Chapter 48: Be Cautious
Thud...
A sound of light footsteps echoed from a distance.
It was a young man, with short hair and a long beard, covered in dust. The most striking thing about him was the rice bag he was carrying. Inside were tree leaves, moldy buns, and even rotting meat.
Before the apocalypse, the man had worked at a state-owned enterprise. He was young, talented, and highly regarded by his superiors. It wouldn't have been long before he was sent abroad for further study, after which he would return to take a director's position.
His parents were alive and well.
He had a gentle wife.
And he had a pair of twin children. He was a winner in life, but who could have imagined that after a short nap at home, everything would change so drastically?
The streets were now overrun with monsters. From his upstairs window, he had seen it all clearly. The daughter of Brother Zhang next door, a sweet junior high school student who always greeted him politely, had just taken the college entrance exam and was about to attend the most prestigious high school in the city. But when the apocalypse struck…
A giant corpse beetle, the size of a calf, crawled over her body. In one bite, the lovely girl was severed in half. Her school bag lay beside her, stained with her blood and entrails.
Panic.
The man was utterly terrified. Trembling, he sealed his house's doors and windows with whatever tools he had, and spent the next ten days like that.
But today, he had unsealed the doors and windows and was sneaking out of his house.
Suicide?
No!
He was just too hungry. Not only him, but his wife and children had not eaten in days. If he didn't find food, they wouldn't survive even two more days and would starve to death.
The state he was in now would become more common as time went on.
Scavengers.
A profession at the very bottom of the Apocalypse totem pole.
In the wild, they are like rats, roaming freely, going out early and returning late, scavenging to survive.
In many ways, they are the truest reflection of the survivors at the bottom. Homeless and powerless, they live in such remote areas that even the Military and Judges would not step foot there.
No land in this world is safe. Even in the desolate wilderness, countless Zerg and Zombies roam, hunting humans for food.
In such an abandoned state, the survivors' lives are unimaginable.
Scavengers are the products of this harsh life. They leave early and return late, using their hands to forage in the wild, often relying on plants and fruit for sustenance.
No matter how exceptional a man once was, now...
He was nothing more than a scavenger.
Rotting meat in a rice bag.
Monsters in the wild often fight and devour each other. This was the remains of a Bladed Mantis, its corpse lying there for who knows how long. The flesh had already begun to rot, maggots crawling through it. Yet for the man, this was still life-saving food.
He couldn't afford to be picky anymore.
The supermarket in the community was overrun by a horde of zombies, so he didn't dare to approach it. The outside world was filled with danger, so he could only search for food elsewhere.
Carrion.
Even if the meat was inedible, the maggots inside could be cleaned and eaten as a source of protein.
People are driven by desperation. In the past, spoiled rich kids would feast on delicacies, turning up their noses at anything less than perfect. But in this apocalypse, food is the most important resource. Forget delicacies; even a moldy bun could spark a bloody battle.
What kind of despair would drive a once-proud man to rejoice at the sight of maggots?
In such harsh environments and with their meager strength, the situation only worsens. Some of the lowest-ranking humans live and die without ever tasting a single piece of meat.
Of course, there are exceptions.
Pork, lamb, and beef are monopolized by the upper class, beyond the reach of ordinary people. But there is one type of meat that is extremely cheap and easily available.
Human flesh.
When despair descends, humans can become even more ferocious than beasts.
"These should be enough. Tomorrow, I'll come out again…"
A massacre had taken place in the neighborhood. Scattered bits of meat and bone littered every corner. Every step, every second, was a torment for him.
"Meow…meow…"
But just as the man was about to head home, a weak sound caught his attention.
He pushed aside some bushes, his body tensed, and his eyes filled with caution. Seeing no immediate danger, he slowly moved deeper into the undergrowth.
What he saw was a red creature.
It looked like a cat, curled up on the ground, whimpering weakly.
"Still alive. Can I eat it?" The man muttered to himself, confused. He picked up a branch and poked at it lightly.
The creature was softer than he expected, almost as if it had no bones. At the slightest touch, the branch sank into its flesh.
A dying cat?
The man's eyes lit up.
Cat meat wasn't bad. Although it lacked the delicacy of pork or the chewiness of beef, it was far better than the maggots he had in his bag.
The taste?
In times of peace, as a cat lover, how could he have ever known?
Trapped at home, on the seventh day of the Apocalypse, he had killed the Scottish Fold he had raised for four years. Barton, that was its name.
It was heartbreaking!
The man's eyes clouded with sadness. He vividly remembered how, driven by hunger, he had snapped the cat's neck with his own hands.
Raised from a kitten, Barton had been very affectionate, never causing trouble. When the man was busy with work, Barton would quietly lie beside him, offering silent companionship.
Even as he twisted Barton's neck, the cat had been rubbing against his leg.
Skinning it, deboning it.
He had cried as he gnawed the meat off Barton's legs.
Regret it?
He did.
He had killed his beloved pet, a cat he had watched grow from a kitten, his dear Barton.
But…
"If I had to do it all over again, Barton, I would still eat you!"
He was too hungry!
Anyone who hasn't experienced real hunger has no idea what kind of pain it is!
If he hadn't killed Barton, his children, his wife, and he himself would have died. There was no other choice!
The man's eyes were bloodshot as he swallowed hard. At this point, he no longer cared whether the creature in front of him was alive or dead. As long as it was edible, that was all that mattered.
A scavenger would devour anything that could fit into his mouth.
The cat in front of him, even though it seemed strange, was no exception. The man reached out, intending to take it home for a meal.
But as his fingers were about to touch the strange cat, it suddenly split open…
Split open?!
Crrkk...
The cat's body suddenly split open, revealing the white flesh inside, oozing bile and a pale, viscous substance that resembled brain matter or magnified protein. But what shocked the man the most was the sight of a tentacle-like appendage extending toward him.
Where was the cat?
Shhkk!
The tentacle shot forward, and a needle-like point pierced into the man's chest.
"What the hell?!"
The man was terrified. He felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest. He tore open his shirt and saw a spike protruding from his chest.
Cold, numb, stiff, dazed…
The man's consciousness was slowly fading. His vision grew dim, like the dark of night, suddenly losing all light. Fear began to spread, and in a panic, he desperately wanted to run back home, but his steps were far slower than he had imagined.
His pupils gradually dilated, and moments later, his eyes were completely consumed by darkness. His skin began to sag, starting from his chest, as if scalded by boiling water, slowly becoming wrinkled and withered. Within just a few minutes...
His body began to melt, just like a candle. His skin and blood turning into a thick, red liquid that slowly flowed into the split-open corpse of the cat.
After devouring the entire body, the red, foreign substance began to slowly writhe. Moments later, a dark red, human-like body emerged on the ground.
The man's lips dripped dark red blood, and half a maggot hung from his mouth, but he seemed oblivious. Like a puppet, he murmured weakly.
"Huiyi, Xiaopeng, Xiaofei…"
The man lay on the ground, muttering names to himself. Shockingly, he had replaced the previous body, becoming a new lure for the next victim.
An unknown creature.
The man's fate had been sealed the moment he heard that cry…
The Apocalypse.
Beyond the obvious dangers, there were also strange and lurking threats hiding in the silent corners.
Darkness descended.
To survive, you must be cautious—extremely cautious... only then can you make it in this era of death and despair.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AbyssSummoner
AbyssSummoner Little mood setter chapter~
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