Zombie Apocalypse: Don't be afraid, I'm not a good person.

Soon, the subway slowly pulled into the station, and the doors slid open with a hiss. As soon as Shenhe stepped out of the carriage, several panicked shouts erupted behind him.

"Hey! Girl, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

"Quick, call for help! Someone has fainted here!"

"Staff! Something's happened here! Someone come quick!"

Inside the spacious station, several uniformed staff members rushed toward the carriages carrying walkie-talkies, their footsteps particularly clear in the empty platform.

Shenhe glanced back casually.

A young girl lay on the ground, her eyes closed, her face ashen, and several strange streaks of blood spreading around her temples, crawling under her skin like spider webs.

Several helpful passersby had already gathered around, trying to help her up. He frowned slightly, then turned and quickly left without lingering.

Shenhe went to work all morning with a belly full of anger. The heavy, oppressive atmosphere emanating from him made his colleagues secretly gasp. No one expected that the usually mild-mannered man could be so frightening when angry.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why are you so angry first thing in the morning? Did your girlfriend cheat on you?"

Zhao Guodong deliberately leaned closer and interrupted with a joke.

"..."

Does he have a girlfriend?

Shenhe rolled her eyes at him, too lazy to argue, and directly recounted the strange things that happened on the subway that morning.

After hearing this, Zhao Guodong chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, saying that he was just unlucky, and that there were all sorts of birds in a big forest these days.

He was advised to stay away from such things next time to avoid getting into trouble, and then the conversation shifted to another major issue that was being discussed by the public.

The news that the capital of Japan had been hit by a meteorite had already spread around the world, and the employees in the company gathered together to discuss it, creating a very lively atmosphere.

Zhao Guodong became more and more excited as he talked, slapping his thigh and saying he was going to buy a few strings of firecrackers to celebrate.

"Bring a few strings for me too," Shenhe said casually.

The morning shift was unusually unsettling.

All I could hear were violent coughs, inexplicable arguments, and the sounds of things being thrown and smashed.

At noon, Shenhe was looking at his phone in his office.

Zhao Guodong suddenly pushed the door open and plopped down in a chair, starting to complain irritably.

"This morning, I handled nine cases of customers arguing with staff. After asking around, I found out that all of them had terrible attitudes; they'd get angry over the smallest things—it's really weird! Some of them were regulars who never even blushed before, but today they were like they'd swallowed gunpowder, unleashing a torrent of abuse at me. Damn it!"

Seeing that Shenhe didn't even look up and was just staring at the screen, Zhao Guodong curiously leaned closer.

"What are you looking at so intently?"

Shenhe directly opened the video he had saved and placed it in front of him.

"This first video was released at 10 a.m.

The video features a serious news broadcast.

"Today, a new variant of influenza virus is spreading rapidly across the country, causing cluster infections."

Monitoring by the national disease control department shows that the virus spreads rapidly and is highly infectious, with severe cough, bloodshot eyes, and manic behavior as the main symptoms.

Upon seeing this, Shenhe pressed pause.

Shenhe frowned. "These symptoms are exactly the same as those I saw on the subway this morning. And then I saw a second video that I found in the same city."

The scene shifts, the entire shot is handheld, the lighting is dim, the camera shakes violently, and the background is filled with hurried footsteps and shouts.

In front of a residential building, a cordon was set up, and several police officers in full protective gear and medical personnel in protective suits were quickly taking their positions, creating an extremely tense atmosphere.

Ahead, a man was completely out of control, his eyes were glaring, and he was howling, lunging, and struggling. His movements were frantic, his posture was contorted but not stiff, and he looked extremely aggressive. His symptoms closely resembled those of a severe rabies attack.

Police officers, armed with riot forks and restraint blankets, formed an encirclement formation to try to control the patient, while medical personnel stood by in the rear, ready to provide sedation and treatment at any time.

The man charged wildly, swung, and roared, creating an extremely tense and dangerous scene. The final shot showed people securing the patient to a stretcher, and medical staff immediately rushed to his aid.

The camera lingers on the direction the ambulance went.

Zhao Guodong's eyes widened. "I recognize this neighborhood. I've been there before. Is this man having a rabies attack?"

Shenhe shook his head, rewound the video, zoomed in on the patient's face, and said with absolute certainty,

"It's not rabies. Look at his eyes, they're so red you can't see the whites. There are spiderweb-like red blood vessels from his eyes to his temples. This person's condition is even worse than the old lady I met this morning! There are red blood vessels all over his neck! And he's clearly not thinking straight. I suspect it's related to the meteor shower."

Zhao Guodong's face tightened. "Yesterday's heavy rain? There's a virus in the rain? Does that mean we're all doomed? It's still drizzling outside! We've all been soaked! Quick! Look how red my eyes are!"

Shenhe looked up at him, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper, his expression growing increasingly somber. "There are no red veins, but there's something else..."

Zhao Guodong's heart jumped to his throat. "W-what's the problem?"

Shenhe's lips curled slightly as he lowered his head and continued swiping the screen, "A bit silly."

Zhao Guodong quickly rubbed his eyes, "Damn it! You tricked me! You bastard! You scared the hell out of me, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, sirens wailed outside, a police car flashed its red and blue lights, and an ambulance sped past them.

