The man looks like he stepped straight out of a classical Chinese painting.

His long hair, pulled back from his face in a half ponytail, is so white it's almost glowing. It reminds me of the first time I'd gone skiing and seen the perfect, unbroken surface of the freshly fallen snow in the early morning, before snowboarders and skiers arrived to destroy it. Looking at this man's hair makes me want to put on my ski goggles lest I get snow blindness. I also have the strange urge to run my hands through it, to see if it's really as smooth and cold as it looks.

The look on the man's face quashes that thought. He'd probably chop my hands off and step on me if I even dared near his hair with those intentions. I like my hands where they are, thanks.

The cold expression doesn't detract from his looks any; rather, his beautiful face is enhanced by his icy gaze. His sharp and delicate features are very different from my own babyface.

If not for the pale peach hue of his skin, he could be mistaken for an ice sculpture made by a master sculptor. His eyes are the same pale blue as his robes, which have the same snowy sparkle as his hair and are long and flowy, true to the style of ancient China. In the hand not holding my phone, he holds a fan made of ice. When he flicks it open, it displays an ever-changing snowscape.

Maybe it's just because I'm sitting open-mouthed on the ground while he's standing and quite literally looking down on me, but like this, with the open fan covering the lower half of his face, it seems as if no matters of the human realm could ever touch him; like a true deity, come down to earth for matters incomprehensible to our tiny mortal minds.

“Greetings,” he murmurs. “I am Bai Xuehua.”

W…White Snowflake? His name is seriously White Snowflake?

“You must be my new summoner.”

His eyes hold mine for what feels like an eternity, staring into my soul and finding it lacking.

Then, unexpectedly, he kneels before me. Goddamn, even that simple action holds more grace than I can ever hope to display. He offers me my phone and I automatically reach out to take it.

Before I can pull back, he takes my hand and presses a kiss against the back of it. A stylised snowflake blooms where his lips touch my skin and a wave of cold washes through me.

“I am yours to command, my liege,” he murmurs against my hand. His lips are as just as cold as the hand holding mine and I have the idle thought that he sure would be a great guy to have around in summer. “Have you need of me, you need only call my name, and I, Bai Xuehua, will appear by your side.”

Then he bursts into a flurry of snow and disappears.

I am left alone, outstretched hand holding my phone.

...

What the hell was that?! Where did he come from?! Where did he go?!

I freak out for about five minutes, then get over it. This day has already been so goddamn weird; this may as well just happen.

It occurs to me that I understood everything he said perfectly, despite him speaking an unfamiliar dialect. It sounded like Mandarin, but not. His speech gave me the overall impression of… antiquity. If you were a Modern Mandarin speaker, you’d get the gist of it if you concentrated but not the details. It was sort of like how Middle English was to Modern English.

So, for me, one who’s not even fluent in Mandarin, it should have been impossible.

The way he appeared and disappeared is definitely weirder though. I distinctly remember there being snow with his exit, but the floor around me is perfectly dry. A bit dirty, especially where the dead waitress was slumped before, but dry.

I squint suspiciously at my phone. I bought it myself last year from an official store, and have never had any modifications done to it. It should just be a regular smartphone, so why…?

How did it start flying? Where did that weird app come from? I’m not connected to Wi-Fi and don’t have mobile data, so how was it downloaded?

I unlock my phone and realise the screen’s changed. A full body picture of Snowflake now occupies the screen. There is some Chinese text beneath him, and I recognise some of the characters.

白雪花 – that’s his name.

When I scroll down, what looks like a stats screen is shown. One part catches my eyes,【屬性:冰】I don’t know what the first two characters are, but the third – bīng – is ‘ice’.

So Snowflake has something to do with ice. Never would have guessed.

I skim through the rest of the text. I can recognise a few words here and there but not enough to put together any sentences. There are numbers, but without knowing what the numbers are for, they are useless.

