Chapter 7 Emergency Escape
Lin Xi sat at her workstation, staring blankly at the screen.
The time is 9:00.
Without a doubt, she had been reborn again. This time, her rebirth occurred an hour before the zombie outbreak.
At that moment, she had just finished clocking in and sat down at her workstation when a message from 360 asking her to arrange refreshments for a meeting was flashing on her screen.
Lin Xi felt dizzy, the scene of Lu Wei's swift escape was still vivid in her mind, and the sound of the explosion still echoed in her mind.
She touched her dizzy head, feeling a deep headache.
I really can't understand what kind of karma she's created. She's just a useless little good-for-nothing, a lazy bum who doesn't want to die a miserable death and just courts death, so why can't she die?
He was killed by zombies while he was still human.
When you're a zombie, someone comes to claim your life.
All of this... seems to be thanks to that stranger named Lu Wei.
How can a person die at the hands of the same person three times in a row?
Lin Xi was confused and indignant.
But that's not the point. The point is that she's been reborn, which means she has to face an impending survival crisis again.
The previous rebirths only happened a little early, leaving no time to escape home for refuge, so I could only lie down and do nothing.
This time I arrived an hour early; maybe I can try to escape. Her home is far away in District D; including the time to change subway lines and wait for the train, it should take at least 50 minutes to get there.
An hour later, area B fell, but it was unknown where the zombie outbreak originated. Perhaps area D had not yet been affected, and this was the only glimmer of hope.
Regardless of whether there are zombies in Zone D, this building is no longer safe to stay in. The zombies will arrive at the building on time in an hour, and sitting here will only lead to your death.
Lin Xi took a deep breath, rubbed her head, picked up her bag, and ran away.
"Is the coffee ready? Where are you going with your bag?" Zhou Ling asked coldly when she saw her suddenly stand up with her bag.
Seeing Zhou Ling's face, Lin Xi felt a strange sensation in her heart—
When she was the boss and Zhou Ling was the employee, she was severely oppressed by her, and sometimes she wished she could bite that bastard boss to death. But when she actually turned into a zombie and bit Zhou Ling to death, she didn't feel so happy.
Not receiving a reply, Zhou Ling stared at Lin Xi with wide eyes.
Lin Xi remained silent, then suddenly remembered something, turned around and went back to her workstation, opened a drawer, and pulled out a fruit knife, brandishing it.
Zhou Ling: "?"
The entire office cast surprised and suspicious glances.
Ignoring everyone's stares, Lin Xi rushed out of the gate and headed for the subway station without looking back.
Based on her experience in previous lives, turning into a zombie without pain is not an option, because she died at Lu Wei's hands three times. Even if she didn't encounter Lu Wei again, she would still face other dangers.
Zombies don't need to eat or drink, making them easier to manage than humans. However, their limbs are twisted, preventing them from performing many actions, which makes escape much more difficult.
Moreover, zombies cannot help but rush towards people as soon as they hear human voices.
It's like meeting Lu Wei; you'd be rushing to your death.
So Lin Xi decided to stop courting death and focus on a proper escape.
Buy several large boxes of supplies, hide at home forever, until the zombies are dealt with by humans and the world is at peace, then come out.
After all, she was very clear about her own position: she was timid and weak, had no fighting skills, no shrewd mind, and even no will to survive.
She's definitely not the kind of character who plays a heroic, strong female lead. Someone like her, a nobody, should just stay at home and not cause trouble.
Of course, all of this is on the premise that she can get home safely within an hour. If she unfortunately encounters zombies on her way home, then she will have no choice but to take out a fruit knife and fight them!
She'll fight... fight to ensure her own complete death.
On the subway, Lin Xi casually held onto the handrail and frantically ordered takeout on her phone.
She chose a supermarket close to her home, frantically tapping her fingers to add various foods to her shopping cart: more than a dozen bags of rice, various pickled vegetables, several boxes of instant noodles, ham sausages, and various daily necessities.
I clicked the "+" sign on the right side of every food picture that appeared repeatedly.
Having no experience in post-apocalyptic survival, she could only stock up on some goods based on her previous experience of hoarding during the mask shortage. The checkout page showed an amount of 4123, which was the most expensive takeout she had ever ordered.
After doing all that, she carefully looked around—
Today is a weekday, and the morning rush hour has passed at 9 a.m., so there are fewer people on the subway.
A few figures were scattered sparsely throughout the various carriages, each seemingly unrelated to the others.
No abnormalities were found.
Lin Xi's fruit knife, which she had brought with her when she left home, was confiscated at the security checkpoint. Now she could only pray for good luck and that there wouldn't be any zombies on her way home. Otherwise, if someone mutated into a zombie on this subway with its interconnected carriages, it would be like catching a turtle in a jar.
A real-life version of X-Mountain Journey.
Twenty minutes later, Lin Xi changed trains, during which she kept looking around to see if any zombies would suddenly appear.
Because she looked flustered and kept glancing around, her whole demeanor was suspicious, and she was almost detained by the patrolling staff who mistook her for a terrorist.
After a close call, Lin Xi checked the food delivery status on the next subway train and was surprised to find that it showed "Not yet prepared".
