When Jiang Cheng returned to her apartment, she felt exhausted.
In truth, many people had participated in the building sweep. Residents from every floor had joined in the excitement, and everyone had to push forward just to get a chance at hitting a zombie. She herself had barely done anything—just followed along, expending little physical effort.
But from Saturday night until now, she hadn’t had a proper rest. She had been in a state of high tension the entire time.
The first thing she did when she got home was check on Mo Li. The hot water bottle was no longer warm, but Mo Li’s body temperature had improved. It seemed like he was moving in a positive direction.
When he saw her return, and when she touched his head, Mo Li even managed to lift his head and let out a “Meow.”
He rubbed his head against Jiang Cheng’s palm.
The soft touch felt like a faint electric current traveling from her palm all the way to her heart—
The little cat was lonely.
How strange. No one on the pet forum had ever mentioned having telepathy with their small pets. How was it that she completely understood what the little cat meant the moment her heart received that tiny electric shock?
Jiang Cheng lowered her head and gently rubbed her face against the cat’s fluffy head. “Don’t be afraid. I’m back. I’m here with you.”
She said softly, “You’re not going to die. And you haven’t turned into a monster. You’re just like me—you’ve become stronger.”
“Don’t be afraid.”
Mo Li didn’t speak. He just kept rubbing his head against her. When she lifted her head, he tried to lift his own head higher to keep rubbing against her.
Jiang Cheng saw him try to prop himself up with his front legs, but fail. Clearly, he was still in a weakened state.
“Do you want to eat? Oh, no.” Jiang Cheng realized what Mo Li wanted. “Wait for me. I’ll be right there.”
Jiang Cheng quickly washed up and changed into her pajamas.
She opened the down jacket and looked. Mo Li hadn’t relieved himself at all. She was a little worried.
“Do you need to pee or poop?” She slid her hand down to the base of Mo Li’s tail.
Mo Li sensed her intention and, as if mustering all his remaining strength, used his tail to cover both his rear and his bells, letting out a short, sharp “Meow.”
Jiang Cheng changed her mind about lifting his tail to check. She decided to respect the little cat. A little cat this intelligent, a little cat that could transform into a magnificent big cat—surely he wouldn’t poop or pee on the bed, right?
Mo Li let out a firm “Meow!”
As if to say: I won’t!
Jiang Cheng chose to trust Mo Li.
She carefully wrapped Mo Li in the down jacket, lay down, and held this “bundle” against her chest. “Go to sleep. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Sleep early.”
Held in her arms, Mo Li seemed to curl himself into a ball inside the down jacket.
He was very soft. Jiang Cheng quickly fell asleep.
But Sunday night was destined to be restless.
First, in the middle of the night, the walkie-talkie went off. The person on night duty at the property management reported, “The conference room was making a racket again just now. It’s settled now.”
After a two-second pause, the person on duty couldn’t help but add, “The people inside are crying. Damn, it’s really hard to take.”
Jiang Cheng had just woken up and couldn’t quite get up for a moment. She picked up the walkie-talkie from beside her pillow and was taking a deep breath to reply when Song Jingshuo’s voice came through: “Received. Just don’t let them out. Don’t let it affect you two. If you get infected, no one can save you. Absolutely do not open the door.”
The person on duty was clearly already affected, answering in a low, subdued voice: “Understood. Don’t worry.”
He had beaten her to it. Jiang Cheng wasn’t angry—after all, she had been the one consistently getting the jump on Song Jingshuo.
She steadied her breathing, pressed the transmit button, and said, “Good work.”
She put down the walkie-talkie and tried to go back to sleep. Then the phone rang. An unfamiliar number.
Jiang Cheng had a terrible headache. She took a few deep breaths and forced herself to answer. “Hello? This is Jiang Cheng.”
The voice on the phone said, “Jiang Cheng, this is the 5th floor. That person—the one you left for us to keep an eye on—he’s mutated.”
Jiang Cheng asked, “Can you handle it?”
The person on the phone hesitated. Jiang Cheng said, “Got it. I’ll be right up.”
