DA chapter 1

 

About a month ago, the Astronomical Bureau announced that the Northern Hemisphere would experience the most spectacular meteor shower in history.

On the evening of the meteor shower, Lin Jia stood alone on his balcony, watching the meteors.

Because of this meteor shower, everything seemed strange.

People kept suddenly losing their ability to speak, managing only to say “yes” or “no.” While the initial number of people affected wasn’t large, one of Lin Jia’s subordinates was the first to lose his ability to speak.

During a work meeting, he confidently outlined his goals for the next quarter, and then suddenly fainted. Without waiting for the startled crowd to approach, he silently stood up again. His beaming expression was replaced by stiffness; his face was devoid of color. From then on, he answered every question with only “yes” or “no,” bringing the meeting to a standstill.

Gradually, more and more people in the company found themselves in this situation. Positions were left short-staffed, the company ground to a halt, and losses mounted.

The same was true in society, where negative emotions like panic and anxiety spread like a plague—medical care was helpless, and no one knew if they would be next to become a “living dead”: only “yes” and “no,” slow movements, and a blank stare. What else could this be but the living dead?

Lin Jia wasn’t completely focused on this matter. With the company temporarily closed, he noticed something seemed off about his cat while he was home.

It was a short-haired black cat, a gift from a relative, and its breed was unknown. Lin Jia didn’t like cats, but he couldn’t bear to dishonor his relative’s kindness, so he kept the cat. Usually, his assistant or the nanny fed the cat, added water to its bowl, and cleaned up after it. Lin Jia never teased the cat, and the cat never showed him any affection. It was a mutually exclusive relationship.

Lately, however, the cat—whose name he’d forgotten was either Big Black or Little Black—would constantly glare at him, disrupting the tacit, safe distance between them. The cat would jump into the corner of Lin Jia’s desk and stare at him while he read documents. When Lin Jia slept, the cat would leap to open the bedroom door and perch on all fours at the foot of the bed to survey him. Even while Lin Jia was bathing, he could see the cat’s motionless figure outside through the matte glass.

Aside from that gaze, which Lin Jia couldn’t ignore, the cat no longer ate cat food or drank from the cat bowl. While Lin Jia was eating, the cat would suddenly leap onto the table to eat cooked food from a plate. It opened the refrigerator and rummaged through the fresh-keeping section for fruit.

It would carry a cup to the water dispenser to get warm water.

The cat could even use the remote control to turn up the TV volume.

At that moment, an interview was playing on TV. The title of the interview was: [Are there a series of strange diseases appearing in many places? A patient suddenly lost the ability to speak and could only say “yes” or “no.” Let’s hear what the experts have to say.]

The interviewee was a well-dressed expert. After the reporter asked him questions, he looked into the camera and said, “The brain is primarily divided into the left and right hemispheres. The left hemisphere controls language. The left hemisphere has two key language areas: Broca’s area[mfn]Broca’s Area: Located in the frontal lobe, it is primarily responsible for speech production and the formation of grammatically correct sentences.[/mfn] and Wernicke area[mfn]Wernicke’s Area: Found in the temporal lobe, this area is crucial for language comprehension. It processes spoken and written language, allowing individuals to understand the meaning of words.[/mfn]…”

After this explanation, the expert continued, “Mental or psychological stress often causes left-sided migraines.”

The reporter took the microphone and asked, “So, you’re saying that strange diseases don’t exist, but rather that excessive stress can lead to language impairment?”

The expert evaded the question, “I suggest everyone relax and don’t be nervous—”

The cat, which had been watching Lin Jia, leaped directly into his hand when the expert made these suggestions—the remote control was right there.

Oblivious to Lin Jia’s surreptitious observation, the cat’s attention was absorbed by the interview. However, it didn’t act overtly. Instead, it feigned a casual air, resting its paw on the remote and pressing the volume up button.

The volume suddenly increased, then settled within a comfortable range. The expert’s advice rang out more clearly in Lin Jia’s ears:

“When you feel stressed, listen to relaxing music, walk more, and get some exercise—”

“Tsk.”

A short, almost disapproving sound.

The cat soon realized something was wrong and meowed rather blatantly.

The world was full of strangeness, but Lin Jia didn’t comment on the cat’s antics. He glanced at his watch. It was almost eight o’clock, and the nanny still hadn’t arrived.

Lin Jia didn’t like being around people, so the nanny only came at the designated time. She had been working for him for seven years. When the family needed money urgently, Lin Jia gave her an advance. Despite all the unrest lately, the nanny still came to Lin Jia’s villa on time and cooked three meals for him.

But she didn’t come today, not in the morning and not at noon.

Lin Jia had a premonition and called her.

As he had expected, she had also become a living corpse who could only say “yes” or “no.”

After going two meals without eating, Lin Jia was hungry. Realizing the nanny wouldn’t be around anymore, Lin Jia, who had limited self-care skills, had to go to the kitchen himself. He still had an idolized image of the nanny in his head, and he couldn’t blame himself for starving to death before the disease struck. Any death would be fine, but dying of starvation would be too undignified.

