Across from the village committee building stood a small residential block.
Seeing that another town vehicle was surrounded by over a hundred infected people, Liang Huai closed his eyes.
His heart pounded like a drum, cold sweat sliding down his temple.
What should he do? Rescue them or not? They had previously hidden in the car, but because they were afraid of harming civilians, they did not dare to drive into the crowd. Instead, they were tightly surrounded and forced to abandon the vehicle and flee here.
Should they save them? What were the odds? Earlier there had only been a few dozen villagers—now there were over a hundred infected. The number had doubled, and rescuing them without casualties was even more difficult.
In an instant, Liang Huai had already considered many possibilities—but all of them were based on his identity as a police officer.
Two seconds later, two auxiliary police officers called out his name:
“Liang Huai…”
“We…”
The deputy station chief had already mutated. Now Liang Huai was the only official police officer left. Auxiliary police were support personnel and were required to follow the instructions of sworn officers.
Especially since the two auxiliaries were about the same age as Liang Huai—there was no issue of seniority.
Their willingness to speak already showed their stance: they would follow Liang Huai’s decision to rescue people.
On the third second, Liang Huai touched the party emblem in his pocket. He had already made his decision.
He knew the safest option was to hold position and wait for properly equipped reinforcements—such as riot police or armed police with equal or greater numbers than the infected.
Below them were over a hundred villagers—men, women, the elderly, and children—all completely irrational and violently infected. Without firearms, melee combat was impossible; a single bite meant infection. Even with a handgun, they had only fifteen bullets. Whether they dared to fire was one issue; even if they did, victory was not guaranteed.
They could stay here and do nothing without orders.
But he was a police officer.
They were police officers.
They had just seen civilians in nearby farmhouses being disemboweled and devoured by the infected.
Whether it was civilians trapped in vehicles or colleagues from the township government only a wall away, they could not watch them die.
“Prepare for rescue,” Liang Huai said calmly. “Call Wang Song over.”
When Wang Song heard they were going to rescue people, he became energized.
Liang Huai kept working, handing Wang Song fireworks while assigning tasks to the three auxiliary officers:
“Wang Song, you’re in charge of setting off fireworks. See if you can draw their attention. Use the strong flashlight upstairs and watch my signals.”
“Niu Zhiqin, guard the second-floor security door. We’ll come back—remember the code phrase. It must be normal people responding.”
“Yang Anyuan, come downstairs with me. I should be able to draw most of them away. You check the people in the vehicle—any injured should not leave; keep them there.”
Wang Song’s face turned pale. “Brother Liang, you…”
Your wound hasn’t even broken the skin—why are you taking the most dangerous role?
Yang Anyuan frowned. “My wound has bled; I might be more likely to get infected. I’ll lure them instead.”
Wang Song also jumped in. “I ran the fastest in the last fitness test—let me go!”
Liang Huai raised a hand. “Enough. Stop arguing. Follow orders. Rescue people!”
After a brief exchange, Liang Huai and Yang Anyuan went downstairs with weapons. Wang Song handed Liang Huai the handgun.
He did not refuse.
He took it.
The Guifang household storage room happened to contain many fireworks—especially a type known as “Gatling fireworks.”
Without hesitation, Wang Song chose the most powerful one.
To avoid starting a fire indoors, he stood on the balcony under the rain shelter, lit the waterproof lighter, and ignited the fireworks.
BOOM—bang bang bang!
Sparks shot outward like a barrage.
The infected instinctively feared fire. When the fireworks exploded among them, they visibly recoiled.
Wang Song’s eyes lit up. They had a weakness!
But unfortunately, it was a stormy night. The rain severely weakened the fireworks’ effect.
The infected only retreated slightly—they did not disperse.
Liang Huai saw this too. He adjusted the scarf and hat he had found in Guifang’s husband’s wardrobe so only his eyes were exposed, then rushed out of the building.
At the entrance stood a familiar figure—the deputy station chief.
He stood there, emitting guttural sounds, pacing back and forth. He seemed to want to chase but could not decide.
“Come on! Bite me!” Liang Huai shouted.
He raised his pitchfork and flashlight, signaled Wang Song, and sprinted forward to draw the infected away.
As expected, most of the infected turned and pursued him.
Fresh living flesh was irresistible to them.
Liang Huai ran along the pre-planned route through puddles in the concrete road, intending to regroup with his team later.
With companions, there was always a sense of safety.
Meanwhile, Da Yang was hiding behind the shattered door of the first floor.
When they had fled upstairs earlier, the door had still been intact. Now it was broken—he didn’t know when.
After most infected chased after Liang Huai, Da Yang adjusted his scarf, gripped his pitchfork and shield, and prepared to charge.
Suddenly, the deputy station chief’s face appeared from outside—pale green, eyes glowing red.
“Fuck!” Da Yang reacted instantly, thrusting his pitchfork into the deputy’s neck and charging forward.
The deputy was pushed down but soon staggered back up, still not fully pursuing.
Da Yang rushed toward the parked town government vehicle.
The windows had been shattered. Many villagers were reaching inside, grabbing people. Several had already been bitten, including the township leader. Some infected were dragging the driver’s arm out of the window.
At that moment, fireworks erupted again—and police appeared from nowhere, drawing away most of the infected.
The township leader, injured himself, urgently wanted to order everyone to drive away.
But the driver was still half outside the window, already severely bitten.
Da Yang rushed forward, shouting, “Anyone injured, don’t move! Get out of the car! Follow me! They’re infected!”
The township leader realized with horror—so many people infected in just an hour?
He immediately helped pull the driver back in, then said, “Da Yang, get in the car—we can leave faster!”
Da Yang snapped, “Anyone bitten turns within half an hour! Don’t talk nonsense—get down! You’ll become moving infection sources!”
Everyone quickly got off the vehicle.
They fought through scattered infected—mostly elderly and children—and ran toward a small building nearby.
Just as they reached the entrance, the deputy station chief suddenly erupted in speed and strength far beyond normal humans.
Da Yang tried to stop him with the pitchfork—but failed.
They rushed into the building and climbed the stairs.
The deputy station chief howled and charged after them.
At the back, Da Yang shouted the password:
“Serve the people! Strict discipline!”
A female cadre repeated it while knocking on the door. Inside, Niu Zhiqin opened a gap and let her in.
One by one, they entered.
But then Da Yang shouted, “Help me!”
He was dragged down in a struggle. The deputy station chief bit down on him.
“Brother Qiu!!!” Da Yang shouted desperately.
But the deputy ignored him—already fully overtaken by the virus.
He bit down.
Meanwhile, at the county emergency command center, the situation had escalated rapidly.
The alert was first classified as Orange Level 2: suspected rabies-like biting incidents affecting dozens of villagers.
Soon it was upgraded to Red Level 1.
Rescue forces were dispatched in waves: police, armed police, fire rescue, traffic authorities, agriculture departments, and emergency communications teams.
Roads collapsed, bridges were closed, communication towers failed due to landslides and mudslides.
At the emergency meeting in the county committee office, leaders watched a video from the township.
Inside the video, Liang Yunhao’s desperate voice—“It’s zombies, run!”—echoed through the room.
After watching, the room fell silent.
Reports confirmed: suspected mutated rabies with rapid onset—loss of sanity within 30 minutes and extreme aggression.
The situation was deteriorating too fast.
Communications were unstable. Rescue routes were blocked.
More reinforcements were urgently dispatched.
But thunderstorms still raged, and no one knew what the villages would become after hours of chaos.
Outside, the storm showed no sign of stopping.
And the nightmare had only just begun.