Returning to the neighborhood, Lin Fan gazed silently at the lush trees, not knowing why he found them so mesmerizing.
The area was too quiet, so quiet that aside from his breathing, it seemed no other sounds could be heard.
Lin Fan headed towards the staircase entrance and saw a man standing on the balcony of the building next door on the second floor.
It was a brawny bald man, very cautious, not making a sound, simply waving his hand.
Lin Fan recognized the man, a drug user, very nasty, who had bullied him before, stealing his bike. When discovered, the man denied it, but after the police were called, the bike was returned. However, the next day, the bald man beat him up.
The bald man was startled to hear Lin Fan speak, cursing him as a fool inside, daring to make noise—didn't he fear attracting the zombies?
The man found a piece of cardboard and wrote on it.
"Bring food and water to my door."
The bald man, hiding in his home high on drugs, woke to find the world drastically changed when he turned on the TV. He thought to flee but retreated back home after opening the door and seeing the terrifying, ferocious zombies. He dared not go anywhere.
With no food at home, he was now hungry. Shocked that Lin Fan could move around freely, this wasn't the main point; he wanted Lin Fan to come over, hopefully drawing the zombies away from his door.
His intentions were malicious.
"No," Lin Fan shook his head, his response crisp. You bullied me before; I'm not giving you anything.
"You bastard," the bald man's lips moved as he restrained his rage and wrote on the cardboard, "Bring the stuff to my door, and I'll let you stay with me. When I find a chance, I'll take you away from here. I know of a secret base."
"I still won't do it," Lin Fan replied calmly, not caring whether his voice might attract the zombies.
The bald man's face turned gloomy, teetering on the edge of rage, unable to believe the kid didn't know what's good for him.
Fine, if you want to die.
Then I'll grant your wish.
At that moment, the bald man took a metal basin and started clapping on it, creating a sharp clanging sound. The noise carried far, and soon, there was a reaction.
That was the roar of zombies hearing the commotion.
Several zombies emerged from the silent staircase entrance, twisting their bodies and seeing Lin Fan, they came tearing madly towards him.
The bald man sneered viciously, "If you won't give it to me, then die."
Lin Fan had anticipated such a situation; bad people remained bad, not following their words, thinking of killing. This was the dark side of human nature.
The bald man watched as Lin Fan stood there, a cold smile appearing on his face. So calm? In his eyes, that was just being scared stiff.
Lin Fan placed the groceries and bucket of water he had bought on the ground. They had cost money; if damaged, it would truly be a waste.
The fastest zombie charged at him, letting out a roar. Its gray-white eyeballs rolled as its bloody mouth, stained with flesh... no, that seemed like intestines, indicated it had torn apart many people.
"If I remember correctly, you should be Uncle Zhou's son," Lin Fan observed, trying to recognize a person from the mutilated face, which was somewhat difficult.
The cleaver swept horizontally, striking the head, causing it to split open and ooze black blood, then he kicked it away.
"This kid is so fierce?" The bald man was shocked, unable to believe the guy he once beat without mercy could now kill a zombie, and so effortlessly at that, like cutting vegetables.
Another zombie lunged at him.
Without panic, he wielded the cleaver, truly like chopping vegetables, one chop per zombie. His strength made everything effortless.
With two zombies left, he didn't want to chop anymore.
Throwing down the cleaver, he kicked one of the zombies away and hoisted the other one up, throwing it forcefully towards the second-floor window.
"Holy shit! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
The bald man sensed trouble and by the time he reacted, the zombie had already crashed through the window, rolling onto the balcony, painlessly roaring and lunging at him.
Lin Fan picked up the fallen zombie and tossed it towards the second floor.
"Fuck you, I'll kill you!" The bald man roared furiously. One zombie was already hard to fight off, and now another was thrown in, leaving him utterly desperate.
Screams rang out as the bald man got bitten, attempting to jump out the window, only to be caught by the two zombies, gnawed at one side while being dragged inside.
The bald man gripped the balcony railing with all ten fingers, his eyes filled with rage and despair as he looked at Lin Fan.
