Chapter 1
00.01 AM. 1st day of the apocalypse.
“Hoo… hoo… ho…”
“Roar!”
“Ahh!! Help me!”
“Run!”
“Roar!”
Murong Jiao looked down from the window on the third floor, and saw a group of zombies chasing those college students. A senior sister who just talked to her in the morning ran too slowly and was bitten on the neck by a zombie. Blood gushed out from her blood veins, and zombies surrounded her instantly, tearing her flesh and bones.
Crunch… crunch…
The sound of those zombies biting and tearing her flesh made Murong Jiao’s back drenched in cold sweat. Gently drawing the curtains, she sat down on her bed in dazed. She was lucky, because when the end of the world came, she was the only one in her dormitory room.
When she woke up ten minutes ago, there were screams, roars and cries everywhere. After observing the external situation for more than five minutes, she knew that this was what they called the zombie apocalypse. Thinking of the things her classmates said in class this morning, she couldn’t help laughing nervously.
*****
16 hours before the apocalypse.
Sitting at her seat, Murong Jiao took out her books and laptop, ready for the class. Studying at one of the best universities in the country, she chose the least popular faculty, biological sciences and agriculture. In this spacious classroom, besides her, there were only seven other students attending the class.
From the moment she walked into the classroom, a group of seven people were talking seriously. Another female classmate saw that she had nothing to do and the class wouldn’t start in one hour, so she motioned for her to join them.
“Jiao Jiao, come and join us.”
She walked up to the female classmate and sat down, asking, “What are you guys talking about so seriously?”
Looking at her curious eyes, the male classmate who told the story just now handed her a stack of papers and said, “This is the data and reports of my project. You read it first before I tell you the rest.”
After receiving the report, she flipped through it and asked, “What is the theme of your project this time?”
“It’s related to the soil and pollution rate.” The male classmate answered her calmly.
“I see.”
A few minutes later, she finished reading the thick report and returned it to the male classmate. She looked at him, waiting for him to speak. Seeing that she had read his report, he asked her seriously.
“What did you think about my report?”
Shrugging, she said firmly. “Definitely is an A.”
The male classmate smiled. “Thank you for the compliment, but that’s not what I asked.”
“Then?”
The female classmate looked at her puzzled face and said, “Did you notice something from his report and research data?”
After thinking about it, she said, “The soil here is different from ordinary soil. There are some strange substances in his research subjects.”
Having said that, she looked at the male classmate again and asked curiously. “Where did you get the soil for your research?”
“On the empty plot behind our faculty building, and get some from the farmer market.” He answered her earnestly.
Blinking her eyes, she looked at the other six classmates and saw them nodded. A friend of the male classmate said: “I accompanied him to pick up soil. It really came from the empty plot behind our faculty building and the farmer market.”
She looked at them in disbelief and said, “No way… You must be joking.”
“Yeah… I know what you’re thinking now.” The male classmate patted her shoulder sympathetically.
The female classmate was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked: “Speaking of strange substances, don’t you think the current situation is the same as in the TV series and movies?”
“You mean those doomsday movies and TV series?” Another female classmate asked.
“Um. Don’t all stories start with those scientists finding something wrong in their research? Just like us.”
Another male classmate waved his hand and said, “Stop joking. It’s not funny.”
The male classmate picked up his report and fell silent. Seeing that he was holding the thick report without saying a word, the others also fell silent. The atmosphere suddenly became heavy.
Bang!
The door of the classroom opened suddenly, scaring the eight people half to death. The professor looked at them staring at him with raised eyebrows and said, “What are you doing? Get back to your seats!”
Seeing the serious face of the professor, they hurried back to their seats and started class as usual. Murong Jiao looked at the data displayed by the male classmate in front of the class, and suddenly had a bad feeling. But as a science student, she didn’t do things by feeling.
*****
12 hours before the apocalypse.
After Murong Jiao finished her class, she went back to the dormitory. When she opened the door, she didn’t see any roommates. Putting her backpack on her bed, she took out her phone and opened a gourmet app. Although she has been studying in this university for two years, her relationship with her roommate is not good.
They didn’t like the way she dressed or her faculty. They said she was a mole, always playing with the dirt, and the dirt was dirty. She didn’t care about their insults, and she ignored them. After a long time, the roommates didn’t bother to insult her anymore. Because of this, she got a quiet environment that she likes very much.
Just before she placed the order, her phone suddenly disconnected. Sighing, she put down her phone and went to take a shower. After taking a shower, she checked her phone again and found that the connection had been restored.
Too lazy to order any more, she went to prepare a cup of noodles. While the cup noodles were soaked in the hot water, she opened her laptop and browsed the university forums. One of the thread titles caught her attention.
‘Sudden global disconnection! Is the end of the world coming?!’
Recalling the conversation with her classmates this morning, she clicked on the forum post and began to read it. After reading the report and data in the post, she scrolls down and reads the comments section. Most of the comments say the post owner is an attention seeker. Only a few of them actually seriously discussed the sudden loss of connection that happened around the world.
Reading the hot discussion, she kept reading while eating cup noodles. Before she finished eating the cup noodles, she was struck by a sense of drowsiness. She stood up from the chair and crawled into her bed, trying to suppress the drowsiness. But before reaching the bed, she fell to the ground and fell asleep.
When she woke up 12 hours later, the world had changed and the end of the world had begun.