Ethan was startled.

The clothes rail in his hand was almost frightened out of his grip.

The face of the corpse that had risen was swollen and blue-purple. At that moment, thin white hair was growing on the surface, and in its pair of opened eyes, there were no pupils, only white orbs. Its mouth hung wide open, as if gasping for breath.

The corpse's arms trembled, seeming to struggle to rise from the water, but suddenly sank down again. The water appeared to produce a huge force, pulling the corpse down with a "gudong" sound, and it vanished beneath the surface, leaving only splashes behind.

This entire transformation took only a second or two. Ethan stared wide-eyed as the corpse suddenly sank into the water, transforming into a black shadow before disappearing entirely. He felt cold in his hands and feet, backing away as he hurried to shut the window tightly, his face pale.

"There's something in that water… something other than just the corpse. Something dragged it under."

Ethan's lips trembled slightly as he murmured, stepping back to the coffee table. He grasped a kitchen knife and a hammer, trying to regain a sense of control.

He recalled the female corpse he had seen before. The boobs, abdomen, and legs bore signs of having been gnawed upon. At the time, he had wondered if there were large carnivorous fish or other aquatic creatures in the water. Now, after what he had just witnessed, a terrible thought formed in his mind.

There was a horrific creature hidden in the water outside.

It was capable of gnawing on corpses, and based on how fast it had pulled the body under, it was terrifyingly powerful.

It had the strength to drag a floating corpse so quickly. The way it disappeared into the depths so effortlessly meant its size and strength were immense.

"It can't be a crocodile or a shark..." Ethan muttered to himself, glancing at the endless water outside. Desperation crept into his mind as he considered the possibility.

The city had been submerged. If ferocious creatures like sharks or crocodiles were now in the water, it wouldn't surprise him, but for Ethan, that meant certain death.

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He had painstakingly built a raft, hoping to leave the area the next morning in search of other survivors and rescue. But if such monstrous creatures lurked beneath the surface, escaping on a raft might be as good as suicide.

"Am I really stuck here? The food supply will only last four more days…"

Ethan racked his brain for a better plan but came up short. He resigned himself to locking all the windows near the balcony and checked the other windows, ensuring they were secure.

But deep down, he knew that being on the 30th floor, with no security bars outside, wouldn't save him if the corpses transformed like the female corpse from earlier. If they did, they could easily break the window glass and climb inside.

As for whatever was lurking in the water, he had no idea what it could be. His only hope was that this mysterious creature was restricted to water and couldn't come ashore like the corpse.

Satisfied that he had locked all the doors and windows, Ethan glanced at the growing darkness outside. He pulled out instant noodles, bread, biscuits, and other snacks from the refrigerator, packing them into a travel backpack just in case he needed to flee in a hurry.

As the room darkened further, Ethan lay on the sofa, clutching the kitchen knife and hammer, his eyes wide open in the dark. He had an ominous feeling that something might happen tonight.

It wasn't long before that premonition came true. Suddenly, there were footsteps in the hallway outside the door. They were soft but distinct in the silent night.

Ethan froze, tightening his grip on the kitchen knife and hammer as he stood from the sofa.

There hadn't been any living people on these thirty floors, so where were the footsteps coming from? Could it be…?

The footsteps continued, growing closer with each step.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Ethan moved cautiously toward the security door, intent on peeking through the peephole. His palms were slick with cold sweat as he gripped his makeshift weapons tighter, trying to steady his racing heart.

"Even if it's a corpse, there's nothing to fear," he whispered to himself. "They're just scary to look at—clumsy, stiff, no match for me…"

He repeated these words like a mantra as he approached the door, steeling his nerves to peer through the peephole.

But the footsteps stopped.

Ethan peered through the peephole, but it was too dark to see anything clearly. He suddenly realized that, just like his room, the corridor outside had no light—he couldn't see anything through the peephole.

At that moment, there was a loud "click" from the balcony—the sound of glass breaking.

The noise was so sudden and sharp in the dead silence that it sent a chill down Ethan's spine. He whipped around in time to see that a window on the balcony had shattered. Two arms reached in from the outside.

They slapped against the window frame, and a swollen, blue-purple face appeared. Most of it had been gnawed away, leaving it bloody. One of its eyeballs was hanging from the socket by a tendon, swinging grotesquely.

The half of the face that hadn't been eaten had a thin layer of white fur, and the remaining pupil-less eye was staring directly at Ethan. Its mouth opened and closed unconsciously like a fish out of water, giving it a bizarre appearance.

Despite the damage to its face, Ethan recognized it immediately as the floating corpse he had seen in the water earlier. Its face had been intact then, before it had been dragged under. Now, it had reappeared, smashing through the window glass and trying to climb inside.

With the experience of facing the female corpse earlier, Ethan's fear was tempered with action. Despite his terror, he charged forward, determined to strike before the corpse could fully enter.

Though terrifying, Ethan knew the monsters these corpses became had their weaknesses.

As Ethan charged, the corpse had only just wedged its head through the window. He raised the hammer in his right hand and brought it down with a powerful blow.

The corpse raised its arms to shield its face, and the hammer landed squarely on one of them.