Wang Shen looked down at himself. There were a few blood splatters, but nothing too alarming. He looked the part of a dirty country schoolboy in his gym clothes who was going to the city to visit relatives.

He then raised his head to scan the room. There were only about ten people on the train with him. This was normal, this late at night.

Wang Shen then carefully looked at each and every one of the ten people around him. He needed to check which of them were infected. This was a critical skill that survivors in the apocalypse would later need to know. He wasn’t strong enough to just scan the room with spiritual sense, so using his eyes would have to do for now.

One man caught his attention.

He looked like an office worker, going back home after a long day. The office worker held a briefcase in his right hand and was sitting near another man.

What tipped Wang Shen off was the nervous glances the man was giving the people around him. Office man was clearly suspicious of other people on the train, which in turn made Wang Shen wary of him.

This early in the apocalypse, people didn’t necessarily have an understanding of the virus. A random infected stranger could easily pass the infection through bodily fluids. Even airborne transmission was a possible danger.

There was probably nothing to worry about for the moment, so Wang Shen stopped analyzing the office worker. He turned his attention to another suspicious individual.

Wang Shen narrowed his eyes as he studied the man sitting next to the office worker. Something was off. He shouldn’t have been acting like this immediately after the penumbral eclipse. It usually took a half-day before the hunger truly began, and the craziness overtook the mind.

The suspicious man stood up. Wang Shen could see that he was wearing all black, like a robber. He suddenly understood. The man had already been in a different mental state before the eclipse hit, so the apocalypse had sent him over the edge.

Wang Shen prepared himself while watching the suspicious man walk over to a nearby woman.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” The woman asked loudly, attracting the attention of everyone on the train.

The suspicious man didn’t stop in his advances. There was a feverish glint in his eye as he reached out to feel her body.

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“Stop! Help!” The woman tried to get away from the strange man while calling out desperately. Wang Shen was sure this man was infected at this point. Unfortunately, he was too far to help.

“Hey, back the fuck up, man. Can’t you see she’s uncomfortable?” The nearby office worker put his hand on the man’s shoulder and tried to pull him off. “What are you doin--”

Then, all hell broke loose.

The unstable man turned around and sank his teeth into the carotid artery of the office worker, then ripped out the office worker’s throat in one fluid motion. A torrential release of blood spouted from the gaping wound as the man stumbled backward and gasped incoherently before falling over.

Everyone started screaming and running to the opposite side of the train as the man feasted on the body. The young woman who had been getting harrassed was frozen with fear; only her vocal cords worked as she kept screaming over and over.

“Bad move lady,” Wang Shen uttered under his breath as he approached the mutant. The screaming only served to redirect the zombie’s attention back to the woman. It would only aggravate it more.

Just before the mutant could lay a hand on her, Wang Shen summoned a burst of speed by reinforcing his legs with qi and kicked the zombie away with a devastating blow to the face.

“Get up! Go!” Wang Shen pushed the woman towards the other side. This time she moved, stumbling frantically away from the situation. He let out a mental sigh of relief. Without anybody around, he could afford to go all out without hurting others.

The mutant uncontrollably gurgled as it got back to its feet. Wang Shen’s kick had entirely dislocated the man’s jaw, leaving it hanging wide open. Already the whites of his eyes were showing; the infection had completely set in and taken over.

Wang Shen grimaced, he was running low on qi. The fight with the mutant bear had cost him more than he had thought. He needed to end this quickly before things got worse. A weapon would be perfect here. He glanced around, looking for something he could use. But there was nothing, everything was bolted in place on the train, and there was no way he could break off a pole with his current cultivation level.

Then his eyes lit up on something.

Grabbing the dead body on the ground by the leg, he lifted the corpse and swung it overhead like an axe. The office worker’s body collided with the mutant, causing bone to meet bone. It was like a horror scene out of a movie as blood flew everywhere along with bits of flesh here and there.

The damage had been done as the mutant was momentarily stunned and disoriented. While the man tried to recover, Wang Shen quickly closed the distance with flightless steps and covered his fist in his remaining qi. He planted his feet firmly and drew upon the help of centrifugal force to hit the man. Then he launched his first-ever cultivation technique.

Exploding strike!

A wave of energy flew out from his fist, blowing the mutant’s head straight off in an explosion of brains and blood. The man’s headless body stiffened and crumpled over, leaving a pool of blood to spill from the neck.

Wang Shen wrinkled his nose.

Even after all these years, I still can’t get used to the smell of fresh bodies.