Chapter 6: Collective Sleepwalking

Before I had time to think about it, I felt my vision blur for a moment.

When my vision cleared again, I was standing in an empty playground. I looked around and took a few steps forward. It was strange. There was no one around, and I noticed it seemed enclosed, surrounded by iron mesh, with no exit. Thankfully, there weren't any mutated monsters around. I checked around and found that even the area outside the playground was empty.

"As long as I stay here, nothing will happen to me." This thought suddenly popped up in my mind.

Just when I let my guard down, a hand suddenly grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth and nose tightly.

"Mmm... Mmm..." I struggled a bit, but the person behind me locked me even tighter. I felt suffocated and my consciousness became increasingly blurred...

"Hush! It's me, Jiang Wang." A voice rang in my ear. Then, consciousness suddenly returned, and my eyes widened. For some reason, I wasn't in the room I'd been in, but at the stairwell on the second floor. Jiang Wang was behind me, covering my nose.

"Be quiet and put this on." Noticing I was awake, Jiang Wang handed me a gas mask. Although I was puzzled, I still did as he said.

"What are you doing?" I was about to ask what was going on when he made a gesture to silence me and pointed to the lobby downstairs.

"Look."

I looked in the direction he pointed, and my pupils dilated in vain.

this……

There were many people in the hall downstairs, their eyes glazed over, like the walking dead. Aside from the sound of their footsteps, no one spoke, just wandering the halls. It was quiet and eerie. Even stranger, these people were all survivors I'd seen during the day, mixed with a few staff members. There were also people wandering the hallway on the second floor. We were crouching in the stairwell where debris was stored, a perfect place to hide.

What's going on? I looked at Jiang Wang and he whispered in my ear, "There's something wrong with that scent. I've been bitten by it before, but luckily the gas mask worked."

No wonder, when I first smelled the fragrance, I had a dream, and just now...

"But just squatting here isn't an option," I whispered back.

"There's no other way but to stay here. We don't know what's going on yet." Jiang Wang had just finished speaking when he heard someone softly call out, "Mom..."

? !

Jiang Wang and I simultaneously turned our gazes toward the source of the sound. It came from one of the people wandering around the hall. Then, everyone froze in an instant, their heads turning in unison to stare at the person making the noise.

Then, the whole crowd gathered around. I swear, what I saw next would give me nightmares for the rest of my life.

People surrounded the person who made the noise, scratching and biting him like crazy. Even in the dim light, I could clearly see the person being torn apart by the crowd. The wounds were deep enough to see the bone, and blood was splattered everywhere. People lay on the ground, greedily licking the blood.

The person being eaten did not make any sound from beginning to end, except for the word "Mom" at the beginning. There was not even a scream. A silent massacre was quietly carried out in the hall.

Those wandering on the second floor were also drawn to the first floor lobby. My heart was in my throat, and I didn't dare to make a sound. After a while, the second floor was deserted, which gave us a chance to move. Although I was afraid, I still forced myself to catch my breath and exchanged a glance with Jiang Wang. He also understood what I meant. Then we sneaked out of the stairwell and came to a room at the end of the second floor.

The reason we went straight to this room was that almost all the rooms on the second floor were locked, and only this room's door was ajar. We entered the room and took a quick look. There was no one there, only some boxes, shelves and miscellaneous items piled up. It was obvious that this room was a storage room.

Jiang Wang took a look outside, quietly closed the door, quickly locked it, and found something to block it. Then he walked towards me.

"It's safe for now, don't take off your gas mask."

I nodded. Jiang Wang came over and asked me, "What should we do now?"

I thought about it and briefly summarized the information I had so far. "Judging from the situation in the hall, making that noise will attract those people, and smelling that fragrance will cause dreams..." At this point, I suddenly realized something.

"Why was I in the stairwell just now? What did I look like when you saw me?" I asked Jiang Wang.

"You are the same as those people outside." Jiang Wang glanced in the direction of the door and said.

…

My hair stood on end. If I hadn't woken up, I would have been down there with those people, gnawing at that unfortunate guy. Or maybe, I would have become the unfortunate guy being gnawed.

Jiang Wang added: "I guess it's because of the smell. That fragrance can affect people and make them hallucinate."

"That's not right. I smelled it once before I came to the shelter." I frowned, recalling the previous details.

"Then how did you wake up?"

"In my dream, I suddenly noticed something amiss, and then I woke up," I said as I recalled the memory. At this point, a possibility suddenly occurred to me, and I turned to Jiang Wang and asked, "Is it possible that smelling that fragrance could cause hallucinations, and that those who experience hallucinations would become like those in the hallway? Currently, there are two known ways to escape hallucinations: one is to notice something amiss and wake up on your own, and the other is to promptly cut off the medium through which the fragrance is transmitted and not actively smell it."

After saying that, I stared at him for a while and asked doubtfully, "Then why did you only save me?"

Jiang Wang shrugged and said, "You sleepwalked right in front of me, and then you stopped in front of me and suddenly stopped moving. I couldn't run or fight."

I nodded, trusting his reasoning for now. Given the situation, I could only take it one step at a time. Thinking of this, I simply changed to a more comfortable position and sat down against the wall. Jiang Wang, on the other hand, simply lay down on the spot.

"...It's good to be young, you can fall asleep right away." I looked at him speechlessly.

"What do you know? In this situation, it is more important to conserve your physical strength first. Not only physical strength, but also energy is important." Jiang Wang closed his eyes, as if he really intended to sleep on the spot.

I listened for a moment, still the sound of footsteps coming and going. In this atmosphere, my scalp tingled. I couldn't sleep, but the constant tension was exhausting, so I closed my eyes and rested. The footsteps continued, and I sat against the wall, each second feeling like an eternity. I didn't know how much time had passed before Jiang Wang suddenly sat up and moved closer to the door, motioning for me to come over and listen.

"No sound?" I glanced at him.

Jiang Wang took out his cell phone and took a look. The time was exactly five in the morning.

The situation outside is still uncertain. It is very risky to go out rashly. If I open the door a crack... No, the risk is also very high. Not to mention that opening the door will make a little noise, it might attract those people over. If something suddenly breaks in, it will also be very dangerous.

Just then, I noticed that although the room was dark, there was a fainter light source than before. I looked up at the light and sure enough, there was a skylight in the utility room.

I patted Jiang Wang next to me and pointed at the skylight above. He immediately understood and asked me softly, "Are you afraid of heights?"

"Who are you looking down upon? Let me go up."

"You're too rude. You're treating me like a tool after only knowing me for one day, right?" Although Jiang Wang complained softly, he still squatted down obediently.

I sat astride his neck and patted his head to signal him that he could stand up. Fortunately, I was not short and could barely see outside.

There was no one in the hallway. I couldn't see the entire hall, but the areas I could see were empty.

"How about it?"

"No one."

Jiang Wang put me down, looked towards the door, and asked me, "Want to make a bet?"

"bet."