Xu Duoduo had been careful all along. When people in the community chat traded supplies, she stayed out of it. Later, when some could no longer stand being cooped up and started visiting their neighbors, she still stayed inside, avoiding contact with others as much as possible.
The internet connection kept cutting in and out, so all messages were delayed.
The messages she sent her friend vanished without a trace, and her heart sank along with them.
Meanwhile.
She began keeping a diary.
On the first day, the zombie outbreak began, but the authorities were doing everything they could to handle it, so things remained under control for the time being. There were simply far more vehicles entering and leaving the residential complex, and plenty of people in protective suits bustled about downstairs.
On the second day, the temperature plummeted. The most extreme swing came when the morning was so hot that people could barely stand wearing clothes, only for the evening to turn unbearably cold.
Luckily, the utilities were still functioning, and the heating came on in time to save them.
On the third day, problems began appearing in some water sources. The spread of the zombie virus was getting out of control, and worst of all, the power outages kept growing longer.
Xu Duoduo had barely slept over those three days and finally managed to cook most of her food, but toward the end, she hardly dared eat anything that gave off a smell.
After the third day, the food deliveries stopped. No one brought any food, the grounds of the complex descended into chaos and then emptied out, and no more vehicles came.
On the fourth day, the water began to smell strange. No one dared drink tap water anymore. By the afternoon, some people could no longer stand it and wanted to leave the complex to see what was happening, though many residents shouted down from upstairs, telling them not to go.
But they demanded to know whether they were supposed to die of thirst without going out to check. "You're too scared to go out, so we'll go!"
"Exactly! What if they've abandoned us and all run off? None of the medical staff came today! Are we supposed to stay trapped here forever?!"
Those few bold residents refused to listen. Or perhaps, after all the surreal events of the past few days, they were already on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Just as they were about to leave, they spotted a figure in a protective suit. Reassured, they immediately waved, and one even began swearing. "Fuck, I thought you bastards were going to let us starve or die of thirst! Did you know the tap water smells weird?"
The others chimed in. "Exactly! Hurry up and do something about the drinking water!"
Xu Duoduo thought they were being terribly rude to the volunteer, but a moment later, she noticed that the person in the protective suit wasn't moving normally. Her heart sank further, and she could no longer muster even a shred of hope.
With dull eyes, she drew the curtains, turned around, and sat against the wall. Taking her diary out of her storage space, she wrote: November 6, 2029. All medical volunteers have fallen. Order in the complex will soon collapse.
If no one from the authorities came, it could only mean one thing: they couldn't.
Things really were dire.
Sure enough, terrified screams rose from downstairs. The people who had been about to leave the complex frantically shouted that this volunteer had caught the rabies virus too.
Everyone upstairs was too frightened to make a sound. Almost all of them immediately went to lock their front doors.
Large tears spilled from Xu Duoduo's eyes, but there was nothing she could do. The apocalypse survival manual had already predicted when order would collapse. Sure enough, it officially began on the fourth day, right on schedule.
She wiped away her tears. From now on, she would have to rely on herself. She had to hold out until the later stages.
Having the authorities around to maintain order made an enormous difference. On the fourth night of the apocalypse, the screams in the complex grew louder, accompanied by the constant thuds of heavy objects hitting the ground and animal-like roars from downstairs.
People in the other buildings began fighting over supplies. Everyone was panicking.
Whenever she had a signal, Xu Duoduo saw the messages people posted in the community chat. Most were filled with despair, and she tried hard to shut out the bad news.
To keep herself calm.
The greatest danger in a situation like this was a mental breakdown. As an ordinary person, Xu Duoduo felt she was already doing remarkably well. Besides, she still had her storage space to rely on. Without it, she might have felt hopeless too.
Compared with everyone else's anxiety over food and water, she was doing all right.
So when someone knocked on her front door, Xu Duoduo made no sound at all. She had food and water. Staying holed up at home was her best protection.
Two more days passed. The water and electricity were cut off completely, and the complex lost all signs of life.
Zombies now wandered downstairs, scratching at the doors every day. But these early-stage zombies couldn't break doors down yet. All they could do was scratch.
As long as she didn't go downstairs, she was safe.
But the survivors' fights over supplies grew increasingly fierce. People had tried to smash down Xu Duoduo's door several times, and she had even heard neighbors in her building muttering about how sturdy it was. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't make it budge.
What they didn't know was that if they ever did break through, Xu Duoduo, who stood guard beside the entrance, would start up her chainsaw. She might have been afraid, but that didn't mean she wouldn't fight back. Fortunately, her door really was sturdy.
The security door she had spent over ten thousand on had been worth every penny. It was incredibly, incredibly sturdy.
But even though she had had no contact with anyone.
What Xu Duoduo couldn't understand was that she seemed to be turning into a zombie. Her thoughts began slowing, her body grew sluggish, and so did her tongue. On the tenth day of the apocalypse, she had no choice but to admit she had become a zombie. She was so furious that she lay in bed for ten whole days.
Why give me a storage space, the standard protagonist perk, if you're just going to turn me into a zombie right at the start?!
This is enough to drive a zombie mad!
She couldn't speak when she opened her mouth, either. All that came out was "Abba, abba," and she kicked her legs in frustration.
Then she realized her kicks had become more fluid, and only then did she roll out of bed. Next, she discovered that her stiff body had softened again and regained some of its flexibility. Her tongue, however, still wouldn't cooperate.
Perhaps it was because she hadn't spoken to anyone in so long, or because of some psychological factor.
Xu Duoduo could still only say "Abba, abba." Her cheeks puffed out in frustration as she sat cross-legged on the bed, thinking for a long while before remembering to write in her diary.
Then she discovered that her brain hadn't fully recovered either. It worked more slowly than before, and some things took ages to figure out. That realization left her laid up in a fury for another three days. Finally, when she discovered she could survive without eating, she wanted to cry even more.
The apocalypse has only just started, and I stocked up on so much food and water. Now that I'm a zombie, I can't eat any of it!
Xu Duoduo really wanted to burst into tears with a wail, but zombies had no tears, so she silently shut her mouth again. She took out some food and chewed it plain, but she could taste only one percent of its flavor, leaving her heart cold and bleak.
By the time she had spent several bouts lying in her room in a furious slump, more than half a month had passed since the apocalypse began.
Xu Duoduo knew nothing about the outside world. Her complex had lost all signs of human activity, more and more zombies gathered downstairs, and some that could climb walls had appeared.
There were still survivors.
She could hear them coming out during the day to search for supplies. They had tried to pry her door open several times, but still couldn't get it open and had to give up.
Xu Duoduo couldn't be bothered with them, either. She wasn't human anymore, after all.
She had planned to keep doing nothing, until the morning of the twenty-sixth day of the apocalypse, when the sound of artillery began echoing through the previously quiet K City. The rescue operation had finally begun.
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