Strange Fierce Apparition in the Dead of Night

Back at his place, Lin Xian pulled a bottle of disinfectant mixed with bleach from behind the door and sprayed it carefully across the entrance and the hallway. Only after finishing this did he enter the room, close the security door, and latch the chain.

His first move was to pull out his phone, open the map, and search for Chen Sixuan's location.

First rule of the apocalypse: Beware the night.

Second rule of the apocalypse: Never act rashly.

Lin Xian didn't fight unprepared battles. Jiang City had already fallen completely. Those who remained were either survivors holed up in shelters, looters rampaging through the streets, or a sea of zombies.

And when night fell, things got even more terrifying, because people still had no idea how many bizarre entities lurked in the darkness.

From what survivors recounted across various radio frequencies, these things were indescribable, impossible to define. Very few people ever lived through an encounter with them.

"7.2 kilometers. Not exactly close..."

Before the apocalypse, that distance would've been a ten-minute cab ride. But now, with traffic paralyzed and bridges damaged, Lin Xian figured even on a motorcycle it'd take him half an hour.

And he had no idea what the situation was like over there. In this world, the only person worth risking your life for like this was your own mother.

Lin Xian's eyes flickered. He sighed inwardly.

Teacher Chen, I hope you're worth me taking this risk for.

18:45. Night slowly crept in.

Lin Xian pulled down the iron window shutter and started preparing dinner.

He hadn't gone scavenging today. The people who fled Jiang City and the survivors had already ransacked every supermarket and convenience store countless times. You couldn't even find a packet of ketchup anymore.

Luckily, when he scavenged, he went for more than just food and water. Mechanical items that other survivors never bothered with were also his prey.

02:42.

A faint sound jolted Lin Xian from his light sleep. He sat up, steadied himself, and stared at the door in the darkness.

The sound seemed to come from the hallway.

He grabbed his short knife and moved silently to the door.

This door had been reinforced with steel plates several times, much sturdier than a standard security door. But against those things, Lin Xian wasn't entirely confident. Living in a tall building, his only escape route was the stairwell in the hallway.

He leaned in to peer through the peephole. The hallway was pitch black, with only the faint green glow of the emergency exit light outlining the walls and floor.

He watched for a while. Nothing. He turned to go back to sleep.

But he'd only taken two steps when a strange knock came from the iron door behind him!

Thump... Thump!

Two spaced-out raps made Lin Xian's scalp tingle!

Was it really a person? Or had those things found his hiding spot?

His face grim, he turned back to the door. After a moment's hesitation, he tightened his grip on the short knife, held his breath, and peered through the peephole again.

Hiss!

What he saw through the peephole made him suck in a sharp breath!

In the dim green-lit hallway, an old man in a black burial suit had appeared out of nowhere, standing motionless in front of his door. His face was gaunt and deathly pale. His eyes were on the verge of decay—a lifeless, ashen gray that exuded a chilling aura.

The most terrifying part was that the corpse-like old man's eyes seemed to be staring right back at him through the peephole!

Lin Xian stumbled back in shock, instinctively retreating two steps, his face a mask of disbelief.

Wasn't that Old Man Li from downstairs?

But he was already dead...

Lin Xian took another half-step back, his expression grim. No doubt about it—the thing outside that looked like Old Man Li was definitely not human anymore.

A zombie?

But since when did zombies knock on doors?

Lin Xian's face darkened. If this was one of the night's horrors, he was in for a rough night.

"Old Man Li, why couldn't you just lie peacefully in your coffin and enjoy your rest? Why come back to make trouble?" Lin Xian cursed inwardly.

Time ticked by. Lin Xian had completely lost any desire to sleep. He stood by the door, back against the wall, short knife clenched tight.

The knocking never came again.

But something even stranger happened. From the wall he was leaning against came a faint scratching sound, like fingernails on plaster. It wasn't loud, but it made his skin crawl, as if something was on the other side, clawing relentlessly...

"Damn it!" He jerked back, staring at the wall. "That thing's not trying to dig its way in, is it?"

Lin Xian was dumbfounded.

The thing outside seemed to sense his presence, separated only by a single wall.

His best option now was to hold his breath, stay completely still, and make no sound. As long as the door wasn't breached, he was safe for the moment.

But he'd also prepared an escape route in advance. Most of his supplies had already been moved to the Infinite. All that was left in the apartment were a few days' worth of food and water, plus the generator and batteries.

Time crawled by. The eerie scratching sound gnawed at his mind like a demon, echoing in his ears.

After a while longer, the noise finally stopped. Lin Xian let out a breath, got up, and looked through the peephole again.

But this time, the sight before him made every hair on his body stand on end.

In the outer corridor, a girl had appeared at some point, lying slumped against the ground, covered in blood. She kept struggling to get up, reaching toward the door, her weak voice calling out—

"Save me... save me..."

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes. The girl looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, her outfit completely out of place against the backdrop of this apocalyptic world—short shorts, a low-cut tube top, a bright baseball jacket over it, and a pair of wireless headphones around her neck. She looked youthful and stylish. If not for the blood smeared across her face, Lin Xian might have thought this wasn't the apocalypse at all, but a neighbor girl visiting late at night.

Faced with the girl's plea for help, Lin Xian behind the door said nothing.

Just moments ago, he had clearly seen a dead corpse standing eerily outside. Now it had suddenly turned into a little girl. Anyone would find that beyond suspicious.

Things in the dark of night were unpredictable and sinister. Besides, he had no connection to this girl. Wouldn't opening the door just be asking for trouble?

Time slowly crept toward 5 a.m., with at least nine hours left until dawn.

Through the peephole, Lin Xian saw the girl's face had turned pale. She had slumped to the side, unconscious.

"Damn, is she some kind of demon? Setting a trap to trick me into opening the door?" Lin Xian rubbed his forehead in frustration. This situation was far more unsettling than any zombie.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Lin Xian looked again.

This time, he was shocked to see Old Man Li's figure suddenly standing beside the little girl, his head lowered, as if sniffing at her.

Then Old Man Li stiffly shifted his stance, stood in front of the little girl, and slowly bent down.

In that instant, Lin Xian's pupils contracted—because he now saw that on the back of Old Man Li's corpse, a strange bug clung like a black centipede, covered in long, slender legs, nearly the size of his entire back!

What the hell is that thing?!

Lin Xian sucked in a sharp breath.

The strange bug's legs slowly twitched, lifting Old Man Li's arms, and then it lunged toward the little girl.

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