“And we also failed to recover the source of the contamination. It was my arrogance that led to this outcome. I should have listened to Jack White, that kid, and not saved him. But his parents were gone, and he was their only son—how could I not save him?”

“If the parasite becomes uncontrollable in K City…”

David Harris covered his face with his hand and said in a low voice, “I am the sinner responsible for the deaths of these millions.”

They had already tried their best.

To control the contamination, every day there were apocalypse-bearers dying all over the world. Some were devoured, leaving not even a corpse behind; others ended their own lives to avoid becoming contaminants themselves.

The more they fought against the contaminants, the more powerless they felt.

The growth rate of the apocalypse-bearers was far outpaced by the speed at which the sources of contamination grew and spread.

No one knew when this precarious balance would be broken.

Humanity had never gained the upper hand in the struggle against the contaminants.

*

Ever since the water supply was cut off, gunshots at night had become noticeably more frequent.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but Adam Carter felt his hearing had become much sharper.

Because of this, without earplugs, he found it hard to fall asleep at night.

The city hall had arranged for staff to go door to door conducting contamination checks. Infected patients would be taken away together.

It was said they were going to receive treatment. But it was also possible they were being taken to be cremated.

On the fourth day of the lockdown, Adam Carter found that he could no longer send messages outside. The signal seemed to be restricted to within the city.

Adam Carter could still reach his colleagues by phone, but when he called the director, all he ever got was the “please call again later” message.

He glanced at the WeChat group, but there wasn’t much discussion about it. He didn’t know if the topic had been suppressed, or if no one had noticed.

Compared to the inability to make calls, another piece of news was clearly more eye-catching in the major WeChat groups of K City.

It was a screenshot from someone’s Moments.

“Help! My boyfriend is acting and looking more and more like a toad—what’s going on! I’m about to lose it, he’s right outside the door now! Someone please help me!”

There was a photo attached, taken in a hurry and a bit blurry.

In the picture, a man was squatting on the ground in a toad-like posture. His eyeballs bulged out, almost as if they had been squeezed out of their sockets, with a few blood-red veins dangling from the ends, barely keeping them from falling. The man’s skin was covered with a strange watery film.

A bizarre smile was plastered on his face. His mouth was split open, as if he was about to stick out his tongue.

Many people felt their scalp tingle at the sight.

It was said that the girl could no longer be reached.

Even through the screen, Adam Carter got goosebumps all over.

Unlike many who treated it as a bizarre story, Adam Carter felt that there was a very high chance it was real.

[Just an F-class contaminant at the bottom of the food chain. Not human anymore, nothing surprising.]

[If there’s a chance, I’d like to dissect one. They look disgusting, but… the meat actually tastes pretty good.]

[Oh right, this ugly toad has another trait—it likes to eat swan meat.]

Adam Carter only half understood what he was hearing.

He boiled a bowl of instant noodles with bottled water to calm himself, and cracked an egg into it.

Eggs could be kept in the fridge, but not for too long—it was best to eat them soon.

Because of the water outage, every morning at nine, the property management guy would start delivering water.

Each household got a small box, twelve bottles. The water was distributed by city hall, free of charge. The property staff would leave it at the door for residents to pick up themselves.

After washing rice and flushing the toilet, it was just enough for a family. But if you wanted to take a shower, you just had to bear with it.

A few times, Adam Carter didn’t pick up his water in time, and when he opened the door, he found that quite a bit of his share had been taken.

However, although someone took the water, they left a full thousand yuan in cash. At two yuan per bottle, Adam Carter actually made a profit.

Although at times like this, water was worth more than money.

Adam Carter thought about it and put the cash away. The other person must have been desperate to pay such a high price for water.

He lived alone and used little water. Plus, he had stocked up at the supermarket before, so he wasn’t short on water.

It’s just… he usually got along well with his neighbors, so there was no need to sneak around. It wasn’t something that couldn’t be discussed.

The next day, Adam Carter deliberately moved a stool and sat by the door, turning on the smart peephole.

He held a copy of the animal atlas “After the Extinction of Humanity,” reading for a while, then looking up at the surveillance screen.

At 9:30 in the morning, the property staff left the water at his door.

Ten minutes later, the door across the hall quietly opened, and someone peeked out furtively.

It was the young rich kid who lived across from Adam Carter.

Adam Carter remembered him a bit—the rich kid was his junior, not in the same major, but also studied chemistry and biology. He wasn’t a good student, and at the end of each semester, he would often come to Adam Carter with a bunch of dumb questions.

Even though the heating was on at home, the rich kid was wearing a thick hat.

The hat was so big it almost covered his nose.

Adam Carter rested his chin on his hand, watching as the rich kid hurriedly took away half of the bottled water at his door, leaving a thousand yuan behind.

The rich kid also lived alone, so in theory, he shouldn’t be so short on water.

Adam Carter paused the surveillance, zoomed in, and took a screenshot.