[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-zombie-apocalypse-creation":3,"chapter-zombie-apocalypse-creation-zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-568":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Zombie Apocalypse: Creation",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1887524,2510,"Chapter 568: Story of A Refugee (4)","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-568",568,"\u003Cp>\"Help!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A scream right across from us. A man yelling in pain as blood flew all over the place right before our eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His flesh was shredded into pieces, yet nothing was there hurting him. His head was cut off as his body fell onto the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Everyone, calm down!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite the village leader saying that out loud, he was the first one to run away before everyone realized the enemy they were facing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a ghost, an invisible killer that the outsider was driving away from. It was never me or the lock when he opened fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only thing I could still remember was Dad dragging me and Uncle back home as more and more screams could be heard behind us.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I kept telling myself not to turn around, but I couldn’t help it. But what I saw changed me forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bodies. Bodies everywhere. All the grass was painted red. People’s faces filled with pain as they asked for help.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of them even looked at me, seemingly as if he was begging for me to turn around and help them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Stop looking and keep running!\" Dad warned after noticing some hesitation on my face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I snapped back into my senses as the three of us finally reached inside the house, locking the door before calming down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mom and Jieqiong immediately questioned us about what was happening outside, but we quickly covered their mouth and brought them to the kitchen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only when we reached the basement meant for fermenting food and closed up the lid did we feel it was safe enough to talk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s an invisible monster. He’s killing everyone in the village.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hiding inside the basement for who knows how long, we finally came out into the kitchen once again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The outside was completely dead silent—no sounds of people screaming at all anymore. Not even sounds of roosters barking or cows mooing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I slowly peeked my head past the window curtain, only to see flies all over the dead bodies outside, with the sun already setting on the horizon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of them had died the same way. Three cuts to the head and their chest, almost as if a wolf had used some sharp, long claws to kill them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet, I knew it was no wolf. It had to be something much more sinister. A theory that later turned out to be true.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How’s the outside?\" My dad questioned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I answered nothing out there other than dead bodies. We waited below the window as we couldn’t be sure if the monster was still outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But waiting for a minute or two, the uncle’s patience ran thin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s no way it’s still waiting out there. The sun is almost setting already... We can’t just sit in this house all day.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of us knew he had a point, but the risk was just far too great for us. Seeing him reaching for the door, Dad immediately made a decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let me go!\" Uncle yelled, trying to break free from Dad’s restraint as he put him into a chokehold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re staying here. I’m not letting you open the door... Help me, son!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I quickly ran up, restraining Uncle alongside Dad as we tied him to a chair, covering his mouth with a piece of cloth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’re going to wait until tomorrow morning. No one is leaving right now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the next day arrived, Dad finally untied a grumpy uncle who seemed to have finally come to his senses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the three of us men slowly opened the door with the makeshift shield we had made last night, the outside was oddly peaceful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No monster jumped at us—no footsteps or any signs of life outside. The only thing there was just flies and dead bodies on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After walking a few steps out of the house and having nothing happen, we realized the nightmare was over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The monster was finally gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It took us half a day to bury all the dead bodies in a mass grave and host a short funeral for everyone who had died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A total of fifteen people, or 83% of the men, were now dead in the village. Only the three of us and two more men, including the village leader, who ran first, survived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We tried comforting many of the widows who had lost their husbands. But it was clear there’s a disconnect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, it wasn’t just a disconnect. Rather, it was eyes of hatred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn’t understand it at the time, as I tried to explain to them how the situation didn’t allow us to fight back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one could fight back against something we couldn’t see. But no one took it. Dad pulled me back and told me to remain silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We left the funeral shortly after and headed back home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Mom and Dad telling us to pack up, I was only more confused. But I had no choice other than doing what they had ordered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After we were fully packed up with only a few bottles of water and some beef jerky, we were all on our bikes again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after we biked out of the village for several miles straight did Dad finally explain why we left the village like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We are the only family that is still fully intact. You understand how rare that is? How much jealousy some of those widows felt when they saw us?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All it takes is just one of them with a knife or a match, or just some poison into the water well, we’ll be gone alongside them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I thought of questioning him why someone would go that far when it was completely out of our control. But I fell into silence in the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dad seemed to have noticed my attitude, as he quickly added another piece of explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Son, it’s the apocalypse. Not every person is mentally stable enough. A lot of people are going to think, ’I’m going to take one down with me.’ Do you understand?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I nodded. I understood what he meant by it. But my heart keeps telling me a person wouldn’t go that far.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I just wanted to look at humanity from the positive side. Yet, the eyes I got at the funerals contradicted everything I could think of.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next two days, we kept biking south on a dirt path, trying to reach a place purely based on Dad’s memories as a child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a relatively small town called Yaojia town, not as big as Kaifeng city, but much bigger than the village we had been living in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why are we going to a town instead of a village? Because all three women of the family were running out of ’basic hygiene’ products.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In theory, we should have reached it by now, but that was based on us using the main highway rather than the dirt path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mom was the first to question the route’s reliability, but Dad kept on reassuring her that this dirt path should lead to the same destination.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I had taken this back when I was a kid with my grandpa. Just trust me, honey.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Dad kept on repeating the same line over and over again, our food and water soon ran out on the third day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, we finally ran into the town. But the town’s name was completely different from what Dad had promised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was called Zhaungtou town, not Yaojia town. A town that was 30 kilometers away from what he had promised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m never trusting you again,\" Mom complained as we slowly biked back onto the main road to the town.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My bad.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the apology from Dad, we soon approached our first obstacle. Two zombies are standing outside a gas station, right near the town entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dad quickly pulled out a machete meant for chopping wood back in the village, while I took out a metal water pipe originally from the house in the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a little sneak attack, we aimed our attack right onto the zombie’s head. But to our surprise, they only fell onto the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dad immediately raised his machete again, chopping right onto the zombie’s head while I raised my pipe and banged it on its head on repeat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The zombies are getting tougher,\" Dad murmured as he finished off the zombie I had knocked down with his sharp machete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yeah...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two of us continued advancing towards the gas station as the other three in the back moved forward with their bikes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as I walked close enough to see the inside of the gas station, my eyes widened as I couldn’t believe the item inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half of the shelf was still intact, with boxes of unopened chips and bottles of water, all in a neat stack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was even an item that I had been looking forward to getting when Dad told us we were going to a town.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wait, be careful. This is way too suspicious. How can a store still be full right near the town’s entrance?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dad’s comment instantly snapped me back into reality. The two of us slowly walked around the gas station store in circles, trying to find something odd about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was just nothing—no signs of life based on the dimmed sunlight from the sun on the horizon.\u003C\u002Fp>",1559,"2026-06-10T06:59:52.732Z",1,"novelbin.me","b5cf157dc3c0ee0e768fe59271fc30ae61c7d303e34f5ddc4542a96db5e85353","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-569","zombie-apocalypse-creation-chapter-567",829,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fzombie-apocalypse-creation-cover.jpg"]