Shao Ming trembled as he lowered the gun and approached the man's body.
The corpses of the couple couldn't be left here, but Shao Ming didn't want to leave them to be devoured by the mutated creatures. He swallowed his disgust and took down the makeshift rain shelter. Using the tarpaulin, he wrapped the two bodies together.
As he glanced at the woman's severed neck, he could see that the cut was jagged, a sign that the man had hacked at it repeatedly. The sight made him sick, and when he saw the body up close—already showing signs of decomposition—Shao Ming's stomach churned. He ran to the side and vomited.
After regaining control of himself, Shao Ming wrapped the bodies with blankets and sheets, then tied them up with rope before dragging them off to one side.
Just as he was about to cover the bodies, the growls of mutated creatures echoed from nearby.
Shao Ming quickly grabbed the spear and ran to the rooftop.
The sounds were coming from the building next door, likely from the mutated creatures that had entered the night before, drawn by the gunshots.
Shao Ming climbed to the adjacent rooftop and peered over the edge. Through a gap in the fire escape, he locked eyes with one of the mutated creatures below, which immediately let out a terrifying roar. It scrambled up the fire escape, heading straight for him.
Luckily, Shao Ming was on the rooftop, and the fire escape didn't lead directly there.
Shao Ming braced himself, positioning the spear. Sure enough, the first mutated creature climbed up but couldn't reach the rooftop. It tried to pull him down, reaching out with both hands.
Shao Ming thrust the spear forward, and it struck true, piercing the creature's eye.
The creature collapsed, but Shao Ming's grip on the spear was too tight, and he was yanked off balance, falling onto the fire escape.
It wasn't a long fall—only a single story—but it still hurt, and Shao Ming's face stung.
He quickly scrambled to his feet, pulling the spear out of the creature's skull.
The second mutated creature was climbing up the escape ladder, but the narrow stairs only allowed one creature to come up at a time.
Shao Ming jabbed his spear at it, but this time the tip broke off. The skull of the mutated creature was harder than he had anticipated, and the makeshift spear simply couldn't penetrate.
The creature stumbled, but it kept coming, climbing onto the rooftop.
Shao Ming discarded the spear and grabbed the baseball bat from his back. He swung it hard at the mutated creature's head.
The creature staggered but didn't fall, so Shao Ming quickly kicked it toward the railing.
With the bat raised again, he delivered a crushing blow to the creature's head. The strike didn't completely crush its skull, but it sent the mutated creature tumbling down the stairs.
Shao Ming didn't have time to check if the creature was dead because a third one was already coming up. He couldn't adjust his grip on the bat in time, so he swung it directly at the creature's head.
The blow knocked the creature back, but it didn't stop it. Instead, it lunged, tackling Shao Ming to the ground.
Its mouth opened wide, aiming for his face. Shao Ming quickly raised his left hand, blocking the bite with the textbooks wrapped around his arm. Though the mutated creature's bite was powerful, the books held, preventing the teeth from piercing through.
Shao Ming swung his right fist, repeatedly hammering down on the creature's skull. Luckily, the earlier strike had cracked its skull, and with each punch, fragments of bone lodged deeper into the creature's brain.
Eventually, the creature's grip loosened, and it stopped moving.
Shao Ming shoved the creature's body off him, spat on it, and looked at the torn books in his hands. "The power of knowledge," he muttered dryly, "taking root."
He climbed to his feet, ensuring there were no other mutated creatures nearby, and began making his way down the fire escape.
Most of the windows in the building next door were tightly shut, with curtains drawn, and one apartment on the fourth floor had even boarded up all its windows.
On the second floor, a window was broken, and the heavy stench of blood wafted from inside. Shao Ming peered through the hole. Despite the rain and poor lighting, he could make out half a body lying on the floor.
It seemed to be the unfortunate soul from last night. Shao Ming took out his phone and activated the flashlight. The room was a grisly sight.
The bloodstains were everywhere, and body parts and internal organs had been carelessly discarded in one corner.
Shao Ming sucked in a breath, trying not to gag at the horror before him. He quickly closed the curtains and moved on.
Finally, he reached the bottom of the fire escape. The old steps creaked loudly as he descended.
Shao Ming froze and held his breath, pulling out his gun.
It seemed the mutated creatures hadn't been drawn to the noise.
He carefully stepped down the last few rungs and reached the ground.
Shao Ming quickly checked his mental map. Going left was out of the question, with the hospital and roadblocks in that direction. However, if he continued straight, passing through Manchester University, he could reach the area near Whiteworth Park.
The university was likely safer than the streets. After the curfew, classes had been suspended, and most of the buildings should be secure.
Shao Ming figured that since mutations didn't happen instantly, many students would have stayed in their dorms, and there were probably still some unmutated people hiding inside the campus.
He made up his mind, then turned into a narrow alley and emerged onto the main street.
The street appeared deserted, with no signs of mutated creatures. However, across the road, he noticed a few figures swaying erratically.
Shao Ming quickly dropped to a crouch, using the parked cars as cover to move along the edge of the street.