Chapter 5

 As the day goes by Wang Ze couldn’t sleep with the pain in his head and the worry weighing on his mind. As dawn starting to rise, he sprang out of bed—after a whole night of thinking, he finally decided to go to the hospital to get the rabies vaccine.

When he went to the parking lot to retrieve his electric scooter, he overheard two cleaners chatting,

 “People nowadays are so cruel! Someone killed a cat and just dumped it here.”

“It wasn’t killed by a person,” the other speculated. 

“It had scratches and bite marks on it, probably from fighting over territory, and it eventually died from the injuries.”

Wang Ze felt a chill run down his spine.

He remembered the clerk telling him about the 

“ten-day observation method,”

 which stated that if the cat that bit him was alive after ten days, he was likely safe. If the cat had died, he definitely needed to get vaccinated.

“What did the dead cat look like? When did it die?” Wang Ze asked urgently.

Startled by his sudden question, the cleaners took a moment to respond.

One of them thought hard for a while before uncertainly saying, “It’s been dead for about half a month? The color… maybe an orange cat?”

“No, no,” the other the lady corrected, “it wasn’t purely orange. It was orange and white, with a white patch on its neck.”

“Oh, really? I don’t remember.”

Wang Ze tried to recall what the cat that bit him looked like, but the time gap was too long, and he couldn’t remember.

He had to go to the hospital.

Wang Ze hopped on his electric scooter and hurried away.

The cleaners were baffled. “Why is he so worried about a stray cat dying? It’s not like it was his pet.”

At the hospital, the doctor informed him that the immunoglobulin shot plus the first rabies vaccine shot would cost around 1,500 yuan. If he were to get all five rabies vaccine shots, the total would be 2,700 yuan.

—afterwards

During break time, Tong Jia pulled Yun Xin to a secluded corner and lowered her voice, “I just saw Wang Ze and felt something was strange to him. Did you already have a hunch?”

When Yun Xin was first recommended by the manager, Tong Jia had some reservations. But later on, thanks to Yun Xin calling her to leave, otherwise she would have definitely been hit by a car, Tong Jia felt a bit closer and more trusting towards her deep down.

Afterward, Tong Jia shared the strange things happening to her. After more than half a month passed, there were still no strange rumors circulating in the hotel. Tong Jia felt even more that Yun Xin was reliable and trustworthy, and she became more open in her speech.

“What’s wrong with him?” Yun Xin asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“Don’t pretend,” Tong Jia felt more and more convinced that her inference was correct. 

“You must have known early on that the cat that bit them is dangerous, so you advised Zhao Zechen to get the rabies vaccine.”

“Wang Ze promised to take the rabies vaccine, but he lied.”

Yun Xin was puzzled, “What’s wrong with Wang Ze?”

“His eyes are vapid, and he looks worn, and I feel like he is feeling unwell.” Tong Jia casually describe

Yun Xin asked again, “Has he been to the hospital for a check-up? Has rabies been diagnosed?”

Tong Jia hesitated, “…Well, not really.”

Yun Xin raised her gaze and asked, word by word, “Then why do you think the cat that bit them have rabies?”

Tong Jia was bewildered, “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you notice it yourself? Your logic is very strange,” Yun Xin analyzed seriously.

 “No one has been diagnosed, so why do you assume that Wang Ze is sick? Then you deduce that there’s a problem with the cat, and further realize that I knew about it early on.”

Tong Jia opened her mouth but couldn’t say anything for a while.

She vaguely felt that her speculation was correct, but Yun Xin’s explanation also seemed valid.

So, why was she so certain before?

“Is it possible,” Yun Xin said slowly, “that the one with the sensitive sixth sense is not me, but you?”

“I was just being cautious and gave advice in a normal manner. It’s because you wanted a companion so badly that you found my behavior suspicious no matter what you saw.”

“Is that so?” Tong Jia felt a bit dazed. 

From a logical perspective, there was no problem. 

But deep down, there was always a voice clamoring, something’s not right.

“I mean, are you just too nervous?” Yun Xin said in a rather casual tone. “After the accident, your physical ability improved, but did you become a superhero?”

“No,” Tong Jia quickly shook her head.

“See, there you go. You’re still just a normal human being,” Yun Xin continued. “And about women’s intuition, it’s always been strong, right? Haven’t you encountered a girl like that before?”

At Yun Xin prompt, Tong Jia recalled someone about what happened a year ago in her college.

“There was a female student in college, we are different class but same grade. Everyone called her the ‘Scumbag Detector’.” Tong Jia explain

“Exaggerated to what extent? The first time she met her roommate’s boyfriend, after the meeting, she privately told her roommate that she didn’t have a good feeling about her boyfriend.”

“At first, her roommate didn’t believe her, but later on, the boyfriend did cheat.”

“Then, another time, a classmate introduced a new boyfriend. Jokingly, she said her friend was good at judging people, so she had to meet him.”

“After meeting him, she didn’t say anything, she just shook her head. The classmate thought she was just trying to cause trouble and got angry. But not long after, it turned out that the boyfriend was cheating on her, and that classmate wasn’t the first one he had flirted with.”

By the end, Tong Jia began to doubt her own nervousness. It turned out that there were people like that in real life, and she had encountered them before, she just hadn’t remembered it at first.

But what was strange after all? She couldn’t figure it out for the moment.

