Three days later, on the 25th day since the arrival of the doomsday, the residents downstairs from Lin Qingqing's place were victims of a home invasion robbery.
"The situation is really bad. These people are obviously more brutal than the previous groups."
These were no ordinary criminals. Lin Qingqing could hear continuous sounds of smashing and crashing from downstairs, accompanied by women's cries and men's roars.
Lin Qingqing listened carefully. The commotion downstairs lasted for a long time before it finally quieted down. Finally, she even faintly heard a zombie's growl.
"Did someone turn into a zombie? How did it happen?"
Lin Qingqing had always thought that as long as one wasn't injured by a zombie, they wouldn't turn into one, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.
She was eager to know what had happened, but she was afraid of the large number of people downstairs, so she didn't dare to make any move.
Since the downstairs had been in such trouble so quickly, her place probably wouldn't be safe for long either. She had to come up with an escape route.
Lin Qingqing looked at the remaining supplies, secretly hating that she didn't have the spatial golden finger like in novels, so that she could fly away at any time. She was reluctant to part with these things, but now wasn't the best time to go out. Lin Qingqing bit her lip and anxiously paced around the room.
Just when she thought she had no choice but to give up some supplies and go somewhere else to hide, suddenly, she thought of a place.
She lived on the top floor, in the corner of the entire building. So when she bought the house, the developer had given her a small attic on the top floor as a bonus.
This small attic looked like a pointed decoration on the roof from the outside. Few people would think that there was actually a space inside.Previously, she had always thought it was of little use. Besides, the attic was small and not very appealing, only about four or five square meters in total. A person couldn't even stand up straight inside. So during the renovation, she had it sealed off with partitions. However, fearing water leakage, she didn't seal it completely and instead asked the decorator to leave a hidden door for her.
"This is really a great place!"
Thoughts of an escape route immediately brightened Lin Qingqing's eyes, and she started making arrangements right away.
The entrance to the small attic was above the wardrobe in the guest bedroom. Most people wouldn't notice it there.
She stepped on a chair and first pried open the partition on the top floor. After that, she cleared away the thick layer of dust that had accumulated over a long time. The attic was rather cold and gloomy. The only small skylight on the side was rusted and couldn't be opened, and the ventilation wasn't very good either. It could serve as a temporary hiding place for now, but it definitely wouldn't work for long - term living.
Nevertheless, Lin Qingqing was quite satisfied with it. After tidying it up, she moved all her supplies up there. Then, she stuffed a quilt in, and with herself in there, it was already packed to the brim.
Apart from food, all the items that could be used as weapons were also put away. Finally, she tidied up and cleaned the room, making it look as if the owner had already fled.
After everything was taken care of properly, she finally let out a sigh of relief, feeling more secure.
She couldn't tell when someone might come looking for her, but an escape route was just that - a backup plan. So she still stayed downstairs as usual, but became even more cautious. She even slept in her clothes at night.
Perhaps it was because finding the small attic during the day had made her feel much more at ease. That night, Lin Qingqing had a good sleep, which was a rare occurrence.It was still that dream of an ice - covered world, but this time it was different from before. She dreamed that she was lying at the bottom of a frozen lake, surrounded by water.
There were no fish, shrimp, or waterweeds in the lake. The entire expanse of water was clean and transparent.
If seen from a bird's - eye view, one could clearly see that she was now frozen into an ice sculpture, slowly drifting with the current, bobbing up and down in the water.
Around her, there were also many tiny ice crystals surrounding her like guardians. Although it looked cold, her whole body felt unexpectedly comfortable, as if those ice crystals were a part of her and she was a part of the ice.
This time, Lin Qingqing's consciousness was very clear. She knew exactly that she was in a dream world at this moment.
Not sensing any danger around her, she tried to open her eyes. She saw that she was wrapped in a mass of ice crystals, which glowed with a cold yet gentle blue light due to the light filtering through the lake surface.
She then tried to move her hands and feet. Instead of feeling suffocated, she felt a familiar sense of stability and warmth, as if she had returned to her mother's womb.
"This is so comfortable!"
Just as she was enjoying this comfortable feeling, the lake water suddenly began to shake violently. The water rippled, creating waves of ripples.
At this moment, a huge black fish suddenly appeared out of thin air not far away and lunged at her. This black fish was over three meters tall and nearly ten meters long, its eyes glowing with a blood - red light and its mouth full of sharp teeth.
Lin Qingqing's pupils constricted. As the huge mouth that was close at hand was about to come down, she subconsciously closed her eyes and raised her arms to defend herself. And the ice crystals around her seemed to understand her call, quickly gathering together and instantly forming an arc - shaped shield in front of her.
"Bang!" The big black fish crashed into the shield. The shield didn't break. It turned its head unwillingly, then with a flick of its tail, changed direction and charged up again.
"Bang, bang, bang!" Three more impacts followed, but still without success.
"I can't keep being on the defensive like this." Although she didn't know where this big fish came from or why it was attacking her, since it was already an enemy, she decided to kill it.As if sensing Lin Qingqing's thoughts, the ice crystals that had formed the shield suddenly scattered, drew an arc of light, and then condensed again. This time, what appeared in front of her was an ice - crystal trident.
Reaching out to grab the trident in front of her, Lin Qingqing dodged the big fish's attack, and the sharp blade of the trident smoothly sliced across the fish's body, leaving a deep bloodstain.
What a powerful weapon!
The big fish, having been injured, became even more ferocious. Its attacks grew more violent with each strike, as if determined to kill Lin Qingqing in its jaws.
With the weapon in hand, Lin Qingqing was no longer afraid of it. She became more courageous with each setback and gradually gained the upper hand.
For half an hour, Lin Qingqing and the black fish fought back and forth. The lake water was churned into huge waves by them, and both sides suffered serious injuries.
Finally, at the risk of being severely injured by the big fish, Lin Qingqing found a flaw, raised the trident, and thrust it forcefully into the fish's eye. At the same time, she was swept by the fish's tail and sent flying backwards.
The ice - crystal trident entered through the big fish's left eye, pierced through its brain, and came out from the right eye. After struggling for a moment, the big fish finally turned into little star - like lights and disappeared.
Not far away, Lin Qingqing was also seriously injured. At this moment, her consciousness was becoming a bit blurred, and even the ice crystals around her were gradually dissipating.
At this time, two faint voices seemed to be calling her simultaneously from a distance: one was gentle, asking her to fall asleep, and the other was anxious, shouting for her to wake up.
Just as she was trying to distinguish the two voices, suddenly, a harsh metal - scraping sound came, like a sharp blade cutting through the sky.
The already precarious dream world began to collapse at an alarming speed. The next second, as the dream dissipated like powder, Lin Qingqing woke up with a start.