The Mysterious Virus X

"This damn place really is creepy."

Fang Zheng shook his head and muttered to himself as he looked at the streets beneath the sunlight.

Just as Chitō Kei had said, once the sun rose, the zombies that had originally been wandering everywhere vanished without a trace. The entire street was empty, without even a single animal in sight. Honestly, the scene felt awful.

If this had been a city abandoned long ago, it might have been better. Streets overgrown with weeds might have looked chaotic, but at least they would have been a sign that nature was still alive. But now, this city still retained the appearance a city ought to have, yet not a single person could be seen anywhere. It even gave one the feeling that the city was merely a set piece, a "scene map" like something out of The Truman Show. It was enough to make one uneasy, even afraid, as though one were the only... prop left behind here. After looking at it long enough, one might even begin to suspect that the world itself was nothing more than a giant toy box, and that the owner of the box had already abandoned this toy.

Although the empty street looked like it would let Fang Zheng play Need for Speed to his heart's content, it was actually far from safe here.

One could even say... it was extremely dangerous.

Whoosh—!

As Fang Zheng rounded a street corner, a small black shadow suddenly leaped from the nearby rooftop, spread its arms, and pounced at him. It was astonishingly fast, nearly as quick as a hunting cheetah. In the blink of an eye, the shadow had reached Fang Zheng—only for an arrow to shoot through its body, sending it flying back with a shriek and pinning it