Chapter 24
The citywide alarm blared, signaling a major emergency in the city, one so urgent that there wasn’t enough time to notify all residents individually.
But what kind of crisis could have erupted at this critical moment?
Wen Xin quickly tapped on the emergency notification that had popped up.
The message was short, almost as if it had been hastily thrown together. There were no formalities or elegant phrasing—just a blunt and straightforward warning.
—The city is in chaos and danger. We are doing everything we can to resolve it as fast as possible. Stay home, lock your doors and windows, and don’t get involved in any unnecessary trouble. And remember, anyone who causes problems will bear the consequences themselves!
After reading the notice, a cold chill crept up Wen Xin’s spine, settling in his nervous system.
His phone buzzed with messages from WeChat, pulling him back to the present.
When he opened it, he found every group chat had exploded in activity.
The discussions about a zombie apocalypse from earlier in the day had been drowned out by over 99+ new messages. People were now panicking, wondering what was happening in City G, and why the city alarm had been triggered.
Suddenly, a resident forwarded a video.
The footage was shaky, as if the person filming had developed a severe case of tremors, making the whole scene blurry and unstable.
Two weeks ago, when a video titled Suspected Zombie Attack went viral on every major platform, some experts had pointed out in the comments that such shaky camera work was a common technique used to depict the fear and panic of the person filming.
Someone had even responded, “Oh, that makes sense! The content creator really paid attention to detail.”
But compared to that old video, this new one had nothing novel.
Once again, it showed people biting others, with the same screaming, the same sickening sound of bones breaking, and blood dripping from the victim’s arm onto the ground.
Even the person filming let out a shaky “Oh my God…” in a voice that trembled in fear, similar to what had been heard in previous clips.
Yet, this time, no one came out to mock it as another fake viral video made with special effects.
Instead, the chat was filled with messages of terror.
A resident from Building X, Unit X: “Why does this place look exactly like Peace Square in the west part of the city?”
Another resident from Building X, Unit X: “Please tell me I’m wrong, but I think those ginkgo trees with the colorful flags look just like the ones in the video!”
A third resident: “How could that be? My boyfriend lives there, and I haven’t heard anything about a film crew being there tonight.”
This resident disappeared from the chat after their comment, presumably rushing off to verify with their boyfriend.
Others in the group began comparing their recent photos of Peace Square to the video’s details.
The more they compared, the more their hearts sank.
The video had indeed been filmed in Peace Square, located in the western part of City G!
It was as if a searing hot iron had been pressed into ice. After the initial burst of activity, the chat fell into a deathly silence.
Some of the most vocal participants had left, likely turning to their friends and family who lived in the western part of the city, desperate for answers.
Others stayed glued to the chat, anxiously awaiting any new information and praying for the best.
Wen Xin didn’t know anyone who lived in the West, but a staff member from his work group did have a friend on the night shift at Peace Square.
Now that employee couldn’t reach their friend and was growing increasingly anxious.
[Half an hour ago, she told me she heard strange footsteps and thought there might be a bad guy nearby. I told her to walk home with her coworkers after her shift. Then I saw the video and tried calling her, but she’s not answering! What should I do? What if something happened to her?!]
Wen Xin furrowed his brows tightly.
He saw his colleagues trying to comfort the staff member and wanted to type something supportive too.
But just as his fingers touched the screen, the ceiling light flickered and went out, plunging the entire room into darkness.
The power had gone out.
“Wen Xin!” “Squeak squeak!” “Roar—!”
As the room was suddenly engulfed in blackness, the little ones thought something bad had happened and rushed into the bedroom almost at the same time.
Wen Xin quickly realized what had happened and hurriedly got out of bed to calm them down. “Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the world outside the window—it was completely dark.
Even if the apartment next door had some lights on, it shouldn’t have been this pitch black.
A sense of dread crept over Wen Xin as he hurried to the window.
His apartment was on a high floor, giving him a broad view of most of the neighborhood.
From this vantage point, he could see that it wasn’t just his building that had lost power—the entire neighborhood was in darkness, not even the streetlights were on.
After hearing the city alarm and now facing a citywide blackout, the looming sense of an unknown crisis weighed heavily on everyone. Nobody could stay calm anymore.
From the apartment above, a neighbor threw open their window and shouted, “Does anyone know what’s going on?”
Seconds later, a voice echoed from a neighboring building, “No idea!”
In this moment of confusion and fear, hearing other people’s voices was like receiving a strong dose of a sedative. Soon, everyone began shouting to each other.
“I heard something happened in the west side of the city, is it true?”
“It’s bad, really bad! I found some phone numbers for shops in that area on a delivery app, but no one’s answering!”
“Is it zombies for real?!”
“If it’s not zombies, it’s some kind of monster! Living monsters!”
“Could it be those rabies patients? Weren’t they all supposed to be under control?!”