The nanny had stockpiled the ingredients in the refrigerator. Lin Jia knew what he was doing and chose not to embarrass himself by making just a bowl of noodles. He pulled out his phone and searched for instructions on how to cook them.

At that moment, he heard a sneer, as if mocking his inability to cook even the simplest noodles. Without looking up, Lin Jia knew who it came from. The cat’s previous attempts at self-deception meant that it didn’t want to reveal its eccentricity, at least not yet. Lin Jia had no intention of exposing himself to danger by breaking that cover.

On its first cooking trip, however, it misjudged the amount of noodles and overcooked them. Lin Jia took out two clean bowls, one for himself and one placed next to the cat’s bowl, which was overflowing with food. The cat could eat if it wanted to; it didn’t matter if it didn’t.

The rest was easy; the difficult part was seasoning. Lin Jia had no natural culinary talent, and the overcooked, puffy noodles were hardly palatable. But he knew this wasn’t the time to act superior. Everyone was preoccupied with their own affairs. Who would care that he had been on the Forbes Rich List for five consecutive years? He ate his noodles expressionlessly, his face growing more blank with every bite.

Even if Lin Jia had cooked the noodles himself, it would have taken time for him to recover after just one bite.

During this process, he saw the cat jump off the sofa and over to its bowl. The cat hadn’t eaten in two meals, either; it was hungry. Like Lin Jia, the cat knew that when everyone else was busy, no one would care about an unfed cat.

But it sniffed the noodles. “Yue——”

Lin Jia: “… ”

After seemingly struggling to make a decision, the cat licked a mouthful of noodles, gulped a few times, and expressionlessly went to eat the cat food.

Lin Jia: “…”

Thanks to the cat, the pampered Lin Jia couldn’t eat anymore. He stood up and searched the refrigerator for fruit to fill his stomach. He’d taken a few steps when there was a snap.

The once brightly lit villa was plunged into darkness—the power had gone out.

Lin Jia raised his head sharply and glanced out the large, floor-to-ceiling window. His villa had a backup power source that should have kicked in within ten seconds of the outage to restore the lights.

But it didn’t. It was as if he had fallen into an endless darkness; light was a thing of the past.

Lin Jia stood before the window in the pale moonlight. The house was so dark that his shadow, cast by the moon, was completely swallowed by the darkness.

His gaze was fixed firmly on the window, scanning for impending danger.

Outside, in the courtyard, the tops of the flowers and trees trembled, casting eerie shadows on the ground. Fortunately, the soundproof glass windows blocked out the rustling noises. Lin Jia pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight.

This is crazy! The cat, who had been behind him, leaped forward as if to stop his self-destructive behavior.

As the cat approached, it noticed that Lin Jia’s breathing was heavy. The cat suddenly realized that Lin Jia was afraid of the dark. Even at night, when he rested, he always kept a small light by his bedside to illuminate his surroundings.

But that couldn’t be right. The cat was about to say something but suddenly fell silent.

From their perspective, five people appeared outside the courtyard fence. There was an elderly couple and a young couple. The woman in the younger couple held a baby in her arms.

They stood in a row, expressionless, staring at the glint of light behind the glass window.

As if on purpose, they reached out and shook the fence; even the baby reached out and clung to the bars.

Soon, the once sturdy fence was torn apart by the frantic shaking.

They stood before the villa gate like zombies.

Bang, bang, bang—

They knocked on the door.

Lin Jia reached the villa’s door, his flashlight casting a beam ahead. Through the peephole, he saw a family of five huddled outside. They were neighbors from the next-door villa.

Usually, they would greet him with a smile, but now their expressions were numb, and they stood awkwardly.

They kept knocking on the door. Lin Jia could see a bulge slowly forming inside the security door; it was the shape of five fingers protruding. The fact that they could knock the high-security iron door into this state showed their strength. He feared that if they kept knocking, the security door would be breached as easily as the iron fence.

Lin Jia asked gravely, “Did something happen?”

He had communicated with the “living dead” before, and they would remain motionless when answering questions.

Sure enough, after his question, the five “living dead” stopped knocking. They stood frozen, their mouths the only part moving.

“No,” they replied.

“Did you come specifically to see me?” Lin Jia asked through the door.

“Yes.”

Lin Jia fell silent for a moment, then asked, “What do you want from me?”

The five people outside didn’t answer. Unable to answer with a simple yes or no, they knocked again.

Lin Jia had no choice but to ask again: “Did you sabotage the circuits?”

“Yes.”

The undeniable evidence of sabotaging the circuits, coming specifically to see him, and the incessant rumbling of hunger coming from outside left no doubt.

Lin Jia asked, “Are you looking for food?”

The undead responded in unison, “Yes.”

The living dead wouldn’t eat anything anymore. After a few questions, the purpose of the five “living dead” outside in their late-night visit gradually became clear.

Lin Jia felt his shoulders sink as the cat jumped onto his shoulders.

He paused briefly before the door slammed again.

A sharp sound pierced his eardrum and spread discomfort throughout his body.

Lin Jia pursed his lips and asked, “So, are you here to eat me?”

 

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