Chương 2: I Can See Health Bars!

Vince's former classmates and friends had all gone their separate ways; they rarely kept in touch anyway. Opening his messaging app, several group chats pinned at the top showed "999+" unread messages. Most were local community group-buy chats and gaming guilds. Among them, one specific thread caught his eye immediately. It was from his neighbor, Claire Su. Friday, 09: 10 "Vince, are you at the clinic? I saw you weren't open. Are you at home?" Friday, 17: 33 "Vince, I'm too scared to go out.

You're a doctor—do you know what's happening out there?" Yesterday, 19: 34 "Vince, there are weird noises coming from upstairs. Could it be Gary and the others... Are you sick too? [Panicked Emoji][Panicked Emoji][Panicked Emoji]" Staring at the message history, Vince's heart sank. He typed out a quick reply anyway: "Just saw this. Su, are you home?" The sending icon spun for a moment before a red exclamation mark popped up. Still zero network connection.

Sighing, he hit the back button and started scrolling through the group chat logs one by one. The gaming group was full of netizens from all over. The latest messages were mostly frantic complaints:"Why is there no rescue yet?! What the hell is the government doing!"

"What are we supposed to eat if this keeps up?!"

"Find a way to a safe zone yourselves! No one is coming to save us!"

"Power's been out at my place for a while... Phone's about to die too. Farewell, brothers."

"How can there be no rescue?! Zombies are just flesh and blood, how could they stop the military!"

"Tanks and heavy armor!" The last message was sent around 2 AM last night, which was likely when the internet went down. Although none of the images or videos would load, he managed to piece together a decent picture from their text and cached news headlines. The disaster had erupted without warning. The initial riots had started in hospitals, but Vince suspected that was simply because hospitals were full of patients with weakened immune systems.

Those with better physical constitutions didn't start turning until the next day, or even the following night. That meant even if the police and military had mobilized on the night of the 24th, they would have faced continuous attacks from within their own ranks just hours later. If a single scratch or bite could turn someone into a zombie, then aside from a few lucky survivors, the number of remaining police and military personnel was likely grim. He checked the local community group-buy chats.

The final messages there were nothing but panicked venting, asking when the army would arrive, and crying about having only a few days' worth of food left. Mentioning food prompted Vince to hurry into the kitchen. He rummaged through his cabinets and fridge... And his face immediately fell. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. He never had the habit of hoarding groceries, especially in the summer.

All he had left was some rice, dried noodles, a few eggs, and a couple of frozen cuts of meat at the bottom of the freezer. It would last him three or four days, tops. He did have a whole jug of cooking oil, but it wasn't exactly drinkable... Just as he was agonizing over his pantry, his phone vibrated violently. An Emergency Alert lit up his screen! [Announcement from the Linjiang Temporary Military Command: Survivors, please make your way toward Linjiang University, provided you can ensure your own safety! Our forces have established a quarantine zone at Linjiang University! If you are located in the city center or are too far away, lock your doors and windows, conserve food and water, and await rescue! The government pledges not to abandon a single person!] Linjiang University! Vince opened his offline map and frowned. It was over thirty kilometers away in a straight line. Even on a normal day, that was an hour's drive. Let alone now!

Faint cursing echoed through the apartment blocks, and down on the flooded streets, agitated zombies splashed back and forth, hunting for the source of the noise. Make my way there, my ass! How was he supposed to get there? In his dreams? But a distant quarantine zone wasn't his most pressing issue right now! Tossing his phone aside, Vince went to the kitchen and pulled out every container he owned, filling them all to the brim with tap water.

He ignited both burners on the stove and started boiling the eggs and the frozen meat; he needed to cook them, at least. The cellular network was already dead. Electricity, water, and gas could be cut off at any moment. He had to be prepared! Looks like there are still some survivors out there... For some reason, as the thought crossed his mind, Vince suddenly recalled the cool, pleasant scent of the last person he'd seen before passing out....

Thump— Thump— Thump— Vince had barely managed a few bites of boiled egg when heavy, muffled knocks sounded from the front door. Speak of the devil? Who would be knocking at a time like this? Barefoot, he crept carefully toward the peephole. One look, and his scalp prickled with dread! Outside the door, a mangled, bloody zombie was mindlessly thumping its forehead against Vince's door, over and over.

The right half of the zombie's face had been entirely ripped off, exposing dark, necrotic veins and a clouded, grayish-white eyeball. Shreds of loose flesh hung from its jaw, swinging back and forth with every impact. Even though Vince had practiced medicine for years and had seen his fair share of corpses, he had never seen anything this nauseating! Vince recognized the man. It was Gary from upstairs, the very same guy mentioned in the text messages. Sure enough, he had turned into a zombie too!

Vince immediately retreated to the kitchen, grabbed his heaviest bone-cleaver, and stood behind the door, weapon in hand. Even though a zombie probably couldn't smash through a heavy-duty security door, having a blade made him feel significantly safer. When Vince peered through the peephole again to check the zombie's movements, he suddenly froze... A blood-red floating bar had appeared right above the zombie's head, displaying a single line of text: [296/300]. What the hell is this?

Did I eat a bad egg and start hallucinating? Disbelievingly, Vince rubbed his eyes and stared hard through the lens again. The red bar was still there—in fact, it looked even clearer. The zombie seemed to be wandering the hallway aimlessly. Realizing it wasn't getting any reaction from Vince's door, it lumbered over to apartment 302 across the hall and began thumping its head against that door instead.

The red bar moved away along with the zombie, but it didn't hinder Vince's ability to clearly read the numbers on it. This is giving me major déjà vu... why does it look exactly like a Health Bar from a video game? Vince made a wild guess.

"Ah—!" Suddenly, a woman's terrified shriek echoed from behind the opposite door. Though the second half of the scream was forcefully stifled, the sharp, abrupt sound still startled Vince, who was fully engrossed in watching outside. Not to mention the zombie! Like a hyena catching the scent of rotting meat, the zombie instantly went berserk, violently thrashing against 302's iron security gate! Bang! Bang! Bang! The relentless impacts rang out.

Unlike Vince's heavy-duty security door, apartment 302 still had an outdated setup—a flimsy wooden door hiding behind a cheap wrought-iron security gate. Under the zombie's frantic pulling and slapping, the iron grating was already starting to warp and buckle. It looked somewhat sturdy, but there was no telling how long it would hold... If that grating gave way, Vince highly doubted the inner wooden door could withstand a zombie's assault!