Zombie outbreak!

Li Yu had only just answered the phone and was still half asleep, but what his eldest uncle told him jolted him wide awake. He murmured, "Did it happen early?"

His eldest uncle, who was driving, hadn't caught what Li Yu said. He asked, "What was that? I couldn't hear you.

"Leave right now. Who knows what might change by tomorrow or the day after!"

The background was noisy, filled with the wail of police sirens.

Li Yu collected himself and told his eldest uncle, "Have Xiao Lue and Auntie pack their things. I'm coming over now."

"All right! I'll hang up, then." He also seemed to address a teammate beside him. "Is all the riot gear ready?"

Li Yu hurriedly added, "Uncle, this sounds like something out of the ordinary. Be careful. If anything happens, come to my tourist park."

"Okay!" His eldest uncle hung up after that.

Li Yu quickly got out of bed, washed his face, then woke his younger brother and told him to come out with him.

His brother had been sleeping soundly and wasn't too happy about being woken so abruptly.

Li Yu didn't care whether he was happy about it. He hauled his brother up and rushed outside.

"Wait, let me put my shoes on. Where are we going? It's the middle of the night..." Li Hang complained.

"I'll tell you in a bit. Go get a car. We'll take one each." Li Yu waited for him to put his shoes on, then headed outside.

Halfway there, Li Yu seemed to remember something. He went down to the warehouse, unlocked it, and took out two machetes, hastily wrapped them in cloth, and carried them away.

At the gate, Li Yu and Li Hang each took one side and pushed open the eight-meter-long gate. When Li Yu had first insisted on installing such a thick gate, his family hadn't understood at all.

Although it looked incredibly secure, it was so thick and heavy that opening it took a tremendous amount of effort.

After they pushed it open, Li Yu walked toward the cars and told Li Hang, "Uncle just called. Something strange has happened in a village in our county. Everyone there has caught some kind of virus. They're like zombies. They might impose traffic restrictions in a few days, too. We're going to pick up Auntie and the others."

Li Hang froze at that.

"Huh? What virus? Does it have anything to do with this awful weather we've been having?"

"I don't know either. Let's go first. It's a fair drive."

They set off in their cars and checked the time.

November 21, 3:00 a.m.

As they drove along the national highway, the sky was pitch-black, without a trace of light, and there were barely any cars on the road.

They saw only a handful of vehicles along the way.

Only as they approached the county town did traffic gradually grow heavier.

Suddenly, Li Yu heard a thunderous roar.

Looking through the car window, he actually saw two helicopters roaring past.

What's going on? They've even sent out helicopters. There are actually helicopters in this little county town.

Li Yu's heart lurched. Had it really happened early?

No. He suddenly remembered that before his rebirth, he had been in M City. Since he had stayed in his rented room the whole time, he hadn't known anything about what was happening outside.

In other words, it hadn't happened early at all, nor had it first happened on November 25.

Zombies had already appeared before then. He simply hadn't known.

It was only after the heavy rain on the twenty-fifth that the situation had spiraled completely out of control. After all, the zombies spread incredibly fast. Anyone bitten would turn within three seconds.

They sped along...

As they passed a supermarket, they saw that its glass doors had been shattered and were smeared with blood. What looked like two bodies lay on the ground.

A police car was parked nearby, and some residents had gathered around the supermarket, talking among themselves.

"Holy shit, what's going on? How did people end up dead?"

"I heard two people came to rob the supermarket and smashed the doors open..."

"How come I heard that Wang from next door got caught having an affair, and then her husband found out..."

"They moved! They moved! The corpses are coming back to life!"

The bodies that had clearly been lying on the ground began to twitch slowly. Then they clambered upright in an inhuman posture, their arms hanging loose, and slowly raised their faces.

What a face it was!

It was covered in blood, a mangled mess of flesh. Its eyeballs seemed to have been pulled out, dangling and swaying in the air.

A chunk of flesh seemed to have been bitten out of its arm, and black-and-white blotches covered its entire body.

The other corpse beside it also clambered up.

Everyone around them took several steps back together, and the noisy chatter abruptly stopped.

"Move away! Everyone, clear out!" Three officers climbed out of the police car that had just arrived.

Before their words had even faded, the two zombies suddenly charged into the crowd.

Everyone scattered in panic.

But one elderly man, likely slowed by his age, couldn't run fast enough. One of the zombies caught him.

Crunch!

The zombie sank its teeth straight into the old man's neck.

Blood spurted out with a wet hiss.

The people fleeing ahead looked back, saw the horrifying scene, and instantly ran even faster.

The three officers hurried after them, but before they could check on the bitten old man, the zombie turned and charged at them.

"What the fuck is that?!" Li Hang shouted at the sight, his mind instantly going blank.

Li Yu had seen it too. He rolled down his window and shouted to Li Hang in the other car, "Keep going! We need to pick up Auntie and the others first."

Li Yu was anxious too. He didn't know whether this was an isolated case or whether a widespread outbreak had already begun. All he could do now was hurry.

I hope Auntie and the others are all right.

He called his eldest uncle's wife, only to find that his phone showed just one bar of signal.

Ring... ring, ring, ring...

The call only connected when it was almost about to time out.

Li Yu briefly told his aunt to pack her things and that he would be there soon...

He was just about to tell them to wait at home and not come downstairs when the call cut off.

He tried again, but it wouldn't connect. Looking at his phone, he saw that even the last bar of signal had vanished.

Li Yu's heart sank, and he floored the accelerator.

His aunt lived in an old part of town, beside a kindergarten. One turn around the corner would bring them there.

With their destination almost in sight, Li Yu thought to himself:

The outbreak must have started early. We have to hurry, or we'll be in trouble once it spreads.

When they reached the building where his aunt lived, they spotted her waiting downstairs with Xiao Lue before they had even parked.

Beside the two of them were more than a dozen bags of various sizes.

His aunt's face lit up when she saw Li Yu. She waved from a distance. "Yu, over here! Over here!"

Seeing that his aunt and Xiao Lue were unharmed, Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

He stopped the car and, without wasting a word, began loading their things while telling his aunt, "Let's get in the cars, quick!"

His aunt looked at Li Yu's stern expression, then at Li Hang, who seemed dazed, as though he had seen something unbelievable.

She wanted to ask what had happened, but just as she opened her mouth, Li Yu quickly said, "Don't ask yet. Load everything up. I'll explain in a bit."

"Xiao Hang, stop spacing out! Hurry!" Seeing that Li Hang was still caught up in what they had witnessed even after parking, Li Yu shouted angrily.

"Oh, oh, right." Li Yu's shout seemed to snap Li Hang out of his daze.

He quickly got out and helped load the luggage. The two cars had just enough room to hold it all.

"Auntie, Xiao Lue, ride with me." Li Yu glanced at Li Hang with some concern.

He patted him. "Xiao Hang, hurry up. Follow behind me, and keep your eyes on the road."

Then he took one of the knives he had brought when they left out of the car and handed it to Xiao Hang.