Zhongbao Town.
Torrential rain poured down, thunder and lightning tore through the sky, and the air was filled with a faint, fishy scent of moisture.
On an August night in a small township, flood-control duty pressed heavily on everyone’s minds. But in the mountainous southwest, summer rains often lasted three to five days straight. Experienced township workers had long since treated government offices as their home.
Who cared about warnings or no warnings—staying at the township government building was the safest option. At least if something happened, you wouldn’t have to scramble in panic and fail to outrun it.
In the duty room, a round surveillance camera on the wall shifted slightly. A voice crackling with electrical interference came through:
“Tonight’s heavy rain warning has been upgraded to RED ALERT! All township duty rooms must remain staffed 24 hours a day! Stay alert! Be ready to respond to emergencies at any time! Now report the situation in each township in order…”
Chen Yunhao suddenly shivered. His clear, slightly foolish gaze turned panicked. He was sitting upright in front of the duty computer, but his hands were actually holding his phone, playing games online with friends from other places.
That sudden shiver caused a mistake in his controls. His game character was immediately swarmed by zombies, and the screen turned red.
The character mutated and began turning back to bite his teammates.
Instantly, his Bluetooth headset filled with his teammates’ enthusiastic “praise,” a chaotic stream of insults so colorful they were impossible to translate into anything but ***.
Chen Yunhao broke into a cold sweat—not metaphorically, but literally. The humidity was too high. The dehumidifying function of the old air conditioner in the duty room, about his age, barely worked. He felt damp all over.
The duty room had two staff on shift. An older man, Uncle Li, who was about to retire, stretched and yawned. Hearing the announcement from the camera, he glanced at Chen Yunhao—the young newcomer who had only been working for less than a month and still looked clueless—and shook his head helplessly.
Uncle Li took a sip of strong tea from his thermos and stood up to report smoothly to the camera:
“Zhongbao Town is strictly implementing flood-season duty regulations. After the orange alert, all 42 cadre staff and 11 other personnel are fully on duty. All village geological hazard sites have been notified. Temporary evacuation and resettlement procedures have been activated. Thirty-five township cadres have been dispatched to villages and communities to assist with evacuation and resettlement. Currently, no geological disasters have occurred.”
While Uncle Li reported in an orderly manner, the duty phone began ringing nonstop.
Chen Yunhao had just injured his teammates in the game and failed to answer the questions from the camera-side superiors. He hurriedly picked up the phone and answered in standard Mandarin according to procedure:
“Hello, this is Zhongbao Town Government. May I ask—”
Before he could finish, the person on the other end burst into frantic shouting in heavy dialect:
“Damn it, hurry up and come over! It hurts like hell! Hello? Hello! Is this the township government? Send someone quickly! That bastard Liu Erwa might’ve gotten rabies and is biting people everywhere! Our whole village has already been bitten by dozens of people—”
Chen Yunhao’s confident “broadcast voice” immediately deflated. His neat appearance slumped, messy hair drooping over his forehead, his entire aura collapsing into gloom.
“P-please speak slowly… I can’t quite understand…”
As a civil servant from another province who had only been working for less than a month, his understanding of the local dialect was extremely limited. He was still in his probation period and had barely started.
The person on the other end, furious, shouted in broken Mandarin:
“If you don’t understand, pass the phone to someone who does!!!”
Before Chen Yunhao could even turn to Uncle Li, the call suddenly changed hands. A young woman, breathing heavily but speaking fairly clear Mandarin, took over:
“This is Tashui Village. I am grid worker Zhang Xue. Among the villagers relocated to the evacuation site due to geological hazards, villager Liu Ergang is suspected of rabies. He has bitten about thirty villagers. Some of the injured have also started going mad and biting people. Our village committee only has a few people—we cannot control the situation. We request immediate support!”
The phone almost slipped from Chen Yunhao’s hand. His once handsome but now blank face froze completely.
At the same time, his phone game teammates had already all died—the screen was completely gray.
Zhongbao Town Health Center.
