Yun Huacen spent the entire afternoon crafting a weapon. He attached a blade to the top of an iron rod, creating a weapon about one and a half meters long that resembled a spear. As the saying goes, “An inch longer, an inch stronger.” This way, while maintaining a safe distance during combat with zombies, he could still inflict damage. Additionally, he specially prepared a bottle of perfume that emitted a foul, rotting odor to mask his own scent.
After finishing the weapon, Yun Huacen took out instant noodles from the refrigerator, heated them up, and ate a little. Food was scarce now, and no matter how unappetizing it was, he couldn’t afford to waste it. As for the children in the laboratory, he had no intention of bringing them food. He wanted them to understand just how important food was in such a harsh environment, especially Yu Lei, he needed to make him face reality.
As the sun began to set, Yun Huacen knew he couldn’t wait any longer. He sprayed himself twice with the special perfume. The smell… even with a gas mask on, the stench was still overwhelming. Fighting back nausea, he gripped his weapon tightly, carefully opened the door, and stepped out as quietly as possible, trying not to make a sound.
The zombie was wandering around the yard, seemingly unaware. Yun Huacen moved closer and closer until he was only three meters away, just a little more and he would be within striking distance. But then, he accidentally stepped on a small stone, making a faint noise. For an ordinary person, such a small sound would go unnoticed, but zombies were different. Their hearing was highly developed, and the zombie immediately turned around at the sound.
The moment Yun Huacen stepped on the stone, he knew things had gone wrong. Without hesitation, he thrust the weapon toward the zombie’s head. To kill a zombie completely, he had to destroy its brain; otherwise, it would be futile. Thud, the blade pierced the zombie’s eye, instantly bursting the eyeball and spraying green mucus. But the blade got stuck in the eye socket and couldn’t go any further. Enraged, the zombie lunged at him, claws outstretched. Yun Huacen held the iron rod firmly, preventing the zombie from getting closer. The two remained locked in a stalemate. Yun Huacen knew that once his strength gave out, he would become the zombie’s meal. His mind raced, and soon an idea formed.
Pretending to be exhausted, Yun Huacen quickly retreated. The zombie sped up in response, and just as it was about to reach the flowerbed, he suddenly pressed down hard on the iron rod. The zombie lowered its head in reaction, and Yun Huacen tripped, falling into the flowerbed. The iron rod happened to wedge into the gap between the flowerbed and the ground. Due to the zombie’s speed and force, the blade pierced through its skull and into its brain. To ensure the blade penetrated deeply enough, Yun Huacen crawled out of the flowerbed, grabbed a gardening shovel, and struck the back of the zombie’s head repeatedly until the blade finally pierced through from the other side.
The zombie lost its support and collapsed to the ground. Yun Huacen’s tense nerves relaxed, and he immediately felt dizzy. His legs gave way, and he slumped to the ground. Gasping for breath, he stared at the thoroughly dead zombie, with only one thought in his mind: he had killed someone…
After all, he was just a young adult who had never witnessed bloodshed, let alone taken a life with his own hands. The feeling was terrible, and even though he knew it was a zombie, he would need time to adjust.
After a long while, Yun Huacen finally recovered, suddenly feeling as if he was being watched. He stiffly turned his head and saw the mutated zombie cat. Cold sweat instantly broke out, and Yun Huacen held his breath nervously. If that cat spat out a single drop of black liquid, he would be dead.
After waiting for what felt like an eternity, the cat still hadn’t moved. Yun Huacen couldn’t help but swallow, trying to ease the dryness in his throat. Cold sweat continued to pour out layer by layer, soaking his clothes underneath. He couldn’t figure out what the cat wanted to do, but he felt its gaze toward him was somewhat complicated. He tentatively shifted his stiff body, and the cat moved as well, using its tail to curl up a plastic bag beside it and push it forward.
Yun Huacen looked at the plastic bag and couldn’t help but freeze. Inside were all medicines.
“You…” His throat was so dry that his voice came out hoarse and unpleasant. He couldn’t help but cough twice before tentatively asking, “Are you injured? Do you want me to apply medicine for you?”
The cat shook its head, pushed the medicines forward again, and gestured with its eyes for him to look.
Seeing that the cat had no immediate intention of killing him, Yun Huacen relaxed slightly and continued, “You want me to look at these medicines, right?”
The cat nodded.
Yun Huacen carefully opened the plastic bag and examined the medicines inside. He found that they were all antiviral and cold medicines. These medicines were useful for humans but not for cats. So, what was the cat’s purpose in bringing these medicines?
Yun Huacen instinctively opened the medicine boxes, took out the instructions, and carefully read the ingredients. A formula automatically surfaced in his mind, leaving him stunned. When he regained his senses and looked at the cat again, an absurd idea emerged in his mind. He couldn’t help but ask, “You… you couldn’t be the owner of this place, could you?”
Upon hearing this, the cat’s pupils noticeably changed, as if it hadn’t expected Yun Huacen to say that. After hesitating for a moment, it nodded.
“You… you…” Even though his guess was correct, Yun Huacen still widened his eyes in shock. “You really are the owner of this place?”
