Chapter 9: An Unexpected Guest

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In movies, zombie viruses typically spread through bites, with a limited rate of diffusion. However, the "zombie virus" contained within Facility 031 does not play by the rules.

Those located in this sector never had the chance to flee to safety before being transformed into will-less monsters. When Robin’s fleeing figure darted past the doorway, the sound of her footsteps triggered these standing, living dead to snap their heads in unison.

Zombies in the rooms on both sides of the corridor pushed and shoved, scrambling to pour out. They knocked down doors, tripped over one another into a heap, only to scramble up by stepping on their companions, roaring as they joined the chase.

Robin led the way, with the zombies following close behind, claws raised.

The sheer number of them, the momentum of the swarm—it was like watching a marathon!

She wanted to scream, to demand of the heavens why they were picking on her—perhaps she had already screamed without realizing it, but the roar of the zombies was so deafening that she couldn't even hear her own voice.

Forced to dash between two or three soldier zombies who were craning their necks in the hallway searching for the source of the noise, Robin completely lost track of her escape route.

Her lungs heaved like bellows, her throat burned as if she had swallowed razor blades, and she drove her legs forward with all her might. Several times, the hands of the zombies grazed the tablet on her back, pushing the engineer forward in a stagger and forcing her to sprint with every ounce of strength she possessed.

If only she had known, she would have exercised more.

She should have at least practiced running!

Another corner. Robin, suffering from cerebral hypoxia, followed her instincts and turned left, only to witness a miracle—

On the wall, several massive arrows pointed toward a door a few dozen meters away, with an exceptionally bright light spilling from the gap.

[← Emergency Shelter ←]

After all that circling, Robin had somehow returned to the planned route and found the shelter that had yet to be sealed!

Suddenly, someone poked their head out from behind the door. Seeing her, they immediately rushed into the corridor, waving their arms vigorously and hopping with excitement.

"There’s someone else alive! Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one left on this entire floor—"

Then, the roaring, magnificent army of pursuers rounded the corner.

This was likely not the "group of survivors" the person had envisioned, as they shrieked and turned to flee instantly.

Robin ran until her vision went black. She saw only the shelter that represented her hope for survival. Her body surged forward while her soul chased behind, moving entirely on residual consciousness. She looked more like a zombie than the zombies themselves, completely failing to register the other person's presence.

Just ahead...

A powerful shove came from behind, and exhausted, she crashed headlong into the floor.

These living dead... they could really run...

The swarm of zombies instantly engulfed her.

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When he reached the door, the knocking stopped.

Shi Rang couldn't imagine who would be looking for him at a time like this. He quietly leaned toward the peephole.

There was no one outside.

Shi Rang reached for his pocket, but found it empty. A jolt of alarm went through him, and he glanced toward the bedroom—his phone was lying conspicuously on the corner of his computer desk.

Internet addiction is a curse...

Opening the door was too dangerous. If someone were to jam their foot in the door to force their way in, Shi Rang wouldn't be able to handle it.

Should he go back to get his phone and call the police? Would calling the police even help?

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In a place with such poor public security as the Tenth District, Yunling City was considered quite decent. Even if one occasionally saw drug addicts walking the streets like the living dead, gang members were rare. When he and Ying Shang bought the apartment, they specifically chose a complex with independent security, which served as a double insurance.

*Thump! Thump!*

The knocking, now right in front of him, startled Shi Rang.

He leaned in to look again, but there was still no one outside the door!

"Who is it?" Shi Rang asked loudly.

"So you are home—it’s me, Angie!"

Shi Rang froze for a moment, stood on his tiptoes to peer through the peephole again, and finally caught a glimpse of a mushroom-cut hairstyle at the very bottom.

It wasn't that there was no one outside; it was just that the person was too short to be seen.

Shi Rang laughed at himself, feeling foolish.

He hadn't played a tabletop game in so long that he had become completely immersed in Robin's online escape scenario. It was just a website that had inexplicably gone 404, yet it had made him act like a nervous wreck!

"I thought I heard wrong," Shi Rang said, quickly opening the door. "Why did you come over so suddenly?"

Angie, her hair as disheveled as always, stood at the doorway with one hand on her hip, looking annoyed. "Have you even been checking your phone, Reporter Shi? A dozen messages I sent have all vanished into the void. I thought you had died in your apartment!"

"I'm sorry... did something happen?"

"Sigh, with your social skills, how did you ever become a reporter? To make a long story short, I found the person you asked me to look into." Angie pulled an envelope from her satchel and shoved it into Shi Rang's hand. "This guy doesn't live in Yunling City, but I found his registration information in the donation records of a charitable foundation."