The elderly patients staying in the hospital maintained a healthy routine. They didn’t watch TV or use mobile phones and went to bed early. The thunder and heavy rain outside did not disturb their sleep at all.
Nurse Fan Xiaoqiu finished writing her medical records, shook her numb arm, and rolled her stiff shoulders. Dark circles hung under her large eyes.
She looked up—almost 11 p.m. She finished work quite early today! Perfect, she could get some sleep.
Humming happily, she was about to head to the break room when two middle-aged women rushed in, shaking water off their umbrellas. One curly-haired woman was urgently on the phone, while the other, a neat short-haired official, stepped forward:
“I am Deputy Township Mayor Hou Weixiang, in charge of health care. There is a suspected outbreak of rabies-like infection in Tashui Village, with dozens of villagers bitten. The township government and police station will immediately send personnel to investigate. Please prepare emergency medical supplies and depart with us.”
Fan Xiaoqiu: “……”
Her eyes widened, goosebumps rising all over her body. She quickly refused, “No, our health center is understaffed, I still have patients—”
“Hello? Director Qi, you finally answered! I’m already at the health center. The situation is like this…”
The deputy mayor’s phone rang. She sighed in relief and stepped aside to take the call.
Three minutes after she hung up, Nurse Fan received a call from the head nurse:
“…Backup nurses are on the way, ambulance drivers are also coming… everyone has been notified. You should start preparing…”
Fan Xiaoqiu took a deep breath. Her heart was heavy, but she still said, “Okay, I’ll prepare immediately.”
A doctor in the break room was also woken up. Still holding his phone and mumbling responses, he rushed out with his white coat half-unbuttoned.
As a young doctor, this kind of rare emergency night call—especially in heavy rain—had him completely shaken.
“Our small township clinic doesn’t have much medication. Rabies vaccines need to be administered within 24 hours, but vaccination requires system registration and scanning, so we need to bring the patients back to the hospital…”
He briefly discussed with the deputy mayor, “We can only bring basic supplies: disinfection, sterilization, wound cleaning…”
Deputy Mayor Hou nodded. Everyone was clearly anxious, but panic was useless.
“I understand. We will coordinate with the county health department. The county 120 emergency center will send vehicles, but due to road damage from the rain, they will have to take a detour. When you arrive, first assess the injuries, provide treatment as appropriate, and focus on calming and communicating with the villagers.”
Hearing that county support was coming, both the doctor and Nurse Fan felt slightly reassured.
Fan Xiaoqiu quickly packed the emergency kit, adding extra wound-cleaning packs and sutures. The doctor grabbed restraint straps and more iodine disinfectant from the pharmacy.
Zhongbao Town Police Station.
The police station and township government were both old buildings dating back to early post-revolution southwestern anti-bandit campaigns. Though they looked like separate buildings on different streets, they were actually back-to-back.
Very convenient for mutual support in emergencies.
Tonight, the deputy station chief was on duty. When he received the call from the township government, he immediately sprang up from the sofa.
There were only two formal officers and four auxiliary police on duty. He blew the assembly whistle, waking everyone up and giving brief instructions:
“The township government reports that a villager in Tashui Village has suspected rabies and has bitten dozens of evacuees. Xiao Zheng, you stay at the station. Everyone else, put on body cams, stab-proof vests, full gear, bring riot shields, and get in the vehicle! We’re going out with the township government!”
Everyone sprang into action.
As an experienced grassroots officer, the deputy chief immediately grabbed his service pistol and loaded all 15 rounds.
At the same time, he clipped on his walkie-talkie and reported to the command center:
“Command center, command center, this is Zhongbao Town Police Station… We have received a report from the township government of a suspected rabies patient biting dozens of villagers. Team of five is en route to the scene for assessment…”
Zhongbao Town Government.
In the duty room, Chen Yunhao stood by the glass door, watching colleagues rush back and forth across the four-story building.
On a night like this, with such a major incident, shocked young cadres in the group chat were flooding it with memes—images of “the world exploding,” “apocalypse incoming,” and similar chaos.
