Rumble.

Thunder rolled wave after wave, shaking the entire tube building until even the floorboards seemed to tremble.

The torrential rain formed a continuous line. Without even looking, everyone knew the buffer zone would flood again.

The closer it got to the Stand-In Starfish outbreak, the more frequent the gunshots outside became. Sometimes they would even continue for a minute or two before stopping, though no one knew which groups were exchanging fire.

But Zone B-7 had fallen into an eerie calm, almost no different from usual.

Time passed minute by minute in the sound of rain.

Cheng Ye lay flat on his bed without removing his armor, eyes closed to rest and conserve energy as much as possible.

As the rain grew increasingly torrential, the humidity gauge hanging on the wall had unknowingly jumped to 95%, just 3% short of triggering the Stand-In Starfish outbreak.

However, this was only the indoor humidity. Outside, everything had long been soaked by the continuous rain, far exceeding the Stand-In Starfish activation conditions.

"Still not releasing the message?"

The defense communicator's alarm sounded, and Cheng Ye reached over to turn it off.

He breathed anxiously. It was already 23:00, with only forty minutes left until the outbreak, but the third wave of messages for all residents was still being withheld.

Could it be that this time they weren't planning to announce it to everyone?

However, just as this thought occurred, the defense communicator vibrated again, finally bringing a message.

"Here it comes!"

Cheng Ye rolled up from bed. The first thing he did wasn't check the message, but inspect his equipment once more.

After confirming everything was ready and the security door was locked from the inside, he picked up the defense communicator and tapped into the glaring red warning message.

[Happiness City Class A Infection Tide Alert]

[Dear residents of Happiness City, hello. I am City Lord 'An Xingfu.']

[At this moment, I speak to you all with the heaviest yet most resolute heart.]

[As City Lord, I must be honest with all residents: despite Station Chief He Fei's sacrifice in sounding the alarm with his life, despite the research institute's utmost efforts, the infection source codenamed "Stand-In Starfish" has still breached the sanctuary city's defenses.]

[First, I must offer my deepest apologies to all residents. Our prevention and control measures did not fully respond to the infection tide. The medication we developed did not achieve perfect elimination of the Stand-In Starfish.]

[But second, I must convey to all residents our unwavering belief in victory. The infection tide is not Happiness City's end, but the ultimate test of our community spirit. Today, the Stand-In Starfish invasion may cost us dearly, but as long as we survive, each of us will have taken another step closer to the ultimate door of happiness.]

[Now, I need every resident to act immediately. I will synchronize and distribute all information.]

[You have 40 minutes to prepare. Fighting, unity, hiding, all choices are in your hands.]

[.]

Rather than the earth-shattering announcement one might expect, City Lord An Xingfu's tone was so calm it seemed like he was announcing a trivial matter.

As if this wasn't Happiness City's moment of life and death, but rather a test requiring everyone's participation.

The response was a brief, deathly silence.

Followed by the sudden eruption of piercing gunshots more than ten minutes later.

Unlike the previous minor skirmishes that only sporadically occurred in certain areas, this time the gunshots completely covered all inhabited areas of the buffer zone!

Everyone seemed to open fire in perfect coordination. Mixed with the thunder outside, the sound exploded with such force that it even drowned out the rain.

The great chaos had arrived!

Thump... Thump thump.

A series of chaotic, hurried footsteps echoed through the tube building's empty corridors.

This was strange, because anyone qualified to live here was at least part of the second batch of information clearance personnel.

There had been no incidents during the previous clearance, so there was no reason for sudden loss of control when all information was being cleared.

"Someone's coming?"

Cheng Ye stood up, pressing his body slightly against the wall.

Several sets of footsteps suddenly stopped outside his door, followed immediately by dull knocking sounds hitting the security door.

He never would have expected that among all the doors on the fifth floor of this tube building, his would be the first one knocked on.

"Brother, open the door! The infection tide is about to break out. Let the three of us in!"

An urgent voice struck the door panel. Before it finished, another voice immediately followed, "We can prove we're not infected! Open the door and look, there are definitely no starfish marks on our heads!"

