Jiang Xinghuai felt utterly humiliated. He couldn’t possibly call his neighbor out again to look at his naked body.
He didn’t want to explain why ‘I was standing stark naked outside your door calling you to come out, but I’m not a pervert or anything like that’. Such a kind of composition topic.
“Listen, I won’t make you compensate for the towel, and I won’t report you,” Jiang Xinghuai’s trembling voice pressed into negotiation. “I’ll even treat you to crayfish, alright, Ge?”
Xiao Xu didn’t understand. Xiao Xu grew irritable, shot up straight, and tore Jiang Xinghuai’s hand off him.
Jiang Xinghuai turned and ran.
Xiao Xu grabbed his arm. Jiang Xinghuai flung it hard, but couldn’t break free.
In his panic, Jiang Xinghuai kicked out.
Xiao Xu staggered back a step, but his hand clamped tight around Jiang Xinghuai’s ankle, yanking him back.
“Fuck!” Jiang Xinghuai fell flat on his back, the back of his head slamming against the ground.
For a moment, his vision went black. Jiang Xinghuai blinked. Without even pausing, he thrashed his legs, kicked the man away, and crawled forward.
Until his hand touched the wall. Jiang Xinghuai shook his head dizzily, his vision slowly returning to focus.
He pressed tightly against the wall, with nowhere left to retreat.
Beside him was a tightly shut door.
In front of him was Xiao Xu, drooling as he charged over.
Gritting his teeth, Jiang Xinghuai suddenly turned and banged on the door with all his strength, shouting: “Uncle! Uncle! No—Ge! Ge, open the door! This guy’s insane! He’s a pervert! Ge, I was wrong! Please open the door!”
Come on!
Come out, Uncle!
Come look at my naked body!
Xiao Xu opened his mouth and lunged forward.
Jiang Xinghuai shut his eyes in terror.
With a click, the door opened.
Xiao Xu raised his head to look.
In an instant, a long blade, carrying the wind, slashed down onto Xiao Xu’s shoulder.
A chill brushed across Jiang Xinghuai’s face. He slowly opened his eyes, blinked again in a daze, and wiped away the drops of blood that had fallen onto his eyelashes.
Xiao Xu was no longer calm. As if agitated by the scent of blood, he began panting heavily, pupils contracting, roaring in fury as he lunged again.
Fu Yan kicked him hard in the leg.
Xiao Xu’s body swayed sideways and dropped to his knees.
Fu Yan glanced at the boy still crouched by the door. The boy’s face was covered in blood, frozen in shock, unresponsive.
Fu Yan frowned, quickly shrugged off his coat, and tossed it over.
“Come here.”
Jiang Xinghuai heard the man’s voice within a world of darkness.
Fu Yan only had time to switch the knife into his other hand when the boy, crouched on the floor with the suit draped over his head, suddenly hurled himself forward like a heavy cannonball.
Fu Yan instinctively caught him and shoved him behind.
Xiao Xu, who had just gotten back on his feet, looked on enviously and tried to imitate it. With his drool still hanging, he charged forward—
Fu Yan frowned, lifted his leg, and kicked him square in the waist.
Xiao Xu was sent flying, sliding far across the smooth floor.
This time, Jiang Xinghuai clearly saw the long slash of a knife wound across Xiao Xu’s arm.
“Fuck…” Jiang Xinghuai muttered in shock, dazed, “This guy’s badass… he really cut him…”
Hearing the voice, Fu Yan turned his head.
Catching him suddenly looking back, Jiang Xinghuai froze for a moment, then forced a strained smile onto his face and quickly exclaimed again, “Wow! That move just now was way too cool! Uncle, you’re really—”
—Xiao Xu lunged forward again.
Fu Yan pulled him into the room, shoved him inside, and quickly slammed the door shut.
The very next second after the door closed, something collided.
Bang! A heavy thud resounded. Xiao Xu had crashed into the door.
One crash after another followed. The person outside is exceptionally furious. The door panels shook violently.
But inside the narrow entryway, all was quiet, save for the sound of two people breathing.
The hurried, frantic one belonged to Jiang Xinghuai.
Fu Yan was the calmer one.
Both of them stayed tense, neither speaking.
Until the noise outside the door gradually faded away.
