By the time Wu Fan came to his senses, Maddie had already pinned a black man down with her knee.
The guy was wearing a designer hoodie, with three gold chains hanging around his neck, and his hands were tightly clutching a bulging backpack.
He struggled desperately on the ground, shouting, "You can't do this! The people on the street ahead have gone crazy! They bite whoever they catch! I saw it with my own eyes—they bit off a chunk of flesh and just chewed it up like that!"
"WTF?"
Wu Fan was stunned.
How did that sound like Walker behavior?
"Cuff him first!"
Maddie shouted at him.
Wu Fan quickly pulled out his handcuffs and with a click, cuffed the black man's wrists.
Only then did he see the scene around him—
The whole street was in chaos.
The crowd was scattering like startled antelope.
A car had crashed into a utility pole by the roadside, flames rising from the hood, licking at the snapped wires and crackling loudly.
But no one stopped to put out the fire; everyone was only concerned with saving their own lives.
Further away, gunshots rang out one after another, as dense as fireworks on Independence Day.
Overhead, three Black Hawk helicopters roared past, their cabin doors open, and one could vaguely see fully armed Soldiers inside.
On the ground, a convoy of black armored vehicles sped through the intersection, with "SWAT" printed in large letters on their sides.
"Hey, you guys always love the free-for-all looting. Stealing that much is enough to get you indicted for five years or more in prison. Don't worry, there's no one in there eating human flesh like you said. At worst, your ass will hurt a bit, just tough it out and it'll pass."
Maddie pushed the black man into the back seat of the police car.
"Do you guys know what you're talking about?"
The handcuffed black man was still struggling: "That's not something you can just tough out! Damn it, you women obviously don't care—"
He didn't finish his sentence.
A large refrigerated truck suddenly rushed out from a side street like an out-of-control beast.
White smoke rose from the skid marks, but it couldn't stop at all—
"Damn it! Watch out!"
Wu Fan shouted.
Maddie turned her head, her pupils dilating instantly.
Bang—!
The massive impact made Wu Fan's eardrums ache.
The front of the refrigerated truck slammed solidly into the parked police car, the immense force flipping the police car over like a toy before it crashed headlong into the brick wall by the road.
Bricks shattered and dust billowed, blotting out the sky.
"Maddie!"
Wu Fan crawled up from the ground, coughing dryly as he waved away the dust in front of him.
He saw Maddie.
Her lower body was pinned by the overturned police car, and she was lying on broken bricks and glass shards, her face covered in dust and blood.
Her legs were trapped under the heavy vehicle, and she couldn't move.
"Ah—"
Maddie let out a scream, the sound so shrill it didn't sound like her.
"Hey, hey, Maddie, hang in there!"
Wu Fan rushed over and knelt beside her: "I'll get you out right away!"
He crouched down to look at the overturned police car.
A Victoria Crown, with a curb weight of nearly two tons.
The vehicle was pressing on Maddie's thighs, and her lower body couldn't move at all.
If he tried to lift the car by force, it could cause secondary injuries—once the crushed bones moved, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Theoretically, this situation required a crane or a jack to lift the vehicle and distribute the pressure.
Wu Fan grabbed the walkie-talkie at his waist: "Dispatch, Dispatch! This is patrol car 714, an officer is trapped and needs assistance! Repeat, an officer is trapped and needs assistance! Need a crane or a jack!"
The walkie-talkie hissed and crackled for a moment, then the dispatcher's exhausted and desperate voice came through: "Patrol car 714, I am sorry, the fire department is paralyzed... Repeat, the fire department is paralyzed, the 911 system has collapsed... Suggest finding a safe place to take cover on your own..."
Wu Fan stared at the walkie-talkie and swore the filthiest curse he had ever uttered in his life.
A crane was out of the question.
He scanned his surroundings and saw broken bricks everywhere—the refrigerated truck had knocked down half a wall, and red bricks were scattered all over the ground.
He had an idea.
Wu Fan picked up bricks like a madman and shoved them one by one under the police car.
He needed to raise the vehicle to distribute the pressure on Maddie's legs.
He stuffed the bricks in, then used larger bricks to prop them up, layer by layer—
But the gap closest to Maddie's body was too small; the bricks wouldn't fit.
"Ah—my legs—"
Maddie's voice was already laced with tears.
Wu Fan gritted his teeth, gripped the chassis of the police car with both hands, and lifted with all his might. Every muscle in his body tightened, veins bulged, and his face turned bright red.
The vehicle didn't budge.
He let go, stood up, and saw a few passersby running past.
"Hey!"
Wu Fan rushed over and grabbed a middle-aged man by the collar: "Come over and help!"
"Let go of me! Those things are coming!"
The man struggled desperately.
Wu Fan punched him in the face, and the man was stunned.
Wu Fan dragged him over to the police car, then grabbed another young man who was running away, hauling him over like a chick.
