The special police detachment leader, along with a fully armed team of comrades, had been forced to run through the rain for more than half an hour before finally entering Zhongbao Town.
The town lay between mountains and a river, half mountainous terrain and half basin land.
The town itself was located at the edge of the basin below the mountains, built along both sides of the national highway. It had around seven hundred households, mostly small residential buildings, along with a resettlement community for mountain relocation projects and another disaster-relocation settlement on a river island—both newly built elevator apartment complexes.
At this moment, the town was without electricity. After more than a week of continuous rain, the solar streetlights had little to no energy left, leaving the entire town in darkness. Only the township clinic and the town government building still had emergency generator lighting.
Without hesitation, the special police leader took his team straight to the town government.
Their vehicles could not make it down here, so only by going to the town government could they requisition transportation and rush to the village office for rescue.
The group ran along both sides of the road, panting in the rain, when suddenly a vehicle rushed down from the mountain and sped past them, splashing water all over their bodies.
The car went forward, then suddenly braked hard and reversed back. The window rolled down, revealing a breathless female driver.
The leader immediately noticed that one of the rear doors was missing, and inside the vehicle were several middle-aged men strapped in seatbelts, tossed around and dazed.
A fierce and capable woman—though it was unclear whether she was from the town or a village.
Seeing their uniforms, Su Ming confirmed they were special police and quickly asked while still catching her breath:
“Are you the support team from the county?”
“Yes,” the special police leader stepped forward. “And you are?”
“We’re township officials. We were on our way to Tashui Village’s village office as the second response team. The situation there has already gone out of control—over a hundred people have been infected, lost rationality, and are attacking indiscriminately.”
Despite her shock, Su Ming still spoke logically.
“We’re heading back to the government to report the situation in detail to the leadership.”
Just then, another vehicle came rushing down the mountain and skidded to a stop in front of them.
Li Qingfeng got out from the front seat and shouted, “Su Ming! Don’t block the road—we need to send Lao Mao to the clinic immediately!”
The special police leader recognized “Lao Mao,” a local official. He quickly walked up to Li Qingfeng and asked in a low voice, full of concern:
“Where is Lao Mao? How is he?”
Li Qingfeng pointed toward the trunk with a pained expression.
“He’s infected. He told us to tie him up and put him in the trunk. At first he could still talk to us, but now he’s silent… but he hasn’t gone completely insane yet.”
Wei Shishu in the car honked impatiently.
“Qingfeng!”
After this brief exchange, the special police team decided to follow Su Ming’s lead vehicle to the town government. The others in Wei Shishu’s vehicle got out, while only Wei Shishu and Li Qingfeng continued transporting Lao Mao to the clinic.
In the trunk, Lao Mao—curled up tightly—began to make cracking sounds in his bones.
Town Clinic.
An SUV rushed into the clinic courtyard, horn blaring nonstop.
The door opened and Li Qingfeng jumped out first, running and shouting:
“Help! Help! We have injured people! Bring out rabies vaccine!”
His loud shouting startled the director and doctors, who rushed out holding makeshift tools.
Seeing that it was town government personnel, the director put away the tools and quickly ordered:
“Bring restraints! We have injured people—and infected ones!”
The medical staff were already fully geared: long sleeves, long pants, disposable protective suits, N95 masks, goggles, and latex gloves—strict biohazard precautions.
Nurse Fan Xiaoqiu ran up with an infrared thermometer and beeped the tall Li Qingfeng on the forehead.
Li Qingfeng tried to explain:
“The injured person is in the trunk—”
But Fan Xiaoqiu ignored him and checked everyone who got out one by one. Only after confirming no one had a fever did she step back.
The doctors pushed a hospital bed to the vehicle. Everyone kept their distance from the trunk, signaling Li Qingfeng to open it himself.
Inside, Wei Shishu opened the trunk.
Lao Mao lay inside, bound hand and foot, his mouth sealed tightly with layers of tape, eyes closed.
Together, Li Qingfeng and others lifted him onto the hospital bed. Only after seeing the infection was under control did the director signal for the medical staff to proceed.