Still shaken, Jiang Xinghuai stared at the door, then, trembling all over, barely managed to slip into the suit jacket: “Thank you, Uncle, you—”
Fu Yan, knife in hand, turned and walked off.
“…” Jiang Xinghuai froze for a moment. “What the hell, I wasn’t even done thanking you.”
Fu Yan said nothing, striding quickly toward the floor-to-ceiling window at the front of the living room.
“Wait… no, seriously, this counts as self-defense, right? Should we call the cops?” Jiang Xinghuai jogged after him, snatching a handful of tissues from the coffee table as he passed, scrubbing hard at his face. When he looked down afterward, the tissue was soaked through with blood.
“If the police come, just say I was the one who slashed him.” Jiang Xinghuai frowned, rubbing the back of his head. “He threw the first punch anyway. Fuck, I swear I’ve got a concussion, everything’s blurry when I look around—”
“Look.” Fu Yan had stopped by the window, gazing downward, his expression solemn.
“Look at what?” Jiang Xinghuai followed his gaze through the glass as he spoke. “We should hurry and call the cops. Could it be Xiao Xu’s gone crazy—”
His voice suddenly broke off. After holding his breath for a moment, Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes widened. “—Holy fuck.”
Down in the small garden below, the once lush greenery was in ruins, trampled and crushed. From the grass to the roadside lay three or four people sprawled across the ground. Huge pools of blood seeped outward beneath their bodies. It was impossible to tell if they were dead or alive.
A chill shot up Jiang Xinghuai’s spine. His voice trembled as he asked, “…What happened here?”
“Look over there.” Fu Yan stretched out his hand, pointing toward the fountain below.
Jiang Xinghuai tilted his head and looked down.
The fountain pool was dyed with blood, crimson spreading across more than half of it. In the darkest patch of red lay half a woman’s body. She was barely clinging to life, yet she kept struggling, trying to crawl deeper into the fountain.
Outside the fountain, a young man in a suit and tie stood, his head tilted at an odd angle. He violently yanked at the woman’s exposed calf, dragging her out.
He had barely pulled most of her body out before he threw himself onto her face, frantically tearing and biting.
Like a rabid dog.
The woman’s feeble struggles quickly stopped altogether.
“…What the fuck is this? Are they all insane?” Jiang Xinghuai’s fingers clenched the window frame so tightly his knuckles turned white. “Call the police! Did you call the police?! They’re all—”
As he spoke, Jiang Xinghuai suddenly thought of Xiao Xu outside the door, who had attacked him, and connected it to the scene before him.
For a moment, Jiang Xinghuai was blank, a buried disbelief rising to the surface. He turned to look at the man beside him, taller by a head, and asked as steadily as he could: “…What’s happening to them?”
“Disordered mental state, loss of motor control, extreme aggression. Preliminary judgment: possibly highly contagious, transmitted through wounds.” Fu Yan calmly analyzed, speaking both to the boy and to organize his own thoughts. “This condition might—”
“——We interrupt with urgent news. According to the Disease Control Bureau, a large number of unknown viral infections have appeared in our city, with cases increasing at an alarming rate…”
Both of them quickly turned toward the television in the living room, where the announcement was coming from.
“——Preliminary symptoms of infection include mental disorder, limb rigidity, and extreme aggression. Transmission occurs through blood, saliva… The incubation period from exposure to the source is 5 to 10 minutes. This virus is an extremely violent and lethal strain. Citizens are advised to lock their doors securely and avoid any contact…”
“…A virus? What kind of virus? Some upgraded version of rabies?” Jiang Xinghuai frowned, forcing down the panic in his chest.
Fu Yan stared intently at the TV broadcast, listening carefully.
It was exactly the same as what he had deduced.
When he first witnessed the violent attacks downstairs, he immediately called the police.
But soon after, he saw that those who had suffered fatal injuries got back up within minutes and began to attack passersby. That strange behavior was what alerted him that something was terribly wrong.
By then, he already had a vague suspicion.
Then came the cries for help outside the door. He opened it, and up close, he clearly saw property manager Xiao Xu in that abnormal state.
Dilated pupils. One of the criteria used to determine life or death.
That was when he finally realized the severity of the situation and the inevitability of the catastrophe.
The news on TV kept repeating over and over.
Jiang Xinghuai’s panicked mind clung to it, confirming the broadcast again and again. He refused to believe it.
