Travel again in the old place

Working too late and starting too early were both detrimental, to say the least.

Accommodation like apartment hotels offered some respite, at least providing a barrier with their doors.

Initially, the zombies were still stiff-limbed, confined to wandering a single floor.

However, vast public areas like office spaces made escape nearly impossible.

A colleague standing right beside you could transform into a zombie in an instant, leaving no time to react.

How could one possibly dodge an attack that began without a single frame of warning?

Chi Bai had only pieced together this information from what he observed in the main hall.

After all, he had only transmigrated into this body at nine o’clock that very morning.

Perhaps that was why; he certainly didn’t recall suffering from a fever the previous night.

By the time he arrived, the fever had already subsided, and this body had awakened its supernatural ability.

He had simply stumbled upon a ready-made situation.

The information in the hall was chaotic and fragmented.

As he browsed through it that morning, he barely managed to piece together a rough timeline of when the anomaly began and how the mutation unfolded.

It all began with that emerald light.

It didn’t require direct contact to exert its influence; it was utterly pervasive, inescapable.

In a blink, it surged skyward, transforming the entire heavens into a verdant hue.

The green persisted until dawn broke, only then completely vanishing.

During this period, some people experienced fevers and dizzy spells, while others felt nothing at all.

Everyone was engrossed in fervent online discussions about the bizarre phenomenon, completely oblivious to the mutation unfolding around them.

Perhaps some did sense it, for the green light not only infected humans but also disrupted Earth’s magnetic field, causing an immediate internet and power outage.

However, as the event occurred deep in the night, only night owls would have noticed.

Even then, they couldn’t transmit their findings.

Oh, wait, they actually could.

The electronic screen had appeared before people’s eyes at 2 PM, precisely when the green light flared, accompanied by a strange system sound echoing in their minds.

Those who had endured the fever emerged as ability users.

Those who hadn’t survived watched helplessly as they slowly transformed into zombies under the breaking light of dawn.

The transformation, however, required time.

Those ‘ox-horses’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘niúmǎ,’ referring to people who work tirelessly and are exploited, similar to ‘wage slaves’ or ‘grinders’ in English.) who believed they merely had a fever still rose early, commuting to their ‘farms’ (TL Note: A metaphor for their workplaces, implying monotonous, demanding labor).

They endured the weariness and discomfort of their illness, clinging to subway handrails, laboriously scrolling through their phones.

Amidst the screams of those around them, they discovered their limbs gradually stiffening, emitting a foul stench.

Their skin turned pale and bloodless, even festering and oozing pus.

Their fingernails grew long, black, and sharp.

The last image their eyes captured was their own reflection in the subway window.

It was the ghastly visage of a zombie.

This explained the multitude of zombies shambling around the subway entrance.

He couldn’t help but sigh once more at the arduous lives of those ‘ox-horses’.

****

This building, much like the previous ones, contained no survivors.

The few scattered zombies were easily dispatched by them.

As they cleared out their company’s floor, both men paused, a momentary bewilderment washing over them.

The familiar workstations remained, yet everything felt irrevocably altered.

The only silver lining was their late start time and their company’s relatively relaxed culture, which meant no one had worked excessively late.

Consequently, there were no zombies here; the floor was pristine, as if nothing untoward had ever occurred.

After casting one last glance at the nameplate on his workstation, Chi Bai turned and followed Lin Feng to the next floor.

The street stretched endlessly, so long that every walk to the subway station felt like a competitive race for Chi Bai.

After he and Lin Feng had jointly eliminated the zombies roaming near the subway entrance, they decided to head back.

It was difficult to maneuver inside the subway system.

Encountering a large horde of zombies there would necessitate using area-of-effect skills.

However, mismanaging such an attack could easily injure their teammates.

And if it inadvertently affected any remaining survivors, that would be an even greater travesty.

Though, realistically, it was unlikely anyone was still alive down there.