He carefully disinfected the corpse, placed it in a body bag, and moved it into a freezer. Then, he cleaned up the bloodstains that had splattered on the floor.
Finally, he meticulously sprayed every surface he had touched with hydrogen peroxide disinfectant.
As if cleaning a murder scene, Lin Fan methodically sanitized every blood-stained corner.
He was a veterinarian who ran a small pet clinic out of a residential unit on the ground floor of his building.
And today, it seemed an unknown animal epidemic was spreading through the urban districts of Linjiang.
Three dogs in a row had been brought to him, and three dogs in a row had been sent off by his hand.
This was certainly not because of his lack of skill or his reckless disregard for their lives.
Although he only ran a clinic of less than sixty square meters out of a ground-floor unit in this old, run-down residential complex, and his clientele mostly consisted of poodles that couldn't poop or wouldn't eat...
He had, in fact, worked for many years at the Linjiang City Zoo and possessed a wealth of medical and emergency treatment experience.
It was just that today's cases were truly bizarre. Each dog would show slight signs of improvement before suddenly dying. The pathology reports showed nothing conclusive, and all common viruses came back negative.
'I should probably stop taking appointments tomorrow. Better wait for the official medical guidelines to come out...'
He gave himself a quick wipedown with alcohol in the pet bathing area. His undershirt had gotten blood on it earlier, so he had already thrown it away.
So, he was shirtless as he prepared to head home for a proper shower.
His home was on the third floor, in the same building as his clinic, separated by one level. After losing his previous job, he had rented this ground-floor storefront.
The air, heavy with the promise of a downpour, felt even more suffocating in the stairwell. Compounded by the unknown epidemic, it left him feeling agitated.
Lin Fan locked the door and was about to head upstairs when the delicate arch of a slippered foot and a pair of long, slender, pale legs appeared in his line of sight. A young woman in a yellow silk nightgown was walking down the stairs, and in his distracted state, he couldn't help but look a few times more than he should have.
"Sister Su, going out this late?"
Running into someone at this hour was a bit unexpected, but Lin Fan greeted her anyway.
The young woman's name was Su Qing, and she was the tenant living across the hall from Lin Fan. She had moved in over a month ago.
Lin Fan spent his days tending to the clinic on the first floor, so they were constantly running into each other and were reasonably familiar.
He had occasionally overheard from the poodle owners who came for treatment that this woman had been framed and forced out of her marriage with nothing. She was currently fighting a lawsuit and had to rent this place temporarily.
Her experience of being framed made Lin Fan feel a certain kinship from shared misfortune.
"Little Brother Lin, still busy so late... Are you alright?"
Su Qing was also a little surprised to see Lin Fan. Noticing he was shirtless and seemed to reek a bit of alcohol, she couldn't help but ask with concern.
Her gaze met Lin Fan's, and then it was as if she suddenly thought of something.
She glanced down at her own thin nightgown, her face flushed, and she avoided his eyes as she said awkwardly,
"I'm just taking out the trash..."
Then, without looking back, she quickly squeezed past him through the space he had made by turning sideways and hurried out.
The cool, air-conditioned air and faint, pleasant fragrance that wafted from the beautiful young woman dissipated the humid heat of the dog days of summer, soothing his mood considerably.
Watching her retreating figure, Lin Fan couldn't help but give a wry smile.
'Better get home and shower. Any longer and I'll be marinating in my own sweat.'
Lin Fan turned and went upstairs, deliberately making his footsteps heavy and slamming his apartment door shut.
'Su Qing probably wouldn't dare come back until she saw me go inside. And she might get caught in the rain.'
He could understand his neighbor's reaction.
Anyone who ran into a shirtless man reeking of alcohol in a stairwell late at night would want to steer clear.
'I'm just lucky it was her. If one of the neighborhood gossips had seen me, it wouldn't be long before every old man and woman in Xingfu Li knew that the dog doctor at the community entrance is a worthless drunk who wanders the halls half-naked at night like a hooligan...'
As these thoughts ran through his mind, Lin Fan sent a message to the dog's owner to break the bad news.
After hitting send, he didn't even check for a reply, just tossed his phone onto the sofa to charge and headed straight for the bathroom.
The dog was dead, and the body was dealt with. A shower came first.