“It’s not just City G, I just saw on Weibo that Z City had a blackout for most of the day. The monsters must have come from there!”
“And now they’ve reached the west side of City G. Should we be worried about yelling and drawing them here?!”
…
As soon as someone mentioned the possibility of attracting monsters with their shouting, everyone went silent.
Videos of people being bitten, unverified rumors, a city alarm, trouble in the west side, and now a widespread blackout.
By now, even the most oblivious person could see the harsh reality unfolding.
Wen Xin could hear the shouts outside gradually quieting down.
In the blink of an eye, the once rowdy neighborhood fell eerily silent.
The pale moonlight illuminated the earth, and an indescribable sense of terror crept back in, as if some hidden beast in the shadows was extending its claws, gripping the hearts of every resident.
Wen Xin’s own heart felt heavy, as though a giant stone was pressing down on his chest, making it difficult to breathe.
Seeing his pale expression, the canary spoke up on behalf of the others, “Wen Xin, what’s going on?”
Wen Xin jolted as if snapped out of a nightmare, whipping his head around.
There were no lights inside, but he could sense all the little ones looking at him with concern. He opened his mouth, wanting to smile and reassure them that everything was fine.
But he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
If monsters like zombies had appeared in the western part of the city, it would only be a matter of time before they reached his neighborhood.
Ignoring the situation wouldn’t help anyone escape the crisis.
Wen Xin made up his mind, taking a few quick breaths to steady himself before explaining the situation as calmly and clearly as he could.
The little ones weren’t foolish.
They had already heard the shouts from the residents and had their suspicions. Wen Xin’s explanation only confirmed what they had been thinking.
But unlike Wen Xin, they weren’t worried at all.
The purple squirrel had faced infected humans a few times before. According to its description, those infected weren’t very strong, comparable to a D-class mutant at best.
In other words, even the weakest among them—the canary—could easily defeat dozens of infected humans.
As long as they were there, Wen Xin was absolutely safe.
By that logic, if Wen Xin was safe, what did they have to worry about? There was no chance they’d get bitten by infected humans—that would be far too humiliating.
Wen Xin had no idea what the little ones were thinking.
As the head of the household, he felt it was his responsibility to stay calm and collected. In just a few moments, he had already adjusted his mindset.
When Wen Xin calmly opened the cabinet and retrieved some backup candles, even he was surprised at how quickly he had regained his composure.
He lit the candle, and the warm, yellow glow illuminated the room, driving away some of the oppressive darkness and allowing him to see the little ones’ faces more clearly.
Wen Xin then pulled out his phone.
Fortunately, he had charged it before going to bed, and even after playing a tutorial video for the purple squirrel, it still had three bars of battery left.
He had no idea when the power might come back—or if it ever would—so those three bars of battery were precious.
The best course of action would be to turn the phone off now and save the remaining power for when it is needed.
But Wen Xin needed to check what was happening outside.
So, he set a schedule for himself: he would check the internet for updates every two hours.
With that, he headed to the storage room to take stock of how much food they had left.
After a few minutes of calculation, the canary suddenly came to find him and asked him to look out the window.
Wen Xin walked over and saw, in the dim light, a couple dragging a suitcase and leading a child, who looked about seven years old, toward a car parked by the road.
Once they were inside, the car’s engine roared to life, and the headlights cut through the darkness as it sped toward the neighborhood gate.
The gate’s security barrier hadn’t opened, and Wen Xin couldn’t see what was happening in the security office—he didn’t even know if anyone was still there.
He expected the car to stop, but to his surprise, it didn’t slow down at all, ramming straight into the barrier!
Wen Xin wasn’t the only one who had noticed the commotion. Other residents were also watching.
As soon as the barrier was broken, it was as if a pot of boiling oil had been poured into water. Everyone erupted in anger.
“Damn it! That idiot broke the barrier! If zombies get into the neighborhood, nothing will stop them now!”
In truth, the barrier had gaps and wasn’t a solid wall—whether it was intact or not, it wouldn’t have been able to keep zombies out.
But this action was the final straw that sparked chaos.
Up until now, everyone had been trying to suppress their panic, following City G’s emergency notice to stay indoors.
But now, seeing someone openly defy the rules, how could anyone stay calm?
What if the city couldn’t resolve the issue? What if these creatures were as terrifying as the zombies in the rumors? Were they all just supposed to sit around and wait to die?
In an instant, several residents began packing their belongings.
They didn’t know where they were going or whether it would be safer outside or more dangerous—but they knew they couldn’t just sit still.
It wasn’t just the people in this neighborhood.
The empty road outside was suddenly filled with the sound of car engines as several vehicles followed the first one.
Then another car, and another—three, four, seven, nine—eventually more than a dozen cars!
Just then, Wen Xin’s phone lit up with a message from Tang Qi.
Tang Qi: I’m worried about my parents getting into trouble. I’m heading to City B soon. Do you want to come with me?
