Plot Chapter (The Protagonist Barely Appears) (Continued)

Some comments suggested he might have accidentally fallen into the sewer, while others provided screenshots and zoomed in on the video footage, claiming there was a dark shadow in the muddy water that dragged the person away.

The merchant replied: The place where he disappeared was more than ten meters away from the manhole cover.

The truth is self-evident.

Those mutated plants and animals that only existed in rumors finally appeared among them.

Later, the heavy rain and floods stopped, but the city was basically in chaos. The adults in the protagonist's family went to fight for supplies, and the protagonist was hit on the head while protecting his wife, but he still stubbornly carried all the supplies back home with his wife.

But when they got home, they were not greeted by the heartache and relief of their loved ones, but by blood everywhere, the cries of children, and the howls of wild animals.

A resident in the building owned a large dog that had mutated. This type of dog is known for its size and ferocity. After discovering that his beloved dog showed signs of mutation, the owner did not kill or banish it in time, but instead hid it from everyone and continued to feed it.

Ultimately, the mutated dog lost its mind, biting its owner to death before running away and wreaking havoc on the entire building.

Unfortunately, the dog owner lives on the floor above the protagonist's house.

The entire family with children on the upper floor perished tragically, and the two elderly members of the protagonist's family also sacrificed themselves to protect the children.

Ordinary weapons, like knives, hammers, and clubs, are basically useless against this mutated dog; non-lethal pain only fuels its killing intent.

If the mutated dog hadn't evolved to its strongest form before, and if the police hadn't arrived with guns, the protagonist's three children would have met with misfortune.

Traffic was congested, and apart from hospitals, police stations, and government departments, all other institutions had already ceased operations.

The protagonist's family couldn't even afford to hold a funeral for their elderly parents so they could be laid to rest.

However, this problem didn't bother the protagonists for long, because an even more serious issue arose.

The mutation of plants and animals is accelerating. Inconspicuous cats and dogs, small flowers and grasses, and even insects no bigger than a fingernail are becoming larger and longer, growing hair and scales, and developing poison and thorns. In short, the direction of mutation is strange and unpredictable.

But their only commonality is an almost fanatical obsession with human flesh and blood.

Although not every plant or animal has mutated, nobody wants to be poisoned to death by a monster while walking down the street, or dragged into a corner and bitten to death and then devoured.

At first, people could call the police, but later, there were too many cases of attacks by mutated monsters, and the police were too busy to handle them all. Ordinary people had to rely on themselves for protection.

Staying at home means your savings will run out, but going out carries the risk of death.

Many people lose their lives when faced with difficult choices.

After some time, the mutated monsters grew stronger rapidly, and hiding at home was no longer useful. Even the sturdiest security doors were as fragile as cardboard in front of certain mutated monsters.

Order has collapsed; it's a living hell.

Fortunately, the protagonist's family held out until the army arrived. After clearing out the mutated monsters, the surviving residents were moved to the newly built base.

The protagonist's family was allocated a tent, and the family earned food and drink by helping to build a fence.

The poor but at least stable days didn't last long. A strange epidemic appeared in the base, with symptoms ranging from extreme thirst and hunger in the early stages, to confusion in the middle stages, and finally to death from a persistent high fever in the later stages.

The entire process took no more than ten days.

Initially, some people speculated that these patients might become the legendary...

Zombies

But later, it turned out that this disease just wanted people to die, to die quickly.

Want to become a powerful zombie? Dream on!

The protagonist lost a child in this epidemic.

The higher-ups are working hard to develop an effective treatment, but before the drug is even developed, the mutated monster tide has arrived.

The mutated monster broke through one of the base's entrances, where the protagonist's wife was working at the time.

The base was breached, and the protagonist, with only two remaining children, retreated under the cover of the army and hid in another base.

No specific cure was ever developed for that disease because it suddenly disappeared.

It came silently, taking away a number of human lives, and then left just as silently.

The protagonist later heard that similar epidemics had occurred in many places, with different specific symptoms, but the beginnings and endings were highly similar.

The second base where the protagonist resides has higher and more stable walls, more weapons, and more complete facilities. Because of his identity as an electrical engineer, the protagonist gets a job and becomes eligible to live in the house.

The protagonist earns a meager wage, barely enough to support his family of three.

Mutant monsters attacking the city are as commonplace as eating and drinking. Occasionally, new mutated monsters will appear within the base, easily taking the life of someone who is completely unprepared.

People die every day; some are people the protagonist knows, and some are strangers.

At first, the protagonist was afraid and terrified, but later he became numb. However, he would still be unable to stop himself from shedding tears when he occasionally thought of his deceased family members.

A few years later, his remaining two children, one joined the army and the other went to work in a factory.

