People finally realized that the entire floor of the security booth was completely overrun by pothos vines.
A decorative pot of pothos that had been sitting on the booth’s desk had somehow fallen to the floor long ago. The pot had already been split apart by the rapidly expanding roots, and the fast-growing vines now covered almost every inch of the floor.
Under the desk lay a young man, still wearing a security guard uniform.
But by now, he had already been drained into a desiccated corpse.
He still clutched a fruit knife in his hand, the blade pressed against his own arm.
A gash ran across his arm, but it was impossible to tell its exact size now. Around the wound, countless pothos roots and stems had wrapped themselves tightly.
The leaves and roots, having absorbed the fresh blood, carried streaks of crimson through their green.
The sight was disturbingly eerie.
The heavy stench of blood in the room was emanating from those blood-soaked vines.
“He must have tried to cut the vines that wrapped around him, accidentally cutting his arm instead. The blood then became nourishment for the pothos,” Ke Bei calmly analyzed as she looked at the body.
Anger flashed in Cheng Qian’s eyes. He tightened his grip on the watermelon knife and was about to step forward, but Ke Bei grabbed him.
“We don’t have time to get tangled up with it!”
She said this as she seized the handle and forcefully shut the door again.
Then she turned to the panicked neighbors: “Let’s smash the main gate together.”
The scene inside the security booth was too horrifying, leaving everyone stunned.
Hearing Ke Bei’s words, the crowd nodded and rushed forward one by one, each faster than the last, fearing that the vines would break out of the booth if they delayed.
How strong could the community gate really be?
Before, no one had tried to force it open because everyone was hesitant, no one wanted to be the first to strike.
But when life and death were at stake, those worries didn’t matter at all. Within minutes, the gate was smashed open, and an ever-growing stream of residents poured out.
Ke Bei and Cheng Qian, with Xiao Tian, went along with the flow and left the community.
For convenience in commuting, Cheng Qian had bought this apartment not far from the auto parts city, in the suburban area, just a few streets from the highway.
The flow of people here wasn’t as dense as in the city center. Once the community residents spilled out, they quickly scattered, each trying to find a way to survive.
Cheng Qian ran with his wife and son for a long stretch before turning into a narrow side street.
Both sides of this street were lined with small shops.
It wasn’t yet business hours, so the street was completely deserted and quiet.
“No surveillance cameras here,” Cheng Qian said, clearly familiar with the area.
He looked around and then led Ke Bei and the others to the far end of the alley.
A few vehicles were parked sparsely there, all covered in thick dust, looking worn-out and abandoned, scrap left to rot.
Ke Bei hid in an open space behind one of the cars and took out an SUV.
Since this area was already commercial, without large patches of greenery, there were few mutated plants. They were able to drive the car onto the road without difficulty.
The sky gradually brightened.
Pedestrians began appearing on the street.
But after just one night, the outside world had lost all the calm of yesterday. Every person they glimpsed through car windows wore panic on their faces.
Much of the originally flat road had been damaged. Grass in the middle of the street had grown to calf height.
Even sitting in a modified SUV with excellent suspension, Ke Bei and Xiao Tian still felt the bumps, constantly at risk of being thrown about.
Ke Bei held the overhead handle tightly with one hand while swiping her phone with the other.
“The intact sections of the river-crossing bridge are completely covered by water hyacinths, and they have now spread to both sides of the river. The road and riverside buildings are all engulfed, and many people who didn’t escape have been swept into the water and are now missing.”
“A wolf pack that escaped from the zoo has been spotted in the East City District. They’ve taken over a residential area. According to people who got out, many residents have died, but the exact number is unknown. The SWAT team has already been deployed.”
“The bear that ran loose hasn’t been found yet, but a pack of large dogs from a suburban kennel has mutated. Nobody from the kennel made it out…”
Ke Bei quickly read the latest online updates, and Cheng Qian’s brow grew tighter with each word.
Hearing this, he asked, “Which kennel? Exact location?”
“Yuqian Village, Zhoujia Town.”
Ke Bei finished reading the information, then suddenly looked up at her husband, a trace of worry in her eyes.
If she remembered correctly, the military airport they were heading to was in Zhoujia Town.
“Let’s see as we go,” Cheng Qian said softly, trying to reassure his wife, though the veins on the back of his hand gripping the steering wheel throbbed visibly.
By the time they finished speaking, the car had already reached the highway entrance, which was already congested. The line of vehicles stretched as far as the eye could see.
Cheng Qian had no choice but to stop.
Ke Bei looked out the window and saw many people anxiously leaning out of their cars.
Through the open windows, it was clear that most vehicles carried entire families. Many cars were packed with large and small bags of luggage.
“They’re all fleeing,” she whispered.
Cheng Qian didn’t respond. He pushed open the car door and stepped out.
He walked forward for a bit, but soon returned.
“They’ve set up barricades ahead and aren’t letting anyone through. They say the road has collapsed. We’ll need to take another route.”
Saying this, he restarted the car.
Ke Bei didn’t know these roads at all, so whatever he decided went unquestioned.
Cheng Qian pressed the accelerator, turned onto a nearby sidewalk, executed a U-turn, and drove against traffic, heading quickly back the way they came.
Through the rearview mirror, Ke Bei saw that many other cars were doing the same, following directly behind them.
“Besides the highway, is there any other reliable route out of the city?”
