Before everything goes out

That's all for now.

Taking advantage of the atmosphere at the dinner table, Li Fei also began to inquire about the situation in Changjiang City.

of course.

Since the narrator is mainly Yuan Dahai, we should start with this family of three.

...

Before the catastrophe.

Yuan Dahai runs a restaurant in the suburbs of Changjiang City. His family is not wealthy, but they manage to get by.

After the disaster.

The order collapsed, and the original peaceful life was shattered.

Those who stayed in the shadows began to transform into corruptors.

Of course, they didn't call it that back then, and they didn't even have a specific name for it. They just knew that people with extra growths on their bodies were stronger than ordinary people...

The price to pay is one's sense of morality.

Or, to put it another way, "human nature".

Robbery, rape, murder, or other heinous acts.

The initial atrocities in Changjiang city were almost all committed by corrupt individuals.

Of course, the corrupt are not stupid. Before the order completely collapses, they will keep a low profile as much as possible, like rats in the sewers, biting people and then crawling into the sewers, waiting for the next opportunity to strike.

Later on.

As darkness continued to encroach, their numbers gradually increased, from one in ten thousand to one in ten thousand, from one or two rats in the gutter to a pack of mad dogs in the dark alley.

It wasn't until everyone in the city knew, until the garrison issued a notice.

If you encounter a corrupted person, you need to get away from them immediately and report them to the nearest outpost.

The situation was quickly brought under control.

Corruptors are terrifying, but fortunately most of them can be identified by the naked eye.

Besides, as long as ordinary people stay in a bright place and ensure that their skin does not feel itchy, they can prevent most of the decay. With the support of electric lights, this is not too difficult.

therefore.

The influence of the corrupt was contained within two or three days after the garrison issued a city-wide notice.

At the same time, the rate of collapse of social order has also slowed down.

after that.

After recovering from a life-or-death crisis, ordinary citizens like Yuan Dahai find themselves facing two paths.

One.

Let's go further into the city.

In more concentrated areas, enjoy the potential official benefits.

For example, the military, disaster relief supplies, and the social order improved in response to disasters.

two.

They fled to more remote places.

In a place no one knows, in a mountain village or in the wilderness, embark on a wilderness survival adventure that may never end.

then.

Like most people in Changjiang City, Yuan Dahai chose to move to the city.

At that time, they were unaware that the scale and magnitude of this catastrophe would be so immense, because due to the corruption of some high-ranking officials, the government and military they had hoped for had already collapsed and disintegrated in the very first moment...

Unlike ordinary corrupt individuals, corruption among high-ranking government officials, accompanied by the loss of control and the defection of power, makes the collapse all the more violent.

The authorities are too busy taking care of themselves to have time to deal with them.

of course.

Because communications were completely paralyzed immediately after the disaster, they only gradually realized this later.

Let's return to Changjiang City.

The number of corrupt individuals was contained, but other problems became more severe.

As the largest city in the region, its population is dense, needless to say. More importantly, the various resources it relied on from the surrounding areas could not be replenished after the disaster and were being depleted at an extremely rapid pace...

It consumes not only resources, but also the order that was barely established when resources were relatively abundant.

after that.

In an extremely short period of time, everything collapsed in a time far exceeding people's expectations.

The first week.

Yuan Dahai witnessed firsthand how some kind-hearted people set up roadside stalls and distributed food free of charge.

Although it seems completely futile now, at the time this almost saintly act did manage to prolong something for a few more days.

However, it will only last a few days.

The first month.

People gradually realized that they would never see anything again.

There was no army, no government, no airdropped supplies, and not even any information from the outside world...

This dual isolation of mind and body accelerated the spread of panic.

Add to that the agonizing hunger, the constant spread of bad news, and the ever-present threat of corruption from the shadows...

Everything seemed to accelerate at an explosive pace.

The remaining order collapsed completely within a month.

The second month.

Fresh food is almost exhausted, and banknotes have become piles of worthless paper. No matter how many digits people had in their accounts before, they no longer matter.

The city's nearly ten million inhabitants have reverted to a barter system.

Violence, fraud.

Various crimes not permitted by law are occurring more frequently on the streets and alleys.

Unlike before, only a small portion of these crimes came from the corrupt, while the majority came from the former "ordinary people".

Under the pressure of extreme environments, although their bodies have not yet decayed, their minds have gradually deviated from ordinary people.

At that time, Yuan Dahai did not live here. In a more remote location, in a small house that he had bought with half a lifetime's savings, he closed the door and carefully maintained his family's livelihood.

It was during that time that he honed his skills in begging for mercy.

The third month.

The power system was completely paralyzed.

This was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Without electricity, there are no lights. People burn all sorts of things to fight the darkness with firelight, but this cannot stop the number of corrupt people from rising again.

Some people started to leave the city. Yuan Dahai didn't know what would happen to them. He only knew that those who stayed in the city began to split into even more extreme groups.

First and foremost, those who have resources at their disposal.

The owner of the wholesale market, the warehouse landlord, or even an employee of a roadside pharmacy.

These people fully recognized the value of the resources they possessed and worked hard to protect them.

Then came those who had weapons.

WuJ, military garrison, escort company.

After the collapse of the social system, these people are no longer bound by the system. In order to survive, they are forced to gradually abandon morality and transform from maintainers of the remaining system into creators of new rules...

The new rule is simple: whoever has the gun calls the shots.

Soon, the few remaining resources in the city began to concentrate in these areas where guns were present.

"warlord".

This is how Yuan Dahai described it.

The entire city of Changjiang was divided by several local warlords, each ruling their own territory.

Further on.

A year has passed.

The city's population has plummeted to less than one-fifth of its previous size.

The streets were littered with corpses.

From large-scale burning at the beginning, to simply covering it with a white sheet, and then to being completely ignored, leaving only rotting flesh and stench.

It was at this time that Yuan Dahai found the opportunity to move from the suburbs into the high-rise building where he now lives.

It's more spacious and safer here.

Five years have passed.

Although the situation was as tragic as hell on earth, a delicate balance was gradually achieved after losing 90% of the population.

The major organizations in the city have also stabilized, and the frequency of bloodshed has dropped sharply.

As for the corrupt ones.

Unlike most humans, they are not united; in fact, the fighting among the corrupt is more frequent than among normal humans. So, after five years, their numbers have dropped to a level where they can no longer cause any trouble.

Just when Yuan Dahai thought that everything could be maintained with such difficulty, a change occurred.

The seventh year, which is three years ago.

The first zombie appeared on the street, and then more appeared.

Within just a few months, the situation deteriorated rapidly, just like when the disaster first occurred.

Even faster.

Tens of thousands of ordinary people went from growing mushrooms on their bodies to turning into zombies in just a few days.

Yuan Dahai didn't know what happened in the city after that, because from then on, he never left the area within a hundred meters of his own residential community.

He's just a cook.

He didn't have a gun, or even a decent weapon. He did have a knife, but it was just an iron kitchen knife he brought back from a restaurant. It was good for killing fish and chickens, but it was far too weak to deal with zombies.

That same year, the little mute boy ran away from home because he was playing and has been missing ever since.

...