I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

Around 9 p.m., it was already completely dark in Jiangcheng, and warm yellow lights began to illuminate the windows of the old residential buildings one by one.

The roar of the range hood carried the aroma of food from every household into the room, and Liu Mei, who was lying on the bed, turned over.

The living room lights were off. "Wang Dazhi" stood next to the coffee table with his back to her. The light from the window shone into the living room, casting a slanted glow on a small patch of the floor.

It is eating.

"I must have owed your Wang family something in my past life. I'm treated like a slave all day long. The old folks are all lewd, and the young ones are never home. If I don't cook, the whole family won't eat..."

Liu Mei angrily threw down her phone, turned and went into the kitchen, yelling at the living room:

"I told you to take out the trash and you didn't go, are you pretending to be stupid? The house smells like dead rats and you haven't even cleaned it, and you haven't fed the dog—Wang Dazhi, Wang Dazhi! I'm calling you, are you stuffing donkey hair in your ears?"

No one responded.

Only a strange, indistinct chewing sound emerged from the shadows.

It wasn't the sound of a phone video, nor was it the crunching sound of a dog eating food.

It's a rhythmic, slow, and dull sound, the kind of sound that makes your teeth ache from gnawing on a hard bone:

"Crunch... crunch... snap..."

One beat after another, the sound sent chills down Liu Mei's spine, making her heart pound. She felt a chill run down her spine, genuinely afraid that the man might have lost his mind.

"What are you eating? Where did you get these broad beans? Stop eating. If it's really bad, I'll take you to the hospital to get checked out..."

The next second, the slippers stepped into a pool of warm, sticky liquid, and a strong, sweet, rusty smell rushed into the nose along with the light from the phone.

In the instant she looked down, Liu Mei saw it clearly.

Half of the dog's mangled head lay on the ground, the broken ends revealing white bone fragments, while the other half was held in Wang Dazhi's hands and greedily sucked on.

When a person is in extreme fear, they are unable to make any sound.

The phone fell to the ground. Liu Mei's mouth was wide open, opening and closing several times, accompanied by continuous chewing sounds, resembling a comical black silent film.

As if sensing her emotions, the figure mechanically turned around.

In the dim light, she saw everything clearly: it was no longer Wang Dazhi.

The thing was still chewing, making a "crunching" sound, and its sinister gaze was fixed on Liu Mei.

The ultimate fear finally overwhelmed her. She only had time to let out a short gasp before everything went black, and she fell face down into a pool of blood and unconsciousness.

"Crunch... crunch..."

After turning into a zombie, Wang Dazhi finally stopped chewing, took slow steps, and moved stiffly like a puppet on a string.

Strangely, it didn't launch an attack. Instead, it took one or two steps, like a wild beast trying to attack its prey, and began to mechanically circle around Liu Mei, who was lying on her back.

Round and round.

Tireless, aimless, only the heavy footsteps echoed in the dark living room.

The neighbors outside the window were still chatting and laughing, while music from the community square drowned out the noise, mixed with the sharp laughter of children.

The smell of blood mingled with an indescribable, bizarre stench.

No one knew that in this bustling residential building, there was a living corpse that kept moving around.

……

……

Wang Hao didn't go home until after 1 a.m., and strangely enough, he didn't win a single game despite playing all night.

He was seething with anger, cursing as he pulled out his key, inserted it into the lock, and kicked away his neighbor's doormat.

"...What a lousy lock! It never works and should have been replaced a long time ago. Ugh, what bad luck!"

The door opened, and a strong, suffocating stench hit him, causing Wang Hao to almost stumble and instantly gag.

"Mom, what are you doing at home? It stinks! Did the meat in the fridge go bad? Ugh—"

The living room light was turned on, and before he could see clearly, a dark shadow pounced on him with astonishing speed, carrying with it a chilling and sinister aura.

The sticky, foul smell spread from Wang Hao's face to his limbs, and he felt the heat in his body being rapidly drawn away!

He tried to struggle, but his arms were held down by something as hard as iron, and he could only watch helplessly as a hairy face pressed against him—

Almost instantly, Wang Hao's face turned ashen, his lips turned bluish, the light in his eyes gradually faded, his skin quickly lost its elasticity, becoming dry and wrinkled, and his cheeks rapidly sunken, like a deflated balloon.

