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Pain radiated from every part of my body as I laid struggling on the white hospital bed, overwhelmed by a longing for death.

The mutation came unexpectedly.

Infection spread rapidly.

On the streets, people began to devour each other in horrific scenes. As a medical professional, I initially refused to believe in such absurd rumors. But reality proved more brutal than I had anticipated. The frenzied howling on the cold face of a female student, still struggling desperately even with her innards spilled out, was a stark testament to the apocalypse’s arrival.

I returned to my homeland after studying abroad, having spent the first half of my life immersed in various hospitals, filled with curiosity and serving as a professor. But I met him, my true love, for whom I was ready to give up everything.

So, I became a school doctor, enjoying a fairly comfortable life. However, he had no desire for children, despite my mother’s persistent urging. And I was only 26!

The constant hustle of my past life left me feeling unsettled. Perhaps my parents just wanted me to settle down with a child.

But was it too early?

Such were my thoughts that peaceful morning, so mundane and ordinary.

Now, with my hands stained with the blood of students from my school, witnessing the loss of young lives under my care, guilt and pain consumed me.

“Doctor, are we going to die here?” a tearful female student asked Hu Han, her once delicate makeup now smudged and disheveled from crying.

“I’ll protect you, child,” Hu Han said, carefully avoiding the blood on her hands as she embraced the trembling girl.

The relentless moaning of zombies outside was like an incessant swarm of insects – impossible to drive away or exterminate.

Bang, bang.

Gunshots rang out near the infirmary’s door, followed by the sound of a club swinging.

Silence fell.

The zombies’ noise ceased.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Hey, hey, open up!” Someone was pounding on the door.

“C’mon, open the damn door!”

Approaching cautiously, Hu Han peered through the frosted glass. A burly man stood outside, one hand wielding a baseball bat, the other a pistol.

“Please, open the door,” the man pleaded, his voice breaking. Through the peephole, Hu Han saw zombies, drawn by the gunshots, now twice as many as before. Hesitating only briefly, she opened the door to the infirmary.

The man rushed in, giving Hu Han a quick glance before she secured the door behind him.

Time lost meaning as hours turned into days. Surrounded by zombies, the isolated infirmary became their world. Fortunately, the man had brought a bag of supplies, enough for them to survive.

The constant wailing of the zombies kept everyone on edge.

“Chick, you’re too beautiful!!! Cluck, cluck, cluck,” music suddenly filled the air from the direction of the school’s lotus pond. To their surprise, the zombies near the infirmary began to disperse.

The man stood up, gun and club in hand, and ventured outside.

“He’s quite fierce, isn’t he?” the female student remarked, her appearance a far cry from her former beauty. Her hair was matted and dusty, her makeup a chaotic mess.

“Yes, somewhat,” Hu Han mused, recalling the man’s rugged face: a forty-something man with an unkempt beard, a tattoo covering his slightly bulging right arm, and a round face marked by a faint scar.

“Open up, I’m back,” the man’s voice called from outside.

Approaching the door, Hu Han peeked through the peephole and, recognizing the man, opened it.

“Wow, uncle, you’re amazing!” the student exclaimed, seeing a cart full of food.

“Keep it down, kiddo,” the man grumbled as he pushed the cart inside and closed the door securely behind him.