章 3: Chapter 3 - The undead rising
He was gone. With his blood-stained trembling hands, he tried to call for help again. But the line was completely cut off now. Only the engaged sound was heard. Frustrated, he tossed the phone to the corner and walked over to the old man.
His eyes were still open.
Yu Zixin gently shut them and covered his still-warm body with the torn quilt.
The bank card was still in his hands. He rushed out of his house. Mister Kijima's body needed to be taken to the hospital to be declared dead. Dazing around is not ideal in this situation.
Wiping his blurry eyes, he went to Auntie May's place because the only person on the floor to have a car was this lady's husband.
He knocked on their door, wiping the bloody traces on his shirt. Looking so fearsome, the lady would probably be scared still. He tried to look as much presentable as he could.
There was no answer for a while.
He knocked again. "Aunty… it's me, Yu Zixin. I-I came here to ask for a small favor. The old man next door was attacked by his cat... he-he is no more. Is it possible to take him to the hospital?"
As soon as he said this, he heard the soft sound of footsteps inside. It came closer to the door and paused.
"Who is it, honey?" a groggy voice was also heard.
"Uncle! It's me, Yu Zixin! Is everything okay?"
"Yeah… why are you standing like that..." he heard the uncle muttering.
All of a sudden, a loud scream came from inside.
"Honey! What are you!! Ahhh!!!!! Stop that!! Honey!!!!"
Yu Zixin did not pause. He kicked open the door and ran in. To his surprise, he saw the kind lady biting tightly into her husband's neck.
The uncle was struggling visibly.
"Aunty!!!" he ran to her.
But Auntie May let off her husband and screeched at his face. Her eyes were completely discolored and turned into a pale shade of white. Her whole body was covered in bloody veins.
She… she looked like one of those zombies from Hollywood movies.
"Aunty? Can you hear me?" he once again tried to make sense of this situation.
Because it was unbelievable.
Zombies don't exist...
They don't.
right?
"screeeeee!!!!!" Auntie May let go of her husband's corpse. To his surprise, he watched the middle-aged man stand up unsteadily. His eyes too had turned a murky shade of white.
Now he had to believe this situation.
This was not a dream.
They were zombies.
He immediately backed away from them.
Aunty May rushed to him with her hands outstretched, but he hurriedly dodged it and ran into the hallway. He slammed the door in her face, but since he had already broken the door, he was not able to trap them in.
So, he ran back to his own house and shut the door. This was an old apartment complex, and the doors were all made up of wood that was rotting. That's why he had been finding it easy to kick doors open.
But in this situation, it was the worst possible thing that could happen.
If the two zombies outside put their whole weight on the door, it will shatter from the hinges.
Yu Zixin leaned against the door, hoping and praying that they would just go away.
"Wow, you are really wimpy." A sudden chirpy voice startled him. His anxious eyes peered around his room, searching for the source of that mysterious voice.
"Hello?"
"Hello." The voice replied back.
"Ummm… I can't see you." Yu Zixin held his forehead. "Maybe I am delusional after all. First, Mister Kijima's cat ate him alive. Then, Auntie turned into a zombie… shit."
"It's not a dream." The voice answered, but this time it was close to his left ear.
His head snapped that way to find a small coil-like thing on his shoulders. He immediately flung it off his body.
The small worm-like creature fell down to the ground and wiggled around a bit to turn into its coiled form again. "Why did you push me off rudely? you could have asked; I would have climbed down." The creature hissed.
"Y-you're a talking snake?"
"No! I am a divine beast! Human, why are you comparing me to a fucking worm? Such disrespect." The white snake hissed loudly, cocking its head at him.
Yu Zixin was already overwhelmed with everything that was going on. A talking snake was… it was insignificant.
Now first he had to deal with the zombie outside.
He went around his house to search for a weapon. All he had was a blunt kitchen knife. It can't even cut a watermelon properly. Using it as a weapon to defeat zombies? He would be dead in a second.
He went on a hunt for anything that he could use as a weapon.
Yu Zixin pulled off the bed sheets and the quilt on the bed and draped it over his shoulder.
Then his eyes went over to the curtain rod. It was made up of a very thick iron rod. He pulled it down.
Bright red light from outside the balcony beautifully glowed inside.
"What the heck is this…" he slowly opened the balcony door and stepped out.
The beautiful green and colorful aurora had turned into a bright shade of bloody red color. He heard random screams from nearby. Looking into the house opposite his, he saw a few zombies chasing and attacking the house's inhabitants.
The busy streets outside were filled with screams and wails.
"Is this the apocalypse?"
"Nah, this is the mana awakening." The snake squirmed up to him. It coiled onto his legs, tightly gripping his calf.
