Even stronger zombies would alter movement paths just to pursue it.

That man deliberately used that core and revealed the location of the isolated high level zombie, knowing very well the military would act.

And they did.

The mission began normally.

The female protagonist led.

The military squad followed.

At first everything remained under control.

The high level zombie was powerful but manageable under her suppression.

But while they were mid battle, the surrounding area suddenly changed.

Zombies began appearing from multiple directions.

Not dozens.

Not hundreds.

Thousands.

An entire horde.

A true wave.

And because the mutated plant core had already been hidden nearby, the horde kept growing instead of thinning.

Every direction became filled.

Retreat paths vanished almost instantly.

Bai Li remembered clearly how the novel described that scene.

The female protagonist tried to maintain formation.

Tried to issue commands.

Tried to keep everyone alive.

But the military squad sent alongside her contained fools.

Arrogant people who trusted military numbers more than battlefield judgment.

Several ignored direct instructions.

Several broke formation.

Several panicked.

And once one line collapsed, the rest followed quickly.

They died almost immediately.

The original Bai Li, however, survived longer because she was smart enough to listen.

She followed instructions exactly.

She stayed close when told.

Moved when ordered.

Did not waste energy recklessly.

That alone allowed her to survive far longer than most of her team despite her weak ability.

But her superpower at that stage was low grade.

Too weak.

Even under constant cover, she could not keep pace once the horde thickened beyond control.

The female protagonist stretched herself far past safe limits trying to drag everyone out.

The novel described her burning through power until even her own body began suffering damage.

Blood.

Overload.

Internal strain.

Yet she still fought until an opening appeared.

And they escaped.

But not everyone.

Two deaths remained unavoidable.

The original Bai Li.

And one of the female protagonist’s own close teammates.

A true friend.

That was the first time in the story the female protagonist lost someone from her growing team.

And it changed her completely for a while.

Because unlike nameless military deaths, those two deaths landed differently.

One was a trusted companion.

The other was someone who had obeyed her fully, trusted her leadership, and still died before she could save her.

That failure stayed with her.

And what came after was one of the earliest truly terrifying moments in the novel.

Because once she recovered enough to move again, she did not wait.

She did not gather troops.

She did not ask permission.

She went alone.

Straight to the enemy base of the man responsible.

Alone.

The book described that night like a disaster.

She tore through his entire superpower army almost single handedly.

Burned the entire base to the ground.

Killed nearly ninety percent of his forces.

Destroyed his stored resources.

Collapsed his power network in a single night.

Crippled his wealth, influence, and manpower so badly that he never fully recovered afterward.

And she did not even kill him directly.

That part Bai Li remembered very clearly because it matched the female protagonist’s style frighteningly well.

She left him alive.

Broken.

Crippled.

And placed him near a high level zombie zone.

Letting terror finish what revenge began.

That event marked the true beginning of open war between her and the men who kept targeting her throughout the later arcs.

Bai Li slowly opened her eyes again.

That entire chain mattered because now she understood one thing clearly.

That future could not happen exactly the same way.

Because if it did, then she herself would again become one of the dead.

And more importantly, if that friend died again, then many later emotional fractures inside the female protagonist might still remain exactly the same.

That was unacceptable.

What mattered now was simple.

She had to reach her before that point.

Not months later by accident.

Not as an expendable extra.

She needed to enter that future mission differently.

Earn trust before then.

Stay alive during it.

And if possible, save the life that was lost originally.

If she could alter that one event properly, then her place beside the female protagonist would no longer be accidental.

Trust built through life and death could not easily be replaced.

And once inside that team, she would finally have a real chance to influence what came later.

Because changing the fate of the world would never happen from a distance.

It had to happen close enough to touch the center of it.

And that center was her.

While all those thoughts kept moving through her head one after another, Bai Li did not stop observing the outside world even for a moment. She had already taken the high powered binoculars from the side table and stood near the floor to ceiling glass window of the living room, her gaze fixed on the distant roads and open spaces beyond the apartment complex. The binoculars gave her a much clearer view than ordinary sight, and because her body had already been strengthened far beyond that of a normal person, even long periods of focus did not strain her eyes at all. At first, only a few minutes earlier, she had seen that first man collapse strangely near the roadside, convulse for a few seconds, then suddenly lunge at the nearest person with a force that looked completely unnatural. What followed had happened so fast that even though she already knew this day would come, the speed still felt shocking when seen directly.

