"AM 107.7. This is Linjiang City People's Radio!"
"Attention, all citizens. Stay away from schools and avoid unnecessary travel! Have faith in the Party and the nation. We are capable of resolving this situation!"
...
Yong'an Prison.
"Ye Lin. Male, eighteen. Family relations unknown. Arrested in April for homicide with a firearm, theft of cultural relics, and intrusion into the national security center."
"Pursuant to the final judgment, he is sentenced to death on June 16 of the same year, with lifelong deprivation of political rights."
The incandescent light was dim inside the maximum-security cell.
As the sentence was read out, Ye Lin toyed idly with his handcuffs, as though someone else were about to be shot.
A long absence of sunlight had left him pale, his delicate features almost girlish.
Only after another sharp command did he slowly raise his head, tilting it toward the door.
"Hey, old man. There's no need to scare me with an execution."
"Under the rules, the most I can get is life."
Ye Lin looked unconcerned as his eyes flicked discreetly over the man's shoulder insignia.
Dark green, with a Great Wall emblem. That generally meant State Security.
Three minutes earlier, the man had arrived with six soldiers, opened his cell, and announced that they were going to shoot him.
The middle-aged man's gaze cooled at Ye Lin's faintly provocative tone. He lowered the documents in his hand.
"You think I'm joking, kid?"
"Eighteen years old, four lives, three serious felonies. Why shouldn't you be shot?"
Ye Lin's fingers stopped.
"Come on, old man. Those killings were self-defense."
"And even if you were going to shoot me, that's the armed police's job. Since when does State Security handle executions? At least make your act convincing."
"An act? Watch your mouth, kid! Your case is special. Once you're sentenced, you're ours!"
A young officer behind the middle-aged man couldn't contain his anger.
Ye Lin ignored him, his gaze settling on the papers in the older man's hand.
"Sentenced?"
"I don't think that's a judgment you're holding. It's my file."
"If it really were a judgment, it would've been opened three times at most since it was issued. Yours is already fraying at the corners."
"The paper's wrong, too. Official documents have stiff paper with sharp edges. Those sheets are much softer. They can only be the sort of file paper meant for frequent handling."
The men's expressions froze. The hands holding the "documents" tightened instinctively.
Ye Lin chuckled.
"Threatening me with execution after going over my file so many times. Looks like you need something from me."
"Something happened outside, didn't it? About a week ago, I'd guess. But I'm curious. What do you want with a grave robber?"
He held out his hands with a jangle, signaling for them to remove the cuffs first.
Whatever State Security wanted, he was fine with it as long as there was something in it for him.
He didn't want to rot here for the rest of his life.
"You...!"
"What do we want with you?"
The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow and held up a hand to silence the young officer.
Exposed, he couldn't be bothered to keep acting. Still, he hadn't expected Ye Lin to notice so much.
"First, tell me why you think something happened outside. And why a week ago?"
Ye Lin's remarks seemed to have struck a nerve. Even the soldiers beside him tensed.
Catching those tiny changes, Ye Lin simply drew his hands back and answered with a light laugh.
"Easy."
"Six days ago, they stopped playing the evening news in the corridor. That thing used to come on every day without fail. Three days ago, the food got worse, too. The vegetables weren't as fresh."
"If they won't let us hear the news, there's something outside they don't want the prisoners knowing, in case it causes trouble."
"And the prison has its own food deliveries. They've been using cold-storage stock and still couldn't get fresh supplies for three days. That means something happened nearby that's interfering with procurement."
"Of course, none of that proves much. The television could be broken. The cook could be slacking off."
"But..."
Ye Lin paused and sniffed.
"You smell of two kinds of smoke. Rugao pipe tobacco and Shifang cigars. One from Jiangsu, one from Sichuan, both favorites of the older generation. As far as I know, they're special-supply products. Hard for ordinary people to get."
"And unless I'm mistaken, State Security personnel stick to common brands, even if they do smoke, so they won't stand out."
"The smell is strong enough that it hasn't faded on the way here. You must have spent at least eight hours in the same room with those people."
"A news blackout. Interrupted supplies. A meeting that long, with high-ranking people from several provinces..."
"The answer's obvious."
Those smokers couldn't have been the middle-aged man's subordinates. Ye Lin glanced at his index finger.
