There were many zombies wandering around the entrance of the inpatient building. Some wore hospital gowns, others wore casual clothes, and he even spotted two in white lab coats.
He knew these must be the patients, their families, and the doctors who had been in the building.
They hovered around the main entrance, making it impossible to get inside. He wondered if there was a way to lure them out. At the very least, he needed them to clear the area around the front desk, or he wouldn’t even be able to find where he was going.
Lin Yuzhi looked around and then peered toward the entrance of the inpatient building. The doors were open, but unfortunately, it was too far away to see clearly inside.
After thinking it over, the only plan he could come up with was to make some noise to draw the zombies out. As for what it looked like inside, he would just have to leave that to fate.
Xu An, oh Xu An, you better be alive.
If Xu An was dead, this trip to the hospital would be for nothing. Getting in was easy, but getting out would be a nightmare. Things might already be going wrong by the time he tried to leave.
So, he absolutely had to be alive.
The doors were automatic, but from his vantage point, they appeared to be completely shattered.
Lin Yuzhi gritted his teeth. If he waited any longer to go in, it would likely only get worse.
He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it toward the interior.
In the next instant, he quickly ducked back into the corner, listening intently for any movement inside.
There was nothing. He poked his head out again.
He realized the zombies hadn’t heard it, likely because the stone had landed on the grass.
So, he picked up another stone. This time, he threw it toward the concrete path. It made a faint, sharp sound upon impact.
But even that slight noise was enough. The zombies wandering by the door immediately took notice. They snapped their heads around and, a moment later, sprinted toward the source of the sound.
Seeing that it actually worked, Lin Yuzhi picked up another stone and threw it toward the exit path, following it with several more in quick succession.
Just as he was about to throw the last stone toward the road, he clearly saw the zombies suddenly turn and charge straight toward his direction.
Startled, Lin Yuzhi instinctively scrambled up the wall, narrowly avoiding them by a hair’s breadth as they lunged.
Looking down at the zombies huddled by the wall—heads tilted back, arms reaching up, covered in blood and filth as they tried to pull him down—he patted his chest. Thank goodness his reflexes were fast.
He turned back to look at the front of the inpatient building and saw that it was now clear of zombies because they were all currently beneath his feet.
It seemed he had to go for it in one breath. He wasn’t sure what had just happened with those zombies; weren’t they supposed to follow the sound? Why did they suddenly run toward him? Maybe they had spotted him when he poked his head out.
Regardless, it didn’t matter. He had successfully lured them out.
He looked at the zombies below him and then noticed more zombies running over from other intersections not far away. He knew he only had a tiny window of time.
As long as he could run into the inpatient building and hide, he should be able to evade them.
Thus, he didn’t dare waste any more time staying where he was, otherwise the number of zombies would only increase.
He quickly jumped down from the wall and ran toward the inpatient building without stopping.
Behind him, the zombies immediately gave chase, accompanied by guttural roars.
He was lucky when he ran inside; there were no zombies in the lobby. However, the shattered glass doors suggested that people had fled from here, which was likely how so many zombies had been drawn outside in the first place.
Lin Yuzhi hurriedly scrambled over the front desk. The area was a mess, but the computers were still on.
He hid directly under the desk, right next to a toppled swivel chair.
He didn’t dare make a sound, fearing he would draw the pursuing zombies straight to the counter.
Fortunately, the front desk was circular, covering almost the entire area, and it was quite high.
However, after waiting for a while, he didn’t hear the zombies rushing into the hospital. Strange.
He cautiously crawled out from under the desk and poked his pink-haired head out to look around. He saw the zombies that had just been chasing him merely wandering around the entrance. Their gait was eerie; one of them even had a broken leg but continued to walk that way. Yet, they only hovered outside the entrance, never coming inside.
It was incredibly strange, but he couldn’t figure out why.
Lin Yuzhi watched the outside for a good while. Was it because he had run and hidden so quickly that they lost sight of him, and therefore didn’t follow him in?
He thought that was possible. After all, those who weren’t fast had already been eaten.