Jiang Cheng dragged herself out of bed and picked up the clothes she had worn during the day. They were splattered with blood and other fluids. She put them back on.
As soon as she stepped outside, she heard the sound of a door opening and closing in the distance. She turned her head and, sure enough, Li Jiangbing was also coming out.
Seeing her, Li Jiangbing waved his arm from afar. They walked over to each other, and Li Jiangbing cursed under his breath, “What’s wrong with these people on the fifth floor? If someone mutates, just deal with it yourselves.”
It turned out the people on the fifth floor had called both of them simultaneously. The call to Jiang Cheng had been on speakerphone, and Li Jiangbing had heard her say she was coming up, so he had no choice but to get up too.
“Let’s go,” Jiang Cheng said, yawning. “Let’s go take a look.”
They were on the third floor, not worth taking the elevator. They went straight up the stairs.
The hallway on the fifth floor was crowded with people. They were gathered around the door of that apartment, peeking inside.
Li Jiangbing walked over and grumbled with dissatisfaction, “What’s going on? Didn’t we already kill the zombies during the day?”
The residents of the fifth floor sighed and scratched their heads. “Well… we watched him mutate…”
“And he was tied up…”
Most ordinary, normal people—unless they were sociopaths—weren’t very aggressive. Everyone was a law-abiding citizen.
Killing zombies during the day was different. Those zombies had lunged at them with bloodthirsty maws wide open. They had to defend themselves.
But this man was handcuffed, his feet tied with a necktie, and even a ball gag in his mouth. Although he had mutated, he didn’t have the ability to get up and attack them.
When not under attack, it was hard for law-abiding citizens to take the initiative to attack and kill.
There was a mental barrier.
As everyone was talking, a loud thwack suddenly rang out!
Everyone turned their heads in shock. While they had been wasting time with words, Jiang Cheng had somehow already gone into the apartment and split open the head of the mutated second-generation zombie with her axe.
Jiang Cheng straightened up, closed her eyes, and exhaled deeply. Her head really hurt. The truth was, she was afraid of not sleeping well—being woken up or forced to get up was miserable.
“Jiangbing, you handle things here,” Jiang Cheng said, barely able to keep her eyes open as she walked out like a sleepwalker. “I can’t do it anymore. I’ve hit my limit.”
The main issue was that she hadn’t slept well since Saturday night. She had been going nonstop for two nights and a full day.
Everyone’s mouths hung open. They instinctively stepped back to make way for her.
Jiang Cheng turned left.
Li Jiangbing stepped over and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her 180 degrees. “This way!”
Jiang Cheng said, “Oh. I’ll leave it to you.”
“Go on, go on,” Li Jiangbing said considerately. “You’d better catch up on some sleep.”
Everyone watched her walk toward the stairwell until she disappeared behind the fire door. Only then did they look away.
They turned their attention back inside the apartment.
The unfortunate young man had originally been tossed on the bed. The surrounding residents hadn’t dared to relax; they had set an alarm, and when it went off, several of them had come together to check on him.
When they looked, they found he had already mutated. But with his limbs restrained, he was flailing and squirming on the floor like a carp. Smelling the blood and life force of living people, he had gone crazy trying to get closer to them. The ball gag prevented him from opening his mouth, so all they saw was a torrent of drool flowing out, dripping onto the floor. Disgusting didn’t even begin to cover it.
Of course, it was even more disgusting now—brain matter all over the floor, along with plenty of bits and pieces.
Li Jiangbing’s psychological resilience had already been tempered by now. He rested his axe on his shoulder, walked in, grabbed the corpse by its ankle with one hand, and dragged it out. “Alright, everyone go to sleep. Our building is clean now.”
“Oh, and if anyone notices something off, report it right away.”
Muttering to himself, he dragged the corpse toward the elevator.
The residents on the fifth floor looked at each other, then at the empty apartment with its sticky, gooey floor.
“Bedtime, bedtime.”
“Dead tired.”
“Finally, we can sleep soundly.”
Everyone went back to their own apartments and closed their doors.
At least, finally, no one was asking, “Are we going to work tomorrow or not?”
Work, my ass.
