After prying open the bedroom door, Lu Chuan found that the bedroom was different from the living room outside.
The living room had plenty of bloodstains, while this bedroom was extremely clean.
A wedding photo hung at the bedside, showing the couple smiling blissfully, profoundly contrasting the ruinous apocalypse outside the window.
A double bed sat in the middle of the bedroom, with a dressing table and bedside cabinet beside it, both covered in a layer of dust, evidence of a long absence of cleaning.
However, the edges of the tables, the wardrobe, and the bed were all wrapped in soft leather and cotton.
It was clear that the couple deeply loved their child, preemptively wrapping any sharp corners to prevent bumps.
In the room, numerous children's toys and clothes could be seen, and on the bedside cabinet, there was milk that had already gone bad.
Beside the double bed was a wooden crib, from which the sound Lu Chuan just heard came from.
Approaching the crib slowly, Lu Chuan found that it contained a baby with skin as white as snow.
The baby's lips were a delightful red, utterly charming, appearing to be only six or seven months old.
The infant's pitch-black eyes were exceptionally bright, gazing intently at him.
However, Lu Chuan wasn't sure if it was his imagination; he seemed to pick up on emotions of sorrow and helplessness from the infant's eyes.
Even upon his arrival and the loud noise from breaking the door, the baby didn't cry but lay quietly in the crib, watching him.
"Poor little one, to be born safely ought to be a stroke of luck, yet you are born into this apocalypse…"
Lu Chuan initially thought he was unlucky enough, but now it seemed the little one in the crib was even worse off.
At least, despite becoming a zombie, he still had self-care ability and wouldn't be hunted down by zombies in the street.
But the little one before him could only lie in the crib, any slight noise bringing potentially countless zombies…
Lu Chuan could tell from the layout of the room that this was originally a very happy family of three.
The couple should have been quite young and deeply loved their child, but the apocalyptic incident came too abruptly.
The blood in the living room seemed to indicate that the child's parents probably met with misfortune.
From the bloodstains outside, Lu Chuan could deduce that in their final moments, the young couple locked the bedroom door with their last ounce of will.
However, such a defenseless infant incapable of self-care stands no chance in a world devoured by zombies.
...
"Am I really going to die?!"
Ji Ruxue lay in the crib, momentarily feeling lost, unable to cry.
She never expected, having finally been reborn, to be greeted not by joyful parents but by terrifying, bloodthirsty zombies…
She wished deeply now that whoever pried open the door and came in would be a surviving human.
But the hideous visage and bloodthirsty eyes shattered her last glimmer of hope.
Ji Ruxue felt utterly hopeless.
In her previous life, she could destroy a Corpse Tide with mere gestures, yet she now lay immobilized in a crib.
The rotten stench filled her nose, inducing a gagging impulse in her.
Having not eaten for a long time and overcome by immense fear, Ji Ruxue felt a sense of dizziness, with her vision growing blurry.
Forget it…
Death it is.
After all, it's not her first time.
Being reborn as an infant in the apocalypse, such a disastrous beginning might as well end in an early relief.
"This time, it's truly over…"
Under the physiological fear and hunger, Ji Ruxue fainted.
Gazing at the unperturbed little one, Lu Chuan was also filled with confusion.
"Do I look so terrifying? Wouldn't want to scare you to death!"
Lu Chuan hurriedly came to the crib's side, making a quick check of breath, and only felt relieved upon finding the baby was still breathing.
Watching the breathing young life in the crib, myriad emotions flashed through Lu Chuan's blood-red eyes.
"Perhaps this little one was not meant to perish, but shouldn't have been born into such a terrifying apocalypse…"
"This little one seems to have been hungry for a long time already."
Seeing the baby so famished it couldn't even cry, Lu Chuan felt a subtle tinge of compassion.
In some sense, he and the baby were no different.
Both mysteriously arrived in this unfamiliar world, only to encounter the apocalyptic zombie crisis with such misfortune…
At this instant, Lu Chuan felt a connection born of shared misfortune.
Gazing at the new life with closed eyes, countless thoughts raced through Lu Chuan's mind.
After hesitating for a moment, a resolute gleam flashed in his eyes; he decided to adopt the little one.
This decision seemed somewhat crazy, given that to bloodthirsty zombies, humans were nothing but food.
A zombie adopting a human infant sounded utterly fantastical.
But Lu Chuan didn't see it that way; for some reason, despite being turned into a zombie, he retained his mind.
Perhaps it was fate intervening.
Importantly, Lu Chuan didn't consider himself detached from worldly affairs.
Having arrived in this unfamiliar world, lacking understanding of the surroundings, he suddenly faced the apocalyptic crisis.
For the past month, his life was filled with falling lives, endless slaughter, and roars.
Raising his eyes, all he saw was ruin and devastation.
But the unexpected emergence of this life seemed like sunlight in a dark world.
Now he found himself alone in a city that had utterly fallen into apocalypse.
Living in this extremely unfamiliar world, Lu Chuan felt boundless loneliness.
Outside roamed zombies everywhere; despite being comparable in kind, lacking normal human thought made communication impossible.
Infected by the virus, Lu Chuan became a zombie, yet he never considered himself a bloodthirsty monster; he still viewed himself as human.
Living alone in a city engulfed by zombies, being not quite human nor ghost-like as a zombie.
During this time, various negative emotions continuously haunted his mind, even giving rise to thoughts of suicide.
Living here, waking each day facing endless death.
But this new life appearing before him was like a flare igniting in the endless dark night.
Under the light of this flame, Lu Chuan suddenly found new direction, feeling warmth and hope missing for long.
At least, in the midst of this ruined apocalypse, he finally had a companion…
"Terrible! Could this little one starve to death?!"