If the owner came looking for him and he said he had been drinking, it would be an impossible situation to explain his way out of.
Outside, the downpour that had been threatening for days finally broke, accompanied by rumbling thunder. Raindrops drummed against the glass with a continuous PITTER-PATTER.
Listening to the muffled thunder, for some reason, the spot where the contaminated blood had directly splashed on him began to tingle with a faint, sharp pain.
This made Lin Fan frown, and he started to recall the symptoms of those dogs.
Information swirled and collided in his brain.
Ulceration, fever, shock, cardiac arrest, vomiting blood...
Lin Fan stood at the bathroom door, staring at his own toilet, his eyes widening as a preposterous idea surfaced in his mind.
At the same time, a numbing, electric sensation surged from the depths of his bones!
Then, as if all his marrow had been set ablaze, a scorching, intense pain instantly shattered his tolerance for pain!
'I...!'
'Radia—!'
Lin Fan's eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.
...
'Am I... dead...?'
'Cold... so hungry...'
Lin Fan opened his eyes. His gaze fell upon the same familiar toilet he had been looking at just before he collapsed, the one that had been with him for many years.
"I'm... I'm not dead..."
He weakly climbed up from the floor. Everything he saw was still his familiar home.
"What... what's happening?"
There was no time to think about what had happened to him. Hunger drove him to the living room, where he grabbed a half-eaten bag of crackers from the coffee table and started stuffing them into his mouth by the handful.
The crackers had gone stale and soft from the humidity; otherwise, eating them this way would have probably choked him to death.
He had barely managed a few mouthfuls when the food must have stimulated his empty stomach. A violent cramp instantly sapped his strength, causing him to fall to his knees, dry-heaving uncontrollably.
RETCH! RETCH!
He kept retching until he was seeing stars, but he stubbornly refused to vomit up the crackers.
As his stomach began to digest the food, his consciousness slowly stabilized.
"What is going on...?"
Recalling the events from before, it was as if he suddenly remembered something!
Lin Fan violently lifted his hand and carefully examined the skin on his arm...
"No ulcers... no redness or swelling..."
"It's not... radiation... is it?"
"Thank god..."
Just thinking about his earlier guess sent a wave of fear through him.
'If I'm still alive, my guess must have been wrong. If it really was radiation...'
"No! Stay back! AHH—!"
A sudden scream from outside the window cut off his thoughts. He scrambled up from the floor, steadied himself against the windowsill, and looked down. The scene below made his pupils contract violently.
The rain was still falling, and the sky was the color of lead.
Several cars were tangled in a chaotic pile-up in the middle of the narrow street below, and the rising water was already halfway up their wheels.
On the sidewalk, near his clinic, two figures were locked in a struggle...
A drenched woman was clinging tightly to a man, tearing at the flesh of his neck. As the woman jerked her head back, she ripped away a bright red strip of something. A gush of dark red blood instantly sprayed out, only to be immediately washed away by the rain, blooming in the water at their feet.
The man's arms twitched spasmodically, his head thrown back toward the sky, his mouth wide open as the rain poured in.
Even through the window, Lin Fan could almost hear the man's throat emitting a "GURGLE—GURGLE—" sound.
"Zombies?!"
Lin Fan's eyes widened in disbelief.
'Is this for real? It doesn't look staged!'
What remained of his professional knowledge told him: the blood, the torn muscles, the throat being ripped open causing muscle spasms and struggles from asphyxiation—it was all terrifyingly real.
In the moment he stood there stunned, two more zombies emerged from some corner, limping and wading through the water to join the feast.
Entrails and chunks of flesh were being tossed around. A few bags of bread and instant noodles floated in the bloody puddle at their feet.
"RETCH!"
The sight triggered another violent spasm in his stomach.
"What... what is going on?"
"First... call... call the police!"
Forcing himself to calm down, Lin Fan quickly found his phone and tried to make a call.
But he discovered that even though his phone showed a signal, no calls would go through!
He swiped down, and in his panic, his eyes fell upon the countless, densely packed notifications in his notification bar:
"Emergency Alert: Malignant flu of unknown origin reported in multiple areas. Symptoms include high fever, mania, and extreme aggression. Citizens are advised to reduce non-essential outings and avoid contact with suspected patients!"
