☆, Spread, the escape begins

Ye Xi jogged out of the police station, intending to hail a taxi to get to the bridge, when she suddenly realized she had no money. The T-virus outbreak had only recently begun, and traffic on the bridge was definitely smooth, making it the perfect time to leave. However, precisely because the virus wasn't very contagious yet, Ye Xi couldn't expect a taxi driver to take her to the exit for free out of sympathy—the driver had no idea what was going on!

Oh, Shit! Am I supposed to become a female bandit and hijack a taxi driver?! Ye Xi's law-abiding citizen mentality resurfaced. Twenty-four years of education taught her that you have to pay for a ride. Even if she hijacked the taxi without paying, she would definitely be arrested and taken to the police station in this relatively "peaceful" situation, which would be a waste of time.

For the first time, Ye Xi began to hate the various systems and institutions of human society.

After much hesitation, Ye Xi gritted her teeth, stomped her foot, hailed a taxi, and plopped herself in the back door. Why worry about anything else? I've got guns and grenades; I've blown zombie heads off and blew up Lickers. What am I afraid of, a mere taxi driver?! To hell with those law-abiding citizens' thoughts! Survival is the only thing that matters! Maybe this driver will even thank me in a few hours… Ye Xi thought, nodding.

However, perhaps due to Ye Xi's bad luck, she encountered a traffic jam again after the fourth red light. Looking at the long line of cars ahead, Ye Xi's lips twitched, and she slapped her forehead—"Chen Hui, you stepmother, you can't treat me like this!"

"That's normal." The driver chewed her gum and glanced at Ye Xi, who looked anxious and frustrated, in the rearview mirror. "Miss, you're a tourist, so you may not know, but there are a lot of people working the middle shift in Raccoon City every day. They usually start work at 11 o'clock, so there are a lot of vehicles at this time. On the contrary, during the rush hour in other cities, there are far fewer vehicles here at 7 or 8 o'clock."

After a long silence, Ye Xi finally uttered a soft, mournful sentence: "This is what character is like, this damned, miserable character..."

About an hour later, screams suddenly came from ahead, and people kept abandoning their cars and running back frantically. Seeing one person after another running past, Ye Xi immediately realized that the T-virus had spread!

"Hey, Jimmy, what's going on?" the female driver called out, somewhat puzzled. A middle-aged man turned around, but didn't stop. He shouted, "A huge group of people up ahead have had a rabies outbreak! Run for your lives, or you'll die!"

"Rabies? And a whole group of people? Don't lie to me..." The driver was a little incredulous, after all, a mass outbreak of rabies was very far-fetched.

"I'd better leave first. I advise you to run away quickly too!" Ye Xi stared ahead, her expression suddenly changed, and she immediately opened the door and fled in the opposite direction—she saw those red figures.

"Uh? Miss? Why did you get off the bus? You haven't paid yet!"

Ignoring the female driver who kept shouting at her, Ye Xi skillfully weaved through the cars, soon reaching the edge of the congested area. She had already warned the female driver, but whether she had escaped, Ye Xi didn't know. These things aren't things you can believe just because someone tells you; only when people actually see zombies and understand their horror will they realize that this seemingly peaceful society is actually fraught with danger.

Ye Xi stopped to catch her breath. Her feet were blistered and painful from the oversized high heels. She had to consider the worst-case scenario: if she couldn't escape within a certain time, she would have no choice but to fight. In that case, the high heels would definitely slow her down considerably.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ye Xi decided to change her shoes first. She glanced at a clothing store nearby; the owner, perhaps unaware of what had happened earlier, was still open for business. Ye Xi tried to appear natural as she walked into the store, picked out a pair of black Martin boots, put them on, and casually headed towards the door…

"Miss, you forgot to pay..." The shopkeeper's voice trailed off under the black muzzle of the gun, finally fading away. He trembled and took a step back, raising his hands. Ye Xi snorted, glanced at the map on the counter, grabbed one, and strode out.

However, she underestimated the speed of the T-virus's spread. As soon as Ye Xi stepped out of the store, she was pounced on by a rotting object. Before she could react, she suddenly felt a tearing pain in her right shoulder—a zombie had bitten off a piece of flesh from her shoulder!

"You damn thing!" Ye Xi fired three shots at its head, then kicked the zombie corpse, which had already returned to its normal color, over. She got up from the ground, but still seemed unsatisfied. She stomped on the bloody head, spun it around with her heel, and finally kicked the corpse into the middle of the road.