"We're all on the same side. Your security door is so sturdy. With more people, we'll have more strength. Staying here will definitely be safer than anywhere else!"

So they targeted me first because my door is more secure than others?

Cheng Ye was slightly stunned and didn't respond.

He stepped back and used the defense communicator to enter disaster mode.

[Requesting drone control authorization]

[Requesting...]

[Request successful. The nearest drone is 273m away in straight-line distance and approaching]

He couldn't leave right now, but he had a way to see what was happening in the corridor.

As the surveillance drone arrived, the defense communicator's screen began displaying footage.

Rain fell like curtains, and the drone's transmitted image was full of static due to signal interference.

But he could still see through the corridor glass that the three people guarding his door were all holding handguns.

Two stood against the wall on either side of the door, while another crouched slightly, his gun barrel aimed directly at the shooting port on the security door.

It wasn't hard to imagine what would happen if he opened that shooting port to look outside.

After a second or two, the drone's lens shifted slightly, bringing the three men's profiles into frame.

What made Cheng Ye's heart sink was that these three faces weren't unfamiliar to him.

The one crouching and aiming at the shooting port was the boss who had sold him the door a few days ago.

Standing on either side were the two young men who had been responsible for delivery.

"It's them?"

Cheng Ye was somewhat stunned.

Images flashed through his mind.

The two young men carrying the security door, sweating profusely. He pulled out two 5-denomination happiness coins from his pocket and handed them over. The two immediately grinned from ear to ear, repeating their grateful words over and over, looking as simple and honest as the kind-hearted neighbors you'd find anywhere.

But now, in the drone footage, these two faces looked fierce and crazed no matter how you looked at them.

Wait.

Were these still human?

Those sinister, fierce expressions seemed to have completely lost their humanity, leaving only the most primitive greed and predation, along with a hunting instinct that regarded others as prey.

"Brother, are you scared? To be honest, I have the key to your door."

The boss paused, his tone suddenly becoming forceful, "Don't make us do this. We just want to survive. You live in this tube building with such a good security door. Look at this installation work, you must have spent quite a bit having someone install it."

"Such a safe place could obviously protect many people. What's wrong with letting us in?"

"Yeah, big brother, we carried that door for you. Have you forgotten?"

"We're good people. You know that. We're good people. We'll protect you."

The two young men sang in harmony.

Good people?

Cheng Ye put down the defense communicator. He suddenly felt a nameless fire rising from the bottom of his heart.

What were pests?

These were the "pests" Master Tian had spoken of!

These were the "pests" the District Elder Song had mentioned, those who didn't strive for progress and only knew how to snatch food from others' mouths!

"Get lost!"

A suppressed roar came from inside the security door.

"Get lost?"

Finally hearing a response, the boss sneered, "Brother, so you're not dead after all. I thought there was no one inside. You scared me to death. I was lying to you, I don't have the key to this door!"

"If there really was no one inside, us three brothers would have no way to get in."

"Look, no, listen. I have three homemade smoke poison grenades. If you don't open the door, you'd better open your windows quickly so you don't get poisoned to death..."

Bang!!

Before he could finish speaking, to the boss's stunned gaze, the security door was suddenly pushed open from inside.

"What the hell?"

He instinctively tried to pull the trigger, but a strangely-shaped firearm suddenly thrust into his vision, its black barrel seemingly several times the caliber of the defense pistol in his hands.

This was...

BOOM!

It wasn't a gunshot.

It was the entire wall shaking.

What would be the result of a 12.7mm deer slug at less than three meters?

A deafening roar erupted. Under the stunned gaze of the two young men, their boss's head disappeared.

It became fragments of flesh, became broken pieces, scattered across the tube building's walls.

The remaining half of his torso leaned against the corner, with red foam gushing from where his skull had been, pooling into a crooked blood puddle on the cement floor.

"Seeking death!"

A massive figure crashed out from inside the door.

At least twice the size of a normal person, wearing a black and silver protective helmet.

They had just raised their gun barrels when the black shadow, despite its size, moved with incredible agility. With just a light grab, he lightning-fast extended his hands to seize their necks, lifting them overhead like picking up chickens.

"Ah!"

