Longing for sunlight is an instinct of humanity.
Humans are social animals, and prolonged solitude in darkness can easily lead to a ntal breakdown.
Before the apocalypse, there was a form of punishnt in prisons that involved confining many criminals to solitary cells. Over ti, this could lead to ntal exhaustion and, in severe cases, to madness.
In such cells, there was complete silence and darkness, which most people could not endure for more than six hours.
Absolute silence, absolute darkness - an invisible killer.
Although the post-apocalyptic world is more spacious and filled with sounds, the prolonged darkness still has a significant psychological impact on many.
Especially for lone wolves, the loneliness and despair of the long nights can overwhelm a person like a tidal wave.
Never has humanity so desperately craved light, craved the sunshine.
....
Xing City.
A group of people were trapped atop a high-rise building.
Nowhere to go.
Their food had run out.
What they had originally stored was not little, but they did not anticipate the heat to last so long. After the heat ended, they thought everything would be over.
But they never imagined that the heat was just the beginning, followed by prolonged night, acid rain, and now a continuous drop in temperature, with black snow falling.
They had been trapped on the top floor of this building for a long ti.
Now they were even blocked by zombies at the entrance, their freedom to move around even more limited.
"Lu Kuan, big brother, what should we do now? We’ve run out of food, and if we don’t find a way to replenish our strength soon, we might not even have the power to resist the zombies," said one of them with great concern.
Lu Kuan furrowed his brows tightly, unable to co up with a solution in that mont.
According to Ai Shan, who spoke just a mont ago, there were so many zombies outside the door that they definitely could not resist opening it with just the seven or eight of them.
Breaking out from the entrance was utterly impossible.
They could only think of other ways.
But the building they were in was isolated from the neighboring structures.
Lu Kuan stared blankly out of the window, lost in thought.
The zombies behind the door continued to pound on it, shaking the barricaded furniture.
A dead end!
Lu Kuan sat down, cradling his head in silence for a long while.
Finally, he said, "I know the problem we’re facing, but where can we go? The door is blocked, and if we open it, perhaps we wouldn’t even make it out before the zombies outside tear us apart."
What he said was the stark truth, plunging everyone into silence.
Suddenly, a rugged-looking man could not hold back and blurted out, "Either way leads to death; why not open the door and fight the zombies for a chance? Staying here ans certain death sooner or later. Better to fight for a chance than to die without trying."
After speaking, he picked up an ax and intended to open the door to fight the zombies for that chance.
The people around quickly restrained him.
"Can you find food once we get out? Are you joking? Do you think you can find food out there now?" a young man angrily said while holding him back.
Others around also tried to dissuade him:
"At least we are still alive for now. If you open that door, you’re asking for us all to die here."
"Yeah, if you want to die, we don’t. Don’t be foolish and drag us down with you."
Ai Shan looked at them, feeling utterly hopeless, and simply sat down on a chair behind.
Hmm?
He suddenly noticed the rope they often carried with them, very sturdy and of good quality.
An idea ca to mind. Picking up the rope, he addressed them, "I have an idea. The zombies are all concentrated at the front entrance downstairs. If we drop this rope down from the window at the back, we could escape from here."
Upon hearing this, Lu Kuan sat up, his eyes brightening as he said, "Are you sure there are no zombies in the other direction?"
"Well, there probably aren’t," Ai Shan replied with uncertainty, figuring that with so many zombies at the front door, it would be unlikely for as many to be at the back.
Hearing his vague response, Lu Kuan knew he wasn’t being entirely truthful. So, he took the rope and asured it: fifty ters long, which should be enough to descend from the rooftop.
However, if the zombies detected them, it would seal their fate—an extrely risky move.
The key now was to ascertain if their building was completely surrounded by zombies. If it was, they had nowhere to go.
To verify whether there were zombies at the building’s rear exit, they decided to investigate.
Lu Kuan took a flashlight and headed in the opposite direction of the rooftop.
The building was large, with many rooms.
However, they had already scoured them.
Lu Kuan made his way to the opposite side of the main entrance and opened a window.
Then he poked his head out and shone the flashlight down. It was pitch black, but he could see movents down below like the surge of a tide.
Lu Kuan’s heart sank, realizing it was impossible.
To confirm those below were zombies, he grabbed a ceramic cup from the table.
He hurled it downwards.
Instead of a clear shattering sound, there was a soft thud—
Clearly, it had hit a zombie.
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