Chapter 003 Not unfamiliar in theory
"Not… not a dream…" Sёarch* The ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Zheng Xinyu clung to Zhang Su''s arm, her tear-filled eyes shaking as she shook her head and said, "Su-ge, this isn’t a dream. It’s real—it’s really happening!"
Zhang Su swallowed hard, feeling the icy tremor of Zheng Xinyu''s hand. He knew, without a doubt, that he was wide awake.
Just as Zhang Su and Zheng Xinyu were trying to calm their nerves, a sound echoed from the hallway outside. It seemed like someone had shut the emergency exit door. Before they could react, the front door was pounded on with alarming force.
The heavy, chaotic banging noises drilled into their ears, making both of their scalps tingle.
"Su-ge, what do we do…"
Zheng Xinyu, already pale, now looked like the blood had completely drained from her face. Her eyes were filled with terror as she worried it might be one of those monsters from downstairs trying to break in.
"Shh!"
Zhang Su steadied himself, gently patted her hand clutching his arm, and motioned for her to stay quiet. Then, he tiptoed toward the door.
Obediently, Zheng Xinyu stayed silent, clenching her fists over her chest and keeping her eyes locked on Zhang Su''s back.
The incessant pounding continued as Zhang Su slowly approached the door, suppressing the unease swelling in his chest.
The pounding persisted.
Zhang Su placed his palm lightly on the door, feeling the force of the impacts. While it wasn’t enough to break through, it made the doorframe tremble faintly.
Leaning forward, Zhang Su hesitated for a moment before peering through. He didn’t want to look, fearing what he might see, but he had no choice.
First, he was the apartment owner—the so-called "perverted landlord" Zheng Xinyu had accused of installing surveillance equipment.
Second, as a man, he couldn’t possibly leave a girl to face this situation alone.
"Let’s see what kind of monster you are!"
Gritting his teeth, Zhang Su focused his gaze through the peephole—and the sight outside instantly chilled him to the bone.
A man stood there, or perhaps it was more accurate to say he had once been a man.
His skin was an ashen gray, his face smeared with blood. One side of his mouth was torn open, making his grin grotesquely wide—like a clown straight out of a horror movie. Except this clown’s mouth wasn’t empty. Bits of flesh hung between his teeth, and blood dripped freely.
The beige T-shirt he wore was soaked with blood, now a deep, dark red. In his right hand, he gripped a severed arm, while his left hand moved stiffly and mechanically, pounding the door again and again with slow, heavy strikes.
"Awooo, awooo…"
Low, guttural groans seeped through the door, carrying an eerie resonance that pierced Zhang Su''s soul.
"A… zombie…"
Piecing together what he had seen earlier in the garden, Zhang Su quickly came to a conclusion.
Zombie-themed movies and games were some of Zhang Su’s favorites. In theory, he was no stranger to such creatures—just hours ago, he had killed plenty in a game.
But reality was entirely different. This zombie didn’t look like the exaggerated, decaying monsters from the movies. Likely due to the recent transformation, the one outside hadn’t yet rotted or fallen apart. Still, facing such a monster in real life paralyzed Zhang Su, his prefrontal cortex and hypothalamus momentarily frozen, unable to process or react. Even the nauseating stench didn’t faze him, as he was too stunned to notice it.
Even Zhang Su, his arms rippling with muscle, found himself trembling.
Just then, a gentle tap on his back brought him back to his senses. Simultaneously, the pounding on the door stopped. The world fell eerily silent.
Through the peephole, Zhang Su saw the zombie looking aimlessly around. Unable to find its target, it began pacing near the doorway, dragging its bloody feet along the ground. The streaks of blood it left behind were chilling. Despite the door’s decent insulation, the pungent stench of blood seeped through.
Turning back to Zheng Xinyu, Zhang Su gestured for them to leave. The two quietly retreated from the door and returned to the bay window.
"Urgh…"
Finally, Zhang Su felt the churning in his stomach. He plopped onto the ground, his cold sweat mingling with the nausea from the overwhelming stench. Despite not usually being squeamish, the odor seemed impossible to ignore.
"Su-ge, what was… outside?"
Kneeling beside him, Zheng Xinyu asked softly. Hesitant, she brushed her hand across his forehead and through his short hair. She didn’t know what Zhang Su had seen but couldn’t suppress her curiosity, even though she lacked the courage to look herself.
Zhang Su let out a long breath, his voice low as he replied, "Li-ge from the ninth floor—the guy from the urban planning department—has turned into a zombie."
At the end of his sentence, he turned to Zheng Xinyu, his expression grave.
"Zombie… I understand."
Zheng Xinyu pulled her hands back, clasping them together. She wasn’t as shocked as Zhang Su had expected; the thought had already crossed her mind, though she hadn’t wanted to believe something so surreal could be real.
It was as if she had suddenly discovered all the cars on the street had become Transformers—impossible to accept at first glance.
Thinking back to when she had frantically banged on Zhang Su’s bedroom door earlier, he realized she was more resilient than she seemed. The seemingly delicate girl wasn’t just good at acting cute in front of a camera.
"Was it… because I made too much noise earlier? Did I attract the zombie here?"
Zheng Xinyu asked in a soft, guilty voice, recalling how loudly she had called for Zhang Su earlier.
"Probably."
Zhang Su nodded slightly but didn’t blame her. Instead, he patted her shoulder lightly and said, "Now you know. Just be more careful from now on."
"What… what do we do now?"
Though Zheng Xinyu was calmer than before, she still felt lost. The severed limbs and corpses downstairs, coupled with the zombie at their door, made it feel like the world was collapsing around them.
"Let’s think… Based on what’s happening, it looks like a zombie outbreak—let’s call it the zombie virus. Yeah, we need to check if there’s any news about it online!"
Having recovered from the initial shock, Zhang Su gradually regained his composure. The goosebumps on his arms flattened as his fear was pushed aside by rationality.
"Right! I’ll get my phone!"
Zheng Xinyu nodded vigorously, grateful to have someone guiding her. If she had been alone, she wouldn’t have known what to do.
Remembering that zombies are drawn to sound, she tiptoed away as quietly as possible.
While she retrieved her phone, Zhang Su leaned over to peer out the window, observing the chaos below.
He noticed flames engulfing the east side of Building 8, starting around the seventh or eighth floor and curling upwards in fierce, claw-like shapes. The fire’s ferocity rivaled the terror of the zombies themselves.
The carnage wasn’t limited to the garden between Buildings 3 and 4. The road nearby was also stained with blood and littered with severed limbs. Trash bins had been overturned, their contents strewn everywhere. Shrubs were crushed, and the signs of violent struggles were evident.
Counting carefully, Zhang Su spotted at least twenty zombies wandering around. The most disturbing was a zombie without legs, slowly crawling on the ground. The bloody trail it left was long and horrifying, its persistence almost… admirable.
The devastation hinted at a brutal massacre. If the residential area hadn’t been designed to separate pedestrians from vehicles, the body count might have been several times higher.
Shifting his gaze, Zhang Su noticed a section of the neighborhood’s perimeter wall had been smashed. A few cars were precariously balanced on the rubble, their hoods crumpled. The streets outside were strewn with wrecked vehicles—not enough to block traffic but eerie in their stillness. The only movement came from the wandering zombies.