Chapter 4

I peeked outside through the gap in the curtains.

I could see cars and motorcycles parked irregularly on the road, some even crashed into the sidewalk.

And amidst it all, figures continued to move, even as they were trampled.

The street visible through the window was, as expected, overflowing with zombies.

I turned on my smartphone, which was connected to a power bank.

Although it wasn't fully charged, the screen of the phone lit up faintly in the room with the curtains drawn.

There were countless notifications from phone calls, emails, and chat apps, but I put off checking them for now and first tried to see if I could make a call.

The phone's display showed no service, but I dialed 110 (emergency number in Japan) with a faint hope, only to find that it didn't connect.

Next, I checked the emails and chat apps.

Since I had transferred to another world over the weekend and returned on Monday, I had received frequent messages from my boss and colleagues, including calls.

A junior who had been under my supervision sent a casual email with a video attachment, saying, "Are you playing hooky, senpai? But isn't this video scary?"

The content of the messages started to change five days after the transfer, on Wednesday.

It wasn't because of my unauthorized absence or the lack of contact.

From the content, it was clear that the world had started to change from that day on.

Starting with the junior's email, "It turns out that video was real! Are you okay, senpai!?" and messages from various people warning about violent incidents, terrorism, and advising caution when going outside, the nature of the communications had shifted.

I read through all of them but couldn't determine the cause of this anomaly.

What I did learn was that, probably within a few days, communication functions in Japan had stopped working.

The last message was from my junior, saying he was thinking of going to a shelter.

"City hall..."

The location of the shelter mentioned in the email was at the next station over from here.

My junior's closest station was that one, and from the content of the email, it seemed he had been holed up at home but was forced to make a choice due to a lack of food.

"I'll start by going there."

Returning from the other world to find things like this, I was at a loss as to what to do next.

There might be survivors.

I packed my backpack with supplies and put useful items from the room into an item box.

The sound of someone pounding on the door of the room could be heard.

It had been going on for a while, the sound of zombies knocking on the door.

"Alright, I'm coming out now."

At the entrance, I put on my shoes and picked up the metal bat I had leaned against the wall.

"But now that I know the world has become like this, I won't hold back anymore."

I answered the undead's knocking, which didn't understand words, and opened the front door.