I Am a Hero

Shredded Pork with Green Peppers.

Tomato and Egg Soup.

Stir-Fried Tomatoes and Eggs.

Two dishes and a soup, all for himself. It was a lavish, delicious meal with a fairly balanced nutritional combination.

Young people, especially fashionable young people, had to take a few photos and post them on their social feed whenever they cooked for themselves, showing off their wonderful lives.

Even he was no exception. He took nine photos from all sorts of tricky angles and added a caption.

"I'm seriously amazing. Two dishes and a soup—living the good life. 😊"

After posting it, there were no new updates and no replies. His social feed was quiet. Aside from the post he had just made, the previous post was still from yesterday.

He lived alone in Huang City, struggling hard just to survive. Though the process was a little tiring, he was quite satisfied with his current life.

After graduating from high school, he had not gone to college. Instead, he had started working at an interior design company, beginning as an apprentice and eventually becoming capable of handling things on his own.

Even after work, he did not have much entertainment. Most of the time, he just came home, surfed the internet, and chatted with online friends.

Ding!

Someone had commented. He opened the comments, feeling a little unhappy.

Autumn Blade Slashes Fish: "Enjoy your ass. Why haven't zombies chewed you to death yet?"

This person was one of his clients. He was fat, extremely rude, and very ugly. He had no girlfriend and was the king among single dogs.

Lin Fan calmly replied, "Have you eaten?"

Autumn Blade Slashes Fish: "Eat your mother..."

Lin Fan put down his phone, shook his head, and continued eating.

Since the apocalypse had arrived and zombies had appeared, many people had become so irritable. He did not like that. The people he used to meet all wore smiles on their faces. Even fake smiles represented a kind of friendliness.

Could it be... that with the apocalypse here, everyone felt there was no longer any need to hide their true selves?

"Everyone's become so unfriendly. This is hard."

He quietly ate his meal, then glanced at the interface.

[Name]: Lin Fan.

[Strength]: 35. (Super Strong)

[Stamina]: 10. (Standard)

[Speed]: 10. (Standard)

[Points]: 0.

"This is just like playing a game. Kill monsters, level up, gain points, then add stats. My strength is really high."

He felt incredibly strong. In any case, he was very strong, as though he could punch a cow to death with one blow. It was so violent, so terrifying.

He figured that once he had points, he could add some to stamina and then some to speed. That way, he could walk faster.

After finishing his meal, he cleared the table, washed the dishes and chopsticks, and put everything away.

He was a man of principles. He handled everything himself and never troubled others. This personality had begun when he was six or seven years old.

Once he finished what was in front of him, it was time to enjoy the sunlight. He went to the balcony and took out a book from the small bookshelf, <Stark and His Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Girlfriends>. This book had very high literary value.

It told the story of Stark, who worked in a bar and fell in love with a different woman every day, only to disappear from her side at midnight.

A cup of tea and a book.

Lin Fan had lived like this for many years.

Even though he had never gone to college, that could not stop his passion for reading literary classics.

Rustle, rustle!

It was very peaceful. Outside was peaceful too, with only the sound of him turning pages.

Was this what life in the apocalypse was like?

Yes, but also no.

Whether there was an apocalypse or not, Lin Fan always did things this way. He would not change because his environment had changed. He always held fast to his beliefs and ideas.

At that moment, the occasional sounds drifting in from the street still could not affect him. After all, he had always been able to hear the flow of traffic in the past. It made him feel that Huang City was still the same Huang City, and the streets were still the same streets. Nothing had changed.

A long while later.

After finishing one woman's story, he was deeply moved. Stark's one-day love was beautiful. His considerate nature allowed him to enter a woman's heart.

He stood up, returned indoors, opened a movie website, and searched for a film. Thinking about the situation outside, he decided to watch a zombie movie.

I Am a Hero

Judging from the reviews, it seemed quite interesting.

It was a fairly bloody zombie movie, with blood, flesh, zombies, escape, rise to power, and all sorts of other elements.

As soon as the movie began, the zombies' roars and the survivors' terror immediately drew him in.

When the tense and exciting scenes appeared, Lin Fan stared without blinking. Whenever he saw something funny, he laughed out loud. His emotions were completely immersed in the film.

Bang!

Bang!

The security door was being pounded with loud bangs, making Lin Fan frown.

"So annoying. I'm trying to watch a movie, and someone has to disturb me."

He paused the movie, walked to the door, picked up his kitchen knife, and opened the security door.