He kicked his legs, trying to fling it away.
But that snake clung on.
"Come on stop shaking me so much. it's giving me a headache."
"What do you mean spiritual awakening?" he grabbed the snake and pulled it close to his face.
"Something that happens every ten thousand or so years in the world the upper beings chose. This time they chose your world, mortal. Anyone who survived the initial wave has a bit of potential. you're not that bad. your survival chances are high. That too you have this majestic beast with you. As I grow, your spiritual will increase."
Yu Zixin noticed the zombie in the opposite building looking his way. It started to bang on the glass balcony doors. After a minute or so, it was able to smash it. He watched the zombie fall down the fourth floor and walk away as if nothing happened.
He hurriedly hid out of sight from his balcony. "Will it change back to the way it was?"
"Are you dumb? I'll put it in simple words. The world you know is gone. This is the world where only the strong survive. It depends on your stats like strength, mana, magic, skills…..."
"So, like in those survival games?" Yu Zixin could summarize everything that the snake said in only this sentence. He interpreted it in a way he could understand.
"In mortal terms yes. Apocalypse games, but very real. A single mistake can easily take your life, so don't take it lightly. Show me your stats." The snake rattled its tail slightly.
"How do I do that?"
"Take my crystal," the snake pointed its tail towards the shoe rack.
A pop-up appeared right in front of his eyes. Yu Zixin read through it carefully.
[Name: Yu Zixin
Level: Level 1
Race: Human
Job: Undetermined
Mode: easy
Strength: 7(10)/ dexterity: 9(10) / health: 10(10) / Stamina: 7(10)/ Luck: 4(10) / Mana: 100(0)]
"You really have a great affinity for mana. No wonder you hatched me so quickly." The snake mumbled softly.
Yu Zixin finally took a good look at it in the dim red lights of the aurora.
The snake was ruby red with defined sharp scales. At the end of its tail, it had a small red rattle with black dots on every ridge of it.
"What does mana mean?"
"Your ability to use magic. You have a lot of it. each attack and magic skill you use will take some part of your mana. So, use it wisely."
While Yu Zixin was thinking of this issue, he heard a loud bang on his door.
The rotten wood by the hinges started to split.
He knew he had to deal with the zombies first before thinking about what this new system was.
With the curtain rod in hand, he slowly moved close to the door. He did not wait for the zombies to break in. Instead, he opened the door wide with the rod held horizontally.
The two zombies groaned loudly with their mouths wide open. Blood and parts of flesh dripped down their faces.
"I'm so sorry... I'm sorry…." He pushed them both away from his door, leaving a bit more space for him to act. The male zombie first tried to claw at his face. He hurriedly took out his dagger and stabbed his eyes.
The kitchen knife got stuck in his skull, and the zombies stopped moving around.
He then kicked away Auntie May's zombie and stabbed her with the rusty jagged edge of the curtain rod right inside her mouth. It pierced her mouth and came out through the back of her head.
Blood and brain particles flowed out like an open tap from the hole in her head. The nasty stench of rot filled the whole hallway.
For a second he was stunned. Puke rose up in his throat.
He hurriedly pulled out the curtain rod and ran back into his room, shutting the door behind him.
The talking snake slithered up to him. "What the hell are you doing? Aren't you going to collect your loot?"
"Huh? What loot? Zombie brains?"
"No, you idiot. After defeating a zombie, you get extra stat points. Go out and pick it up."
Yu Zixin gritted his teeth and walked out again. As the snake said, he saw two clouds-like things floating on top op the two zombies' bodies. He touched them.
A loud chime along with a notification popped up in his mind.
{defeated level 1 zombie, earned two stats points.
defeated level 1 zombie, earned two stats points.}
Next, he heard a small ding sound as well.
{leveled up to level 2. Reward: random skill}
Yu Zixin did not spend much time out in the hallway. He ran back to his room and closed the door.
"So? Did you level up? you have to level up quickly or else I would end up being stuck on level one for a very long time…" the snake grumbled.
Yu Zixin ignored it. Sitting by the door, he opened the skill he got as a reward. It was a simple black page that looked like it was torn out of a book. It was neatly folded up.
He read the first line out loud. "Thunder claw,"
His hand suddenly gave out a red glow. Fingertips turned into sharp nails and there was a red glow at the edge.
He clawed at the air.
Each finger created a red electric current in the air.
Suddenly a small pop-up appeared to the side of his vision {10 mana points used}
"So, using these new skills takes mana."
Right now, after 240 mana points left behind. That being said he also had 4 extra stats points that he could assign to any of his categories.
As for now, he held back in assigning his extra stat points. He had no clue which one would be most useful.
Mana seemed to be the most useful of the stats, but he wanted to observe for a while.