""Patients" out of control at Linjiang City Central Hospital, multiple medical staff injured on site!"
"Military has been deployed! Do not harm "patients" unless absolutely necessary, as a cure may be possible!"
...
The deluge of news filled the notification bar and left Lin Fan stunned.
But he couldn't open any of the news pages; they all showed a "network not connected" error.
"The world has lost control."
"The apocalypse... is it here?"
Today was July 27th, a Sunday.
The day he had treated the dogs was a Thursday.
If you count today...
He had been unconscious for almost three days!
...
...
Lin Fan's old classmates and friends were scattered to the ends of the earth, and they didn't really keep in touch.
He opened WeChat. A few group chats with 999+ unread messages were at the top, all of them group-buy or gaming groups.
One message, in particular, stood out to Lin Fan. It was from his neighbor, Su Qing.
Friday, 9:10 AM
"Lin Fan, are you at your shop?"
"I saw your shop wasn't open. Are you home?"
Friday, 5:33 PM
"Lin Fan, I'm too scared to go out. You're a doctor, do you know what's happening outside?"
Yesterday, 7:34 PM
"Lin Fan, I think I hear strange noises from upstairs. It couldn't be Brother Li and the others..."
"Have you gotten sick too?"
"[Collapse][Collapse][Collapse]"
Looking at the message list on WeChat, Lin Fan's heart sank.
Still, he tried to reply:
"I just saw this. Sister Su, are you home?"
The "sending" icon spun for a moment, then a red exclamation mark appeared. Still no network connection at all.
Lin Fan sighed, tapped the back button, and started scrolling through his group chat histories one by one.
The gaming group was full of online friends from all over the country, and their recent chat history was mostly complaints:
"Why haven't rescuers arrived yet! What are the officials doing!"
"What are we going to eat if this keeps up!"
"Find your own way to a nearby safe zone! There are no rescuers coming!"
"The power at my place has been out for ages... My phone is almost dead too. Goodbye forever, bros."
"How can there be no rescue! Zombies are just flesh and blood; how could they possibly stop the army!"
"The tide of steel!"
The last message was from a little after 2 AM last night. The network must have gone down around then.
Although he couldn't open any pictures or videos, he was able to piece together quite a bit from their conversations and the news headlines.
The disaster must have broken out suddenly.
While the first wave of chaos came from hospitals, Lin Fan suspected that was simply because hospitals were full of patients who were already physically weak.
Those with better physical constitutions didn't show symptoms until the next day, or even that evening.
This meant that even if most police officers and soldiers were mobilized on the night of the 24th, they would still face continuous attacks from within their own ranks just a few hours later.
If a scratch or a bite could turn someone into a zombie, then aside from a few lucky ones, the prognosis for the number of surviving police and soldiers was grim.
He then checked a few community group-buy chats. The last few messages were all complaints, emotional outbursts, or questions about when rescue would arrive and how their food supplies wouldn't last more than a few days.
Seeing them mention food, Lin Fan hurried to the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets and refrigerator...
...and his expression soured.
He had never been in the habit of stockpiling food, especially in the summer. All he had was some rice, dried noodles, and eggs. There were also a few pieces of frozen meat in the freezer.
It was enough for three or four days at most. He did have a whole jug of cooking oil, but it wasn't like he could drink that...
Just as he was thinking this, his phone suddenly started vibrating violently. A flash SMS lit up the screen!
[Linjiang Provisional Military and Political Command HQ Announcement: All survivors, please make your way to Linjiang University, ensuring your own safety first! Our forces have established a quarantine zone at Linjiang University! If you are in the city center or too far away, please lock your doors and windows, conserve food and water, and await rescue! The government guarantees that no one will be abandoned!]
Linjiang University!
Lin Fan opened his offline map and frowned.
The straight-line distance was over thirty kilometers. Normally, it would take an hour to drive there.
Let alone now!
Faint curses could be heard from the surrounding buildings, and the zombies on the street, drawn by the sound, restlessly searched for prey in the standing water.
"How the hell am I supposed to get close to that?!"
'How am I supposed to get there?'
'In my dreams?'
But a faraway quarantine zone wasn't the most pressing matter right now!
Lin Fan tossed his phone aside, went to the kitchen, and started filling every container he could find with tap water.