Bang—
A thunderous crash jolted Jiang Xinghuai from his daze. Xiao Xu must have heard the faintest sound from inside and began slamming against the door once again.
Jiang Xinghuai barely managed to gather his wits. After a while, a sudden thought struck him, and he gritted his teeth to ask: “Uncle, do you play zombie games?”
Fu Yan frowned in silence, his face turning grim.
As if on cue, Xiao Xu howled from outside the door.
The sound carried the same background noise Jiang Xinghuai knew so well from zombie games.
“It’s over… it’s over…” Jiang Xinghuai’s legs gave out. He collapsed onto the carpet, muttering over and over, “It’s over, it’s over…”
Pulled back from his thoughts, Fu Yan lowered his head to look at the boy in front of him. The boy was disheveled, draped only in an oversized suit jacket. He frowned, thought for a moment, then sighed and still reached out his hand—
“My spicy crayfish delivery hasn’t even arrived yet!” Jiang Xinghuai wailed, face twisted in despair.
Fu Yan: “………………”
“What do we do…” Jiang Xinghuai broke into tears.
Fu Yan turned as if to leave.
“Uncle.” Jiang Xinghuai sniffled, tilted his head back to look at him, and suddenly said, “Can I borrow your phone? Mine’s broken. I want to call my dad.”
Fu Yan shut his eyes, then opened them again, and handed over his phone.
Jiang Xinghuai took it and quickly dialed a number.
This time, his father picked up right away. It wasn’t the secretary who answered.
“Xingxing?” Jiang Liangyuan’s voice was urgent. “Why did your number change? I kept calling you and couldn’t get through! Do you know what’s happening out there? Do you want to make me die of worry?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m staying at home. I didn’t go out. I saw the news!” Jiang Xinghuai said quickly.
“I’m getting on a plane right away. Wait for Dad to come back. Don’t go outside, do you hear me?”
“…Mm.” Jiang Xinghuai’s nose stung.
This was the only normal conversation he’d had with his dad in the past month.
Holding back his tears, suppressing the sob rising from his throat, he asked: “How are you? There’s no virus in America, right?”
“I’m fine here, don’t worry.” Jiang Liangyuan reassured him, then added, “Stay home and wait it out. This illness will probably be under control in a few days. I have to go to Beijing first, so don’t leave the house. Dad will come find you in a few days.”
“You’re not coming home first?” Jiang Xinghuai was stunned.
“Xingxing, your aunt and An’an are scared of being there by themselves. I have to go to them first.” Jiang Liangyuan explained, “Dad doesn’t have a choice. An’an is still young. It’s really unsafe for him and your aunt to be alone over there.”
“But…” Jiang Xinghuai froze. “I’m here all by myself…”
“Once I settle them, I’ll come straight to you. Stay home and wait for Dad. I’ll only be with them for a few days before I return. Or, if you don’t mind, I can bring your aunt and An’an over, that way the whole family can be together and—”
The wound on the back of Jiang Xinghuai’s head throbbed again, stabbing in pulses until his ears started ringing, Jiang Liangyuan’s voice growing more and more distant.
Bullshit aunt. Bullshit family.
A suffocating wave of pressure crashed down again. Jiang Xinghuai gripped the phone tightly, trying to speak properly: “Dad, I’m not family with them.”
“What are you saying? Stop talking nonsense. You’re almost an adult, don’t still act like a child—”
That sentence was the spark that set off the fuse burning in Jiang Xinghuai’s chest.
“So what if I’m almost an adult? Isn’t that brat almost an adult, too!” Jiang Xinghuai, furious beyond control, shouted and cut him off: “Is he your son that you’re so eager to rush over and comfort him? Do you even know your real son just almost—”
“Enough! I don’t have time to argue with you right now.” Jiang Liangyuan scolded sharply, cutting him off. “Jiang Xinghuai! When will you finally learn to be sensible?”
Jiang Xinghuai didn’t want to speak anymore.
Sensible, sensible, sensible—sensible my ass.
“Jiang Xinghuai, I’m not arguing with you. I’ll find you in a few days. Just stay put—”
“Dad.” Jiang Xinghuai sniffled, cutting him off again. “You’d better not come looking for me.”
