1: Chapter 1 5:47 AM

Commander Lin Dong was shaken awake.

It wasn't the continuous shaking of an earthquake, but a dull impact that came from deep underground.

It was as if someone had used an invisible giant hammer to smash down hard on the city's foundation.

He snapped his eyes open, his body reacting faster than his consciousness—his right hand already reaching under his pillow, where a type 92 pistol should have been.

But his fingertips only touched the cold military pillow.

Empty.

Right, yesterday was Saturday; he had returned his sidearm to the armory.

The dormitory was very dark; the light filtering through the gaps in the curtains wasn't the pale white of early morning, but an eerie, dark-red shimmer.

Commander Lin Dong didn't move, maintaining his side-lying position, allowing his breathing to steady.

Anyone from the Reconnaissance Company knew that before figuring out the situation, the most dangerous thing to do was to expose oneself rashly.

There was a sound outside the window.

It wasn't the sound of morning traffic expected in a city, nor was it the morning drill call from the military parade ground.

It was a viscous, intermittent whimpering, mixed with the rustling sound of something wet and slippery being dragged across the ground.

Commander Lin Dong's pupils constricted slightly.

He slowly turned his head to look at the digital clock on the nightstand.

05:47

The date displayed: October 17th.

The meteorite had fallen on October 16th at 22:37.

At that time, Commander Lin Dong was standing by his dormitory window, watching with his own eyes as that meteor, trailing a blue tail of flame, smashed toward the southeast of the city.

Three seconds later, the shockwave reached the northern military camp, causing the window glass to emit a harsh, vibrating sound.

Then came a night of chaos.

Alarm sounds, assembly calls, hurried footsteps, and then later—later, communications were cut off.

Cell phone signals, landlines, military walkie-talkies, all turned into harsh white noise.

Commander Lin Dong had not deployed with the main force.

The Company Commander had called on the internal line at 23:15, ordering him: "Commander Lin Dong, you stay behind and look after the men of the Second Platoon. The situation outside is unclear; wait for my orders."

Then the Company Commander took the First and Third Platoons and left.

There was no more news.

Commander Lin Dong slowly sat up, his bare feet stepping onto the cold concrete floor.

He was wearing his military physical training uniform, short sleeves and shorts; ten years of military life meant he maintained a minimum level of vigilance even in his sleep.

He walked to the window and used one finger to gently push aside the curtain.

Then he saw a scene he had never witnessed in his life.

The sky was dark red, like a massive, rotting bruise.

There were no clouds, only that uniform, nauseating red glow.

The streetlights in the military compound were still on, their pale beams slicing through the morning air.

And under the streetlights, something was moving.

That used to be a person.

Wearing the same physical training uniform as Commander Lin Dong, with a tall build and broad shoulders—Commander Lin Dong recognized him as Battalion Commander Wang Hu from the Third Platoon, a big man from Shandong, the strongest soldier in the entire company.

But at this moment, Battalion Commander Wang Hu's walking posture was wrong.

His knees were bent in the wrong direction, and every step looked like he was about to snap his legs.

His head tilted to one side, and a large, black, dripping mass hung from his chin.

He was eating.

Eating another corpse on the ground.

Commander Lin Dong's breathing paused for half a beat.

Then he released the curtain, stepped back, and his brain began to operate like a precision military computer.

Step one: Collect information.

Commander Lin Dong turned and walked quickly to the door.

The dormitory door was an ordinary wooden door with a spherical lock.

He squatted down and looked out through the crack in the door.

There was movement in the hallway.

Footsteps, dragging, chaotic, and not just one person.

Also chewing sounds, that teeth-gritting sound of bones being crushed.

Commander Lin Dong stood up, walked to the window, and carefully looked down.

The dormitory building had six floors; he was on the fourth.

Below was the camp's concrete parade ground.

The parade ground should have been smooth and clean, but now dozens of black shadows were scattered across it.

Some were lying still, some were squatting, and some were moving slowly.

Further away, in the direction of the armory, there was firelight.

The column of smoke was black and dense, indicating that fuel or ammunition was burning.

Step two: Assess self.

