Chapter 1

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Chapter 1: Doomsday

【One】

It happened one afternoon. Wu Zhi could still clearly remember how the heat of the sun felt on his skin back then. In the distant sky loomed dark and gloomy clouds. Only the sky above the school was enveloped by sunlight.

That was an overly peaceful and calm afternoon. Even the cicadas were silent, leaving the place deadly quiet.

Then, just like that, misery arrived like a bolt from the blue.

The classrooms ahead were in an uproar. Numerous students scampered out from the classrooms. Shrill, frightening screams left their mouths as they ran for their lives. Hands extended from the classroom doors, and Wu Zhi discovered in astonishment that it was a whole gang of people. At the very minimum, five or six students were squashed together at the door frame, stuck as none allowed others to shove their way out of the classroom. The expressions on every student were eminently twisted. Their pupils contracted sharply, but their eyes were opened so widely that they practically bulged out — those were faces of extreme terror.

What happened?

Wu Zhi looked towards the classroom despite himself. And so, he saw Hell — a human catastrophe.

Blood was everywhere in the classroom like a ridiculously absurd Impressionism art piece, and the countless monsters were the artists. Wu Zhi’s eyesight was good enough to see those monsters with sharp clarity: they wore the school uniform, but their bodies were already decaying. Their dark red rotting flesh was akin to soft mud, stretching down nonstop under the pull of gravity. With a final “splat”, the soft and sticky flesh hit the floor, translucent greenish yellow fluid oozing out. Wu Zhi watched it all, a strong repulsion swelling up in him.

The monsters moved slowly. Shaped like a ball of utterly disgusting rotting flesh, they inched towards the classroom door. Clumped together at the door, the students screamed in desperation, the shrillness heartlessly hammering straight into his mind like a sharp nail. Wu Zhi broke from his trance and dashed to pull them out.

The moment he extended his hand, innumerable hands grabbed him. The students were all wailing and screaming. “Help me! Help me!!”

“Make some way first! Make some way!! The ones at the back, move back a little. Free up space for the ones in front, then let them through one by one—” The hold on Wu Zhi’s hand was painful. He pushed the people that were packed together like sardines, hoping to make a gap for the people to pass.

“Back away? You fucking bastard! You want me to move back all the way to the monsters’ mouth as a sacrifice? Fuck off!” People at the back began to curse, pushing relentlessly towards the door.

“Fuck!” Wu Zhi was now pissed too. He was about to yell back when blood rained down on him, freezing him to the spot. Wu Zhi widened his eyes. Before his eyes, the girl at the very back had her head crushed by a monster’s hands. Fresh blood and cerebrospinal fluid sprayed out. Having lost half of its head, the corpse swayed and fell onto the students before it.

—Why did humans die so easily?

In that moment, that was the sole thought that remained in Wu Zhi’s mind, and he almost comically denied reality.

Weighted down by the body, a girl emitted a despairing shriek, eyes rolling back as she fainted. It drove all the students crazy, and they pushed towards the door with increased aggression. After scream after scream, a male student was trampled upon. With the freed space, the students hysterically escaped outside in fear of becoming the monsters’ food.

“Fuck!”

The escaping students knocked Wu Zhi to the floor. The fall nearly sprained his wrists. But before he could voice his discontent, a rotting stench hit his nose. Wu Zhi looked up, his entire body freezing in place. What his quivering eyes saw was not the monsters inching closer, but the female corpse that slowly got to “her” feet. “She” tilted the remaining half of “her” head, countless pustules swelling and popping on “her” originally pretty face, leaving behind only rotting dead skin. The oozing pus splashed on “her” skin, triggering a new wave of infection. Very quickly, there was no longer any difference between the female corpse and those rotting monsters.

Wu Zhi opened his mouth, but not a single sound escaped him — it was his first time knowing that when seized by true fear, humans were incapable of making a sound. It felt like something was blocking his chests. His mind was completely blank, leaving only disordered nonsense echoing in his mind along with the ringing in his ears.

Monsters, death, corpses, infection… Zombies…!

A strong sense of fear numbed his thoughts. Wu Zhi climbed to his feet practically out of reflex to leave this nightmarish scene. But someone grabbed onto the edge of his clothes. Wu Zhi looked back. The boy who was trampled on earlier was holding his own broken right leg as he looked pleadingly in despair at him.

