Walking Dead: Unlock the Umbrella Corporation Hive Begins with Hunting Chapter 1 1: 1

Authors Note: [This novel is purely fictional; if you want to read with your brain, please go elsewhere. Here, you only need your eyes to read and just enjoy the ride.]

.......

Ring-ring—

At eight in the morning, the alarm clock rang right on ti.

Wu Fan's hand reached out from under the quilt, groping around on the nightstand for a long ti before finally grabbing that incessant, noisy plastic thing.

He squinted and pressed the alarm off. The date on the screen was August 15, 2010, an ordinary Sunday.

"Ti to get up."

He muttered as he turned to look at the woman still fast asleep beside him.

Karen Davies, the blonde rose of the Atlanta Police Departnt—at least she had been a year ago.

Back then, she had just started, with a 1.75-ter model-like figure, and her smile could distract every bachelor in the precinct.

Now, though, she lay there with her blonde curls tangled on the pillow, and there was clearly so flab around her waist and abdon; she looked exactly like a young landlady.

Wu Fan habitually gave her a pat.

"Hey!"

Karen woke up with a start, rolled over, and glared at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Reminding you that you're going to be late for work."

Wu Fan sat up in bed and started getting dressed.

Karen stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before reluctantly pulling back the quilt.

She got out of bed barefoot, walked into the bathroom, and turned on the faucet.

Amid the splashing water, Wu Fan heard her chanically brushing her teeth and washing her face.

By the ti he had his shirt on, Karen had already co out.

Black stockings, a professional skirt, and rimless glasses—this outfit really did hide quite a few of the changes in her figure.

She stood in front of the mirror, skillfully pinning up her hair and securing it with a clip.

Throughout the whole process, she didn't even glance at Wu Fan.

It wasn't until she was ready to leave that she turned around, her face wearing that strictly business-like expression.

"Thank you for agreeing to stay with for this one night."

Karen's voice was calm.

"Let's end it here since we're breaking up. Please don't disturb my life in the future."

She walked toward the door in her high heels, the click-clack sound particularly clear in the apartnt.

Wu Fan opened his mouth, wanting to say sothing, but in the end, he just nodded.

Karen didn't look back. She pulled the door open and walked out, slamming it shut with a bang.

Wu Fan stood there dazed for a few seconds before giving a bitter smile.

It was like this again.

Thirty-one years old, and still like this.

Girlfriend after girlfriend, breaking up one after another. He'd been working for almost ten years and was still stuck in an administrative role. He had applied for Xia citizenship eight tis and had been rejected every single ti.

The reasons were always the sa: no imdiate family, not an urgently needed technological talent, and no record of large-scale public welfare contributions.

Sotis he wondered what it would be like if he had been born in Xia.

Unfortunately, there were no "what ifs."

He was just an Asian from Chinatown who had grown up in the United States, a Chinese man born in Arica, unable to return to that imagined holand and unable to integrate into the land beneath his feet.

Forget it. Stop thinking about it.

Wu Fan fastened his belt and gave his attire one last check.

The man in the mirror had a lean physique with clearly defined muscle lines, showing no signs of the middle-aged spread common among other police officers.

This was thanks to his unwavering daily five-kiloter runs and gym training.

In a profession overflowing with donuts and hamburgers, he was an anomaly.

This was probably also the reason wealthy won and young girls who ca to file reports were willing to leave him their phone numbers.

Wu Fan picked up his car keys and took one last look at the apartnt he had lived in for three years.

After today, Karen's things would all be moved out, and this place would completely beco his own space.

That was fine too.

He went downstairs to the corner of the garage where a silver-gray rcedes SLK was parked.

A soft-top two-seater, second-hand, but well-maintained.

This was a gift from a wealthy woman last year—she had called the police because of dostic violence, Wu Fan had taken her statent, and later, after she divorced, she insisted on giving him the car to "thank him for saving her life."

Wu Fan couldn't refuse, so he accepted it.

