Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Early the next morning, my mother woke up.

I woke up shortly after and took out some frozen shrimp, planning to make a pot of shrimp congee for breakfast.

Large pieces of shrimp mixed into the congee with green vegetables, bubbling away in the pot-it was both nutritious and delicious.

The true outbreak would reach this area around 12:00 PM. However, it had actually begun in the city center as early as 11:00 AM.

Eating the shrimp one by one, Xia Yang and I kept our mother seated further back from the windows. When the zombies arrived, the scene would be far too bloody and disgusting. We didn’t want her to see it.

Meanwhile, I kept scrolling through my phone without a pause.

In our homeowners’ group chat, the residents of our building were already in an uproar. They said the elevator had broken down early this morning. True to form, the property management was dragging its feet, claiming the surveillance cameras were down and they didn’t know how the elevator had broken, but they would arrange for repairs soon.

The residents on the 14th and 15th floors were surprisingly quiet; for some reason, they weren’t saying much. Only the people on the 10th floor were in the chat, cursing up a storm.

I watched silently for a while before closing the app. In the apocalypse, survival was the only thing that mattered.

I turned my attention to the news.

I noticed that around 7:00 AM, there were already reports of “rabies” in some coastal areas and a few scattered cities.

Foreign reports seemed to have surfaced even earlier, appearing weeks ago. However, most of them had been suppressed.

It was likely a virus that had come from abroad.

This was supposed to be an ordinary day. A young pregnant woman was strolling through the streets, holding her lover’s hand. As they walked, a slow-moving young man in front of them suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The pregnant woman thought it was strange. Suddenly, the young man lunged forward like an arrow. He pinned down a passing pedestrian and began to tear and bite at them.

Some people around them screamed, while others backed away. Someone took out a phone to record, and a bold individual stepped forward to help, only to be tackled by the young man as well. Before the crowd could flee, the pedestrian who was bitten first stood up in a strange manner and lunged at others. Further away, similar chaos was breaking out.

The mayhem had begun.

On the television, with the volume turned down low, was the show I knew so well I could practically recite it: “Empresses in the Palace.”

When noon arrived, just as the character Gua Liu was about to expose Noble Consort Xi’s affair, the fragrant braised pork and pork-and-cabbage dumplings were fresh off the stove.

The braised pork was tender and delicious. Although the dumplings were the instant variety, they didn’t taste bad at all.

The fresh meat we bought had to be eaten as soon as possible. The same went for foods like dumplings that required a lot of water and electricity to prepare. It was better to eat them now while the utilities were still running.

I had told my family earlier that the water and electricity would likely be cut off in about a week. Several folding buckets in the kitchen had already been filled with water in advance.

At this time, without even looking, I knew the various media platforms would be boiling over.

But since I had already experienced all of this once before, I was more focused on the homeowners’ group chat. After all, our home was a prime target, and we had to be extremely careful to protect ourselves.

Suddenly, a loud crash rang out. The three of us froze. My mother and I walked to the window simultaneously, lifting a corner of the curtain to look outside.

Xia Yang used the tablet to check the surveillance feed.

A private car outside the residential complex had crashed into the statue at the entrance.

Behind the car, a dense swarm of “people” was running rapidly toward the gate.

But through my binoculars, I could see clearly. Those were actually zombies.

It had been the same in my previous life. Because the city center fell so quickly, many people realized they needed to flee to less populated areas. However, this only served to lure the massive number of zombies from the city center to the outskirts.

The people in the car were likely trying to escape, but an accident had occurred.

A security guard tried to go over to check on them, but as soon as he got close, a zombie lunged from behind and bit him. Blood splattered everywhere, and his screams echoed continuously.

The people in the buildings closest to the gate probably saw it even more clearly.

Someone in the homeowners’ group chat immediately uploaded a video of what had just happened.

I could hear someone somewhere in the complex shouting in rage, “What the hell are those things?”

I couldn’t help but turn and emphasize to my family again: “Zombies chase sound, scent, and light. We must stay quiet and keep the lights off. Be as careful as possible with everything.”

We left the window and gathered around Xia Yang to watch the surveillance footage.

At this point, there were still some people moving about in the complex.

