Chapter 135: Chaos and Despair

One week after the network was cut.

Dongdao, this island once famed for order and civilization, has completely torn off its disguise.

When the last can of tuna was eaten, when the last bottle of mineral water ran dry, when the hunger in the belly burned reason like a raging fire.

Civilization then became the most ridiculous luxury.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The heavy, savage pounding on the door made the Cunxia family curled up in the living room tremble like a sifted chaff.

Open the door! Quickly open the door! We know someone is inside! Hand over your food!

Outside the door stood the neighbor who yesterday was bowing and nodding, but now his voice was hoarse like a beast.

Mr. Cunxia pressed hard against the door, feeling the massive shock of each impact.

The wife, cradling her young daughter, hid behind the sofa, pressing her hand tightly over the child's mouth so she could not make any sound.

"Please, we really have nothing left to eat! Truly nothing!" Mr. Cunxia pleaded with a sobbing voice.

In response came even more frantic pounding and curses.

"Bullshit! You bought so much stuff the day before yesterday! I saw it all!"

"If you don't open the door, we'll set it on fire!"

Crash—!

With a crisp crack, the window beside them was shattered by a stone.

A hand reached in through the broken opening, groping for the latch to open the window.

Despair instantly seized Mr. Cunxia's heart.

He knew the door breaking was only a matter of time.

And this scene was playing out in every apartment and every street of this country.

At first it was only scattered distress calls, but soon they merged into a flood of despair that overwhelmed the Metropolitan Police Department.

The unreachable emergency hotline and unanswered pleas became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

When violence seized the first food, Pandora's box was completely opened.

Robbery, arson, brawls... the most primal evil in humanity ran wild on this isolated island.

Inside the Prime Minister's Residence, Xiao Yesi watched reports fluttering in like snowflakes; his already gaunt face now had not a trace of color.

"Report! Massive riots have broken out in Shibuya District!"

"Report! Armed fire clash in Xinsu District! Dozens are dead or injured!"

"Report! Residents of Harbor District have organized a 'Hunting Squad' and begun robbing every convenience store and bank!"

"Enough!"

Xiao Yesi slammed his fist onto the table, his eyes bloodshot, looking like a mad demon.

"Relay my orders!"

He gasped heavily, each word forced out between his teeth.

"Order the Self-Defense Forces to mobilize! All units! Loaded with live ammunition! Enter the city!"

"Allow any means, crush this group of Thugs...!"

Boom—

Tank treads rolled over the empty street, emitting a deafening roar.

Squads of fully armed Self-Defense Forces soldiers leapt from military trucks, swiftly establishing defensive lines in each block.

At first, their arrival indeed brought a hint of order.

Some survivors besieged by Thugs saw hope.

However, when the army first faced the Thugs head‑on, a horror no one expected occurred.

"Stop! Drop your weapons! Or we will fire!"

A Captain brandished a rifle, sternly warning a group of stick‑wielding Thugs that rushed out from the street corner.

The Thugs, eyes bloodshot, ignored the warning and charged forward, howling.

"Fire!"

Clack clack clack clack clack!

Flames spewed, and the few Thugs at the front were instantly shredded into a sieve, collapsing in a pool of blood.

The remaining ones fled in terror.

The Captain exhaled, just about to order a sweep of the battlefield.

Suddenly, a Thug who should have died staggered up from the ground.

His chest was a mess of blood and flesh, yet his face bore a huge, rigid... Weird smile.

"Careful!"

The Captain's pupils dilated sharply, just as he shouted.

That 'living corpse' Thug suddenly turned, its unfocused eyes fixed on him.

The next second.

The Captain's body froze, the arm holding the gun beginning to tremble involuntarily.

The muscles on his face twisted, his mouth corners involuntarily stretching upward.

An identical Weird smile appeared on his face.

"Captain? What's wrong with you?" a nearby soldier noticed something amiss.

"Heh... heh heh..."

The Captain let out an incomprehensible laugh, abruptly swiveling his barrel to aim at the comrade beside him.

"Clack clack clack clack clack!"

A wail rang out instantly.

No one expected the allied fire to come from behind.

The entire squad fell into chaos within a few seconds because the Captain lost control.

And the instigator, that Thug with a Weird smile, simply tilted his head and quietly watched the self‑destructive "performance".

The same situation unfolded repeatedly at each firefight point.

After paying a heavy price, the Senior Executive of the Self-Defense Forces finally reached a conclusion that sent chills through their bodies.

Among the Thugs were Infected tainted by the Laughing Demon.

And their soldiers, if they made eye contact with those "smiling faces" in battle, would be instantly infected, becoming new sources of the plague.