"Things aren't going well..."

Zhao Guodong and Shenhe exchanged a glance, a hint of unease creeping into their eyes.

Shenhe stood up. "Uncle Zhao, I'd like to ask for leave this afternoon. I want to deliver some supplies to the orphanage."

Zhao Guodong nodded. "Let's go, call Liu Dong and Wang Qiang to help out. I'll pay for the things."

Shenhe shook his head and refused, "No need, I have money."

"Save that little bit of money for getting married!"

As the two walked out of the office and passed the supermarket checkout, Shenhe paused slightly.

The usually sparse queue had now formed a long line, with everyone pushing a cart full of things and looking hurried.

.........

A small truckload of supplies was delivered to the orphanage, including rice, flour, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and all the necessities of life, enough for them to use for a year.

The orphanage has a hand pump well with pure groundwater, which is used for drinking and for growing vegetables by Mama Shen.

After thinking for a moment, he asked Liu Dong and Wang Qiang to help him go back and bring over a truckload of bottled water.

Shenhe went to a nearby pharmacy and bought some commonly used cold medicines, anti-inflammatory drugs, pain relievers, fever reducers, as well as alcohol, iodine, gauze, and other common medications.

Thinking that the children were physically weak, he also bought a lot of calcium tablets and various vitamins, but did not take the expensive health products recommended by the sales assistant. He specifically chose the cheap, basic products at the bottom of the shelf.

When she left, she found that none of the people at the Shenhe Observation Center had any obvious symptoms. When the weather was bad, Shen's mother would not let her children go out to play.

"Aunt Shen, things haven't been peaceful lately. Don't go out unless you have to, and don't let anyone in."

The orphanage has a 2.5-meter-high wall, and it is generally safe as long as the gate is not opened.

"Okay, Mom won't go anywhere."

Seeing Shenhe's serious expression, Madam Shen nodded earnestly and promised him that he would not leave the orphanage unless necessary.

Finally, Shenhe put Shen's mother's phone on silent mode, gave her some more instructions, and then left with peace of mind.

.........

"Duoduo just called me and said school is out for break and asked me to pick her up. I'll take you home first."

Duoduo's real name is Zhao Xinduo. She is Zhao Guodong's daughter and is a senior in high school. She always likes to call Shenhe "brother" and sticks to Shenhe to play games. She is a pure, beautiful and sweet little girl.

"I'll go back by myself. Don't keep Duoduo waiting."

Zhao Guodong gripped the steering wheel tighter and tighter.

"It won't make a difference if we wait a little longer."

After a brief conversation, silence returned to the car.

On the way to Lijing Garden, several more police cars and ambulances sped by, making the atmosphere increasingly oppressive.

After a while, Zhao Guodong's dry, tense voice rang out, "School's out for break, and it looks... not good. Do you want to come stay with me and keep an eye on things?"

The Shen River remained silent for a short time.

"No, I'm used to being alone."

Zhao Guodong glanced at Shenhe, then helplessly continued driving. He knew that Shenhe disliked troubling others.

"Ding!" A text message from Zhao Guodong's phone.

"Buzz—!" The Shen River vibrated.

He took out his phone, opened it, and read it aloud word by word, his face darkening as the text gradually fell.

His eyes turned cold the moment he saw the phrase "prepare supplies".

[Dear citizens, hello. The current epidemic prevention and control situation in our city is severe. In order to effectively curb the spread of the virus and protect the lives and safety of citizens, the municipal government has issued an emergency notice:]

I. All levels of government agencies, enterprises and public institutions in the city are encouraged to work from home and avoid going to work or their posts unless absolutely necessary.

Second, avoid going out unless absolutely necessary, and suspend all gatherings, parties, entertainment, and other group activities.

3. All primary and secondary schools, kindergartens, and training institutions in the city will suspend in-person teaching and start online courses. The specific time for resuming classes will be announced separately.

IV. Citizens are urged to reduce movement, take personal protective measures, prepare supplies, wash hands frequently, ventilate regularly, and not believe or spread rumors. —Hanzhou City Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Zhao Guodong panicked. "Quick, look at mine!"

Shenhe took his phone, swiped it open, and glanced at it. His voice was grave. "Exactly the same. Uncle Zhao, the situation is much more serious than we thought."

The authorities have lost control! I didn't expect it to happen so quickly!

Telling the public to prepare their own supplies is clearly the official message: "You all need to fend for yourselves for a while; we can't handle it all."

Refusing Zhao Guodong's repeated attempts to persuade him to stay, Shenhe got off the bus on the spot and told him to hurry up and pick up Zhao Xinduo from school.

Zhao Guodong couldn't argue with him, and he was really worried about Duoduo, so he gritted his teeth, turned around, and sped off towards the high school.

The sky remained terribly overcast, with fine, cold rain slanting down, making the surroundings damp and chilly.

Shenhe pulled his coat tighter, watching Zhao Guodong's taillights become increasingly blurry in the rain, and then hailed a taxi.

Zhao Guodong watched Shenhe get into his car and drive away through the rearview mirror, his mind replaying Shenhe's parting words: "Be very careful when you encounter those out-of-control people, don't get bitten."

"Damn it... could it really be zombies...?"

He cursed under his breath and slammed the accelerator to the floor.