3: Escape, don't sit and wait

Watching Granny Liu descend the stairs unsteadily, Tian Ming felt a pang of sympathy. The entire city was now under lockdown, and this elderly woman was raising her grandson alone, with her son and daughter-in-law living out of town. Life must be difficult for her.

However, that softness of heart lasted only a moment. Tian Ming gave a self-deprecating smile. There was so much suffering in this world; why should he feel pity? Wasn't he a child of misfortune himself?

Just as he was about to close his door, Granny Liu's scolding voice suddenly came from downstairs.

“Xiao Yu, why aren’t you listening to Grandma? We have noodles; let’s not eat our own hands, okay?”

Tian Ming was a little puzzled, so he walked to the stairwell and looked down the stairs.

Xiao Yu limped out from inside the house, half of his white shirt stained red, holding his own severed limb…

Granny Liu reached out, trying to push Xiao Yu back into the house, but Xiao Yu let out a hoarse growl and directly tackled Granny Liu to the ground, scattering the instant noodles Tian Ming had given her all over.

Tian Ming’s head suddenly buzzed, and fear shot straight to his scalp.

Granny Liu’s pained screams echoed in the stairwell. Tian Ming quickly returned to his room and firmly barricaded the door. Granny Liu’s grandson, Xiao Yu, had turned into a zombie.

Boom!

A violent explosion shattered the balcony’s glass window, blown apart by the shockwave.

Walking to the edge of the balcony, Tian Ming saw that half of the building opposite had been blown away. A dark figure hung on a steel bar in mid-air, only half of the person’s body remaining, with large splatters of blood on the wall. The other half of the body had fallen into the flower bed downstairs.

The explosion’s flames ignited a raging fire in the dilapidated apartment building.

A woman rushed out of the apartment building’s entrance. She ran, screaming for help. Her shouts drew out several zombies from a corner, who immediately pinned her to the ground.

Tian Ming watched the woman from upstairs, his mind blank. On the distant street, there were no armed personnel left, only a few scattered zombies, wandering eerily.

When he came to his senses, Tian Ming knew he couldn't stay in this complex. Since it was isolated, many mutated zombies were confined to their homes. Leaving now was still an option.

He returned to his room, grabbed a cleaver, and took a clothesline pole from the balcony.

The clothesline pole was hollow and not sturdy. Tian Ming walked to the windowsill, and under his mental control, a puff of black powder flew out from the iron railing. The powder entered the hollow part of the clothesline pole. The iron atoms rearranged, and in a moment, the hollow clothesline pole became solid.

He then directly melted the cleaver onto one end of the clothesline pole. This turned it into a rudimentary Guan Dao.

He didn't need to bring anything. Now, he either had to leave the city or find an official Shelter. If the streets became overrun with zombies and he was caught by one, he wouldn’t die, which would be even more terrifying!

He nervously opened the door and cautiously stepped out.

A heavy smell of blood permeated the stairwell, and it was extremely quiet.

Tian Ming carefully descended the stairs. He saw Granny Liu’s body; she was already on the ground, motionless.

The scene was horrifying. Granny Liu’s eyes were wide open, a large piece of flesh violently torn from her neck. A small child was hunched over her, its entire head buried in Granny Liu’s abdomen, gnawing.

Ugh!

Tian Ming almost vomited. Suddenly, Xiao Yu, his face covered in blood, turned his head.

His eyes, as if veiled by a white mist, stared intently at Tian Ming.

Tian Ming’s heart pounded. He gripped the large blade of the clothesline pole tighter. He swung the blade in his hand, striking the zombie Xiao Yu.

Pfft, the blade sliced through, cutting off half of the zombie’s body. Although it lost its ability to attack, it could still move.

The roar of a helicopter came from the sky, its loudspeaker broadcasting repeatedly.

“Residents hearing this broadcast, please evacuate to the City Center Plaza Shelter. Residents hearing this broadcast, please evacuate to the City Center Plaza Shelter.”

Inside the helicopter, the pilot suddenly convulsed, slamming his head into the dashboard in front of him.

The helicopter immediately lost control and plummeted from the sky.

As the helicopter rapidly descended, the alarm grew increasingly piercing. The out-of-control helicopter crashed into the corner of a building, exploding in mid-air with a powerful blast. Flames erupted, and debris rained down like a shower.

By this time, Tian Ming had already gone downstairs, covered in blood. The zombie in the stairwell had been chopped into several pieces by him. Tian Ming suppressed his fear and quickly ran out of the apartment building’s entrance.

In the complex, there were scattered figures moving aimlessly. These were zombies; they had lost their sanity, leaving only a hunger for flesh and blood.

Upon seeing a living person, they immediately moved towards Tian Ming. These zombies were not slow, but Tian Ming was a young, strong man after all. Coupled with his desire to escape, he quickly outran the zombies pursuing him.

The sudden outbreak of the virus caught the entire world off guard. These zombie viruses were brought by the gaia ultraman fragments.

The meteor shower caused by Gaia's fragments had been falling for a whole month, and probably no place on Earth was spared.

He had heard the broadcast earlier; those not infected should be gathering at the plaza now.

Many people had realized the seriousness of the problem. Tian Ming was not the only one fleeing to the Shelter; on the road, many people were rushing towards the Shelter’s direction.

Many others were driving cars, but after a short distance, several overturned vehicles would appear before their eyes.

On the streets, the number of zombies began to increase exponentially. The closer one got to the plaza, the more mutated zombies there were.

This couldn't go on. The zombies were too dense, and without hot weapons, he couldn't escape at all.

Tian Ming turned and entered an office building, deciding to wait for rescue first. He knew that someone would surely come to rescue them. Office buildings were safer.

Tian Ming found a room without zombies in the building. He used the clothesline pole with the large blade to pry open the lock and cautiously entered.

It was an office, a relatively large one. Tian Ming placed the blade on the ground and slumped to the floor, panting heavily.

Suddenly, there was a sound outside the door. Tian Ming immediately picked up the blade.

With a creak, the door was pushed open. The person who opened the door was a girl, her face filled with terror. When she saw Tian Ming, she let out a scream.

Tian Ming immediately rushed over and covered the girl’s mouth.

“Don’t scream. If you attract those mutated zombies, both of us will die,” Tian Ming said, quickly closing the door.

His hand pressed against the door frame, fusing the atoms of the door lock’s core together, so no one else would open the door later.

“You haven’t mutated?”

“Nonsense. If I had mutated, could I still be talking to you?”

The girl relaxed, slumping to the ground. She panted and said, “There are too many zombies outside. That road is already blocked. Now there are armed personnel clearing it.”

“Are you going to the Plaza Shelter?” Tian Ming asked.

The girl nodded and said, “Mm-hm!”

“I’m going too. Let’s go together later; we’ll have company,” Tian Ming said, then got up and went to the window to check on the road clearing situation downstairs.