“Hurry up!” Tang Yun first threw a stool downstairs, then swiftly climbed onto the windowsill and called out to Lu Chuan.
Descending along the cloth strips, Tang Yun ignored her fear—zombies were now wandering everywhere inside the hospital.
Tang Yun was the first to jump down to the first floor. Looking up at Lu Chuan, she noticed his movements were surprisingly agile, as if he had trained before.
The parking lot was in chaos. Someone lay on the ground, limbs twitching, surrounded by zombies tearing at them.
Tang Yun followed Lu Chuan into the passenger seat. The car quickly sped out of the hospital, with zombies hearing the commotion and staggering in pursuit behind.
After getting in the car, Tang Yun caught her breath and immediately took out her phone to call home.
No connection!
She clenched her phone tightly, gritting her teeth.
While driving, Lu Chuan turned on the radio, his phone placed on the dashboard as he made a call.
“…An unknown virus has broken out. Multiple cities have already fallen. Survivors, please proceed quickly to government-established rescue bases. Stay safe!”
“…Citizens of R City, please note: proceed immediately to Shelter No. 3 in City A.”
The disaster had struck too quickly, turning the entire R City upside down.
Tang Yun’s heart raced nervously. She quickly opened Dede Maps to check the shelter’s location and took advantage of the remaining signal to start downloading a national map.
Suddenly, her phone popped up a game interface resembling a zombie siege.
Frowning, she quickly tapped the X, afraid it would delay the map download.
Unexpectedly, this unknown software began installing automatically!
How shameless!
Tang Yun was furious, thinking she would uninstall it immediately after installation.
But when the green-labeled software finished installing, a glowing screen appeared before her eyes.
[Global catastrophe. Welcome to the apocalypse survival game. Your ID is E01. Please survive and reach Shelter No. 3 in City A within 30 days. Game failure means permanent death!]
Global catastrophe?
Apocalypse survival?
Tang Yun felt a chill run down her spine. If not for the bloody and brutal scenes she saw outside through the car window, she would have thought her phone was infected or she was still dreaming.
She glanced at Lu Chuan and noticed he was also calling home, with no one answering either.
“Where are you going?” Lu Chuan gripped the steering wheel, his voice cold, his face devoid of the gentle smile he wore while working at the hospital.
“G Town.”
Lu Chuan’s home was also in G Town.
Hearing this, he glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
Tang Yun explained, “My family is in G Town. I can’t reach them now, so I’m going back to find them.”
To gain his trust, Tang Yun added, “Dr. Lu, we were high school classmates.”
As the apocalypse descended, densely populated cities quickly fell. Shop windows were shattered, clearly looted. Both sides of the street were littered with wrecked vehicles, and living dead roamed about.
Lu Chuan remained silent for a moment. “First, let’s go to my apartment to gather supplies. We’ll discuss other matters later.”
After some effort, they finally entered the apartment. Tang Yun looked around and realized Lu Chuan lived in a studio apartment.
“Take this.” Lu Chuan tossed her a backpack.
Tang Yun took the backpack and began packing supplies from the apartment. Drinks and bottled water from the fridge, along with bread and snacks from the room, were all gathered. There wasn’t even any instant noodles—supplies were truly scarce. They would need to gather more on the road.
Weapons were essential.
Tang Yun took a knife from the kitchen and hid it in her backpack, then grabbed a stainless steel clothes drying pole. She broke the pole in half and bound the pieces together to form a single rod. After a moment’s thought, she also tied a kitchen knife to the end of the makeshift steel weapon.
Once the weapon was ready, she stuffed food into her backpack before finally finding time to pour herself a glass of water in the kitchen.
“You really don’t hold back with me,” Lu Chuan remarked with an ambiguous chuckle as he removed his white coat, changed into athletic wear, and opened the medical kit.
Tang Yun smiled faintly. “Thank you, Dr. Lu.”
“If you’re also heading back to G Town, why don’t we cooperate?”
She needed a vehicle and also needed people.
From what she had observed, Lu Chuan didn’t seem to be in a hurry to head to Shelter No. 3 in City A either. Like her, he was probably worried about his missing family in G Town.
Standing at a height of 1.85 meters and agile in movement, having someone to cooperate with along the way would be helpful—whether for keeping watch at night or taking turns driving.
“Classmate Lu, it seems you don’t remember me. I’m Tang Yun.”
Lu Chuan bit down on a bandage as he sat on the floor, quickly wrapping the wound on his arm—an injury sustained during the fight with zombies when they entered the apartment earlier.
“Now I remember. Tang Yun, the campus belle.”
Tang Yun hadn’t expected Lu Chuan to deliver such a teasing remark in such a cool, detached tone.
“Let’s cooperate for now. If we have disagreements along the way, we can go our separate ways.” Lu Chuan spoke calmly, with an air of straightforwardness and resolute honesty.
The two packed up as quickly as possible, stuffing some clothes into a suitcase. They shouldered their backpacks, picked up the suitcase, grabbed the car keys, and opened the door.
“I’ll drive,” Tang Yun said, glancing at his injured arm before taking the car keys from him.
Lu Chuan sat in the passenger seat, continuously scrolling through his phone. “Our current food supply won’t last a week. There are too many uncertainties on the road, and it’s hard to say how long it’ll take to get back to G Town.”
“Tang Yun, we need to search for supplies now.”
Tang Yun handed him her phone. “There’s no signal now, but I’ve downloaded the map. You choose where to go for supplies.”
“Drive straight along Xinguang Road for ten kilometers. There’s a newly opened shopping mall there. It’s a bit remote, but the good thing is it’s some distance away from residential areas.”
“Mm.” Tang Yun turned the steering wheel, catching a glimpse of Lu Chuan putting down his phone and closing his eyes to rest, his brows slightly furrowed. “Is the injury on your arm serious?”
Lu Chuan adjusted his posture and replied flatly, “If I said it was serious, would you abandon me and drive off?”
Tang Yun raised an eyebrow. At the moment, she didn’t have that thought.
Lu Chuan looked up at her. “I’ll do my best to protect myself. I want to return to G Town.”
“But right now, I am indeed injured. So, at critical moments, I hope Campus Belle Tang will lend me a hand.”
A faint smile tugged at Tang Yun’s lips, the corners of her eyes crinkling slightly.
Only when he needed something did he call her “Campus Belle Tang.”
As they entered the shopping mall, several wrecked vehicles were parked by the roadside. It seemed the place had already been looted, and it was unclear how many supplies remained inside.
They got out of the car and entered the mall.
The mall had only three floors: jewelry and cosmetics on the first, a supermarket on the second, and home appliances and clothing on the third.
The first floor showed no signs of living people, only shattered glass scattered everywhere and jewelry completely looted. The two went straight to the second floor to search for food. The second floor was different—they caught glimpses of a few fleeting figures, but no one lingered, everyone focused solely on gathering food.
The shelves were nearly empty. The fresh food section had no electricity and emitted an unpleasant odor.
Tang Yun packed the few snacks she could find into her backpack. She didn’t find any instant noodles or water, let alone the luxury of self-heating rice or hotpot meals.
She made a quick decision and said, “Dr. Lu, let’s go to the third floor!”
Lu Chuan glanced around and noticed a few people hiding behind the shelves. He immediately nodded and followed her.