From Outcast to Legend: Thiago's Rise

Chapter 3

Thiago Moretti bolted upright with a violent gasp, jolting awake from the drowning and suffocating nightmare.

His chest heaved as cold sweat drenched his body, and every muscle trembled uncontrollably.

The horrifying vision of black floodwaters, bloated corpses, and the infected's endless shrieks still lingered in Thiago's mind. He could still feel himself being dragged beneath the water as death closed in. Then the nightmare faded, replaced by warm sunlight filtering through the curtains and the scent of fresh, clean air.

Thiago stared blankly around his apartment before his gaze landed on the calendar hanging on the wall.

His breathing stopped. It was the same day from four years ago.

Three months remained before the apocalypse would descend upon the world and drown the great coastal city of Harborhaven beneath endless floodwaters.

In his previous life, he had survived those four brutal years, only to be betrayed and abandoned just before the arrival of the New Beaumont's Ark.

His fingers trembled.

"I... came back."

He was glad he had been reborn!

The terror and hatred from his previous life surged through him, threatening to consume his heart once again.

Standing beside the window, Thiago forced himself to review every memory from his previous life.

Exactly three months remained before civilization collapsed. It would begin with rain. Not ordinary rain, but torrential storms that continued day after day without end.

The great coastal city of Harborhaven would become one of the first major cities to fall, and the low-lying districts would disappear beneath the water almost immediately.

People would flee toward higher ground, believing the floods would eventually recede. Instead, the rain would continue for months. The floodwaters would rise steadily until even the elevated neighborhoods were swallowed.

Hospitals would first become overcrowded. Then completely overrun.

As the number of infected people increased, humanity would begin desperately searching for other ways to survive, and the 911 emergency system would rapidly collapse.

The government's carefully organized tiered emergency rescue system would fail almost overnight.

Police departments would lose control, and security systems would stop functioning. What survivors later called the "Looting Spree" would begin, with everyone fighting to gain even the slightest chance of surviving in the resource-starved apocalypse.

The slums would be abandoned first. No rescue would ever come, but the wealthy neighborhoods built on higher ground would fare slightly better, because their advantages would buy them valuable time. But even money could not stop the apocalypse.

By the middle of the first year, extraordinary survivors known as the Awakened began appearing. They gathered survivors together, forming fleets and constructing massive ships that became floating strongholds.

For a while, humanity believed it had found hope. Then endless natural disasters destroyed many of those bases.

Eventually, everyone in the region placed their hopes on one legendary sanctuary. The New Beaumont's Ark.

The name alone caused hatred to surge through Thiago's chest. His thoughts turned toward Vespera.

In his previous life, he had believed their first meeting had been fate. Now he understood the truth.

She had chosen him because he was a refugee from a war-torn country, and he was easy to manipulate. Even better, he could conceal her greatest secret.

Before they married, she had already become pregnant by Leandro. Marrying Thiago allowed her to present the unborn child as her husband's. He became the perfect scapegoat! Yet he had known none of it.

Instead, he had fallen in love with Vespera at first sight, believing she loved him just as deeply.

Because of that belief, he willingly carried every burden after their marriage, paid the family's property taxes, insurance premiums, medical bills, and childcare expenses.

He worked tirelessly every day to support the household. After coming home exhausted, he still cooked every meal, and handled every imaginable house chore.

He had devoted everything to what he believed was his family. Only near the end of his previous life did he discover that Vespera had never loved him.

After the apocalypse began, she and her lover, Leandro, tricked him into handing over his ancestral ring, while they repeatedly forced Thiago into the dangerous sewage zones to search for resources and lure zombie hordes away from their shelter.

He risked his life while they enjoyed the rewards!

Remembering the betrayal made his fists tighten until his knuckles turned white.

"This time... I'll never let history repeat itself." He thought.

Suddenly, Thiago remembered that his ancestral ring was still in the apartment. Leandro and Vespera had not taken it yet.

Without hesitation, Thiago rushed toward an old wooden cabinet. He pulled open the bottom drawer and removed a small wooden box. Inside rested the silver ring exactly where he remembered leaving it. His heartbeat quickened, as he picked it up carefully.

Remembering how Leandro had accidentally awakened it in the previous life, Thiago pricked his fingertip with a sewing needle, and a single drop of blood landed on the ring.

Instantly, the blood disappeared into the ancient silver, and a soft glow spread across its surface.

At once, Thiago felt a mysterious connection form between the ring and his consciousness. Closing his eyes, he found himself standing before a vast storage space.

His expression froze.

"It really is..." Undoubtedly, it was a spatial treasure. But what shocked him even more was its size. It wasn't the four cubic meters Leandro had claimed in the previous life. It was twice as large. Eight cubic meters!

Whether Leandro had never discovered the truth or had deliberately hidden it, Thiago couldn't know. Then his eyes widened further.

In one corner of the storage space stood a neatly stacked pile of standard gold bars. There were enough to occupy nearly one cubic meter.

Thiago drew a sharp breath.

With that much gold before the apocalypse, he could purchase enough supplies to change his entire destiny. Food, medicine, fuel, generators, boats, and weapons. Everything he would need to survive!

The instant the ring space fully synchronized with him, Thiago's eyes flew open. He instinctively glanced at his hand, only to find the ring had vanished from his finger!