Shi Rang recalled for a moment, remembering the favor he had asked of her.

It was the final lead he had to find Ying Shang, and Shi Rang, who had absolutely no social resources, had been at a complete loss.

It had been several months since he asked Angie to investigate. She had told him not to be delusional, and hadn't even agreed over the phone; Shi Rang had assumed she had given up.

Angie must have been running around for quite some time to get this.

"You were actually able to check the charitable foundation's... wait, a thief donating money?"

"Not a petty thief working alone, but a low-level pawn in a criminal syndicate. Didn't Ying Shang ever explain this to you? Global charitable foundations were once very popular channels for money laundering. They would incite recipients to apply for a bunch of nonsensical subsidies, with an inside man handling the approval, while the people outside would take the clean money. But after the upper-level purge, that route was completely blocked."

Shi Rang’s throat tightened. "...Is it because she applied for a subsidy?"

"There’s no such thing as a coincidence in this world. Charitable foundations are massive global enterprises; everyone, from childhood to adulthood, has donated money to them at one point or another... but it doesn't exclude the possibility that someone targeted her because of her status as a recipient... Regardless, I’ve given you the guy's range of activity. See if you can use it. Remember to burn this after reading, or I’ll be in deep trouble."

Shi Rang gripped the heavy envelope in his hand, clearly packed with photos and documents; it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Language was so inadequate at this moment. How could he possibly express his gratitude?

He looked up as if waking from a dream, realizing he had left Ying Shang's best friend standing in the cold draft at his doorway. He quickly stepped aside and bent down to find a pair of spare slippers. "Would you like to come in and sit? I'll pour you some water..."

He struggled to remember what he had left in the house to treat a guest, but he didn't even have any tea leaves left.

"I have work to do. I'll come over for a free meal when I have time later." Angie shook her head, tossing her unruly hair back into place, and turned toward the stairwell. "If you find her, notify me immediately."

"I will."

"And one more thing, Shi Rang—"

Angie, who had just pulled open the fire door, looked back.

"Don't do anything crazy and go looking for trouble with them on your own. That's a criminal syndicate, not some street thugs. I'll find a way to keep looking into it on my end."

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This time, Shi Rang made no promises.

He stared down at the envelope in his hand until Angie slipped into the fire exit, muttering about how "birds of a feather flock together." Only then did he retreat back into the room and close the door.

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Robin, lying on the floor, gave a twitch and woke up.

Her breathing was smooth, with only a slight sense of weakness. Thinking about it, being a zombie might not be so bad.

Perhaps she could run ten kilometers without even breaking a sweat.

"Hey?"

Who was calling?

"Hey!"

Could it be a living person?

"Can you still hear me?"

As a zombie, shouldn't I be professional and crawl over to take a bite out of them?

"If you can hear me, get up already!"

Light flooded into Robin’s half-open eyes.

Her vision gradually cleared; first, her fingers came into focus, then the floor.

Her chaotic mind finally began to stabilize. Robin clutched her bruised forehead, groaning from the dizziness, and scrambled to her feet by blindly feeling along the wall.

So, she hadn't turned into a zombie after all.

"Thank goodness, you weren't infected! I thought I was the only one left who hadn't died!"

She wobbled toward the voice, then recoiled in fear, falling back down and wincing in pain. Aside from the areas protected by the tablet, her body was covered in so many bruises she looked like she had been trampled by a crowd.

Staring for a long while at the line of zombies, which stood in a single file, turned corners automatically at the end of the corridor, and eventually formed an "M" shape, she waited until she was certain they had no intention of rushing over to eat her before she regained her ability to speak.

"...Is my brain damaged from the fall, or are they actually standing in line?"

It had to be said, they were very orderly; not one of them was cutting in line.

"It's real, you're doing just fine!" The curly-haired person, who sounded ecstatic, laughed and pointed at the well-behaved zombies behind them. "Lucky for me, I reacted quickly—does this mean my treatment can be upgraded? It's the first time I've known that my anomalous effect could save someone!"

"Are you... one of the things that... breached containment?"

"Don't put it so harshly. I didn't violate anything; it's just that everyone was busy fleeing for their lives and didn't have time to close the door to my containment cell. Then that plant occupied my room, so I had no choice but to come out. Now that you're here, at least there's someone who can help close the door... you have a keycard, right?"

"What keycard?"

"Access permission card? Employee ID? Whatever you call it—the one that lets you use the shelter."

"You need a card to use the shelter?"

In that instant, both of them read the despair on the other's face.

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