Shao Ming tossed the baseball bat onto the rooftop and tucked the handgun into his waistband, preparing to try and climb up to the roof.
He glanced back at the man, who had returned to kneeling by the woman's side. After confirming that the man wasn't likely to suddenly leap up and stab him from behind, Shao Ming shook his head and grabbed the edge of the roof. With a strong pull, he hoisted himself up, stepping onto the wall to make it to the rooftop.
Because the two buildings had different architectural designs, the rooftops aligned perfectly. Shao Ming climbed over to the neighboring building's roof, which was also part of an apartment complex. He walked to the edge of the rooftop, where he could see that the next building was only separated by a two-meter-wide alley.
If he continued along this path, he could reach the street.
However, the situation was a bit awkward. Their row of apartment buildings was separated from the others. Even if he made it to the street, he would still have to figure out how to cross a road to get to a rooftop closer to the main thoroughfare.
Shaking his head, Shao Ming decided this route wouldn't work.
He wandered around the rooftop for a bit and suddenly noticed that the back side of this building had an emergency escape ladder attached to the outside. This ladder led directly down to a parking lot behind the building.
Given that the apartment only had one entrance, escaping via the rooftop to the neighboring building and then down the ladder to the parking lot seemed like a possible route. The problem was, how could he get the injured Li Long up here?
Shao Ming returned to his own rooftop, grabbed the baseball bat, and climbed down.
The woman lying on the bed turned her head and glanced at Shao Ming. Her eyes seemed to silently plead: "End my life."
Once again, a dark thought crossed Shao Ming's mind—kill the woman. If necessary, kill the man as well. If she was a mutated survivor, there was a possibility that the rooftop still harbored two infected people.
But he couldn't do it. He didn't know what illness the woman had, and he wasn't prepared to kill a living person.
As soon as he opened the door to his apartment, Li Long's voice came from within.
"Ming? Is that you? Come here and look at this."
"It's me," Shao Ming replied, turning back to lock the door and pushing the sofa to block it.
He entered the bedroom, where Li Long was typing on his laptop.
"What's up?" Shao Ming asked.
"The embassy sent us an update," Li Long said.
Shao Ming hurriedly asked, "An update? What did they say?"
"About one-fifth of the people trapped like us have received the message. The plane will still depart on schedule today, but they're in contact with the UK to figure out how they can get us out."
"I knew it! There's always a way," Shao Ming said excitedly. "The embassy won't abandon us."
"There's always hope, right?" Li Long said with a faint smile. "I kind of envy your attitude."
"Envy, huh?" Shao Ming chuckled. "You should learn from me."
"Go to hell."
Shao Ming glanced at the time—it was already 8:00. "Do you want anything to eat?"
"Anything is fine. Whatever."
Shao Ming stirred the fish and chips in the pan. He just wanted to get home quickly. And no matter what, even if the embassy couldn't get them out, he was determined to return home.
After finishing breakfast, Shao Ming took out his phone and sent a few messages to his family. It was already noon in Beijing, but they hadn't replied.
Maybe they just hadn't seen it… Shao Ming comforted himself.
He brought the breakfast into Li Long's room and sat down next to him.
"The embassy sent me a message," Li Long said, turning his laptop to show Shao Ming. "They said if we have any further problems, we should email Consul Wang at the Manchester Consulate."
"Consul Wang," Shao Ming muttered. "I'll send him an email later and explain our situation."
Li Long nodded, set his laptop aside, and started eating his breakfast.
"Is there any other news?" Shao Ming asked.
"There's a lot of news, actually. When you refresh, there's plenty of it, but it's mostly bad news…" Li Long paused and then added, "It seems the city's order has collapsed. There are hardly any doctors left, and many police officers and firefighters are sick. The government's message is for people to take up arms and protect themselves. The UK, France, Germany, the US, Russia, Canada… they're all in the same situation."
"What about back home?" Shao Ming asked. "What's going on there?"
"It's a lot better than here," Li Long said. "There have been reports of mutated creatures, but they seem to be able to control it for the most part."
"Either way, we need to get back…" Shao Ming sighed.
"I haven't shown any symptoms of the aftereffects," Li Long said, chewing on his fries. "Maybe the aftereffects aren't something everyone has to deal with?"
"There's no solid evidence linking the two. Most of it is just speculation," Shao Ming replied half-heartedly, not sure whether he was reassuring Li Long or himself.
Shao Ming picked up a piece of cod and popped it in his mouth, then opened his phone and entered a study abroad group chat.
There were fewer people talking than the previous days, and most of the messages were from those who hadn't been in the lockdown area and were trying to get to the airport.
A few students were discussing how to get to the airport, but he had no idea where they were.
He should've just moved to a different apartment back then.
Exiting the group chat, Shao Ming opened Twitter and clicked on the trending hashtag "Manchester Survivors."
The thread was even more chaotic now. It seemed that after everything that had happened in the past two days, many people were on the brink of a mental breakdown.
There were people begging God for help, some claiming to have symptoms, others howling in videos, and some even live-streaming themselves in a drunken stupor.
But the most popular post was one titled "Survivors of the Day."
Shao Ming took a closer look. It seemed to be a request for those still alive and without symptoms to reply in the comment section.
Over 12,000 people had commented. Usually, a city-related topic would have only a few dozen responses at most, but it seemed there were still many survivors.
Shao Ming thought for a moment and then typed "1" into the comments.
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering came from outside the window. It sounded close.