He turned on the TV. A program was on.
It was an entertainment show.
He watched it. It was pretty good—very funny. The storyline was full of jokes, making people laugh out loud constantly.
The scene changed—it turned into the news.
It was a live emergency broadcast.
"Citizens of the city, good evening. This is a breaking news alert. There has been an outbreak of zombies in Hoang City. The infection is highly contagious. If you discover a companion has been bitten, immediately restrain them. If you encounter a zombie, avoid them. It's best to stay indoors and wait for—"
On the screen, the elegant female anchor in a suit suddenly screamed. A blood-covered colleague pounced on her, knocking her to the ground.
The camera shook, followed by the sound of screaming and flesh being torn.
Gold City's TV station had fallen.
x[affiliate link]
Lam Pham switched to another channel.
This one was official.
If even the national channel was in chaos, it meant things were really bad.
The screen showed nothing—just an empty studio.
Suddenly.
A figure appeared.
"I know this anchor! He's super famous and good-looking. What the hell happened to him?"
The host was covered in blood, swaying unnaturally, his face gray and lifeless, his eyes dull. He slowly moved toward the camera, then pressed his face up against it, revealing the blood and flesh in his mouth.
Lam Pham stepped onto his balcony and looked down.
Car horns blared. Crashes echoed across the city.
People were fleeing, and zombies were chasing after them in madness.
Screams of agony, zombie growls—the entire city was in chaos. Everyone had lost it.
A couple, hand in hand, was running. As the zombies closed in, the man shoved the woman to the ground and bolted without even looking back.
The woman didn't get up. She stood there dazed, staring at the fleeing man. Then, as if resigned to fate, she closed her eyes and waited. The zombies devoured her, giving the man time to escape.
"Disasters reveal true character… No… That woman really did sacrifice herself for him."
But as Lam Pham watched to see if the man got away—a vehicle, out of control, slammed straight into him.
He flew through the air and landed right in a pack of zombies.
These zombies didn't shuffle slowly. They were fast. They sprinted like regular people.
Escaping was going to be extremely hard.
Lam Pham stood quietly on the balcony, calmly watching the chaos on the streets below.
Where did this calmness come from?
Maybe it was because in his past life, he watched himself get eaten. Now that he had been reborn, he could face it all without fear.
Then something else happened.
In the crowd, a man and a woman were fleeing. The man carried a child. When zombies got close, he handed the child to the woman, yelled, and turned back to fight them off, buying time for her and the child to escape.
He didn't last long. There were too many of them.
This was a stark contrast to what had just happened earlier.
Some protect their loved ones.
Some throw them to the zombies.
Some trample strangers just to buy time for themselves.
Some hid in cars, locking the doors. But when zombies reached the windshield, they rammed their heads repeatedly, smashing the glass and breaking in.
Some hid under vehicles. The zombies dropped to all fours, crawled under, and dragged the people out to feast.
"Is this really the city I know?"
Lam Pham muttered.
He returned to his room, sat in front of the computer, and typed in a website to look up the latest updates.
The internet and electricity were still working—for now. But who knew for how long?
He opened a forum.
Tons of posts.
He clicked on the one with the most replies.
"FML. I'm screwed. I busted my ass to buy a tiny apartment in Gold City downtown. Finally moved in three days ago. Can someone tell me how the hell I'm supposed to run now?"
Replies came flooding in.
"Big money guy here."
"Bro, just wait to die. Do you know how many people live in our country? You're in a densely populated city. Where are you gonna run? The zombies are probably camping under your building already."
"I'm doomed too. I live in a big city. I just took a nap and woke up to chaos outside. GG."
"I'm in a county town, but even here there's a million people. Game over."
"My dad's banging on the door outside like a madman. What do I do? I'm 13, skinny as hell. My dad's fat as a ball. How the hell am I supposed to fight him off?"
Desperation and panic filled every post. Most people were still in denial and didn't realize how serious things were.
Then, one thread caught Lam Pham's eye.
"The Only Way to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse"
He opened it.
"Just give up. I'm a guy, but I like dressing as a girl. People always looked at me weird. But now, I'm going full cosplay and joining the zombie crowd. If you see me dressed like a girl, do me a favor and feed yourself to me."
"OP, you're a genius. I'm gonna dress up too and be a beautiful zombie."
"I'm scared of pain. I'm gonna cut my arm and let a zombie bleed into it. That should turn me into one, right?"
Lam Pham chuckled. He didn't expect people to have such quirky thoughts. Kind of amusing, actually.
Zombies?
He wasn't scared at all. He had a cleaver and could protect himself.
Outside, it was complete chaos. People were running like mad, cars were crashing. A lot weren't even dying to zombies—but to reckless drivers.
He kept scrolling.
More of the same.
He opened his game.
Queued for a match.
No one joined.
Too bad.
He had to settle for a bot match.
After a while…
He got bored. Bots were lame.
Lam Pham sat on his bed and looked at the worn-out teddy bear on the nightstand. It had been with him for many years.
He picked it up and hugged it.
Closed his eyes.
This was his most treasured possession—more important than anything else.
Holding it made him feel safe.
A while later.
He pulled out a notebook from the drawer. Every page was filled with writing.
He flipped through them all.
The last entry was dated 2020. He hadn't written since then.
Now, it was 2028.
Lam Pham picked up a pen and started writing again.
A smile formed on his face.
He closed the notebook.
Put it back in the drawer.
Then lay back down on the bed, raised the teddy bear high, smiled brightly, and dropped it onto his face, laughing with joy.
"Let's live well every single day…"