Having been through the first zombie crisis, people no longer felt the fear of “terrifying monsters” when it came to zombies. They only worried about the danger to their lives.
The unlucky guy who had passed out in the courtyard actually had plenty of experience killing zombies—he was just unlucky to have no protection or weapons.
Although many people now regarded zombies as oversized stray dogs, zombies and stray dogs were ultimately different.
If a stray dog bit you, the biggest danger was rabies, and you could still get a vaccine—there was a safety net.
But the zombie virus was highly blood-borne. A scratch or bite meant certain doom. The state had never reported any cases of immunity. So direct physical contact was to be avoided at all costs.
This guy had been carrying his laptop bag when he came back. In the critical moment, he swung the bag like a weapon, blocking several zombie attacks.
But this zombie was clearly a second-generation one—fast and strong. Without armor, he was in real trouble. So he swung the bag to knock the zombie back, then ran. As he ran, he glanced back, saw the zombie lunging again, and swung the bag right into its face to knock it away again.
Then he kept running, screaming for help as he went: “Someone help~~~ This is a second-gen~~~ I don’t have any gear aaaaah~~~~ Fuck, is anyone there~~~”
There should be people—he’d seen several group chats where people said they were heading back regardless of whether the news was real, so he’d come back too.
A second-gen zombie couldn’t be shaken off. All he could do was scream desperately for help.
Li Jiangbing turned and ran out without a second word.
Jiang Cheng didn’t move immediately because she had to put on her armor first.
While she was gearing up, before Li Jiangbing even appeared in her line of sight below, someone had already come to the rescue.
These Youth Apartments residents really did have a bit of comradely bond.
And the person who showed up wasn’t even a resident—it was the young security guard from the east gate who had locked himself in the booth.
Jiang Cheng recognized him. She didn’t know his full name, but she knew his surname was Fang—everyone called him Xiao Fang.
Xiao Fang had woken up and, luckily, hadn’t turned. Then he heard the cries for help.
The unlucky guy had passed out not far from the east gate, then fled for his life all the way to the center of the courtyard.
Xiao Fang cautiously stuck his head out to observe, confirmed the neighborhood was relatively clean with only that one zombie in sight, then bravely suited up in his armor and went to the rescue.
Between the U-shaped fork and the steel pipe, he chose the steel pipe.
The U-shaped fork was for coordinated team formations—an auxiliary tool. For solo attacks, the steel pipe was the better choice.
Xiao Fang grabbed the pipe and charged out.
Finally, someone had come. The unlucky guy breathed a sigh of relief.
Instead of running away while Xiao Fang attacked the zombie, he turned back and kept swinging his laptop bag at the zombie’s head, giving Xiao Fang openings to strike.
Soon Li Jiangbing appeared in the courtyard, and someone else came out from Building 3.
By the time Jiang Cheng had fully geared up and taken the stairs down to the lobby, Su Yu was also coming down the elevator in full armor.
Among the female residents, only Jiang Cheng had armor—no one else did.
Because armor had been limited in supply, it had been prioritized for the stronger, more combat-capable male residents.
Not to mention the female residents—even the shorter, slighter, or less courageous male residents hadn’t gotten any.
But Su Yu had always wanted a set.
After the zombie crisis ended, the armor wasn’t taken back. The property office kept a few sets, but most went to the last batch of users.
Su Yu posted a want-to-buy ad on the forum, and someone sold her a set for 500 yuan.
It was a medium size; Su Yu should have worn a small. The medium shoulder guards were a bit wide on her, but they had Velcro straps to secure them—not a big issue.
At the moment, it was Su Yu’s first time fighting in armor.
She ran into Jiang Cheng coming down the stairs in the lobby. Her eyes lit up.
There was no time for pleasantries—they both ran outside.
By then, Li Jiangbing had already engaged the zombie. Xiao Fang saw him coming, and another fully armored male resident was approaching from a distance—his courage surged.
He yelled as he swung his steel pipe at the zombie.
The male resident from Building 3 also arrived. The unarmored unlucky guy fell back a bit, letting the three armored fighters take the front line.
Then Jiang Cheng and Su Yu appeared on the scene.
Just then, the zombie took a hit to the neck and fell. Its head twisted to the side, one arm braced on the ground like a wounded person.
Of these three armored fighters, Xiao Fang had the least experience.
Xiao Fang had only participated in combat on the Sunday morning of the first outbreak. After that, Youth Apartments quickly formed the temporary committee and began assigning tasks in an organized manner.
As a property security guard, Xiao Fang’s primary duty was watching the gate—keeping zombies and thieves out, and conducting health checks on returning residents.
Until the zombie crisis ended, he never fought a second time. He had the least experience of the three.
Seeing the zombie injured and on the ground, he excitedly rushed forward, hoping to kill a zombie with his own hands again.
