Episode 1

"When I close my eyes, the world ceases to exist!"

The burning sensation in his stomach woke Zhang Xiaoqiang up, causing him to sit up, rubbing his stomach with squinted eyes, struggling to distinguish whether he was in a dream or reality. The intense hunger made his intestines twist, and all his senses returned to him. He could smell the pungent odor of the dead rats in the house, the dim and gloomy sky outside the window, and the bone-chilling sounds of variously shaped zombies trampling on broken glass downstairs.

He reached for the half-full pack of instant noodles on the desk by the bed, opened the bag, and deeply inhaled the fragrance of the food, causing his saliva to quickly secretion so that he could hardly feel the stench in the air. He crushed the instant noodles and slowly tasted each morsel with the tip of his tongue until the last noodle disappeared from his mouth. He then took a pair of scissors and carefully cut open the instant noodle bag, using his tongue to lick away every tiny fragment left behind. After washing it all down with mineral water, he finished the remaining water and got out of bed, standing at the window, watching the zombies unconsciously wandering the street and calculating how many more days he could survive on the remaining food. He couldn't help but think about half a month ago.

Zhang Xiaoqiang is a middle-aged otaku. His parents passed away from cancer and his sister got married and moved away, leaving him alone at home. He quit his job after arguing with his boss and started a small restaurant in WH City with his friends, but it failed. He was too lazy to find another job and spent his days on the novel website "Qidian" with his desktop computer. His parents left him a storefront as a source of rental income, which provided him with enough money to live comfortably. He weighed about 170 pounds and led a simple and low-key life. In 2012, when he turned 34, he paid little attention to the widespread internet discussions about the end of the world. He thought it was no different than the Y2K phenomenon that did not lead to any disaster. However, in March, Mount Fuji in Japan suddenly erupted, followed by several major fires around the world, causing a mass panic across the world. Various rumors began to circulate. The country's leaders appeared on television to debunk the rumors, and many experts tried to explain that everything was a natural phenomenon. By June, the world had quieted down, and the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions had ceased. The economy began to recover, pork prices dropped, some dystopian websites were shut down, and life returned to normal. However, Zhang Xiaoqiang continued to live his life the same way, waiting for death. After December 21 of 2012, the supposed doomsday, the dystopian online forums went silent. Only a few naive people complained about having excess amounts of rice and cabbage at home, leading to a surge in compressed biscuit prices. On December 24 of 2012, the news reported that a small group of meteorites had fallen on the Pacific Ocean, causing no economic damage. However, on December 31, 2012, at 9 AM, the world changed.

Zhang Xiaoqiang had planned to sleep after staying up late but felt an inexplicable strange smell in the air. He closed all the windows and doors, took a hot shower, and sprayed his sister's expired perfume as an air freshener. He then snuggled up in his blanket and slept soundly. He woke up at 9:00 pm and ate something before opening his computer to check Qidian's website. He found out that most of the novels weren't updated and cursed the authors while searching for old books to read. After more than an hour, he noticed that something was wrong. Although his house was far from the city center along the main road in the water and electricity capital, cars were always passing by, and the usual sound of cars was incessant. However, from the time he woke up until now, he hadn't heard any cars passing by. He muttered in his heart if they were repairing the road. Suddenly, a scream outside startled him. He stood by the window barefoot and looked outside.

Under the streetlight, three or four people huddled together, doing something unclear. Zhang Xiaoqiang removed his glasses, wiped them with clothes, and put them back on. He focused on the group and realized that they seemed to be eating something. The icy coldness of his foot reminded him that he was still barefoot. He put on his slippers, found a cloth, and wiped the windows that he had neglected to clean before. Looking outside again, he noticed that a few people were still twitching in the middle. Then, one of the men who had his back to Zhang Xiaoqiang sat on the ground. The light from the street lamp shone on the crowd, revealing a man lying on his back on the ground with his head tilted to one side, and his chest cavity opened. Two people sitting on the ground quarreled over the lungs and liver while stuffing them into their mouths. The person sitting on the ground with his back to Zhang Xiaoqiang held a heart with both hands and chewed on it.

Zhang Xiaoqiang's legs went soft and he knelt on the floor tile. Feeling nauseous and with a tickling sensation in his throat, he quickly got up and rushed to the toilet to vomit. He continued to do so until the bitter taste in his mouth failed to produce any more vomit. After a while, he helped himself up by holding onto the wall, dried his teary eyes, rinsed his mouth with a cup of water from the dispenser, sat on the ground, and his mind was filled with memories of horror movies he had seen, such as Biohazard Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead, and The Human Pork Bun.

Having sat for half an hour, he felt a little better in his heart. He walked to the window and observed again. The cannibalistic people who were once three people had grown into a group, and many shadowy figures were slowly walking towards them, illuminated by the dim streetlights. In the dim light, it was so eerie that he shuddered all over, his goosebumps rising, and his heart was in terror.