“Hurry! Quick examination!”
“Low body temperature—infrared reading below 32°C!”
“Weak, irregular pulse!”
“Red edges in the pupils, dilation of the iris!”
“Blood pressure dropping!”
“Same progression as the deputy director—he’s likely about to mutate!”
“Transfer to temporary isolation room immediately! Prepare for Fangcang isolation transfer!”
“No time for restraint suits—tie his limbs more securely!”
“Collect samples! Sterile double-sealed packaging!”
“And you people—help transfer the hospitalized elderly to the nursing home! It’s too dangerous here!”
Everything was shouted in rapid succession—chaotic yet orderly—as they pushed Lao Mao away.
Wei Shishu didn’t process the details clearly, only registering one instruction:
Transfer hospitalized elderly to the nursing home.
“Li Qingfeng, you go back to the town government and report to the Party Secretary. The town head’s vehicle is probably stuck at the village office. I’ll stay here with the rest to help evacuate the elderly patients immediately.”
After speaking, Wei Shishu followed the director upstairs, with three others behind him.
Twelve years of military instinct meant one thing: when orders are given—no need to think, just execute.
Li Qingfeng immediately dashed back into the rain toward the town government less than a kilometer away.
Meanwhile, the special police leader’s team reached Zhongbao Town and was arranged to rest briefly in the auditorium.
After running for so long, everyone was exhausted. Some grabbed bottled water immediately; most collapsed into red-brown faux-leather seats, soaking water everywhere.
Mud and water stains covered the floor, intensifying the sense of chaos.
Staff from the Party and Government Office and the Finance Office brought towels from storage, handing them to the officers to wipe their faces, while also busy making tea.
Hospitality protocol remained unchanged—whether visitors came to help, complain, or criticize, tea first. Hot tea warms and refreshes.
Li Qingfeng, drenched, ran into the town government and initially headed toward the office building. But seeing the brightly lit auditorium filled with people, he immediately ran inside and happened to meet Party Secretary Zhou rushing in.
Seeing Li Qingfeng, Zhou looked behind him but didn’t see Wei Shishu.
“Su Ming’s group has returned. I heard you sent Lao Mao to the clinic—how is he?”
Li Qingfeng stammered:
“He… he’s injured… they say he’s like the deputy director… he’s going to mutate…”
Zhou froze for a moment, as if almost biting his tongue.
“And Vice Town Head Wei?!”
“He said he would stay behind to help the clinic transfer elderly patients to the nursing home first, then return.”
Zhou frowned. Given everything that had happened, it made sense—but with Lao Mao included, the clinic already had three infected individuals. Extremely dangerous.
He turned to the two women from the Party and Government Office:
“Come here.”
Gu Lili and Tu Mingxiao immediately ran over, now dressed in practical long sleeves, pants, and sneakers, hair tied back.
“Xiao Gu, prepare a meeting. Title it: Emergency Work Meeting on Rescue of Epidemic-Affected Residents in Zhongbao Town.”
Gu Lili immediately ran to get the meeting notebook and recorder.
“Xiao Tu, has the satellite phone connected?”
Thanks to lessons from past major earthquakes, every township was equipped with satellite phones for emergency communication in case of disasters.
But the device was unreliable—charging for a whole day for only half an hour of use.
Tu Mingxiao struggled with it as thunderstorm interference made the signal unstable.
Zhou finally managed to reach the county leadership, but the call kept dropping before he could finish a sentence.
Soon, the battery indicator turned red.
They quickly connected a power bank.
Eventually, the county leadership sent a Beidou message:
“Ensure the safety of the people. Act freely. The county party committee and government fully support you and take full responsibility!”
Zhou felt an indescribable surge of emotion and pressure. Rarely did superiors speak so firmly.
At the same time, this also meant the situation was truly critical.
Tonight, they must contain the outbreak within their jurisdiction.
Thus, the fourth Party committee meeting of the night was convened: rescuing trapped personnel and evacuating residents within a three-kilometer radius of the epidemic zone.