Deciding not to overthink it, he busied himself with uprighting the computer.
At that moment, a movement came from nearby, followed by the snarl of a zombie.
Lin Yuzhi spun around, but saw no zombie.
The snarl came again, originating from the circular section of the front desk near the exit.
Clenching the door handle he held as a makeshift weapon, he approached cautiously. As he reached the side of the counter, he raised the handle, only to see a nurse who had been half-eaten. Only a pile of intestines remained outside her body, and on the other side lay various uneaten limbs. Blood stained the floor, with bloody handprints and drag marks everywhere.
Even in that state, she wasn’t dead. Seeing him, she opened her mouth and attempted to crawl over, leaving a trail of blood on the floor.
Seeing this, Lin Yuzhi lowered the door handle and pulled out a pair of scissors instead. They were sharp and large; with a bit of force, they could be stabbed straight in, and they would make much less noise.
The hospital was too empty; any loud noise would carry. He didn’t dare use the door handle to smash anything.
Aiming for the zombie’s eye socket, he drove the scissors straight in. Blood instantly surged out.
Once the zombie stopped moving, he stepped on its neck and yanked the scissors out, pulling an eyeball along with them.
This revolted him. Suppressing his discomfort, he shook the eyeball off and wiped the blades on the zombie’s relatively clean clothes.
He didn’t have many usable weapons; every one he lost was one he couldn’t replace. Since he could recover this one, he certainly wasn’t going to leave it behind.
After putting the scissors away, he returned to his original spot, straightened the computer, and picked up the fallen mouse. Since it was corded, it hadn’t hit the floor but was hanging mid-air.
Fortunately, the computer was currently on a patient search page. It might have been a frequently used page, or perhaps someone was using it right when things went south. Either way, he only needed to search for a name now, which saved him a lot of trouble.
But despite the shortened process, he was still incredibly anxious.
Zombies could appear at any moment. His heart was racing so fast that his hands and feet felt slightly numb.
Vaguely, he felt like he could even hear the sound of his own breathing.
The cursor hovered over the name input field. With a light click of the left button, a black vertical line appeared in the white box.
Then, he lowered his head to look at the keyboard and, with very careful movements, slowly typed the two characters: “Xu An.”
Next, he used the mouse to click “Confirm,” and the page began to load.
Whether it was a network lag or an issue with the computer itself, the loading icon just kept spinning without refreshing.
He couldn’t help but whisper, “Faster, faster, faster!”
Simultaneously, he checked his surroundings, especially the zombies at the door. If they made any move, he would immediately dive under the computer desk.
Fortunately, they didn’t, and the computer page finally refreshed, jumping to Xu An’s information.
Xu An.
Building 1, Room 505.
By pure luck, this very building was Building 1. He didn’t have to run to Building 2.
Lin Yuzhi closed the page and prepared to take the stairs. He didn’t dare take the elevator; who knew what would appear when the doors opened?
However, he remembered that those doors required keys, or a nurse’s card could be swiped.
He looked at the pocket of the nurse he had just put out of her misery and, sure enough, saw a lanyard.
He hurriedly pulled the lanyard from her pocket and then rushed toward the elevator area.
His steps were cautious as he moved in a crouch, terrified that if he walked openly, he would be spotted by the zombies at the entrance. After all, the hospital was surrounded by glass; he had to go deeper inside to reach the walls.
Furthermore, the elevator area was around a corner. It would be disastrous if he ran straight into a horde of zombies there.
Luckily, he was fairly familiar with the inpatient building. His grandmother had stayed here for a long time, and the place hadn’t undergone any major renovations. The infrastructure was still the same, and he knew there would be fire safety equipment near the stairwell.
He soon reached the corner of the elevator hall. He listened for any movement first, then poked his head out to peek. The elevator hall was empty.
However, the bloodstains on the floor told the story of what had happened there. Even a potted plant on one side was splattered with blood.
Lin Yuzhi glanced back at the entrance of the inpatient building and then crouched low, moving quickly through the elevator hall.
