A distance of 500 meters—less than ten minutes on foot, three to four minutes on a bicycle, and merely a press of the gas pedal if driving a car.
Just as Xu Mo had anticipated, less than five minutes later, the first group to leave in vehicles had evidently encountered zombies. They scrambled to turn their cars around and fled back in panic. However, some still attempted to return home or find another escape route, so in the end, only about a dozen vehicles made it back to the park—less than one-fifth of the total that had left.
Those who returned first were visibly shaken. They stumbled out of their vehicles, their faces pale, and bolted toward the theater building without saying a word about what had happened outside. But their terrified expressions and the streaks of blood on their cars told the whole story.
The reality was undeniable. Many who had initially dismissed this as a prank and remained in the plaza now fell into utter chaos. People shoved and trampled over one another, desperately swarming toward the Liangyuan Theater.
To be fair, the Liangyuan Theater was far from an ideal refuge. But due to Xu Mo's earlier announcement, the crowd had been left with the impression that the location had been prepped in advance. So once they realized the threat was real, their survival instincts naturally drew them toward the place they had been told about.
Even though a large portion of the crowd had already left earlier, there were still over 1,500 people remaining in the plaza.
It was easy to imagine the consequences of so many people cramming toward the theater's narrow, three-meter-wide entrance. The young and strong could just barely force their way inside amidst the crush of bodies, but the elderly had no chance—many were suffocating and collapsing under the pressure.
As for those unfortunate enough to fall, survival was out of the question. Trampled beneath thousands of panicked feet, whether their bodies would even remain intact was uncertain.
"Damn it! Let me through! If you don't move, I'll cut you down right here!"
"Ah! Stop pushing! Please, my child—my child!"
"Mommy! I'm scared!"
The plaza was consumed by a cacophony of angry shouts from men, the cries of women and children, and the agonized wails of the injured. In that moment, everyone realized how fragile so-called virtues were in the face of raw survival instinct.
"Everyone, stay calm! If you keep pushing, more people will get hurt! Listen to me! Young people, wait at the sides! Let the elderly, pregnant women, and children go first! Women will enter in the second wave! Men, you'll be last! Stay in order!"
A young officer, struggling to maintain his footing, climbed onto a lamppost and used a makeshift loudspeaker he had grabbed from a street vendor, desperately trying to restore order.
But human nature was inherently selfish—especially in the face of unknown terror. Who would listen to a mere junior officer? Even those who understood that the chaos needed to be controlled found it impossible to stop the surge of bodies. Any voices of reason were quickly drowned out in the turmoil.
Time crept forward. Before long, most of those who had left on bicycles also returned in terror, abandoning their bikes and rushing into the throng outside the theater. Unlike the drivers, these people had no vehicle to shield them. Many bore fresh wounds from direct encounters with zombies, their bloodied appearances inciting even greater panic among the crowd.
Seeing that the theater entrance was effectively blocked, a few young men decided to take a different approach. They grabbed metal rods and began prying at the security bars on the theater's first-floor windows.
"Damn it! Those idiots! Without those bars, how the hell are we supposed to defend this place against the incoming zombie horde?!"
Cursing under his breath, Xu Mo leaped down from a second-floor window. The Spartan short sword materialized in his hand as he landed, and in a flash, he charged toward the young men. With a single strike, he severed the metal rods in their hands.
"The hell?! Who do you think you are, getting in our way?!"
Furious that their escape plan had been thwarted, the young men immediately swung their remaining rods at Xu Mo.
But Xu Mo had no intention of wasting time on them. His figure blurred as he dodged every attack. With a single punch each, he knocked them to the ground, where they clutched their stomachs and retched. Standing over them, his voice rang out cold and sharp:
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to survive. But you don't get to trade other people's lives for your own."
One of the men, face twisted in pain, managed to lift his head and sneer, "Damn it… We're all about to die anyway… Who the hell cares?! You think… just because you're wearing a mask, you're some kind of Batman? If you're so tough… why don't you go fight the zombies yourself?! Quit acting all high and mighty! Pah!"
Xu Mo sighed and said flatly, "I will. But not yet."
Despite the earlier chaos, as more people poured into the theater, the pressure at the entrance finally eased somewhat. Thanks to the relentless efforts of the young officer and a few other patrolmen, the remaining crowd managed to regain a semblance of order. The scene was still crowded and frantic, but at least there were no more stampedes.
Time ticked away. Just as the last two to three hundred people remained outside the theater, shadowy figures finally began appearing under the farthest streetlights.
Perhaps due to the scattered nature of the Apocalyptic Mirage, there weren't too many zombies in the vicinity. Only about a hundred could be seen within the current field of vision—fewer than thirty per direction. These zombies lurched clumsily across the wide, empty streets, occasionally emitting hoarse, rasping groans that echoed eerily in the deathly silent cityscape, sending an icy dread down people's spines.
Thanks to the global popularity of the Resident Evil franchise, few, if any, were unfamiliar with the concept of zombies.
But up until now, they had only existed in horror films and video games. No matter how terrifyingly realistic CGI made them, no matter how immersive a 3D movie might be, the fear was fleeting—often replaced by excitement, or even a perverse thrill.
Now, however, with real zombies right before their eyes, people finally understood what true terror was. The sheer, soul-crushing dread they felt in this moment was something no special effects studio could ever replicate.
Then, somewhere in the crowd, a woman let out a high-pitched scream that could rival a dolphin's.
That scream was the breaking point.
The fragile order collapsed in an instant. Once again, people frantically shoved their way toward the theater entrance, caring nothing for those they trampled underfoot.
"Stay calm! Everyone, stay calm! At the zombies' current speed, we still have enough time for everyone to get inside safely! Just stay in order!"
The police officers, knowing full well their words were likely useless, still did their duty to the very end.
The direct distance from the plaza's outer edge to the theater's entrance was less than seventy meters. From the moment the first zombie stepped onto the grass, those paying attention could already calculate the time remaining.
Two minutes.
At half the speed of a normal walking person, the zombies would reach the outermost civilians in just two minutes.
If the remaining civilians could stay calm and file in properly, two minutes would be more than enough time for them all to get inside. But these weren't trained soldiers or law enforcement officers—they were frightened civilians. Expecting them to remain rational now was nothing short of a fantasy. Each one was consumed by the desperate urge to run, shoving their way forward, and in the end, they jammed themselves into the theater entrance, rendering it completely blocked.