Chapter Six: The Arrival of the Undead

The two men bore a striking resemblance to the local thugs; in the past, those ruffians had often bullied the weak. But this time was different. Fang Xia was clearly not someone to be trifled with—he was armed with a knife. Yet, the two were simply too hungry, desperate enough to risk everything.

“Luckily this kid is easy to fool. Otherwise, things could have gotten really messy. Just a few more steps, hurry up, food is right ahead,” they thought.

Fang Xia had already reached them. The two young men clenched their fists in secret, veins bulging on their foreheads. As soon as Fang Xia passed them, they were ready to strike.

But what awaited them was not Fang Xia’s back, but the gleam of his boning knife.

The razor-sharp blade flashed, plunging straight into the throat of the young man on the left. He hadn’t even realized what was happening before death claimed him. It all happened so quickly that, even if he’d been forewarned, there would have been no escape.

Fang Xia withdrew the knife. The young man on the right was still frozen in confusion as the blade thrust again, this time straight to the heart.

The killing was over in an instant. The two men stood rigidly in place, their final postures unchanged from life; they hadn’t even managed a sound.

Fang Xia stepped past their bodies, wiped the blood from his face, and continued on his way, knife in hand.

In mere seconds, the two corpses toppled stiffly to the ground. It was a pitiful end—they had survived the torrential rain, only to be slain by a reaper before they could celebrate.

In his previous life, Fang Xia had survived five years in the military and six years in the apocalypse. He had lost count of how many times he’d danced on the knife’s edge; a moment’s hesitation would have meant countless deaths. How could these street punks hope to rob someone like him?

Clear-headed and decisive, Fang Xia’s actions were swift and clean—each strike fatal, leaving no threat behind.

As the bodies fell, those who had failed to steal food—and those who had simply been watching—scattered in panic, shouting “Murder!” as they fled.

About half an hour later, Fang Xia saw the gates of the University of Industry.

The firestorm had ended long before; most survivors had already emerged and were searching for food.

On campus, the convenience stores, restaurants, and cafeterias were the students’ first targets.

Fang Xia stopped a student at random to ask for directions to the gymnasium.

Compared to the bustling crowds of students heading for a meal, the area around the gym was eerily quiet. Fang Xia found it odd—after the firestorm, everyone would be hungry, not wandering aimlessly to the gym. So how had someone discovered the empty supply drop here?

At 11:51 PM, Fang Xia reached his destination: the gymnasium.

Just a few minutes remained before the arrival of the zombies.

He surveyed the surroundings. There was nowhere suitable to hide, so he would have to enter the gym.

The gym wasn’t particularly large, and inside it was completely empty—not even a corpse in sight. For Fang Xia, it was perfect.

With no one present, no one would interfere when the supply crate landed.

In his past life, Fang Xia had hidden indoors and missed the first appearance of the zombies; he had no idea how they arrived. But he did know one thing: the zombies wouldn’t simply materialize inside buildings.

Fang Xia made sure only one door was unlocked, then went up to the second floor. Even if zombies did appear, with his skills he could handle a dozen or so without issue. The real danger was an endless swarm from outside, which would wear him down and eventually kill him. Leaving one door open ensured he could make a quick escape after looting the drop.

The second floor had several courts and a few rest rooms. Fang Xia chose one with a wide window view, allowing him to observe the situation outside at all times.

Midnight.

Suddenly, the pitch-black sky was pierced by scattered beams of white light. Cracks appeared where the light shone, and then, from those fissures, black dots began to rain down. As they drew closer, the black dots grew larger—human-like. Just before they struck the ground, Fang Xia finally saw them clearly.

Zombies.

Fang Xia’s pupils contracted. Zombies, falling from the sky. So this was how the first zombies arrived.

The process lasted about ten minutes. Who could say how many zombies were dropped into White City?

Inside the gym, a number of zombies had landed as well. Fang Xia noticed that each zombie was encased in a transparent bubble as they fell, cushioning their impact so they wouldn’t die on landing. These bubbles seemed to have a navigation function, perfectly avoiding all buildings and trees, depositing the zombies only on open ground.

So many questions filled Fang Xia’s mind—firestorm, zombies, supply crates—where did they come from? Was it fate, or someone’s deliberate plan?

He shook his head. Now wasn’t the time for such thoughts. What mattered was growing stronger and surviving this apocalypse; the rest could wait.

As the bubbles burst, the zombies within were revealed. They stood motionless for several minutes before slowly getting up, as if sluggish.

Zombies were creatures of low intelligence, acting entirely on instinct. Once they acclimated, they began to wander aimlessly.

Not only were their minds feeble, but their vision was equally poor—almost blind, in fact. They relied on smell and hearing to distinguish between their kind and humans.

After the zombies appeared, Fang Xia slowed his breathing and kept silent, lying sideways on the sofa, eyes half-closed as he watched the scene through the window.

By now, thirty or forty zombies had gathered at the gym entrance, and more were scattered along the distant roads.

There was no way Fang Xia could fight his way out alone. All he could do was wait.

Suddenly, screams rang out across the silent campus, one after another, sharp and jarring in the quiet night.

The voices were not close, but the zombies at the gym entrance seemed electrified, all swarming toward the sound like a pack of starving wolves sensing prey.

At night, zombies ruled the land, moving at least twice as fast as during the day. Fang Xia was still too weak to risk action. The distant cries lured the gym’s zombies away, and Fang Xia let out a quiet sigh of relief.

No wonder, in his past life, someone had been able to find this supply drop so quickly—the zombies had all been drawn off by the noise.

More screams echoed across campus, but after a while, silence returned.

Even the survivors must have realized that making noise was a death sentence.

Even if they’d never seen a zombie, surely they’d watched zombie movies.

As time passed, a few zombies wandered back—five or six at most.

With so few, Fang Xia could manage. The real threat would come if the numbers increased again.