C5 Flying to Someone Else's Bed

After uttering those words that could deeply traumatize the little girl, Lu Yu picked himself up off the ground and cast a cautious glance at her.

"Did your dad catch you or bite you? Are you feeling okay?"

The little girl, still befuddled, hadn't quite snapped out of the shock from Lu Yu's blunt words. Asked so abruptly, she instinctively shook her head.

Seeing her disheveled yet clean pajamas, Lu Yu's anxiety subsided slightly.

The slicked-back-haired zombie outside growled and clawed at the door, attempting to twist the knob. But Lu Yu had learned his lesson and locked the door firmly, leaving the zombie to scratch and wail in vain.

"Maybe it's time for bed," Lu Yu suggested, paying no mind to the girl huddled under the table, and headed for the master bedroom.

Approaching, he noticed the shattered door was smeared with dark red blood and some unidentifiable black goo.

Lu Yu frowned and stepped back, deciding not to get any closer.

The blood was undoubtedly left by the little girl's mother, and the black mucus was probably the zombie's fluid from when it slammed against the door.

Lu Yu was no scientist with a burning curiosity to kneel down and examine the substance—after all, who knew if it could transmit the virus and infect him too?

A dull thud echoed from the front door. Lu Yu glanced over. The little girl's home had an alloy security door, not the wooden kind, so he wasn't concerned about the zombie breaking through.

"Keep banging your head, for all I care. Better yet, knock yourself out..."

Lu Yu grumbled, his mood sour. He had thought he was quick to act, ready to face the impending catastrophe.

But the disaster had struck faster than he anticipated. He had even planned to stock up on alcohol and other essentials the next morning. Now, it seemed all for naught.

Opening the door to the guest bedroom, he was greeted by a Disney-inspired pink princess theme—pink curtains, pink sheets, pink lamps, pink desk, and even a pink bookshelf.

Lu Yu turned back to Wang Xinran, still crouched under the table, and asked in a calm voice, "Are you planning to spend the night under there?"

The little girl pursed her lips and gazed at Lu Yu, tears swirling in her eyes as she fought the urge to let them fall.

"I... I want my mommy! Waah..."

Unable to hold back any longer, she finally succumbed to a torrent of sobs.

Outside, the zombies heard her cries and became as excited as movie extras promised an extra chicken leg in their meal, pounding on the door with renewed vigor.

"Thud, thud, thud, waah... thud, thud, waah..."

The once monotonous sound of knocking and the little girl's wails intertwined, completely dispelling any trace of sleepiness from Lu Yu's mind.

"Should I go over and give her a hug, offer some comfort?"

Lu Yu pondered, earnestly considering the little girl's plight.

Lacking empathy, he could only relate to her sorrow by recalling his own losses.

"It's like when my mom disappeared and my dad died in a car crash."

He remembered how he felt when he lost his parents' protection, a sensation akin to the end of the world.

Wang Xinran, amidst her tears, suddenly felt a pair of hands gently encircle her, bringing with them the subtle scent of laundry detergent.

Without thinking, she inhaled it and, inexplicably, her once desolate heart began to settle. The dread of the future and the loneliness of facing everything alone started to dissipate, and even the zombies' relentless knocking grew less jarring.

As Lu Yu held the slowly quieting Wang Xinran, he faced a tough decision.

Xiaoran's father had turned into a zombie, still relentlessly attacking the door, while her mother had been torn to pieces.

Lu Yu intimately understood the feeling of utter helplessness, especially in this catastrophic world where a nine-year-old girl's chances of survival were slim to none.

"Should I help her?" he wondered, torn.

He longed to walk away, but he knew that leaving would seal Xiaoran's fate. Would that make him indirectly responsible for the little girl's death?

As Lu Yu grappled with his conscience, Wang Xinran's cries ceased. She looked up through tear-stained eyes at the man before her.

This Uncle Lu Yu, with his neatly trimmed short hair and dense, yet not thick eyebrows, had piercing phoenix eyes. The sharp angles of his eyes and nose gave off an aura that he was not one to be messed with.

The slight upward turn of his mouth brought warmth to those around him, reminiscent of the gentle, considerate big brother from next door.

They exchanged a long, silent gaze.

Relief washed over Lu Yu as the little girl before him finally ceased her tears. It appeared that a hug truly had a soothing effect.

He was about to speak when Xiaoran's voice, thick with sobs, broke the silence.

"Uncle Lu Yu, is it true what you said about my mom being dead?"

"Yes, it's likely that your mother has passed away. She was torn apart by your father, who's become a zombie."

Lu Yu paused, a flicker of surprise crossing his face before he repeated his earlier words.

Wang Xinran remained quiet. At nine years old, she had a basic understanding of death, but acceptance eluded her. She had been sleeping soundly just moments before being jolted awake by her mother's screams.

Her mother had said her father was ill and needed to go to the hospital. How could everything have changed so drastically?

It had to be a nightmare, Wang Xinran thought, a fleeting hope crossing her mind. Yes, it had to be a dream, and once she awoke, her parents would return.

"I'm going to sleep," Wang Xinran announced, rising to her feet and heading toward the second bedroom.

The door closed with a definitive click.

Lu Yu, left alone, stood dumbfounded. "Do young people these days bounce back so quickly? She's ready to sleep just like that?"