The clothing store owner was terrified. He never dreamed that a seemingly innocent young lady would rob him of a pair of shoes, and that she would be suddenly attacked and have a piece of her flesh bitten off by a gray woman reeking of decay! He also never imagined that the seemingly frail young lady would mercilessly shoot the rotting woman in the head three times and then torture the corpse!

"Hey, since you gave me a pair of shoes, I'll give you a heads-up: if you want to live, run!" A delicate face stained with specks of blood suddenly appeared in front of the shop owner. He was startled and fell to the ground with a thud, trembling even more violently. Looking at Ye Xi, who was covered in blood, he suddenly screamed and stumbled away.

"...They really ran fast." Ye Xi murmured, watching the shopkeeper's retreating figure. Then, she looked away, saw the increasing number of zombies on the street, grabbed a T-shirt that fit her size, and quickly fled this dangerous place.

Blood kept flowing down her body, and coupled with the long period of running, Ye Xi felt increasingly dizzy. She immediately stopped and hid in a secluded alley.

Ye Xi slid down the wall to the ground. She looked at her bloodied and mangled right shoulder, took a deep breath, and tried her best not to pay attention to the wound. Then she pulled out a dagger and slowly cut away the surrounding fabric, leaving only the black and red cloth stuck to her shoulder.

This thing has to be removed… Ye Xi looked at the cloth on her right shoulder, but still didn’t have the courage to tear it off. The cloth was stuck to her wound, and if she tried to tear it off, it would definitely make the wound worse and cause more bleeding. She was already anemic, and if the bleeding wasn’t stopped, then death would await her after she passed out.

But leaving the cloth in her wound wouldn't do either; it would make it difficult for the wound to heal, and might even become infected and fester, causing even more pain… It seemed like either way would lead to something terrible… Ye Xi smiled bitterly, her face terribly pale. She sheathed the dagger, then tremblingly moved her left hand slowly to her right shoulder. Just as she was about to touch the cloth, Ye Xi stopped…

No… I dare not… Ye Xi is truly terrified of pain, terrified to death. Even getting a shot makes her scream in agony. When she was injured in the Hive, she endured the pain to avoid attracting zombies or Lickers with her screams. Now, if it weren't for the dizziness from anemia numbing her senses, she would have to suffer through it all again.

The dizziness only reduced the pain, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel the pain! Besides, she was being asked to tear off the piece of cloth stuck to her flesh herself, causing herself so much pain. Ye Xi definitely wouldn't dare to do that.

Ye Xi covered her face and cried, but she still dared not cry out loud. The T-virus had already begun to spread, and heaven knew how many zombies were outside. If they were attracted by her crying and stimulated by the smell of her blood... the consequences would be unimaginable!

Even crying had to sound so aggrieved; Ye Xi felt like she was being driven crazy.

But what else can Ye Xi do? Will crying bring her home? Will crying help her escape all danger? Will crying solve all her problems? ...

After crying silently for a while, Ye Xi stopped, wiped away her tears, picked up the dagger again, and slashed her clothes into strips. Then, she deftly put down the dagger, picked up one of the strips and stuffed it into her mouth. After taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and forcefully tore the fabric off her right shoulder with her left hand.

Blood splattered everywhere. Ye Xi's brows furrowed, her body tense, and she let out a whimper. After a long while, she slowly relaxed...

She released her mouth; the strip of cloth that had been stuffing into her mouth had long since been torn to shreds by Ye Xi. Ye Xi expressionlessly wrapped her right shoulder tightly with strips of cloth, then tied a knot with her left hand and teeth before letting out a sigh of relief and putting on her T-shirt.

Ye Xi stood up again, stepped over the bloodstains on the ground that belonged to her, and walked back into the street filled with carnage.

Crying is useless, Ye Xi. Hatred, resentment—none of it matters. I can only rely on myself, only myself…

After Ye Xi left the secluded alley, she watched the streets grow increasingly deserted. They seemed to realize something, and having already packed their bags, they all headed in one direction—the exit, their only hope for survival. However, Ye Xi knew she couldn't go there; she had been bitten by that damned, despicable zombie. Ye Xi knew the T-virus was useless against her, but the thousands of people on the other side of the exit bridge didn't know that.

Finding other exits didn't seem very reliable, so they had to choose Plan B—find Dr. Angel, the professor's daughter, at Raccoon City Elementary School, then take her out and catch the last helicopter to escape Raccoon City at the last minute. Of course, this would be with Alice and the others; Ye Xi didn't believe she could defeat the villains and save the little princess all by herself.

Ye Xi hated following the plot and wanted to stay far away from the characters and events, but the dust would never cooperate with her wishes, so Ye Xi had no choice but to bite the bullet and choose a dangerous path.

