But in the next moment, the child originally held in the woman’s arms suddenly jerked, biting directly into her neck.
Who knew where the child got such strength, but he bit her windpipe right off. The spurting blood was like a fountain, a hair-raising sight.
The man beside her was clearly terrified; he turned and ran, but was soon tackled by someone rushing up from the side, his screams continuous.
The woman fell to the ground, still trying to call for help, but was tackled again by the crowd swarming her. Several people surrounded her, even biting open her stomach until her internal organs spilled across the ground.
Lin Yuzhi watched the scene—it happened so fast his breath nearly stopped.
But the next moment, someone slipped and fell next to him while passing by, followed immediately by a blood-covered person lunging at them.
“Help, help!” the person on the ground screamed.
Lin Yuzhi snapped back to reality and helped pull the attacker away.
The person who had been pinned down stood up unsteadily, about to say thank you, when another person rushed out and tackled them again. This time, they didn’t even have time to shout before their throat was bitten through, their body twitching.
Lin Yuzhi took a step back. The person he had just saved was dead in the blink of an eye.
He had no idea what was happening. A riot? Rabies?
But there was no time to think, as several people were already rushing toward him, including elementary school students.
He hurriedly pulled at his car door, wanting to drive away. But the door was locked and he couldn’t get it open, so he ran to the side.
With many others rushing out from that side too, he could only climb onto the roof of a nearby sedan.
Those people surrounded the car, reaching out with blood-stained hands, trying to pull him down. Growls accompanied by screams echoed through the air.
He even saw a severed section of intestine in one person’s hand, bright red blood still dripping and smearing across the vehicle. In an instant, the car was covered in terrifying bloody handprints.
Lin Yuzhi looked at the people below and couldn’t help but swallow hard, taking a step back. He forgot he was on the roof, and his foot slipped—he nearly fell.
At the same time, the surrounding crowd grabbed for his feet. Fortunately, he pulled back in time.
Where did so many biters come from? There had only been one just a moment ago; how did it become so many so fast?
No, it didn’t seem like they appeared all at once; they were the people who had been around him. Because he saw the woman who had just been bitten by the child running over now. Her stomach was sliced open, intestines hanging out; she just dragged a section of her guts, reaching out her hand and emitting a terrifying roar.
Lin Yuzhi was beyond shocked, but he seemed to understand a bit—this thing appeared to be contagious, and they could still move after being infected.
He had clearly seen the child’s mother being bitten to death, yet now she was moving and trying to bite him. It looked exactly like the zombie movies he had just been watching yesterday. Surely it couldn’t actually be zombies?
Lin Yuzhi was drenched in sweat. Looking at the monsters trying to climb up, he thought it was a good thing he had climbed fast, or he’d be one of them by now.
But soon, another thought occurred to him. Zombies shouldn’t be able to climb cars, right?
Just as this thought appeared, a zombie suddenly climbed onto the front of the car, seemingly stepping on the zombies beside it to get up, reaching out and lunging at him.
Lin Yuzhi was scared witless, backing up repeatedly. “Oh my god, they really can climb cars!”
More and more zombies gathered; screams continued. He couldn’t stay here. Since the zombies were actually climbing the car, he realized no place was truly safe. Especially since it was currently school-release time and the gates were wide open; there would likely be even more zombies soon.
He looked around. Jumping over the zombies was obviously impossible, then he saw the tree. This group of zombies was following him—perhaps they were tracking him by sight, just like in the movies. If he climbed the tree, they might follow, allowing him to wait for a gap in the crowd around the car and then run.
He hurriedly climbed the tree, zombies reaching and growling for him. At the same time, the zombies around the car shifted toward the base of the tree, though many still lingered by the vehicle.
Still, it was better than the dense crowd from before; at least now there was an opening.
Lin Yuzhi checked the distance between himself and the car. It was a bit high, and he wasn’t sure if he could make the jump. But now wasn’t the time to wonder; he had to jump. If he stayed here, he’d be finished as more zombies arrived.
“Mom, protect me.” He gritted his teeth and jumped from the tree. He hit the car roof, and due to the momentum, he rolled right off.
The loud thud immediately attracted the surrounding zombies. Those by the car and the tree rushed toward him.
Lin Yuzhi didn’t dare linger. He scrambled up and ran. The left was swarming with zombies, so he was forced to run to the right. There were plenty of zombies to the right as well, but they hadn’t clustered together as much as those on the left.
A zombie suddenly rushed out from the side, startling Lin Yuzhi into scrambling onto another car roof, jumping to the other side, and continuing his sprint.
Under the scorching sun, his pink hair was particularly conspicuous. If one looked closely, they would see red veins in his eyes and blood splattered across his face.