The zombies outside had ceased their assault on the iron door, yet they hadn't abandoned their intent to enter.

Lu Yu propped several stools against the door, but still feeling uneasy, he dragged the living room table over for extra barricade.

"Now, it should be foolproof," Lu Yu mused contentedly, stretching out on the living room sofa.

Indeed, he too was preparing for sleep. Unable to return to his own home, Lu Yu resigned himself to spending the night on his neighbor's couch.

"Hopefully, the zombie will just wander off..." Lu Yu silently prayed, not daring to confront the slicked-back-haired zombie in a direct clash.

Ignoring the risk of infection, the sheer strength of the zombie alone was enough to give Lu Yu a run for his money.

Lu Yu had already exerted himself moving a hefty load of supplies upstairs. Even with the assistance of store clerks, it took a considerable toll on his strength. Now, his only recourse was to recuperate through sleep, with plans to figure out his return home the following morning.

As Lu Yu was on the brink of drifting off, a "thud" sounded—the door to the second bedroom swung open.

Xiaoran peered from the doorway at Lu Yu sprawled on the couch and asked in a meek voice, "Uncle Lu Yu, can you sleep with me? I can't fall asleep by myself..."

Imagining the bedroom adorned in pink princess decor, Lu Yu turned away, a hint of helplessness in his posture.

"Uncle's fine on the sofa, Xiaoran. Rest easy, I'm right here in the living room and I'm not going anywhere..."

Five minutes later.

Lu Yu was huddled on the pink bed, already cramped with an array of stuffed animals, which now seemed even more crowded with his 1.8-meter frame lying on it.

Why not the master bedroom's spacious bed? Ridiculous—the bed was smeared with black blood, a clear sign of the slicked-back-haired zombie's handiwork, making it utterly unsuitable for rest.

Besides, Xiaoran was adamant about sleeping in her princess room, and no amount of protest from Lu Yu made a difference.

And so, a 27-year-old man standing eight feet tall and a nine-year-old girl succumbed to sleep amidst a sea of pink.

As the night flowed like water, and while Lu Yu and Xiaoran were deep in slumber, the world outside was in the throes of cataclysmic change.

"Hey, man, what's up with you? Too much to drink? Holy crap, a ghost!"

"Damn, why is the emergency line busy? Stay back, don't come any closer!"

"What are you looking to buy? Is that blood on you? Ah!"

"Somebody help, please save me..."

Intermittent screams, cries, and the wailing of police, ambulance, and fire truck sirens echoed throughout N City, like a devilish piano concerto heralding the onset of calamity.

At one in the morning, Excellence Bio-pharmaceuticals Ltd. in N City stood silent and dark, a stark contrast to its usual state of bright illumination. This beacon of futuristic technology, nestled in the city's most coveted riverside district, had declared bankruptcy six months prior, leaving the once-bustling building eerily deserted.

Yet, beneath the surface, the basement was a hive of activity. Researchers in white lab coats were glued to their screens, their eyes alight with excitement as they feverishly documented their findings.

In the center of the hall, a woman in a crimson coat fixated on the enormous screen before her. It replayed the evening's events on the bus where Lu Yu had been a passenger, specifically the moment a man in black lunged to sink his teeth into the neck of another man wearing black-framed glasses.

With a furrowed brow, she watched the footage over and over.

Beside her stood a slight man with a sly look and a sharp-toothed grin, his face painted with obsequiousness as he addressed the woman. "Madam Honglian, does Judas's performance align with the organization's expectations?"

Honglian, the woman in red, did not respond to the man immediately. Instead, she paused the video at the moment the man in black roared at the onlookers. "Tsk," she clicked her tongue in displeasure.

"The higher-ups claimed the king level virus would only enhance an apostle. So why has Judas turned into this grotesque figure after being infected with the elementary king level virus? He's acting like a mindless fool. A bunch of incompetents, what have you been doing?"

The man shrank back at Honglian's sudden wrath, stammering out an explanation in his defense. "The Judas project was always overseen by Lu Qian in its initial phase. I only took over..."

His words were cut short by a sharp slap that sent a tooth flying and toppled him to the ground. "I don't want excuses," Honglian said coolly, wiping her hand with a handkerchief.

"Judas is a vital asset to our organization. Get to the bottom of this immediately, or else..." Her voice trailed off into a menacing chuckle as she looked down at the man now kneeling on the floor, a cold sneer on her lips.

"I've heard that Subject No.4 is running low on feed."

"Yes! Yes!" The slight man quickly affirmed, fearing that any delay in his response might result in him being used as feed.

"How's the pure virus doing? Is it evolving as expected?"

Madam Honglian appeared to be pleased with the man's prompt reply and pressed on with her questioning.

"The pure virus is behaving normally, consistent with experimental outcomes. It exhibits extreme aggressiveness upon initial infection, which is highly beneficial for its spread. It won't be long before N City is completely overrun by the infection."

The thin man adopted an ingratiating smile as he delivered his report.

Madam Honglian's knitted brows eased. It was reassuring to see things moving according to plan. The directives from above were vague, but her role was clear: to ensure the plan's smooth execution without any slip-ups.

"However, there's been an emergence of a mutated creature in District B..."