The cat nodded again.
Yun Huacen had this suspicion because the cat had never appeared in the original owner’s memories but had appeared in reality with unusually high frequency. Additionally, it had prevented zombies from destroying the plants in the yard. Most importantly, the medicines it had brought back contained certain ingredients necessary for developing a drug to kill the zombie virus. With all these factors combined, no matter how bizarre the answer seemed, it was the truth.
Upon learning that the cat was the original owner, Yun Huacen eagerly asked, “How did you become a cat? And why did I enter your body? What exactly is going on?”
The cat used its paw to write three words on the ground: “I don’t know.”
“Then tell me, before you turned into a cat, did anything strange happen?”
The cat wrote again: “No.”
Yun Huacen suddenly thought of a key question. “Then, are you a reincarnator?”
This time, the cat hesitated and didn’t answer immediately. After a long while, it wrote: “I’m not sure.”
“You must be a reincarnator. Otherwise, how would you know that formula?”
The cat pondered for a moment before writing: “After turning into a cat, I suddenly had that memory.”
Yun Huacen frowned slightly and asked, “When did you turn into a cat?”
“Three days ago.”
“I only arrived in this world yesterday, and you came a day earlier. So who was in your body during that day?” At this thought, Yun Huacen paused, then raised a hand to press against his chest, feeling the heartbeat. “It’s alive.”
The cat wrote: “Who are you?”
“Not only do we share the same name, but we’re both studying medicine. If it weren’t for the fact that we don’t look alike, I’d think this was a parallel world.” Yun Huacen stood up. “Let’s go inside to talk? It’s too dangerous out here.”
The cat also stood up and followed Yun Huacen toward the door.
Yun Huacen opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it in one smooth motion, giving the cat no chance to react. Blocked outside, the cat stared blankly at the closed door before snapping back to reality and letting out an angry low growl.
Leaning against the door, Yun Huacen gasped for breath. Though he had appeared relaxed earlier, his nerves had been on edge the entire time. His actions were meant to lull the cat into lowering its guard, giving him a chance to escape. Regardless of whether the soul inside it was the original owner, it was now an extremely dangerous zombie. Yun Huacen couldn’t afford to put himself in harm’s way. Moreover, the original owner was a madman with no moral boundaries, conducting experiments on living people, someone inherently dangerous.
“If you really are the original owner, you should know how ruthless the zombie virus is. You’re a zombie now, and a mutated one at that. Being around you is too dangerous, one careless moment and I could be infected. You wouldn’t want your own body to turn into a zombie either, would you?”
There was no sound from outside. Yun Huacen turned to look through the door, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. On the glass door, four words were written: “Bring the medicine inside.” Seeing this, Yun Huacen let out a long sigh of relief. He glanced at the medicine outside but didn’t open the door to retrieve it. What if the cat was lurking nearby? That would put him in danger again.
Carefully, Yun Huacen removed his mask and outer clothing, placing them in a dedicated plastic bag. Then he went upstairs to take a shower. The successive shocks had made him break out in a cold sweat, and his clothes were damp and sticky against his skin, making him uncomfortable. After showering, his exhaustion became even more apparent. He had intended to check the surveillance footage on his phone, but as soon as he lay down on the bed, drowsiness overtook him, and he fell asleep without realizing it.
Having gone to bed early, he also woke up early. Yun Huacen glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table, it was just seven o’clock. He got up to make breakfast, preparing only a little porridge this time to avoid wasting food, and heated a sandwich in the microwave.
After breakfast, Yun Huacen went to the laboratory. He glanced at the instant noodles that should have been scattered on the floor, now only a few strands remained. When the children saw him enter, they all stood up in unison, except for Yue Zirui, who remained seated motionless. Yu Lei looked at Yun Huacen, wanting to speak but hesitating, his face flushed red.
Shao Lan couldn’t help but urge, “Brother Xiao Lei.”
Yu Lei glanced at Shao Lan, then turned back to Yun Huacen. Just as he was about to speak, Yun Huacen said, “Time’s up. I’m letting you go now.”
Without even looking at Yu Lei, Yun Huacen walked toward Shao Lan, entered his fingerprint, and opened the cage door. Shao Lan obediently stepped out and opened her mouth to speak, but Yun Huacen had already moved on. He entered his fingerprint again and opened Sun Qi’s cage.
Sun Qi spoke up, “Uncle, do you have a mop here? We can help you clean up.”
“No need.” Yun Huacen continued opening the cages until every one of them was unlocked.
Yue Zirui looked up at Yun Huacen, seemingly surprised that he had actually opened the cage.
Seeing him staring blankly, Yun Huacen spoke up, “You can go now.”
Yue Zirui snapped back to reality, stood up, and stepped out of the cage.
Yun Huacen glanced at the group, then looked toward the open door and said, “Let’s go.”
The children exchanged glances. Sun Qi took Shao Lan’s hand and led the way toward the door, with the three other boys following closely behind. Yu Lei looked at Yun Huacen, then at Yue Zirui, but remained rooted to the spot. Just then, Yue Zirui suddenly lunged forward, charging straight at Yun Huacen.