Passing the school, he glanced inside. It had become a purgatory; biting zombies and victims were everywhere, and those bitten were immediately rising to attack other survivors.
Noticing him running past, many zombies rushed out from the gates.
Lin Yuzhi didn’t dare stop or even slow down, because he realized these zombies ran incredibly fast. If they competed in the Olympics, they’d likely win gold. Just as the thought crossed his mind, he wanted to slap himself—this was no time for such thoughts.
Seeing an open shop nearby, he quickly dashed inside. Just as he was about to close the door, several other people followed him in.
“Close the door! Close the door quickly!” they urged, their voices raspy with fear.
Lin Yuzhi didn’t delay. He slammed the glass door shut and grabbed a towel from the checkout counter to wrap around the door handles. The next moment, zombies slammed into the door, the impact nearly forcing it open.
Lin Yuzhi immediately tried to hold the door, but he couldn’t do it alone against so many zombies. He looked back at the others. “What are you just standing there for? Move something!”
The panicked group finally snapped out of their stupor and rushed to move shelves to block the door. This was a stationery shop, selling pens and paper for students. Since it was near a school, stationery shops were common.
They pushed several shelves against the door. Suddenly, someone noticed a rolling shutter. “There’s a shutter! Quick, pull it down!”
Hearing this, they rushed to the shutter. But before it could be lowered, the glass door emitted a cracking sound.
It was over!
Lin Yuzhi was startled, and in the next moment, the door was smashed open. A swarm of zombies poured inside. Everyone fled deeper into the shop. Those who were too slow were tackled instantly, their screams followed by the sounds of tearing flesh, like wild beasts feeding.
The survivors didn’t dare stop, but after reaching the back, they realized there was no back exit.
“It’s a dead end!” the person in the lead screamed in despair, their voice cracking with terror.
Lin Yuzhi was at the very back. Hearing it was a dead end, he turned to face the incoming threat. The shop wasn’t large, and in such a cramped space, they were essentially trapped.
The zombies had already swarmed in. The moment he turned his head, a zombie lunged at him, the stench of blood nauseating. Almost instinctively, Lin Yuzhi raised the door handle still in his hand and smashed it down.
When the door had shattered, the handle had remained in his grip. He hadn’t expected this forgotten object to save his life in a critical moment.
The zombie was knocked down, but more lunged forward. He kept swinging, kicking away those rushing from the sides. But there were too many; even if he wasn’t killed, he was bound to be bitten. Regardless of whether these were zombies or rabies victims, he didn’t want to be bitten.
Just then, he spotted a door on the side.
He shouted immediately, “There’s a door over here! Open it!”
The others saw it too and rushed to open the door, diving inside. Lin Yuzhi didn’t linger; after knocking down one more zombie, he slipped through the door, and the others hurried to close it.
But a bloody hand caught in the door, and a head squeezed through, trying to force its way in. It snarled, blood dripping from its open jaws.
Lin Yuzhi frantically smashed at it with the door handle, pouring all his strength into the blows.
“Get out! Get out!”
The zombie’s face became a bloody mess under his strikes; he even knocked out its teeth and an eyeball. Yet even in this state, the zombie continued to push inside like a madman, making it impossible to close the door.
Lin Yuzhi was desperate. If only he had a knife. Then he noticed the jagged glass still attached to the door handle. Without caring if it would work, he hacked at the zombie’s neck.
One strike, two strikes—blood sprayed everywhere, and the room was instantly filled with the heavy scent of iron.
The people beside him were clearly terrified, leaning against the door with everything they had, not daring to let go.
Lin Yuzhi shouted, “Find something to push it out!”
One person heard him and frantically looked for a tool. This was a restroom; besides the toilet and sink, there was a mop standing in the corner. That person grabbed the mop and used it to shove against the zombie, trying to force it back.
At that exact moment, Lin Yuzhi hacked down once more. The head was severed completely and fell to the floor inside the room.
Simultaneously, the body was pushed out, and the door was finally slammed shut. The sounds of impact continued from the other side, but they gradually weakened, though the growling remained constant.
Just as they thought they had escaped, the severed head on the floor proved to still be alive, snapping its jaws at them. But because it had no body, it couldn’t move; it could only gnash its teeth. Its face was a mass of lacerations, and one eye was missing.
Seeing this, Lin Yuzhi raised the door handle and smashed it down again and again. Only when the head finally went still did he collapse, dropping the handle.
He stumbled back and leaned against the wall, gasping for air. His heart was racing, and his eyes remained fixed on the remains of the head.
The others were in no better shape, their gazes locked onto the same gruesome sight.