Shao Ming made his way toward the consulate as quickly as possible, trying to make as little noise as possible. As he had expected, the number of mutated creatures on the streets was low, likely because the outbreak had occurred some time ago. Most of the people had either been infected and couldn't leave or were too scared to venture outside.
After about half an hour, he finally arrived at the front of the consulate. The building, a traditional European-style structure, was a familiar sight, and the national flag waving at the entrance gave him a small sense of belonging. However, the scene beneath the flag was far from comforting.
The area in front of the consulate was littered with luggage, bloodstains, and scattered body parts. Two buses were parked on the side road, likely part of the consulate's evacuation plan, but it seemed that the attack had come before they could evacuate. A strong smell of blood filled the air, but after days of exposure to the stench, Shao Ming had become numb to it.
Strangely, there were no mutated creatures in sight around the consulate. He glanced behind the buses, but the street was eerily empty. Normally, he would have seen scattered mutated creatures roaming, so this lack of activity made him uneasy. Was it possible that the mutated creatures had wandered off? Shao Ming raised his baseball bat in caution and moved carefully toward the consulate's entrance.
Inside the consulate's lobby, an elderly mutated creature was crouched down, feeding on a pile of bloodied remains. It didn't notice Shao Ming approaching, its attention fully consumed by its meal. Shao Ming quietly placed his bat down and pulled out a fruit knife from his backpack.
After a quick scan of the room, he confirmed there were no other mutated creatures. Stealthily, he approached the creature from behind. His heart was pounding. He had mentally rehearsed every possible scenario: What if the knife didn't go in cleanly? What if it didn't kill it in one strike? What if more mutated creatures heard the noise?
There was no time for second thoughts. He thrust the knife into the mutated creature's neck. It let out a muffled groan and collapsed to the ground. Shao Ming breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew the knife. It seemed that quietly dealing with mutated creatures was still possible.
Although the consulate had several floors, the scene on the first floor resembled hell, and Shao Ming suspected there were no survivors in the building. His goal wasn't to find survivors, though. The consulate's fall had been inevitable, and what mattered now was finding evacuation-related documents—if he could make contact with any organized group, even better. The consulate would have more resources than he did alone.
Shao Ming found a sign indicating the location of the Consul's office and headed upstairs.
The consulate had a side wall that didn't have windows, and with the power out, the stairwell was pitch dark. He pulled out a flashlight and turned it on, revealing a creepy atmosphere in the stairwell—more eerie than anything supernatural.
He shone the flashlight up the stairs, scanning for mutated creatures, but saw none. Continuing upward, he reached the floor where the Consul's office was located. Peering around the corner, he found the hallway disturbingly silent, except for one room with its door ajar, a pool of blood leading from the doorway.
Shao Ming turned off his flashlight, gripped his bat, and carefully approached the door. As he neared, he heard a noise from within.
He held his breath and readied the bat. A mutated creature stumbled out of the room. It had been resting after feeding, but the sound of Shao Ming's footsteps had awakened it.
Without hesitation, Shao Ming swung the bat with all his strength. The creature was knocked to the ground. Before it could scream, Shao Ming landed another blow. A few more strikes and the creature lay motionless.
Inside the Consul's office, the scene was grim. A corpse lay on the floor—more accurately, a skeleton with remnants of blood and flesh scattered around. The mutated creature had consumed everything else.
Shao Ming carefully picked up a name tag from the remains. It read "Wang Wenhua, Consul." This was the consular official who had been in contact with Shao Ming's group some time ago, though they had never received a response to their last email.
Moving to the desk, Shao Ming began searching through the papers. On the right side of the desk, there was a prominent ledger. He flipped it open and saw that it contained contact information for Chinese nationals living in Manchester. Many of the entries had been crossed out, likely because those people had either evacuated or… met a worse fate.
As he flipped through the pages, he found both his and Li Long's numbers. The memory of Li Long, now just a body lying on the rooftop, flashed before his eyes. Shao Ming tried to shake the image away, but it lingered, his mind haunted by the look in Li Long's eyes before he died.
He quickly refocused and continued searching through the phone numbers, dialing them one by one. Given the power outage since the previous night, he hoped that at least some of the cell towers were still working.
The first few calls either went straight to voicemail or were unanswered. Shao Ming began to wonder if he was wasting his phone's battery. But he couldn't give up yet—he refused to believe that all the people listed in the ledger were dead. He needed to find at least one fellow countryman.
After several unsuccessful calls, he dialed the next number.
To his surprise, the phone rang from somewhere else in the room—specifically, from the mutated creature he had just knocked out. The phone was still in its pocket.
Shao Ming cursed softly but dialed another number.
He continued calling for nearly an hour, but every call either went unanswered or disconnected. Just as he was about to give up, he dialed another number, his hope waning.
Then, to his astonishment, the phone finally connected.