Evolution.
Gu Yao seemed to awaken in the darkness, her senses hazy and ethereal, like if she was in a dream.
A profound hunger surged from her bones, roaring with the most primal instincts buried deep in her genes. It was like a snake slithering up her spine, reaching her brain, and wrecking all coherent thoughts, leaving only one desire:
Bite.
She lunged at the other seven zombies.
Eight twisted bodies collided, sharp teeth becoming blades that cut through each other’s skin, tearing muscles and bones apart, spraying thick, dead blood into every corner of the darkened room.
Tendons and arteries were severed, and her right arm hung limp, unable to move even a finger.
There was no pain.
She manipulated her broken body, flailing her fragmented limbs, while twisted zombies fell to the ground, being savagely devoured by the remaining ones.
Gu Yao trembled, starved, her left hand severed and hollow, bones grinding complexly within her perforated body, piercing organs that had already ceased to function, leaving her entirely immobile.
Someone opened a bloody mouth toward her.
Darkness.
Consciousness switched.
She was straddling the zombie she had killed, chewing and swallowing the flesh torn from it, gulping down chunks of skin without care.
So hungry...
She noticed someone behind her launching a sneak attack, biting into her shoulder and tearing away a large chunk of flesh, exposing the stark white bone beneath.
But that was also herself.
They were all herself eight people, eight zombies, tearing each other apart, devouring each other, and then evolving.
“Senior... !”
Gu Yao heard a faint voice coming from the sky, gradually becoming clearer:
“Senior!”
Bang!
The dream shattered.
Gu Yao regained consciousness. Her gray eyes shifted slightly, looking down at Chu Muge, who was pinned under her.
Chu Muge’s slender, white left arm was in Gu Yao’s mouth, blood flowing down in droplets onto the smooth floor.
Chu Muge’s pupils were slightly vertical, with tears in the corners of her eyes, breathing heavily.
Gu Yao quickly released her bite.
The bite mark was deep, with no restraint. If Gu Yao had used just a bit more force, she could have bitten right through.
Blood continued to flow.
Chu Muge spoke softly, “It’s okay, just get up first.”
The taste of blood lingered in her mouth as Gu Yao silently stood up.
Chu Muge got up, quickly went to the dining table, opened her backpack, and took out bandages and alcohol.
Chu Muge turned to look at Gu Yao, who stood like a statue in the dark, rainy night. She turned on the light and smiled as if nothing had happened earlier:
“Senior, can you help me with this?”
Gu Yao walked over to help her hold things in place.
Deep red blood flowed down her wrist as Chu Muge frowned in pain, quickly disinfected the wound, and bandaged it with Gu Yao’s assistance. Chu Muge glanced at Gu Yao, seeing her silently watching, and smiled:
“It’s okay, it’s just a bit deep. I heal quickly, see?”
She pointed to her abdomen, lifting her loose clothes slightly.
In just four or five days, the wound that had once pierced her abdomen had healed, leaving only a light scar.
But that scar would remain forever. Would the bite mark do the same?
For a moment, Gu Yao didn’t know what to say.
She couldn’t speak.
She placed her fingers on the table, tapping lightly to get Chu Muge’s attention.
Chu Muge put the remaining bandages back in her backpack and looked at the spot where Gu Yao was tapping. “What is it?”
Gu Yao paused, looking at her fingers on the table, trying to remember how to write.
But it was futile. Frustrated, her fingers began to move erratically, as if scribbling.
Yet, Chu Muge always seemed to connect with her thoughts in a magical way, her eyes brightening. “Senior, do you want to write?”
Gu Yao’s fingers paused, then she nodded.
Chu Muge was excited, almost bouncing. “Wait here.”
Gu Yao watched her run upstairs, and shortly after, she came running back down, holding a stack of sticky notes and a pen, coming up to her.
Chu Muge tore off a sticky note, stuck it on the table, uncapped the pen, and handed it to Gu Yao, her eyes sparkling:
“Here, give it a try.”
Gu Yao hesitated, then took the pen, looking at the yellow paper.
Just as she was at a loss, a delicate white hand rested on hers, gently guiding her to write.
Horizontal, vertical, stroke, dot...
The pen glided across the paper, stroke by stroke, forming the first character.
There was a slight pause, ink flowing from the pen, leaving marks on the paper.
This was the second character.
Slowly, Chu Muge guided her hand, carefully writing the third character.
The pen stopped.
Gu Yao stared at the three unfamiliar symbols on the paper, squinting, trying to recognize them.
Chu Muge pointed to the first character, whispering in her ear:
“Chu.”
Then the second character: “Mu.”
Finally, the last character: “Ge.”
The three characters on the paper gradually became clearer under Chu Muge’s guidance, transforming from a blur into something distinct.
Gu Yao had some basic knowledge; it was just that her mind had been veiled, but now, with a corner lifted, she was learning quickly.
Chu Muge carefully traced the three characters, teaching Gu Yao her first word: **Chu Muge**.
---
The heavy rain had stopped. Although it was still gloomy outside, the air was no longer as oppressive as it had been last night.
Chu Muge had eventually gone back to bed. After being bitten by Gu Yao in the middle of the night, she couldn’t sleep for a while, lying there dazed until she eventually drifted off again.
When she woke up the next day, she opened her eyes to find that Gu Yao was not beside her. Startled, she quickly ran out of the room, her heart pounding as if it would leap out of her chest.
Stepping outside, she anxiously looked around, spotting a row of sticky notes on the hallway wall.
They were neatly arranged, starting from outside the bedroom door and stretching horizontally across a good length of the wall.
The first few characters were crooked, like messy lines tangled together.
Chu Muge squinted for a while before realizing the first character was “Chu.”
As she continued down the hallway, the writing gradually became clearer and more precise.
From the earlier [歪氵十哥欠] to the later [楚氵木哥欠], until the last note, stuck at the top of the stairs, which read:
[Chu Muge]
---
Gu Yao stood silently in front of a room on the first floor, staring at the scene inside.
So, it wasn’t a dream.
Severed limbs, scattered flesh—what was once a room crammed with eight zombies had turned into a living hell, with chunks of flesh stuck in corners, and eyes and teeth still visible.
They had savagely torn each other apart and devoured one another under Gu Yao’s command, gradually merging into one, evolving in a specific direction.
Bones connected to bones, flesh fused with flesh.
They devoured, they merged, they evolved.
In the darkness of the room, the mass of flesh that had initially formed seemed to have veins, emitting one last flicker of red light before dimming, leaving nothing but a dead, pitch-black silence.
The flesh mass lost its vitality.
The resources were insufficient—the evolution had failed.