The land management office staff had already drawn maps.
Satellite maps were unusable, but they had offline versions and hand-drawn maps refined over generations—marked with narrow mountain roads, motorcycle paths, and one-way rural trails.
Only when they saw it clearly did they realize:
It was nearly impossible to defend.
Forest paths crisscrossed everywhere. If infected people scattered, there would be no chokepoints to hold.
Videos from the village office and clinic were replayed again, drawing deep frowns from the special police and firefighters.
The drone wreckage, forced entry into the village, the rain-soaked silent village, the trapped grid workers, the sirens, and the chaotic escape.
Su Ming pointed out her escape route on the map and uploaded dashcam footage.
Li Qingfeng pointed to a location on the road:
“The town head’s vehicle was here at the time… already surrounded…”
He suspected the worst.
The captain of the SWAT team pointed at a box on the overhead map displayed on the screen:
“The comrades from the local police station are here. It’s close—maybe they can still save them.”
Then he used a laser pointer to indicate another location on the map:
“Here, we encountered a suspected infected woman—long hair, a strappy dress, chewing on a fresh dog leg. Her crawling speed was very fast. She still had some judgment; when she saw how many of us there were, she crawled away.”
A police officer placed a sealed plastic evidence bag on the conference table.
Everyone stared in stunned silence at the strong dog leg. It was obvious it had been violently torn off while the dog was still alive. More than half the flesh had been gnawed away, and the fur was soaked in blood.
Secretary Zhou looked at the boundary between Tashui Village and Qiyun Village, and a buzzing sound filled his head.
“How could this…” It had already spread this far?!
How many people had been bitten at night without anyone knowing?!
Deputy Mayor Hou also felt his vision go dark. “Dog bites people—people bite dogs—people bite people… dogs bite dogs…”
Deputy Secretary Lin and organizer Zhu exchanged a glance and let out a faint sigh at the same time.
A feeling that everything was going to collapse.
Deputy Secretary Wang let out a long sigh. He already knew: once something bad happened, only worse things would follow. No matter how many safeguards you put in place, loopholes would still appear in endless variations.
As the more radical one, he asked what he cared about most:
“Team He, when you came out, did the county public security bureau authorize you to use firearms?”
Chairman Zhao tried to speak, but Secretary Zhou coughed loudly to stop him.
Zhao ignored it anyway. “I still need to remind everyone again—these infected people are still biologically alive. At the health clinic there are already two infected individuals, both with breathing and heartbeat, still able to move…”
Captain He of the SWAT team kept his eyes on the surveillance footage, staring at the feral, beast-like faces. In his mind echoed Deputy Hou’s almost tongue-twisting, horrifying prediction. He answered calmly:
“There’s no need to overthink it. The Police Use of Weapons and Equipment Regulations already make it clear—if there is a violent criminal emergency and warnings are ineffective, weapons can be used; if there’s no time to warn or warning would cause worse consequences, weapons can be used directly.”
Stop talking about authorization. The state already gave authorization. When you’re out in the field, you make your own judgment. Waiting for authorization in everything is just waiting to die.
Besides, communications were cut the moment they got here—field officers must make their own decisions.
Outwardly calm and composed, Captain He silently steeled himself.
Never seen a pig, at least seen pigs run. Never fought zombies, at least watched zombie movies.
Even though everyone was currently calling this a “mutated rabies infection,” how was what was on that screen any different from zombies?
If I have a gun and don’t use it, am I supposed to walk in there with dozens of police officers and defect to the enemy?
At that moment, only the local police station chief truly understood Captain He’s thoughts. His eyes lit up.
It couldn’t be blamed on him for not thinking of this angle. As a grassroots officer, most of his work involved trivial disputes and minor cases. In any situation, they valued human life above all.
Deputy Secretary Wang, however, was not so optimistic. Although he had left the police system years ago, he still understood their habits.
“It’s easy to say that, but now there are over a hundred infected civilians, and this mutated virus is extremely strange. As you can see in the video, even people with severed limbs can still move without issue. Your bullets, if they only hit the torso, may not stop them.”
