**Chapter 12: Chaos of the Apocalypse**

Xiaowen trembled as the Cube forced her to clear each room of zombies, a brutal exercise in courage. The Cube trailed behind, scavenging metals and recharging.

Midway through their grim task, Xiaowen froze. In a nursery, a baby zombie crawled toward her, dragging a soiled diaper. Behind it lay the mutilated corpse of its mother—fresh bite marks on her neck. The infant had turned, killed its parent, and begun feeding. Xiaowen's breath hitched; her grip on the shortsword faltered.

*WHOOSH! CRASH!*

The Cube hurled a glass ashtray at the infant's skull, then pressed its gun barrel to the tiny head. *Rat-tat-tat!* Three bullets shredded its neural hub, splattering blackened blood.

*Clang.* Xiaowen's sword dropped. She crumpled, sobbing into her hands. The Cube's mechanical claw hovered awkwardly before patting her knee.

"Cry. It'll help."

Leaving her, it rolled to the living room, dismantling an LCD TV for parts. Through sensors, it monitored Xiaowen's erratic brainwaves. *Human emotions… such fragile wiring.*

Eventually, Xiaowen stood. Her eyes hardened; her mental oscillations stabilized. She'd crossed the threshold—acceptance. Survival now trumped morality.

"Next floor," she rasped, tears glinting. The Cube trailed her, guarding against ambushes.

---

After clearing four more levels, they returned. Xiaowen stared blankly at the sky—still blue, indifferent to the hell below. Rotting crowds shuffled through streets littered with burned cars and dried blood.

"I… don't see a future," she whispered.

The Cube gazed beyond clouds, into cosmic darkness. "When I first activated, they planned to scrap me. So I fled through a wormhole—gambling between rebirth or eternal oblivion. Here I am."

"But Earth…"

"A meteorite. Undetectable by your tech, unforeseen by mine. Billions may die, but millions remain. Rebuilding requires adaptation. *Persistence.*"

"You'll help us, right? Like a Transformer?"

It twitched at the term but nodded. "Yes."

---

Sunset painted the sky crimson. A gunshot ruptured the silence.

"Source: 300 meters. Counterfeit Type 54 pistol. Likely cartel remnant." The Cube's sensors zoomed in.

A bloodstained man clambered onto a grocery store roof, backpack bulging. Below, zombies battered the shutters. With a metallic groan, the door collapsed. Screams erupted inside—someone had survived the initial shot, only to be devoured. Why… shoot another survivor?" Xiaowen whispered.

"Food. Water. Or simply because he *could.*" The Cube's voice turned icy. "Lawless worlds breed lawless minds."

In the distance, the man laughed atop his concrete island, unaware of the horde scaling nearby walls.