Commander Lin Dong looked down at himself: physical training uniform, barefoot, no weapons, no communication equipment.

There was an old injury on his left arm—a shrapnel wound from an exercise five years ago, which would ache faintly on rainy days.

It didn't hurt today, but the air pressure was very low, and there was a metallic, sickly-sweet, fishy smell in the air.

Physical condition: Acceptable.

He had eaten 400 grams of beef and two bowls of rice for dinner yesterday; sleep time—he glanced at the digital clock—from lying down at 23:00 last night to now, he had slept for a total of six and a half hours, but the quality was poor, and deep sleep was estimated to be less than two hours.

Step three: Formulate a plan.

Commander Lin Dong's gaze swept across the room.

A twenty-square-meter bachelor dormitory, simply furnished: a bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a washbasin stand.

A military map hung on the wall—a topographic map of Beiling City and its surroundings, with a scale of 1:50,000.

His gaze lingered on the map for a second.

Then he began to act.

First, he took out a set of training fatigues from the wardrobe.

Not the usual camouflage, but a full set of desert digital combat fatigues, thick and wear-resistant.

While putting on his pants, he stood on one leg, extending the other into the pant leg, his eyes fixed on the door the entire time.

He put on the top, zipped it to the top, and turned up the collar.

Then his military boots.

Type 07 combat boots, old boots he had worn for a year, with the tread on the soles worn down by a third, but they were sufficient.

He used a double knot when tying his shoelaces—in the battlefield, untied laces could be fatal.

Finally, his equipment.

He fished out a canvas bag from the deepest part of the wardrobe.

This was his personal "emergency kit"; according to battlefield regulations, every officer was supposed to have one, but not everyone took it seriously.

Commander Lin Dong took it seriously.

Inside the bag were: a type 95 multi-purpose bayonet, his own backup; two packs of compressed biscuits, 500 milliliters of water; a roll of paracord; a compass; a box of waterproof matches; a small bottle of iodophor; and a roll of bandages.

He counted these items once, and then began to do something more important—

Collect data.

Commander Lin Dong closed his eyes, recalling the scene he had just seen from the window.

Battalion Commander Wang Hu under the streetlight, his movement speed, posture, reaction.

The number and distribution of the black shadows on the parade ground.

The height, color, and wind direction of the smoke column at the distant armory.

It was as if he were opening tables in his brain:

【Observation Target 1: Suspected Infected (Formerly Battalion Commander Wang Hu)】

Movement speed: approx. 1.2 m/s (normal human walking speed 1.4 m/s)

Posture: spine bent approx. 30°, right leg limping (possibly an old injury from before)

Behavioral pattern: aggressive towards static corpses on the ground, no reaction to light sources

Threat level assessment: Low (single individual)

【Observation Target 2: Infected Cluster on Parade Ground】

Quantity: approx. 35-40

Distribution density: approx. 1.2 per 10 square meters

Activity status: 70% static, 30% moving slowly

Sound environment: continuous chewing and growling sounds

【Environmental Data】

Visibility: approx. 200 meters (affected by the dark red skylight)

Wind direction: southeasterly, wind speed approx. 3 m/s

Temperature: approx. 16℃, surface temperature slightly lower

Special odor: bloody smell + pungent odor similar to ozone

Commander Lin Dong opened his eyes.

The data was sufficient.

He inserted the bayonet into the quick-draw holster on his waist, strapped the emergency kit onto his body, then walked to the window for one last observation.

Just then, he saw a scene that made his heart skip a beat.

Fourth floor, the dormitory building opposite, the station of the Third Platoon.

A window on the third floor was suddenly pushed open.

A figure leaned half its body out; it was a young soldier, one Commander Lin Dong didn't recognize, possibly a New recruit who had just enlisted last year.

The kid was covered in blood, waving his hands frantically while shouting something downward.

The sound was too far away; Commander Lin Dong couldn't hear clearly.

But he could see the infected on the parade ground—those slowly moving black shadows stopped their movements at the same time.

Their heads turned in unison toward the source of the sound.