Jiang Cheng, fighting her headache, made it home. She stripped off her filthy, unwearable clothes right at the entrance. Too tired to bother changing into her pajamas, she crawled into bed just like that, pulled Mo Li over, hugged him to her chest, and closed her eyes to sleep.
In her dream, it seemed like a tiny, barbed tongue gently licked the tip of her nose.
Jiang Cheng woke up to sunlight streaming in.
When she had come back from the building sweep the night before, it was already 11 PM. She had been so exhausted that she forgot to close the curtains.
She didn’t feel like she had slept enough. She turned over, facing away from the window, and dozed off for who knows how long before slowly coming to.
She reached out—the bed was empty.
Jiang Cheng sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Mo Li?”
A “Meow” came from over by the floor-to-ceiling window.
The morning light was a bit harsh. Jiang Cheng raised a hand to shield her eyes and looked over.
The black cat lifted its head from the bean bag chair by the window.
The morning light gilded the edges of his sleek, black fur. His ears were perked up, his limbs long and lean. He looked both lithe and powerful.
As cats went, Jiang Cheng felt that Mo Li’s silhouette was nearly perfect.
Jiang Cheng got out of bed and stretched in the morning light.
Mo Li lay in the bean bag chair, watching.
She had been so exhausted the night before that she had stripped off her dirty clothes at the door and gone straight to bed without putting on pajamas—just wearing a camisole-style bra and underwear.
Standing up and stretching, her skin glowed white in the dawn light.
The black cat’s eyes gleamed green, fixated.
Just as Jiang Cheng finished stretching and started walking toward him, Mo Li seemed to panic—as if startled—and tried to jump down from the bean bag chair.
But… his legs gave way, and he tumbled to the floor.
He had forgotten he hadn’t fully recovered. That morning, just to get some sunlight, he had painstakingly moved from the bed to the bean bag chair. It had taken everything out of him.
Jiang Cheng hurried over and scooped him up. “Are you okay?”
She held him in her arms like a baby—belly up, four paws in the air.
He tried to kick his legs, realized it was completely useless, and finally gave up. He slumped softly, limply, against Jiang Cheng’s chest.
“You haven’t recovered yet. Don’t go running around.” Jiang Cheng gently stroked his belly. She glanced at the bean bag chair and suddenly understood. “You wanted to sunbathe, right?”
She patted the bean bag chair into a suitable shape—like a bird’s nest—and placed Mo Li in the middle of it. “Sunbathe well. I’ll make breakfast first.”
Breakfast was simple. She reheated the leftover bowl of congee from the day before and added a salted duck egg.
Jiang Cheng lit the stove to heat the congee and glanced at her phone. She saw a text message from Li Jiangbing: [Are you awake yet? There’s more news. Says no need to go to work.]
Jiang Cheng quickly turned on the TV. Since yesterday, the government news announcements had been on a continuous loop. The announcement from yesterday evening had been replaced with a new one, now playing over and over:
【S City has entered a temporary state of control.】
【Except for medical institutions, emergency support units, and other entities essential to maintaining the city’s basic operations, all enterprises, institutions, schools (large, medium, and small), and kindergartens must cease operations and suspend classes.】
【Police forces are being concentrated to eliminate the mutated ones. Residents are advised not to go out unless necessary.】
【For those who have already mutated, residents are permitted to use force in self-defense to eliminate them. Suspected infected individuals, once discovered, must be immediately restrained and isolated.】
【…Remain vigilant at all times.】
Online, everyone was already using the term “zombie,” though the authorities were still using “mutators.”
At any rate, the question everyone had been agonizing over all day—”Do we still have to go to work on Monday?”—finally had an answer.
The congee in the pot began to bubble, but Jiang Cheng had no mind for it.
She rested her chin on her hand and stared at the scrolling news announcement, lost in thought.
She turned around, opened her laptop, and started searching for “S City police force” and “S City total population.”
How many police officers were available in S City?
After the initial viral mutation, how many were left?
After the first unprepared encounters with zombies, how many more had been lost?
Could they still count on anyone else now?
Leave a Reply