A longtime smoker's finger would be yellow. This man didn't smoke, yet he'd put up with someone else's pipe tobacco. Clearly, he hadn't ranked very high in that room.
"Seriously, I'm curious. What happened out there? If it's especially dangerous, you should at least knock a few years off my..."
Before he could probe further, the middle-aged man gave him a long look, then pointed to a young noncommissioned officer.
"You're smart, kid. And we do need you. But stop guessing. You'll understand when you get there!"
"His name is Huang Liang, our finest State Security trainee. He'll be going with you. No bargaining. Bring back even a scrap of information, and it'll count as a major contribution!"
"If you make it out alive, we'll give you your freedom. And whatever else you want!"
"Take him!"
The order cracked out.
The man waved, giving Ye Lin almost no chance to refuse. Two soldiers marched up and hauled him to his feet.
An instant later, his vision went black as a hood was forced over his head.
What the...?
Bang!
The cell door slammed behind him, and Ye Lin's heart sank.
It wasn't the promise that surprised him. It was what that promise implied.
Even a major contribution usually only cut eight or ten years off a sentence. If the man dared offer this much, wherever they were sending him had to be extraordinarily dangerous.
Damn it. What the hell had happened outside?
...
The armored vehicle reeked of diesel.
Leaning beside the window, Ye Lin silently counted the fourth bump, then turned toward Huang Liang beside him.
"Hey, Little Buzz Cut. Don't tell me there really are walking corpses in the city. Just so we're clear, I'm a grave robber! If there really are undead things out there, I can't handle them."
"Give me one of those two guns you're carrying. If things go wrong, at least I can shoot myself."
Huang Liang's head whipped around, his right hand instinctively dropping to his waist.
"You can see outside? How do you know I've got two guns?"
"Relax. I can't see a thing."
Ye Lin curled his lip. Even with his eyes closed, he could guess that Little Buzz Cut had probably drawn a gun on him in alarm.
"Take it easy. We're teammates now."
"I know we're going into the city because we've crossed four speed bumps, turned left three times, and right six times. At an average speed of seventy-five kilometers an hour, there's only one possible route. Southern Linjiang City."
"I heard you loading magazines when I got in. Twenty-seven rounds in all. That has to mean two different guns."
Ye Lin tilted his head and held out a hand.
"Just give me the seven-round Type 77. That should put your mind at ease."
"Seriously, what happened out there?"
He frowned, puzzled and uneasy.
The walking corpses had been a joke.
But all along the way, he'd heard distant cries.
Alarms, gunshots, shouting and swearing. The sounds alone were enough for him to picture the chaos outside.
The armored vehicle had driven into the city without obstruction. Clearly, the main roads were under control.
Honestly, he couldn't imagine what could force the military to lock down an entire city.
Especially when...
It definitely wasn't limited to Linjiang.
Huang Liang's expression shifted again and again. In the end, he forced just one word through his teeth.
"Exams!"
Screech!
The armored vehicle braked hard. Four escorting soldiers leaped out, opened the doors as though facing a deadly enemy, and sprinted away as fast as they could.
"Pull back! Pull back! Pull back! Everyone out!"
Fear strained their shouts. At the same time, a dense series of heavy impacts sounded outside.
Cold wind rushed into the vehicle. Ye Lin was still stunned by Huang Liang's answer when an indescribable sense of oppression crashed down on him.
Exams? What kind of exams?
The light was blinding. Tearing off the hood, he forced his eyes open. The moment he saw clearly, his entire body went rigid.
The soldiers had all withdrawn.
Beneath an ink-black sky, bodies in school uniforms rained from above, smashing apart as they struck the ground.
Above a classroom building smeared red with flesh and blood, a black vortex six stories high twisted the surrounding reality like a gateway to hell.
White exam papers whirled in the wind like funeral offerings.
An icy mechanical voice sounded from the vortex, as though it had found its prey.
"Eligible examinee detected. Initiating capture."
"Transfer to examination site in three seconds."
"Countdown:"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
...
"Fuck!"
In the final second before darkness swallowed him, Ye Lin's face changed. He lunged instinctively at the frozen Huang Liang.
He didn't know whether the man was so shocked he'd forgotten what he was supposed to do. He only knew that the vortex before them was lethally dangerous.
"Little Buzz Cut! Give me the gun!"