"Help! Help! Murder!"

Before losing consciousness, Wang Hao let out a hoarse but sharp roar.

Almost immediately, after a two or three-second pause, all the lights on the entire floor turned on one after another.

"What's that noise? Shouting in the middle of the night, are you summoning your father's spirit or visiting your grandfather's grave?"

"It sounds like the noise from the second floor. The couple must be arguing."

"It sounds like something terrible has happened, like a pig being slaughtered. Call the police!"

Some nosy neighbors, dressed in their pajamas, went into the hallway and peered through the wide-open doors. But every single one of them, upon seeing what was inside, turned and ran away as if they'd seen a ghost.

The living room was a mess, and Liu Mei lay in a pool of blood, her fate unknown.

Wang Hao leaned back against the wall, with a large, monkey-like monster covered in black hair clinging to him.

Some neighbors ran out, while others, driven by curiosity, squeezed inside—a torrent of stench erupted, more pungent than a septic tank exploding.

Those who wanted to run couldn't escape, and those who wanted to see couldn't squeeze in. The first few people were practically crying and vomiting as they tried to push their way out.

"It stinks! Ugh, ugh... Don't push your way in, people are dying! Ugh..."

"Ugh... Someone's dead! Someone's dead! Zombies have broken into Liu Mei's house! Quick, call the police station and get some guns to shoot them!"

"Run! There's a monster! Ugh..."

"Oh my god, it's haunted! It's haunted! Ugh, ugh..."

Many fearless individuals craned their necks to peer inside, their faces a mixture of curiosity and dread.

Look at that monster's fat, flat face, covered with a layer of fine, grayish-black down, like mycelium on fermented tofu, almost covering most of its face—the eyes, without whites, were exposed, like a pair of murky, dead gray holes.

Its lips were everted, revealing strangely sharp, long fangs, and a clump of flesh hung from the corner of its mouth.

The nails, which were originally short and thick, now had an astonishing length. The skin had an eerie bluish-gray color, and the entire skin was tightly stretched to the bone, without a trace of the softness of a living person.

……

Instead of running away, the crowd became even more agitated, with several hands reaching forward to shove their phones forward despite the stench.

"Ugh... My God, what is that thing? Wang Dazhi, what happened to him? He's covered in hair!"

"Look what happened to Wang Hao! This thing bit him, could it be rabies? Ugh..."

"Definitely! I told you his poodle had a problem. It was off-leash and would bite anyone it saw. Look what happened, it got rabies!"

"Hey, police station? Come quick! People are dead in Hongguang Residential Area! Two people are stinking to death! They've turned into zombies from rabies! Get your guns ready and shoot!"

The stairwell was in chaos. People up and down the stairs who heard the noise crowded over to see what was going on, and the entire stairwell was packed with onlookers.

Inside the room, Wang Hao's breathing grew weaker and weaker until he finally stopped moving altogether.

After turning into a zombie, Wang Dazhi slowly turned around, letting out a roar that was not human, and moved towards the crowd.

The crowd finally scattered in terror, but then they saw the thing stop abruptly just as it reached the living room doorway—

Its joints are stiff all over; its knees cannot bend, its ankles cannot move, and it cannot lift its feet.

A threshold only ten centimeters wide has become an insurmountable barrier.

It could only hop around in the living room, baring its teeth and roaring angrily at the crowd at the door.

The Chinese have a natural talent for watching a spectacle.

Finding that the monster couldn't get out, a group of people, still shaken, crowded around, standing three or four meters away, covering their faces and pinching their noses as they peered in.

"Why isn't it coming out?"

"Look at his legs, they're like a dead person's, they can't bend, they're straight and he can't even step over them! He's probably come back from the dead."

"Nonsense, how can a dead person still move! This is a zombie, or maybe some kind of virus."

"Hey, hey, hey, is Wang Hao dead or alive? Someone go in and check if Liu Mei is dead or not! Save her first!"

"Go away, I value my life a lot. Who knows if I'll get poisoned if I get bitten—"

The crowd buzzed with discussion until the approaching sirens pierced the night sky, instantly escalating the already terrifying yet foul-smelling commotion to its climax.