The next morning

Wang Ze rubbed his eyes and struggled to get out of bed.

Ever since he had the low fever, his sleep had been poor, and his head was still hurting.

He opened the medicine box on the bedside table, mixed the pills with water, and swallowed them.

 Wang Ze muttered, “I’ve been taking medicine for a few days, why am I still not feeling better?”

He put on his slippers and was about to go to the bathroom when suddenly his ankle started itching, tingling, and hurting as if ants were crawling on it.

“What’s biting me?” Wang Ze quickly pulled up his pants, but there was nothing on his ankle, yet he could still feel discomfort.

Wang Ze looked at it for a while and suddenly remembered that the stray cat had bitten him in this area. After the wound healed, he hadn’t paid much attention to it. But now, the itchy, tingling, and painful area seemed to overlap exactly with the wound area.

Wang Ze panicked, “I’ve already had the vaccine, why is this still happening…”

“No, no, no,” he quickly retracted his statement, “Maybe I just slept on it wrong and that’s why my leg feels numb.”

Saying so, he gritted his teeth against the pain and walked around the room. However, no matter how long he walked, the numbness didn’t go away.

Wang Ze slumped into a chair, suddenly craving a cigarette.

During work hours, Zhao Zechen was focused on his work. 

Wang Ze popped out from nowhere and grabbed his wrist, asking, “Did you get the rabies vaccine?”

“Yeah, I did,” Zhao Zechen replied, feeling irritated as he recalled the incident. His words were sharp, “What? Have you finally realized your conscience and are willing to cover my medical expenses?”

Wang Ze hadn’t slept well for days, with dark circles under his eyes, looking particularly haggard. His voice was hoarse as he pressed, “Where did you get it?”

Rolling his eyes internally at Wang Ze’s behavior, Zhao Zechen still felt a twinge of pity seeing his sorry state, so he mentioned the name of the hospital.

It turned out they had gone to the same hospital.

Wang Ze asked again, “After getting the vaccine, did you feel unwell?”

“There were! My arm was sore and swollen, I felt weak all over, couldn’t work, but didn’t dare to take a sick leave, and had to watch what I ate!” Zhao Zechen grew more and more enraged as he spoke, wishing he could grab Wang Ze by the collar and give him a good beating. 

But, he was a civilized person.

More importantly, fighting in the company risked getting fired. So he suppressed his anger, only expressing his condemnation through words.

“Is that all?” Wang Ze panicked.

The hospital was the same, and they should have received the same brand of vaccine. How come Zhao Zechen seemed fine, while he…

Could it really be because he got the vaccine too late?

“Isn’t this enough?” Zhao Zechen suspected that Wang Ze was deliberately looking for trouble, “Are you speaking human language?? I spent over two thousand yuan out of my own pocket to get vaccinated because of you, and you’re still complaining that my reaction to the vaccine isn’t severe enough?”

“No, no…” Wang Ze became even more disoriented, stumbling around and soon disappeared.

After holding back for a long time, Zhao Zechen finally blurted out, “You weren’t bitten by a cat, were you? It was a zombie that ate your brain, right?” Zhao Zechen shouting to Wang ze as he running away.

——————

 Yun Xin promised to stay away from Wang Ze, their work didn’t intersect, making it difficult to bump into him.

For three consecutive days, Yun Xin worked diligently, striving to be an outstanding employee.

One day, during Yun Xin lunch break as she sat holding her drink lost in thought, she felt the familiar sensation of palpitations.

Looking up, she saw a customer pulling open the curtains of the lobby’s. The sun outside was shining brightly, casting a golden glow on the floor, illuminating the room brightly.

The next moment, Wang Ze rushed to the window and swiftly pulled the curtains shut.

“What are you doing?” The customer was displeased and pulled the curtains open again.

“Don’t open it!!” Wang Ze yelled loudly and pulled the curtains shut again.

The customer chuckled in exasperation, “Staying at your hotel, can’t I even open the curtains to enjoy some sunlight?”

What’s even more absurd is that there were no other customers around, so it wouldn’t affect anyone else.

“No! Sunlight can’t come in.” Wang Ze firmly refused.

The customer, puzzled, exclaimed, “What kind of bizarre hotel is this? You won’t even let me open the curtains?”

“I will open them.” The customer’s temper flared, and he confronted Wang Ze, “I don’t believe it. Is there any hotel rule explicitly prohibiting customers from pulling the curtains?”

“Where’s your manager? Is there anyone responsible who can come out and speak?”

As they spoke, the customer reached out to pull the curtains.

Wang Ze firmly held on, refusing to budge an inch.

The two engaged in a tug-of-war, one trying to open the curtains while the other tried to keep them closed, neither willing to give in, leading to a struggle.

Wang Ze, exhausted from days of poor sleep, gradually weakened.

Just as the customer was about to smirk, Wang Ze suddenly lunged forward and viciously bit the customer’s hand.

The customer, in pain, let go and was simultaneously shocked, “Why did you bite me?!”

The curtains were pulled open a bit more. Sunlight streamed in through the gap, casting light on the floor. Wang Ze showed a fearful expression and hastily closed the curtains.

The customer, stunned, stepped back several paces and exclaimed to the manager, Tong Jia, and the security guards  hurried over to check what’s happening, “Is your hotel secretly harboring zombies?!”