C4 Midnight Shock

Lu Yu lived on the 29th floor, the topmost level of their building, just below the rooftop.

Each floor housed four families, split between two units on the east side and two on the west.

A mid-air corridor about ten meters long connected the east and west sides. Lu Yu often spent his free time leaning over the railing of this walkway, soaking in the view below, much to the worry of Lu's mother, who feared he might take a dangerous tumble.

Lu Yu shut off the faucet, tuning his ears to listen intently.

The scream originated from next door. The sound, piercing and sharp, traveled through the single load-bearing wall separating the households, allowing Lu Yu to pinpoint its direction with clarity.

"It's nearly midnight, what's happening next door?" Lu Yu's brow furrowed as he made his way to the living room door.

The neighbors were a family of three: a young couple, with the man appearing to be a junior executive at some company.

Lu Yu often saw him impeccably dressed in a suit and leather shoes, his slicked-back hair gleaming, always in a rush and on the phone.

The woman, a friendly homemaker, never failed to greet Lu Yu with warmth.

They had a delightful daughter who, if Lu Yu's memory served him right, had just turned nine this year.

Lu Yu crept to the door and peered through the peephole.

Across from his apartment, the door was ajar, the milky white light seeping through the crack and piercing the darkness.

Lu Yu remained quiet, flicking off the switch to darken his room and kept a watchful eye on the scene unfolding outside.

Soon after, a woman in pajamas burst out of her apartment, her expression fraught with panic. She made a beeline for Lu Yu's door, pausing briefly before ringing the bell.

"Ding dong, ding dong!" The doorbell sounded with urgency. Lu Yu stayed put, silently observing the distressed woman.

His usually poised and generous neighbor was now a picture of anxiety and unrest, her eyes brimming with fear.

Why didn't Lu Yu open the door? Through the peephole, he had spotted the large dark red stains on her pajamas—a color all too reminiscent of blood.

After a moment of futile ringing, the woman ceased her attempts and dashed back to her apartment, pulled out her phone, and began to dial, leaning against her door for support.

"Three buttons pressed—should I call the police or an ambulance?"

Lu Yu pondered silently as he continued to watch the woman outside his door.

Soon, the woman set down her phone, apparently unable to get a signal. As her anxiety peaked, several dull thuds echoed from inside the house.

Startled, the woman quickly returned indoors.

Lu Yu kept his silence, understanding the gravity of the situation. The woman ringing his doorbell in the dead of night, her pajamas smeared with dark red, clearly indicated a dire emergency at home.

Coupled with the earlier screams he had heard, a chilling hypothesis took shape in his mind.

He pulled out his phone and dialed the police.

Lu Yu reasoned that if the call went through, he'd relay the details to the authorities. If not, it would confirm his suspicion—a zombie outbreak.

Listening to the busy signal, "Beep... Beep..." Lu Yu stood in the dark, his mind reeling, his last shred of doubt about Zhang Hang's words erased.

"He was telling the truth..." As Lu Yu whispered to himself, a frantic knocking erupted at the door.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The sounds were urgent and heavy, like the last desperate efforts of someone on the brink of death.

Peering through the peephole, Lu Yu saw the same woman, her eyes now brimming not just with anxiety, but with a hint of despair.

Yet, devoid of empathy, he couldn't grasp her despair. Logic also warned him that stepping out to assist her could spell trouble for himself. After all, it wasn't his concern, and some troubles are best avoided.

So, Lu Yu remained behind his door, silently observing the desperate figure outside.

The woman's futile pounding ceased as she stumbled backward.

Suddenly, Lu Yu noticed a vivid red gash on the woman's neck.

She clutched at the wound with her left hand, but the gash was too large, and blood seeped through her fingers, staining the carpet outside Lu Yu's door.

A neck injury was often fatal, and judging by the blood loss, it was likely an arterial wound.

Lu Yu found himself wrestling with indecision. He disliked complications and couldn't grasp the woman's sense of despair.

Yet, judging by her injuries, if he chose to ignore her plight, she might very well perish right on his doorstep.

With a "click," Lu Yu gingerly cracked the door open. As he was about to peek out to check on the woman, a bizarre hiss sounded from behind her.

"Thud!" The door slammed shut from the force of a heavy blow.

Rushing to the peephole, Lu Yu was met with a horrifying sight.

The woman was sprawled on the ground, her legs flailing in view as she was pinned against the door by a figure smeared with blood.

Her screams, the tearing of her skin, and the gnashing on her flesh echoed from outside, sending shivers down Lu Yu's spine.

His hand slowly left the doorknob as he tried to back away, but his legs were as heavy as lead, refusing to budge. Losing his balance, Lu Yu collapsed onto the floor.

Yes, fear had taken hold of Lu Yu.

With danger lurking just beyond his door, he was finally struck by terror.

Incapable of empathizing with others, he didn't usually feel their emotions. But now, faced with his own fright and the threat to his life, his logical mind kicked in, and he experienced fear just like anyone else.

"Roar!" Another eerie hiss pierced the silence. Lu Yu scrambled to his feet and peered through the peephole once more.