“When ants swarm, they can kill an elephant. No one knows what things will look like the third time we go in.”
Captain He frowned. “So it’s really like zombies—headshots are required?”
That would be troublesome. Even though firearms were allowed in special situations, immediately headshotting hundreds of civilians was something he had never done before.
Deputy Secretary Wang fell silent. He actually wanted to test shooting at a couple of infected people, but he knew saying that out loud would not be acceptable.
“I request to join the operation. I have six years of police experience, I know how to use firearms, and I’ve worked locally for three years. I’m familiar with the area.”
Deputy Secretary Wang directly made his request.
Captain He was more than willing. “Secretary Zhou, how many people with combat capability and local familiarity can you provide? Preferably retired military personnel or experienced police officers!”
Secretary Zhou looked at the time. They couldn’t delay any longer.
“Deputy Secretary Wang, assemble the township cadres and form a vanguard team. The land management office should send people familiar with the terrain. Prepare for possible roadblocks and detours on the way to Tashui Village.”
“Deputy Secretary Lin, requisition vehicles from township cadres and community workers—especially rural minibuses and larger passenger vans. Fill them with emergency fuel, upgrade protective measures, prepare weapons and roadblocks. Drivers should ideally go with them.”
“Organizer Zhu, gather all available community personnel and immediately prepare the high school as a reception point for evacuated residents.”
“Deputy Mayor Hou, bring staff from the office and finance department. Requisition all epidemic-related supplies from local pharmacies and move them to the makeshift shelter.”
“Chairman Zhao, go to the shelter. Get it organized quickly. Any injured or uncertain cases must be quarantined there.”
“Office staff, notify Director Luo Yu of the Convenience Service Center to remain at the shelter. Deputy Mayor Su, after finishing at the nursing home, report to the high school to assist with reception preparations.”
“Director Wu Zhangbai of the Agricultural Service Center will lead personnel to set up checkpoints and warnings at the mountain road entrances—block all access into the mountains.”
“Everyone must be ready within one hour!”
The meeting temporarily adjourned. Captain He turned to Secretary Zhou and made a request:
“I want to take a few people to the clinic first—to check the infected patients, and also Elder Ma.”
Deputy Secretary Wang immediately agreed. “I’m going too.”
Before Secretary Zhou could respond, Deputy Secretary Lin sighed.
“Secretary Wang, you go. I’ll coordinate the township cadres.”
Everyone who had worked together for years understood each other’s intentions.
Secretary Zhou naturally knew Captain He wanted to assess the infected. Deputy Secretary Wang was clearly a hardline advocate for action and would definitely go. So the task arrangement had to be left to Deputy Secretary Lin first.
Lin, coming from a grassroots background and later trained in higher government before returning to local administrative work, was highly organized and decisive. She was versatile and reliable.
“Go. Hurry back. I still have many details to confirm here.”
Not far away, township vehicles were being inventoried and requisitioned. Deputy Secretary Wang rode a pink, rain-canopy-equipped electric tricycle belonging to a township cadre and enthusiastically invited Captain He and his deputy captain to join him, while also providing a lemon-yellow canopy tricycle that could carry three more people.
Captain He clearly had some objections to the pink tricycle, but due to urgency he still sat in the back seat and called his deputy captain to join him. Three large men squeezed tightly into the pink tricycle, while three SWAT officers took the yellow one. They all rushed toward the clinic.
At the clinic, Deputy Secretary Wang drove straight into the entrance, turned toward the inpatient building, parked the tricycles, and quickly followed him inside.
“Aaaah——!!”
As soon as they entered the lobby, Deputy Secretary Wang heard screams, along with heavy banging sounds against the wall.
Fully armed nurse Fan Xiaoqiu hurriedly ran out. Seeing people arrive, she instinctively pulled out a thermometer gun and shouted:
“Who are you? What are you here for?”
Deputy Secretary Wang introduced himself and their purpose.
