Chapter 106 The Living Dead - Trapped

These strange people had very distinct characteristics. Their eyes were blood-red, they drooled, seemed unable to speak, and only made strange clicking sounds from their mouths.

It was unclear how they distinguished their own kind from ordinary people. They only attacked ordinary people all over the streets, showing no aggression towards each other.

What was even stranger was that when Bai Xiao had touched that person earlier, his body felt as cold as ice and as hard as stone, like a frozen corpse.

However, his joints weren't stiff. He could run very fast, move swiftly, and possessed immense strength.

Among the ordinary people who were suddenly attacked, some were also strange. One moment they were fearfully hiding everywhere, the next moment, as if some switch had been flipped, they became frenzied.

The eyes of those who turned frenzied also slowly turned red, and they soon joined the ranks of the attackers.

Bai Xiao recalled that on the bus, initially, only one passenger became irritable and angry. Then the driver, acting out of character, started fighting violently. Passengers who were fine went to break up the fight but suddenly lost their minds, and soon, one by one, they all joined the melee.

This kind of violent rage seemed like an emotional disease, as if anyone who came into contact with it would lose their reason for no apparent cause.

It was as if anger was contagious—an emotional virus?

Bai Xiao's face was tense as she pondered, unable to figure out the reason for the moment.

She stood up and continued climbing higher, wanting to see the situation at both ends of the street.

Although the crowd was gathering towards the center of the street, the situation at the two intersections was also grim. Even the streets beyond the intersections were showing signs of chaos.

The incident wasn't happening only here; the surrounding blocks were in the same state.

She couldn't climb down the tree. This entire area was blocked by the crowd. Without a feasible plan, breaking through was impossible.

Bai Xiao stood on the tree, looking around, trying to find a new escape route.

Unless she could fly through the street trees, it was impossible to leave here without touching the ground.

But each tree here was at least thirty meters apart. She couldn't leap between trees like in a martial arts TV drama.

She could only take shelter in the nearby building first and think of another way once things settled down.

The street trees by the road were tall, with branches spreading out, reaching five or six stories high. Unfortunately, the closer to the edge, the thinner the branches became, unable to support a person's weight.

Only the large branch near the Third Floor looked sturdy enough. It was also the closest point to the building, about four or five meters away. It was hard to get a running start on the tree, but she could still use some momentum. Given the situation on the street, it was worth the risk.

Using the spring of the branch, she leaped forward with all her strength. Her body traced a short parabola, and her view was instantly filled with the gray wall of the building.

Her body hung ten meters above the ground, her fingers clinging desperately to a windowsill less than twenty centimeters wide.

The commotion here attracted many Red-Eyed People from the street behind. Like sharks smelling blood, they quickly gathered below the building.

Their sudden surge frightened the people inside the First Floor shops, who hurriedly rushed forward to hold the doors shut.

While the Red-Eyed People gathered below, Bai Xiao had already climbed through the window into the building's hallway.

This building was an old one, only six stories tall. It was originally a famous downtown department store. With the development of modern shopping malls, it gradually fell out of fashion and became neglected.

In recent years, the vacancy rate in the department store was shockingly high. Except for the relatively popular First Floor shops, half of the clothing areas on the Second and Third Floors were empty. The remaining half mostly sold middle-aged and elderly clothing.

The number of still-open home appliance and electronics stores on the Fourth Floor was pitifully small. The outdoor gear, children's clothing, and arcades on the Fifth Floor were basically deserted. The food court and cinema originally on the Sixth Floor had long since closed down. The higher up the building, the fewer people there were.

However, due to the special situation on the street, many survivors seeking refuge had suddenly poured into the building. Aside from a few people still observing the situation outside from the First Floor, most had already taken shelter upstairs.

When Bai Xiao climbed through the window into the building, she saw many people running upstairs.

They looked terrified. Shop owners and employees who were unaware of the riot outside saw them rushing up in a panic and couldn't help but gather around to ask what had happened.

The survivors who had fled upstairs were panting and trembling, pointing out the window, unable to speak. People had to go to the hallway windows to see for themselves.

While the uninformed people inside the building were still gathered around, looking down, another conflict broke out among the survivors who had just fled upstairs.

Several people who were exhausted and sitting slumped on the ground suddenly twitched a few times, then started picking fights.

"Stop crowding me! There's plenty of space in this building. What are you crowding for?"

"Who's crowding you? Are you blind? Can't you see how many people are behind?"

As they argued, they started shoving. After climbing in through the window, Bai Xiao had been standing near the fire door, not far from the window, keeping her distance from everyone, just watching warily with her arms crossed.

She saw the eyes of the shoving people begin to glaze over, and soon a faint red emerged from their eyes.

It was exactly the same situation as on the bus!

Although she hadn't figured out how this Red-Eyed disease spread, it was clear that even without being attacked by Red-Eyed People nearby, some people would develop symptoms on their own.

First, they would inexplicably pick fights, then become irritable and shove, and finally gradually lose their minds and attack randomly.

Obviously, the people in the building hadn't realized this problem yet. Most were just annoyed and avoided them, not in the mood to deal with their fights. Only a few stepped forward to persuade or stop them.

But soon, it became just like the scene on the bus. Many of those who went to break up the fights also became irritable. This situation spread rapidly like dominoes.

Before the crowd completely lost control, Bai Xiao had already entered the fire door and moved upstairs.

Seeing the situation turning bad, people on the Third Floor also started fleeing upward. Similar situations occurred on every floor, but fortunately, fewer and fewer people were turning abnormal. By the Sixth Floor, no one suddenly acted out of character anymore.

Out of the hundreds of people in the building, only about forty or fifty ultimately made it upstairs. Most were scattered on the lower floors.

Some had completely turned into Red-Eyed People, attacking everywhere. Others, whether infected or developing symptoms on their own, suddenly became abnormal while being beaten. But the majority were innocent victims who were seriously injured and fell to the ground after being violently attacked.

After an unknown amount of time, the sounds of fighting downstairs gradually subsided, though careful listening still revealed many footsteps and strange clicking sounds.

The Sixth Floor had been unoccupied for a long time, and the lights had been off. Even in broad daylight, it was pitch dark.

The people who had fled upstairs moved the former cinema's front desk, coffee tables, sofas, and chairs to block the escalator entrance. The fire door to the hallway was also barred. The passage upstairs was completely blocked.

A group of people hid on the Sixth Floor, not daring to make a sound. A few brave ones lay near the glass railings at the edge of the corridor, secretly looking down.

The Red-Eyed People downstairs, having lost their attack targets, were now wandering aimlessly. They didn't seem to actively try to go upstairs.

It wasn't that they couldn't go upstairs; it was more like, without a target, they only moved instinctively on flat ground.

This was undoubtedly good news for the people upstairs. Otherwise, if the Red-Eyed People from the five floors below really swarmed up, the furniture blocking the escalator entrance wouldn't hold them back for long.

However, while blocking the escalator entrance and the fire door temporarily prevented the transformed people downstairs from coming up, it also trapped the people on the Sixth Floor, cutting off their escape route.

Although they were safe for now, with no food or water, they couldn't stay here for long, no matter how safe it was.