But Chen Yunhao was still a newcomer. He had no idea what everyone was panicking about, nor what he should do.
Rabies sounded scary, but… was it really that serious?
Confused and tense, he could only stare blankly, waiting for instructions.
Soon, the Party Committee meeting room on the third floor lit up. Fortunately, all leadership members were on duty that night, and a quick emergency meeting was held.
A few minutes later, two women from the Party and Government Office ran into the duty room with umbrellas:
“Yunhao, Uncle Li, pack up immediately and head to Tashui Village. We’ll take over the duty room.”
“I… what should I do?” Chen Yunhao asked, his scalp tingling.
Having grown up in the city, he had never seen a rabies patient in his 24 years of life. He was nervous.
The taller woman explained calmly:
“An emergency Party Committee meeting was just held. The first batch of 35 cadres have already gone to persuade villagers in geological hazard zones to evacuate. There aren’t many cadres left. The secretary has arranged for Deputy Mayor Zhang to lead the team. The remaining four male staff will go—you, Uncle Luo, Uncle Li, and the driver Lao Du—just enough for one vehicle.”
The shorter woman added, “Yunhao? You’re the cadre responsible for Tashui Village! You and livestock officer Luo Dahua visited the livestock incident site earlier today. The secretary wants you to check if there’s any connection.”
Chen Yunhao quickly nodded, afraid his hesitation would be misunderstood.
“Okay, okay, I’m just a bit nervous. I’m not sure what to do.”
Most experienced cadres were already out in the field evacuating villagers. Those remaining were mostly older or less mobile staff, making him—this tall, young outsider—the most physically capable among them.
Although he had just started working and knew nothing yet, duty assignments had been arranged since his second day.
As the responsible village cadre, he had the obligation to respond immediately to emergencies.
“Deputy Deng is handling another village evacuation and will join you soon. Don’t worry—just follow instructions when you arrive. It’s normal to be nervous when you’ve just started work.”
The calm girl spoke reassuringly while the short-haired one pulled out supplies from the cabinet: raincoats, flashlights, emergency medical kits, ropes…
“Rabies patients are strong and aggressive, and it’s raining heavily outside. Put on your raincoat quickly. Be careful—don’t get bitten, it’s contagious!”
Seeing Chen Yunhao still frozen, she stomped her foot and suddenly turned fiery:
“Stop spacing out! One, two, three—put it on, now!!!”
Chen Yunhao was still struggling with his raincoat when Uncle Li had already fully geared up—raincoat, boots, gloves, hat, mask—and even prepared four restraint poles. Clearly a seasoned veteran.
The emergency government vehicle started and disappeared into the dark rainy night, carrying Deputy Mayor Zhang and the team.
Back in the duty room, the two women sat down. The shorter one opened the office computer and immediately wailed:
“Why hasn’t Yunhao handled the OA documents?! There are a whole row of urgent red-exclamation notices! I’m going to strangle him later! Xiaoxiao, look at this, he’s really too much!!!”
The taller, calmer woman was slightly stunned, stepping aside while replying to work messages.
“Don’t be angry, Lili. He’s just a new staff member—it’s normal to forget. We’ll remind him more in the office later…”
The second hand on the wall clock ticked.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Lili typed furiously, sorting and drafting documents. Finally, she finished submitting all urgent approvals into the leadership OA system.
A blinding white flash suddenly lit up the entire town government building as if it were daytime.
Night returned. The duty room lights flickered violently.
Both Lili and Xiaoming suddenly felt their body hair stand on end at the same time. They swallowed hard.
From far away came a faint popping sound—then a huge BOOM!
Thunder shook the windows. Then, the entire town government fell into darkness.
“Power outage? Transformer burned again?” Lili grabbed a flashlight.
But before she could move, she noticed Xiaoming sitting stiffly, holding her phone—her ahoge (hair antenna) practically standing on end.
Curious, she leaned over to look at the screen.
Then both of them let out piercing screams:
“F*ck—AAAAAAAH—this looks like zombies AAAAHHH!!!”