Some were captured from apartments where residents hid behind glass and watched the dead move below. Some were official clips that still tried to sound calm even as the background showed violence and smoke. The internet was full of it. A lot of the old systems had broken down already, and even the places that were still holding on looked unstable. It was becoming harder and harder to pretend this was a short term disaster.

Bai Li looked at one video after another, her expression flat and focused. The commentary underneath the videos was a mixture of panic, denial, crying, and people desperately clinging to the idea that things would calm down soon. Some official media outlets were still saying the disaster would not last long. They were still telling people to stay calm, keep order, and wait for rescue. But the reality on the screen was very different. It was not just that zombies were attacking people. It was that the number of zombies was increasing too fast. In some places, the dead had become more aggressive within hours. In others, there were already signs of weird changes in the infected bodies, as if the monsters were not staying the same. Bai Li knew this pattern very well. This was not the first time the world had gone through this kind of collapse, not for her. She had seen the early panic, the denial, the last stubborn attempts by authorities to hold things together, and then the sudden realization that simple rescue was not enough anymore. Monsters were not only multiplying. They were evolving. And humans would have to do the same or die.

That was why Bai Li was drawing cards. If she did not actively improve herself, one day she would be eliminated by the evolved zombies. The thought was not dramatic in her mind. It was simple, direct, and very practical. She had already lived through enough worlds and enough endings to know that waiting passively was the easiest way to die. People who thought they could stay safe just by hiding were always the ones who eventually got swallowed when the walls cracked. Bai Li did not want that kind of ending. She wanted strength, information, weapons, and a way to adapt faster than the monsters could grow. That was why she checked the news with one hand and her card draw options with the other. She wanted to know what was happening beyond the building, beyond the district, beyond the city. She wanted to know how quickly the fall was spreading. And she wanted to know whether the strange luck of the card drawing machine might help her survive this round longer than before.

Bai Li kept reading while the screens on her computer shifted from one news page to another. There were clips from cities far away that had already gone silent. There were posts from countries trying to shut their borders. There were social media threads full of half true rumors and broken hearts. Some people were still asking whether the monsters were real. Others were already asking how to escape them. The scale of it all was huge, and Bai Li understood that if most of Country A had fallen already, then the rest of the world was probably not far behind. Even if some governments were still trying to keep up appearances, the truth was already visible. People could not rely on old systems now. They needed to evolve. Fast. Bai Li leaned forward a little and watched one more clip showing survivors barricading a shopping center while zombies crowded the entrances. She tapped the desk lightly with her finger. The scene looked familiar in the worst way. Every world had its collapse point. Every world had that moment when ordinary people realized rules no longer protected them. Bai Li had seen those moments before, and she knew exactly what came after. Panic. Betrayal. New power. New order. And a lot of blood before that order took shape.

Back in the living room, Yan Cijin had not forgotten Bai Li either. She was still with Lili, still listening to the little girl chatter and make cat sounds while Yan Laojin packed away a few dishes. Yet every now and then, her thoughts drifted back to the woman across the building. Bai Li had been so quiet when they spoke. Bai Li had been so polite. Bai Li had almost looked like she wanted to keep a little distance, and that made Yan Cijin think harder than she wanted to about whether she should go over again later. She knew Bai Li was probably fine, but she also knew that if Bai Li was sitting alone in her apartment with an injured hand and a bunch of greedy idiots harassing her through the group chat, she might still prefer to keep working through it by herself. That thought made Yan Cijin feel a little restless. She always had that kind of concern when it came to Bai Li. It was not dramatic or panicked. It was more like a habit by now. If Bai Li was quiet for too long, Yan Cijin wanted to check. If Bai Li looked a little too calm, Yan Cijin wanted to make sure that calm was not hiding too much pain. Even if Bai Li could handle herself, Yan Cijin still wanted to be nearby. She wanted to be useful. She wanted to be close. And if the people in the building had really said those terrible things about Bai Li again, then Yan Cijin was beginning to understand why her mother had insisted she should go coax her later. It was not just about romance. It was also about reminding Bai Li that she was not alone.

Lili, who had been happily rubbing her cheek against Yan Cijin’s sleeve like a tiny cat, suddenly looked up with bright eyes and asked, "Mommy, can we go see Bai Li later?" Yan Cijin was a little surprised

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TO BE CONTINUED,