Ding—
Just as he reached the turn past the elevators, the sound of an elevator arriving at the first floor suddenly echoed behind him.
In the empty corridor, that sound was like a death knell, seemingly echoing throughout the entire hospital.
“Holy shit!”
Lin Yuzhi couldn’t help but curse. The next moment, he sprinted toward the stairwell.
It was obvious that whatever was in the elevator wasn’t a living person; under these circumstances, no normal person would take the elevator. It could only be a zombie.
And that sound would absolutely attract other zombies.
He had only run a few steps when he heard snarling from up ahead. Urgent footsteps became exceptionally clear in the empty corridor.
Lin Yuzhi nearly slipped because he was in such a hurry. Fortunately, his reflexes saved him, and he only stumbled.
Then, he saw several zombies appear at the end of the hall, followed quickly by many more.
He knew they must have been drawn by the elevator sound, but he couldn’t stop because the stairwell was right in front of him.
Damn it, they really aren’t giving me a way out!
He cursed inwardly but didn’t dare stop. Soon, he reached the stairwell door. By now, the zombies in front were lunging at him, and many more had appeared from the elevator corner—some in white coats, some in casual clothes.
Seeing a zombie about to tackle him, he didn’t have time to think and yanked open the stairwell door.
He was about to enter when a zombie burst out from the stairwell, its mouth covered in blood, roaring.
“Holy mother of…!”
Lin Yuzhi quickly backed away to dodge. The zombie slammed into the floor, but the other zombies were already upon him.
He pulled the door open again, kicked the nearest zombie that was trying to bite him, and after clearing a small space, he dove into the stairwell and slammed the door shut.
It was a good thing the door wasn’t open too wide, or he wouldn’t have been able to close it.
The next moment, a series of thuds hit the door—bang, bang, bang—as they tried to bash it open, accompanied by constant snarling.
Luckily, this door pushed outward from the hallway side, so the zombies couldn’t just crash through into the stairwell.
But he felt that with this level of impact, the door wouldn’t hold for long. He could already see the hinges loosening. Most importantly, the noise would surely attract other nearby zombies. The hospital was simply too cavernous.
Taking a step back, he quickly ran upstairs.
Originally, he had wanted to go to the second floor to get fire equipment, as he remembered there would be an axe in the fire cabinet.
But now, he didn’t dare. As soon as he reached the second floor landing, he heard footsteps and snarling from inside. Just by the sound, it felt like there were a lot of them. Going in now would be seeking death.
He gave up on the second floor and ran straight for the fifth.
He was lucky; he didn’t encounter any zombies on the stairs. This was likely because the stairwells in the hospital were actually quite hard to find; someone who didn’t work at the hospital wouldn’t find them so quickly, let alone during the sudden chaos of the outbreak.
Once he reached the fifth floor, he didn’t dare open the door immediately. Instead, he listened to the sounds inside first.
At the same time, he began to chant in his head: This trip is exactly like playing a video game on a “Hell Instance” difficulty. Xu An, you better be alive.
Now, he didn’t dare hope for anything else; he just hoped Xu An was breathing.
Ahhh—!
Suddenly, he heard a blood-curdling scream.
It didn’t come from the fifth floor, but sounded like it came from below.
He quickly looked down through the gap in the stairs. A moment later, the door to the third-floor stairwell was slammed open, and a person ran out.
Following right behind that person were numerous zombies. The moment the person exited, they were tackled. The screams turned into agonized shrieks, and finally, the sound of tearing and chewing.
Lin Yuzhi was drenched in sweat. He didn’t dare linger on the fifth floor landing any longer; the zombies were already in the stairwell, and they might discover him at any moment.
He quickly crouched in front of the fifth-floor door, forcing himself to breathe as shallowly as possible. He was afraid that one heavy breath would be heard.
His heart beat so fast it was deafening, as if it were about to leap out of his chest.
And aside from his own heartbeat, there was the sound of chewing from below.
The power in the hospital hadn’t been cut yet, and the air conditioning was running strong, but it was scorching outside.
