The heavy rain poured down on Chen Yunhao’s head as he ran along the uneven field ridges. He was using every bit of balance he had in his life just to stay upright. In the pitch-black night, he couldn’t tell east from west or north from south—he could only follow everyone else’s silhouettes, fleeing for their lives under the occasional flash of lightning.
His mind kept replaying the scene from earlier, when they had rushed back to save people.
After the adrenaline burst, they had been unbelievably strong. He used a riot-control fork to push away Secretary Huang, who was biting people. Station Chief Luo pushed away another attacker. Deputy Town Head Zhang helped pull up Old Man Li, who had been injured. Old Du blocked infected villagers at the door with a riot fork. Together, they all ran out.
The police officers from the station had drawn most of the infected’s attention, so Chen Yunhao and the others didn’t have many pursuers when they escaped.
Old Du was a local. Seeing the village office blocked, he immediately climbed over the side fence wall. The others followed like sheep reacting to a leader.
Old Du led the way, Station Chief Luo supported the injured Old Man Li, Deputy Town Head Zhang and Chen Yunhao followed behind, not falling too far back.
Everyone had been tense when they first escaped. But after running for a while, they started to collapse from exhaustion.
Station Chief Luo gasped for breath and said, “I can’t do this… I have high blood pressure… I feel my carotid artery pulsing… I need to lie down or I’ll die…”
He immediately collapsed into a field of rapeseed greens by the roadside. The pouring rain soaked him completely, water running through his raincoat seams, but he didn’t even try to move.
Old Man Li was in his sixties. If retirement hadn’t been delayed, he would already be home enjoying grandchildren. He had been bitten and was already stiff. When Luo collapsed, he also slumped to the ground.
Deputy Town Head Zhang was a large, heavy man and not very agile. After running so hard, he was out of breath and sat down heavily.
Only Old Du in his fifties and Chen Yunhao in his twenties were still standing—and even they were using their riot forks as walking sticks.
Chen Yunhao was also gasping like an ox, but unlike Old Du, he wasn’t consciously holding the weapon; he had just been gripping it tightly without realizing it.
“What the hell is going on?” Old Du said uneasily, looking around. The hillside vegetable field was open and empty—no one was chasing them anymore.
Chen Yunhao checked his phone. They had been running for over ten minutes. People really do explode with potential under fear.
Then he looked again.
He had posted something in the township government group chat…
…Good thing it was the official group. That shouldn’t count as violating regulations, right?
He looked again.
No signal?!
Looking at the thunderstorm over the mountains, Chen Yunhao felt a deep sense of despair.
He had always been unlucky, but he never thought it could be this bad.
“…Station Chief Luo, I think this isn’t ordinary rabies. This might be… a zombie virus…”
As absurd as it sounded, what they had just experienced was even more absurd.
Rain soaked Luo’s body as he lay there. He gave a bitter laugh.
“Zombies… I’ve seen those movies. Resident Evil, The Walking Dead… oh, and that Korean one, Train to Busan? Heh… now that you mention it, it really does look like it…”
Deputy Town Head Zhang frowned and said, “You mean… the kind that bites and scratches people and spreads infection… and doesn’t die easily?”
Old Du and Old Li stayed silent—they didn’t understand the younger people’s conversation.
Chen Yunhao hesitated. “Secretary Huang got bitten… it’s been about half an hour since we came up here… and he started biting people already. As for whether they’re dead or not… honestly, we don’t even know if zombies are supposed to be dead or mutated alive…”
“If they can run, jump, bite, and scream… we probably can’t say they’re dead.”
Deputy Town Head Zhang sighed heavily. “This is going to be a big problem.”
“Old Du, can you take us back to the township by a back road?”
Old Du looked around and nodded firmly. “I can. I grew up here—I could walk this with my eyes closed. But Old Li…”
Everyone knew Old Li had been bitten.
Old Li gave a bitter smile. “I’m freezing… my bones are stiff… I can’t walk anymore… Xiao Huang… how did he turn into what you’re calling a zombie… can he still be saved?”
He rambled weakly.
Deputy Town Head Zhang looked at him silently. Old Li had spent his whole life working at the grassroots level. He had never been promoted high, but he was diligent and responsible. Even in old age, he still taught younger workers carefully. He complained a lot, smoked, drank, and played cards, and often got criticized for “connecting with the masses” too casually.
Old Li’s biggest dream was a proper retirement ceremony.
“Old Li…” Zhang tried to interrupt.
Old Li waved weakly. “Forget it. Don’t worry about me. Take me and you’ll slow down. If I get infected, I might bite you.”
Old Luo also said weakly, “I got bitten too… if I mutate on the way back, I’ll hurt you all.”
Zhang was torn.
Old Du suddenly said, “Stop hesitating. We don’t abandon comrades. Tie them up and gag them if needed, and bring them along!”
He even insisted: “Even if Old Li dies, I’m dragging him back to the township. If he dies from this, it’s still a duty-related death—we’ll give him a proper memorial!”
Chen Yunhao wanted to object. Taking possible infection sources back to the township government—wasn’t that risking total collapse?
But emotionally, he couldn’t abandon them.
And leaving them here might spread the infection anyway.
In the end, they tied up their hands and restrained them as best they could.
Then they continued toward the township government through the forest path.
An hour earlier, all nearby medical staff had been urgently recalled. Only five people had managed to return: three nurses and two doctors.
Deputy town head in charge of health, Hou Weixiang, was still there with the hospital leadership, discussing emergency plans.
Despite having emergency protocols, reality always broke them.
Everyone stared at the tiny number of staff and sighed.
After watching a video in the group chat, the hospital director became increasingly anxious.
“Are we sure the first patient was Liu Ergang? When was he bitten? Why are so many villagers suddenly infected? Why weren’t cases reported earlier? And Secretary Huang—how did he deteriorate so fast? Is this a mutated rabies virus?”
Hou checked updates. The county had already declared a public health emergency response.
The director continued anxiously pacing.
Hou finally said, “According to current info, the first attacker was Liu Ergang. But earlier today, villagers already reported livestock deaths and missing dogs. More details are unclear.”
“The county CDC and emergency teams are already mobilizing. Police and agriculture departments are also involved. We’ve also issued alerts in village group chats before the network went down.”
Everyone waited anxiously for support.
The deputy director kept trying to call staff—but no signal.
He muttered nervously in dialect, pacing nonstop, until Hou interrupted him.
“Sit down. We’ll discuss plans.”
They prepared isolation zones, disinfection procedures, and medical supplies.
But the hospital director shook his head.
“We don’t have proper isolation wards.”
The deputy director suddenly suggested an abandoned isolation site with old quarantine pods.
Hou hesitated but agreed it might be necessary.
Just then—
The ambulance returned.
Nurse Fan Xiaoqiu and the driver were shaken.
They had fled instinctively.
Inside the ambulance, something terrible had happened—screams, panic, and chaos like a horror film.
They escaped… but now they realized:
What about the police and township officials?
They didn’t know.
They decided to report to leadership first.
The hospital staff rushed down to meet them.
Everyone was tense.
When the ambulance door opened—
Fan Xiaoqiu burst into tears.
“Director! It was terrifying!”
Before they could finish—
They saw the doctor in the back seat.
Dr. Tang.
Motionless.
Then suddenly—
He moved.
His eyes turned glowing red.
And he bit the deputy director.
Screams erupted.
The hospital descended into chaos.