Chapter 5: Mutation

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

“Will we become like that too?” a resident choked out between sobs.

“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to be eaten by monsters!” another person screamed hysterically, clearly having reached the peak of terror.

“Damn it! Why is there no phone signal? When will the police arrive? Why hasn’t the country sent the military?” Fatty from the rescue team turned to look at the exhausted Old Zhang. He knew Old Zhang was formerly a soldier and that it was he who had led them to barricade the stairwell, giving everyone temporary safety. By now, Fatty had come to regard Old Zhang as their backbone.

“Everyone, stop crying!” Old Zhang slowly rose to his feet, and the others simultaneously turned their gaze toward this man.

“I know everyone is scared. I’m scared too. But now is not the time for crying. I believe our country won’t abandon us. Rescue teams will definitely come to save us. But before that, we must first survive!”

Old Zhang’s words had some effect. An Sheng saw hope ignite in at least half of the people’s eyes. But was it really as he said? An Sheng wasn’t entirely convinced. Of course, An Sheng also desperately hoped for rescue teams to appear, but his reason told him this disaster wasn’t simple.

Over ten hours had passed since the Blood Rain and floods began. Forget rescue – even communications and power hadn’t been restored. If this were just a localized disaster, the country would definitely send rescue. Taking it a step further, even without immediate rescue, they should at least send aircraft to survey the situation, right? Yet throughout the entire day, An Sheng hadn’t heard a single sound.

From this alone, the scale of this disaster definitely couldn’t be small. It might even be nationwide, or possibly global.

What An Sheng could figure out, Old Zhang could too. He had already realized the severity of the situation during the day, but at this moment he didn’t dare voice it aloud.

There were still many survivors upstairs. For these people to keep living, they needed some hope in their hearts. Additionally, in their subconscious minds, Old Zhang, An Sheng, and others who had sensed the problem were unwilling to believe their own suspicions.

Old Zhang’s words ignited everyone’s hope. Many people chimed in agreement, and more emerged from their rooms to help reinforce the defensive wall at the stairwell entrance. The survivors all understood that was their lifeline.

Everyone contributed heavy objects to completely block the stairwell entrance. Following Old Zhang’s suggestion, they began piling debris in the corridor leading to the fourth floor in advance, leaving only a narrow passage for one person at a time. This was preparing for the worst – if the third floor were breached, they could quickly retreat upstairs and block the Zombies below.

Just as everyone was reinforcing the stairwell defenses, inside rooms 301 and 302 on the third floor, those who had been poisoned but hadn’t died began to mutate.

These had originally been under the care of rescue team members. They had been isolated together due to fears of contagion. But after the corpses downstairs revived and turned into man-eating monsters, all rescue team members had gone to help Old Zhang barricade the stairwell, leaving this area unattended.The mutation process for those who survived the poisoning was far less merciful than for those who had died. These individuals, already weakened by a day of high fever, now had their bodies further depleted as excruciating pain erupted from every part of their bodies.

The skin that had been exposed to the Blood Rain began to develop red spots. Beneath these spots, it felt as if scalding fireballs were embedded, the intense burning pain sending the twenty-plus people in the room writhing on the floor.

The red spots quickly spread over the patients’ entire bodies. Twenty-some individuals, curled up in agony and covered in crimson, resembled freshly steamed prawns. A man lying near the doorway could no longer endure the torment. Struggling to sit up, he desperately searched for something—anything that could quickly end his life. His eyes fell upon a Fruit Knife on a nearby coffee table.

Seeing the knife was like discovering gold. He crawled toward it with great effort, finally grasping the Fruit Knife in his hand. Slowly, he pointed the tip at his own throat and thrust it in with all his strength…

The man died. In his final moment, an expression of satisfied pleasure crossed his face—perhaps for him, death truly was liberation.

But the next moment, the dead man eerily sprang up from the ground. No blood gushed from the wound in his throat where the Fruit Knife had pierced; instead, the area around it began to crack and shatter like broken glass, soon starting to peel away.

With no skin left to support it, the Fruit Knife fell to the ground along with the shedding skin. Beneath the shed skin, scales the size of fingernails emerged, somewhat resembling fish scales. Meanwhile, the teeth in his mouth also began to fall out—or more accurately, were pushed out by newly growing teeth. These new teeth were no longer human-like but sharp and fierce, akin to those of a crocodile.

The man wasn’t the only one mutating. All twenty-plus poisoned individuals underwent physical transformations. While their mutations varied, the one constant was that they had all become inhuman monsters.

An Sheng moved an old sofa bed to the stairwell connecting the fourth and third floors. The passage was already cluttered with various items. A single kick to this pile would send it tumbling down the stairs. Combined with the debris already on the steps, it would instantly form a simple barricade. With minimal reinforcement from those upstairs, it would become a solid barrier.

Just as An Sheng thought about taking a break, an inexplicable sense of danger washed over him. The hairs on his body stood on end as if electrified. An Sheng couldn’t explain why, but he knew—danger was approaching.

“Sister Su, Brother Zhang, something’s wrong!Old Zhang and Su Yao, who were moving items with him, looked at him in confusion upon hearing his sudden warning. The next moment, as if to confirm An Sheng’s words, a shrill scream echoed from downstairs.

Fatty from the rescue team had his neck ensnared by an unknown object. A powerful force dragged him backward. The person beside him saw clearly what was pulling Fatty—it was a tongue, and its owner was a monster covered in Scales.That hysterical scream came from the person who had been frightened out of his wits by the sudden appearance of the monster.

Hearing the agonized cry, Old Zhang and An Sheng rushed downstairs to investigate. The moment they stepped out of the stairwell, they witnessed Fatty having his head bitten off by a monster covered entirely in scales!

The monster chewed as if savoring a meatball, relishing every bite. The crunching sound of bones being crushed could be heard from its mouth. Following behind the scaled monster was a bloated, nearly three-meter-tall humanoid creature. Its limbs and torso were a ghastly pale color, like a corpse that had been soaked in water for too long. But the most horrifying part was its head—where facial features should have been, there was nothing but a single enormous eye.

The next scene nearly caused Old Zhang, a retired veteran, to collapse on the spot.

The bloated monster slowly approached Fatty’s headless corpse. Its swollen body began to writhe, and soon a fissure split open from its navel all the way up to its neck. As the massive crack widened, it revealed rows of sharp teeth—the one-eyed monster’s stomach was actually its enormous mouth. Without hesitation, the one-eyed, giant-mouthed monster swallowed Fatty’s headless body whole, followed by the terrifying sound of chewing.