Like him, he may not be able to become extremely wealthy, but at least he can make a living.

Two years later, mutations in the seeds and soil led to repeated reductions in grain production, resulting in a food crisis at the base.

Internal strife broke out in the base; some died in the mouths of mutated monsters, some starved to death, and some were killed.

The protagonist, a child who joined the army, went to maintain order during a grain warehouse robbery and was shot dead.

When the protagonist was starving to death, his only remaining child gave him the last of his food.

The protagonist just lived like that, walking along roads littered with human corpses for many, many years.

As he walked along, his black hair turned white, his skin became wrinkled with age spots, his once straight back became hunched, his teeth were almost all gone, and he could no longer eat.

He lay on the bed fully clothed, feeling that he had actually lived a miserable life for the rest of his days, but compared to other humans of the same era, he was still one of the lucky ones, one in a million.

At least he survived to this point unscathed.

In a daze, he saw his parents, wife, and three children standing not far away, waving at him and smiling as they called him to come over quickly, saying they had agreed to go out for a big meal on the weekend.

The calls of his family grew clearer and clearer in his ears; he was almost losing all awareness of the outside world.

But at the moment his consciousness completely faded, he still heard waves of sound, one louder than the next, as if someone was shouting joyfully.

"The monster is gone! The monster is gone!"

"We can survive! We can survive!"

He thought, if it's true, that would be wonderful.

At night, the moonlight, as clear as water, illuminated every blade of grass and every tree on the mountaintop with exceptional clarity.

Because of the protection of the Red Fox within their clan, the Fox Clan has an extremely large number of both mutated and ordinary foxes, and the entire mountain is their territory.

Spring nights are still quite chilly, but foxes have thick fur, and they don't have to worry about predators hunting them at night, so many large foxes come out to bask in the moonlight on the grass, while the little foxes chase and play nearby.

The atmosphere was initially harmonious, but suddenly, several eerie fox howls echoed from the depths of the forest behind the meadow. The cries had no specific meaning, but their tone was full of pain and despair.

The little foxes were so frightened that their fur stood on end. They hurriedly ran back to their parents, trembling as they burrowed under them to hide.

"Hmm?" the little fox asked softly.

--Has Grandpa Fox had another episode?

"Waaaaah..."

--Grandpa Fox must be in a lot of pain...

"Mmm..."

--Uncle Red Fox is in the woods, nothing will happen to him.

Similar conversations often occur among the fox cubs. Being young, they endlessly admire the adult fox who protects them, believing it can do anything. Therefore, they still hold great hope that the old fox's illness can be cured.

But the fox cubs' parents didn't think that way.

They were once raised under the protection of an old fox. Later, the old fox developed a strange illness, suffering from inexplicable stabbing pain all over its body, so intense that it felt like it was dying and would even lose its mind.

Once, the old fox had a fit of illness and accidentally injured one of its own kind. After regaining consciousness, the old fox was filled with grief.

So it handed over the position of the Fox Clan leader to the Red Fox, who was slightly weaker than it at the time, and hid itself deep in the mountains, forbidding any fox other than the Red Fox from approaching.

They haven't seen the old fox for fifteen springs.

In recent years, the frequency of its illnesses has increased, and the Red Fox leader's mood has become increasingly heavy, as he suspects the old fox's condition is not very optimistic.

A few older foxes were whispering amongst themselves, hiding from their cubs.

--The old patriarch has been getting worse lately. I saw how it was when it lost control back then. To be honest, it looks like that Green Python that went crazy and fought wildly a long time ago.

--I think so too, but the old clan chief protected us his whole life, and I can't imagine it turning into that, so I usually don't dare to say it out loud.

"Sigh, who can argue with that? The Red Fox Clan and we have searched for so many years without finding a solution. If the old chief still ends up like that, then we can only..."

What could they do? Suicide or being killed; they didn't want to see either outcome.

After a few minutes of silence, the fox began to mutter quietly again.

--Last summer, didn't that Snow Bird down the mountain also go crazy once? I even went down the mountain with the Red Fox Clan to observe it secretly. The Snow Bird's condition at that time was very similar to that of the old clan chief and that Green Python, but it lasted for too short a time, and it didn't seem to have relapsed afterward.

--Are you suggesting that Snow Bird might have a cure for this disease?

--Haven't you thought about this?

--I've thought about it, but even the Red Fox Clan hasn't said anything. We can't defeat the Snow Bird, so what else can we do?

--Oh, right, do you guys remember? Last autumn, that Green Python in the forest down the mountain got into a fight with Snow Bird. I heard the Green Python was badly injured, but then they inexplicably made up, and the Green Python even frequently brought prey to the Snow Bird.