After Lu Ben turned into zombies, his family didn't remember him at all. They only knew that Lu Ben, who suddenly appeared in front of them, was food, and they pounced on him, wanting to devour him completely.
…
"Cough cough cough." Lu Ben, dressed in charcoal black, was naked and coughed violently after inhaling a puff of thick smoke.
He didn't know how he had escaped his family's attack. When he regained consciousness, he saw that his living room was full of fire damage and thick smoke. The sofa was gone, the dining table was gone, and the half-eaten fish on the table was charred. His family members, who had turned into zombies, were dead.
He couldn't describe his feelings at the time; he felt neither sad nor happy, as if he were a puppet being manipulated.
Lu Ben glanced numbly at the three large and one small charred human figures on the ground. One of the figures was still struggling to get up, its roars very low.
The lower half of the still-living zombie's body was charred and mangled, with two kitchen knives stuck in each of its kneecaps. As it crawled, the knives scraped against the concrete, producing a sharp, piercing sound that sent chills down one's spine.
But Lu Ben seemed not to hear. He stepped over the zombies lying on the ground and over the zombies crawling towards him, and entered his parents' room in a daze. When he came out, he was carrying a large black bag on his shoulder. The black bag occupied his entire back, and Lu Ben's back, which had been strong for half his life, suddenly collapsed.
He glanced again at the two large and one small charred black human figures on the ground, as well as the zombie crawling like a snail. His eyes flickered slightly, but returned to their numbness after a few seconds.
Lu Ben carried the bag to his child's room, and when he came out again, the large black bag was a little bulging.
"Awooo!" The crawling zombie roared excitedly as it got closer and closer to its food.
"Aww!" Almost there, just a few more minutes and it will be able to eat meat.
Lu Ben ignored the crawling zombie and walked past it without a second thought, heading to his and his wife's room.
"Awooo!" The crawling zombie let out a reluctant roar. It was so close, so very close, to getting to eat the meat.
When Lu Ben arrived in the living room, the large black bag on his shoulder was bulging with too many things. The zipper at the top of the bag couldn't be closed anymore, revealing a section of the sleeve of his yellow down jacket. The struggling zombie on the ground had finally crawled to his side. There were Lu Ben's footprints on the living room floor, as well as drag marks left by the zombie as it struggled to crawl. The black drag marks and the smell of blood mixed with the smell of burning flesh filled the air.
The dying crawling zombie raised its head, staring intently at Lu Ben. Its nose twitched, its blood-red mouth gaped open, and its eyes were filled with a hunger for food. It suddenly stretched out its hand, revealing a silver bracelet that had turned black on its wrist. The zombie's charcoal-black hand was covered with burn marks, a horrifying sight.
The crawling zombie wanted to grab the food it had been longing for, but it was too weak. It could only reach the exposed sleeve of the down jacket, and with a hard pull, it yanked the down jacket out of the bag.
A crack finally appeared on Lu Ben's numb face. "Those are my wife's clothes, let go!"
He turned around abruptly, two white streaks appearing on his face, which was covered in soot from the thick smoke, as he fought with the zombie for the down jacket.
The crawling zombie's charcoal-black hands gripped the cuffs of the down jacket tightly, letting out a threatening growl at Lu Ben. "Roar." The sound was so faint that it could be barely heard unless you got very close; its zombie life was nearing its end.
Lu Benping's expressionless eyes locked onto the bracelet on the crawling zombie's wrist. The familiar pattern on the bracelet made the white marks on his face appear even more pronounced.
Tears, stained black by cigarette ash on Lu Ben's face, fell incessantly to the ground. "Waaah," Lu Ben sobbed softly and helplessly, like a child who had done something wrong.
"Wife, wife!" Lu Ben suddenly let go of the down jacket, unsure of what to do with his hands.
He wanted to touch his wife's hands, but those hands were bloody and mangled; it would hurt a lot if he touched them.
He recognized her; he had recognized her long ago. The crawling zombie was his wife, the smaller, charred corpse on the ground was his child, the shorter one with a hunched back was his mother, and the taller one was his father.
Upon hearing Lu Ben's shout, the crawling zombie's leaden eyes flashed with a hint of struggle. Then, its eyes brightened dramatically, its gaping maw snapped shut, and it gave Lu Ben a smile, the light in its eyes growing dimmer.
"Thump! Thump!" The charcoal-black hand fell to the ground, and the smiling face collapsed.
"Wife! Dad! Mom! Lele!" Lu Ben collapsed to the ground, muttering to himself.
"Slap, slap, slap!" Lu Ben slapped his own face repeatedly, as if he didn't feel any pain. Soon, his cheeks were swollen like big steamed buns.
It was him. He killed his own family members with his own hands. It's all his fault.
He has no relatives left.
He has no home anymore…
…
On the first and second days of the apocalypse, Lu Ben's door remained tightly shut. After staying with his family for two days, he went out. Lu Ben was wearing his family's clothes, carrying a large black bag on his shoulder. The bag was still quite full, and the zipper couldn't be closed, revealing a torn sleeve stained with dark red blood. In his hands, Lu Ben held an urn containing the ashes of his loved ones.
On the third day of the apocalypse, Lu Ben began his life of wandering. He became taciturn and lived a life of hiding and hunger. Even so, he still kept all the things he had brought with him clean.
During his time as a wanderer, he witnessed the outbreak of zombies in City B and met many other survivors like himself.
On the fourth day of the apocalypse, he heard experts speculate about the outbreak: eating fish containing the zombie virus or being bitten by mutated fish.
Lu Ben suddenly remembered the half-eaten fish he had seen on the dining table when he returned home.
The usually taciturn Lu Ben suddenly went mad, overwhelmed with self-blame. If he hadn't bought that fish, would his family still be alive and well?
Lu Ben's personality changed drastically, becoming more irritable and easily angered than before. This was his way of venting his emotions, and also a result of being controlled by the mutated fire-type ability within him.
From the fifth to the eighth day of the apocalypse, Lu Ben used his mutated fire-type ability to fight his way out of the zombie horde. He rushed to all the fish stalls, released his fire-type ability, and burned all the fish.
On the ninth day of the apocalypse, Lu Ben returned to his home and locked himself up for another whole day.
On the tenth day of the apocalypse, Lu Ben seemed to have returned to normal. He went to a research institute to collect food and encountered Zhang Dongliang, who was wrapped up tightly in all black.
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