"Fuck your mother..."
His legs were mangled from the gnawing, one of the zombies tearing his behind apart.
Eventually, he lost the strength to resist and was dragged into the house. The horrifying screams caused everyone else in the neighborhood to feel panic and unease. No one dared to come out to see what was happening.
They knew someone was being eaten by the zombies.
Lin Fan watched quietly until there were no figures in sight, carrying vegetables and shouldering a bucket of water, he turned and left.
"Since you like to harm others so much, I'll give two of them to you."
He entered the elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor.
He didn't know how many people were still alive in this community, but he didn't want to meddle. The zombies outside were truly terrifying and especially dangerous.
Fortunately, he was clever, keeping the environment very clean.
Otherwise, if the bodies were left too long, they would surely start to smell bad.
Back at home, he placed the vegetables in the kitchen and set the bucket on the water dispenser.
He looked at the clock.
It was time to make lunch, as he was getting a bit hungry.
He wasn't sure if the tap water from the water plant was drinkable, but it didn't matter, it should be fine for washing the vegetables.
After washing the vegetables and meat, he skillfully cut them up and then washed the rice. He had a small rice cooker, the size of a bowl, which cooked rice very quickly.
In the kitchen, there was a faint aroma of rice.
Lin Fan sat in front of the computer, continuing to browse websites.
This was the second day of the zombie outbreak.
Although a bit of change had occurred outside, in his view, everything was still okay.
A news popup appeared in the bottom right corner of the computer.
"Huh, there's still news to read at this time?"
Lin Fan clicked on the news.
"All surviving citizens, do not expect rescue. This is an outbreak without rules, everything has completely collapsed, the inside has been dissolved. I hope you can rely on your own efforts to stay alive, believe in yourselves, as long as you're alive, there's still hope, you must unite, you must unite..."
The content wasn't much, but for those who harbored hope for rescue, it brought complete despair.
They had still been thinking that the state would quickly suppress the zombie unrest. Who could have imagined this turn out?
An outbreak without rules meant that groups of people staying indoors could suddenly have someone turn into a zombie, causing an internal collapse.
Even if there were teams that were lucky enough to survive, facing such a massive number of zombies, how could they defend? The zombies were fast, numb to pain, and dealing with them was incredibly difficult.
Lin Fan saw his mobile phone screen light up; there was no alert sound, just a text message that appeared out of nowhere.
A secret base hidden deep underground.
A middle-aged man with a pale face and blood dripping from his arm struggled to operate a supercomputer, informing every citizen with the message.
Everything happened so suddenly, zombies had appeared inside the base.
Nobody had time to react.
The middle-aged man's body shook as he let out a deep guttural growl. Veins appeared on his face, his eyes rolled back, turning gray and white as he became a zombie, wandering around the computer room.
When Lin Fan saw the message, he was calm. Yes, really, one should not expect any rescue.
A city with so many people, the vast majority now zombies.
How many would need to be sent to eliminate them, to rescue others?
Lin Fan scrolled through forums, where few posts were made, and even fewer people commented.
Even the new posts that popped up were ones of regret.
"Fellow brothers, I'm done for. I'm releasing my cloud drive, it contains art films I've collected over the years. If anyone wants to watch, go ahead and take them, they're all quality pieces. Treat them well, don't let your fluids spray onto the screens, give my collection the last dignity it deserves."
"I was playing poker with my girlfriend when a zombie barged in. Now my girlfriend and the zombie are both pounding on my door, and I've been bitten, too. Soon I'll turn into a zombie. This is a picture of my girlfriend, I just wanted to tell everyone, she's very beautiful, aren't you all envious?"
Lin Fan looked at the posts, which were all interesting topics, but up to now, there was no one commenting.
Both posts required a lot of courage to send.
For such posts, a reply was important; without replies, there was no point.
First post: A good person will lead a peaceful life!
Second post: Really, I'm so envious!
He replied seriously, not perfunctorily.
He smelled the fragrance of rice, got up from the computer desk, and it was time to cook. He liked to stir-fry after the rice was cooked so he could enjoy a hot and fresh meal.