Back at his apartnt, Lin Xian took out a bottle of disinfectant mixed with bleach from behind the door. He carefully sprayed the solution around the entrance and the hallway outside. Only after completing this ritual did he step inside, lock the anti-theft door, and secure the iron chain.
The first thing he did was pull out his phone and open the map to locate Chen Sixuan's position.
The First Rule of the Apocalypse: Be cautious of the night.
The Second Rule of the Apocalypse: Never act recklessly.
Lin Xian never fought an unprepared battle. Jiang City had completely fallen—those who remained were either survivors huddled in shelters, marauding raiders prowling the streets, or hordes of zombies.
Nightti, however, was even more terrifying. To this day, no one truly understood how many bizarre horrors road the darkness.
From the accounts of survivors on various radio frequencies, the "things" encountered in the night were indescribable, unexplainable, and deadly. Few who ca across them lived to tell the tale.
“7.2 kiloters… not exactly close,” Lin Xian murmured as he studied the map.
Before the apocalypse, such a distance would take no more than a 15-minute cab ride. But now, with the transportation system collapsed and bridges damaged, even using his motorcycle would take at least half an hour.
And he had no idea what the situation over there was like. In the apocalypse, risking your life to save soone was only worth it for family—or maybe your mother.
Lin Xian’s gaze flickered as he sighed inwardly.
“Ms. Chen, I hope you’re worth the risk.”
At 6:45 PM, the darkness began to descend.
Lin Xian pulled down the iron shutters on his windows and started preparing dinner.
He hadn’t gone scavenging for supplies today. By now, the supermarkets and convenience stores in Jiang City had been ransacked countless tis by fleeing survivors. Even finding a single packet of ketchup was a near-impossible task.
Fortunately, Lin Xian’s scavenging extended beyond food and water—he hunted for chanical items that most survivors wouldn’t even glance at.
2:42 AM
A faint sound jolted Lin Xian awake from his shallow sleep. He sat up instantly, his eyes locking on the door in the dim darkness.
The sound seed to co from the hallway outside.
He grabbed his short dagger for defense and quietly moved to the door.
The door had been reinforced with steel plates several tis and was much sturdier than a standard anti-theft door. Still, against "those things," Lin Xian wasn’t entirely confident.
Living in a high-rise, his only escape route was the staircase in the hallway.
Lin Xian pressed his eye to the peephole, scanning the corridor.
The hallway was pitch black, with only the faint green glow of the ergency lights faintly outlining the walls and floor.
After observing for a while and seeing nothing, Lin Xian turned to go back to bed.
But just as he took two steps away, a strange knocking sound ca from the iron door behind him.
Knock… knock.
The two slow, deliberate knocks sent a chill racing up Lin Xian’s spine.
Soone was really there? Or had those things discovered his hiding spot?
His expression turned grim as he stepped back to the door. After a mont of hesitation, he tightened his grip on the short dagger, held his breath, and cautiously peered through the peephole again.
Hiss!
What he saw made Lin Xian suck in a sharp breath.
Under the eerie green glow of the ergency lights, a figure stood in the hallway—a frail old man wearing a black funeral robe.
The man’s face was pale and gaunt, his sunken features resembling that of a corpse. His eyes, decayed and lifeless, were a ghastly gray-black hue, exuding a suffocating aura of death.
Most horrifying of all, the corpse-like old man’s dead eyes seed to be staring directly at Lin Xian through the peephole!
Lin Xian instinctively staggered back two steps, his face pale with shock.
“Isn’t that Grandpa Li from downstairs?”
But Grandpa Li had died long ago…
Lin Xian’s expression grew solemn as he stepped back further. There was no need to think twice—whatever stood outside his door was no longer human.
A zombie?
But zombies didn’t knock on doors…
Lin Xian’s face darkened. If this was one of the bizarre entities from the night, then he was in deep trouble.