When those zombies saw living people, they began to charge frantically into the residential area.

Some people were fast and lived close by, managing to scramble back home in time, but others had no way to escape. One girl in high heels lost her life simply because she couldn’t run fast enough.

Not long after being gnawed on by the zombies, she stood up unsteadily, becoming one of them.

Before long, there wasn’t a single living person left in the open space outside the complex.

The residential area fell into a deathly silence.

I glanced at my social media feed. Everywhere people were talking about the zombies that had appeared today. Some people reached out and sent me messages, but to be honest, I didn’t really have many friends. I didn’t dare contact anyone from work, fearing they might gossip and let Liu Jinjin know my situation, so I simply played dead on social media.

Meanwhile, the homeowners’ group chat had quickly hit 99+ messages. Almost everyone was in a state of panic and lamentation.

“What do we do? What do we do? Has anyone called the police?”

“I did, but can the police even get here?”

“There are zombies banging on the unit door of our building!”

“Keep quiet! One or two won’t be able to break it down. Don’t let more zombies hear you.”

“We don’t have any food at home. Who has extra? I’ll pay for it.”

“We have a child here. I’ll buy food-I’ll give you however much money you want.”

Most of the messages were various pleas to buy food.

But everyone was a shrewd operator; in a situation like this, who would be willing to give up their supplies?

In these circumstances, food was the only hard currency. Money was just scrap paper.

However, after a short while, someone from property management appeared.

“Property owners, please do not panic. Given the current situation, please do not go outside; stay hidden in your homes. As for supplies, we are conducting a census. Everyone, please report how many people are in your household and how much food you have. Let’s help each other. We’ll try to ensure everyone has something to eat while we wait for rescue.”

Some people began to naively state their situations. But looking through the chat from start to finish, most of those who proactively shared their stats were those with very few supplies. They were hoping to receive help.

My family remained silent. After all, as far as anyone knew, I was someone who had already “moved away.”

My mother was badly shaken by the bloody scenes. She finally understood what the zombies Xia Yang and I had been talking about really were.

Now that things had reached this point, she became belatedly anxious. “Did we stockpile enough food? Will those monsters come up here?”

“Our supplies are enough for the three of us to eat for two or three years,” I comforted her. “The government won’t just leave these monsters to run wild. Right now, we just need to focus all our efforts on staying alive.”

Mother nodded, but she couldn’t help turning around to grab a cake from the back to eat. Whenever she felt stressed or anxious, she would eat something sweet.

These cream cakes wouldn’t keep for long, so she gave one to me and one to Xia Yang as well, telling us to have some dessert after finishing our lunch.

By the time we finished lunch and cleaned up, the homeowners’ group chat had changed again.

Just as I remembered, someone leaked that there was a small supermarket and a warehouse over by the property management building. Under pressure, property management promised they would try to distribute food based on the number of people in each household.

As a result, the group chat turned into a competition of headcounts.

“There are twenty-six households in our building. Surely you should take care of our side first?”

“We have elders and children over here!”

The arguments in the group grew more heated. I figured our building was in the furthest corner and had relatively few residents. Even if property management were truly kind enough to deliver food, they probably wouldn’t make it to us. Feeling relieved, I exited the chat and started checking the news.

Mother was watching the news on TV. The broadcast was reporting cases of infected people biting others, urging citizens not to go out and to wait for rescue.

Xia Yang handed me his phone. It was the trending searches on Weibo. Many people were trapped at home and were indeed short on food, seeking help online.

Moreover, people from many different cities were talking about their local situations and whether their areas had fallen.

But none of this would end so quickly.

In another two days, all TV programs would stop and switch to retransmitting the central station. The central station would broadcast repeatedly, urging everyone to stockpile supplies, stay at home, avoid going out unless absolutely necessary, and wait for rescue.

This was all something I had experienced before.

However, it was still the early stages and many people were still alive, so I looked online to see the survivor situation in our city.

Though, people who truly had supplies would likely choose to stay silent, just like me.

As I was scrolling through my phone, I suddenly noticed that someone was @ing me in the homeowners’ group chat.

My heart sank, but I didn’t dare speak. I only entered the group to check the situation.