Chapter 903: The Final Despair
A confined environment, an endless wait without hope⊠The Survivors of Rosen Company succumbed to madness under the crushing despair, only to retreat into fear after their hysteria subsided. No one dared go near the staircase. The gruesomely deceased corpse had been thrown onto the second floor, while another employee, tied to the handrail, slowly withered away amidst screams of agony. Within just a couple of days, he, too, was dead.
The remaining survivors endured their suffering by clinging to self-reassurance, but days passed, and still, no rescue arrivedâŠ
âThe food and water weâd originally gathered from the staff canteen barely lasted any time at all. To stretch it out as long as possible, everyoneâs portions were made very small. But once the supplies ran out, hunger became unbearable almost immediately. Thatâs when people started questioning whether rescue was even coming. Some began suggesting we escape to look for food⊠But no one expected this-so many of us gathered here had already attracted a horde of Zombies. The Zombies couldnât find us, but they could sense us. They surrounded the entire building, leaving us with no way outâŠâ
The woman in white let out another peculiar laugh. âBack then, I was terrified-terrified of being torn apart by Zombies and terrified of starving to death⊠There was a girl from my department who was with me. The two of us were always clinging to each other for comfort since we were both so timid. I guess most human girls are like that. Even though weâre fragile, if we have someone to lean on-or some motivation-we can hold on and endure⊠But at that point, no matter how much we tried to hold on, it felt meaningless. I didnât expect her to break down before I did, though. She cried and said we were going to end up just like those two corpses, lying there without a sound, only to slowly rot awayâŠâ
âDo you know what it feels like to wait for death? To sit in the all-encompassing grip of fear? Oh, but no, you wouldnât know⊠Honestly, I donât fully understand it myself. Sometimes, when I look back on it, I feel this eerie detachment, like Iâm watching another version of me⊠Just like now.â She continued to stare down at the female corpse and spoke in an odd tone.
Ling Mo didnât respond. He was still searching-for a moment, an opportunity, that could give Ye Lian the chance to pull the trigger.
âBut what I didnât expect even more,â the woman continued, âwas that her crying somehow brought about a change in everything⊠At a time like that, no one cared anymore whether the things we were doing were horrifying, because nothing is more terrifying than death. To survive, nothing was too wrong to doâŠâ
Amidst the girlâs sobbing and cries, a quivering voice suddenly broke the silence.
âYeah⊠arenât there still corpses?â
No one spoke, but someone looked up at him.
He tugged at the corner of his mouth and continued, âInstead of letting them rot like this⊠I mean⊠they arenât really human anymore, right? Theyâre Zombies⊠If Zombies can eat people, why canât we⊠Even if we get infected, it would be better than nowâŠâ His voice grew louder, yet his body involuntarily trembled.
âAre you insane?â someone yelled.
âMe, insane? Ha-ha⊠Think about it, huh? Do you want to rot away? We were wrong from the start; we should have tried to escape days ago. Back then, there werenât as many Zombies. Now, even if we wanted to escape, we donât have the strength⊠If we had some strength, we could leave this hellhole. Anywhere would be better than starving to death here!â The man spoke and then broke down crying, but his tone grew increasingly manic.
Seeing that still no one spoke, he actually managed to get up, his eyes blazing fiercely as he said, âI donât care about you anymore⊠I just donât want to die like that. You all heard that guyâs screams earlier; I donât want to die like that⊠I have to survive, I mustâŠâ
Everyone watched as he staggered toward the staircase, his muttering echoing in everyoneâs earsâŠ
Survive, donât want to die⊠at least, not like that⊠Itâs too horrifying, too hard to acceptâŠ
âThen⊠things spiraled out of control. It started with a few people, then most people⊠and in the end, everyone⊠Some were vomiting as they ate, but they still forced themselves to swallow⊠Many werenât eating out of hunger but out of fear. Especially once someone took the lead, the whole thing turned into a senseless frenzy,â said the woman in white indifferently, but Ling Mo felt a chill run through him.
In that environment, the group had clearly been driven madâŠ
âWhat happened then?â he couldnât help but ask.
Could it be that these events had such a profound psychological impact on her, leading to her later variation? But if that was the case, then this reference is too low, it could even be said, this is just a rare exception⊠For those who had survived such a disaster, who didnât have some painful experiences hidden in their hearts? Incidents like the Rosen Company were common elsewhere. However, after their variations, these people did not end up like the woman in whiteâŠ
âHmm, thatâs not rightâŠâ Ling Mo quickly dismissed the thought. He realized heâd overlooked a critical detail in this case. âWhat they ate were corpses of people suspected to be infectedâŠâ
âAfterward, everyone fell completely silent⊠Itâs kind of tragic, really. Before that incident, everyone did their best to convince themselves that those two were infected persons. But after it happened, everyone started praying that they were still human⊠Because if they were truly human, then didnât we commit an unspeakably horrifying act? Humans are so contradictory in their thoughts. Even now, I canât fully understand what went through my mind back then. All I know is that everyone changed. People stopped talking to one another, retreating into their own corners and looking at everyone else with different eyesâŠâ
As the woman in white spoke, her hands suddenly froze mid-motion. âBut that night, everything changed. Of those two employees who died, one of them really was infected⊠And so, some of us started to mutate, while others remained normal. As for me, I was in the group that mutatedâŠâ áčáŒÎá»BĐáč©
âFang YingâŠâ At the time, the woman in white, gasping for breath, slowly crawled toward another girl. Fang Ying, startled and frightened, shrank into a corner and silently watched as the woman in white approached her.
