Chen Yunhao was running wildly along a narrow mountain road under flashes of lightning and heavy rain, still clutching the riot control fork tightly in his hands.
Old Du was still leading at the front. Director Luo followed behind him, Chen Yunhao came next, and Deputy Town Mayor Zhang fell to the rear.
At this moment, Zhang finally regretted not losing weight earlier. His 180-jin body was simply not suited for mountain trail running. His knees creaked and cracked as if they might break at any moment.
In his last moment of consciousness, Old Li had chosen to hold back the eight infected people. That meant the three remaining uninjured people and one wounded man could only run. If they stayed, as Chen Yunhao had said, they would all turn into infected too.
But why did that guesthouse also have infected people?
The first outbreak point… was probably not the village committee office.
Both Deputy Mayor Zhang and Chen Yunhao thought of this at the same time.
Guesthouse. Outsider woman. Outsider…
Starting from the guesthouse and running downhill, there were several scattered households along the way.
As he ran, Chen Yunhao’s mind worked rapidly. The infected that came out of the guesthouse—children clearly ran slower than adults, and men were stronger than women.
If this were a video game, then Old Li’s sacrifice had at least slowed the “zombies” for a while. Once Old Li fully transformed, he would probably become even faster than the others.
And now that the guesthouse had gone out of control, the surrounding villagers would eventually be infected too.
While thinking all this, Chen Yunhao suddenly realized something was wrong with Director Luo running in front of him.
His running posture looked strange—and he kept drifting toward Old Du.
Bad.
Director Luo and Old Li had been injured at about the same time. By the timing, they were both close to turning.
Just then, they reached a bend in the road. Thunder roared overhead, rainwater poured down, and Chen Yunhao thought he could even hear another strange “rustling” sound.
Like mud, rocks, and trees sliding together.
Old Du, being a local, understood immediately what that sound meant. He stopped at once, scanning the surroundings.
Landslide—or mountain collapse.
The moment he stopped, Director Luo slammed into him, making a muffled groan and then suddenly biting at him wildly.
Fortunately, Luo’s mouth was stuffed and tied shut, so he couldn’t bite through.
“Old Du! Director Luo already—”
Chen Yunhao shouted from behind.
But in the next second, Luo suddenly surged forward again, using his bound hands to shove Old Du away with all his strength.
The next instant, the road where they had just been standing was buried by a rushing landslide.
Director Luo was instantly swallowed.
Chen Yunhao was already accelerating forward. His first instinct had been to rush back to save Old Du, but that shove had narrowly saved him from the falling debris.
The roaring of the rain mixed with the collapsing earth. No one even saw Director Luo’s face clearly.
He left no final words.
Deputy Mayor Zhang quickly grabbed Chen Yunhao and pulled him away. Chen Yunhao helped Old Du up, and the three of them retreated to a safe distance, standing in silence for a long while.
None of them mentioned whether they should dig him out.
Given Director Luo’s condition just now, he had likely already been infected.
And even if they tried, they had no tools.
Old Du finally called out a few times into the rain:
“Luo Dahai! Director Luo—!”
Only the sound of rain answered him.
He sighed deeply, wiping water from his face.
“Mayor Zhang, this road is blocked. We can’t go back through the landslide. The soil is too loose—there could be another collapse. We need another route. Also, I hurt my knee. I can’t run fast anymore.”
Zhang thought for a moment.
“Then we change routes. Either through the forest, or back to the guesthouse side where there’s a fork.”
Going through the forest felt even more dangerous.
Everyone understood that.
Damn this mountain village—if they were in the city, they could at least grab shared bikes.
Then suddenly, Chen Yunhao had an idea.
“I’ve got it!”
They had all been so panicked they forgot basic logic. Why were they only running on foot? They could borrow transport from villagers!
A few minutes later, the three of them returned along the mountain road and knocked on the nearest house.
A dog was chained in the yard, barking wildly from the shadows.
A woman opened the door with a flashlight. Seeing three men outside, she stayed cautious and didn’t step out.
“What’s going on so late? Who are you?”
But the dog suddenly acted strangely, yanking the chain toward her.
The flashlight beam landed on it—and its eyes reflected a glowing red.
“Something’s wrong with the dog!” Chen Yunhao shouted.
The dog lunged, but the chain was too short.
The woman froze. “You’re the one who’s sick!”
Old Du shouted at the same time, “Rabies!!!”
The woman suddenly realized—the dog was covered in blood, eyes glowing red like something out of a nightmare. She screamed and slammed the door shut.
The rain continued pouring. The three of them stood soaked and freezing.
“I am Deputy Town Mayor Zhang Shangmin! There’s an outbreak of mutated rabies in Tashui Village! We need to return to the town government—please lend us a vehicle!”
Zhang shouted at the top of his voice.
Inside, the woman replied anxiously, “My husband isn’t home! There’s no car! Try somewhere else!”
Old Du warned her not to come out again and to stay safe.
They had no choice but to move on.
The second house didn’t respond at all.
The third house was closer to the guesthouse—only about 700–800 meters away.
A teenage boy opened the door, messy-haired, holding his phone, clearly still awake playing games.
“Who is it? What’s going on?”
The moment he heard “zombies,” the boy immediately reacted.
He shouted into the house:
“Mom!!!”
Chaos broke out inside. After watching the video Chen Yunhao showed them, the family finally believed it.
“Pack up! We’re leaving!”
“Take Grandpa and Great-Grandpa!”
“Bring tools to hit zombies!”
“Just take phones and power banks!”
Within minutes, they had prepared everything—including a 60-year-old grandfather and a 90-year-old great-grandfather.
Then they drove out a three-wheeled electric vehicle and a battery bike.
Chen Yunhao was stunned.
Not only did they get vehicles—they gained more people.
And two elderly dependents at that.
Still, they had no time to argue.
The boy volunteered:
“We’ll go door to door and call other families too! The more people we save, the better!”
Deputy Mayor Zhang nodded heavily.
Then he realized something serious.
The guesthouse… still had several infected people.
And ahead of them lay the guesthouse named—
“Mountain Stream Courtyard.”