Chapter 1: Blood Rain

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

The crisp “click” of the lock ignited the voice-activated light in the hallway. An Sheng tried his best to avoid making loud noises, but the unpleasant creak of the old security door still made his teeth itch.

“Time to apply grease again…” An Sheng muttered softly as he gently locked the door.

This was his home – a 38-square-meter one-bedroom apartment. Though somewhat dated overall, it was meticulously maintained, giving the immediate impression that the occupant knew how to manage a household.

An Sheng, twenty-eight years old and single – more precisely, divorced. He used to be from a wealthy family, but the family business went bankrupt during the financial crisis. His father, unable to bear the pressure, jumped to his death, while his mother fell gravely ill and passed away three months later in the hospital.

His wife at the time chose to divorce him. An Sheng didn’t blame her – as the old saying goes, “Married couples are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, each flies away.” There was no reason for her to suffer through hard times with a down-and-out young man. After handling his family’s affairs, An Sheng left his hometown alone to make his way in this unfamiliar city.

Having been pampered since childhood, An Sheng didn’t possess many practical survival skills. To make ends meet, he rented a taxi, driving during the day and working as a designated driver at night. Though exhausting, he eventually put down roots in the city.

An Sheng lived in the West Suburbs, in a rather aged Tube-Style Apartment Building. The six-story building contained twenty-two households per floor, each unit quite small with less-than-ideal living conditions, but the rent was cheap.

An Sheng felt quite content with his current life. Working two jobs earned him over ten thousand Yuan monthly. After deducting rent, utilities, and living expenses, he could still save ten thousand Yuan each month.

Soon he would be able to afford his own car. His motivation wasn’t to improve his quality of life, but rather because a new platform called Didi had recently emerged, allowing registration as premium car drivers with reportedly good benefits.

After all, taxi rentals cost over four thousand Yuan monthly. Eliminating that expense would surely increase his earnings.

After a quick wash, dragging his exhausted body, An Sheng lay in bed, plugged in his phone to charge, and prepared to sleep.

Suddenly, a fierce wind swept into the bedroom, followed by lightning splitting the dark night sky. A deep rumble of thunder came right after – rain was coming, and heavy rain at that.

Reluctantly climbing out of bed, An Sheng remembered his clothes were still drying on the outdoor rack. He needed to retrieve them before they got soaked and required rewashing.

Opening the window, An Sheng quickly gathered his drying laundry. The wind-driven rain had already begun pelting his body, but his quick reflexes allowed him to rescue both himself and the clothes during the brief window before the downpour. Though dampened by the rain, nothing was completely soaked.

Carrying the not-yet-dry clothes into the bathroom, An Sheng froze when he caught his reflection in the vanity mirror. His white short-sleeved shirt was covered with dense, blood-red spots!What is this? Could it be the rainwater that had just fallen on him? To verify his suspicion, An Sheng took off his short-sleeved shirt, opened the window, and extended the garment outside. Within moments, the white shirt had turned into a blood-soaked garment!

A strange fragrance also began to permeate the room—clearly emanating from the rain, as the source of the scent was the blood-red shirt in his hand.

Unsure whether this eerie rainwater was toxic, but erring on the side of caution, An Sheng quickly tossed the strangely fragrant shirt out the window and rushed to the bathroom to take a shower. Only then did he return to his bed to sleep.

His suspicions were correct: the blood rain indeed carried an unknown virus. Half an hour later, symptoms began to manifest in his body—first, he felt chilled all over, then quickly grew weak in his limbs, and eventually lacked even the strength to get up and fetch medicine from the cabinet. However, the discomfort didn’t torment him for long, as he soon lost consciousness.

In a half-dreaming state, An Sheng felt as though something had burrowed into his body. These unknown entities, like tiny insects, began eroding his skin and muscles, entering his body, then traveling through his blood vessels to his internal organs, and finally reaching his brain.

That night, he had a bizarre dream. In it, he floated in a blood-red world—no sky, no land, only a blood-like illusion. Trapped within, An Sheng had nothing to push against; no matter how he struggled, he couldn’t move an inch. Just as despair set in, a black creature flashed toward him at incredible speed and, before he could react, drilled into his body. Then…

“Beep, beep…” The sound of his phone’s alarm reached An Sheng’s ears. He jolted upright, only to lie back down after a dizzying spell. So it had all been a dream. He vaguely recalled having a fever, but it seemed he was fine now—aside from feeling weak all over, everything else was normal.

The time on his phone showed 7:15. An Sheng’s taxi shift change was at 9:15, and he always woke up at this hour to make himself breakfast—a habit he’d developed since moving to this city. This morning meal was the most substantial of his day; due to driving his taxi and working as a designated driver, lunch and dinner were often rushed, so An Sheng sacrificed some sleep to nourish his body.

Just as An Sheng entered the bathroom to wash up, a series of heavy, violent explosions shook the entire Tube-Style Apartment Building. The living room windows shattered into pieces from the powerful shockwaves, followed by several more consecutive blasts.

Having been pampered since childhood, An Sheng had never witnessed such a scene. Thinking it was an earthquake, he panicked and scrambled into the bathroom. He remembered from textbooks that if an earthquake strikes and there’s no time to evacuate to an open area, one should seek out a small, sturdy spot as an emergency shelter to increase the chances of survival.To be honest, the loud bangs just now had given An Sheng quite a fright. But being a man after all, he quickly realized it wasn’t an earthquake at all – there must have been an explosion somewhere nearby.

Judging by how his windows had shattered, the explosion couldn’t be far from his home. Humans are naturally curious creatures, and An Sheng was no exception. So gathering his courage, he stepped out of the bathroom and cautiously approached the living room window to look outside. With just one glance, he was completely stunned!

Was this still the same world he knew?