Tang Li Yue ran like every ancestor in the Tang Clan was chasing her with disciplinary whips.
Branches whipped against her arms and face as she barreled down the unfamiliar road, lungs burning, heartbeat drumming against her ribs like a war gong. She gripped her beloved Shark Eco vacuum cleaner so tightly her knuckles went pale. Her heart bled at the state it was now in.
She had no plan, no direction, and not even a smidgen of dignity.
Only pure, concentrated survival instinct.
Behind her, somewhere in the distance, came the sharp, manic barking of that cursed demon dog.
"Why are you so obsessed with me?!" she wheezed between breaths. "I am not that delicious!"
She had already escaped the zombies in the resort, then lost her horse, endured direct skin contact with zombie fluids, and now she was being hunted by what used to be a handbag accessory.
Life was absurd.
Utterly absurd.
Sir Edmund, who was living his high life in the backpack carrier, let out a low and particularly judgmental meow.
"Don't start. I am fully aware my life choices led me here."
Her legs screamed in protest, but Tang Li Yue kept going.
The diversion road she had chosen earlier twisted deeper into the outskirts, veering away from the main highway. Trees thickened around her. The occasional abandoned vehicle littered the roadside, some crashed into ditches, others simply left where they had stalled.
The world felt deserted.
Not peaceful. Just... emptied.
As if civilization had packed up and fled without her. Maybe she was being overly dramatic but that was what it felt like.
Li Yue didn't dare stop. If there was one thing the heavens had taught her in both lives, it was that they had a cruel sense of humor.
Because behind her, she could still hear the tiny, infernal taps of claws.
It wasn't close but not far enough.
That cursed dog was relentless. Was it some sort of spirit beast? A demon hound shrunk by divine punishment? A creature from hell specifically crafted to torment her? It certainly didn't act like a jiangshi.
Tang Li Yue didn't know nor does she care.
She just knew she wanted it dead.
Or preferably sent to another continent.
The road ahead stretched in uneven patches of cracked asphalt and loose gravel, splitting into unfamiliar paths she had no time to analyze.
Tang Li Yue's lungs burned as she pushed herself harder, cursing her body with the stamina of a noodle. The soles of her shoes slammed against the earth with every desperate stride.
A crossroad.
She skidded to a halt, nearly slipping.
To the right, the road sloped downward toward what looked like more farmland and scattered structures. While the left curved upward toward the mountain range looming in the distance.
Li Yue didn't hesitate long.
Mountains meant fewer people and fewer people meant fewer zombies. Hopefully.
And if not, at least she'd die somewhere scenic.
"Left it is."
Tang Li Yue dashed toward the mountain road. The incline was brutal, but the terrain soon changed and along with it, the silence also deepened.
Then she noticed it.
Bodies.
Zombies or at least what remained of them.
One corpse slumped against a tree, skull caved in with such precision that the damage looked almost surgical. Another lay sprawled across the roadside, its head reduced to a pulpy ruin. A third had been dragged halfway into a ditch.
Li Yue slowed, her breathing came ragged, but her mind sharpened.
These weren't random deaths. Someone had done this.
And that someone was capable and efficient.
Very much not a panicked civilian flailing with kitchen utensils.
Tang Li Yue crouched beside one of the corpses, wrinkling her nose.
Fresh enough. It was not decomposed beyond recognition which meant whoever killed them had passed through recently.
It may be a survivor, possibly more than one.
Tang Li Yue's heart leaped and then immediately sank afterwards.
Because the area was far too quiet. There were no voices, no movement.
There were practically no signs of life, only wind brushing through the trees. And the unsettling presence of the dead.
Li Yue stood again, every nerve taut.
"This is definitely the part in stories where the heroine makes a terrible decision."
Sir Edmund flicked his tail in response.
"I know," she continued upward.
More bodies appeared as Tang Li Yue moved along the road.
They were scattered like breadcrumbs and all killed the same way.
Head trauma. It was clean and intentional.
It was as if someone had been systematically clearing a path.
And then she saw it. There at the edge of a rocky slope stood a large warehouse that looked almost absurdly new.
Steel walls gleaming faintly beneath the overcast sky. Reinforced doors with minimal weathering. The surrounding area had been cleared recently, with tire tracks pressed into the dirt.
A newly-built warehouse in the middle of nowhere.
Completely normal.
Absolutely not suspicious.
That is if you ignore the at least a dozen more dead zombies littered the area. Li Yue stared at the structure, pulse racing.
Survivors had to be inside. There was no other explanation for it.
But if that was true...why was it so silent?
There was absolutely no sign of activity aside from hers.
The hairs on the back of Tang Li Yue's neck rose.
Then—
BARK!
The sound as if from hell shattered the stillness.
It was closer, much closer. Li Yue spun around and nearly screamed.
The zombie chihuahua was sprinting toward her from the road, its glowing eyes locked onto her with unholy determination.
Its tiny body moved like a bullet, tongue lolled grotesquely.
Its teeth looked very eager to sample her flesh.
"Nope!" Tang Li Yue lunged for the warehouse.
Thankfully, the side entrance was slightly ajar.
She shoved herself inside, slammed the door shut, and braced against it. A second later something rammed into the metal from outside.
That something was the tiny, furry canine that wouldn't let her go.
The entire frame shook, making Tang Li Yue yelp.
"That thing has the strength of a possessed toddler!"
Then there was silence. Before she could even sigh in relief, scratching and a very aggressive one at that followed.
She pressed her back harder against the door, breathing heavily. At least it couldn't get in immediately.
Darkness seemed to swallow her whole.
For a moment, only her ragged breathing filled the vast interior of the warehouse.
The air smelled metallic and rotten.
Tang Li Yue froze.
That smell. Her hand tightened around the vacuum cleaner.
Slowly, her eyes adjusted.
Shelves. Crates. Industrial equipment. Supplies. They were a sight for sore eyes during these times.
Her eyes brightened momentarily.
That was the good news.
The bad news arrived when Tang Li Yue turned around.
Standing less than two arm lengths away from her...was a zombie.
It was tall.
Male.
Its skin had gone a ghastly gray, veins dark beneath the flesh. Its clothes were torn, but unlike the others she had encountered, this one looked... preserved.
As if it had turned recently.
Its dead white eyes fixed on her with its mouth opened.
Tang Li Yue stared.
The zombie stared.
For one brief, suspended second, time itself seemed to stop.