It's 1:30 now. Ye Xi glanced at the clock in the shop on the street, then at the street sign, and finally unfolded the map she was clutching. After finding her location and the location of the elementary school, her lips twitched. Good heavens, her current location and the location of the elementary school were at opposite ends of the spectrum. In other words, to get from here to that elementary school, she would have to cross the entire Raccoon City.

So, character is unreliable. Ye Xi, whose character in the Hive was supposedly exceptionally good, was now frowning in distress. Although there were many abandoned cars on the street, and Ye Xi could guarantee that most of them had their keys, the problem was that Ye Xi didn't know how to drive. Furthermore, cars were too bulky, and with everyone fleeing for their lives, the streets were packed with people, making it impossible for vehicles to move. As for smaller vehicles, such as bicycles and motorcycles, they had already been looted; there was no chance for Ye Xi to get any.

So, in crucial moments, you still have to rely on "walking"? Luckily, I had the foresight to change into a pair of Dr. Martens boots. Ye Xi smiled wryly, glanced at the people hurriedly fleeing on the street, and suddenly stopped looking at one person.

That person was the kind of ordinary person you'd easily lose in a crowd, so what attracted Ye Xi wasn't his appearance, but his color. Yes, "color"! A normal person's color is normal to Ye Xi, but zombies and Lickers have inexplicably turned the same color—red. This person, however, was orange, and Ye Xi could see that his abdomen had turned red and was slowly spreading outwards.

Is this the color change process of a human turning into a zombie? Ye Xi stared blankly at the man, at his pale face, at his constant coughing, at the red color on his abdomen gradually spreading to his entire body, and then…

A scream suddenly erupted from the crowd. The man had completely transformed into a zombie and was attacking those around him. Having gained a clearer understanding of her eyes' abilities, Ye Xi turned and ran without hesitation. Yes, she had a weapon and could have blown the zombie's head off, but she had limited ammunition. She had already wasted two bullets in her impulsiveness, and now she had to conserve them. Otherwise, she didn't know if she could last until she found a weapons shop.

Anyway, the zombie was far away from me, and as long as I ran away, it couldn't hurt me... Ye Xi covered her ears to forget the desperate screams, to forget the guilt and pain in her heart, and quickly left this place of trouble.

I'm sorry, but I don't think I did anything wrong... Ye Xi sincerely apologized in her heart.

I just want to live a little longer.

Author's Note: I'll address the suggestions from the gossip forum here. My daughter was inexplicably thrown into the Hive from the very beginning, so she was definitely unhappy. She was living a good life, and now she's about to die right after transmigrating. Therefore, she has a strong will to survive, and she'll do anything to survive. She struggles alone in the Hive, with no one to rely on. Even Alice, she knew it was dangerous to follow Alice at first, so she chose to avoid them. The Hive is her starting point. She learned how to fight in the Hive, and more importantly, she learned self-reliance. In dangerous moments, no one can help her; she can't harbor any illusions about being rescued. The Hive, for her, is reality, an objective reality (hey!). Inside... There were only a bunch of zombie lickers and Alice's group. Alice and the others weren't on the same path as Ye Xi, so they couldn't save her. If Ye Xi had any illusions about danger, death would have been her only fate. Therefore, the idea that "she could only rely on herself and could only trust herself" was deeply ingrained in Ye Xi's mind, so she didn't trust others. In this apocalyptic moment, she didn't believe anyone would still care for her like a saint (except Alice, OJZ). As a law-abiding citizen, her human flaws were immediately exposed in the apocalypse, let alone others (hey!). So Ye Xi would have a hard time having companions because, in the beginning, when she was most vulnerable and helpless, she had no one to rely on. Of course, she would definitely have companions who would share life and death with her in the future, but without the initial companionship and heart-to-heart talks, there would still be a slight distance in Ye Xi's conflicted, stubborn heart. If she encountered danger or crisis, she would definitely push her companions out (I'm not giving away any spoilers). However, isn't the battle between the darkness of humanity and the friendship forged in life and death very interesting? ~What's more, there's also the love (or something) that suddenly appeared out of nowhere getting involved. Ye Xi can't possibly stoop so low as to let her get caught up in this mess (hey!). Her daughter's life is her own to decide (hey!). Let's see if she can still have a conscience, suddenly wake up, and truly entrust her back to her partners, especially that one (←referring to the son-in-law in the mosaic)↑ The whole paragraph above is pure nonsense (get lost!!). The most important thing is this: Gossip-loving Sang Nai, don't worry, your daughter will definitely have partners. After all, she has to follow the main group, right? ~