Chapter 4: Night of the Living Dead (3)

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

An Sheng’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest. The scene he had just witnessed from afar was utterly shocking—the bloody spectacle of living humans being devoured had terrified him profoundly. The mere recollection churned his stomach violently. Fighting back nausea, he rushed to the bathroom and vomited up the steamed buns and pickled vegetables he had eaten earlier, along with bitter gastric fluids.

After what felt like an eternity, just as An Sheng began to recover, a massive explosion sent him staggering again. The day’s events were straight out of a disaster film: corpses littering the streets and buildings in the morning, a biochemical crisis by evening, and now this! Peering through the door’s peephole, An Sheng strained to see outside. Though the view was unclear, he could hear fragmented shouts—people yelling to block the stairwell and prevent the Monsters from coming upstairs.

He felt a surge of gratitude toward the spontaneously formed rescue teams. Had they not earlier gathered the dead from the Tube-Style Apartment Building and stored them on the second floor, the entire building would now be swarming with Zombies. Clearly, these volunteers were desperately trying to barricade the stairwell to stop the Zombies below from ascending.

An Sheng wrestled with inner turmoil. He was terrified—the man-eating monsters were undeniably real—yet he felt compelled to help. Not out of selflessness, but self-preservation: if the stairwell wasn’t secured quickly, the Zombies would reach his floor, and his life would be forfeit. After a minute of mental struggle, he resolved to join the rescue effort.

Before venturing out, An Sheng prepared a weapon by attaching a Fruit Knife to a heating pipe, creating a makeshift saber. He slung it across his back with cloth straps, then mustered his courage, unlocked the security door, and stepped out.

The second floor greeted him with chaos: thick smoke reeking of charred debris filled the Tube-Style Apartment Building. The corridor was a wreckage of shattered furniture and mutilated corpses, evoking visceral dread. Most unnerving were the Zombies caught in the explosion—their vitality was horrifyingly tenacious. Some had lost legs, others arms; one had its abdomen torn open, spilling entrails across the floor. An Sheng even spotted a Zombie severed at the torso, yet all these gruesome creatures remained “alive,” slowly rising to seek fresh flesh.

Living on the fifth floor, An Sheng knew his level was temporarily safe. But urgency gripped him—they had to barricade the stairwell before the Zombies crawled up. Many residents, like An Sheng earlier, had retreated behind locked doors after witnessing the carnage, a natural response. Yet some, including An Sheng’s neighbor—a woman in her thirties—had overcome their fear, realizing they must aid the rescue team in securing the building.An Sheng remembered this woman was a single mother with two young children. Frankly speaking, anyone daring to step forward at such a time had remarkable courage, and he couldn’t help but feel admiration for this delicate-looking woman before him. After merely exchanging glances for a moment, they both headed toward the staircase together.

An Sheng and the young woman cautiously descended along the corridor. The situation on the fourth floor was similar to the fifth—most residents kept their doors tightly shut, too afraid to come out, while cries and chaotic noises grew increasingly distinct. At this point, An Sheng and the young woman simultaneously halted, locking eyes once more.

“Are you going down?” the young woman unexpectedly spoke first.

An Sheng didn’t respond, mainly because he didn’t know what to say. He understood that helping downstairs would ultimately enhance his own safety, yet the thought of confronting those man-eating Zombies filled him with dread.

Noticing An Sheng’s prolonged silence, the young woman whispered, “Brother, could you give me the Saber on your back?”

An Sheng was taken aback, staring at her in surprise. Was this woman unafraid of death? Reading the disbelief in his eyes, she instantly grasped his unspoken question.

“Brother, I’m scared too, but I have two children to protect. If those monsters make it upstairs, my kids won’t survive!”

Hearing this, An Sheng involuntarily thought of his own mother. This young woman before him was merely risking her life to safeguard her children, joining the rescue team to barricade the corridor. Wasn’t he also seeking a way to survive?

“Sis, what’s your name?” An Sheng didn’t know why he felt compelled to ask her name at such a moment, but it was what crossed his mind right then.

“Su Yao,” the young woman replied softly.

As An Sheng resumed his descent, he said, “Sister Su, I’m alone with no attachments. If things turn dangerous, you run back immediately—you’ve got two children to care for.”

Witnessing a mother willing to endanger herself for her children reignited the courage that fear had nearly extinguished in An Sheng. After all, he was a man—how could he be less brave than this fragile woman?

The third floor had descended into chaos, though only about a dozen people were actively involved. Most residents had chosen to hide, while the bolder ones merely peered downstairs from their doorways. The majority of those leading the effort to barricade the corridor belonged to the building’s spontaneously formed rescue team.

After assessing the situation, An Sheng and the young woman joined the group moving debris without another word. The staircase entrance was already half-blocked by clutter, trapping a horde of Zombies in the corridor desperately scrambling upward. Old Zhang and several sturdy men were using iron rods and wooden staffs to thrust downward at the Zombies, but there were too many—they needed to seal the passage quickly.

It had to be said, residents here had often complained about this old Tube-Style Apartment Building lacking property management, its poor environment, and low resident quality, with households frequently cluttering the corridors with their belongings. Now, however, this very disarray had become a lifesaving prerequisite.

The junk piled in these corridors proved immensely helpful to the dozen or so people blocking the stairs. Had the hallways been as spotless as those in large residential complexes, they’d have no choice but to wait for the Zombies to ascend.As the pile of debris grew higher, a barricade constructed from various discarded items gradually took shape. It appeared quite sturdy for now—the zombies below had virtually no chance of climbing up. Even humans would need considerable effort to clear a path through it.

A dozen or so people collapsed exhaustedly on the ground, finally able to catch their breath. Only then did residents begin emerging from their homes on the third floor. Down below, an estimated two to three hundred zombies had gathered. These living dead stared upward at the survivors, emitting bestial growls from their throats. Just one day earlier, these very creatures had been living, breathing people bustling about this place—yet within mere hours, they had all transformed into flesh-eating monsters.

A woman covered her mouth, choking back sobs as she gazed at the dense horde of living dead below. Fear, grief, helplessness, and panic seemed to simultaneously overwhelm all the survivors present. Many silently wiped away tears, while those who weren’t crying wore expressions of deep distress. No one knew what tomorrow would bring—faced with such sudden catastrophe, humanity felt truly insignificant.