He was only wearing a tank top. Normally, it should have felt cool, but now he only felt cold.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think Lin’an City had skipped straight to winter.
After making a small joke to himself to settle his nerves, he carefully pulled the door open.
He didn’t go in immediately, as the memory of what happened at the last stairwell door was still fresh. However, that time he’d had no choice; with things chasing him from behind, there was no time to think.
Seeing no zombies inside, he entered cautiously and closed the door gently to avoid being noticed by the zombies below. After walking a short distance, he reached a second door. Opening this door meant he was officially inside the hospital’s interior.
Still being extremely careful, he checked the doorway first before stepping out a bit to look both ways. He saw a few zombies not far off in one direction, while the other side was clear.
He wondered if it was because this area consisted of private rooms, so there were fewer people to begin with.
Fewer people is good, fewer people is good. Fewer people means fewer zombies.
Lin Yuzhi pressed himself against the wall and moved sideways, constantly checking both ends for approaching zombies. Soon, he reached the fire equipment station.
It was a large glass cabinet with the word “FIRE” written boldly on it.
It had two levels. The bottom held the fire hose, and the top held the fire axe.
He glanced at the zombies in the distance before attempting to open the cabinet door.
But opening this door would make noise. He had to be as careful as humanly possible.
No matter how quiet he tried to be, a sound still rang out.
Click—
A sharp snap.
Instantly, the zombies not far away sprinted toward him, their footsteps accompanied by roars.
“Fuck!”
Lin Yuzhi could only curse under his breath. He grabbed the fire axe and ran in the opposite direction, keeping an eye out for any zombies that might burst out of the patient rooms as he ran.
Sure enough, just as he thought that, a zombie lunged out from a side room.
Lin Yuzhi was slammed directly against the wall, and the impact left him in searing pain.
Seeing the zombie lunging again, he quickly raised the fire axe and swung it down onto the zombie’s head.
However, he rarely used an axe, and using it against a person was even more unfamiliar. The blade got stuck firmly in the zombie’s skull.
As the other zombies were catching up, he hurriedly kicked the one pinned by his axe.
“Why is your head so hard?!” he grunted while kicking.
A moment later, he managed to kick the zombie away, and the axe finally came loose. This time, he didn’t dare linger. He ran forward as fast as he could, checking the room numbers as he went.
In fact, while running this way, he had already decided that if he reached the end and still couldn’t find it, his only option would be to climb the walls from the outside.
After all, with this many zombies, he couldn’t turn back.
The further he ran into the ward, the more zombies appeared, all bursting out from the patient rooms.
The path was littered with corpses and blood. Many were right in the corridor, being devoured by zombies.
Hearing the commotion, those zombies quickly lunged at him.
Lin Yuzhi didn’t know where he got the reflexes, but he managed to dodge them several times. Those he couldn’t dodge, he hacked with the axe.
Having learned from the first experience, he now aimed for the neck or the face.
Blood instantly stained the axe red, and even the handle was splattered with gore.
Lin Yuzhi felt that if he kept killing like this, his pink hair was going to turn red.
Moreover, the axe was incredibly difficult to use. After a few swings, his arms felt like they were about to break.
Seeing more and more zombies appearing, he stopped trying to fight and simply ran, grumbling in his heart.
Aren’t these supposed to be private rooms? Why are there still so many zombies?
Complaining was one thing, but he still had to run.
Dead legs, move faster!
Just as he felt his legs were about to go numb, he suddenly saw a door plate with “505” hanging on it.
He was running so fast he couldn’t brake in time. He stepped on a pile of intestines on the floor and wiped out completely.
Before he could even cry out in pain, he scrambled up and ran back. He pulled the access card from his pocket and swiped it frantically against the door lock.
Simultaneously, he shot a glance in both directions. The zombies were snarling as they swarmed toward him. Under the lights, the sheer number of them was overwhelming—a dense, suffocating mass.
“Open up! Hurry!”
Author’s Note:
Lin Xiaoyu: Dead legs, move faster!