The zombie was lying prone. To swing his steel pipe at the back of its head, he had to lean down and bend over.
Then he heard two people shouting at the same time.
He couldn’t even make out what they were saying, because it happened too fast. The zombie suddenly flipped over and launched itself up from the ground, its gaping, stinking maw lunging straight at Xiao Fang’s face!
Xiao Fang was terrified!
The moment the zombie fell prone, Li Jiangbing had sensed something was wrong.
He had always been one of the neighborhood’s main combatants. In the later stages, he’d even joined the militia—waking up every day to kill zombies, kill zombies, and kill more zombies.
He had far more experience with zombies than Xiao Fang.
That wounded, prone posture was too “un-zombie-like.” Too “human.”
Yes, too human.
Humans feel pain and lose strength from injuries—that’s why they take that posture.
Zombies wouldn’t!
A zombie would keep crawling toward you with just its arms, even if only half its body was left, as long as its head was still attached.
Zombies don’t strike that kind of human wounded pose!
In that instant, Li Jiangbing realized something was wrong, but Xiao Fang had already rushed forward.
He instinctively shouted “Get back!” but it was too late—the zombie sprang up from the ground. Li Jiangbing’s pupils contracted sharply!
Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one on scene with extensive experience.
The unlucky guy had also been in the militia.
That was exactly why Li Jiangbing had charged down without a second thought after glancing out the window—this was a former comrade.
Since the unlucky guy had stepped back with his laptop bag and wasn’t engaged in the fight, he had a clearer view from the sidelines.
He reacted faster too—he hurled his laptop bag straight at the zombie!
The bag slammed right into the zombie’s face, saving Xiao Fang’s life!
Li Jiangbing and the other guy rushed in and smashed the zombie’s head to pieces.
It was over.
Xiao Fang sat on the ground, his heart pounding, nearly wetting himself in fright.
Since when did zombies know how to fake people out?!
The unlucky guy ran over, grabbed Xiao Fang’s head, and checked him all over—front, back, left, right. Relieved, he turned and told Li Jiangbing: “No injuries.”
The movement was very practiced.
These were all skills they’d honed in the militia back then.
By the time Jiang Cheng and Su Yu ran over, the fight was already over.
Jiang Cheng had seen what happened. She didn’t ask questions first—instead, she said: “Let’s check if there’s anyone else in the courtyard.”
Xiao Fang steadied himself, stood up, and said: “There are two by the gate.”
Xiao Fang had been watching the east gate the whole time, seeing resident after resident come back after heeding Jiang Cheng’s words.
At first there were few, then more, then a trickle.
Song Jingshuo had been among those who came back later.
They all set aside the immediate situation and headed toward the east gate.
The unlucky guy, without armor or weapons, didn’t dare separate from them. He grabbed his laptop bag and hurried along.
Sure enough, there were two more people on the road to the east gate.
The first one they encountered was still unconscious, lying on the ground.
Li Jiangbing crouched down, pulled open his eyelids, and checked—normal white and black pupils, normal skin color.
“This one’s fine!”
Leaving him behind, they kept running toward the east gate.
Just inside the east gate, a few meters in, lay another person face-down. Visible from a distance.
But before they’d taken two steps, that person stirred, then stood up.
Already turned.
Everyone gripped their weapons and tensed up, ready for a sudden charge.
The zombie spotted them and did start moving toward them—but not charging.
It was wobbling.
Everyone: “…”
Li Jiangbing: “Fuck.”
It was an original zombie.
After a month and a half of fighting, especially once they had full armor and weapons, everyone had stopped taking original zombies seriously.
Their main targets were the second-generation zombies.
Now suddenly seeing an original zombie felt almost… nostalgic.
But something was wrong.
If a person turned directly from the virus while unconscious, without any contact with original zombies, shouldn’t they all be original zombies?
After killing this original zombie, they all exchanged glances. Everyone saw unease and doubt in each other’s eyes.
Li Jiangbing said: “That one earlier wasn’t second-gen either.”
Xiao Fang, who felt it most deeply, added: “Right! It actually knew how to trick people!”
Zombies could now feint?
Su Yu asked: “Is this evolution?”
The topic of zombie evolution had already been hotly debated in the forums and group chats while Jiang Cheng was still away on her business trip.
So everyone was familiar with the concept.
Jiang Cheng asked the unlucky guy and Xiao Fang: “Did that one just now turn directly?”
The unlucky guy knew best and nodded: “He was right next to me. I woke up first, then he got up.”
The facts were clear. This zombie virus outbreak was different from before.
Although some people still turned into weaker original zombies, others could now transform directly into zombies with intelligence—more evolved than second-generation ones.
Had the zombie virus itself iterated and evolved?
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