Chapter 2: The Onset of Chaos

The crowd outside the window had gathered into a huddle. The dead man had turned into a pile of bones scattered at the feet of the crowd. Many people were on their knees, licking up the blood. People were constantly knocked to the ground, only to get up and start biting others until they were knocked down again. Screams could be heard continuously from the distance, and sporadic fires were breaking out everywhere, making the distant night sky as bright as day.

Looking at the apocalyptic scene of the city where he had grown up, a sense of desolation welled up in his heart. He lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. Feeling a bit better, he sat in front of the computer and opened the news webpage. The entire page was filled with the headline "Virus Outbreak". After clicking to read it, he learned that people showing virus symptoms had been discovered all over the world. From Alaska in North America to Argentina in South America, and from the African continent to the Eurasian continent, infected individuals had been found everywhere. The whole world was now in chaos.

The post described the process of the outbreak. Around 10 a.m., people across the country were gradually found to be losing their minds and starting to attack others. After that, the number of infected people began to increase and spread. The national emergency response plan for public incidents hadn't been activated in time, and the virus had turned into a disaster, destroying the entire administrative system. Due to the sudden nature of the virus, you never knew when your family members, colleagues, or comrades beside you might suddenly go crazy. If you were bitten or scratched, you would also mutate and start attacking others within 45 minutes.

The virus had been named "destruction of the world" by Europe and America, and its Chinese name was "The Destroyer of the World", abbreviated as the D virus.

It was divided into airborne infection and contact infection. Infected people were highly aggressive, with their strength being 1.5 times that of ordinary people. Their speed was equivalent to the normal walking speed of humans, and their explosive power was relatively low. Their teeth and nails had mutated and become sharper. Ordinary clothing could no longer withstand bites and scratches. Their external characteristics included having no pupils, walking stiffly without normal vision, with their arms extending from the shoulders to the hands reaching down to the knees.

They had a keen sense of smell, ate flesh and blood, and had hearing. So far, anyone who had been scratched or bitten had mutated. Infected people had a high level of vitality, and ordinary injuries couldn't harm them. Only by destroying their nervous system or breaking their cervical spine could they be killed. So far, no new mutations among the infected had been found. It was preliminarily estimated that the infection rate had reached 90%. If anyone reads this post, please try your best to stay alive. As long as you're alive, there's hope.

"As long as you're alive, there's hope," Zhang Xiaoqiang muttered. Now he was clear that the people outside the window were all infected. He didn't know if he himself had been infected or when he might mutate. But he was afraid of death, afraid of being eaten by those infected people who had turned into zombies. Just thinking about his arm being torn off and his intestines being pulled out and fed to the zombies made him feel terrified. He paced back and forth in the room, unable to sit still. He lit a cigarette to calm himself down and think about his future options. There was no need to consider going out for help now, as the zombies downstairs were just waiting for him to become their meal.

Zhang Xiaoqiang sat in front of the computer and began to make plans. He couldn't drink the tap water anymore, as God knew if there were zombies soaking in the water tanks of the waterworks. Fortunately, he was lazy at home and usually didn't boil water. He liked to order bottled water delivered. There was still one and a half buckets of water at home, so he wasn't short of water for now. Now he had to think about food. At the thought of food, he hurriedly stood up. He collected the rent on the 10th of each month and then bought a month's worth of food. Today was only the 1st, which meant the food would only last for ten days. He didn't dare to turn on the lights and used the flashlight on his mobile phone to rummage around the house for food.

After being busy for a while, he took stock of all the food and supplies. He was lazy and didn't know how to tidy up, so the house was in a mess, and he didn't even know what he had. All of Zhang Xiaoqiang's food and supplies were: 17 packs of instant noodles in bags, about 12 jin of rice, two pieces of cured meat weighing about 8 to 9 jin (brought by his uncle from the countryside, a bit fatty and he didn't like it usually), 21 eggs, two jin of noodles, 0.8 packs of salt, 1.5 buckets of bottled water, and 16 packs of cigarettes. There were no green vegetables. If he saved some, he thought he should be able to last for a month.

With food taken care of, he had to think about safety. His house was an old one built in 1997, obtained through the demolition of the old street. It was on the second floor, and there was a platform both in front and at the back of the house. The front one was a public platform with an area of nearly 400 square meters. There were two buildings on the platform, and a flight of stairs with twenty-five or twenty-six steps connected the platform. Neighbors used it to come and go. Some people had planted small vegetable plots on the platform, and others had raised flowers and plants.

The back platform had been turned into a small courtyard by his father and several neighbors, separated by iron grilles. His computer room was in the small courtyard, built by his own family. Through the window, he could see the street. He went to the front hall and checked the anti-theft door. He used adhesive tape to seal all the gaps around the door and windows. He pasted newspapers on all the windows in the front hall and drew the curtains.

After finishing all these tasks, he sat down again and stared blankly. There was no shortage of electricity. The two hydropower dams in the "Capital of Hydropower" should be able to ensure the power supply for several months. But the internet would probably be cut off soon. He should download some materials and learn more useful things at home to increase his chances of survival. With this thought in mind, he started to act.