Chapter 3: Trapped
Ling Qingyun gripped the iron rod in his hand. Judging by the current situation, his motorcycle was probably unusable. Although there weren’t many zombies wandering the streets, they still posed a danger. Given the circumstances, he had no choice but to strike first!
Holding the rod, he confronted a zombie. Ling Qingyun moved swiftly, dodging to the side and delivering a heavy blow to the zombie’s head. The zombie tried to turn its face, but he hit it again with another strike. Immediately, the zombie’s skull was smashed.
“Let’s go quickly!” Ling Qingyun warned. Staying in one place too long would easily attract more zombies. He tested the motorcycle and found it indeed wouldn’t start. So he removed the gasoline, took it with him, and ran to the main street with Zhuang Cheng.
Once on the main street, their vision was wider, making it harder to be caught off guard by zombies suddenly appearing. Given their situation, the best option was to find a car.
Taking the gasoline with him proved to be the right decision. Soon, he found a car that had been abandoned due to running out of fuel. It was a compact car, something that could be bought on the market for less than 50,000 yuan—mostly used by girls for commuting.
The car was not damaged, and what was even more surprising was that it still contained a lot of luggage. The door was wide open, and the key was still in the ignition. There was no one inside and no bloodstains. Presumably, the owner had hurriedly switched to another vehicle to continue escaping.
Ling Qingyun hadn’t gotten a driver’s license because he didn’t think he could afford a car. But when he used to hang around with others, he learned to drive a beat-up van. Now, he quickly filled the tank with gasoline, called to Zhuang Cheng, and squeezed into the driver’s seat. Given his build, the car felt quite small.
Zhuang Cheng got into the car as well. But in just that short moment, several wandering zombies had already approached. Perhaps because of the short time, they didn’t yet look rotten. However, some zombies had chunks of flesh bitten off, and others had torn-open stomachs with intestines hanging out.
Ling Qingyun started the car quickly. He didn’t dare to ram into the zombies with the compact car and instead looked for gaps to slip through.
Meanwhile, Zhuang Cheng began checking the things inside the car. Although the owner left behind some belongings, the most practical items had already been taken. The luggage mainly consisted of clothes, a laptop, and some snacks.
“Chengcheng!” Ling Qingyun suddenly called out. “Do you have navigation on your phone?” S City was so big, and although he had been here for a while, he only really knew a few roads. Now, with the direction completely off, he had no idea where they were!
Using the map on Zhuang Cheng’s phone, they headed toward the outskirts of S City. No matter what, with the city’s population, the city center was sure to become the most dangerous place!
Overnight, such a terrifying event happened at this hour. Although the government reacted quickly, there were still people unaware of the changes outside. Some couldn’t believe their own relatives had turned into flesh-eating monsters. And everyone who had realized this had two choices.
One was to flee to a safe zone. The other was to hide at home and try to stay hidden as long as possible.
Earlier, Ling Qingyun had also seen on TV the surviving leaders of S City urging residents in certain neighborhoods to stay indoors and stock up on water. Presumably, these neighborhoods would later be included in the safe zones.
“We can’t get to the safe zone. Finding a relatively safe neighborhood to stay in will do. These zombies can’t break through doors,” Zhuang Cheng concluded after observing many zombies.
“No problem!” Ling Qingyun agreed. Continuing like this without a plan wasn’t going anywhere.
The entire world had descended into chaos because of the zombies’ arrival. Some people tried to stop the unrest, but others were stirring it up. Along the way, the two had seen many groups looting nearby shops. That was somewhat understandable—survival. But they also saw people robbing other passersby.
When their car left the busy part of town and entered a main road, they saw the road ahead blocked by large trucks, and suddenly two more trucks pulled up behind them.
The trucks completely blocked the road. Ling Qingyun didn’t dare to clash head-on with their small car and had to stop.
“Get out quickly! Everything in this car and on it now belongs to us!” The leader was a big, burly middle-aged man. The license plates on the trucks were all from the same place—likely a group of people banding together to survive.
“If we give you the stuff, will you let us go?” Ling Qingyun asked.
They were outnumbered and outpowered. The roadside guardrail was already smashed open, with several small cars crashed inside and even some corpses. Ling Qingyun chose to endure for the time being.
“Go on then!” the man said cheerfully. Then several people armed with kitchen knives and sticks ran over. Their first act was to smash open the gas tank and start searching for food.
Ling Qingyun noticed Zhuang Cheng’s body had become a bit more bloated compared to before. Understanding the situation, he grabbed Zhuang Cheng and ran toward the roadside. The others didn’t seem to pay them any attention.
When they reached the roadside, Ling Qingyun’s expression changed: “Zombies!”
In the distance, a group of zombies wearing pajamas or blue work uniforms was clumsily running their way.
Although the zombies were slow, there were so many of them that a few people couldn’t hold them back!