Ke Bei opened her phone’s navigation app, only to find that in just a short while, the signal had completely disappeared.
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll go through the villages on the side,” Cheng Qian said through gritted teeth.
Ke Bei glanced at the time, it was already 9:52 a.m. Although it was still early compared to 4 p.m., they still had a long way to go to reach the airport.
And going through the villages—
It was midsummer, the peak season for plant growth.
Who knew what the situation in the village would be? Could there be mutated plants?
She was silent for a moment, then without saying a word, pulled out a set of drawstring windproof jackets from the space and tossed them to Xiao Tian.
She also handed him the sun hat Cheng Qian had bought for him yesterday, along with a child-sized sun shield mask that covered his entire face.
Xiao Tian took them and skillfully changed into them in the back seat.
Meanwhile, Ke Bei pulled out three protein bars from the space.
She gave one to her son, then unwrapped another and handed it to her husband.
“Eat something first. Save your energy,” she said, her tone calm as ever, giving a feeling of absolute reassurance.
Cheng Qian glanced at her, bit into the protein bar, and a flash of tenderness crossed his eyes, one even he hadn’t realized he had.
After eating the bars, the three of them drank some hot water with energy effervescent tablets dissolved in it.
With their stomachs full, the fatigue from before vanished completely.
By now, Cheng Qian’s car had left the main road and entered a small path leading toward a nearby village.
“Why is it blocked here too?”
After just ten minutes on the path, the car came to a standstill again. The vehicles ahead had formed another long line.
Many people honked impatiently, and some had gotten out of their cars to stand by the roadside and look around.
From their expressions, it was clear they had been waiting for quite some time.
Cheng Qian rolled down the window and called out to a man standing nearby, “Sir, what’s going on up ahead?”
“The villagers have blocked the road, they’re collecting a toll!”
The man was clearly furious. He spat toward the roadside and cursed, “What kind of idiots block the road at a time like this? Collecting money like that, don’t they fear getting burned?”
Before Cheng Qian could respond, Ke Bei had already jumped out of the car.
She looked around. All she could see were vehicles and people; the situation ahead was completely obscured.
Without hesitation, she grabbed the hood of the car and leapt onto the roof.
From her elevated position, it was easy for Ke Bei to see the scene ahead and behind.
In front of them, there were about forty to fifty vehicles, mostly private cars, with a few minibuses mixed in.
At the very front of these vehicles, a barbed wire fence had been strung across the road.
Behind the fence stood groups of a dozen or so men, all in their prime, holding either hoes or wooden sticks.
None of them carried truly lethal weapons, but their stance and posture made it clear: they were not to be trifled with.
In front of and behind the fence, several rows of wooden planks had been placed, each studded with countless steel nails. Each nail protruded about two to three inches.
The nails were clearly newly installed, gleaming sharply in the sunlight.
Outside the barbed wire, two pieces of white paper displayed printed QR codes for payment. Several people stood in front of them, holding their phones to scan.
But the signal was poor, and few could successfully pay. Anger and anxiety were written all over everyone’s faces.
Many were shouting at the people behind the fence.
Ke Bei then turned to look behind them.
Even when they had first arrived, there had already been many cars following. Now, more kept arriving from the distance.
A quick scan revealed at least thirty or forty more vehicles.
This was a narrow road to begin with, and with so many cars, the path back was completely blocked.
Ke Bei jumped down from the car roof, opened the door, and sat back inside.
“We have no choice but to go through here, let’s pay.”
She quickly explained to Cheng Qian what she had seen, then, from a position hidden from outsiders, pulled out a stack of cash from the space, around three or four thousand yuan.
Knowing that the network would likely fail quickly as the apocalypse arrived, she had specifically told Cheng Qian yesterday to withdraw extra cash before heading out.
They had gone through all their cards, and combined with the money they had taken from the cash register earlier, her space now held seventy to eighty thousand yuan in cash.
For problems that could be solved with money, none of them were real problems for them.
“Drive through the cornfield,” she said, pointing to the adjacent farmland.
Cheng Qian immediately understood, nodded, and turned the steering wheel, driving directly into the cornfield.
The unharvested corn was flattened under the car, leaving a wide swath crushed.
Shouts of alarm immediately rose from the surrounding villagers!
The villagers behind the barbed wire became alert at the noise. Seeing someone plowing through their fields, they grabbed their weapons and rushed out from behind the fence.
Cheng Qian’s car quickly reached the front.
Ke Bei rolled down the window and without hesitation shoved all the cash into the hands of the man at the very front.
“Move aside, we have urgent business!”
The man, who had been furious just moments ago, was caught off guard by the sudden cash.
He turned, a little stunned, toward an older man nearby, around fifty or sixty years old.
The older man walked over, took the money, and counted it, clearly dissatisfied.
He leaned toward the car window to say something, but Cheng Qian’s cold, sharp gaze met his, and he immediately stopped.
The older man’s expression changed slightly. He quickly withdrew and waved his hand toward the others: “Stand down!”
At his command, the villagers who had been preparing to converge immediately dispersed.
Those handling the barbed wire and nail-studded boards worked in perfect coordination, quickly clearing a path for Cheng Qian’s car.
Cheng Qian rolled up the window and was about to drive off.
Just as he pressed the accelerator, a person suddenly leapt onto the car!
Clinging tightly to the side-view mirror next to the driver’s seat.