The seller also left her a message: "Dear customer, you purchased too many items at once, and packing them will take some time. The delivery rider's electric scooter can't handle the loads, so the owner will personally deliver them to your door once everything is packed. The total delivery time will be approximately one hour late, please be patient! Dear/Cute"
Upon seeing the message, Lin Xi felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
There are only 25 minutes left before the zombie outbreak. It will take at least 40 minutes for the supermarket owner to deliver supplies. By then, even if the zombies haven't spread to Zone D, photos and videos of the zombies will definitely have already spread in various groups.
Even if she doesn't worry about whether her boss is infected with the zombie virus, her boss himself will be too scared to go out!
The more than 4,000 yuan worth of supplies vanished without a trace.
Lin Xi suddenly realized that this rebirth was going to fail again, and couldn't help but sigh that she should just lie down and think of another way in the next life.
But there was nothing on the subway that would allow her to lie down comfortably.
Lin Xi then thought, why not take a gamble? What if the zombies are wiped out quickly?
At 10:00, with zero minutes remaining before the zombie outbreak, Lin Xi got off the subway and ran frantically out of the station. At that moment, a strange movement occurred in the crowd—
At this time, the subway station, which was not crowded, suddenly became a commotion. Some people were running like she was, while others were gathered in twos and threes, staring at their phone screens and discussing.
As Lin Xi passed through the crowd, she heard words such as "emergency dissemination," "official," and "return home for refuge," and a few people mentioned "Zombies in Zone B."
"My friend said there are zombies in their area."
"Haha, it's probably cosplay, there's no way there could be real zombies."
"There's video! Look, this person really bit another person's neck off; it doesn't look like special effects. The background looks like..."
Suddenly, an alarm sounded, and the subway broadcast announced: "We have received an official notice from Nanhua City: all residents are requested to return home as soon as possible to take refuge, prepare sufficient supplies, and not go out while awaiting further instructions."
The broadcast was vague, not explaining that the reason for the evacuation was the appearance of zombies.
On the one hand, there is a concern that some citizens might not believe this bizarre event and would not go home; on the other hand, there is a concern that citizens might exaggerate the situation, causing excessive panic and chaos. Therefore, an official and authoritative announcement urging everyone to go home as soon as possible can minimize both of these situations.
Just like her experience in her previous life, zombies broke out in Area B at this time.
As the CBD of Nanhua City, Zone B boasts most of the city's corporate landmarks and office buildings. On weekdays, one-third of Nanhua City's young working professionals flock to Zone B.
Young people spread information very quickly, and it's likely that zombie rumors are circulating in various groups right now.
Some people fled for their lives upon hearing the official news, while others discussed its veracity with skepticism.
Lin Xi couldn't concentrate on checking her phone. Her heart pounded as she ran to the old, dilapidated village in the city. She figured the supplies she had just ordered might not arrive, so she had to make a backup plan and buy a batch of supplies to take home.
However, just a few minutes later, the official text message notified every citizen.
Many middle-aged and elderly people who are not working and have been hoarding supplies have been left behind in the urban villages.
Most people chose to buy from the nearest store, so the small supermarket was packed with people. It was noisy and chaotic, and Lin Xi was quite alarmed to see the shop owner and his wife standing at the door collecting money, each holding a kitchen knife and a baseball bat.
At first, Lin Xi didn't know what was going on, but she heard the commotion at the supermarket entrance when she entered.
"A pack of instant noodles costs a thousand? That's highway robbery!"
Before the world has even descended into chaos, people's hearts are already in turmoil. Before the zombies have even reached District D, things are already in complete disarray. Supermarkets are raising prices on the spot, and even the neighboring grain and oil store has put up a slogan: "Cash and gold only."
The shop owner, Ding Yong, who Lin Xi visited lived downstairs from her. He was usually a generous and righteous man, but unexpectedly, he also did such a despicable thing.
But how could a girl with no strength dare to resist injustice? Just as she was about to join the crowd and shout, Ding Yong roared, "In chaotic times, food is expensive! If no zombies appear, everyone can come to me tomorrow for a refund of the price difference. I, Ding Yong, mean what I say. Anyone who dares to cause trouble, I won't be polite!" With that, he brandished the baseball bat in his hand.
His shout startled the crowd, and they gradually calmed down.
Lin Xi naturally knew that the zombie thing was real. Even this small supermarket was in such a state, so the takeout she had just ordered was definitely not going to work. She could only spend a fortune to buy some food to stock up on.
She has a habit of saving money regularly. Now that it's almost the end of the month, she only has a little over 5,000 yuan of disposable income. More than 3,000 yuan of that was spent on takeout that she couldn't get, leaving her with only about 2,000 yuan in available funds.
However, she soon discovered that buying supplies wasn't about money. The shelves were quickly emptied, especially of instant noodles and biscuits. Lin Xi only managed to grab two bags of biscuits and some potato chips.
Everyone carefully carried the food. They were all old neighbors in the area and almost all knew each other. Although they had heard about the zombies, they dared not confront each other and fight over resources when they saw them in person.
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