He lit both stove burners and started boiling water for the eggs and frozen meat. At least he could get them cooked first.
The cell network was already down. The electricity, tap water, or gas could be cut off at any moment. He had to be prepared!
'Looks like there are still some people who survived...'
For some reason, as soon as he had that thought, he recalled the cool, fresh scent of the last person he saw before he passed out.
...
THUD—
THUD—
THUD—
Lin Fan had just taken a few bites of a boiled egg when a series of low thuds came from the front door.
'Speak of the devil? Who would be knocking at a time like this?'
He tiptoed barefoot to the door and peered through the peephole.
One look made his scalp go numb!
Outside the door, a gory, mangled zombie was mindlessly banging its forehead against Lin Fan's door.
The right side of the zombie's face was torn completely open, exposing bluish-black blood vessels and a grayish-white eyeball. Scraps of flesh hung from its chin, swaying back and forth with the zombie's movements.
Even though Lin Fan had practiced medicine for years and seen plenty of corpses, this was the first time he had ever seen something so disgusting!
Lin Fan recognized the man. It was Brother Li from upstairs, the one mentioned in the messages. He really had turned into a zombie!
Lin Fan quickly went to the kitchen and grabbed his heaviest bone cleaver. He stood behind the door, holding the blade. Although the zombie probably couldn't break down his security door, having a weapon in hand was reassuring.
When Lin Fan looked through the peephole again to check on the zombie's movements, he suddenly froze...
A blood-red bar had appeared above the zombie's head, with the numbers [296/300] on it.
'What is this? Did I eat a bad egg and start hallucinating?'
Lin Fan rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He stared out again, and the red bar was still there, looking even clearer than before.
The zombie must have just been wandering the hallway aimlessly. Seeing no reaction from this door, it turned and went to the door of apartment 302 across the hall, and began banging its head against it.
The red bar moved a little further away along with the zombie, but it didn't stop Lin Fan from clearly seeing the numbers on it.
'This feeling of déjà vu... Why does it look so much like a health bar from a video game?' he wondered, hazarding a wild guess.
"Aah—"
Suddenly, a woman's terrified scream came from behind the opposite door.
Although the latter half of the scream was choked back, the short, sharp sound still made the completely focused Lin Fan jump—to say nothing of the zombie!
Like a hyena that had smelled carrion, the zombie instantly became agitated and began violently rattling the iron security gate of 302!
It made continuous BANG! BANG! BANG! sounds.
Unlike Lin Fan's modern security door, the door to 302 was the kind from the 80s or 90s, with an outer iron gate and an inner wooden door.
The iron gate was already starting to twist and deform from the zombie's constant pulling and slamming. Although it still looked fairly sturdy, there was no telling how long it would hold...
If it broke off, Lin Fan highly doubted the wooden door inside could withstand the zombie's assault!
...
...
That voice... There was no doubt about it. Su Qing was still alive.
But she probably wouldn't be for long.
As the zombie slammed and tore at the iron security gate, the bars let out a continuous CLANG CLANG CLANG.
The noise even caused restless footsteps to echo faintly from the floor above Lin Fan!
They were frantic and chaotic.
'Not human, and more than one...'
As his stamina gradually returned, Lin Fan's hearing became exceptionally sharp.
'Looks like the whole family upstairs turned into zombies. I wonder if there are two of them, or three...'
Lin Fan calmly observed the hallway through the peephole, silently taking stock of everything he was seeing.
The zombie had been slow at first, but the sound had driven it into a frenzy.
A minute passed. If there were any other zombies in the hallway, the noise would have surely drawn them over.
Although there were footsteps upstairs, they remained confined to the room. He could tell the door was still shut, which was good news.
There was only one zombie in the hall, and its attention was completely focused on the apartment opposite his, its back turned to Lin Fan...
'Maybe I can give it a shot...'
Lin Fan's expression was grave as he looked at the bone cleaver in his hand.
Some of his frozen food and other useful items were in his shop on the first floor. He had to go out for supplies, which meant he'd run into zombies sooner or later.
He had to find out what a zombie's physical capabilities were and whether he could handle one.
Besides, he had this Superpower, which seemed to involve a health bar...
At that thought, Lin Fan turned to the full-length mirror behind the door, intending to check his reflection for a health bar.