【Data Update】

Infected auditory radius: greater than 50 meters

Reaction time: approx. 1.5 seconds (from sound emission to starting to turn)

Cluster synchronization: extremely high

Then those black shadows began to move.

No longer the aimless wandering from before.

They were like being pulled by an invisible thread, gathering toward that dormitory building.

The speed increased significantly—from 1.2 m/s up to about 2.5 m/s, almost the pace of a normal person walking quickly.

The New recruit upstairs obviously saw it too.

He froze for a moment, then pulled back into the window and slammed it shut with a bang.

But it was too late.

Commander Lin Dong's gaze fell on the unit door downstairs.

It was an ordinary security door, made of iron, and looked fairly sturdy.

But he knew the design standard of that door—it keeps out honest people, not villains.

The gap between the door frame and the door leaf could be pried open with a crowbar.

And those infected, they didn't need a crowbar.

When the first infected reached the unit door, Commander Lin Dong saw its movements clearly.

It didn't try to open the door but slammed directly into it.

With a muffled bang, the door frame vibrated.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth.

Every time it slammed, the iron door deformed a little more.

At the connection between the door frame and the wall, the white plaster began to flake off.

Commander Lin Dong didn't watch any longer.

He turned, walked quickly to the door, and pressed his ear against it.

The sound in the hallway had changed.

Those footsteps that were originally wandering nearby were moving away—toward the stairwell.

The banging downstairs had attracted them.

Commander Lin Dong took a deep breath, gently pressed down the door handle, and pushed the door open a crack.

There was no one in the hallway.

No, there were corpses.

Three of them, lying across the middle of the hallway.

Judging by the military uniforms, two were his soldiers, from the Second Platoon.

And one was in civilian clothes—a woman, possibly someone's girlfriend or family member, sneaked in for the weekend.

Commander Lin Dong didn't look at their faces.

He slipped out the door, pulled it shut behind him, and didn't lock it—he might need to come back.

Then he walked toward the other end of the hallway, in the direction opposite to the stairwell.

At the end was a window, and outside was the building's fire escape—an iron escape ladder that led directly to the ground.

This was the evacuation route he had planned.

When he reached the window, he heard a sound coming from behind him.

Not footsteps, but a voice.

"Lin... Platoon Leader?"

Commander Lin Dong's body stiffened for a moment.

He turned around.

In the middle of the corridor, next to those three corpses, a door opened.

A head poked out; it was a young soldier in his early twenties, his face as white as paper, his eye sockets bloodshot, and his lips trembling.

Commander Lin Dong recognized him.

He was from the Fourth Squad of the Second Platoon, named Zhou Zhou, a college student soldier who had enlisted last September; he was introverted but had good professional skills, having started as a radio operator.

"Zhou Zhou." Commander Lin Dong lowered his voice, "Why are you here?"

"I... I was playing cards in Brother Zhao's dormitory last night, and then... then it got chaotic outside.

Brother Zhao, he... he went out to check, and then..." Zhou Zhou's voice was intermittent, and tears welled up in his eyes again.

Commander Lin Dong didn't have time to comfort him.

He quickly scanned Zhou Zhou's condition: wearing a physical training uniform, barefoot, clutching an iron pipe torn from somewhere.

There were tear stains and sweat on his face, but no bloodstains, no bite marks.

"Come here," Commander Lin Dong said briefly.

Zhou Zhou froze for a moment, then stumbled over.

Halfway there, he stepped on the hand of the female corpse on the ground and almost fell.

Commander Lin Dong grabbed his arm and pulled him to the window.

"Don't make a sound, follow me."

The fire escape was made of iron, and stepping on it made a creaking sound.

Commander Lin Dong leaned half his body out to take a look below.

There was no one on the ground.

No, there were corpses.

A dozen or so lay scattered on the concrete floor downstairs.

Some had fallen to their deaths, their postures twisted, limbs at impossible angles.

Others had been bitten to death, the wounds on their necks looking like gaping mouths.

Commander Lin Dong didn't hesitate; he turned over, stepped out of the window, and onto the fire escape.

The ladder swayed, and the rusted metal emitted a harsh, grating sound.

