The Fat Man

Mu Chenyi held the bag in his hand, constantly glancing toward the factory entrance.

At the same time, he kept checking his watch. Time passed bit by bit, but no one appeared at the factory entrance.

Had his hint been too vague? Did Xiao Chen not understand?

When the time reached 11:02, Xiao Chen still hadn't shown up. Meanwhile, the cooldown for [Eye of Death] had just ended.

"Use [Eye of Death]!"

"As long as you maintain the fake smile and play the role of a human properly, you should be able to survive this doomsday event."

A man's voice?

The voice was slightly high-pitched, yet deep and solid—he seemed like a fat man?

That was Mu Chenyi's first impression.

With [Eye of Death], hearing always came first, then vision.

Soon, his vision adjusted, and he saw—

A chubby, otaku-looking man, holding a bag of spicy strips, muttering as he chewed:

"But you two exposed yourselves as humans at the market… So now you can't leave for a while. Luckily, my basement was built to withstand a doomsday-level zombie outbreak. It's stocked with years' worth of food, so you can easily wait out this apocalypse in there."

"I can't tell if you two are fearless idiots or just unlucky—two people going to buy fish together, and you still got surrounded by those green-furred freaks?!"

Two people?

Mu Chenyi was puzzled.

His future self seemed to sense his thoughts and turned his head to glance at the woman beside him.

A stunningly beautiful woman.

That was Mu Chenyi's first impression.

She looked about 23 or 24, probably just graduated from university—not much older than him.

Was this Xiao Chen?

But soon, he felt something strangely familiar about her.

Had he seen her somewhere before?

Or was it just like the internet memes say—whenever a guy sees a pretty girl, he always thinks she looks familiar?

"What now?" Xiao Chen asked.

"You two have no choice but to stay here and survive until this doomsday event ends. You're both already on the wanted list, so there's nowhere else to hide!"

The fat man spoke impatiently, then walked straight to the bathroom in front of them.

Right before their eyes, he pressed a hidden button on the toilet.

"Click!"

Something incredible happened.

Right in front of them, the toilet split open—revealing a hidden underground passage!

The toilet split cleanly in two, revealing a hidden underground passage.

"So? Pretty well hidden, right?" The fat man placed one hand on the toilet and the other on his hip, looking at Future Mu Chenyi and Xiao Chen with a proud expression.

"Hidden."

Both Future Mu Chenyi and Xiao Chen twitched their mouths. Is this really a human's idea of a secret underground base entrance?

"Relax! I spent tens of millions building my basement. It's absolutely safe. As long as it's not an extinction-level catastrophe, we can stay here until this doomsday event ends."

The fat man patted his chest in assurance before leading the two of them into the underground tunnel.

Future Mu Chenyi and Xiao Chen exchanged glances before following him deeper inside.

The tunnel was very deep—they walked for at least ten minutes.

All the while, the fat man kept boasting—

"Not to brag, but this passage has a total of eight security checkpoints. If those freaks dare to come here, they'll never make it out alive!"

Tens of millions of investment clearly wasn't just talk.

Mu Chenyi's future self could see that the passage contained many sharp, lethal weapons—even some firearms.

The walls of the tunnel were entirely made of alloy, giving off a sense of solid security.

But—

As the real Mu Chenyi watched all of this unfold through [Eye of Death], he felt no sense of security at all.

Because—

This is my death replay!

This fat guy claimed the base was impenetrable, yet they still ended up dead?

The vision continued, showing Future Mu Chenyi, Xiao Chen, and the fat man walking through the long passage.

Eventually—

They arrived at…

A… gaming arcade?

The room was packed with arcade machines—

Shooting games, fighting games, racing games, rhythm games…

Even basketball hoops, driving simulators, and claw machines.

Mu Chenyi's future self even spotted a claw machine filled with plush toys at the back of the room.

"Go ahead and play whatever. There's no internet, but I've got tons of single-player games downloaded."

The fat man waved them off casually.

"There's a mini-mart in the back too, but fair warning—it's all high-calorie snacks. I can't cook, so just make do with what's here."

As he spoke, he grabbed a box of snacks, sat in front of a computer, and started playing a game.

Future Mu Chenyi and Xiao Chen remained stiff and cautious.

Seeing this, the fat man laughed—

"Relax already! If you're still nervous, my room has security monitors. You can go check them yourself. Those green-furred freaks can't get in here."

"I'll check the monitors!" Xiao Chen immediately said before heading into the security room.

"I'll take a look too."

Future Mu Chenyi followed.

His vision moved with his future self, leading him into the surveillance room, filled with monitor screens.

As he examined the screens, something stood out.

The surveillance was monitoring…

A villa district?

Mu Chenyi narrowed his eyes.

Villa district…

Taking a closer look, he recognized it instantly—

Fu Yang Villa District.

Located at the center of Jiangcheng, this was one of the city's most luxurious residential areas.

Back when the district was first built, advertisements for it flooded the city.

Even as a student, Mu Chenyi had memorized the name just from the overwhelming publicity.

And most of these surveillance cameras were focused around Villa No. 5.

Was this fat man's residence Villa No. 5?

But then—

Future Mu Chenyi's expression changed dramatically.

Because—

He noticed numerous "humans" approaching Villa No. 5, moving in unison.

Each one wore that eerie, fake smile, step by step, closing in on the villa.

And as they approached, figures began emerging from the other nearby villas—

One after another, more and more people stepped out into the open.

"Old Wang!"

Future Mu Chenyi shouted toward the fat man outside the surveillance room.

"What?"

The fat man was still playing his video game, barely paying attention.

"I think you need to see this yourself!"

Hearing the urgency in his tone, the fat man reluctantly set down his controller and waddled his way into the surveillance room.

"Holy sh*t!"

The moment he saw the screen, his eyes widened in shock.

"Where the hell did so many green-furred freaks come from?!"

"What do we do now?"

Xiao Chen's voice carried a trace of panic.

The fat man froze for a moment—

But quickly regained his composure.

"Relax! My underground fortress is impenetrable. Those freaks can't get in—just watch."

He stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth, now too distracted to play games, and instead sat down to watch the monitors alongside them.

Seeing the fat man's confidence, Future Mu Chenyi and Xiao Chen felt a bit reassured.

But—

The real Mu Chenyi, watching this unfold through [Eye of Death], felt his heart pounding violently.

Something was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

"They're inside the villa!"

Future Mu Chenyi suddenly shouted.

On the surveillance screen—

The group of fake-smiling creatures had already stepped inside Villa No. 5, one by one.