Chapter 6

My name is Jiang Cheng.

Hiss—my name is Shen Wei.

Do you live alone?

I live with my boyfriend. Oh, I hiss—I forgot my bag. Hiss—

Don't worry about it, talk about it when we're safe.

Okay.

Jiang Cheng felt that Shen Wei was surprisingly light, much lighter than she had estimated based on her height and build. This was abnormal.

Jiang Cheng had basically confirmed that her strength had really increased compared to before she passed out.

But it seemed like she hadn't increased as much as the monsters had. Luckily, the monsters weren't very agile. If a monster could control its limbs and balance like a normal person, she would have been dead long ago.

Ah! Shen Wei gasped quietly.

She saw the security guard's body.

Did you kill him? Her voice trembled. Did the security guard turn into a monster too?

Turning into a monster doesn't discriminate by identity or profession, Jiang Cheng said.

Shen Wei fell silent.

As they walked further, they arrived in front of the building and saw the body of a neighbor.

Not only was the neighbor's head shattered, but his arms and legs were also broken and twisted out of shape. His death was even more gruesome than the security guard's or the male homeowner's in the garden.

Shen Wei felt both nauseous and terrified. She took one look and dared not look again.

Jiang Cheng said, "It's a good thing you didn't go back. There were other people in your house, and you can't be sure they won't mutate. This is my next-door neighbor. He should have been the earliest to wake up in the whole complex. He probably bit his dog to death. The dog’s barking woke me up. Sit here for a moment."

She set Shen Wei down on the raised platform beside the steps, then quickly climbed the stairs herself.

Under the porch, the black cat lay still, a large pool of blood beneath it.

The cat had been bitten in the belly by the security guard, who had ripped off a chunk of fur and flesh.

Jiang Cheng started crying.

She had come to this city just to get away from her greedy relatives who wanted to inherit everything, and also because it was easier to find a job in a big city.

But she had never really fit in; all her relationships were superficial.

She had actually always been lonely.

Although she couldn't tell if this feeling of "loneliness" truly belonged to her or to the original "Jiang Cheng" whose body she had taken over, whenever she thought about it, a sour ache gripped her heart.

Just yesterday, she had finally ceased to be lonely. She had gained a companion—Mo Li.

The somewhat aloof little black cat didn't seem to want to be kept as a pet. He had run away, but he had rushed back at the critical moment and bravely sacrificed himself to save her life.

In the little cat's heart, she must have been special.

He must have accepted her as a companion.

He must have been lonely too.

Jiang Cheng's tears fell, splashing onto Mo Li's wound. Suddenly, the cat twitched.

Not dead yet! Still alive!

Jiang Cheng wiped away her tears in one swift motion, gently probing with her finger. Sure enough, the heart was still beating—much faster than a human’s, thump-thump-thump.

Jiang Cheng looked back at the steps where Shen Wei was watching her intently.

Shen Wei was trembling with pain. For a young girl to endure such agony without crying out was pretty impressive. If she had to walk on her own, she could, but she would be slower than an old man or woman.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Cheng carefully cradled Mo Li, lifted the hem of her T-shirt, and wrapped it around the cat. She pinched the left, right, and middle parts of the T-shirt hem together and bit down on them firmly with her mouth.

Her entire belly and waist were exposed, even her underwear was showing, but Mo Li was secured in front of her chest using the shirt, leaving her hands free.

She walked down the steps, then propped up Shen Wei's arm. "Goh!" (Go!)

With Jiang Cheng's help, Shen Wei endured the agonizing pain and climbed the steps. The two of them entered the building.

Jiang Cheng looked back and kicked the building door shut with her foot. It was just a useless glass door, but she felt that without the lure of living human flesh and blood, the monsters wouldn’t actively try to break things.

The neighbor had chased her out of his apartment, then chased her again, breaking the stairwell window and jumping down—his target had been her, a living person.

The man in the garden had also gone after Shen Wei’s flesh and blood.

Without a living person to lure them, closing the door might prevent the monster in the garden from coming in.

Shen Wei seemed on the verge of passing out from the pain.

She was really holding up well. After the initial fear and panic, she could at least cooperate without crying or making a fuss.

But having her take the stairs was out of the question. Jiang Cheng chose the elevator.

One elevator was already waiting on the first floor. She pressed the button, and it opened immediately. Jiang Cheng deliberately kept her distance from the elevator doors to make sure nothing was inside.

Luckily, the elevator was empty. The eerie white light shone on the brushed metal walls, making it look like a scene from a ghost movie.

One benefit of living on a low floor was that it took only a few seconds to arrive.

When the elevator doors opened, Shen Wei felt that Jiang Cheng's whole body was tense. Even with her dizziness, she could feel Jiang Cheng's tension.

Fortunately, there were no other monsters in the hallway.

Jiang Cheng helped Shen Wei towards her own apartment.

As they passed one of the doors, they heard a voice from inside: "Ziqing! Ziqing, what are you doing? It's me! Ziqing, you're crazy! Let go of me! Li Ziqing! Ah—"

"Ahhh—!" A man's voice turned shrill. "Help! Help! Ahhhhhh—!"

Startled, Shen Wei opened her eyes and glanced at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng's steps faltered for a moment, but she clenched the shirt hem in her teeth and continued forward without stopping, still supporting Shen Wei.

Shen Wei bit her lip and hung her head.

Both of them knew what was happening in that room—two people in a small apartment had woken up. One was still human, the other had turned into a monster.

In such a tiny apartment, with the other person being someone close to her, she probably hadn't been able to react in time to grab a weapon and defend herself. She wasn't as lucky as Shen Wei, who had Jiang Cheng to rescue her.