Three meters away, at the corner of the building, a crouching shadow suddenly lifted its head.

It was a face that had once belonged to a woman, with long hair and a white dress, now covered in black stains.

A strand of dripping flesh hung from the corner of her mouth, and her eye sockets contained only whites, no pupils.

She looked at Commander Lin Dong.

【Data Update】

Distance: Approx. 4.5 meters

Detection Status: Visual contact (approx. 2 seconds)

Reaction Time: 1.8 seconds elapsed

Commander Lin Dong did not wait for it to react.

He let go of the fire escape and jumped down.

The height of two floors was about six meters.

The moment he landed, he bent his legs slightly and rolled forward to dissipate the impact.

The shoulders and elbows of his training uniform scraped against the rough concrete floor, sending a burning, stinging pain.

But he didn't stop.

When the second roll ended, he was already on one knee, his right hand drawing the bayonet from his waist.

The infected in the white dress had already lunged at him.

The speed was faster than he had anticipated.

Data correction—the infected's visual radius is greater than 20 meters, and its movement speed can reach 3.5 meters/second.

It took less than a second to cover the three-meter distance.

Commander Lin Dong did not retreat or dodge.

He took a step forward, meeting the lunging figure.

Sidestep.

The bayonet thrust diagonally upward into the opponent's jaw.

This was the standard use of a military bayonet—avoiding the ribs and thrusting directly into the brain from the jaw.

A slight resistance was felt as the tip penetrated the soft tissue, followed by a crisp sound: the sound of the skull being pierced.

The force of the infected's lunge vanished instantly.

It collapsed softly onto Commander Lin Dong, smearing the stains from its white dress all over him.

The smell of blood, rot, and an indescribable chemical agent rushed straight into his nostrils.

Commander Lin Dong pushed the corpse away, pulled out the bayonet, and wiped it twice on the hem of the corpse's dress.

Then he stood up and looked behind him.

Zhou Zhou was still hanging on the fire escape, frozen there, his face even paler than before.

"Come down," Commander Lin Dong said.

"I... I..."

"Come down," Commander Lin Dong repeated, his tone unchanged.

Zhou Zhou closed his eyes, let go, and jumped down.

He didn't stand steady when he landed; his knees hit the concrete floor with a dull thud.

He gritted his teeth to keep from screaming, but tears welled up again.

Commander Lin Dong walked over and pulled him up.

"Follow me, stay close, don't make a sound."

He didn't ask if Zhou Zhou could run, fight, or if he would be a burden.

Asking these things now was pointless.

Bringing along a burden was better than fighting alone—as long as the burden was obedient.

The two of them hugged the wall and moved toward the east side of the barracks.

There was what Commander Lin Dong wanted—a military humvee parked in the officer's parking lot.

Keys? Not needed.

After ten years as a soldier, if you didn't know how to hotwire a vehicle, you'd wasted your time.

Halfway there, Zhou Zhou suddenly tugged on his sleeve.

Commander Lin Dong turned back.

Zhou Zhou's finger pointed to the sky, his lips moving, but no sound came out.

Commander Lin Dong looked up.

Then he saw that thing.

The sky was still that nauseating dark red.

But behind that layer of red light was a huge, slowly rotating shadow.

It had no specific shape, like a mass of black smoke or a solidified dark cloud.

Its edges were constantly changing, sometimes expanding, sometimes contracting, as if it were alive.

Commander Lin Dong's pupils reflected that shadow.

His brain was calculating frantically—height, distance, volume, trajectory.

But the data was insufficient, and the observation conditions were too poor to reach a precise conclusion.

The only thing he could be sure of was that the thing was huge.

Very huge.

Big enough to cover half the city.

What was it?

Brought by a meteorite?

Or did it always exist, only appearing today?

Commander Lin Dong didn't know.

But there was one thing he did know—if that thing was an enemy, whether humanity's existing weapons could deal with it was an unknown.

"Don't look," he said to Zhou Zhou in a low voice, "Let's go."

The two continued to move along the wall.

When passing a three-story building, Commander Lin Dong suddenly stopped.

