Chapter 4: What the Hell?! (Seeking Investment, Seeking Votes)

"Woke up one moment, the world turned upside down... but why is it so quiet?"

Zhang Su frowned, his eyes scanning everywhere; compared to chaos, this silence was more terrifying—after such a grave event, why were there no sounds of emergency vehicles?

Where were the police cars, ambulances, fire trucks?

This was unnatural.

Ping pong.

As Zhang Su gazed toward the distant street, the glass of a floor-to-ceiling window on the opposite Building 4 shattered, and three figures plummeted from the air, followed by piercing screams!

They fell fast; Zhang Su could barely make out one was a child, the other two seemed to be an elderly couple.

Trees blocked his view of their impact, but he faintly heard the dull thuds as they hit the ground, making his lips tremble.

"Help! Fuck, get away! Madman..."

Before Zhang Su could recover from the shock of the fall, a distant cry for help reached him—the previously slow-moving zombies had suddenly accelerated, their stiff bodies moving with alarming speed as they chased a barefoot young man.

"Run faster..."

Zhang Su couldn’t help but hold his breath for the young man.

As if hearing Zhang Su’s silent encouragement, the young man sprinted wildly and soon vanished around the corner with the horde of zombies—his fate unknown!

"Help... someone, save me! Husband, no, don’t!"

Zhang Su pressed his face against the glass, trying to see what happened to the young man, when a scream erupted right beside him—harrowing, unbearable.

He recognized the voice as the young woman downstairs, whom he often saw walking her Samoyed around the compound; she seemed unemployed, living a carefree, comfortable life.

"Help... ah, uh..."

The cry turned into a shriek, then faded into faint chewing sounds. Not a single bark had been heard—perhaps the dog had already died.

Just as he was about to look away, Zhang Su caught movement in his peripheral vision: two twisted figures crawled out from behind the tree that had blocked his view of the fall—his eyes locked onto them: the elderly couple who had just fallen!

"Hell... have we reached hell?"

At some point, Zheng Xinyu had come beside Zhang Su, tears in her eyes as she stared at the scene outside.

She didn’t know what hell looked like, but this was the most horrific, bloody sight she’d ever seen—yet if she saw today’s hospitals, dormitories, factories, she’d realize how shallow her idea of hell truly was!

"What the hell is going on?!"

After being forcibly awakened, he’d been hit with such intense shock he had no time to think clearly; he slumped to the floor, clutching his hair and muttering: "Crazy, everyone’s crazy, everyone’s fucking crazy!"

It wasn’t him who was crazy—it was the world.

But if the entire world except him had gone mad, then who was truly insane?

"This isn’t the script for my life!"

Zhang Su roared inwardly.

His life had been good—he owned a home, assets, and a small car for daily commuting!

He had no debts, earned over ten thousand a month, changed girlfriends twice a year, ate and drank as he pleased, living comfortably, carefree, unbound.

He had no plans to marry, no intention of having children; at thirty, he’d begin his travel career, experiencing different cultures at home and abroad.

Yet all of it vanished the moment he woke up.

"The apocalypse wasn’t supposed to be mine!"

Zhang Su frowned tightly, his heart filled with irritation and a bleak dread for the future.

"Brother Su, don’t be like this, Brother Su..."

Zheng Xinyu felt heartbroken seeing him like this—she never thought such a tall, strong man could look so helpless.

She crouched down, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, saying nothing, offering comfort in gentle silence.

After calming his emotions, Zhang Su took a deep breath and asked softly: "How is it? Any news?"

"No... no internet!"

Zheng Xinyu pulled her arm back and crouched quietly beside him, unwilling to strike him again—but it was the truth.

"No internet?!"

Zhang Su released his hair, stunned—this unbelievable news tightened his brow further.

Before Zheng Xinyu could answer, he strode back to the bedroom, grabbed his phone—its once-full signal now dropped to one bar, flickering like a candle in the wind, sometimes on, sometimes off.

Every call attempt failed; forget internet access!

"Wired internet!"

He remembered and immediately turned on his computer—but the red X in the bottom-right corner sank his heart again.

"I checked already... the computer can’t connect either..."

Zheng Xinyu walked into Zhang Su’s bedroom, speaking in a hushed voice, her tone filled with helplessness.

For modern people accustomed to gathering news through the internet, losing it was a crushing blow—like being blinded and deafened!

Zhang Su didn’t know what could cause a city’s communications and internet to collapse, but he knew this situation was terrible—extremely terrible!

To put it plainly, today the internet was one of a city’s—and even a nation’s—lifelines; if communications and internet failed, the consequences were unimaginable!

He couldn’t even conceive of any scenario that could destroy a city’s communications network in such a short time!

Frustrated, he fiddled with his phone—no improvement. He tossed it onto the bed, pulled on a shirt, and spoke slowly: "Forget the news reports. Let’s piece this together. Xinyu, when did you wake up?"

"I just got up when I called you—haven’t even brushed my teeth..."

Seeing Zhang Su gradually regain composure, Zheng Xinyu felt calmer too.

"Alright, from what we see now, Sheng Qin Jiayuan is definitely finished!"

Zhang Su paused, then continued: "At this hour, Haiyang Street is always bustling. Just now, I saw only one car pass by—and crucially, not a single siren. With something this massive happening and no sirens, plus the internet down—I think..."

He stood up, took a cigarette from the table, lit it, and spoke low: "I think the entire Qincheng is in trouble."

He avoided the heavy word "fallen"—perhaps he couldn’t bring himself to accept it.

"This... don’t scare me."

After hearing Zhang Su’s analysis, Zheng Xinyu covered her mouth with her hand, tears welling in her eyes.

Even a large-scale epidemic would be enough to terrify those caught in it—how much more so when one’s own kind mutated into flesh-eating monsters?

Zheng Xinyu had hoped only Sheng Qin Jiayuan had been destroyed, that troops or special police would soon arrive to suppress everything, or at least that police would come to rescue survivors—but after Zhang Su’s analysis, her heart sank to the bottom.

To preempt readers from questioning, I’ll clarify now: some situations can’t be explained right away—feel free to rationalize them, or treat them as the story’s initial setup. Hehe, that makes sense.

(End of Chapter)