The bloodied "man" had ceased mauling the woman and now seemed to sense something else, turning its gaze towards the peephole.

What a ghastly sight it was. The creature's skin was ashen, crisscrossed with black, bulging veins, its eyes dull and clouded with a grey film.

Blood mixed with drool dripped from its twisted, grotesque mouth.

Despite the horror, Lu Yu recognized the figure outside.

It was the woman's husband, Slicked-back Hair, now a zombie, sniffing around the peephole like a hound on the hunt for its next victim.

The sound of a doorknob jiggling echoed, sending a shiver through Lu Yu's spine.

"Shit, this thing better not be trying to open the door..."

He reassured himself, thinking, "A zombie couldn't possibly be that smart, right?"

With a "click," the lock slid, and the door began to inch open. A stampede of alpacas raced through Lu Yu's mind.

"Holy crap, it actually knows how to open a door!"

There was no time to ponder; if the zombie got in, he'd be done for.

He grabbed the handle in a panic, attempting to slam the door shut.

But the slicked-back-haired zombie on the other side had caught the scent of a living person and yanked the door with astonishing force.

For a brief moment, the door wouldn't budge. Lu Yu and the zombie were locked in a tug-of-war over the door handles.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Lu Yu cursed internally, blindsided by the zombie's unexpected strength.

This deadlock was no good. Despite his best efforts to close it, the door continued to swing open, the crack widening by the second.

Lu Yu steeled himself, switching from pulling to pushing, and shoved the door hard.

Caught off guard, the slicked-back-haired zombie stumbled backward, pinned against the wall by the door. Seizing the moment, Lu Yu darted forward, slipping past the zombie.

In a few swift strides, he made it to his neighbor's house and quickly locked the door behind him.

The zombie had managed to open his door with ease, likely because he hadn't locked it.

"Whew!" Lu Yu slumped to the floor, drained. As a sedentary office worker, those simple actions had sapped him of his energy.

Surveying his surroundings, Lu Yu noted the layout was much like his own: the kitchen to the left of the entrance, the living room to the right, and a short corridor straight ahead, flanked by the bathroom, master bedroom, secondary bedroom, and study.

The master bedroom's wooden door was in shambles, the top half hanging askew as if it had been violently forced open.

Beneath the living room dining table, a pair of sorrowful eyes locked with Lu Yu's searching gaze.

"Uncle Lu..." the little girl's voice quivered as she spoke.

"Uh, Xiaoran, where are your parents?" Lu Yu began, caught off guard.

"Daddy's sick. Mommy wants to take him to the doctor and leave me home alone."

"I got scared, so I pleaded with her to take me along."

"But Daddy got really mad. He didn't want to go to the hospital. Mommy and Daddy started fighting. Whenever they fight, Mommy always closes the door, and they don't come out until they've made up in the big room."

"But this time was different. They argued for so long. Then Mommy came running out of the room, all panicked, and she shut the door to the big room behind her."

"Daddy was terrifying, yelling and banging on the door."

"Mommy said Daddy had gone crazy. There was so much blood on her. She told me to stay put and went to get your help, Uncle Lu, but you weren't home. Then she called the police, but they didn't answer..."

The little girl's voice faded to a whisper, her small frame shaking uncontrollably.

The child before him was Wang Xinran, the nine-year-old girl from next door. Lu Yu had encountered her a few times before; she was always so courteous, greeting him with a sweet "Hello, Uncle Yu." She was an endearing child.

Looking at her forlorn expression, Lu Yu had pieced together most of the grim picture in his mind.

It seemed likely that Xiaoran's father had contracted the zombie virus outside. Upon returning home, he developed a fever, leading her mother to believe it was a regular illness and prompting her to take him to the doctor. However, under the virus's influence, her father became increasingly volatile.

To protect her daughter's mental well-being, her mother had attempted to handle the situation behind closed doors. But upon retreating to the master bedroom, she was met with the horror of her husband, who had lost all sense of self and had become violent. She locked the door, desperate for help from a neighbor.

Having found no assistance from Lu Yu, she tried to call the police, only to find the lines unresponsive. Then, hearing the disturbing sounds of heavy impacts from the master bedroom and fearing for her daughter's safety, she rushed back home.

As the woman stood helplessly in front of the master bedroom door, her husband shattered it, sending splinters flying—one of which sliced her neck. The sight of her blood sent the slicked-back-haired zombie, once her husband, into a frenzy.

Driven by a desperate sixth sense, she fled to Lu Yu's house and pounded on his door for sanctuary.

Tragically, it was too late. The zombified man she once loved savagely attacked her, tearing her apart. She died on Lu Yu's doorstep, leaving him with no way to safely return home.

"Uh, looks like your mom's dead. She was killed right outside my place, torn up by your dad, now a zombie," Lu Yu said.

"And your dad? He's outside, waiting for a chance to burst in and rip us both to shreds."

With a wry smile, Lu Yu admitted he wasn't up for managing the little girl's emotions or worrying about any lasting trauma. His immediate concern was figuring out how to get back into his own home safely.

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