Chapter 3: Strange Entities Appear at Midnight

Returning to his residence, Lin Xian took a bottle of disinfectant mixed with bleach from behind the door and carefully sprayed it around the entrance and stairwell; only after finishing did he enter the room, shut the security door, and lock the iron chain.

Lin Xian’s first action was to pull out his phone and open the map, searching for Chen Sixuan’s location.

The first rule of the apocalypse: beware the night.

The second rule of the apocalypse: never act recklessly.

Lin Xian never fought without preparation; Jiang City had already fallen completely, and the few remaining people were either survivors holed up in shelters or looters and hordes of zombies flooding the streets.

Entering the night was even more terrifying, for no one yet knew how many strange entities lurked within it.

From survivors’ reports across various radio frequencies, these entities were indescribable, beyond words, and very few survived encounters with them.

“7.2 kilometers—not close…”

Before the apocalypse, that distance would’ve taken a taxi just minutes; now, with traffic paralyzed and bridges destroyed, Lin Xian estimated even riding his motorcycle would take half an hour.

And he had no idea what condition the place was in—under the apocalypse, only a mother would risk herself to save someone not related by blood.

Lin Xian’s gaze flickered as he sighed inwardly.

Chen Laoshi, I hope you’re worth the risk I’m about to take for you.

18:45—the night gradually descended.

Lin Xian pulled down the iron window shutters and began preparing dinner.

He hadn’t gone out to scavenge today; those who fled Jiang City and the survivors had long since ransacked every supermarket and convenience store, even ketchup hard to find.

Fortunately, while others only cared for food and drink, Lin Xian hunted all kinds of mechanical items survivors ignored.

02:42

A faint sound jolted Lin Xian awake from light sleep; he rose, steadied himself, and fixed his gaze on the door in the darkness.

The sound seemed to come from outside the corridor.

He picked up his short blade and moved silently to the door.

This door had been reinforced with steel plates several times, far sturdier than ordinary security doors—but for those things, Lin Xian had no full confidence; trapped on a high floor, his only escape route was the staircase in the corridor.

Lin Xian pressed his eye to the peephole and saw only darkness in the corridor, the faint green glow of emergency lights revealing only vague outlines of walls and floor.

After observing for a while, he saw nothing, so turned to go back to bed.

But as soon as he took two steps, a strange knocking came from the iron door behind him!

Thump~ Thump!

The two long-spaced knocks sent a chill crawling up Lin Xian’s scalp!

Was it really a person? Or had those things found his hiding place?

His face grim, he turned back to the door, hesitated a moment, tightened his grip on the short blade, then held his breath and peered out again through the peephole.

Hiss!

The sight through the peephole made Lin Xian gasp in shock!

In the dim green light of the corridor, a man in a black funeral robe stood motionless before his door—his face gaunt and deathly pale, his eyes on the verge of decay… a dead, lifeless gray-black, radiating dread.

Most terrifying of all, the corpse-like man’s eyes seemed to be staring directly through the peephole at him!

Lin Xian recoiled in fright, stumbling backward two steps, his face filled with stunned horror.

Isn’t that Old Man Li from downstairs?

But he’s already dead…

Lin Xian stepped back half a pace, face grim; without doubt, the thing outside resembling “Old Man Li” was no longer human.

A zombie? But how could a zombie knock?

Lin Xian’s expression darkened—if this was one of the night’s strange entities, he was in deep trouble tonight.

“Old Man Li, why don’t you just lie peacefully in your coffin and enjoy your rest? Why come back to suffer?” Lin Xian cursed inwardly.

Time passed slowly; Lin Xian had lost all sleepiness, gripping his short blade tightly, leaning against the wall beside the door.

But the knocking never came again.

Then came something even stranger: a faint scratching sound began against the wall behind him—soft, yet raising the hairs on his scalp, as if something, just one wall away, kept scraping at him…

“Damn it!” He leapt back, staring at the wall. “Could this thing be trying to break in?!”

Lin Xian was momentarily stunned.

The thing outside seemed to sense his presence, separated from him by only a single wall.

Lin Xian’s best choice now was to hold his breath, make no sound; as long as the door held, he was still safe.

But he’d already prepared an escape route—most of his supplies had been moved to the Wuxian Hao; only a few days’ worth of food and water, plus the generator and battery, remained in the room.

!

Time ticked by, the eerie scratching sound like a demon whispering constantly in Lin Xian’s ears.

After a while, the sound finally ceased; Lin Xian exhaled, rose, and peered through the peephole again.

But this time, the sight made every hair on his body stand on end.

In the corridor outside, a girl now lay slumped on the ground, drenched in blood, struggling weakly to rise, her hand stretching toward the door, her voice faint:

“Save me… save me…”

Lin Xian’s eyes narrowed; the girl looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, her outfit—short shorts, a low-cut crop top, a bright baseball jacket, and wireless earphones—completely out of place in this apocalypse; if not for the blood caking her face, Lin Xian might’ve thought she was a neighbor’s daughter visiting late at night, not a survivor of the end.

Behind the door, Lin Xian remained silent in response to the girl’s plea.

He’d just seen a dead corpse standing outside—now suddenly a little girl? Anyone would find this absurd.

The night’s entities were unpredictable, and he didn’t know this girl at all; opening the door now would only doom himself.

Time crept toward 5 a.m., still at least nine hours until dawn.

Through the peephole, Lin Xian saw the girl’s face now pale, unconscious, slumped on the ground.

“Damn it, is this some demon setting a trap to lure me out?” Lin Xian groaned; this was far stranger than any zombie.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Lin Xian looked again.

This time, he saw Old Man Li’s figure standing beside the little girl, head bowed, as if sniffing.

Then Old Man Li stiffly shifted his foot, stepped before the girl, and slowly bent down.

Instantly, Lin Xian’s pupils contracted—he saw, clinging to Old Man Li’s back, a monstrous insect covered in long, spindly legs, like a black centipede, nearly covering his entire back!

What the hell is that thing?!

Lin Xian sucked in a sharp breath.

The insect’s legs slowly twitched, lifting Old Man Li’s arms, then lunging violently toward the girl.

New book, please follow and keep reading!

(End of Chapter)