Chapter 8: Zombie Outbreak!

Li Yu had just picked up the phone, still half-asleep, but upon hearing what his uncle had to say, he was instantly jolted awake. He thought to himself, "Could it have started early?"

His uncle, who was driving, hadn't heard what Li Yu said, so he asked, "What was that? I didn't catch it. You need to leave right now. Who knows what kind of trouble might happen by tomorrow or the day after!"

There was a chaotic background noise, with the sound of police sirens all around.

Li Yu snapped back to reality and said to his uncle, "Tell Xiao Lue and Aunt to get their luggage ready. I’m coming over right now."

"Alright! I'm hanging up then." His uncle seemed to say to the officers beside him, "Are the riot shields ready?"

Li Yu quickly added, "Uncle, this situation seems unusual. Please be careful. If anything happens, come to my tourist park."

"Got it!" His uncle hung up the phone.

Li Yu quickly got out of bed, splashed some water on his face, and woke up his younger brother, telling him to come out with him.

His brother was fast asleep and was quite unhappy about being woken up so abruptly.

Li Yu didn't care about his mood; he dragged his brother up and ran outside.

"Wait, let me put on my shoes! Where are we going in the middle of the night?" Li Hang complained.

"I'll tell you later. Go start a car. We’re taking two," Li Yu said, waiting for him to put on his shoes before heading out.

Halfway there, Li Yu seemed to remember something. He went down to the warehouse, used a key to grab two machetes, and wrapped them in some cloth to take along.

When they reached the main gate, Li Yu and Li Hang each pushed one side of the eight-meter-long gate open. Back then, their family hadn't understood why Li Yu wanted to install such a thick gate.

Although it provided an overwhelming sense of security, it was so heavy that it was incredibly difficult to open.

After pushing the gate open, Li Yu walked toward the cars and said to Li Hang, "Uncle just called and said there’s an anomaly in a village in our county. The whole village has been infected with some kind of virus. They’re like zombies. They’ll probably implement traffic controls in a few days, so we’re going to pick up Aunt and the others."

Li Hang was stunned.

"Huh? What kind of virus? Does it have anything to do with this crazy weather lately?"

"I don't know. Let's just go; it's a long drive."

The two of them started their cars and checked the time.

November 21st, 3:00 AM.

Driving on the national highway, the sky was pitch black, and there were very few cars on the road.

Along the way, they only saw a handful of vehicles.

It wasn't until they neared the county seat that the traffic began to increase.

Suddenly, Li Yu heard a loud roar.

Looking through the car window, he saw two helicopters whizzing past.

What was going on? Helicopters were deployed? In this small county, there were actually helicopters?

Li Yu felt a jolt of alarm. Could it really have started early?

No, he suddenly remembered that before his rebirth, he had been in M City, and because he had stayed in his rental apartment the whole time, he had no idea what was happening outside.

In other words, it wasn't that it started early, nor was it that it only happened on November 25th.

Zombies had already appeared; he just hadn't known about it.

It was only after the heavy rain on the 25th that the situation became completely uncontrollable. After all, the zombies spread incredibly fast; once bitten, a person would turn within three minutes.

They sped along.

As they passed a supermarket, they saw the glass doors shattered and stained with blood. On the ground lay what looked like two corpses.

A police car was parked nearby, and some residents were gathered around, whispering and arguing.

"What the hell? How did people die?"

"I heard two guys tried to rob the supermarket and smashed the door."

"I heard it was Old Wang from next door caught cheating, and her husband found out..."

"It moved! It moved! The corpse is reanimating!"

The bodies that had been lying on the ground began to twitch, then rose in an unnatural posture. Their arms hung limp as they slowly lifted their faces.

What a face it was!

Covered in blood and mangled flesh. The eyeballs seemed to have been pulled out, dangling in mid-air.

A chunk of meat seemed to have been bitten off the arm, and the entire body was covered in black and white spots.

The other corpse nearby also stood up.

The surrounding crowd took a few steps back in unison, and the noisy chatter stopped abruptly.

"Scatter! Everyone scatter!" Three officers stepped out of the police car that had just arrived.

No sooner had the words left their mouths than the two zombies lunged at the crowd.

The people scattered like birds and beasts.

But one elderly man, likely due to his age, was slow to run and was caught by one of the zombies.

*Crunch!*

The zombie bit directly into the old man's neck.

*Splat!* A spray of blood erupted.

The people running ahead, who were looking back, saw this horrific scene and ran even faster.

The three officers chased after them, but before they could check on the bitten man, the zombies turned and charged at the officers.

"What the hell is that?!" Li Hang shouted, his brain completely shutting down.

Li Yu had seen it too. He rolled down his window and yelled at Li Hang in the other car, "Keep going! We have to pick up Aunt and the others first!"

Li Yu’s heart was pounding. He didn't know if this was an isolated case or a widespread outbreak, but he had to speed up.

He hoped Aunt and the others were okay.

He tried calling his aunt, but the signal showed only one bar.

*Beep... Beep...*

It took until the very end of the call duration for her to pick up.

Li Yu briefly told her to pack her things and that he would be there soon.

Just as he was about to tell them to stay inside and not go downstairs, the call cut off.

He tried calling again, but it wouldn't connect. He looked at his phone—the last bar of signal was gone.

Li Yu’s heart sank, and he switched to "racing mode."

His aunt lived in an old district next to a kindergarten; it was just around the corner.

As they were about to arrive, Li Yu thought to himself

"It definitely started early. I have to hurry, or it’ll be trouble once it spreads."

They arrived downstairs at his aunt's building. Before they even parked, he saw his aunt and Xiao Lue waiting downstairs.

Beside them were over a dozen large bags.

When his aunt saw Li Yu, a look of relief appeared on her face, and she waved from afar, "Xiao Yu, over here!"

Seeing that his aunt and Xiao Lue were unharmed, Li Yu let out a sigh of relief.

He stopped the car and, without a word, started loading the bags while saying to his aunt, "Get in the car, quickly!"

His aunt looked at Li Yu’s serious expression, then at Li Hang, who looked dazed, as if he had seen something unbelievable.

She wanted to ask what was happening, but just as she opened her mouth, Li Yu said quickly, "Don't ask yet. Get the stuff in, I'll explain later."

"Xiao Hang, stop spacing out! Hurry up!" Li Yu shouted angrily when he saw Li Hang still sitting in his car, lost in the scene he had just witnessed.

"Oh, oh, okay!" Startled by Li Yu’s roar, Li Hang seemed to snap out of it.

He quickly got out and threw the luggage into the car in a few swift motions.

It took less than 5 seconds.

"Aunt, Xiao Lue, you ride in my car." Li Yu looked at Li Hang with some concern.

He patted him on the shoulder, "Xiao Hang, hurry up. Follow behind me and don't get distracted."

He then took one of the knives he had brought earlier and handed it to Xiao Hang.