Chapter 13: My Ex-Wife
Chapter 13: My Ex-Wife
At the kitchen door, which leads to the hall, three men stand guard, holding pots, pans, and other kitchen utensils. They are on high alert, determined to prevent the “brothers” inside the hall from charging out.
Among the three men in camouflage uniforms, one with a youthful appearance, seemingly in his early twenties, named Liu Xiaojué, is new to the team this year.
At this moment, Liu Xiaojué, with his face smeared with blood and holding a cleaver, approaches Zhan Lian. With a helpless and dejected expression, he asks, "Brother Lian, who are you calling?"
"My ex-wife!" Zhan Lian responds tersely, then dials Anran’s number again. This time, he is met with a series of busy signals.
Liu Xiaojué begins to cry, his sobs sounding like a bear’s low growl. He says, “I... I also called my girlfriend and my mom, but... but they didn’t answer!”
Another man, around thirty years old and looking like a senior instructor, named Luo Feifan, stands at the door with glasses on. Hearing this, he frowns and voices his disapproval of Zhan Lian and Liu Xiaojué’s distraction: “Ah Lian, stop calling. Anran might have already…”
“Impossible!” Zhan Lian shoots up with a fierce, almost murderous expression on his face. He insists, “She just called me. If she had turned into a zombie, she wouldn’t have called!”
Since last night, the military camp in the northwest has been plagued by a large number of soldiers suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and lethargy. Although Zhan Lian has been discharged last night, Luo Feifan has organized a farewell party. Despite the discomfort, most of the attendees still show up.
Due to the general discomfort, the farewell party is held with a festive appearance, but there isn’t much joy in the atmosphere. Of course, Zhan Lian is the kind of person who can sense even the slightest hint of strange unease in the air, regardless of whether he’s retiring today or not.
It is just that the change comes too suddenly. The people present are all his daily companions, not just comrades but closer than family. He never imagined that after a thunderstorm, there would be such a phenomenon as teammates eating each other.
The first person who turns into a zombie is no longer clear in Zhan Lian’s memory. He and Luo Feifan have gone out to discuss Zhan Lian's post-discharge work arrangements, but when they return, everything has changed. The transformation happens too quickly. Zhan Lian and Luo Feifan, having reacted relatively fast, manage to protect themselves and a few unaffected teammates from the inferno of the past night. Despite their old bonds, they can’t bring themselves to kill their former comrades, hoping that one day these friends might be cured.
They are forced to retreat to the kitchen and remain in a daze.
However, a day has passed, and the usual rapid dissemination of information about any disturbance in the team does not occur today. Zhan Lian and the others have been waiting in the kitchen all day without receiving any rescue.
Thus, Zhan Lian and his team have to consider other possibilities, such as the disease's spread not being limited to their team alone but potentially affecting the entire military region.
Or perhaps, the entire vast nation of China?
If the whole world is affected by this illness, what about Anran? What about their families and friends?