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The first few days were the hardest -we couldn’t tell the infected from the non-infected.

So many could have been saved, but they weren’t. In times of crisis, anyone would tell a lie to survive… Ironically, it wasn’t the zombies that we feared the most, it was the hidden danger of someone around you suddenly turning into one.

—– A journal entry from a survivor in Southern Plains

It didn’t take long for us to realise that the net in Southern Plains had been completely sealed up; we couldn’t send information in or out of the city. Even finding out which areas had been hit by the zombie virus was impossible.

Yet this wasn’t even the worst case scenario yet, as long as the virus was contained to this city. But if the situation had gotten to the point like in the movies where the entire Gaia was infected… well, let’s hope there are some friendly aliens nearby to help us…

In actuality, such aliens did exist. There was no grand conspiracy to hide their existence or some explosive first contact, they were simply immigrants from Gaia itself. But to the people on the planet, it just felt odd to call them anything other than aliens…

Now that I had confirmed I wasn’t going to turn into a zombie anytime soon, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, though the apprehension did not lessen.

Even Qiao Jiaojiao, young as she was (11 years old), had seen a zombie flick, so she knew full well the dangers of our current situation.

Furthermore, the mysterious sealing off of this city added to our worries of an apocalyptic future.

At this point, no one would think ill of a person for crying in a lone cubicle.

“I still think we should have a look outside, and if possible, find out the reason for this virus.” As the most mature one here, Bitong took the lead in voicing her daring plan and the logic behind it. “That service lady definitely turned into a zombie, but we are unaffected so far. That means this virus isn’t spreading through the air. Our food should be the same as those service staff as well. Based on this, we can come to this initial conclusion. The food and water here aren’t the cause of the virus, probably…”

“There should be chaos outside right now.” I thought for a second. “How about… I be the one to go out and check instead?”

For the most part, there weren’t many people in the area we lived in. It wasn’t tourist season, and the inn we booked was pricey to begin with. Barring that unfortunate couple, the majority of the guests stayed elsewhere.

As for why this particular suite was so expensive, that’s because it had its own hot spring. The room itself was twenty times larger than an ordinary room. In fact, that ill-fated service lady was specially picked out by the inn to serve these suites only.

Back onto more important matters… Now that a zombie outbreak was a done deal, we needed to figure out the situation as soon as possible. Doubly so, because we had no rations on us -as if there was anyone who would go travelling with a tub of apocalypse supplies, am I right?

“Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong!”

Yet just as we were discussing our next plan of action, the doorbell rang.

Wary, I motioned for everyone to stay quiet, then quietly crept up to the door. The door was still in see-through mode, so I could clearly see what was on the other side.

A beautiful blonde lady, dressed in a tight, long, black dress, stood fidgeting uneasily outside our door. Her eyes kept darting about as she hammered the doorbell.

It’s that lady we met just now! Don’t think I don’t recognise you just because you have clothes on!

In all likelihood, she didn’t feel safe in her empty room so she was here seeking shelter. Seeing how pitiful she looked, I decided to be a nice guy and open the door for her.

Yet the moment I opened up my door, she violently coiled away and shrieked, “AHHHH! Don’t bite me!”

“Hey. Watch what you’re saying, I’m still normal. Not a zombie…” I unhappily retorted, then grabbed her hand, and yanked her into the room. “See!”

She immediately tried to fight back, but she quickly came to her senses upon hearing what I said. Deep down, she probably knew I wasn’t a zombie even before I said so. After all, if I had really turned, Bitong and the others would have run screaming out of the room already. Even if they didn’t, she would have heard the commotion in our room.

This wasn’t me bragging or anything… but zombies clearly weren’t smart enough to open electronic doors.

“Phew… scared me for a second there.” She patted her bountiful chest then deliberately expressed her surprise. “You aren’t lying or anything, right? All that business with getting bit and all that.”

“And what exactly would I even gain by doing that? Look, you can just check the wound yourself…”

I raised my left shoulders to allow her to inspect the area, only to find that even the scars were gone now.

Also, why did I even wear short sleeves? I could have just avoided this whole ordeal if I had sleeves! And why do I even have to explain myself to her? How stupid can I get?

“What wound?” She unabashedly reached out for my left shoulder and pulled it closer to herself for a look. “Your skin is even better than mine!!