"Lift together!"
Three people, six hands, gripping the police car's chassis.
"One, two, three—push!"
The pain of tearing muscles shot through his shoulders; Wu Fan clenched his teeth and used all his strength—
Creak—
The police car wobbled.
Push harder—
Creak, creak—
The tires finally rolled over the stacked bricks, and the entire car body was pushed back onto the road.
Wu Fan panted heavily, ignoring the trembling in his arms, and immediately crouched down to help Maddie.
"Can you stand up?"
Maddie's face was pale, but she nodded.
Wu Fan draped her arm over his shoulder and helped her stand up with effort.
She couldn't put any weight on her left leg and had to hop on one foot.
After opening the passenger door and shoving Maddie inside, just as he was preparing to go to the driver's side...
"Ah—"
Maddie screamed.
Wu Fan opened the driver's side door.
It was the back seat of the police car.
The handcuffed black man—no, the thing that had once been a black man—had his entire face pressed against the window of the partition screen.
His eyes had turned grayish-white, black blood was flowing from the corners of his mouth, and his mouth was wide open, revealing jagged, uneven teeth.
His hand reached out from the small window of the partition, his five fingers gripping Maddie's blonde hair like iron pliers, pulling desperately inward.
"Holy shit!"
Wu Fan cursed: "Damn it, let her go!"
The thing was unmoved.
Its face was pressed against the partition, its skin squeezed into segments by the grid, its bloody maw opening and closing, desperately trying to bite the Maddie who was within reach.
It didn't care what it was doing; it only cared about the flesh near its mouth.
Wu Fan pulled out his glock and pressed it against its forehead through the partition.
"Let her go!"
The thing's eyeballs rolled around and fixed on Wu Fan.
But it didn't let go; instead, it gripped even tighter, and Maddie's tears welled up from the pain.
Bang!
Wu Fan fired.
The bullet pierced the thing's shoulder, and black blood splattered on the partition.
But the thing showed no reaction, continuing to grab Maddie's hair, its mouth still lunging forward, trying to bite.
Wu Fan's brain buzzed.
Shot in the shoulder and no reaction?
This isn't a human.
This is a Walker.
So everything that black man said earlier was true.
That's why those people on the street were running away like mad.
That's why the helicopters, the armored vehicles, the paralyzed 911—
"Damn, it really is a Walker?"
Wu Fan muttered to himself: "Does that mean Atlanta, United States, isn't a parallel world, but... The Walking Dead world?"
He remembered the American TV show he had watched.
That world.
That world with no hope, only the living dead.
Bang!
The second shot.
The glock pressed against the thing's forehead, the bullet piercing the skull and exploding into a spray of black blood.
The thing's hand finally let go, and it slumped lifelessly into the back seat of the police car.
Maddie collapsed into Wu Fan's arms, trembling all over.
A lock of her hair had been ripped out, her scalp was bleeding, but she was still alive.
Ding—
A crisp notification sound rang in his mind.
Not a phone, not the car audio, but a sound that appeared directly in his consciousness.
[Congratulations to the host for killing the first Walker, Hive System activated.]
[System binding... Binding complete.]
[Current status: Hive Level 1 not unlocked]
[Main mission: Head to the CDC in the suburbs of Atlanta to unlock the first level of the Hive.]
[Mission hint: The CDC is located about 30 kilometers northeast of the city and may still have a military presence. It is recommended to depart as soon as possible.]
Wu Fan stood frozen in place.
Hive System?
He looked down at the glock in his hand, at the wisps of smoke still rising from the barrel, and at the Walker with its head blown open in the back seat of the police car—
The standard golden finger for transmigrators?
In this world where Walkers roam everywhere?
"Wu Fan..."
Maddie's weak voice came: "What's wrong with you... hurry up and go... those things are coming..."
Wu Fan looked up.
Through the broken car window, he saw shadowy figures moving toward them at the end of the street.
Not one or two, but dozens, scores of them.
They were staggering, stiff, with their bloody maws wide open.
And in the distance, the roar of helicopters grew fainter, and the shadows of the armored vehicles had already vanished around the next corner.
Atlanta had fallen.
Wu Fan took a deep breath, sat in the driver's seat, and started the car.
"Buckle your seatbelt."
He said, his voice calmer than he had imagined: "We need to go to a place."
"What... what place?"
Maddie gasped in pain.
"The CDC."
Wu Fan jerked the steering wheel, the car mounted the sidewalk, bypassing the blocked intersection: "There should be medical equipment there."
He didn't tell the truth.
But he needed to go there.
Because that voice said—
Unlock the first level of the Hive.
And in this world of the living dead, any possibility of becoming stronger was a hope for survival.
The dented police car roared toward the northeast. Behind them, the sky over Atlanta was shrouded in black smoke, and sunlight filtered through the smog, casting a doomsday-like, dim yellow light.