That first victim had not even managed to scream properly before half his neck was torn open.

And now, only a few minutes later, the small area around that road already had dozens more.

The spread was far too fast.

Much faster than ordinary people could mentally accept.

Every person bitten, scratched, or even exposed deeply enough to the infected blood seemed to collapse within less than a minute. Some lasted only seconds. A person who had been running one moment would suddenly slow down, stumble, fall, then begin convulsing before rising again in that same twisted unnatural way. Once they stood up, the human hesitation disappeared completely. They no longer cried, no longer spoke, no longer looked around in fear. They simply locked onto the nearest living body and rushed toward it with one single instinct left.

Hunger.

Bai Li kept watching quietly, her expression calm, though inside she was measuring everything rapidly.

What she noticed first was that the early stage zombies were not actually fast.

They moved in an uneven way, their balance poor, their limbs jerking slightly, some even dragging one leg. Compared to a healthy adult running normally, these newly turned zombies were actually slower. But what made them terrifying was not speed. It was how ordinary people reacted when faced with them.

Most people froze.

That was the real danger.

The moment people saw blood, saw someone biting another human being alive, saw someone they thought injured suddenly stand back up with half their face torn open, their minds stopped functioning properly. Fear locked their legs in place. Even those who wanted to run often reacted too late because the first instinct of most people was disbelief, not immediate escape.

A woman near the crossing dropped her handbag and stood frozen while staring at a figure rushing toward her. By the time she tried to move, it was already too late. Another man tried pulling someone away but slipped in blood and got dragged down with him. Two people crashed into each other while trying to run and that alone cost them precious seconds.

Then an ambulance arrived.

Bai Li shifted the binoculars slightly and watched the scene near the pedestrian crossing more carefully.

The ambulance had clearly come because the emergency system still assumed these were isolated violent incidents, perhaps some kind of mass attack, drug event, or mental breakdown. The rear doors opened quickly. Two medical staff jumped down first while another leaned out from inside, already pulling equipment forward.

They still thought they were rescuing patients.

One of them bent toward a body lying near the roadside.

The body suddenly grabbed his arm.

The second medic shouted something and rushed forward.

Then both were dragged down almost instantly.

The third person from inside the ambulance barely had time to step out before another infected figure slammed into the side door and bit directly into his shoulder.

The entire situation collapsed in seconds.

The ambulance driver tried getting out from the front but saw the scene and immediately slammed the door shut again. The vehicle jerked backward violently, nearly hitting a divider before swerving away.

By then the street had already fallen into complete disorder.

Cars were braking suddenly, some colliding into one another because drivers ahead panicked without understanding why everyone was suddenly screaming. A delivery bike crashed sideways when its rider looked behind instead of forward. Someone ran directly across the road and was hit by a turning car before even standing again.

Bai Li kept watching through the binoculars without lowering them.

The number of infected kept increasing almost visibly.

A few minutes earlier there had been one source point.

Now separate moving groups were already forming.

This was exactly how the apocalypse always began.

Not with some giant dramatic explosion.

Not with sirens and official collapse all at once.

It began with confusion.

With people refusing to understand what they were seeing until it was already too late.

Below, police sirens began appearing not long after.

Several police vehicles reached one of the nearby intersections quickly. Officers got out with weapons drawn, shouting at civilians to move back. For a brief period, because this was still China and the public security system had not yet collapsed, there was visible organized response.

The officers still believed control was possible.

Some tried separating infected individuals from civilians. Some fired warning shots first. Then when one infected officer who had been bitten earlier suddenly attacked another policeman, the first real shots directly into heads began.

Bai Li watched several zombies fall.

But manpower was too little.

Ammunition was limited.

And more importantly, the officers themselves still did not fully understand what mattered most.

Body shots slowed zombies only slightly.

Leg shots made them crawl.

Only head destruction truly stopped them.

But that understanding came too slowly.

By the time they adjusted, several officers were already dragged down.

