Tang Ye suddenly froze, not knowing why, he felt very strange. His usual temperament was gentle, he would never resort to violence. His recent act felt as if he wasn't himself.
"What's happening, why am I like this?" Tang Ye stared at his pale hands, filled with an unfamiliar sense of aggression that had dominated his mind just moments before.
Could this be... could this be because I've turned into a zombie? These past few days, he witnessed from his window how zombies would go crazy at the sight of a human, eating flesh like they had starved for eight lifetimes, full of bloodthirsty violence. His recent behavior shared a similarity with these zombies.
Tang Ye straightened, then kicked the pitiful zombie lying on the ground, before stumbling downstairs. His pace was fast. He missed his footing stepping on a staircase.
Tang Ye lurched forward. He panicked, and with a loud "thud," he landed on the floor. He expected to feel pain, but instead, he felt nothing at all - just like eating or drinking.
"Huh? Why doesn't it hurt?" Tang Ye muttered to himself, understanding his own words as he got up from the ground.
Is it because being a zombie means the pain receptors are severed?
Tang Ye quickly checked himself over, and noticed that his left arm was bent. His left hand was the first to impact the floor when he fell, it must be dislocated now. Yet, he till felt nothing and it felt as if it weren't his own body.
Figuring there's no pain, Tang Ye lifted his right hand, grabbed hold of his left forearm and, with a "crack," twisted it back into place. Whether it really was realigned or not, it looked about right. He then worked on calming the riotous anger in his heart. Taking awkward steps, Tang Ye made his way downstairs.
Three days! This was his first time stepping outside since the end of the world! He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that he's doing so in the form of a zombie.
Tang Ye skirted around the long corridor on the first floor, passing by several intact bodies that lay on the sides. They bore no zombie bite marks, but their flesh was rotting off, resembling zombies. They seemed to be neither alive nor dead. The drying black-red blood on the floor left Tang Ye feeling nauseous as he passed by. As a modern, model youth, had he ever seen such bloody carnage before?
Tang Ye held back his nausea as much as possible, squinting his eyes so as not to see. He continued moving towards the light at the end of the corridor.
"Holy shit!" Tang Ye, having just emerged, took in the sight of the crowded street swarming with zombies and couldn't help but let out an astonished roar!
When he was still human, watching the horde of zombies from the fourth floor made his skin crawl. Now, standing at ground level, he was instantly frozen in terror at the sight of the sea of zombies!
But then he caught himself–he himself was a zombie now, supposedly part of the same group that wouldn't harm each other. This allowed a wave of relief to wash over him.
If he were still human standing here, Tang Ye was certain that he would face a fate worse than being drawn and quartered — the damned zombies would eat him down to his very marrow!
Tang Ye suddenly thought about his sister, Chu Yunxuan. Yunxuan was his childhood friend from the orphanage where they grew up together. They were usually inseparable. Once Yunxuan had even told Tang Ye that she wanted to marry him when they grew up. But everything changed when Yunxuan started high school. She began growing cold towards Tang Ye who was then working tirelessly in Lin City to earn money for her school fees and only seeing her a few times a year. When they finally met, Tang Ye could clearly see her disgust for him in her eyes.
He wondered how she was doing now, hoping she was well...
Tang Ye skirted around the piles of zombies to head towards the supermarket he knew of. He saw a zombie, missing its lower body, dragging itself through the pastiche of colored organs strewn in its wake on the ground, which almost made Tang Ye — a zombie himself — empty his stomach contents!
Finally arriving at the Wanhe Supermarket, he excitedly saw the shelves lined with various snacks and food. Over the past three days, he'd only drunk a bit of what appeared to be safe tap water, so the sight of food put his stomach in overdrive, flooding him with images of tasty steamed mantou and pickled vegetables from his dreams!
His mind wandered to whether his zombie-self could even consume these things, but decided to indulge himself first.
He wobbled his way into the supermarket. Inside, the scene was no different from the streets, filled with roaming zombies. He caught sight of a row of potato chips on a shelf and extended his pale hand to grab a large packet.
Crack!
Tang Ye easily tore open the crisp packet, took a handful of chips, and shoved them into his mouth. However, the very next second, he was frozen as if he'd eaten dog poop.
Roar...heave... retch...
"Holy shit, what is this taste?" Tang Ye let out a harsh growl from his throat. The once fragrant and crispy chips now tasted as if they were diluted fish spread, disgustingly fishy, bad-smelling, and choking!
He tossed the whole packet to the ground in disgust, scattering chips everywhere.
Damn! This god awful taste!
Tang Ye groused internally. He'd decided not to risk tasting any of the remaining snacks. The earlier experience was lesson enough! As he looked back at the food-filled shelves, uncertainty glinted in his eyes. If he couldn't eat these, then what could he eat? Surely he wasn't expected to eat human flesh, right?
Damn it! I've had enough of this bullshit!
With a mental roar, Tang Ye reached out and grabbed another snack - a piece of Sachima - ripped open its wrapper, and tried again.
Sure enough, as soon as the Sachima touched his tongue, the same unpleasant taste from biting into the potato chips filled his entire mouth!
Retch-
Tang Ye spat it out immediately. It was as he feared. He really couldn't eat anything other than human flesh!
Locking eyes with shelves stocked full of food, once a blessing, but now worse than feces to his undead taste buds, Tang Ye felt bitter frustration.
"Ahhh! Help! Help!"
Suddenly! A scream echoed out. Tang Ye, who was scanning around, sharply turned towards the direction of the sound. A woman, arms filled with snacks, was sprinting desperately towards a rolling shutter door, a group of green-eyed zombies hot on her heels.
Their eerie roars filled the supermarket, holding Tang Ye's attention as he watched firsthand, the scene of zombies chasing a human.
To save or not to save?
A dilemma presented itself inside Tang Ye's mind. After pondering for a moment and gritting his teeth, he made a choice.
Save! Even if he's become a zombie now, his thinking was still human!
The woman looked haggard, as though she hadn't eaten for quite some time. Her speed was evidently slower than that of the pursing zombies. It was clear she was about to be caught!
Glimpsing at the zombies drawing closer, the woman's screams grew increasingly panicked.
Clang!
Without realizing, she slipped on the blood-splattered ground, falling hard. The situation was growing worse!