The young man struggled frantically, his fists wildly beating against the black shadow's arms, but what he touched was the cold, hard texture of metal.

The moment their eyes met, the crazed ferocity in both men's eyes suddenly faded, leaving only bone-deep terror.

"What kind of monster are you?"

As the words fell, an unimaginable, irresistible force struck.

The two men's heads were forced to collide violently together beyond their control.

Before the intense pain could spread, the "monster" grabbed them and smashed them toward the corridor glass. Through their ears, they vaguely heard two words:

"Pests!"

Pests?

Crash, thud!!!

Shattered glass wrapped around human bodies fell from the fifth floor, their screams torn to pieces in the rain.

Several black shadows running frantically toward the electronics factory district suddenly stopped in their tracks, all looking up at the window where the glass had shattered.

They saw a broad, dark silhouette framed in the empty space.

It wasn't an infected, yet it had more oppressive presence than any infected they'd ever seen!

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Could it be a fusion body?"

The figures all stopped in their tracks, licking their lips with difficulty. The next second, they scattered like birds and beasts.

With half an hour left until the infection tide outbreak, they just wanted to find a safe place to survive. No one wanted to encounter this thing that was scarier than the infected and get themselves killed early.

Bang.

The security door slammed shut.

Cheng Ye stepped inside, dropped to one knee on the ground, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air.

As if all the unease, all the emotions, were shut out beyond the door, suddenly restoring his sense of security that had fallen into disorder.

As long as he didn't look outside the door, didn't recall what happened, those broken and bloody scenes had never occurred.

"Did I kill people?"

He stared at his hands, as if the warmth of the two young men's necks still lingered between his fingers.

But the next second, another voice exploded in his mind:

"No, I was exterminating pests!"

In his churning emotions, there was no trace of pity or panic, only the burning rage that scorched his chest.

At this moment, he suddenly understood what killing intent truly was.

It was an instinct that arose from the heart, bursting from the bone marrow, impossible to control with reason, only to be vented through slaughter.

Knock knock knock.

The door was knocked again.

Cheng Ye instinctively turned his head, gripping the Thunder 1 beside him.

The piercing killing intent seemed to penetrate through the door crack, making the middle-aged man standing by the door shiver.

"Friend, I'm your neighbor next door..."

It was the middle-aged man who delivered water.

Cheng Ye was slightly stunned, but heard the other continue, "I mean no harm. Those three deserved to die, but we need to... well, clean up before the infection tide arrives. Otherwise, this blood and flesh will attract Stand-In Starfish infected."

Finally, he hurriedly added, "I'll handle this dirty work. We can endure hardship, we're used to it."

"Just don't come out, or I'll shoot."

After his words fell, more than ten seconds passed without any sound from inside. The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief and waved to those behind him.

Then two more sets of footsteps sounded.

Compared to cleaning up the "battlefield," having a killer god as a neighbor was obviously good news.

Within half a minute, the sounds of splashing water and mopping formed a continuous stream.

The remaining "half" of the boss and his men were difficult to handle, so they simply followed suit and threw them out through the glass opening, where they crashed heavily onto the residential complex's open ground, drawing curses from the first-floor residents.

"Friend?"

"That dead person seemed to be infected. Um, I put the infection source he dropped by your door. See if you want to take it."

After speaking, without waiting for Cheng Ye's reply, the three immediately ran off. Soon came the sound of a door closing.

Infection source?

So the boss was already infected?

Controlling the drone's image feedback, the corridor had been cleaned spotless, with only some blood stains on the walls that would be difficult to remove in the short term.

Zooming in slightly, Cheng Ye's gaze paused.

There, lying by his door, was a small red starfish no bigger than a fingertip, like a glass bead.

So this is what a Stand-In Starfish infection source looks like?

Cheng Ye was stunned for a moment. He grabbed the containment box by the door, opened a crack, and used tweezers to gently pick up the starfish to avoid secondary infection.

However, the moment the tweezers touched the starfish, the interface suddenly popped up.

[Detecting dissipating biological consciousness, can be used to supplement information level. Absorb?]

[This absorption can increase information level: 0.37]