Another patrol unit arrived.

Then another.

But the infected were spreading faster than command chains could process reports.

Some officers still tried protecting civilians.

Some were already forced to retreat.

A few ordinary people reacted quickly enough to survive the first shock. One man slammed his car door shut the moment he saw someone attacking near the roadside and accelerated so fast that he nearly mounted the pavement while escaping. A woman abandoned her shopping bags entirely and dragged her child into a side lane. A delivery rider simply turned his bike and fled without looking back.

Many others scattered in all directions.

Many did not make it far.

Bai Li lowered the binoculars for a second.

She had no intention of stepping outside yet.

Going out now would be pointless.

The police still existed outside.

Emergency units still moved.

Too many eyes remained active.

And more importantly, the outside world had not yet entered full collapse. In this stage, moving openly would only create unnecessary risk.

She wanted to wait until order weakened properly.

Until the city crossed that invisible line where no one cared what anyone else carried, where survival itself became the only law.

With that thought, she turned and walked into the work room.

The control system inside the duplex activated smoothly the moment she sat down.

She switched directly to the surveillance network connected throughout the building and outside angles around the apartment entrance.

The first floor entrance appeared clearly on screen.

At present, no infected had yet entered the immediate front area of Building Nine, but she knew it would not stay like that for long.

Then her phone began vibrating repeatedly.

Not one message.

Dozens.

The building residents’ WeChat group had exploded.

Normally that group was almost dead.

Most days it existed only for someone complaining about water pressure, elevator maintenance, broken corridor lights, parking disputes, or asking the building manager to arrange repairs. Sometimes weeks passed without meaningful conversation.

Now every single member seemed online.

Messages flooded upward so quickly that even reading became difficult.

1204 Chen Rui: What exactly is happening outside? Did anyone see that near the main road?

1702 He Lan: Is this some kind of attack? Why are people biting each other?

904 Liu Wen: I just saw police cars. Something happened near the crossing.

1506 Qiao Ning: Don’t go downstairs! I just came back and there are people attacking everywhere.

Then another message appeared quickly.

603 Peng Tao: I was driving near Riverside Avenue just now. There were many people on the road suddenly attacking others. One person smashed into my car window. That thing was not normal at all.

1204 Chen Rui: Are they sick?

603 Peng Tao: Sick my ass. I saw one person with half his face torn off still running.

After that, even the group slowed briefly.

Fear always became heavier when details turned too real.

A few seconds later more messages returned.

1901 Sun Mei: Has anyone called the manager?

801 Luo Jian: Manager isn’t replying.

1403 Tang Yue: Should we lock the building doors?

1107 Ke Xin: My husband is outside. Phone not connecting.

The fear was now visible even through typing.

Bai Li did not join the conversation.

Instead she opened several news channels directly on her computer.

As expected, every official media platform had already shifted to emergency broadcasts.

The first channel carried urgent red text under the news anchor.

"Attention all residents. Multiple violent biting incidents have occurred across several districts of Jinghuai City. Preliminary investigation suggests rapid transmission caused by an unknown viral outbreak. Residents are advised to remain indoors, avoid public contact, and wait for official notice. Do not leave home unless absolutely necessary."

The next channel showed nearly identical wording.

Another switched directly to emergency district alerts.

"Current heavily affected areas include Huanhua Street, Jintai Road, and nearby medical zones. Jinghua City First Hospital has reported severe outbreak conditions. All residents are advised to avoid affected districts immediately."

When Bai Li heard the hospital name, her eyes narrowed slightly.

That hospital.

A brief image flashed in her mind.

Phoenix eyes behind a surgical mask.

But she pushed the thought aside immediately and returned attention to the screens.

Then movement appeared on her surveillance feed.

Outside Building Nine, near the first floor entrance, infected had begun wandering into frame.

Not many yet.

Three first.

Then five.

They moved unevenly near the outer pavement, their heads jerking slightly, clothes stained, one dragging a foot badly, another still wearing what looked like office clothes with blood across the collar.

A cyclist passing too close caught their attention instantly.

All five turned at once and rushed.

The bicycle crashed before the man even fully reacted.

.

.

.

To be continued.