Chapter 38 Changes
Raindrops pattered against the window, the light flickering on and off. After a flash of bright light, a distant rumble echoed through the air.
Lin Xi couldn't sleep on this rainy night. She tossed and turned her eyes several times but couldn't fall asleep, and even broke out in a sweat.
I really want to turn on the air conditioner. Lin Xi thought.
But it rained all day today, so the solar panels didn't absorb any solar energy and the power reserves weren't full. Turning on the air conditioner is also an extremely energy-consuming activity.
After hesitating for a while, she gave up the idea of turning on the air conditioner and closed her eyes to go to sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Xi turned over a few more times.
She sighed deeply, reached for the air conditioner remote, and with a "beep," the air conditioner steadily emitted airflow, gradually dispelling the humid heat, and her body slowly relaxed.
Just as Lin Xi was drifting off to sleep with her mind blank, she heard a faint scream.
The sound was so soft and faint that it was almost inaudible when mixed with the sound of rain and then entered Lin Xi's home, which had been soundproofed.
Lin Xi was lying lazily, hesitating whether to get up and check the situation, when the alarm on the monitor startled her awake.
After a series of events during the day, Lin Xi activated the alarms on all the surveillance cameras. Whether it was zombie activity or a man-made attack, Lin Xi would receive a notification as long as there was any movement.
The monitor showed everything was normal on the rooftop, and the security camera outside my own door showed that the door to apartment 302 across the street was still open, and the bloodstains on the ground hadn't been cleaned up, just like during the day.
In the surveillance footage at the entrance of the building, a long-haired woman was lying on the ground with a small knife stuck in her neck, from which blood was constantly oozing. She was convulsing on the ground, trying to struggle to get up, but she couldn't. She could only stare wide-eyed at the sky.
From Lin Xi's perspective, the woman seemed to be staring at him with unseeing eyes.
But she knew that the woman was definitely staring at the person who threw her down from upstairs.
She is Yang Xin's wife, the woman named "Xiaoyue".
Blood kept oozing from her neck, spreading as it was washed away by the rain. Even though the zombies' mobility was reduced in the rainy night, they were attracted by the smell of blood and stirred as they approached Xiaoyue.
Xiaoyue's eyes suddenly turned to terror. Her blood vessels had been pierced and she had fallen from the second floor, leaving her unable to move. Yet, she couldn't die quickly and was afraid she would have to suffer the torment of zombies.
Xiaoyue trembled and struggled, when suddenly two more people fell down, landing squarely on Xiaoyue and blocking the zombies that were grabbing at her.
Lin Xi recognized them as Xiaoyue's parents. They were writhing on top of Xiaoyue and couldn't get up for a while. They were probably injured, otherwise they wouldn't have lost their mobility after being thrown from the second floor.
Even though they were still able to move, their situation was very dangerous. The smell of blood and the commotion had attracted the zombies lurking nearby.
The two elderly people screamed as they were torn apart and devoured, while Xiaoyue remained motionless. She had already been stabbed in the artery with a small knife, and was suddenly crushed, so she was probably already dead.
Among the zombies devouring them, Lin Xi saw a familiar face—
Even if Li Rong and Fu Minjun's wives were covered in blood and their limbs were crooked, Lin Xi would not mistake them for her old neighbors with whom she had lived for more than 20 years.
They were tearing at Xiaoyue's family, as if they were taking revenge.
But Lin Xi knew that even if they had the ability to think, a zombie biting someone was an uncontrollable subconscious behavior.
Gu Lanjuan, who persecuted the names of Li Rong and Fu Minjun's families, along with Xiaoyue and Xiaoyue's parents-in-law, met tragic ends, while the worst ringleader, Yang Xin, is still alive.
They lived, and did even more heinous things.
Lin Xi felt a chill run down her spine, and goosebumps rose on her arms.
