At 4:20 in the early morning, I woke up Xinyan from her sleep. Lin Yan, Jia Yang, and I didn't sleep all night. On one hand, we were afraid of oversleeping, and on the other hand, we simply couldn't fall asleep.

We packed some essential items. Xinyan and I each carried a backpack with some portable resources, while Lin Yan and Jia Yang had a cat carrier and a robot son.

At 4:40 in the early morning, I operated the drone and flew it to the rooftop first. After confirming it was safe, we slowly walked out of the house and headed to the rooftop.

We arrived at the rooftop exactly at 5 o'clock, and to our surprise, we witnessed the sunrise. Watching the rising sun, I inexplicably felt like crying and couldn't help but think that innocence was about to dawn.

Lin Yan also showed some emotions as he embraced my shoulder, silently pursing his lips and gazing at the distant sun.

After about ten minutes, we finally heard the roaring of a helicopter.

The helicopter began its search from the rooftop on the outermost edge of the residential area, while we were in the innermost building, the eighth one.

The sound in the sky stirred up a great commotion among the zombies, and they roared incessantly downstairs like wild beasts.

I held the binoculars and vaguely saw the helicopter rescuing survivors on the fifth floor. An elderly couple was slowly climbing up the soft ladder dropped by the helicopter. Behind them, there was another middle-aged couple helping and supporting the ladder from below.

However, there was only a dirty teenage girl on the sixth floor, who seemed to be about the same age as Jia Yang.

There was no one on the seventh floor, nor in buildings 1 to 4.

It seemed that the number of humans who survived in the entire residential area was pitifully small. I felt a sense of lamentation and anxiously looked and hoped for our turn to come quickly. Jia Yang and Lin Yan were waving their arms behind me to attract the attention of the helicopter.

I glanced at the small watch on Xinyan's hand, and it was already 5:30.

The commotion of the zombie horde downstairs grew louder, and the facilities on the street made a loud and eerie noise.

I exchanged a glance with Lin Yan and grabbed the binoculars, leaning against the edge of the rooftop to look down.

—It was that third-stage mutated zombie. It had probably followed the noise and arrived. Unlike the other zombies, which charged forward blindly, it actually lifted its head and purposefully looked at the rescue helicopter in the sky. It let out a series of roars from its mouth and even tried to extend its tentacles to grab the helicopter. However, the distance was too far.

Then it began to look around in different directions. At one point, it even started climbing up the building's wall using its tentacles.

!

At this moment, the helicopter was ready to fly towards us.

While climbing up, the mutated zombie kept its eyes on the helicopter's movements. When it saw the helicopter preparing to change direction, it stopped and observed for a few seconds, as if trying to figure out where the helicopter was going.

Lin Yan took the binoculars and looked for a moment, frowning and saying, "It seems... intelligent."

The helicopter was less than half a minute away from us, and the monster was already climbing to the top floor of the seventh building!

I grabbed Lin Yan's arm and said, "Take Xinyan and Niko to the safe zone. The four of us most likely can't leave together. Jia Yang and I will stay behind. We have Xiao Gu, and our home has supplies. It's relatively safe."

"Are you crazy? If someone stays, it should be me!" He stared at me in disbelief.

I looked up at the slowly stabilizing helicopter, gazed at Lin Yan, and said, "You can go help the country research antibodies and serum against the virus, but we can't. Besides, Xinyan is too young to follow us. Going to the safe zone is the best choice. Lin Yan, trust me."

The ladder from the helicopter had already been lowered, and the military and the survivors on board were urging us to climb up quickly. I put Xinyan on the ladder first, and the survivors on the helicopter helped lift her up. When I turned to look at Lin Yan, he was still staring at me, wantingto object, but I interrupted him and said, "Take care of yourself and Xinyan. We'll find a way to survive here."

Reluctantly, he gave me a nod and quickly climbed up the ladder, disappearing into the helicopter. I watched as it flew away, carrying a piece of my heart with it.

As soon as the helicopter disappeared from sight, the mutated zombie on the rooftop of the seventh building let out a piercing scream. It seemed to be frustrated and angry that its prey had escaped.

Jia Yang and I retreated from the edge of the rooftop and hurriedly returned to our apartment. We barricaded the entrance with whatever furniture we could find and reinforced it with wooden planks. We knew it wouldn't hold for long, but it would buy us some time.

We gathered our remaining supplies and checked our weapons. I had a baseball bat, Jia Yang had a kitchen knife, and Xiao Gu was our secret weapon. The little robot we had built together had a flamethrower module that could deter and burn the zombies.

The sound of the mutated zombie on the rooftop grew louder, and we could hear it smashing against the walls and doors of the neighboring apartments. We knew it was only a matter of time before it reached us.

We took a deep breath, looked at each other, and nodded. We would fight until the end, for ourselves and for Lin Yan and Xinyan.

As the door started to crack under the pressure, we braced ourselves and prepared to face the monstrous threat that awaited us.