But the moment the thought occurred to him, a gold-framed green bar appeared in the upper-left corner of his vision, marked with the numbers [97/100].
The image felt as if it had always been there, a natural part of his sight.
The moment it appeared, Lin Fan understood. This was his health bar.
'It's real! This is my Superpower!'
'I never saw anyone in the group chat mention anything about Superpowers!'
'The fainting spell from before was probably related to this ability!'
As Lin Fan turned, he found himself facing the mirror. He stared at his reflection, his eyes widening in shock.
"This..."
He hadn't seen his own reflection since he woke up.
Now that he was looking, he realized his appearance had changed dramatically.
Before, after the recent upheavals in his life, Lin Fan had been listless and a bit pudgy.
But now, his physique was lean and defined. The flab from his previous lack of exercise was gone, replaced by dense, tight muscle that wasn't overly bulky.
'This... is a practically perfect body...'
The difference between his current and former self was like comparing a workhorse to a thoroughbred.
Like night and day.
He grabbed the power twister from behind the door and bent it forcefully. Distinct muscle striations appeared on his skin, and he easily twisted the device into an X-shape. He could feel it—he was much stronger than before!
Enhanced physical abilities, plus a Superpower that let him see health bars...
'This apocalypse... this is my chance for a comeback.'
Lin Fan looked through the peephole at the zombie still struggling against the iron gate.
'You'll be the first...'
He immediately returned to the living room to prepare.
The bite-proof sleeves and apron he used for washing his big dog were drying on the balcony. Now was the perfect time to use them.
Next, weapons. The kitchen had a few knives. They'd be fine against a living person, but against a zombie...
Lin Fan went to the window and looked down. He saw that the man who had been tackled earlier had now also turned into a zombie.
Its chest and abdomen had been completely hollowed out, leaving only its shoulders and one remaining arm, which it waved ceaselessly at the air.
[96/300]
These numbers floated above its only intact body part: its head.
'It's in that state and still has 96 life.'
'It seems the zombie's weak point is its head. If so, a regular knife will have a hard time doing any real damage.'
'Not to mention the attack range is too short. If I can't kill it in one hit, I could easily get scratched in a counterattack.'
'I need to increase my attack range, and I need something that can break through a skull...'
Lin Fan's gaze swept across the room, finally locking onto the curtain rod.
He took down the curtain rod and pressed one end against the floor. The 2mm thick tube wall seemed sturdy enough.
The weight felt right, and its tubular structure wouldn't easily bend under radial force. It was a bit long, but he didn't have the right tools to cut it down.
He then got his toolbox and took out all the screwdrivers.
The thickest part of the largest screwdriver fit perfectly into the opening of the steel rod to serve as a tip. He wrapped it tightly with electrical tape and wire until the entire roll was gone.
And just like that, he had assembled a simple "boar spear"!
The "spearhead" would probably fall off easily in a complex fight, but in the narrow hallway, it was the perfect weapon.
He put on a hat, a mask, and goggles, then wrapped a scarf around his neck to protect it from scratches.
Finally, he wrapped tape around the blade of the bone cleaver and tucked it into his apron pocket.
Fully armed, Lin Fan's reflection looked like a butcher from the wastelands. The sight gave him a great sense of security.
In a situation like this, the knowledge of a doctor and a butcher were surprisingly similar.
Pierce, then scramble the brain.
It didn't seem too difficult in his eyes... provided he had the right tool.
In those short two minutes, Lin Fan's own life had risen from 97 to 98. It seemed the food he'd eaten earlier was taking effect.
So Lin Fan stood behind the door, watching the hallway and waiting for his Life Value to recover.
After all, in a situation like this, every extra point of Life Value increased his odds of winning...
[99]
[100]!
The moment his Life Value was fully restored, Lin Fan made his move!
A soft CLICK was completely drowned out by the banging from the opposite door, failing to attract the zombie's attention.
Gently opening his security door, Lin Fan stepped out. He gripped the middle of the spear with both hands and, with a powerful upward thrust, stabbed viciously at the back of the zombie's head!
His target was the most vulnerable spot on the back of the human skull: the foramen magnum!
'If you hit that weak spot, anyone with a screwdriver could take down Tyson!'
With his full strength, the spear shot across the hallway in an instant, plunging straight into the back of the zombie's head!