Monsters were very strong. Once they pinned you down and started biting, it was basically...

But Jiang Cheng and Shen Wei weren't superheroes. They were just two ordinary girls. Their top priority was to save themselves first.

Now there was an injured person and an injured cat.

One was dying, the other on the verge of passing out.

Jiang Cheng spotted a baseball bat lying on the ground in front of the door opposite the neighbor's apartment. It was a good weapon—perfect for dealing with monsters whose heads were brittle and bodies uncoordinated.

Jiang Cheng hooked it with her foot, kicked it once, and sent her baseball bat back to her own doorstep.

Her apartment door was still wide open. She had left it ajar earlier when she went out to check on the neighbor.

Next door, the neighbor's apartment door was also open. Sneaking a glance in the dim hallway light, she vaguely saw blood on the floor and the remains of the dog.

Jiang Cheng pushed her own door wide open with her foot. The small apartment was visible at a single glance; it was safe.

She kicked the baseball bat inside, then helped Shen Wei in, and closed the door behind them.

The lock clicked into place with a snap, signaling that Jiang Cheng had finally returned to a temporarily safe space.

Using her last bit of strength, Jiang Cheng helped Shen Wei to the bed and laid her down.

Shen Wei couldn't hold on any longer. She opened her eyes to look at Jiang Cheng once, then closed them.

The white shirt tied around the wound was completely soaked red. Jiang Cheng hadn't used very professional techniques; she had been in a hurry, and Shen Wei's wound was large. Plus, with all the walking, the shirt couldn't fully cover the injury, and the exposed parts kept bleeding.

With her hands finally free, Jiang Cheng quickly released her mouth and gently placed Mo Li, who was still wrapped in her shirt, onto the bed.

She couldn’t let her guard down yet. Gritting her teeth, she quickly grabbed the family first-aid kit. The kit was small, containing only some basic medicine.

rummaging through it, she pulled out a bottle of iodophor, unscrewed the cap, and poured some directly over the wound on Mo Li’s belly.

It must have hurt badly—all four of Mo Li’s limbs twitched.

Then she used scissors to cut open the white shirt Shen Wei had tied around herself. The wound was too large, so Jiang Cheng poured the rest of the iodophor into the gash on Shen Wei’s shoulder.

Shen Wei had already closed her eyes, unconscious from the pain, but the sudden sting jolted her awake. She couldn’t even scream, only letting out a hissing breath.

Jiang Cheng pulled out gauze pads and bandages, wrapping them around Mo Li’s belly a few times before tying them off.

There wasn’t enough bandage left for Shen Wei. She pressed a few gauze pads onto the wound to stop the bleeding, wrapped what bandage remained around it, then went to the wardrobe to grab a T-shirt. Cutting it open, she finally bound Shen Wei’s wound tightly.

Shen Wei passed out from the pain again. Better that way—less suffering.

Both the woman and the cat were bandaged now. The supplies were limited, and her methods were crude, but Jiang Cheng had done everything she could.

Finally, drained of energy, she collapsed onto the floor by the bed, leaning her back against the bed frame and letting her head fall back onto the mattress.

As the adrenaline faded, an indescribable weakness spread through her body.

She lay there, face upturned and eyes closed, taking several deep breaths before she felt a little better.

Then she opened her eyes again—the noise was gone. The man who had been shouting “Li Ziqing” in the hallway had stopped.

Having seen those neighbors on the same floor a few times, Jiang Cheng could roughly guess which couple it was. Like Shen Wei, they were cohabiting lovers.

Living alone as a single woman was often considered unsafe.

But today, those living alone were the lucky ones. Because you could never guarantee the person beside you would still be human when they woke up.

Most people couldn’t assess the situation in time, nor could they steel themselves to strike down someone they were close to. In a cramped apartment, once you lost the initiative, your chances of survival dropped sharply.

Jiang Cheng closed her eyes again.

But just as she was about to rest for a moment, voices echoed from the hallway once more—

“What’s going on?” came a loud banging on a door, followed by, sounding close, banging on Li Ziqing’s door. “You okay? What’s happening in there? Is this some kind of game, or is something wrong? Say something if it’s just messing around.”

Jiang Cheng opened her eyes again. With no choice but to catch her breath, she stood up and walked toward the door.

First, she checked through the peephole. Confirming nothing looked amiss, she cracked the door open and peeked out.

The man banging on Li Ziqing’s door was also familiar to Jiang Cheng. He was a male neighbor on their floor. She didn’t know the neighbors’ names, but she’d given them nicknames in her head.

For example, Li Ziqing and her partner were always all over each other in the hallway and elevator, so Jiang Cheng had mentally dubbed them the “Lovebirds.”

The man now knocking was large—clearly a fitness enthusiast, with broad shoulders, huge pectorals and biceps, and his neck had thickened noticeably.

Jiang Cheng called him “Big Guy” in her head.

Big Guy had once tried to flirt with her, but she wasn’t into that exaggerated, bulging muscular type and hadn’t responded.

He hadn’t pushed it. Occasionally, they’d nod at each other when crossing paths.

“Go back!” she shouted. “Go back! Back inside your room! Someone’s turned into a monster—it bites! Get back inside!”

But without seeing a supernatural phenomenon firsthand, who would easily believe someone claiming there were monsters? Big Guy looked baffled. “Huh? What the hell? No, what are you talking about?”

Jiang Cheng was about to shout again when the door next to Li Ziqing’s abruptly made a loud bang.

Then another bang.

Just like earlier with her next-door neighbor.

Jiang Cheng’s pupils contracted sharply.