âI donât feel so goodâŠâ the woman in white said softly.
Fang Yingâs face was obscured by shadows, so her expression was difficult to make out. After a long moment, her trembling voice finally asked, âWhatâs⊠wrong with you?â
âI donât know. The⊠the meat we ate⊠it was rotten, wasnât itâŠâ the woman in white murmured.
Fang Ying immediately raised a hand to cover her mouth. âStop it! Donât talk about that!â she exclaimed.
âBut⊠Fang Ying, do you feel sick?â the woman in white asked, her voice tinged with confusion. âFang Ying, do you think Iâm going to die? If⊠if I do die, what would you do to me? Come on, tell me-would you help me?â
âStop talking! Youâre not going to die!â Fang Ying protested, retreating further as if rejecting the very idea.
âI feel so hot, but also so cold⊠My heart is beating too fastâŠâ the woman in white continued. By this point, her mind was clearly becoming muddled.
Fang Ying finally started to sense that something was wrong. Hiding deeper in the darkness, she stared at the woman in white for a moment before suddenly letting out a terrified scream.
âWhatâs wrong?â the woman in white asked, her anxious eyes locked on Fang Ying.
âYour⊠your eyes⊠theyâre glowing red! Oh no! Sheâs mutating! Sheâs mutating!â Fang Ying screamed. Then, in a panic, she scrambled up and tried to flee, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the woman in white.
The woman in white suddenly snapped back to clarity. She grabbed Fang Yingâs ankle and, in a low, desperate voice, pleaded, âNo! Fang Ying, please donât scream! I donât want to be beaten to death! Please help me, Fang Ying. Let me figure something out on my own⊠Wait! I can go out from the third floor. Just let me leave, okay?â
âYouâll let the Zombies in!â Fang Ying cried out as she sobbed, her voice rising with hysteria. âSomebody help! Sheâs mutating!â Overwhelmed with fear, she abruptly lifted her foot and kicked the woman in white hard.
âAfter that, they tied me upâŠâ The woman in white slowly walked over to a collection of corpses and stopped in front of the body of a young woman. The young womanâs corpse was positioned closest to the mutated Zombieâs remains. âI knew no one else would have sympathy for me, so I kept begging her,â she said, speaking to the lifeless young woman. âBut she wouldnât help me. She just kept looking at me with fear and disgust in her eyesâŠâ
âAnd then I finally understood. When that employee was pleading with us, I must have had the exact same look on my faceâŠâ She paused for a moment, then continued with a bitter smile, âAnd you know what? He wasnât even an infected person. It was the other one that wasâŠâ As she spoke, the woman in white slowly raised her head. However, she remained partially turned away from Ling Mo, so he could only catch a glimpse of one side of her scarred face.
âI didnât want to die, but everyone looked at me with those accusing, fearful gazes, and they didnât hesitate to act⊠You know, once something like that happens, itâs easier for them to do it the next time, isnât it?â Her voice was calm, almost resigned. âJust when I thought I was going to die, screams started coming from downstairs. Someone else had mutated. But unlike me, they hadnât come begging for help. Theyâd just hidden in a corner by themselves. So by the time they were discovered, theyâd already fully transformedâŠâ
âI was tied up upstairs, unable to see anything. All I could hear was the endless screaming coming from below. Fang Ying didnât dare to go down. She stayed near the railing, just a short distance from me, crying uncontrollably. It was because she was crying that she didnât notice my transformation progressing further. And she didnât hear the sound of me breaking free from the ropes, either. To be honest, when I got loose, I didnât want to kill herâŠâ The woman in whiteâs voice faltered for a moment, a flicker of genuine emotion crossing her face. âEven though we werenât really sisters, she always called me âsisterâ when we were working together. It wasnât like we were that close, but we had survived this long together. I held a certain kind of⊠connection to her in my heart.â
âBut when I started climbing upstairs, I accidentally made a noise⊠By then, I was struggling to stay in control, and my movements were becoming erratic. When I turned around, Fang Ying was already standing there, staring at me in a dazeâŠâ
The woman in white suddenly smiled again and said, âI said, âLet me goâŠââ
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