Of course, he had also wanted to thank the wealthy woman, but unfortunately, her ex-husband had sent her to et God the night after the divorce.

The car drove out of the garage, and the morning light of Atlanta spilled across the windshield.

The weather was nice.

Wu Fan parked the car in the employee parking lot behind the police station and pushed the door open to enter the building.

As soon as he entered the lobby, he sensed that sothing was wrong.

Telephone rings echoed one after another, and the dispatchers' voices were filled with obvious panic.

Several administrative staff mbers, who were usually unhurried, were now running back and forth, with files scattered all over the floor that no one bothered to pick up.

"What's going on?"

Wu Fan stopped a colleague who was rushing by.

"I don't know!"

The young white guy looked bewildered.

"The ergency calls haven't stopped since dawn. It's all sorts of crazy stuff—biting incidents, violent assaults, car accidents... The dispatch center is going crazy. Every available officer has been sent out!"

Wu Fan furrowed his brow.

He had worked at the police station in an administrative role for ten years and had never seen a scene like this.

"Hey, Wu!"

A familiar voice ca from behind.

Wu Fan turned around and saw Maddie.

She had just changed into her police uniform, held her car keys in her hand, and her expression was both irritated and slightly excited.

"You ca at the right ti..."

Maddie walked over.

"Go to the armory, get your weapon, and co with to respond to the calls."

"?"

Wu Fan pointed at himself.

"I'm administrative staff."

"There's no administrative or field role now; everyone has to go."

Maddie shrugged.

"Orders just ca down from above. It seems like sothing big has happened. Let's go! Don't dawdle. You don't want to be tead up with Dawn if she sees you later!"

Wu Fan shivered; that old woman was definitely not his type.

"Fine."

Wu Fan didn't say anything more and turned to walk toward the armory.

Maddie paused for a mont before quickly following him.

The armory was in the basent, and behind the heavy iron door was the old acquaintance, Fat Thompson.

This guy used to be a frontline patrol officer, but later, after getting injured, he applied to guard the armory. He spent his days squatting behind the window clutching a donut, his weight having soared to over two hundred pounds.

"Oh, God!"

Thompson opened his mouth wide in exaggeration when he saw Wu Fan.

"What on earth is happening outside? Even a pretty boy like you has to go out on patrol?"

"How about you go, and I stay behind to guard?"

Wu Fan held out his hand.

Thompson hurriedly pushed a Glock 22 over, the safety still off and the magazine fully loaded.

He then took two spare magazines and a box of bullets from the cabinet and stuffed them all into Wu Fan's arms.

"This is not funny at all..."

Thompson retreated behind his chair like a startled walrus.

"I finally managed to retire from the front line. You young people should be the ones going! Good luck, Wu."

"Thanks."

Wu Fan checked the firearm and inserted the magazines into the tactical pouch at his waist.

When he walked out of the armory, Maddie was already waiting by the police car.

It was a Ford Crown Victoria with black-and-white paint, and the police lights on the roof were still flashing.

"Get in."

Maddie opened the driver's side door.

Wu Fan sat in the passenger seat, and just as he fastened his seatbelt, Maddie had already stepped on the gas. The sudden acceleration left him speechless.

The police car rushed out of the parking lot with a scream of tires, red and blue lights casting mottled shadows across the street.

"What exactly is the situation?"

Wu Fan asked.

Maddie stared straight ahead, her brows knitted tightly.

"I don't know. Dispatch only said to go to Peachtree Street for support. There have been multiple violent incidents there. It sounds like a group brawl, but..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

The police car turned onto the main street, and Wu Fan finally saw the scene outside.

He thought he had prepared himself well enough.

But the scene before his eyes still made him gasp.

The street was in total chaos.

Cars were parked haphazardly in the middle of the road; so had crashed into utility poles, while others had driven straight onto the sidewalk.

The doors of several cars were open, with no one inside.

Farther away, a school bus had overturned on the side of the road, with shattered glass covering the ground.