Xu Duoduo had always been very careful. When people in the community group were exchanging needed supplies, she didn't participate. Later, when some people couldn't stand staying inside and started visiting neighbors in the hallways, she didn't go out either, trying her best to avoid contact with others.
The internet signal was constantly intermittent, so any news was delayed.
The messages she sent to her friends were like stones sinking into the sea, making her heart sink along with them.
Meanwhile, she started keeping a diary to record events.
Day One was the zombie outbreak, but the authorities were already doing their best to handle it, so it was still under control for the time being. There were just many more vehicles coming in and out of the residential complex, and many people in protective suits were busy downstairs.
On Day Two, there was a big temperature drop. The biggest temperature difference was that in the morning it was so hot that clothes were almost unbearable, but by night it was so cold that everyone couldn't stand it.
Fortunately, the living facilities were still intact, and the timely heating saved them.
On Day Three, some water sources started to have problems, the zombie virus infection became somewhat uncontrollable, and worst of all, power outages were becoming longer.
Xu Duoduo barely slept for these three days, finally managing to cook most of the food, but later she didn't dare to eat food with strong smells.
Because after Day Three, food supplies were cut off. No one came to deliver food anymore. The area below the residential complex was in chaos, becoming empty, and no more cars came.
On Day Four, the water started to smell strange. People didn't dare to drink tap water anymore. By the afternoon, some people couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to go out of the complex to check the situation. Although many people were shouting from upstairs, telling them not to go out.
But they said, "Are we supposed to die of thirst if we don't go out and look? You're too cowardly to go out, we'll go!"
"That's right! What if they've all abandoned us and run away? Even the medical staff didn't come today! Are we supposed to just trap ourselves here?!"
The bolder ones didn't listen to advice at all, or perhaps after experiencing these magical events for the past few days, their minds were already on the brink of collapse.
Just as they were about to go out, they saw a figure in a protective suit appear. This made them all feel relieved. They immediately waved and even started cursing, "Damn it, I thought you were going to let us starve and die of thirst. Do you know that the tap water tastes weird?"
The others chimed in, "That's right! Quickly deal with the drinking water!"
Xu Duoduo felt that these people were really impolite to the volunteers, but the next second she saw that the person in the protective suit wasn't moving normally. Her heart sank even further, and she couldn't muster any more hope.
She dimly pulled the curtains closed, turned to sit against the wall, took out her diary from her space, and wrote: November 6, 2029, all medical volunteers have fallen, the residential complex is about to lose order.
If no official personnel came, it could only mean one thing: they couldn't come.
The situation was indeed bad.
Sure enough, terrified shouts came from downstairs. The few people who were preparing to leave the complex were frantically shouting that this volunteer had also contracted the rabies virus.
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People upstairs were all too scared to make a sound, almost everyone immediately went to lock their doors.
Xu Duoduo's eyes welled up with big tears, but this was unavoidable. The apocalypse survival manual had already estimated the date when order would collapse, and sure enough, it officially began on the fourth day, right on schedule.
She wiped away her tears. The road ahead would depend on herself. She had to survive until the later stages.
The difference between having official order maintenance and not was huge. On the fourth night of the apocalypse, the screams in the residential complex grew louder, along with the constant sound of heavy objects falling, and some animal-like roars from downstairs.
People in other buildings started fighting over supplies. Everyone was in a panic.
Xu Duoduo also saw the content people were posting in the community group chat when there was signal. Despair dominated most of it. She tried hard to block out the bad news.
To keep herself calm.
In this situation, the most frightening thing was mental breakdown. As an ordinary person, Xu Duoduo felt she was already very strong, and she still had her space to rely on. If she didn't have the space, she might have felt despair too.
Compared to others' anxiety about food and water, she was doing okay.
So when someone knocked on her door, Xu Duoduo didn't make a sound. She had food and drink, and staying put was the best protection for her.
Two more days passed. Water and electricity were completely cut off, and the residential complex became lifeless.
Downstairs were now wandering zombies. They scratched at the doors every day, but the early-stage zombies didn't have the ability to break doors, they could only scratch.
As long as you didn't go downstairs, it was very safe.
However, the survivors' fight for supplies was intensifying. Xu Duoduo's door had been bashed several times, and neighbors in the same building muttered that her door was sturdy, impossible to break open no matter how hard they tried.
However, they didn't know that if they really broke in, Xu Duoduo, waiting by the door, would start her chainsaw. Although she was afraid, it didn't mean she wouldn't fight back. Fortunately, her door was really sturdy.
It wasn't in vain that she spent over ten thousand on the anti-theft door. It was really, really solid.
But even without contact with people.
Xu Duoduo didn't understand why she seemed to be turning into a zombie. Her brain's reactions started to slow down, her body became sluggish, as did her tongue. So on the tenth day of the apocalypse, she had to admit that she had become a zombie. Angry, she lay in bed for a full ten days.
This start that made her turn into a zombie, what was the point of giving her a protagonist's standard space?!
It really made her angry to death!
She couldn't speak when she opened her mouth, only making "aba aba" sounds, which made her kick her legs in frustration.
Then she found that her leg-kicking movements became more flexible. She finally rolled out of bed, and then she discovered that her body had gone from stiff to soft again, regaining some agility, only her tongue was still not nimble.
Maybe it was because she hadn't spoken to anyone for so long, and also psychological reasons.
Xu Duoduo could still only say "aba aba" when she tried to speak, which made her cheeks puff up in anger. She sat cross-legged on the bed thinking for a long time before remembering to write in her diary.
Then she found that her brain hadn't fully recovered either, working slower than before. Some things took a long time to think about. Realizing this fact made her collapse for another three days. Finally, she discovered that she could survive without eating, which made her want to cry even more.
The apocalypse had just begun, and she had stored a lot of food and drink. Now that she had turned into a zombie, she couldn't eat it!
Xu Duoduo really wanted to cry out loud, but zombies don't have tears. She silently closed her mouth again, took out some food to chew dry, only able to taste about one percent of the flavor, leaving her heart feeling cold.
During the several times she collapsed in her room, more than half a month had passed since the start of the apocalypse.
Xu Duoduo knew nothing about the outside world. Her residential complex was completely lifeless, with more and more zombies downstairs, and even wall-climbing zombies appearing.
There were still survivors.
She could hear them coming out to look for supplies during the day, and they tried to pry open her door several times, but still couldn't open it, so they had to give up.
Xu Duoduo couldn't be bothered to deal with them. After all, she wasn't human anymore, was she?
She was prepared to continue being useless, until the morning of the 26th day of the apocalypse, when the previously quiet K City began to hear the sounds of artillery fire. The rescue operation had finally begun.