The same scenes kept repeating across Mechanical City's nine Inner Cities and eighty-one Outer Cities.
Some people stopped in their tracks.
Some started running back.
Some stood rooted to the spot, motionless as statues.
But there were clever people, too.
No matter what anyone else said, those people held to one conviction:
The zombies had already attacked Mechanical City's Outer Cities. The Outer Cities were no longer safe.
They would escape into the Inner Cities first.
As for... whether to go to the Core Area, that could wait.
Every extra moment alive counted.
The apocalypse itself was a process of natural selection.
People who wavered, who were easily deceived, would have grass three meters tall growing over their graves in a real apocalypse.
Those who had truly waded through piles of corpses would not stand there hesitating.
And the price of standing still in hesitation came swiftly.
"Hhh... hhh..."
Hoarse growls came from the other end of the street.
The man who was still agonizing over his decision suddenly turned around.
He saw zombies.
A black mass of zombies.
They poured around the corner like a tide, filling the entire street.
Those things' eyes glowed an eerie green in the darkness.
Their mouths split all the way to their ears, exposing jagged fangs.
Rotting flesh hung from their skeletons, scraps falling with every step.
The man's pupils suddenly dilated.
He wanted to run.
But it was already too late.
The zombie tide swallowed him.
Swallowed his wife.
Swallowed his child.
The screams lasted less than a second before the growling drowned them out completely.
More zombies poured out of the Light Gate.
Growling greedily, they swept toward the Inner City.
And behind them, that enormous, distorted black shadow was slowly opening its eyes.
Dark red light shone like two lanterns