Chapter One: The Advent of the Apocalypse

"No! Help me, someone, please help me!"

"What's wrong with you? Stop biting! It hurts, it hurts so much!"

"Everyone, take shelter in the nearby buildings—run! Lift your head, no… no… don't come any closer… ah!"

Fan Li sat at the edge of his bed, listening to the chaos outside, frozen as though in a daze, his only betrayal the cold sweat on his forehead revealing the panic roiling inside him.

There had been no prophecy, no warning, not even the faintest sign of anything amiss. And yet, a catastrophe called the apocalypse had descended upon this land.

The news ran continuous coverage of the upheaval; almost simultaneously, massive outbreaks of bizarre incidents erupted around the globe. Friends, family—those once so familiar—were suddenly transformed into monsters out for blood.

Zombies.

For people of the twenty-first century, this was not an unfamiliar word.

The news continued, with reporters risking their lives to capture scenes of horror. At a time like this, there was no room for censorship or shielding children from distressing images. Whether to expose the calamity or to preserve the last spark of humanity, the footage on TV seized every eye as vividly as the most dazzling oil painting.

Fan Li was among those transfixed.

Those people—no, they could no longer be called people—staggered toward the living, their nails and teeth now weapons. Teeth once used to chew cooked food had become the fangs of beasts, tearing into human flesh.

In the chaos, corpses chewed to death could be seen stumbling back to their feet.

Reanimation.

According to reports, ten minutes after being bitten, a human body began to convulse violently. In twenty minutes, consciousness was lost, in thirty, the body stiffened. But forty minutes later, the once-rigid corpse would soften—and then, the dead would rise again in another form, joining the ranks of the hunters.

Fan Li, a college student with only a year left before graduation, had never imagined that during a rare holiday, he would face such an abrupt transformation of the world.

He had no family; a sudden car accident had taken everyone else, leaving him the only survivor, the last one left.

Since middle school, Fan Li had learned to live with loneliness. Thanks to some savings and a home, he hadn't needed to move into an orphanage, though volunteers from there had taken turns caring for him until after he entered high school.

It took years to move from pain to acceptance, to grow accustomed to solitude, but being used to loneliness did not mean being immune to fear.

Fan Li was an ordinary person. His family's death had not twisted his character into something monstrous or erratic. Life went on; he still had friends and a girl he admired. If there was anything unusual about him, it was only that he bore everything alone, quietly.

So when faced with this sudden apocalypse, Fan Li was as terrified and helpless as anyone. Trembling, he sealed every door and window in his apartment, dragging whatever he could to block the entrance, while the hallway rang with desperate screams and howls. Only then did he turn on the television and sit blankly on the edge of his bed.

"What should I do?"

"Where can I go?"

"Will I survive?"

Fan Li's thoughts were rough and uncertain as he tried to imagine a path forward.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

"Open up, help me!"

"Bang, bang, bang!"

"Is anyone there? My wife has gone mad, help me… help me, please!"

"Bang, bang, bang!"

This time, the sound was unmistakably clear—it was his own door being pounded. The iron security door rattled violently, jolting Fan Li from his daze and setting his nerves on edge.

"Open the door!"

"Is anyone there?"

"Let me in!"

A frantic voice outside begged. From the sound, it was a middle-aged man—Fan Li's old neighbor, a middle school teacher, known for his strictness. Even now, when he ran into Fan Li, he would inquire about his studies, a man old-fashioned and upright to the core.

But now, that lifelong pillar of composure had been shattered. Whether from terror or despair, his voice had turned shrill, almost hysterical. Perhaps the monsters were close by, and Fan Li’s apartment had become his last hope. His pleas quickly turned to near-mad screams.

Fan Li could almost imagine the iron door buckling under the weight of the man's desperation.

"Open up!"

A ragged, desperate cry came from the doorway. Fan Li stood up almost involuntarily, drenched in sweat, and approached the door, pressing his eye to the peephole.

A terrified middle-aged man appeared in his view—gone was any trace of the strict, steady man he once was. Now, he was a madman, beating the door with bloody hands. A gruesome wound gaped on his right cheek, so deep the bone was visible.

Fan Li’s pupils contracted sharply. His hand, which had been on the doorknob, jerked back. The man had been bitten—there was no mistaking the handiwork of those monsters from the news.

Almost as if to confirm Fan Li's fears, a woman rounded the hallway corner, wearing an apron still stained with oil. This was the man's wife—once the model couple of the building, gentle and kind. Now, she was monstrous, lunging at her husband.

The man's body was already weak; she bit into his neck, severing the artery. Blood sprayed the walls like a fountain.

He was dead.

A moment earlier, he had been begging for help. Now, before Fan Li's shrinking pupils, he collapsed in a heap at the door—barely a hand's breadth away, inside and outside divided by the thinnest of barriers, a corpse lay slumped before him.

Fan Li felt as though his heart were being crushed. He dropped to the floor, listening to the sounds of flesh being torn outside, his mind turning to ice. It was June, but he felt chilled to the bone, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

He had never seen a dead body so close before. His face was ashen; in that moment, life itself seemed to lose all color.

He muttered to himself, and just as his mind emptied, a sudden ringing sounded in his head, followed by a clear, crisp voice: "Extreme panic detected. Host requirements met. Would you like to bind the Monster Summoning Manual?"

"What is going on?"

Still paralyzed with shock, Fan Li felt as if he had stumbled into the most bizarre moment of his life.

"Some kind of black technology? A supernatural event?"

As his mind reeled, the voice spoke again: "Requirements met. Do you wish to bind?"