Morning Exercise

Sunshine Residential Complex.

"Morning, Uncle Lin."

Feifei, a well-behaved girl, was on her way to Grandma Liang's place for a lesson, her schoolbag on her back, when she ran into Lin Fan. She greeted him very politely.

"Feifei really is a good kid who loves to study. How are your lessons with Grandma Liang going? Have you learned much? Do you think she explains things better than your teachers at school?" Lin Fan was very concerned about Feifei's studies.

He'd suffered from not having studied enough.

All he could do during the apocalypse was hack zombies apart with a sword. If he'd loved studying and known how to invent things, he could have put his clever little mind to work and set traps, killing zombies without breaking a sweat.

Unlike him, who could only rely on brute strength.

"Yes. Grandma Liang teaches really well. There were lots of problems I couldn't solve, but as soon as Grandma Liang explained them a little, I understood."

She was still a little afraid of Uncle Lin.

He'd bought her so many practice books.

She could never finish them all.

And Grandma Liang assigned homework too: half a math paper and half a Chinese paper... Anyway, it was a lot. Every night, she had to stay up until nine, just like when she used to go to school. Nothing had changed.

"Mm, good. Keep it up. When you finish those papers, Uncle Lin will buy you more." Lin Fan gently patted Feifei's little head. He couldn't promise her anything else, but when it came to studying, no matter how broke he was, he'd grit his teeth and buy her practice books. He absolutely wouldn't let the child go without.

His words rang in her ears, and Feifei's little face turned pale with fright.

If there'd been a little more room in the stairwell,

she would've liked to dance for Uncle Lin and sing him a song.

Listen to me say thank you, because you've warmed all four seasons. Thank you, I'm grateful to have you...

She really was grateful.

Grateful to Uncle Lin for giving her homework she could never finish.

Waaah...

Whenever she thought about it, she wanted to cry.

She really wanted to tell Uncle Lin, "Please don't buy any more. Really, don't. I want to know what life without homework feels like."

"Go on, get to your lesson."

Lin Fan waved her off.

He went to the community garden downstairs, where vegetables had already been planted. All they needed was a little time, and the seeds would work their magic.

Sister Li and Grandma Xu would take good care of them.

He breathed in the fresh air.

There were no car exhaust fumes, and the air really was fresh. It had an indescribable quality to it.

"I should get some proper exercise."

He'd always had the good habit of working out.

The exercise equipment downstairs was pretty good.

But today he wanted to go for a run. The reason was simple: he felt like running.

Of course, he could run around the complex too, but he wanted to enjoy the scenery along the way as he ran. That would be a wonderful thing.

He had his whole day planned out.

Run, work, eat, work, eat, sleep.

An ordinary day could still feel fulfilling if you put your heart into it. That was the difference between taking things seriously and not.

He left the complex, hopping over the gate as usual.

Under normal circumstances,

those two iron gates definitely wouldn't be opened.

It was a little dangerous outside.

He landed steadily and looked to either side. The area seemed a little desolate.

He reached the sidewalk, took a deep breath, and started jogging at an easy pace before gradually speeding up. Just because there were no cars on the road didn't mean you could run or race-walk wherever you pleased.

That was a very bad idea. Even children knew that.

Lin Fan might not have studied much, but he still understood things like that.

He ran along the sidewalk, planning to warm up with a half-hour jog.

Just then.

"Good morning..."

As Lin Fan passed a zombie that was gnawing on a corpse, he smiled and greeted it, then kept running.

The zombie heard him and twisted its head around. It immediately locked onto Lin Fan. Seeing fresh meat bouncing around right in front of it, the zombie let out a roar and chased after him without a second thought.

It roared as it ran.

Any ordinary person would've gotten goosebumps and broken into a cold sweat at the sight. Being chased by a zombie was probably more terrifying than seeing a ghost.

The zombie was fast, running at about the speed of a person sprinting.

"I never thought even zombies knew morning exercise was good for their health."

Lin Fan wasn't a competitive man, but he couldn't let a zombie catch up to him and make him look bad. Naturally, he sped up, keeping a steady distance between them.

"Let's run together, but I don't think you'll catch me," Lin Fan said over his shoulder.

"Grrr!"

Instead of getting a proper response,

he only provoked another furious roar from the zombie.

"What a stubborn zombie," Lin Fan said with a laugh. Running made him feel great, and his blood was pumping faster too.

Gradually,

the zombies in the street, in the shadows, and in the corners all heard the noise.

Seeing one of their kind chasing fresh meat, they joined the running group one after another.

The pack of runners grew larger and larger.

The zombies didn't start rotting away and lose the ability to move as time went on. On the contrary, they all seemed lively and strong—healthier, even, than healthy people.

"Come on, come on! Pick up the pace and keep up with me. But don't run too fast. If you fall, that's not my problem."

He ran past one street after another.

"Holy crap... Look, someone's being chased by zombies! Aren't there way too many of them?" Some survivors were hiding in a safe place. They'd meant to check out the area, but who could've guessed they'd see something like this?

Their companions gathered around and drew back the curtains to watch what was happening outside.

"That guy's as good as dead. No one could save him."

"Just look at how he's running. You can tell he's smart. He isn't panicking; he's keeping his cool. That's the best thing he can do. Once you panic, things go wrong."

"Mm, that makes sense."

"Do you think he can get away?"

"Forget it. There's no way. People have limited stamina. If they're chased like that for long enough, they'll run out of energy. Zombies seem to have endless stamina. He can't outrun them."

The survivors talked quietly among themselves.

They'd gradually banded together. They'd lost companions and saved others, but they'd stayed rational, just as they had been before the apocalypse. They hadn't thought the end of the world meant they could do whatever they wanted. Instead, they'd stuck together and fought the zombies as a group.

Lin Fan hadn't noticed them.

If he had,

he would've greeted them, waving and saying, "Hello there!"

As he ran,

he spotted some zombies up ahead, crowded together and clawing at a roll-up shutter. They rammed and pounded it over and over, making it rattle loudly.

"What are those guys doing?"

Lin Fan was puzzled. Was there something good behind the door that had attracted all those zombies?

He didn't really understand what was going on.

He didn't think much of it. The zombies weren't bothering him, so they could bang on their door while he went for his run. They had nothing to do with each other.

There was no need to say hello.

You had to take things seriously.

If he greeted the zombies, he'd surely distract them, and they'd come running after him instead.

Of course, he had to pass by them. Whether they followed him or not was up to them.

As he passed them,

he suddenly stopped.

He heard crying from the second floor of the shop.

He listened carefully.

It was a baby crying.

Could there be a baby inside the shop?