"Thunder strike? That's a decent skill." The snake wound itself around his ankle once again. "say tell me where you found me? It's not possible for a mortal to have just stumbled upon me,"
"I didn't find you."
"Huh? It's not possible. My crystal can only be found in the blood mountains of the Teroan realm. and plus, my crystal had to be covered in the summoner's blood to even hatch me." The snake sniffed his skin. "You are the summoner…."
Yu Zixin thought about what the snake just said. That red gemstone's weirdness came to his mind. He crawled over to the shoe rack which was quite close and opened it. he did not see the red glow anymore. Only broken black dust remained. "You hatched from this."
"So where did you find me?" the snake excitedly looked up at him. Its comically large green eyes made him look at it keenly.
"Someone gave you to me."
"That's not possible. My crystal can only be found in the blood mountains of the Teroan realm." The snake tightened its hold on his ankle. "Hello, there is no return policy after you doused my crystal with your blood and awakened me. You are stuck with me for life."
"You belong to her," he sternly said as he walked up to his bed.
The world seemed to have taken a worse turn. He first needed to make sure his parents and his younger brother were still okay. With difficulty, he maneuvered through his shattered phone's screen and finally managed to make the call.
It rang….
And rang…
His heart rate went up slowly.
He started to prance anxiously. "Come on Lin Jing, pick up the phone…."
The line connected. Soft breathing was heard coming from the other side of the line.
He froze. "Jing! Can you hear me? Are you okay? Where is dad and mum?!"
The hurried breathing turned into soft sobs.
"Jing? I need you to calm down and tell me what is wrong. Please don't cry…"
His brother sniffled softly. "Something is wrong with mum…..." he heard a husky whimper.
Hearing this, Yu Zixin lost all his strength. It was most likely his mum was…. gone.
He tried his best to keep calm. "Where are you? Don't go close to mum. Stay in a different room."
"I hid…" his baby brother whimpered. "Brother… she... she hurt dad… he's hurt."
"shh... shhh don't cry. I'll... I'll get there. Just need you to hang on for a while, got it? brother will come for you." He took a deep breath. Their village was eight hours from the city. That is if he took the train. But now that the zombies are out and about, he feared that the trains won't be running any time soon.
If he traveled by car or bike, it would take at least a day and a half.
He took a deep breath to calm his pounding heartbeat. "Are you hurt anywhere? Scratches?"
"no... but dad... he was not moving... he was not moving...…..." he sobbed.
Yu Zixin knew what that meant. His parents had already turned. Only his brother was left alive in that house. Thankfully, Jing cleverly hid somewhere.
"Jing, Jing... I need you to listen to me. You are in a separate room, right?"
"hmm... brother, I'm scared…"
"shh don't be... don't be okay. I'll come for you. Just stay put. Close the doors and windows and lock them."
"The doors are locked… but mum... she keeps hitting the door."
"Listen I need you to move something heavy to the door. Anything. That... that bedside table! Move that and block the door. Don't open the door at any cost. Please…."
He heard the sound of his brother pushing something.
Then came a huffing and puffing sound on the other side of the line. "I did it." he softly whispered.
"Good, good." He anxiously gland at the groceries he had just brought last night. "Jing do you have any food in your room? You still have that bad habit of stashing candy under the bed?"
"I… I think I ate it."
"Can you check it for me?"
"I have a few m&m's and... a pack of potato chips."
"that's good. You can sustain with that for a day. Jing, I want you to listen to me very carefully. You can't eat it all at one time. as for the potato chips, you have to soak them in water and make them much more sustainable. Go to the bathroom, switch on the heater and fill up the bucket with hot water while it's running. When you are finally out of food, drink water. Brother will be there in a day, okay? I'll bring you some delicious food,"
"g-get here soon brother…" he heard him sob softly.
"I'll get there. Just hang on." Yu Zixin hurriedly grabbed his coat. "I don't have much charge. I'll call you in an hour. Silence your phone but keep it close to you."
He cut the call and started to pack things.
If the zombies outside were just like the ones in the movies, then the sickness would spread with just a bite or a scratch.
So, he used the bed sheets he had torn off his bed to wrap around the exposed part of his body. Especially his neck and his ankles.
As for his hands, he left them free. He needed them to attack using his thunder claw.
His head needed protection as well. But he did not have a helmet with him so he skipped that part.
Yu Zixin hurriedly picked up the grocery bag and stuffed it in his clothes.
"Are you going to go on an adventure?" the snake excitedly whispered. "Good, the stronger you get the stronger I get…" the snake slightly shook its rattle
"No… it's not an adventure. It's a survival trip."
Yu Zixin rushed out the door without a moment of hesitation.
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