A middle-aged woman was desperately swinging a clothes-drying pole into the room. A middle-aged man, howling, paid no attention to the pole. Suddenly, he lunged, pinning the woman down, and his gaping mouth bit fiercely into her neck. A gush of fresh blood spurted from the bite, splattering all over the man's face. The woman struggled with all her might, but it was useless. The man chewed a few times, and in less than a minute, the woman's head fell off—her entire neck had been bitten through. The severed trachea, white and red-streaked neck bones, and spurting blood—all of it delivered an unparalleled, violent shock to Brian Bennett, who was standing in the building across the street.

　　In the distance, the faint sound of police sirens could be heard, and occasionally a few gunshots rang out, but they quickly fell silent after just a few bursts.

　　Brian Bennett stood there in a daze for a while, until the man across the way had almost finished gnawing, then suddenly looked up and let out a wild roar at him, jolting Brian Bennett awake.

　　"Bang! Crash!" The window curtains were yanked shut. Brian Bennett, face pale, leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. His chest was heaving violently. His eyes were full of shock, with a trace of fear.

　　"What is this? Resident Evil?" He had seen that movie before—it was a classic, and everything happening now felt exactly like the prelude to that film.

　　"Calm down! Stay calm. Fear and panic are useless. The most important thing now is to figure out what exactly is going on." Brian Bennett took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes to rest for a moment, and waited for his heart to settle before suddenly getting up from the floor, rushing to his computer, and turning it on. Then he dashed to the living room and turned on the TV.

　　The TV started up quickly, and the first thing displayed was a screen full of static. Brian Bennett hurriedly switched through several channels until finally finding one with a picture. But in the upper right corner of the screen, the word "rebroadcast" was clearly marked. It must have been yesterday's news being replayed.

　　"According to Xinhua News Agency, fifteen countries including the UK, the US, Italy, and France have all experienced simultaneous outbreaks of large-scale influenza. Statistics show that this outbreak has infected tens of millions of people, with a scale far surpassing that of the SARS virus. According to Dr. Squire, a virologist with the World Health Organization, the transmissibility and adaptability of this flu virus are unprecedented. Cross-species infection poses no difficulty for it. In response, countries around the world have implemented corresponding measures to ensure complete isolation between infected and uninfected areas, guaranteeing public safety."

　　"This flu virus has been named the SG3 virus. Its transmission route is through bodily fluids. Virus samples can survive for 24 hours in a vacuum environment above 70 degrees, showing extremely strong survivability. The incubation period for those infected is 24 hours. Initial symptoms resemble those of a common cold. In the middle stage..."

　　Brian Bennett quickly took out a pen and jotted down the important points. Then he immediately ran back to the bedroom and opened a website. All the major portal sites had huge blood-red headlines like "Biochemical Attack Incoming." Most of the reports on the sites were about infected people attacking others everywhere.

　　Brian Bennett clicked on a report photo.

　　A man, his whole body swollen and deathly pale, raised both hands in a pouncing gesture. His eyes were blood-red, and his gaping mouth was full of sharp teeth. His hair was almost completely gone. His facial features were twisted with intense hunger.

　　Brian Bennett quickly got the gist of it: the infection had spread worldwide. Not a single place was spared. News of infected people attacking humans was everywhere. In one video, a reporter was interviewing someone when an infected person suddenly tackled them from behind.

　　Whether it was the military, research institutions, government departments, or medical organizations, everything had fallen into chaos. It was obvious that this couldn't have been caused by bodily fluid transmission alone. It seemed more like airborne transmission. Only airborne transmission could cause such a wide-ranging impact.

　　Brian Bennett rushed to the window, pulled the curtain aside a bit, and looked out. He saw splashes of bright red on every floor of the building across the way. Occasionally, through the windows, he could see the bodies of infected people moving up and down, clearly gnawing on something. Looking down, there were hardly any living people left in the residential complex below. Blood was everywhere, and groups of infected people were feasting on corpses, occasionally tossing out chunks of indistinguishable red organs. Brian Bennett felt his heart clench in waves, and his scalp tingled.

　　"What should I do? The whole world is now an infected zone—where is there any place that's safe? Luckily, I just bought two bags of rice at home. Based on my own consumption, that should last about two months. But I'm still short on meat and vegetables. Without vitamins and meat, I definitely can't survive." He rushed to the medicine cabinet and checked all the antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, medical iodine, gauze, and so on. Then he closed all the windows and curtains in every room.

　　The apartment Brian Bennett lived in was a standard three-bedroom, one-living-room unit, or five rooms and one living room if you counted the bathroom and kitchen. He quickly moved all the medicine and food into the largest bedroom.

　　Then he hurried to the storage room, found some leftover aluminum panels from renovations, grabbed a hammer and nails, and started boarding up the bedroom windows.