Just as she was about to give up, there was a soft “click,” and the door lock opened.
The door only opened a crack, less than ten centimeters wide.
A bloodshot, hyper-vigilant eye pressed against the opening, peering out.
The eye quickly scanned Lu Dongnuan’s face, the package in her hand, and the dim hallway behind her before finally settling back on her face.
It was the face of a middle-aged man, so thin his cheekbones protruded, his skin a sallow yellow.
“There’s… really food?” His voice was hoarse and dry, carrying suspicion and a thirst that bordered on the limit of endurance.
“Compressed biscuits, vitamins, purified water.” Lu Dongnuan answered succinctly, shaking the package in her hand.
“Calculated per head. There are two in your house, right?”
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently.
The suspicion in his eye was diluted by a stronger need, but his vigilance did not decrease in the slightest.
“Just… just me now. The other one, a few days ago… gone.” His voice dropped, his gaze flickering.
His fingers clawed at the edge of the door, his knuckles turning white.
Lu Dongnuan looked at him and didn’t press for details.
In times like these, “gone” could point to too many endings.
“Single portion.” She handed a green package toward the gap in the door.
The man reached out, his movements fast and urgent, as if afraid she would regret it.
His withered fingers even trembled slightly when they touched the waterproof cloth of the package.
He snatched the package away, clutching it tightly to his chest.
The cold packaging pressed against his thin torso.
“Bang!”
The loud noise echoed through the silent hallway, shaking dust loose.
This was followed by the sound of the door being quickly double-locked from the inside, followed by the dull thud of what seemed to be heavy objects being pushed against it.
Lu Dongnuan stood before the tightly closed door, the loud bang still ringing in her ears.
“Sigh.” She let out a sigh.
She had actually expected this kind of situation long ago.
So, she knocked on the door again.
“Sir, please come out. After I tell you a piece of news, I can give you another portion.”
Dead silence reigned inside the door.
Only Lu Dongnuan’s own breathing and heartbeat were exceptionally clear in the dim hallway.
A few seconds later, the man behind the door was clearly struggling.
More food was an irresistible temptation, especially at a moment when he had just received one portion, briefly alleviating the feeling of near-death hunger while making him even more acutely aware that he “didn’t know where the next meal was coming from.”
“What… what news?” The man’s voice finally sounded, even more hoarse and strained than before.
He pressed himself tightly against the door, afraid of the sound leaking into the hallway.
“About this building, and about those things outside.” Lu Dongnuan also lowered her voice, ensuring only the person inside the door could barely hear.
Silence again.
Lu Dongnuan could almost hear the heavy, hesitant breathing behind the door.
“You… you say it first. What news?” the man probed, refusing to yield.
“If you don’t open the door, then I’m leaving.”
“The… the door doesn’t need to be opened!” The man grew anxious, his voice carrying a plea, “Just say it outside! I’m listening!”
Lu Dongnuan turned and began to walk away, intentionally making a pitter-patter sound with her footsteps.
“Wait!”
Lu Dongnuan stopped, but she didn’t turn back immediately.
She stood where she was, her back to the door, letting the silence and pressure permeate the air for a few seconds.
The smell of dust in the hallway seemed to grow stronger.
The door hinge made a slight, dry creak.
This time, the gap the door opened was wider than before, about half a palm’s width.
The man’s sallow face was pressed sideways against the edge of the door.
One eye remained fixed on Lu Dongnuan, while the other scanned the hallway behind her with vigilance, especially the shadows above and below the stairs.
His entire body was almost hidden behind the door, revealing only a small portion of his face and a hand gripping the door frame, veins bulging.
“You… you come in and speak.” His voice was extremely low, carrying a desperate tremor, “Quick!”
Lu Dongnuan did not move immediately.
She looked sharply into the room—the living room was equally dim, with only a small stub of a candle nearly burnt out in the corner.
The candlelight flickered, barely illuminating a small area.
The furniture was simple, making the place look empty.
Some clutter was scattered on the floor, but overall it was somewhat orderly, not looking as though it had been completely swallowed by despair.
Besides the smell of dust, there was a faint scent in the air, something like disinfectant mixed with a musty odor.
“I’ll speak at the door.” Lu Dongnuan rejected the suggestion to enter.
Instead, she took another half-step back, maintaining a safer distance.
She shook another green package in her hand and said, “Come out. I’ll talk, you’ll listen, and this will be yours.”
The man stared intently at the swaying package, his Adam’s apple bobbing violently once more.
The struggle in that eye behind the door crack was clearly visible: the unknown fear outside, the suffocating safety inside, and the hope of living a few days longer right within reach.
Ultimately, the instinct for survival overwhelmed the cowering fear.
The knuckles of his hand gripping the door frame grew even paler from excessive force.
Then, extremely slowly, bit by bit, he pulled the door open.
The door opened about one-third of the way, enough for him to squeeze out sideways.
His movements were stiff, like a rusted machine, every step accompanied by a panicked pause.
First, he poked half his body out, quickly scanning the hallway up and down.
Only after confirming there was no other movement besides Lu Dongnuan did he stand completely outside the door, immediately pulling it nearly shut behind him as if it were his last line of retreat.
He was even thinner than Lu Dongnuan had imagined, wrapped in a greasy old coat like a bamboo pole in a cloth bag.
‘No wonder he didn’t dare try to rob me,’ Lu Dongnuan thought.
His back was slightly hunched, and his eyes didn’t dare meet Lu Dongnuan’s for too long, occasionally glancing toward the shadows of the stairwell corner and the corners of the ceiling.
“The news is,” Lu Dongnuan didn’t delay any longer, her voice steady yet weighty, “in seven days, the Zombies will leave the neighborhood.”
The man nodded dully.
Seeing that the other person wasn’t shocked at all, Lu Dongnuan was slightly disappointed.
But she still kept her promise, placing the package on the floor and kicking it over.
The package rubbed against the dust-laden floor, making a soft rustling sound before stopping at the man’s feet.
The man didn’t immediately bend down to pick it up.
He continued to look at Lu Dongnuan with those numb, bloodshot eyes, trying to discern something.
“You don’t believe me?” she asked, puzzled.
The man slowly shook his head, his movements stiff like rusted gears.
“Believe it or not… what’s the difference.” His voice was still hoarse, but it lacked the urgency from his bargaining earlier; only a bottomless exhaustion remained, “If the Zombies leave, won’t other things come?”
He paused, his gaze finally moving from Lu Dongnuan’s face to the package at his feet.
Yet he still made no move to pick it up, instead continuing in a low voice, sounding more like he was talking to himself: “This building hasn’t been a zombie problem for a long time. Those things… they’re smarter than zombies.”
The last word was spoken extremely faintly, carrying a spine-chilling implication.
Lu Dongnuan felt a chill in her heart.
“What do you mean?”
The man looked up.
This time, an extremely complex emotion flashed in his eyes, a mixture of fear, pain, and a trace of something nearly like reverence.
“They learn,” he said slowly, every word sounding as if it had been fished out of an ice cellar, “At first, they just scared people. Later, they seemed to realize what we were afraid of, and they started to imitate.”
“Imitate what?”
“Imitate… people.” A strange sound came from the man’s throat, like a choking noise, “Sometimes at night, I hear footsteps outside the door. Very light, like someone wearing soft-soled shoes. They stop at the door, don’t move, and then knock. Not the random banging of the Zombies, but… thud, thud, thud. Three times, very rhythmic, just like a real person visiting.”
“Then why did you dare open the door for me?”
“Those guys wouldn’t shout about Armor Hero and Ultraman, because that would be a bit too unlike a human.”
“Screw you!”