Chapter 1: Resurrection (Revised)
Lin Qingqing thought she should be dead by now. The feeling of suffocation last night was so real that just thinking about it made her scalp tingle.
She remembered that there was clearly so much air around, but no matter how desperately she inhaled, she couldn't get a single breath in.
Until her body gradually went numb and her consciousness became more and more blurred. At that moment, she finally clearly realized that she was really going to die.
...
However, what's going on now? Could it be that people still have consciousness after death?
Lin Qingqing lay stunned on the bed for a long time, and for a moment, she couldn't react. "Is the sunlight shining on my face fake?"
"Am I in heaven? Or in hell?"
She opened her mouth, feeling that her throat was extremely dry. No one answered her questions, and the silence around her was eerie.
The next moment, Lin Qingqing suddenly closed her eyes. After a long while, until she was sure that she indeed still had consciousness, she then carefully opened her eyes.
Looking around, the bed was still the same bed, the wall was still the same wall. Even the curtain hanging by the window and the doll in the corner of the dressing table were still in their original states.
"I'm not dead. So I really didn't die!"
Confirming that she was still alive, Lin Qingqing was extremely excited.
"What should I do now? Should I go to the hospital for another check-up? Maybe, maybe..."
Maybe what? Maybe her illness suddenly got better? Or maybe the doctor had made a wrong diagnosis before, and she wasn't sick at all, and all the medicine she had taken in recent years was for nothing?
Gradually regaining her rationality, the shadow of death still hadn't dissipated. Lin Qingqing lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling, not knowing what to do for a moment.She had been ill. She got sick three years ago, and the doctor said she wouldn't live more than three years. In these three years, she had lived in fear and with great caution. Yet, the end result of her struggling to survive was still death.
"Hehe. I might as well have gone out and had a carefree three - year trip."
Lin Qingqing let out a sigh, feeling rather sad.
At this moment, the sunlight outside shone right on her face. She felt it was a bit too bright and wanted to raise her arm to block it a little, but she failed twice in a row.
At this moment, her limbs seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, and she couldn't muster any strength at all. Her whole body was like an old machine that had been left unused for too long, as if it would fall apart with the slightest movement.
After a long while, Lin Qingqing, resembling the "old machine" that had just been restarted, slowly sat up, and then with great effort, she moved her legs from the bed to the ground. These two simple actions were extremely difficult for her. After gasping for two breaths, she thought that she might need to gather strength for a while longer before she could stand up.
"Is this what it feels like to be in one's eighties or nineties and be extremely decrepit? If it's always like this in the future, I'm afraid I won't live long and will die again soon." Lin Qingqing thought self - deprecatingly.
"Forget it. Why think so much? Since I didn't die, I might as well just live day by day."
Unable to move for the time being, Lin Qingqing sat obediently on the edge of the bed.It was exactly noon at this time. The winter sun was warm but not intense. It shone obliquely through the glass window onto her body, making her feel cozy. She tried to empty her mind and then squinted her eyes in enjoyment.
...
"Ah! Ah! Help! Help! Someone come quickly!"
Just as Lin Qingqing was in a daze, a shrill female voice suddenly came from outside the window.
This abrupt and ear - piercing scream instantly shattered the previous tranquility. Lin Qingqing couldn't help but frown and shook her head in annoyance.
"Most likely it's either a robbery or domestic violence. Just endure it. Surely the security guards will come to deal with it in a while."
She was in a bad mood and her body was uncomfortable, so she could only turn a blind eye and a deaf ear, allowing the woman to keep screaming.
However, after waiting for quite a while, there was still no other movement. The woman's shrill screams gradually turned into wailing and incoherent curses.
Lin Qingqing couldn't make out what she was cursing. She was completely useless now and didn't even have the strength to go over and watch the commotion.
After a while longer, the wailing stopped and the surroundings became peaceful again.
"Whew." It's so noisy!
Just as she let out a breath, suddenly another scream rang out.This time it was a man, and his volume was much louder than the woman's before. Lin Qingqing turned her head, suspecting that the screaming man was her neighbor next door.
There was only one neighboring household in her place. It was a newly - married couple who had moved in just half a year ago.