I press the back button and explore the rest of the app. It seems more like a card collectible game than anything else. I don’t have much experience with those. The menu screen has several buttons, some of them greyed out and locked.

The button leading to screen I first saw with the magic circle is unlocked. In the middle of the summoning circle is now the number 100 with picture of a crystal next to it. I assume to summon another, I’d have to collect that many crystals. I have no idea where to get the crystals and how the transaction would take place though. There’s a box in the top right corner showing how many crystals I have, which is zero.

Another unlocked button leads to a 4 column grid. All the spaces are empty so I have no idea what it’s for. The button has a satchel on it though so it’s possibly some kind of inventory? A window pops up with an explanation I can’t read and is immediately dismissed.

The third and last unlocked button seems to be an compendium of my summons. The only entry is of Snowflake. I tap it and it comes up with his stats screen. There’s no button that appears to be [Summon]. So if Snowflake was telling the truth, the only way to summon him is to call out his name.

I should practice calling him out. I really should. What if I suddenly get attacked by zombies and it turns out just calling his name isn’t enough? I should really give it a try.

…I don’t want to. Even though he seems to have subordinated himself to me, he’s still scary. Everything about him is intimidating. His looks, his aura, his height… although that last one may just be because I was on the ground.

I’ll definitely call him out if there’s danger, but doing that right now, less than fifteen minutes after his first summon, for essentially no reason, just seems like a bad idea.

I exit the app and check to see if anything else has changed. All my apps are still there and nothing else has been added. Checking the settings doesn’t yield anything strange either. But something still seems off…

Then I realise. My battery indicator is gone. I restart my phone, and it’s still gone. I check the settings more thoroughly and realise everything pertaining to the battery is gone as well.

Strange. I really hope this means that whatever magic put that app there is powering my phone, and not that my phone’s just going to suddenly die and stay dead. Just in case, I make a note to minimise my use of it.

The light blue snowflake on the back of my left hand is of an extremely simple design. If you asked a child to draw a snowflake, this is most likely what they’d draw. It’s a bit obvious, but doesn’t look particularly magical. It just looks like a regular tattoo, only a bit brighter in colour. I run my fingers across it. It feels like normal skin too. It’s on the same hand as the zombie bite.

I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be turning into a zombie any time soon. Still not sure if that’s because I’m immune or these just aren’t the typical western brand of zombie. The latter is looking more and more plausible. I should probably call them something else, but ‘flesh-eating monster’ or ‘abomination’ just doesn’t have the same je ne sais quoi, so I suppose I’ll continue referring to them as zombies in my head.

The shock of everything has worn off, and now I’m just tired. The temperature in the room has finally risen back up to a comfortable temperature. I lock the door and give the kitchen a cursory check for any other entrances. Unfortunately, there’s nothing in the kitchen that I can push against the door. There’s a vent in the ceiling, but if zombies have advanced enough to climb through vents, then they probably deserve to eat me.

I’m all out of fucks to give. Come back tomorrow, they should have restocked by then.

After rechecking the door, I lay down and pass out.

Bang, bang, bang.

I groan and cover my ears.

“Go away, I’m trying to sleep here,” I mumble.

Bang, bang, bang.

“I said go away.”

There’s a pause, then the sounds come faster and more insistently. After ten seconds, I’ve finally had enough and roll to my feet. There’s a brief moment of disorientation, then the reality of everything sinks in. Zombies are a thing now and I’ve been separated from my family.

I really, really want to go back to sleep.

Bangbangbangbangbang-

“Calm the fuck down, I’m coming!” I yell at the door. Whoever’s knocking on it doesn’t seem to hear me. I scrub my face free of any dried drool.

Who’s knocking on the door? Are they in trouble? Maybe it’s someone I know?

Despite knowing that it’s near impossible, I can’t help but get my hopes up. My heart beats a little faster. Just the thought of a familiar and unzombified face makes me smile giddily.

I unlock the door and open it.

The smile falls off my face.