That was the base of the Communications Company.

There was no movement inside the building, but in the open space outside, three communications vehicles were parked.

The antennas on the roofs were still there; some were broken, others still standing.

A thought flashed through Commander Lin Dong's mind—radio.

If there were still survivors in the military, and if a command system was still operating, there would definitely be messages on the communication frequencies.

"Follow me." He changed direction and walked toward the communications vehicles.

Zhou Zhou wanted to say something, but seeing Commander Lin Dong's back, he swallowed his words.

The first communications vehicle was empty.

The door was open, and there was a pool of blood on the driver's seat, but no one was there.

The second one was also empty.

The third one—

As soon as Commander Lin Dong pulled open the door of the rear compartment, a dark shadow lunged out.

It wasn't an infected.

It was a person.

A female Communications Soldier, her hair disheveled, her face covered in tear stains and mud.

She was clutching a screwdriver, the tip pointed outward, and her whole body was trembling violently.

"Don't come over!" Her voice was hoarse, with a crying tone, "Don't come over! I... I will stab you!"

Commander Lin Dong raised his hands, palms facing outward.

"Calm down," he said, his tone so steady it didn't seem like the apocalypse, "I'm Commander Lin Dong from the Second Platoon, Reconnaissance Company.

Which unit are you from?"

The female soldier froze for a moment.

She didn't put down the screwdriver in her hand, but it wasn't trembling as violently anymore.

"I... I'm from the Communications Company... Li Na..." Her voice was intermittent, "You... you haven't been bitten?"

"No," Commander Lin Dong said, "Are you alone?"

Li Na nodded, then shook her head.

"There were... there were three others... they... they went out to find food... they went out last night... and haven't come back yet..."

Commander Lin Dong didn't speak.

He knew those three wouldn't be coming back.

"Is there any communication equipment on the vehicle?" he asked, "Something that works?"

Li Na froze for a moment, then nodded.

"Yes... there is a backup radio... the battery still has power..."

Commander Lin Dong walked forward and gently pressed down on her hand holding the screwdriver.

"Show me."

Three minutes later, Commander Lin Dong sat in front of the communications vehicle's console, wearing headphones and adjusting the frequency knob.

Harsh white noise came through the headphones.

He slowly turned the knob, searching frequency by frequency.

Suddenly, a voice appeared in the white noise.

Intermittent and blurry, but it was definitely a human voice.

"...Everyone... attention... repeat... this is not a drill... infected... after being bitten... 30 seconds to 3 minutes... mutation... avoid contact with body fluids... repeat... avoid contact..."

Commander Lin Dong's pupils contracted slightly.

Then another voice followed, clearer and closer:

"East Suburbs... safe zone... Beiling City East Suburbs Industrial Park... there are garrison troops... survivors can head there on their own... repeat... East Suburbs Industrial Park..."

Commander Lin Dong's fingers stopped on the knob.

East Suburbs.

The military map on the wall appeared in his mind—from the North Suburbs barracks to the East Suburbs Industrial Park, the straight-line distance was about 17 kilometers.

He would have to cross half the city, three main roads, two overpasses, and a dense area of old residential districts.

The voice in the headphones kept repeating.

Li Na and Zhou Zhou stood behind him, holding their breath.

Just then, another sound suddenly cut in.

Not from the headphones, but from the distance.

A dull explosion came from the southeast of the barracks.

Then gunfire—intense gunfire, sounding like several automatic rifles firing at the same time.

Commander Lin Dong took off the headphones and jumped out of the communications vehicle.

In the southeast direction, at the location of the armory, someone was fighting.

And they were using standard-issue weapons.

He glanced at Zhou Zhou and Li Na.

Both of them were looking at him.

Commander Lin Dong's brain began to work—the weapon reserves in the armory, the scale of the combatants, the density of the infected, and that huge shadow that had just appeared.

His gaze landed on the eastern sky.

A military signal flare was slowly rising, trailing a red streak.

That was the standard PLA "request for support" signal.

Commander Lin Dong took a deep breath.

Data update complete.

Plan generating—

【End of Chapter】