During the day, they were not at home, and only at night could various sounds be heard coming from next door. Sometimes it was guitar - playing and singing, sometimes arguing, and sometimes there were some ambiguous noises.
Lin Qingqing didn't find it noisy. Her home was too deserted, and it was nice to catch a bit of the liveliness from the neighbors occasionally.
"Could it be that his wife found his secret stash of money and is beating him up?" Lin Qingqing thought mischievously.
She had heard the young couple arguing quite often, but today's situation seemed different from usual. The man's scream contained an extreme sense of fear, and even the ending notes were slightly trembling.
Lin Qingqing felt a bit uneasy. Her heart suddenly started beating faster, and she had a feeling as if the shadow of death was approaching. She couldn't say exactly why, but this feeling was very familiar because she had just experienced it last night.
The wall connecting her home and the neighbor's was at the other end of the bedroom. After thinking for a while, Lin Qingqing struggled to stand up, holding her still - dizzy head, and shakily moved her legs, intending to get closer to listen carefully.
But just as she was passing by the window, she suddenly remembered the screaming female voice earlier.
"I wonder if the security guards have taken care of it?" Lin Qingqing thought to herself, and then subconsciously looked out of the window.
??? Wait, what's that?
At this moment, there were three figures on the lawn downstairs. They were crawling on the ground like dogs, and their heads were constantly twitching. It didn't seem like they were doing something lewd and bad. Instead, it was as if they were... eating.
Huh? Eating?
Lin Qingqing suddenly realized something, then pressed her face against the glass and stared wide - eyed, looking carefully downstairs.The three "eaters" looked extremely strange. Their bodies were gaunt and their movements were stiff. Their skin had an odd bluish - gray color, and even the "food" in their mouths seemed to be a person.
This eerie and familiar scene made Lin Qingqing couldn't help but think of something that often appeared in horror movies - zombies!
"Could these be zombies? Zombies? The apocalypse? No way!" she murmured to herself.
"Ah!" At this moment, the man next door started screaming again.
"Ah!" At the same time, Lin Qingqing was so frightened that she screamed along.
The man's screams intertwined with the clanging sounds of furniture being knocked around, which made her completely wake up.
She swallowed hard, and in her mind, the scene happening next door at this moment involuntarily emerged:
In the morning, the man opened his eyes and suddenly found that his wife beside the pillow had turned into a zombie. Her once - lovely face became ugly, ferocious, and rotten, with a gaping bloody mouth trying to devour him.
She had no rationality, no emotions, and no memories. He was no longer her lover but had become her food.
There was no time to break down, no time to be sad, and no way to stop it. All he could do was run for his life, scream desperately, or fight back.And the final outcome would be nothing more than him killing her, or her devouring him, or perhaps he too would turn into a zombie and they'd become a zombie couple together...
Lin Qingqing blinked. At this moment, she didn't dare to move an inch, silently waiting for the end result of her neighbors next door.
Time passed by minute after minute...
When it finally became completely quiet next door, she seemed to hear the sound of "katz - katz" as if someone was chewing on bones.
Shivering violently, Lin Qingqing slumped to the ground, hugging her head.
"How many people outside have turned into zombies?"
"What should I do?"
"Who can come and save me..."
She gasped for breath, her mind in a complete mess.
It was hard to believe all that had happened today. The doomsday that had originally only existed in human imagination had come so quietly? What about the government? What about the military? Were they still around?
"Yes! Call for help! No matter what, it must be right to call the police first!" Thinking of the government and the military, she hurriedly searched for the phone that had fallen under the bed.
"110, 120, 119, 10086?"
"What else is there?"
Forcibly holding back her terrified tears, Lin Qingqing turned on the phone and dialed all the numbers she knew one by one. Besides the hotlines of various departments, she also called several familiar friends one by one.
"Dudu - dudu -"
"Dudu - dudu -"
...
Although she had already had a bit of mental preparation, when she heard the continuous busy tones, she still couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart.
"Could they all have turned into zombies?" Thinking of this, her heart sank to the bottom instantly.
She didn't know who else she could call. After thinking for a long time, in the end, with trembling fingers, she dialed a familiar yet unfamiliar number."Doo - doo - doo -"
"Hello?"
"...Dad?"