Suddenly he thought of calling the police. In a hurry, he found his phone and dialed frantically, sweating profusely as he forgot the number. Taking a deep breath and muttering to himself to stay calm, he finally dialed 110. As luck would have it, the line was constantly occupied. He tried 120 but still couldn't get through. He called several relatives and friends, but either no one answered or the line was busy, and he was so anxious that he felt like throwing his phone into the toilet.

The crowd outside the window had gathered into a heap, and the dead man had become a pile of bones scattered at their feet. Many people were licking blood stains on the ground, crawling up after being knocked down, and tearing at others until they were knocked over. The sound of wailing cries came from the distance, and sporadic fires had been set all around, making the night sky in the distance look like daylight.

Watching the city that raised me turn into an apocalyptic scene, a sense of desolation tears at my heart. I light a cigarette and take a deep drag, feeling a little better. I sit down at my computer and open a news website. The entire page is filled with headlines about "The Virus Strikes." After reading through a few articles, I learn that infected individuals with symptoms of the virus have been found all over the world, from Alaska in North America to Argentina in South America, from Africa to Eurasia. The entire world is in chaos.

The post describes the process of the outbreak:

Around 10:00 a.m in the morning, reports began to emerge across the country of individuals losing their sanity and attacking others. The number of infected individuals increased rapidly, and the virus began to spread. Before the national emergency plan could be activated, the virus quickly turned into a disaster, wiping out the entire administrative system. Due to the suddenness of the virus, you never knew if your family members, colleagues, comrades, or anyone around you might turn crazy and attack you. If bitten or wounded, it takes only 45 minutes for individuals to undergo an attack and become infected with the virus.

The virus was named "Destruction of the World" by Europe and America, with the Chinese abbreviation being "D" virus.

Divided into airborne and contact infections, infected individuals have strong attacks, with strength 1.5 times that of an average person and a speed equivalent to normal human walking speed. Their outbreak force is low, and their teeth and nails become even sharper through mutation. Ordinary clothes cannot withstand their bites and scratches. External features include: no pupils, no visual walk stiffness, and their arms stretched to the knees. They have a keen sense of smell and eat flesh and blood. They have hearing and, if bitten or injured, they will also undergo mutations. Infected individuals have high activity and are immune to normal injuries, with only damage to the nervous system or breaking of the cervical vertebrae being able to kill them. So far, no new mutations among the infected have been discovered. The infection rate is estimated to be around 90%. If anyone sees this post, please try to survive. There is hope as long as you are alive.

As he looked out of the window, Zhang Xiaoqiang realized that the crowd outside were all infected. He was unsure if he too had contracted the virus and didn't know when he would begin to turn into one of them. He was scared, terrified of being eaten alive by those who had already turned into zombies. The thought of his own arms being ripped off and his intestines being fed to the zombies made him even more anxious. He paced around his room, smoking a cigarette, trying to calm himself and considering his options. He knew he couldn't risk going outside, with the infected waiting for him on the ground floor. So instead, he sat in front of his computer, thinking about what to do next. He realized that tap water was no longer safe to drink, as who knew if any zombies were hiding in the water tanks. Luckily, he never bothered boiling water at home and always ordered bottled water instead. He had a sufficient amount of water - one and a half barrels - but the same could not be said for food. Panic set in when Zhang Xiaoqiang realized that he had only bought enough food to last another ten days. He got up and searched through his messy home, which he never bothered cleaning. He eventually found 17 packs of instant noodles, around 12 pounds of rice, two chunks of preserved meat, about 8 to 9 pounds in weight, some fatty meat that his uncle from the countryside had given him, 21 eggs, two pounds of noodles, 0.8 bags of salt, 1.5 barrels of water, 16 packs of cigarettes, and countless DVDs (typical of a fanboy). Unfortunately, he had no vegetables, but he hoped to survive on his current supplies for at least a month.

When it comes to food, safety issues should always be considered. Their house is an old house from 1997, which they got from the demolition of an old street. The house is on the second floor with a platform in both the front and back. The outside platform is a shared area covering nearly 400 square meters, with two buildings and a staircase of twenty-five to twenty-six steps connecting to neighboring buildings, which are used for coming and going. People have planted small vegetable plots and raised flowers and plants on the platform. His father and a few neighbors turned the back part into a small courtyard fenced off by iron gratings. His computer room was in the courtyard, where he could see the street through the windows. Upon arriving in the hall, he checked the burglar-proof doors, taped up all the door and window gaps with adhesive tape, pasted newspaper on all windows, and pulled the curtains closed.

After finishing these tasks, he sat down again in a daze. Electricity was not in short supply, as the two hydropower dams in the city could ensure months of operation. The network should not work for much longer. He should download some materials at home to learn more useful skills and increase his chances of survival. He began thinking and acting on these thoughts.

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