Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Theoretically Familiar "No..." Zheng Xinyu grabbed Zhang Su’s arm, tears in her eyes, shaking her head, "Brother Su, this is not a dream, truly, it’s real!" Gulp. Zhang Su swallowed a mouthful of saliva, feeling Zheng Xinyu’s cold, trembling hand. He knew he was already awake. Bang. Amidst their fright, a noise came from outside the corridor, as if someone closed the emergency exit door. Before the two could react, the entrance door was heavily knocked. Bang! Bang! Bang Bang! The heavy and chaotic sound reached Zhang Su and Zheng Xinyu’s ears, making both their scalps tighten simultaneously. "Brother Su, what should we do..." Originally pale, Zheng Xinyu’s face was now devoid of any color, eyes full of terror, fearing that one of those monsters from downstairs was knocking at the door. "Shh!" Zhang Su steadied his nerves, patting Zheng Xinyu’s hand that was tightly clutching his, signaling her not to make a sound, then tiptoed towards the main door. Zheng Xinyu obediently remained silent, holding her fists protectively at her chest, her eyes fixed on Zhang Su’s back. Amidst a series of door-knocking sounds, Zhang Su suppressed his anxiety and slowly approached the door. Courage is not being fearless, but moving forward despite fear. Bang, bang, bang! The knocking sounds continued. Zhang Su gently placed his palm on the door, clearly feeling the force of the knocks, not enough to break in, but causing the door frame to tremble slightly. Peephole, a standard feature of the entrance door. Zhang Su leaned to the peephole to peek outside. He really didn’t want to do this, not knowing what he was facing, but he had to do it. First, he was the owner of this apartment, what Zheng Xinyu referred to as the perverted landlord who installed listening devices... Then, as a man, he couldn’t possibly let the girl step forward at such a moment. "Let’s see what kind of ghost you are!" Zhang Su steeled himself, adjusted his focus, and instantly saw the situation outside the door. A man stood outside, or perhaps it was once a man... Skin was grayish blue, face covered in bloodstains, one side of the mouth torn, making the entire mouth frighteningly large, like a movie clown, but in reality, the clown didn’t have bits of flesh in the mouth nor dripping fresh blood. Beige T-shirt soaked in blood, turned dark red, holding a severed arm in his right hand, left hand stiff and mechanical, knocking on the door again and again, the slow motions heavy and powerful. Ooh, ooh... Unconscious, low growls penetrated the door, directly striking Zhang Su’s soul! "Zombie..." Combining with the scene he saw earlier in the garden downstairs, Zhang Su quickly drew the conclusion. Zombie-themed movies and games were among Zhang Su’s favorites; theoretically, he wasn’t unfamiliar with such creatures, having wiped out quite a few in a game eight or nine hours ago. Probably not long since the transformation, the zombie outside wasn’t like those in movies with torn flesh and exposed guts, but encountering such a monster in real life made Zhang Su’s prefrontal cortex and thalamus shrink instantly, unable to recover for a long time, even forgetting to feel nauseous. Fear is not exclusive to women, when encountering things beyond cognition, especially facing unknown dangers, everyone experiences fear, and Zhang Su was no exception. His muscular arms trembled slightly due to fear. Just as Zhang Su was staring distractedly at the peephole, feeling someone lightly pat his back, he regained his senses, meanwhile, the man outside stopped knocking, the world instantly becoming quiet! Through the peephole, Zhang Su saw the zombie looking aimlessly around, not finding any targets, it began wandering at the doorstep, dragging bloodstains along the ground, eerie even though the entrance door was well-sealed, unable to stop the strong smell of blood. Zhang Su turned his head, signaled Zheng Xinyu to leave, both quietly moving away from the entrance door, returning to the bay window. "Ugh..." At this moment, Zhang Su finally felt his stomach churn, yesterday’s meal starting to act up, hurriedly sat on the floor, just feeling saliva gathering in his mouth, swallowing continuously, cold sweat forming on his forehead, the lingering smell of blood around his nose not easily dispelled, although he didn’t particularly dislike the odor. "Brother Su, what’s outside...?" Zheng Xinyu knelt beside him, softly asking, hesitantly reaching to touch Zhang Su’s forehead, fingers running through his short hair, she didn’t know what Zhang Su saw, very curious but lacked the courage to look. Zhang Su felt Zheng Xinyu’s comforting touch, exhaled deeply, and whispered, "Brother Li from the City Construction Bureau on the ninth floor, Xinyu, you know zombies, right? Brother Li has turned into a zombie..." Saying the last part, he side-glanced at Zheng Xinyu, expression incredibly serious. "Zombie? I understand..." Zheng Xinyu withdrew her hand, clasping them together, not as surprised as Zhang Su expected; this answer had already crossed her mind, but she couldn’t believe such a magical event would happen in reality. Like suddenly seeing cars on the streets transforming into robots, equally unbelievable! Recalling Zheng Xinyu’s frantic knocking at the bedroom door earlier, Zhang Su felt her capacity to accept was quite good, having calmed down after a quarter of an hour, appearing weak yet not merely a girl who acts coyly or cutely in front of the camera? "Was...was my voice too loud earlier, attracting Brother Li, well...the zombie?" Zheng Xinyu asked in a low voice, showing a self-blaming expression, recalling how loudly she called Zhang Su to wake up, indeed causing quite a commotion. "Probably." Zhang Su nodded slowly, without blaming Zheng Xinyu, gently patting her shoulder, "Now that you know, it’s not too late; just be cautious in the future!" "What do we do now?" Zheng Xinyu indeed wasn’t as frantic as before but still didn’t know what to do; limbs scattered downstairs, zombies blocking the door, it felt like the world was collapsing. "Whew...from the current situation, it seems to be a zombie illness, um...let’s call it zombie virus, the zombie virus outbreak, right, quickly check online for any related news!" Gradually calming down after the initial shock, Zhang Su’s arm hairs also slowly settled, fear in his heart fading, pressed into a corner by rationality. "Right, right! I’ll get the phone!" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞 Zheng Xinyu nodded heavily, grateful someone was directing her during such a time; if she were alone, she truly wouldn’t know what to do. Recalling the zombies attracted by sound, she tiptoed carefully. Taking advantage of Zheng Xinyu fetching the phone, Zhang Su leaned forward to observe the neighborhood, discovering more details. The far eastern side of Building Eight was engulfed in flames, rising from the seventh or eighth floor, curling into various shapes with the wind, more terrifyingly ferocious compared to the frightening zombies. Disasters had occurred not only between Buildings Three and Four in the garden but also on the nearby road with numerous bloodstains and dismembered limbs; trash bins overturned, rubbish scattered everywhere, the landscaped shrubs crushed in patches, traces of struggle very evident. Counting carefully, at least twenty zombies were wandering around; most bizarrely, one zombie had lost both legs yet continued to crawl slowly on the ground, dragging a long trail of blood, its resilience simply touching. It’s hard to imagine the brutal slaughter before, if not for the neighborhood’s design separating people and cars, the bodies lying on the ground would’ve multiplied! As his gaze moved, Zhang Su saw a segment of the perimeter wall fronting the street was crashed, several cars skewed on the pile of debris, the car fronts severely deformed, street accident cars likewise numerous, though not blocking traffic, with currently no vehicles passing by, only zombies roving everywhere!