Two zombies were wandering outside. When they saw Lin Fan, they let out piercing howls.

They looked terrifying enough to scare anyone out of their wits.

"Are you two done being annoying? Do you know I'm watching a movie? Even if you're knocking, can you keep it down? I'm not deaf. I can hear you."

He swung the kitchen knife and hacked wildly at the two zombies.

Thirty-five points of strength was no joke.

With one slash, it was utterly gruesome. Heads separated from bodies, black blood splattered everywhere, and the floor was dirtied.

"So annoying. I just cleaned this floor, and you got it dirty again. Now I'll have to clean it later."

Lin Fan complained a little, then carried the kitchen knife back inside, shut the security door, returned to the computer, and resumed the movie.

The movie's sound echoed through the room.

When he reached the ending and saw the protagonist holding a shotgun and wiping out hundreds of zombies, his mouth fell open in shock.

"That's so strong. A single shotgun actually blew away hundreds of zombies. I'm so useless—I can only chop them down one at a time."

After finishing the movie.

He leaned back in his chair, unable to calm down for a long time. It was really so strong that he wanted to go outside and fight zombies for hundreds of rounds.

Ding ding!

Suddenly, his phone rang. It was a call from his boss.

"Hello, Boss. Are we still working tomorrow?" Lin Fan asked as he answered.

"Work my ass! What the hell are you doing right now?" The voice on the other end was quiet. Though angry, he did not dare speak loudly.

"Watching a movie."

"What the fuck are you really doing? Are you messing with me?"

His boss was on the verge of collapse. If zombies were not wandering outside, he would have wanted to slam the table and curse Lin Fan bloody.

"Boss, I'm really online. Why won't you believe me?" Lin Fan was helpless. Why did people these days have so little trust?

He really was online. How many times did he have to say it before he would believe him?

"I believe your grandmother." His boss hung up, his face flushed with rage. At a time like this, Lin Fan was still saying he was online. Did he take him for an idiot?

The situation outside was terrible. The employees who had worked overtime had turned into zombies, and there was nowhere to escape.

There was no food in the office either. How long could he hold out?

He regretted it.

Interior design companies did not have any 996. That was all fake. Whenever there was work, it was 24/7—twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. What holidays? Those were for useless people.

He had made many calls, hoping someone would come rescue him, but he could not reach many people. Yesterday, when it had just begun, he had managed to get through to one employee. The employee seemed to be hiding in a cabinet, but the ringtone exposed him and the zombies dragged him out.

In the end, there had only been one sentence.

"Jiang Zhongming, fuck your mother..."

It made him furious on the spot. As an employee, how dare he curse at his boss? Did he still want to keep his job?

Lin Fan held his phone, feeling a little uncomfortable. Where was the trust between people? Why would his boss not believe what he said?

He dialed the number again and turned up the movie volume. He would let his boss hear it this time. He really was watching a movie.

Jiang Zhongming hid desperately in the office, with his phone resting on the desk.

Bzzzz!

The phone vibrated, scraping loudly against the tabletop.

The zombies heard the noise and rammed the door madly. Every collision filled him with despair.

"This door should be pretty sturdy, right?"

Jiang Zhongming answered the call, staring fixedly ahead. Then his face turned pale as he remembered something terrifying.

When the company had been renovated, he had deliberately chosen this door to save money. It looked high-end and classy, but it was actually hollow.

"Boss, say something."

"Boss, I really am watching a movie. Can you hear it? Let me tell you, this movie is insanely exciting and hilarious. If you have time, you can watch it too. I think it might give you some courage."

Bang!

Before Jiang Zhongming's terrified eyes, the wooden door was smashed open. A zombie in a suit twisted its neck, black blood dripping from the corner of its mouth.

"Li Xiaodong, don't do anything rash. I'm your boss. Do you still want this month's salary? Fucking stand there! Don't move!" Jiang Zhongming shrank into the corner, his pants soaked wet.

Roar!

The zombie pounced on him.

"Lin Fan, fuck your grandfather!"

Sitting before the computer, Lin Fan was a little stunned. He had said so much to his boss, yet all he got in return was an insult.

"That's too much. Even if you're my boss, you can't just curse at people whenever you want."

Lin Fan decisively hung up. He did not want to say anything more.

Sure enough, ever since the zombie outbreak, people's hearts had changed. It seemed he would have to be more careful in the future.

Even the boss who used to call them little darlings just to coax them into working overtime had started swearing. That showed just how changeable human nature was.