“What?” Jiang Liangyuan’s anger rose. “Do you know what time it is right now, and you still—”
“I said!” Jiang Xinghuai shouted, “Don’t come looking for me! I’ve found myself a new dad!”
With that, Jiang Xinghuai shoved the phone toward the man beside him.
“Jiang Xinghuai! You explain yourself right now!”
The phone pressed close to his ear carried the voice.
“Hello?” Fu Yan instinctively replied.
“You hear that? My new dad is younger than you, better-looking than you, and loves me more than you do! And he won’t bring some new wife home to disgust me either!” Jiang Xinghuai snatched back the phone and kept yelling.
Fu Yan: “………………”
“Jiang Xinghuai! Don’t be ridiculous! Who is this man? Is he the guy you like? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself! I told you to handle it. I gave you a whole month to deal with it, and this is how you ‘deal with it’? Pulling this stunt right before the college entrance exams, do you think I’ll indulge you forever! You—”
The call volume was so loud that Fu Yan had already caught certain details. When he thought of turning and walking away, it was already too late.
Jiang Xinghuai, fuming, smashed the phone.
Fu Yan’s eye twitched, his expression turning dark.
“What are you looking at? Never seen a gay person before?” Jiang Xinghuai cursed at him, eyes red.
Fu Yan glanced at him but couldn’t get a word out, turning instead and heading to the study.
Jiang Xinghuai curled his lip, let out a dismissive “tsk”, and carelessly hummed a tune at his retreating back—Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.
Not until he heard the study door shut.
Jiang Xinghuai straightened his back, then slowly lowered himself onto the edge of the sofa, bracing with his hands.
“Fuck… these days, tossing aside your own son just to rush over and be someone else’s dad—what, does that make you proud? Make you feel all honorable?” Jiang Xinghuai muttered in a low voice, wiping his tears. “It’s not like anyone’s handing out silk banners of gratitude, so what’s he working so hard for…”
He rubbed at his knee, already bruising purple from the fall outside, reminding himself he could only cry for one more minute.
Outside the vast window, in just a few short minutes, the sky had turned pitch black as violent winds howled.
Xiao Xu had stopped banging on the door outside.
The room felt far too quiet to Jiang Xinghuai.
——gurgle gurgle
Following the sound, Jiang Xinghuai’s eyes dropped to his own stomach.
Only then did he realize that his food delivery was late. Almost three whole hours late.
He looked around. What could he eat?
“They seem to act aggressively without conscious control. At close range, I observed their pupils dilating…” Fu Yan was seated behind his desk, speaking into the phone.
Knock knock knock—
The study door was rapped on.
Fu Yan lifted his head.
The boy stood in the doorway, bare-legged, wearing a suit clearly several sizes too big. His face looked unwell, yet he still managed a smile.
“Do you have anything to eat at home?” Jiang Xinghuai asked with forced composure.
“Excuse me, one moment,” Fu Yan said into the phone, then looked up at the boy. “What?”
“I’m hungry,” Jiang Xinghuai said.
“There’s steak in the fridge,” Fu Yan replied.
Jiang Xinghuai nodded, then backed out of the room.
Fu Yan continued his phone call.
Five minutes later—
“Why won’t the steak cut…” Jiang Xinghuai returned to the door, full of confusion.
“Leave it aside to thaw first,” Fu Yan replied.
“Oh…” Jiang Xinghuai left again, now with an answer.
Two minutes later—
“Uncle, how do you turn on the stove?” Jiang Xinghuai came back.
“…Twist it one turn to the right,” Fu Yan answered.
One minute later, from the kitchen came the sound of dishes shattering, a spatula clattering to the floor, and all sorts of crashes that had no business happening there.
Fu Yan hung up the phone and stood.
The next second—
“Uncle! The pan’s on fire!” Jiang Xinghuai burst in, flustered. “I scooped up some water with a bowl to throw on it! But I threw the bowl in, too!”
Fu Yan: “……………”
Fu Yan let out a long, heavy sigh, walked out from behind the desk, and fixed his gaze on the boy. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen,” Jiang Xinghuai said.
“No, eleven.” Jiang Xinghuai quickly corrected himself, putting on a pitiful look. “Please spare me a bite to eat, Uncle.”
“I—” Fu Yan had just opened his mouth.
Jiang Xinghuai cut in again, even faster: “Dad, I’m really hungry.”
