Su Li was startled, nearly dropping the drying pole in his hand. The face of the corpse that lifted up was swollen and bluish-purple, now covered in a fine layer of white fuzz. Its open eyes had no pupils, only whites, and its mouth was wide open as if gasping for air.
The corpse’s arms trembled, as if trying to struggle out of the water, then suddenly plunged downward with a heavy lurch. It was as if a tremendous force had emerged from the water, yanking the corpse down. With a "gurgle," the corpse sank into the water and vanished, leaving only ripples on the surface.
This all happened in just a second or two. Su Li’s eyes widened as he watched the corpse suddenly sink, turning into a dark shadow, and then even the shadow disappeared. His hands and feet were ice-cold as he stumbled backward, quickly shut the window, his face pale.
"There’s something... in the water... besides the corpse. Just now... something dragged the corpse down..."
Su Li’s lips trembled slightly as he muttered to himself, retreating to the coffee table. He grabbed the cleaver and hammer, feeling a faint sense of relief.
He thought back to the female corpse he had seen earlier, with signs of gnawing on its chest, abdomen, and legs, a mess of blood and flesh. At the time, he had suspected there might be large carnivorous fish or other aquatic creatures in the water feeding on the bodies. Combined with what had just happened, Su Li formed a terrifying hypothesis.
Hidden in the water outside was an extremely dangerous creature that fed on corpses. Judging by the speed at which it had dragged the corpse down, this mysterious aquatic creature was incredibly powerful, capable of pulling a floating body underwater so quickly that it vanished. Its strength was immense, and its size was certainly not small.
"It couldn’t be something like a crocodile or a shark, could it..."
Su Li gazed at the endless expanse of water outside, a sense of despair creeping in as this terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.
With an entire city submerged, it wouldn’t surprise him if there were sharks or crocodiles in the water now. But for him, that would be fatal.
He had worked hard to build a raft, planning to leave at dawn to search for other survivors and seek rescue. But if such a fearsome creature truly lived in the water, he was in trouble. Taking the raft out would be no different from suicide.
"Can I only stay here? But the food is limited; at most, I can last four more days."
Su Li thought for a long time but couldn’t come up with a better plan. He could only lock all the windows on the balcony and then check the others, closing and securing them one by one.
But he knew that he was on the thirtieth floor, with no security bars outside. If another corpse underwent the same reanimation as the female corpse during the day, it could easily smash the window glass and climb in. As for what kind of creature was hiding in the water, he had speculated endlessly without any clue. His only hope was that this mysterious creature could only live in the water and couldn’t come ashore like the reanimated corpse.
After making sure all the doors and windows were locked, Su Li watched as the night grew darker. He took out the instant noodles, bread, biscuits, and other snacks from the fridge, found a travel backpack, and packed all the food inside, just in case he needed to make a quick escape and couldn’t afford to leave the food behind.
The room grew darker. Su Li, clutching the cleaver and hammer, lay down on the sofa, staring into the darkness. He had a strong, ominous feeling that something would happen tonight.
As if to confirm his premonition, footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor outside.
The footsteps were soft, but in the dead silence of the night, they were unmistakably clear.
Su Li tensed up instantly, grabbing the cleaver and hammer as he stood up from the sofa.
He hadn’t seen a single living person on the thirtieth floor. How could there be footsteps in the corridor? Could it be...
The footsteps came one after another, heading in his direction.
Unable to hold back, Su Li moved quietly in the dark toward the security door, intending to look through the peephole to see what was making the sound.
In just a few steps, his palms were slick with cold sweat. He gripped the cleaver and hammer tightly, constantly reassuring himself to muster courage.
"Even if it’s a reanimated corpse, it’s nothing to fear. Besides looking a bit scary, they’re not agile, their movements are stiff—they’re no match for me..."
He repeated this mantra in his mind like a hypnotic chant, over and over, until he reached the door and peered through the peephole.
Just then, the footsteps outside stopped, as if the person had halted.
Through the peephole, Su Li saw only darkness; he couldn’t make out anything.
He then remembered that the corridor outside was as dark as his room, with no light, so the peephole couldn’t show him anything.
Suddenly, a sharp "crack" came from the balcony—the sound of glass shattering.
In the dead silence, the noise was jarring. Su Li shuddered, his whole body jolting as he whipped his head around. He saw that one of the balcony windows had shattered, and two arms were reaching in from outside, gripping the windowsill. A swollen, bluish-purple face appeared.
Half of the face had been gnawed away, a mess of blood and flesh. One eyeball bulged from its socket, dangling by a tendon on the cheek. The uneaten half of the face was covered in a fine layer of white fuzz. The remaining eye, without a pupil, stared fixedly at Su Li in the dark, like a fish out of water, its mouth opening and closing unconsciously in a bizarre manner.
Even though half the face was gone, Su Li recognized it immediately as the floating corpse he had seen in the water outside the balcony earlier. At the time, its face had been intact before it was dragged underwater and vanished. Now, it had reappeared, smashed a window, and was trying to climb in.
With the experience of dealing with the female corpse, Su Li, though still terrified, charged forward. He had to strike first before the corpse could crawl inside.
He had already noticed that these corpse-turned-monsters, while horrifying, had a glaring weakness: their joints were stiff, and their movements were less agile than a normal person’s.
As Su Li rushed forward, the corpse had just stuck its head through the window. He gripped the hammer tightly and swung it down at the corpse’s head.
The corpse raised its arms to shield its face, and the hammer struck one of its arms instead.