PFFT!
THUD!
[-199]!
[97/300]
'The gamble paid off!'
But what Lin Fan hadn't expected was just how strong he had become!
The screwdriver spearhead completely pierced the zombie's skull, exited through its forehead, and slammed into the wooden door of apartment 302 with a loud THUMP!
At the same time, a stifled scream rang out from inside apartment 302!
"Shut up!"
Trying to avoid unnecessary trouble, Lin Fan roared, silencing the scream from within the room.
'Why do women always have to scream?!'
'The zombie isn't even dead yet!'
Since its head was pinned firmly to the wooden door by the spear, the zombie couldn't turn around. Instead, it flailed its arms wildly behind it.
'I can't pull the spear out!'
Lin Fan cleared his mind of distractions and made a split-second decision.
'I was so focused on a one-hit kill, I never expected to be this strong. The spearhead pierced straight through the skull instead of scrambling the brain!'
'But it's pinned the zombie in place. That's an unexpected bonus!'
Lin Fan quickly let go of the spear, drew the bone cleaver from his apron, and swung it straight at one of the zombie's flailing hands!
The blade split flesh and bone at the zombie's wrist. With a sharp twist from Lin Fan, the entire hand flew off, leaving only the thumb attached to the forearm!
[-19]!
[78/300]
'I expected as much, but that blow still only did that much damage!'
Not only did the blow fail to weaken the zombie, it seemed to enrage it further!
The zombie pinned to the door began to struggle frantically. The spear and the wooden door shook under its thrashing, looking like it might break free at any moment.
'I really can only attack the head!'
'I have to get closer!'
Seeing this, Lin Fan immediately adjusted his tactics. He lunged forward, grabbed the zombie's left arm with his left hand, and pinned it to the wall. With his right hand, he swung the bone cleaver in an upward diagonal slash along the spear's shaft!
He aimed to split the back of the zombie's head in one blow!
But he didn't expect his left hand to slip—the flesh and skin of half the zombie's arm tore right off in his grip!
The zombie's exposed arm bone slipped from his grasp, swung backward, and slammed hard into Lin Fan's chest!
BANG!
'So much force!'
'Zombies are definitely much stronger than living people!'
The blow knocked the wind out of Lin Fan, forcing him back two steps. But when he saw that his Life Value hadn't decreased, he felt a surge of confidence.
'Looks like my Life Value doesn't drop if there's no actual damage.'
'But their skin can just peel off. I'll have to be careful about that in the future.'
Tossing aside the piece of rotten flesh, Lin Fan saw his chance. He grabbed the zombie's exposed arm bone and, with his right hand, brought the cleaver down hard on the back of its head!
CLANG! A dull thud echoed.
[-35]!
[43/300]
The blow failed to break the zombie's skull; instead, a chunk of the blade chipped off. 'Looks like a zombie's bones are harder than a human's, too.'
Riding the momentum, Lin Fan threw his whole body forward. He grabbed the zombie's arm bone, using his arm strength and body weight to hold it fast. He adjusted his angle and swung again with his right hand with all his might!
[-199]!
[0/300]
'Critical hit!'
The back of the zombie's head was split wide open. More than half of the cleaver's blade was buried in its skull, nearly cleaving the head in two!
Pierced through and then nearly split in two, the zombie's brain was utterly destroyed. Its health bar instantly dropped to zero!
The zombie stopped struggling, its arms hanging limply. It was as dead as dead could be.
"Huh?"
Lin Fan had just breathed a sigh of relief when he suddenly saw a translucent package materialize over the zombie's body.
With a thought, the package vanished.
[Obtained: Smoked Chicken x1]
[Obtained: Purified Water (Small) x1]
Then, a backpack icon appeared in the corner of his vision. Inside were only the two items he had just received.
A vacuum-packed smoked chicken and a one-liter bottle of mineral water...
He checked himself again and was stunned to see his Life Value had changed from [100/100] to [110/110]!
An extra 10 points of life!
'What's going on?'
'Did I get this from killing the zombie?'
'Killing zombies doesn't just drop supplies, it also increases my maximum Life Value?'
A stunned smile spread across Lin Fan's face. He turned to look at the gory corpse pinned to the door of apartment 302 and suddenly found it looked a little... cute.
...