Ling Qingyun dashed off running in the other direction. Along this road, new residential complexes were being built. On the opposite side of the road, there was also a newly completed neighborhood. Without any vehicles, they could only find somewhere to hide!
The looters finally realized this and quickly scrambled onto their trucks. But they had blocked the road too tightly—there was no easy way to escape anytime soon.
Ling Qingyun and Zhuang Cheng ran away from the road. Fortunately, it was winter now, so there was little undergrowth, making it easier for them to find their way. When Ling Qingyun glanced back unintentionally, he saw a group of zombies swarming around the last truck that hadn’t left yet. The wheels were surrounded by zombies in front and back—it looked like the truck wouldn’t be moving again.
Who knows what fate awaited the driver inside? Seeing the zombies persistently pounding on the truck windows through the glass was enough to send chills down one’s spine.
Some zombies were busy gnawing on corpses lying by the roadside. Perhaps it was these dead bodies that had attracted the zombies.
Others might be in worse shape, but Ling Qingyun knew he and Zhuang Cheng were in an even worse situation.
The zombies they thought they had lost behind were now chasing after them again. These tireless undead were surprisingly persistent in their pursuit!
“If we run upstairs, do you think these zombies will trap us?” Zhuang Cheng, who had been quiet and holding back his breath while running hard, couldn’t help but ask when they entered a construction site.
“We’ll have to take our chances. Otherwise, we’ll just become zombies too, and then hunt humans together,” Ling Qingyun said as he grabbed Zhuang Cheng and ran upstairs. When they saw the door wide open on the second floor, their first instinct was to hide inside.
The door was quite sturdy. Because there were still some things to finish up, the roughly one hundred square meter room was piled with bricks. For now, they didn’t have to worry about zombies breaking in. But…
“Our food can only last about a week,” Zhuang Cheng said, unzipping his thick coat and taking out the food one by one.
Two cans of eight-treasure porridge, two packs of instant noodles, a vacuum-sealed chicken wing, two packs of pickled chili chicken feet, and two bottles of drinks.
Ling Qingyun was surprised—he didn’t expect Zhuang Cheng’s clothes to hold so many things.
They didn’t have much food, but they hadn’t really prepared any to begin with. Other than what Zhuang Cheng had brought from the dorm, the rest was what they had just found in the car. A little was still better than nothing at all.
“I usually eat three packs of instant noodles in one go,” Ling Qingyun said. A week? He felt that was probably wishful thinking.
Zhuang Cheng glanced at Ling Qingyun. Of course, he knew that what they had might only be enough for one of Ling Qingyun’s meals. But now, they had to ration it carefully. “Let’s look around and see if there’s any water.”
The place was over a hundred square meters, divided into a few rooms. Some wooden boards were piled up inside, but it was still a bare shell—there wasn’t even a functioning bathroom. Ling Qingyun did a full round and found nothing edible.
“I’ll go out and look for something to eat!” Ling Qingyun said.
“It’s too late,” Zhuang Cheng replied. And just as he said that, the door to their room started being pounded on.
“Damn it!” Ling Qingyun dropped onto a pile of bricks with a thud. Then suddenly remembering something, he began moving the bricks to block the door tightly.
Zhuang Cheng took out his phone and tried calling his parents again, but the call still wouldn’t go through. Then he received a bunch of text messages—some were comforting, others gave instructions on how to survive. It seemed like all communication platforms were already under military control.
Ling Qingyun looked down at his phone and considered calling his father again. But after a moment of thought, he didn’t. It was already broad daylight—if his father was going to find out, he probably already had by now.
“Let’s wait here for the rescue team,” Zhuang Cheng said. He had already checked the map—this place wasn’t far from the safe zone. Maybe it wouldn’t be long before the army came to reclaim the area. And if the army never came, then he would just die here with Ling Qingyun.
So many people had already turned into the walking dead, and many more had been devoured by zombies. A couple more deaths probably wouldn’t make much difference to the world.
Ling Qingyun leaned against the peephole and looked outside. There was an older zombie banging on the door, and many more were gathered behind it. With danger so close, even he felt a prickling sensation across his skin and his heart pounding faster.
There were zombies below the window too—some of the ones they had attracted were still wandering around outside, and in the distance, a zombie with no legs was slowly and stubbornly crawling toward them.
Few of the zombies had intact bodies—many were missing flesh, making them look even more terrifying.
Zhuang Cheng held his phone, which was already in standby mode. It still had some battery, but considering how fast smartphones drained power, it probably wouldn’t last much longer.
How could the world have turned into this overnight?
This dull gray room seemed to reflect their future—or maybe the future of the whole world. Would humanity be okay?
They stayed in that room for several days—until the intestines hanging from the zombies outside had rotted away, until the surrounding air was filled with a nauseating stench, until all their food was gone… Whether the future held death or rescue was still completely unknown.