"In three minutes, the people around you will turn into zombies."

Xu Duoduo's first reaction upon receiving this text message was to scoff. It was a recent internet meme, and many apocalypse-related bloggers had played out this series of scripts. She immediately replied: "Is this Jiajia? Or Yaoyao? Are you messing with me? It's not even April Fool's Day."

Just as she sent the message, the light above her flickered, causing her heart to skip a beat.

Her colleague, Sister Liu, couldn't help but look up as well. "Hey, that's strange. How long has it been since we've had a power outage in K City? What's going on?"

Xu Duoduo was a 22-year-old intern at an internet company. Working overtime was common, and it was now 6 PM. In early winter, it got dark early, and outside it was already completely black. It seemed like it was about to rain, with tree branches swaying outside the window, vague and indistinct.

Like shadow monsters from a dark fairy tale, they seemed to be reaching out with claws, ready to drag people into the abyss.

Xu Duoduo was considered brave, but when Sister Liu from the neighboring cubicle turned her head to look at her, that pale face and rigid pupils still startled her. Her gaze moved downward, and she noticed that the edges of Sister Liu's nails were also starting to turn blue.

Sister Liu seemed to find Xu Duoduo's daze a bit strange and leaned in closer to express concern: "Duoduo? What are you spacing out for? Be careful, or the director will scold you again."

The putrid smell that wafted over almost made Xu Duoduo vomit. She abruptly stood up.

Other colleagues in the office also looked up, wondering what was wrong with her.

Xu Duoduo nervously swallowed and began packing up to leave. "I'm not feeling well. I'm going home first. Sister Liu, can you help me ask the director for leave?"

With that, she grabbed her bag and headed out, indeed looking unwell.

Behind her, Sister Liu still looked puzzled and remarked strangely: "How did you suddenly become unwell? Young people these days, they're just spoiled. I was bitten by a dog yesterday, got a rabies shot, and still came to work. Hey, be careful, the director might get angry and fire you!"

Xu Duoduo heard the last sentence as she reached the office door. "If I get fired, so be it! I quit!"

Her heart was racing.

After leaving the company, she checked her phone messages. It had been two minutes since she received that message. Fortunately, this company was not located high up, situated on the third floor. After a moment's thought, she quickly took the stairs down.

It's not safe to use the elevator when the power is unstable. If she got stuck in the elevator, it would be over.

She'd become a living canned meat.

Xu Duoduo practically flew down the stairs. Just as she reached the bottom of the company building, she heard a sharp scream from above. The passersby around her couldn't help but exclaim "What the hell!" and looked up towards the building.

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"Damn, that scared me!"

"What's going on? Don't tell me someone's about to jump because of work pressure again?"

"Ugh, that's terrifying. Let's get out of here quick!"

...

Hearing the scream, Xu Duoduo's hands were shaking. She glanced at her phone - it was exactly three minutes. She didn't dare look up at all and directly swiped her card to leave the software park.

Once out of the office area, she scanned a code to rent a bike and headed home, not daring to linger.

She didn't dare take public transportation either.

Her phone didn't receive any new messages, and the signal was intermittent.

Xu Duoduo wanted to send messages to warn her friends about their safety, but couldn't send a single one. She knew then that this world was really about to have problems.

At this moment, a storm was brewing.

She cycled quickly, and fortunately, the people on the road all seemed normal.

Twenty minutes later, she successfully arrived at her residential complex. Xu Duoduo finally felt a bit relieved, but she didn't idle. Before going upstairs, she entered the largest supermarket at the entrance of the complex, casually grabbed a shopping cart, and began a major shopping spree.

Milk, bread, instant noodles, chocolate, and various high-sugar, high-calorie drinks.

At this point, Xu Duoduo's brain was still in a daze, and her nerves were highly strung. Her actions were entirely subconscious, guided by survival instincts.

After she filled up a large cart, the supermarket shelf stocker, Auntie Wang, suddenly spoke up with concern: "Young lady? What's wrong? You don't look too good! Are you feeling down? Why aren't you working overtime today?"

Xu Duoduo often came to buy things after work in the evenings, so the supermarket staff were quite familiar with her.

"Ah, um, yes, I'm feeling down, so I'm planning to have a big meal," Xu Duoduo said, as if suddenly awakened, forcing a smile at the shelf stocker. "By the way, don't you offer delivery service here? Can you help me deliver ten boxes of mineral water? Just to Building A, 8th floor. You can leave them in the elevator."

The shelf stocker heard this and said of course they could, but wondered: "What does a young girl like you need so much mineral water for? How long will it take you to use all that?"

Xu Duoduo, while stuffing various canned meats into her shopping cart, replied: "I'm too lazy to keep buying. I got fired from my company today, and I'll be busy job hunting starting tomorrow. I won't have time to come shopping again."

Upon hearing this, the shelf stocker auntie sighed: "The pressure on young people these days is too much. Alright, alright, I'll write up the order for you in a bit, and you can come pay. How can a young girl keep eating all this junk food? Even if you're feeling down, you can't binge eat like this. It's so bad for your stomach!"

Hearing these caring words, Xu Duoduo felt a lump in her throat. She was adopted, and after the elderly couple who adopted her passed away, their house was demolished. She had only moved to this area less than a year ago, and being cared for so suddenly by a stranger really made her emotional.

She opened and closed her mouth several times, but still couldn't bring herself to tell the other person about the zombies.

After all, she didn't have enough evidence to prove that the apocalypse and zombies were really coming.

So she silently followed the shelf stocker auntie to pay. The auntie even kindly helped her pack everything nicely and escorted her all the way to the elevator.

Xu Duoduo then went upstairs with her emergency supplies and ten boxes of mineral water. Before the elevator doors closed, she could still hear the security guard chatting with the shelf stocker auntie.

"Oh, Sister Wang, delivering again? Why did that young lady buy so much stuff?"

"Ah, she got fired and is feeling down. Says she's going to start job hunting tomorrow and is too lazy to keep buying mineral water. These young people, when they're stressed, they just like to buy, buy, buy. Not like us older folks who've been through hard times, eh?"

"Haha, that's true."

She couldn't hear anything after that. Xu Duoduo quickly moved her things out when she reached the 8th floor, then closed the elevator and carried everything back to her apartment. Only when she was back in her familiar space did she feel somewhat at ease.

She collapsed onto the sofa, with the light above dazzling her eyes. She could only close her eyes to calm her nerves and catch her breath, planning to sort out the supplies piled at the door later. But as soon as she closed her eyes, something felt off.

It was as if she suddenly had a hallucination. With her eyes closed, she could see a Rubik's cube, one with an incredible number of faces. Countless faces, densely packed.

Spinning rapidly.

Xu Duoduo let out a "Wa!" and started to retch. The spinning had made her dizzy.