1 Virus Invasion
**Zzz... Zzz...**
In the silent shopping mall, a display TV was playing on its own, the signal fluctuating between strong and weak.
"NASA has discovered a new comet approaching Earth. Its brightness is expected to reach magnitude -6 by the end of this month, visible all night in the Northern Hemisphere..."
"Comet CL2026 has split due to Earth's gravity at its perigee. A spectacular meteor shower can be seen in the Siberian region at 6 PM today..."
"An unknown virus has broken out in Siberia. Within an hour, tens of thousands of people have shown symptoms, including irritability and mechanical eating. Experts speculate that the virus spreads through air, water, and contact with bodily fluids of the infected. Further research is ongoing..."
"A virus suddenly erupted on a flight from Russia to the United States. Passengers became aggressive and attacked the crew, causing the plane to lose control and crash over the Arctic!"
"Ten hours after the virus outbreak in Siberia, the first case has been reported in our country..."
"The number of infected in our country is rising rapidly, now covering 90% of cities. Experts advise everyone to stay home unless absolutely necessary. If you must go out, please wear a mask!"
"Attention, residents: Our city currently has ample supplies and will not run out. Please do not rush to panic-buy. Staying home is the best course of action..."
**Zzz... Zzz...**
The TV screen flickered and suddenly went dark.
Maybe it was a power outage, or maybe something else.
The dark TV screen reflected the light from the entrance, and the image of the empty street was projected onto it.
Suddenly, a stiff, twisted figure slowly entered the street, and the TV screen eerily reflected it all.
The figure moved slowly from left to right, and a mechanical "huff... huff..." sound could be heard as it moved, as if its throat were being strangled or thick blood were clogging its airways.
Huff... huff...
The figure gradually moved out of the TV screen and disappeared into the street outside.
It was as if nothing had happened.
The city returned to silence.
**Pain!**
A sharp headache jolted Jack awake.
He was lying on an uncomfortable bed. This wasn't the single bed in his school dorm.
What greeted him was a sea of white.
White walls. White windows. White bedsheets. White blankets. Even the bedside table was white.
Jack was disoriented.
The intense headache made it hard to think.
He propped himself up with his hands, struggling to sit up.
He was wearing a light blue and white striped hospital gown, and an IV stand hung from the ceiling.
Without much thought, he immediately recognized from the decor and colors that he was in a hospital room.
Then, memories came flooding back...
School had just announced the start of summer vacation. Before heading home, the sports academy of his university, Beishan University, was scheduled to play a friendly basketball game against Beishan Petroleum University.
Jack, being a skilled shooter, had eagerly participated.
During the game, he was accidentally pushed, hit the back of his head on the ground, and passed out on the spot...
And now, he had woken up here.
Jack numbly touched the back of his head and realized it was wrapped in thick bandages.
He foolishly pressed on the injured area and immediately felt dizzy, his stomach churning. He couldn't help but vomit.
Based on his limited medical knowledge, he guessed he probably had a mild concussion.
After lying down for a while, the dizziness and headache subsided, and he sat up again.
That's when he suddenly noticed something unusual.
Quiet!
It was too quiet around him!
An eerie silence!
As a sports student, Jack had often been to the hospital due to injuries, so he was quite familiar with hospitals.
But he had never seen a hospital this quiet before.
There were always various sounds in the past, but today, everything was unnervingly silent.
Jack was disoriented for a few seconds before he reached out and pressed the call button by the bed.
But after several minutes, no one came to check on him.
Jack muttered complaints about the nurses neglecting their duties, then took a deep breath and shouted, "Nurse! Nurse!"
His body hadn't fully recovered, so his voice wasn't loud. Even after shouting, it was useless—there was no response.
"What kind of lousy hospital is this?"
Jack reached around his pillow and checked the bedside table.
Where was his phone?
Where was his big, obvious phone?
Without his phone, he couldn't contact the outside world, and Jack began to feel anxious.
What had happened after he passed out that day? Who had brought him to the hospital? How long had he been here? Without his phone, there was no way to know.
On the bedside table were a few packs of compressed biscuits, some chocolate, and a 500-milliliter bottle of mineral water.
Jack found it strange. Who would bring these kinds of things to visit a patient in the hospital?
Wasn't it usually a flower basket or a couple of pounds of fruit? What was with the compressed biscuits?
Jack held onto the bed and slowly made his way to the door of the hospital room. It took him two or three minutes to finally reach the doorway.
Everything felt a bit eerie. He steadied himself and slowly turned the doorknob.
Outside, it was dead silent.
Before him was a dim, long corridor, the kind commonly found in hospital wards.
But because there was no lighting, it felt particularly ghostly.
No one was moving in the hallway, and there were no extra sounds. The eerie atmosphere added an extra layer of terror.
Jack even began to wonder if he was in an abandoned hospital.
But the modern equipment and clean terrazzo floors suggested that this was a fully functional hospital, not an abandoned one.
So, where were the people?
No doctors, no nurses, no patients—only Jack was here.
Jack felt a chill in his heart, but he steeled himself and followed the signs in the hallway toward the nurses' station.
The corridors were lined with tightly closed hospital rooms, not a sound coming from them, as if they were all empty.
Jack didn't dare to open any doors to check if they were truly empty.
He just tried to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible as he slowly made his way toward the nurses' station.
A few minutes later, he finally reached the nurses' station.
It was completely deserted. On the desk was a landline phone that wasn't plugged in.
Hoping against hope, Jack picked up the receiver, but there was no sound. Even after he plugged in the cord, there was no familiar dial tone.
The power was out.
It was astonishing that a hospital could lose power.
Most hospitals had at least one backup power system, so if the main power failed, the backup would kick in automatically.
A complete blackout like this could only happen if some major disaster had occurred.
Jack looked around but didn't see any signs of a major disaster. Although the place was empty, it still felt orderly.
He took a few more steps forward and called out in a low voice, "Is anyone here?"
No one answered.
For some reason, Jack had an intuition that he shouldn't make too much noise, as if he might disturb some unknown life form hiding somewhere.
Just as he was about to return to his room to look for other clues, a strange noise suddenly came from a room ahead—a sound like someone shuffling slowly in slippers.
Jack shivered but mustered his courage and moved closer.