The ugliness of human nature is not only reflected in dragging others down to seize supplies in times of crisis, like Yang Xin killing Li Rong and Fu Minjun, but also in abandoning family and companions in times of danger, like when Xiao Yue saw Yang Xin on fire and zombies approaching in the afternoon, she turned around and ran away, and even locked Yang Xin on the roof.
Yang Xin did this not only to take revenge on Xiaoyue, but also because killing three adults, along with the fact that Gu Lanjuan and her husband had also turned into zombies that afternoon, saved him the resources needed for five adults.
In situations where water and electricity are cut off and supplies are unavailable, Yang Xin and his son are able to survive longer.
Lin Xi couldn't help but wonder if a villain like Yang Xin could really raise his son Lei Bao well.
Daylight broke.
The heavy rain has stopped.
The three people from last night were no longer on the ground at the entrance of the building. After the heavy rain, a large pool of blood remained, and the air was filled with a foul smell of blood.
Lin Xi glanced out the window. The sky was a clear blue, cloudless, and the sun was shining brightly. She figured it wouldn't rain anytime soon, so she turned on the air purifier and air conditioner with peace of mind.
Breakfast was plain congee, served with stir-fried minced meat and vegetables by my grandmother.
Grandma's vegetables were savory and fragrant, and the addition of a few small chili peppers made them even more delicious and stimulating to the taste buds. Lin Xi drank a large bowl of porridge with the vegetables, which soothed her hunger and anxiety.
She was timid and couldn't sleep after witnessing that incident.
You can still see three zombies wandering around in the hallway on the monitor.
Lin Xi's apartment door was essentially useless; three wandering zombies were locked inside. Unable to get out, they had no choice but to climb up and down the stairs. Sometimes they would wander to Fu Minjun's apartment across from Lin Xi's, and sometimes they would be attracted by the noise from Yang Xin's apartment in 201. After roaring and thrashing around on the door, they would gradually quiet down.
A few more days passed.
Lin Xi had gotten used to the three zombies roaming around in the surveillance footage, so she turned off the alarm at her front door.
Anyway, her house was well soundproofed, and the door was a bulletproof security door, so zombies couldn't get in no matter what. Her whole house was equipped with security bars, like an iron barrel, so even if you tried to knock it open with a hammer, you couldn't get in, let alone zombies who don't know how to use tools.
There's nothing to fear!
Lin Xi cheered herself up.
Yang Xin never left his house again. Lin Xi didn't know what he was doing. She only occasionally saw zombies prying at the door of 201 on the surveillance camera and knew that there was some noise coming from Yang Xin's house.
A strange scene unfolds: Gu Lanjuan, now a zombie, and her husband are prying open their own door, inside which are their beloved son and grandson.
But it turned into a life-or-death relationship.
For Lin Xi, however, it removed some of the threats.
Previously, Yang Xin and Xiao Yue had taken turns harassing Lin Xi. Although they couldn't harm Lin Xi, they could still do disgusting things to bother her.
For example, urinating or defecating in a water pipe, or covering her roof with plastic film to prevent the photovoltaic panels from absorbing sunlight, is harmful to others and not beneficial to oneself.
But now Yang Xin is trapped at home by the zombies in the stairwell. He is all alone. He can bully ordinary people, but he doesn't dare to deal with three zombies, so he can't cause any more trouble.
Lin Xi's daily life is very simple. Apart from checking her living environment through the surveillance cameras, her only concern is the crops on the balcony.
Due to the continuous rainy season, the second batch of water spinach and cucumbers did not grow well, and Lin Xi has not eaten any green vegetables for several days.
Even though we won't lack vitamins even if we don't eat them, we still want to see results once we plant them. And in these monotonous days when we can't go out, watching the little green seedlings grow is a comforting thing.
Lin Xi was jolted awake in the middle of the night.
Could it be an earthquake?
Lin Xi regained consciousness; no earthquake would occur in the city of Nanhua.
Just as she was wondering, the floor shook again, accompanied by a hammering sound.
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