Woke up on the third day, the messages from the work group popped up.

—Has everyone seen the news? Work has been temporarily suspended recently, no need to come to the office, everyone should stay at home, stay safe.

These two days, I was so busy buying supplies that I forgot about my job, luckily yesterday was my scheduled day off.

I work as a nurse at the community clinic, not busy, so I have plenty of days off.

I opened the news app, and the first news headline was the one mentioned in the work group.

—Recently, a new type of infectious disease has appeared in City C, please citizens avoid going out unless necessary, if you have to go out, please take protective measures. Wear masks, wash hands frequently, avoid infection.

City C is only separated from City A by City B. City C first discovered the mutated squirrels, then found infected humans the next day. Judging by this timeline, tomorrow, there should be infected humans in City B. Since City A has not yet discovered any infected cases, it should be relatively safe for now, right?

Lost in thought, my WeChat phone rang.

It was Lin Yan.

"Why are there more doors at home? I can't get in."

I got out of bed to open the door for him, he looked tired, and there was a strong smell of disinfectant on him.

As he changed shoes, he said to me, "The situation is not optimistic... I'm not high-ranking enough, and this matter has been taken over by colleagues from the capital. The directive now is for all of us to go home and be on standby. I think we need to prepare some..."

After changing shoes, he looked around the house and stopped mid-sentence.

"...supplies."

I said proudly, "I am very thrifty in managing the household, right?"

His expression changed from surprise to a somewhat wry smile, "You are on high alert. This is no longer about managing the household frugally, it's about being the most afraid of death."

I shrugged, "What's the use of saving that money? When things get serious, money becomes worthless."

He surveyed the house and looked at me somewhat helplessly, "Xu Zi, you spent the bride price money I prepared for you."

I crossed my arms, unconcerned, "What's the point of a bride price? My parents are no longer here, no one will force you to pay a bride price. As long as we can save our lives, all the supplies in this house will be your bridal gifts to me."

After a pause, he sighed, sat down on the sofa with Niko in his arms, "Originally, the department thought it was just a virus similar to the flu, but the person who suffered organ failure yesterday, when brought to the department this morning, showed no signs of life, his brain nerves had been eroded and destroyed by an invisible black virus. Until I came back just now... he was alive."

"Alive... alive?"

He nodded, his voice trembling with fear, "In just ten minutes, his skin turned from pale white to black-purple... and he even got up from the bed and moved..."

"Has he turned into a zombie?" My voice also trembled, although I had thought that the worst case scenario would be people turning into zombies, I never thought it would come true, let alone so soon.

Lin Yan's voice began to carry a hint of sobbing, as if every scene was replaying in front of him.

"When he bounced up from the bed, we were all stunned. Originally, we were going to autopsy his body... but he was incredibly strong, grabbed a colleague in the dissection room and bit down on him... that colleague was Zichen."

Chen Zichen, Lin Yan's best friend at the department, 27 years old this year, just got married last year, I accompanied Lin Yan to attend his wedding, Lin Yan was one of his groomsmen. I caught the bouquet at his wedding.

"Another colleague wanted to run out, but the director, who was monitoring in the next room with me, noticed something was wrong, rushed over and locked the door to the dissecting room...I watched the two colleagues inside die. Everything happened too fast, I couldn't react in time."

His shoulders began to shake involuntarily, I knew he was crying.

I put my hand around his shoulder to comfort him, he looked at me with tears in his eyes, "Do you know? Xiao Zi, this kind of thing is nothing like what's written in those movies or novels. Once infected with the virus, it only takes 48 hours for it to take effect, but being bitten by someone who has already mutated into a zombie, it only takes ten minutes to be assimilated into a zombie."

"The leaders just sent me back, demanding us to keep it confidential, all of us who know have signed confidentiality agreements. But can we really keep it secret? Is there only one person infected with the virus in the world?"

I didn’t know how to console him, as if something was stuck in my throat, making it hard for me to breathe.

I looked up at the sky outside the window, the originally clear sky had gradually darkened, patches of dark clouds made it increasingly oppressive, a scene indicating an impending storm.

Is this calm really going to disappear?