“…” Is now really the time for that? It’s the blasted end of the world!

“Didn’t you just say you weren’t coming over?” Faced with someone who had just spurned me not too long ago, Bitong clearly wasn’t going to waste any niceties on her. Especially not when she just yelled at me.

The lady did not mind, however. She smiled and tried to explain herself, “Sorry about that. My boyfriend just died so I couldn’t control myself back there… I’m really sorry, please forgive me, kay?”

Lady… you said it yourself, your boyfriend just died not too long ago, are you sure you should be making use of his death so soon? And with a smile too!

Regardless, we couldn’t really say much to that reason.

The living room of our suite was quite large, the blonde lady easily found herself a seat after brewing some coffee for herself.

Taking a whiff of the black liquid first, she started introducing herself. “My name is Ellen, I was on a holiday with my boyfriend when that mess happened… Oh right, here’s some of Southern Plains’s local specialty: Gene Enhancement Serum. It’s said to only be for sale in Southern Plains, though its production scale seems quite large. Me and my boyfriend bought a couple of bottles. Tastes great actually, just like a soda, you can have some, if you want.”

Having said that, the blonde lady placed a couple of thumb-sized medicine bottles on the coffee table.

Hearing that it was a local specialty, Qiao Jiaojiao excitedly reached out for the bottle and started fiddling with it. However, Bitong quickly snatched the bottle away from the little girl, ignoring the pout on her lips as she returned the bottle to the coffee table. “When did this product start going on sale?”

“Just a few days ago. Quite a number of people have already bought it.” Ellen smiled at that point. “Are you worried that this is the source of the zombie virus? It’s not, don’t worry. Me and my boyfriend already had it a couple days back. Our bodies feel so much stronger now, even his lower half got stronger too… See, the serum works. Besides, I would have already turned into a zombie if that was the source.”

“Perhaps it’s a delayed effect?” Asked Bitong, still concerned.

“So you’re saying I’ve been infected then? Hmph. Have you ever seen a movie where the infected is still fine after two days?” Ellen raised her tone sharply, annoyed that Bitong seemed to be deliberately putting her in a spot. “I was planning to hand these bottles to some new friends, but since they don’t want it, I’ll just… cough…cough…”

Perhaps it was because she was speaking too quickly, but she suddenly started coughing violently.

Lixiang narrowed her eyes tensely, she promptly instructed Lina to aim at Ellen. “What’s going on with your body?”

She must be worried that Ellen is starting to show symptoms… I guess even she has times when she is normal.

“It’s nothing, just feeling a little under the weather. Chest a little tight; head a little heavy… I’m sure I’ll be fine after a rest.” Ellen took another sip of her coffee. However, the moment the black liquid touched her lips, she spat it out. “Cough, cough… I think I… cough… choked on it…”

“Big brother… is something wrong with sister Ellen?” At this point, even Qiao Jiaojiao was starting to suspect something. She ducked behind me and quietly peeked out from the corner.

Lixiang was already preparing for battle, her brain already cycling through countless battle simulations, all of which… were probably crap….

This wasn’t me being mean or anything, but all she had in her head were thoughts about blowing up planets…

“Lixiang, stand behind me for now.”

“Got it.” Thankfully, even if Lixiang was often off in her fantasy world, she still listened to me without question. Which begs the question: would she strip if I told her to?

I casually picked up a fork used for cake as I quietly awaited how Ellen would change next.

“Cough, cough, cough…” Her coughing grew even more violent, as if she was going to heave out her lungs at any moment.

Finally, after another half a minute of coughing later, Ellen became a zombie. She couldn’t escape that horrid fate in the end.

Now unbelievably grotesque, she lunged at me, though in her mindless state, she did not even notice the table between the two of us…

Just like that, she tripped on the table, jaw smashing right into the coffee table.

Quick as always, I threw the table fork towards her forehead, piercing it in a flash of metallic light. By the time I was done, only a third of its original length was visible to see.

Zombie Ellen: taken care of!

“Ah… that was so scary…”

Now that the immediate danger was taken care of, Jiaojiao leapt into my arms and cried, bawling out all the tension she had kept stored up within her.

“There, there. Your big brother is here, he will protect you.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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