone Superpower-Chapter 598: Plum Mark

She pulled back slightly, looking at him. "But that doesn’t mean I’m saying yes."

Her voice was gentle but firm. "I need to see your sincerity."

Her gaze deepened. "I need to know... that if one day I’m not here ..."

A pause.

"You won’t go around supporting someone else just because they resemble me."

Her lips pressed together. "Even if there’s no physical involvement ..."

A faint, almost dark humor flickered in her eyes. "I’d still call you a cheater... even from the afterlife."

Kael blinked, caught off guard. For a moment, he wanted to argue. ’She’s overthinking ...’

If he ever truly got to be with her... If she ever disappeared from his life... 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

’... I wouldn’t be able to live anyway ...’

He had grown too used to her. Too attached. Too dependent.

Without her, everything would collapse again. But instead of saying all that, he simply spoke calmly.

"You don’t need to worry."

His voice was steady this time. "I won’t... ever do something like that again."

Martha stared at him for a second... then suddenly laughed.

"You never cheated in the first place," she said. "Why are you being so serious about it?"

Kael let out a small laugh as well, wiping his tears.

"Because now," he said lightly, "you’ll finally eat the breakfast, lunch, and dinner I make."

Martha froze.

Then slowly... very slowly... she pulled away from him.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Wait."

A pause. "All the meals you’ve been bringing me..."

Her voice lowered. "You made them yourself?"

Kael nodded, his expression completely innocent.

Martha was speechless. ’This guy...’

He had been cooking for her this entire time...

And even when she ignored the food, when she let it go cold, when he had to give it away...

He never complained. Her chest tightened. She felt touched...

And at the same time...

’He’s really... kind of dumb...’

She coughed lightly, trying to mask her emotions.

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier?" she asked. "Maybe I would’ve eaten it back then."

Kael paused.

"I was worried," he admitted, "that you’d think I was trying to blackmail you."

Martha blinked, stunned.

"I wouldn’t have..."

She stopped herself, exhaling.

Kael chuckled awkwardly. "That’s just what I thought."

That day...for the first time...they ate together.

Martha took a bite of the food Kael had prepared.

The taste surprised her. It was rich, balanced, comforting.

’He’s actually... really good...’

She glanced at him briefly, almost impressed. Kael, on the other hand, couldn’t stop looking at her.

His eyes were filled with quiet joy. ’She’s eating it...’

For the first time...she was eating something he made.

The moment felt so precious that he almost wanted to capture it forever, to freeze it into a memory he could revisit again and again.

But he held himself back, forcing his expression to remain calm.

Martha noticed his gaze. It was intense, almost piercing. But she didn’t say anything.

’Let him look...’

........

While the two of them remained wrapped in their fragile, slowly healing world...

Something far more dangerous was unfolding elsewhere.

Ivy had already begun to notice a pattern.

The cold...it had started to fade. At first, it was subtle.

Then gradually, it stopped completely.

And now... the water levels were rising.

Ivy stood near the edge of the base, watching the downpour, her brows tightly furrowed.

’This isn’t right...’

The rain came too early. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

In her previous life...

The rain had only arrived after three years of the apocalypse.

But now...it had come in just one. A deep unease settled in her chest.

’Something’s wrong...’

And her fears only deepened when she realized something horrifying...

The water accumulating from the rain...was contaminated.

It carried the zombie virus. The reason was clear.

Bodies...zombies...

Were floating within the rising water, their decayed forms drifting silently like a warning of what was to come.

Ivy’s expression darkened. But that wasn’t all.

’The mutations...’

In her previous life, insects and animals had only started mutating after four years...and that too after the rain had stopped.

But now...

’If things are accelerating...’

Her instincts screamed at her. ’It’s going to happen during the rain itself.’

This wasn’t natural. This wasn’t part of the original timeline.

Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself.

Panic wouldn’t help. She needed to act.

Calmly, she began organizing more rescue operations, issuing instructions, asking people to prepare, to cooperate.

Thankfully, the base had already started becoming more organized.

And one of the biggest reasons for that...

Was Susan

Susan had once been someone Ivy had saved when she first started her base.

Since then, she had been endlessly grateful.

She stayed close, wanting to help Ivy in any way she could.

But the base had grown too quickly. More people kept arriving. More problems kept piling up.

Ivy was always busy, constantly moving, constantly handling crises.

Susan never even got the chance to properly approach her.

She could only watch from a distance.

Until...a few days ago.

She overheard something. A name. A detail.

"Ivy is looking for a woman..."

Susan’s breath hitched slightly as she recalled it.

"A woman... with a plum-shaped mark on her back."

When Susan first heard about it, her heart skipped with excitement.

’Is Ivy... looking for me?’

The thought bloomed inside her like a fragile flower.

Without wasting another second, she hurried toward Ivy, her steps quick, almost unsteady with anticipation.

When Ivy saw her, she paused for a brief moment, then a soft smile appeared on her lips.

’I remember her...’

She hadn’t forgotten. Susan was the woman she had once saved... from her own brother-in-law. That memory lingered faintly, like a scar that had not fully faded.

"How are you doing now?" Ivy asked gently.

Susan immediately broke into a bright grin, her eyes shining.

"I’m doing better than I ever expected," she said, her voice carrying a hint of relief. Then she hesitated slightly before adding, "Do you... need me for something?"

Ivy blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"

Susan tilted her head. "You were looking for me, right?"