MTL - Machine Storm - Chapter 19 giant bug runaway

Xue Ling is a nine tailed fox who has been cultivating for thousands of years but lost all his tails in a moment of capriciousness.

The day a mysterious darkness enshrouded the world. It was theorized that the earth’s magnetic field had been changed, the data that corresponded to it also changed. The previous academic knowledge had been overturned, and numerous things had to be re-explored.

The science that humanity was familiar with had been disrupted, including the genes of human beings. One of the largest disasters brought by the change was that 80% of humanity transformed into zombies. After years of struggling, a few lucky survivors would evolve and awaken a power inside themselves. Chu Han was never that lucky.

While holding on against the first wave, humans weren’t the only ones getting stronger. Soon, stage 1 zombies evolved into stage 2 then 3 and so on. 10 years after the mysterious meltdown, the world of man belonged to the zombies. Humanity was nearing the of the end of the eschatology.

One day, Chu Han consciousness came back ten years before the end of the world came. He was awakened by a loud noise in a dormitory in Minqiu University. With only 1 day to prepare before the meltdown begins, he slowly begins to realised that he had undergone a rebirth. A power was awaking inside of him now despite never appearing in the hellish future. It calls itself the meltdown system.

Despite losing the monstrous strength gained through years of harsh training, this system claims to trade kills for talents. This is a story of a collapsing world, a meltdown system, and Chu Han being on stage as he travels to save those he could not save before.

- Description from Novelupdates

A modern-day antihero, who was infamous for his devious acts, dies in an explosion meant to take down a powerful criminal syndicate. Waking up in a world of sword and sorcery, he finds himself possessing a fragile, powerless body with a strange “System” that seems broken. Initially thinking he's doomed, he learns that by pretending to be weak, he can manipulate others into revealing their secrets, granting him abilities they possess. As he rises in power, he discovers that the System was intentionally sabotaged—by none other than his own future self.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”“Tell you what, Richard? What would you have done?”“I don’t know. Apologized sooner? Bought you a burger to make up for it?”Her eyes lit up with fire, “You think what you did to me… you think a burger can make up for it?” her eyes twinkled like she was fighting tears. Did I hurt her that badly? I was just a foolish teenager.“Nita, I am sorry. I was young, I was stupid. I wish I could take it all back and tell you how I feel instead of being a constant jerk to gain your attention.”“How did you feel that would justify what you did to me?”I paused for a minute, finding the words. “I had a huge crush on you at the time. And I didn’t know how to express myself. I was full of myself, I was the school’s ladies' man and the one girl I had eyes for didn’t even care if I existed,” “And that justified what you did to me? Richard, you broke me. I can forgive you for ‘accidentally’ spilling your ice cream on me, or throwing my due assignment in the toilet, or the gum in my hair, or the glue in my chair but tell me how can I forgive you for what you did that night? Tell me!”“What night? Nita, what are you talking about?”“Remember when you asked me if I knew who sexually assaulted me?”I nodded, but what does that have to do with anything? The more we spoke, the more confused I became.“You did and I cannot believe that you would stand there and pretend like it didn’t happen!”Nita has spent years trying to forget the torment she endured at the hands of Richard. When her family’s financial ruin forces her into an arranged marriage, she is horrified to find out the groom himself was her bully.Richard, a charming and successful businessman meets the first woman to be repulsed by him. Intrigued, he proposes a deal of a one year marriage of convenience.Navigating life as a couple, old wounds reopen, buried memories surface. As Richard learns more about his wife, he finds that he has enemies that followed him from his past to continuously cloud his wife’s judgement.Will Nita believe the truth and bury old wounds or will the pain of the past prove too strong to heal?