Seeing the SWAT officers, Fan Xiaoqiu immediately felt much safer. She quickly scanned everyone with the thermometer gun, then ran ahead to lead them:
“You came just in time! Hurry, help us!”
In a room on the first floor corner, the director and two doctors were pushing a cabinet against the door together. Something inside was violently banging.
Deputy Secretary Wang frowned and immediately turned around and ran. He went outside, circled around, and used a flashlight to check the windows.
Fortunately, the first floor had metal security bars, and the glass windows were closed.
But at that moment—
Crash!
The glass shattered as a head with glowing red eyes slammed through it. Elder Mao’s ferocious face pressed against the metal bars. His restraints had been violently torn apart somehow; straps still hung from his hands, tape clung to his mouth, and he bared his white teeth while roaring.
Deputy Secretary Wang: “……”
Good. He trembled violently and instinctively reached for his gun—only then remembering he had been out of the police force for years and no longer had one.
Elder Mao roared and began shaking the window bars. Drool dripped from his mouth as he moved with only the instinct to feed.
Through shattered glass and steel bars, Deputy Secretary Wang met the gaze of his former colleague.
This was not his colleague anymore—not the cheerful old squad leader who loved dancing and bragging about being both athletic and artistic.
This was a body stripped of reason, driven only by beastly instinct.
He stood there silently, eyes heavy, heart filled with sorrow.
From the other side of the building came the sound of furniture being dragged and a door opening.
Fresh flesh was on the other side. Elder Mao’s stiff body twisted at an unnatural angle, suddenly lunging toward the sound.
On the other side, Captain He signaled to his deputy captain and three teammates using tactical hand gestures. They needed to test the infected’s strength.
Captain He knew Elder Mao well—he had once been the one who sent him into service.
He had served in the armed police special forces, earned commendations, then transitioned into criminal investigation before joining the SWAT team. Throughout his career, he and Elder Mao had crossed paths many times.
Elder Mao had been a lively old man who loved basketball and often trained with him. They understood each other’s physical abilities and tactics well.
SWAT teams generally preferred overwhelming force—if they could send ten people against one, they would never send nine.
But Captain He did not let everyone rush in. He was fully protected and wanted to test the infected state of Elder Mao: whether physical ability had increased or decreased, what his durability was, where his weaknesses were.
And whether—like the earlier female infected—there was still any trace of intelligence.
Elder Mao lunged.
Captain He narrowed his eyes and kicked straight into his chest without holding back.
Elder Mao staggered back several steps but did not fall. Enraged, he charged again.
Captain He stood just inside the doorway, able to attack or retreat at will, carefully observing every movement.
He had no intention of engaging in close combat. Even with full protection, there was no need to test whether the infected could bite through tactical gear.
This wasn’t Elder Mao anymore. The attack had no technique—only raw, chaotic aggression.
But he was faster now, as if his nervous system was being stimulated and adapting.
This time, Captain He did not kick again. He moved like a ghost behind Elder Mao.
Elder Mao turned, now clearly faster than before.
Captain He shifted again, feinted with a punch. Elder Mao didn’t dodge at all—he reached straight for the fist, trying to bite it.
Seeing such mindless aggression, Captain He sighed inwardly. He pulled out a tactical baton and struck Elder Mao’s knee without hesitation.
CRACK.
Elder Mao’s leg bent unnaturally.
He seemed unable to feel pain, but his movement slowed noticeably. Still, he kept charging.
A heavy sorrow appeared on Captain He’s face. This was no longer the Elder Mao who had taught him martial techniques.
With one leg broken, Elder Mao’s combat ability dropped. Captain He took a riot fork handed to him by his deputy captain and pinned him against the wall.
The team rushed forward together, restraining him. The director cautiously handed over a muzzle.
“Put this on him? And tie his hands? He’s mutated—how is he so strong? Only you SWAT guys can handle him!”
The director was shaken; he had nearly thought they would all have to flee to the township government.
Captain He looked at the dog muzzle. He sighed.
“Who would dare put that on him? They’d get bitten. Better to test how much anesthetic it takes to sedate an infected person.”