Save me—

Splat. Splat. Splat.

That was the sound of rotting flesh hitting the ground as the zombies moved. It came increasingly closer. Became increasingly louder. Wu Zhi robotically raised his head, numbly looking at the zombies only an arm’s reach away. The fingertips of the nearest zombie were a mere four inches away from his nose.

“Don’t aban… NO—”

The elongated scream was thrown behind him and became increasingly softer.

With his head hung down, Wu Zhi ran like the wind. He ran with all he could, sealing up his senses, benumbing his thoughts. He did not know where he was running to, nor did he know how much longer he had to run. It seemed as though the concept of “running” was the only concept that remained in his world.

“…Wu Zhi!”

Two people slammed against each other in the corridor and fell. Wu Zhi sat on the floor. The impactful clash had knocked him awake from his numbed, mindless trance. Wu Zhi stared dumbly at the boy in front of him who was searching for something with a lowered head. He had skin paler than most girls. Wu Zhi knew it was because he didn’t go out in the sun for most of the year.

“Ye… Qingling.”

Wu Zhi himself could not say for sure if Ye Qingling and himself were just ordinary classmates or if they had a closer relationship, like friendship. Perhaps they simply had some kind of ill-fated relationship, but Wu Zhi had always been in the same class as Ye Qingling since long ago. Due to his weak heart, Ye Qingling barely came to class though. So, naturally, the two of them could not be considered close.

Ye Qingling found his glasses on the ground and put them on. The black-rimmed glasses were a little too big and blocked most of his face. But his delicate face could still be made out.

“Wu Zhi.” Ye Qingling pushed his glasses. Wu Zhi could not tell clearly if his brows were furrowed. “Running in the corridor is prohibited.”

Once the words were out, the deliberately forgotten memory in Wu Zhi’s mind surfaced immediately. A desire to throw up welled up in him. But he was not certain if it was due to his disgust towards the rotting and smelly monsters, or self-disgust of not saving another life when he could.

Splat. Splat. Splat.

The revolting noises akin to pus being crushed from fat worms came from a distance behind him. Wu Zhi could not afford the time to explain, grabbing Ye Qingling as he ran outside. “Let’s leave here quickly!”

Ye Qingling seemed very surprised, but he did not struggle, letting himself be dragged out of the school building by Wu Zhi.

On their way, Wu Zhi explained what happened to Ye Qingling bit by bit. Ye Qingling listened very quietly and doubted nothing. It was only when Wu Zhi finished that Ye Qingling very rationally analyzed the situation.

“To be able to crush the skull, their strength must be twenty times that of a human’s; they have a certain degree of infectiousness. I speculate they are spread by direct contact.” Ye Qingling’s expression was unbelievably calm; he was even barely affected when they spotted a real zombie on their way. He gazed at Wu Zhi, and his composed voice was strangely comforting. “They have a weak point: their movement ability.”

Under Ye Qingling’s influence, Wu Zhi gradually calmed down too. Ye Qingling’s completely unaffected behavior even gave him the feeling that zombies were not even a big deal. Frankly speaking, the current Ye Qingling was a complete surprise to Wu Zhi. It was as if this was his first time to know this student whom he had associated with for over a decade. Wu Zhi’s impression of Ye Qingling, who frequented the hospital, was that he was always pale and frail, like fragile glass that shattered at a single touch.

The two reached the schoolgate. On the way, they had bumped into numerous escaping students. From their shrieks, they assumed that zombies had likely shown up in the cafeteria, labs, sci-tech park and dormitories too. And that a number of people had already become a member of the zombie team.

Wu Zhi and Ye Qingling walked into security. The security officer on duty had already run off somewhere, leaving only a half-eaten bowl of instant noodles on the table. Wu Zhi pressed the switch for the school gate, and told Ye Qingling, “I’m gonna go home for a look first. You?”

“I’ll head for the police station.” Ye Qingling answered calmly. “It’s the most optimal place to understand the situation.”

What about your family…? Wu Zhi opened his mouth, but ultimately did not voice the question. He only grinned, “Then, we’re going in the same direction.”

Ye Qingling did not respond, only very carefully holding onto Wu Zhi’s hand.

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