Chapter 56, though late, has arrived.

Lin Xi's dinner was a simple bowl of instant noodles, without even a sausage. It was just a casual bowl of instant noodles.

After verifying the information multiple times, she learned that there had indeed been no zombie outbreak, and she immediately lost her appetite.

This makes it sound like she's hoping for a zombie outbreak.

But the truth is, she worries that if the zombie outbreak doesn't occur, the "crazy person" in everyone's eyes might actually be "mentally ill."

A female college graduate from Nanhua University, with a promising future and the prospect of working as a slave in a "big factory" for life, sold her house in Nanhua and returned to Yunxiang to transform her home into a "giant birdcage" that resembled a "prison".

Even Lin Xi herself had to question her own mental state.

She repeatedly reviewed whether her experiences in her previous lives were real.

If it was just a dream, how could she have foreseen that Yu Shiyun would become a designer and actually open a studio?!

And Lu Wei, how could she have known him when she met him!

If these people are just people who have appeared in my dreams, why do they keep appearing with the same settings and backgrounds, yet with different plot developments?

She even questioned the legitimacy of her own existence.

Just like the protagonist in "The Truman Show" suddenly finds himself in a pre-arranged world.

Conversely, Lin Xi returned to the real world from the pre-set virtual world.

She felt like she had entered an endless loop of apocalyptic survival game, where she was the powerless protagonist, and Yu Shiyun and Lu Wei were NPCs in this world. Depending on her choices, the NPCs provided different kinds of help.

Lin Xi was completely baffled.

She had no interest in eating the takeout food she brought back from outside in the afternoon, nor was she in the mood to prepare a fancy dinner. She simply picked out a pack of instant noodles from the fast food box for dinner.

Food does not taste good.

Through two layers of privacy glass, Lin Xi could see the villagers returning home for meals, strolling and visiting each other on the paths, a scene of peaceful and harmonious rural life.

The trending topics online are nothing more than celebrity gossip or things related to Valentine's Day (520).

Lin Xi vaguely saw the trending topic "Hongwen Hospital" flash before her eyes, but when she tried to click on it, she found that there was no such entry.

Am I seeing things?

She couldn't help but wonder if she was hallucinating because of her anxiety.

As darkness fell, Lin Xi refused the spacious and comfortable bed and instead nestled on the tatami mat in the second-floor lounge, watching a funny variety show in an attempt to cheer herself up.

But the sound from the speakers seemed to come from another world, and couldn't reach Lin Xi's ears.

After rolling around for an unknown amount of time, Lin Xi unknowingly fell asleep on the tatami mat.

I woke up from the cold around 12 o'clock.

Lin Xi tapped her phone screen, which was filled with push notifications from various apps and urgent notifications marked with exclamation marks.

You can see words like "Nanhua" and "zombie" without even clicking on them.

Lin Xi's drowsiness vanished instantly, and she perked up, opening the messages one by one.

The first thing I opened was a text message. The relevant departments in Nanhua had issued several emergency notices, informing citizens to stay at home and not to go out unless necessary.

The reason Lin Xi received the message from Nanhua was because her phone card was issued while she was still in Nanhua. Due to the urgency of the situation, the relevant departments sent the message to all relevant people in Nanhua, even if it meant sending it to the wrong person.

The message only stated that the situation was urgent, but did not explain the specific reasons.

Meanwhile, the push notifications from major social media platforms and video apps are much more explicit:

#ZombieOutbreakInNanHua

#Zombies Appear at Hongwen Hospital: Is it a Movie Scene or a Real Resident Evil Incident?

#ResidentEvil, the End of the World

#Urgent Notice: Stockpile supplies and prepare for emergency evacuation.

...

Lin Xi could tell at a glance that a zombie outbreak had occurred.

In the discussion forum under the entry for "Hongwen Hospital", Lin Xi saw a sentence:

"Someone posted about zombies at Hongwen Hospital this afternoon, but it was blocked."

Lin Xi recalled the trending topic "Hongwen Hospital" that had flashed before her eyes earlier. It turned out that it wasn't just her imagination or a trick of the eye; it really existed, but it had been blocked.

The zombie outbreak has truly begun.

Late but here it is!

When those four words popped into her mind, Lin Xi slapped her forehead.

This idea is simply stirring up trouble!

The truth is, although the timeline of the zombie outbreak in this life is different from the previous lives, the zombie outbreak still occurred.

She no longer questions whether she really has a "mental illness".

Lin Xi perked up a bit; her empty stomach and tired body were screaming for energy.

She took a piece of tiramisu from the refrigerator as a late-night snack to make up for not eating enough at dinner.

The icy texture reduces the sensitivity of the taste buds, and after the initial bitterness of the coffee, a slight sweetness begins to appear on the tip of the tongue.

Lin Xiyou slowly scrolled through messages on social media platforms while holding a piece of cake in her mouth.

Former acquaintances from South China University posted messages of fear and confusion on their social media, with some even sending SOS messages.

In this life, Lin Xi did not work for a company in Zone B, so she did not have any WeChat contacts of her colleagues who were active in Zone B during the day.

Almost all of my friends on WeChat Moments are high school classmates from outside Zone B, who didn't directly face the zombies in Zone B.

Therefore, the emotions are mostly surprise and disbelief.

The information on Weibo is quite abundant.

It is said that the zombie outbreak occurred at Hongwen Hospital in Area B, but the outbreak time was close to 5 pm.

The evening rush hour is approaching.

About half of the workers in Zone B were heading off to celebrate Valentine's Day, while the other half, mostly ordinary employees, were left at the company to work overtime. They were caught off guard by the horde of zombies that flooded into the company.

As expected, the casualties were heavy.

Those who stayed to work overtime were trapped in the company forever, while those who were lucky enough to leave early encountered a horde of zombies in the subway station. Even if they weren't bitten to death, they were unlikely to survive the stampede.

It's difficult to tell whether the previous life was a time when all the cattle and horses were gathered at the company and were wiped out by zombies, resulting in heavy casualties, or whether this life was a time when they were surrounded and chased by zombies during rush hour, resulting in heavy deaths and injuries.

Nanhua is in complete chaos again.

Tonight is destined to be sleepless. The relevant departments first notified all citizens to stay at home and not to go out, and then dispatched all police forces and even used military force to deal with the zombies.

However, the sheer number of them makes it difficult to clean them all up in a short time.

In addition, the outbreak occurred during the evening rush hour, and some people who were attacked by zombies did not die immediately. They only began to turn into zombies after escaping from Area B. At that time, the news had not yet been communicated to every citizen of Nanhua.

Unaware of what was happening, the citizens were attacked by the infected who had escaped from Zone B.

One tells ten, ten tell a hundred.

The virus spreads much faster among living people than the zombie army spreads out of Zone B on its own.

Seeing the screen full of negative messages, Lin Xi silently exited the webpage.

When the zombie outbreak didn't occur as expected, she was puzzled, wondering about her own mental state.

The zombie outbreak was delayed, and she was worried about the future of humanity.

Unaware of the butterfly effect that a change in the timing of the zombie outbreak would bring, she simply wanted to hide quietly in the safe fortress and survive until the riot was over.