A cold, emotionless order was transmitted via an encrypted channel to the ears of every frontline commander.

"From now on, abandon identification."

"All people moving on the streets, whether Thugs or civilians, whether they are calling for help or not."

"All... execute without hesitation!"

The keepers of order, at this moment, became the coldest butchers.

Inside an apartment building.

Mr. Zuoteng, through a slit in the curtains, saw a patrol of soldiers passing below.

Hope ignited in his eyes.

He and his family were on the brink of starvation and had to go out to find food.

"We're saved! It's the Self-Defense Forces!"

He shouted to his wife, ignoring her protests, and rushed wildly toward the door.

"Don't go! It's too dangerous outside!"

"It's fine! They're here to rescue us!"

Mr. Zuoteng flung open the door, sprinted onto the Corridor, and frantically waved at the soldiers below.

"Help! We're here! Save us!"

The soldiers downstairs heard the voice and simultaneously lifted their heads.

The leading officer raised his hand expressionlessly.

Mr. Zuoteng's smile had not yet faded.

"Bang!"

A bullet pierced precisely through his brow.

The light in his eyes dimmed quickly as his body fell backward, landing in front of his terrified wife.

Dongdao had completely become a living hell.

On the 32nd floor of another apartment building.

The Tianzhong family huddled in a dark room, trembling.

Suddenly.

"Knock knock knock."

A clear knocking sound rang out.

The three of them were so frightened their hearts seemed about to leap out.

"Who... who is it?" Mr. Tianzhong mustered courage and asked in a trembling voice.

From outside the door came a young, sweet child's voice.

"Uncle, I... I got separated from Mom and Dad, I'm so scared, can I come in and hide?"

Is it a little girl?

Mr. Tianzhong hesitated.

He tiptoed to the door, pressed his face to the peephole, and looked outside.

Through the distorted peephole view stood a little girl in a pink dress, her cute twin ponytails bobbing, head lowered, quietly sobbing.

She looked... harmless.

The vigilance in Tianzhong's heart instantly halved.

Perhaps just a lost child.

He was about to pull the latch.

At that moment, the little girl in the peephole seemed to sense his gaze.

She slowly, slowly lifted her head.

A naive, innocent face stared into the peephole.

Then.

She twisted her mouth, facing the eye in the peephole, and revealed a huge, rigid, beyond‑human... Weird smile.

"Ah!"

Mr. Tianzhong seemed struck by electricity, leapt backward, and fell hard onto the floor.

He saw it!

He saw that smile!

In terror he covered his face, yet could clearly feel his mouth corners wildly lifting uncontrollably!

"No... don't..."

He tried to scream, but only a weird "hoho" laugh came from his throat.

The scene shifts.

Bang!

Tianzhong's body falls from high above, crashing onto the ground into a vague pool of blood and flesh.

Not far away, a Type‑90 main battle tank rolls by slowly, its turret turning, the pitch‑black gun barrel like an indifferent eye scanning this death city.

The other end of the city.

A father, trying to protect his daughter hiding in the cabinet, is brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat by three Thugs.

The daughter curls up in the dark cabinet, peering through the door crack at the three demons ransacking the house, dividing the family's last food and valuables.

Just as they are satisfied and about to leave.

The neighboring room's door opens silently.

The uncle from next door, with a Weird smile on his face, stands quietly in the doorway.

The three Thugs see him.

Then, the same kind of smile appears on their faces.

A Weird revelry begins.

They no longer pay attention to the girl in the cabinet, and start crazily smashing each other's heads with looted cans.

Fresh blood and brain matter, mixed with the soup from the cans, splash across the entire living room.

The girl watches this hellish scene, wants to scream, but can only bite her own hand hard, emitting a beast‑like whimper.

Every corner of the city stages bloodshed and despair.

Survivors must not only evade the ubiquitous "Smile Infected".

They also have to beware of the "Humanity Demons" who loot amid the chaos, having lost their humanity.

And they must be wary of the "Order Guardians" patrolling the streets, indiscriminately shooting any living thing.

Triple peril, no escape.

The camera slowly lifts from this ground‑level human hell of burning, collapse, and wailing across the fields.

Through thick smoke, over the buildings.

Finally, it reaches the top of a skyscraper.

In the howling gale, a young figure dressed in black casual wear stands leaning on the railing.

He quietly gazes down at everything below, his eyes as calm as a frozen lake.

His left eye is human black, deep and resolute.

And in his right eye, a faint azure vortex slowly circulates, as if containing an entire starry sky.

A semi‑transparent girl in a white dress stands quietly beside him, her jet‑black hair fluttering in the wind.

"It seems this country..."

Lin Fan withdraws his gaze and speaks softly.

"We're screwed."