“Grandpa Li,” Lin Xian muttered under his breath, “couldn’t you just enjoy your peace in the coffin? What are you doing back here to suffer?”
Ti dragged on, and Lin Xian’s sleep was entirely gone. He leaned against the wall by the door, gripping his dagger tightly.
The knocking didn’t co again.
But then, sothing even more unnerving happened. From the other side of the wall he was leaning on, faint scratching sounds began to erge.
The sound of nails scraping against the wall.
It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to make Lin Xian’s scalp tingle. It felt as if sothing was just on the other side of the wall, clawing incessantly.
“Sh*t!” Lin Xian muttered under his breath as he jumped back, staring at the wall in front of him. “Is this thing trying to dig its way in?”
He felt a wave of confusion and unease.
Whatever was outside seed to sense his presence.
It was now separated from him by nothing more than the thin layer of the wall.
At this mont, Lin Xian's best option was to hold his breath, remain perfectly still, and avoid making any noise. As long as the door to his apartnt remained unbreached, he was temporarily safe.
Simultaneously, he ntally prepared his escape route. Most of his supplies had already been moved to the Infinite train. In the apartnt, he only had a few days’ worth of food and water left, along with the generator and batteries.
Ti dragged on, second by second, as the eerie scratching sounds from the other side of the wall tornted Lin Xian like a haunting lody, burrowing into his mind.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the sound ceased.
Lin Xian exhaled in relief and cautiously moved to check through the peephole again.
However, the sight before him made every hair on his body stand on end.
Sohow, a young girl had appeared in the hallway.
She was lying on the ground, covered in blood, her body weakly trembling as she struggled to sit up. Reaching her hand toward the door, she whispered faintly,
“Help … help …”
Lin Xian narrowed his eyes, his gaze sharp.
The girl looked no older than fifteen or sixteen. Her outfit was completely out of place for the post-apocalyptic world: short shorts, a low-rise crop top, and a bright-colored baseball jacket. Around her neck hung a pair of wireless earphones. She looked youthful and trendy, like soone plucked straight from a pre-apocalyptic high school.
If not for the blood covering her face, Lin Xian might’ve thought she was just the neighbor’s little sister stopping by late at night.
But Lin Xian stayed silent.
Just monts ago, he had seen the corpse of “Grandpa Li” standing eerily outside. Now, suddenly, there was a bloodied teenage girl begging for help? It was beyond suspicious.
These entities that erged in the night were unpredictable and sinister. Besides, Lin Xian had no relationship with this girl. Opening the door would be risking his own life.
Ti ticked by, and it was now 5:00 AM. There were still at least nine hours until daylight.
Through the peephole, Lin Xian saw that the girl’s face had turned pale. She was slumped on the ground, unconscious.
“Damn it, is this so kind of monster setting a trap to trick into opening the door?” Lin Xian muttered under his breath, rubbing his temples.
This was far more unsettling than any zombie encounter he’d ever had.
Unable to resist his curiosity, he looked through the peephole again.
What he saw this ti made his pupils contract sharply.
“Grandpa Li” had reappeared, standing stiffly beside the unconscious girl. His head was lowered, as though sniffing at her.
Monts later, “Grandpa Li” moved with a stiff, awkward shuffle, positioning himself directly in front of the girl. Then, slowly, he began to bend down toward her.
Lin Xian’s eyes widened in shock as he noticed sothing horrifying:
Clinging to the back of “Grandpa Li’s” corpse was a monstrous, centipede-like creature with long, slender legs and a shiny black body. The creature was enormous, covering almost the entirety of the old man’s back!
“What the f*** is that?!” Lin Xian gasped, cold sweat breaking out across his body.
The creature’s legs moved in slow, deliberate motions, manipulating “Grandpa Li’s” body like a grotesque puppet.
Then, as its many legs twitched and scratched at the corpse’s back, “Grandpa Li” raised his arms stiffly and lunged toward the unconscious girl.
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