The Best Way to Stay Alive Is to Wait for Death

He turned on the television. A program was playing.

It was an entertainment show.

He had watched this show before. It was great, hilarious, and the skits were especially funny, always making people burst out laughing.

The screen changed to the news.

This was an emergency broadcast.

"Hello, citizens. We are interrupting programming with a news report. Bite-infected zombies have appeared in Huang City and are highly contagious. If you discover that a companion has been bitten, tie them up immediately. If you encounter zombies, avoid them. It is best to hide at home and wait..."

On the screen, the beautiful short-haired hostess in a women's suit let out a scream as a colleague with a mouth full of blood pounced on her and knocked her to the ground.

The footage shook amid screams and the sounds of chewing.

Huang City Television Station had already fallen.

Lin Fan switched to another channel.

This one was official.

If this channel showed the same thing, then the situation was truly serious.

On the screen—

There was not a soul in sight.

Suddenly—

A figure appeared in front of the camera.

"I know this host. He's famous and especially handsome. How did he become like this?"

The host was covered in blood, his body swaying. His face was deathly pale and his eyes gray. He turned before the camera, then pressed his face close to it, revealing chunks of flesh falling from his mouth.

He went to the balcony and looked down.

Car horns and crashes echoed throughout the city.

Fleeing crowds ran for their lives while zombies sprinted after them.

Piercing screams and zombie roars filled the panic. Everyone had gone mad.

A man and woman who looked like a couple ran hand in hand, with zombies chasing them from behind. As the zombies drew closer, the man shoved the woman to the ground and fled without looking back.

The woman struggled to her feet but did not leave or move. She looked toward the man running away, as if she had fallen into despair and no longer saw any meaning in escaping. She calmly closed her eyes and was pounced on by the zombies, buying the man time to flee.

"When disaster struck, everyone flew their separate ways. No... that woman really did buy him time to escape."

Just as he wanted to see whether the man had gotten away, a sedan came barreling through and slammed directly into him.

The man spun through the air and crashed into the horde of zombies.

These zombies were not shuffling forward. They were fast, and when they ran, they were no different from ordinary people.

Escaping alive would be extremely difficult.

Lin Fan stood silently before the balcony, watching what was happening on the street with remarkable calm.

When had this calm begun?

Perhaps it was the calm he had gained after witnessing himself being eaten before his rebirth.

Then something else happened.

Among the fleeing crowd, there was a man and a woman. The man held a child in his arms. Seeing the zombies closing in, he handed the child to the woman, roared, and waved his arm for her to run with the child. Then he resolutely turned and blocked the zombies.

There were too many zombies. The man did not last long before he was swallowed by them.

It formed a sharp contrast with what had happened earlier.

Some people protected those important to them.

Some pushed those important to them before the zombies.

Others shoved down strangers to buy themselves time to escape.

Some clever people hid inside sedans and locked the doors tight. Zombies crawled onto the windshields, smashing against them wildly until their heads were mangled into bloody pulp, yet they did not stop until they shattered the glass and leaped into the cars.

Some hid beneath cars. The zombies crouched down, used both hands and feet to drag them out, and greedily devoured them.

"Is this really the city I remember?"

Lin Fan muttered to himself.

He returned to the room, sat before his computer, logged onto a website, and searched for the latest information.

The incident had only just begun. Electricity and the internet could still hold out, but he did not know how long they would last.

He opened a forum.

There were many posts.

He clicked on the one with the most replies.

"Fuck! I'm finished! I worked my ass off to make money and finally bought an apartment in the city center of an international financial metropolis. I've only lived here for three days! Forget all that—can someone fucking tell me how to run?"

Many people had replied.

"A rich brother."

"Brother, just wait to die. Do you have any idea how large our population is? And you live in that kind of densely populated city. Where can you possibly run? There are probably hordes of zombies waiting downstairs for you."

"This is screwed up. I live in a big city too. I was just sleeping when I heard noise outside, opened my eyes, and realized I was fucked."

"I live in a county town. Even this tiny county town has a million people. We're doomed anyway."

"What the hell are you all talking about? My dad is outside pounding on my door like crazy. He's hitting it so hard. What am I supposed to do? I'm only thirteen! I'm skinny as a monkey, and my dad is round as a ball. How can I hold him back?"

The post was filled with helplessness and panic. At a time like this, most people surfing the internet had not yet snapped out of it and had not noticed the severity of the situation.

Then one post caught Lin Fan's attention.

The Only Way to Survive Among Zombies

He opened the post.

"Just wait to die, everyone. I'm a man, and I like dressing as a woman, but people always look at me strangely. I've already changed into women's clothes and am preparing to join the zombie group. Since I can't beat them, I'll join them. If you see me wearing women's clothes among the zombies, please voluntarily offer yourselves to my mouth."

"OP is truly talented. This young lady has put on heavy makeup and dressed herself beautifully. Even if I become a zombie, I'll become a beautiful zombie."

"I'm scared of pain. I'm planning to cut open my arm with a knife and drip zombie blood into it. That should turn me into a zombie, right?"

Lin Fan smiled. He had not expected these people's ideas to be so brilliant. They really were interesting.

Zombies?

He was not afraid of them at all. With a kitchen knife on him, he could protect himself.

It was too chaotic outside. People were running everywhere, cars were crashing everywhere, and many people were not dying at the hands of zombies, but beneath the wildly rampaging wheels of cars.

He continued browsing the forum.

They were all similar posts.

He opened a game and queued for a match, but he never matched with anyone. Somewhat regretfully, he could only play against bots to pass the time.

After a long while.

He grew tired of playing. Bots were so boring.

Lin Fan sat by the bed and looked at the teddy bear on the bedside table. He had had it for many years. It was a little worn now. He lay down and held it in his arms.

He closed his eyes.

It was something very important to him, more important than anything else.

Holding it made him feel more at ease.

After a while.

He took a notebook from the drawer and opened it. Every page was filled with writing.

Page after page.

The final page was dated 2020. He had not written in it since then.

It was now 2028.

Lin Fan picked up a pen and began writing in the notebook again.

He looked at it with a smile.

Then he closed the notebook.

He put it back in the drawer.

He lay back down on the bed, spreading himself into the shape of a "big" character. He held the teddy bear high above him, smiling brightly, then let go. The teddy bear landed on his face and let out a creaky laugh.

"Make every day count..."