Post-apocalypse, I farm in the countryside.

After graduating from university, I joined a company specializing in interior design and began my career. My work schedule was from nine in the morning to twelve at night, and I devoted almost all my time and energy to my job, revising plans for clients, so much so that I dreamed about designing. My life became monotonous and dull, passing each day in a daze. On such an overtime night, I revised the plan until three in the morning. Not long after lying down, I was jolted awake by a knock on the door. I rented an old apartment with extremely poor soundproofing; I could hear the snoring of my neighbor clearly. At first, I thought it was from next door and didn't pay much attention. It wasn't until an angry shout came from the other side: "What's wrong with you? Can't you sleep in your own room at midnight? 3303, have you been knocking on my door for so long without hearing me?" I realized that I had knocked on my own door. I sat up straight and wondered: who would come to me at this late hour? "Who is it?" I asked, but the person outside didn't answer; they just knocked twice more. I felt extremely angry—why would someone come at this hour to bother me and disrupt my sleep? I angrily opened the door, only to find that it was a delivery man from a certain group standing there. He wore a yellow hat with the brim pressed low, making his face completely invisible. "Hello, please sign for your package." He handed me a package and then left without waiting for my response. Holding the package, I felt somewhat puzzled. The package was light; I shook it, but there seemed to be no movement inside. A thought flashed through my mind: Could it be a bomb? But upon closer reflection, I hadn't offended anyone. When I saw the sender's name on the delivery slip, I fell silent. The three characters "—— Big Bird Brother" were written very sloppily. I immediately realized that apart from him, who else would use such a title? It was my fellow villager, Fan Zhipeng. Our fates were vastly different. He easily ranked among the top five in the province, while my class barely made it into the top twenty-five; he was specially admitted to a top university in his second year of high school, whereas I scored over four hundred points on the college entrance exam and barely got into a second-tier university; his father's hot pot restaurant has a chain nationwide, while my father tills the land in the village, unmatched by anyone. In short, the gap between us is enormous. We last contacted each other when I was in my second year of college. He had been admitted to a confidential research institute abroad, and I knew nothing about the specific work content except that it was an extremely impressive place. Before I knew it, three years had passed since my graduation. How could he suddenly send me a package? I hurriedly took out my phone and dialed his number. However, I heard "Sorry, the number you dialed is off..." from the other end of the phone. I decided not to hesitate any longer and cut open the cardboard box outside with a knife. There was nothing in the package, but it was wrapped very tightly. The first thing that caught my eye was an opaque plastic bag containing two photos. The light in the photos was extremely dim, so I turned the desk lamp to its brightest setting, finally managing to see clearly. In the first photo, a person was tied to the test bench. To be precise, he could no longer be called a person; his body was extremely emaciated, and his entire face was mangled, with only his pale eyes and wide-open, blood-filled mouth visible, revealing sharp teeth. In the second photo, there was a large iron cage, and inside it, a creature that looked neither human nor beast was pouncing on a person, tearing out their intestines and eating them whole... I almost vomited; this TM is a zombie! These photos were clearly taken in some lab. What exactly is Fan Zhipeng researching? Why hasn't he contacted me for years, and now sends me this stuff in the middle of the night to scare me? Is it really that serious! I forced myself to calm down and continued unpacking the package. Then I saw a reagent bottle containing a purplish-red liquid, sealed tightly, with no smell at all. Finally, there was a note, the handwriting as familiar as ever: "Yao, I hope you never drink this stuff. If you really can't resist, wait until the zombie virus is about to break out globally, then go home immediately!" I hurried to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face to calm my racing mind. Midnight, delivery, photos, reagents... Could Fan Zhipeng really be joking with me like this? He was seriously telling me that the world was about to fall into chaos. No matter what, I needed to go home and take some time away. I quickly packed that small bottle of reagents carefully and stuffed it at the bottom of my suitcase. I grabbed a few change of clothes and bought the fastest high-speed train ticket on my phone, heading straight for the high-speed station. On the way to the high-speed rail station, I kept taking out my phone and swiping it, ready to check if there were any recent news. One piece of news caught my attention: recently, multiple places have seen incidents of people biting each other, suspected to be rabies cases, and there is an appeal for all regions to pay attention to the management of stray dogs. Is it really just rabies? How could so many cases suddenly appear? Suddenly, I flipped through a photo taken by a netizen showing a hospital where people were biting each other. The netizen confidently stated that it was definitely not rabies, urging everyone to stock up on supplies. I immediately wanted to click into it for a closer look, but the news had already been deleted. The hospital where the netizen took the photo is a well-known tertiary hospital nationwide, and my cousin was an intern there. I immediately called my cousin, but she was off. At that moment, the manager called me to ask when I would be back at the company, and I bluntly said I wouldn't be going back. The manager exploded, saying, "Sun Zuyao, are you kidding me? Clients are about to arrive, and you say you can't come!" "Sorry, I really have something at home, I'll send the proposal to Xiao Qin." Ignoring the manager's rage, I hung up. Damn, working 996 every day without overtime pay, and design fees keep dropping, I really don't want to do this anymore. I opened my laptop and sent the design proposal to the design assistant, Xiao Qin. The company should arrange for a new designer to handle client communication. My heart was bleeding, and after working hard on the project for several months, it was all over! With no money and likely losing my job, I made up my mind: if I lost my job, I would go to Fan Zhipeng and demand that he support me. Only send me a package? I was taken aback and hurriedly took out my phone, my fingers trembling slightly as I dialed his number. However, to my dismay, I heard the automated voice say, "Sorry, the number you dialed is off..." from the other end of the phone. I decided not to hesitate any longer and, with a sense of urgency, I grabbed a knife and cut open the cardboard box that was sitting outside my door. There was nothing inside the package, but it was wrapped very tightly, as if it contained something of great importance. As I delved deeper, the first thing that caught my eye was an opaque plastic bag. Inside, I found two photos that seemed to be taken under extremely dim lighting conditions. I turned the desk lamp to its brightest setting, finally managing to see the details clearly. In the first photo, a person was tied to a test bench. To be precise, he could no longer be called a person; his body was extremely emaciated, and his entire face was mangled, with only his pale eyes and wide-open, blood-filled mouth visible, revealing sharp teeth. In the second photo, there was a large iron cage, and inside it, a creature that looked neither human nor beast was pouncing on a person, tearing out their intestines and eating them whole... I almost vomited; this must be the work of a zombie! These photos were clearly taken in some lab. What exactly is Fan Zhipeng researching? Why hasn't he contacted me for years, and now sends me this stuff in the middle of the night to scare me? Is it really that serious! I forced myself to calm down and continued unpacking the package. Then I saw a reagent bottle containing a purplish-red liquid, sealed tightly, with no smell at all. Finally, there was a note, the handwriting as familiar as ever: "Yao, I hope you never drink this stuff. If you really can't resist, wait until the zombie virus is about to break out globally, then go home immediately!" I hurried to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face to calm my racing mind. Midnight, delivery, photos, reagents... Could Fan Zhipeng really be joking with me like this? He was seriously telling me that the world was about to fall into chaos. No matter what, I needed to go home and take some time away. I quickly packed that small bottle of reagents carefully and stuffed it at the bottom of my suitcase. I grabbed a few changes of clothes and, using my phone, I bought the fastest high-speed train ticket available, heading straight for the high-speed station. On the way to the high-speed rail station, I kept taking out my phone and swiping it, ready to check if there were any recent news that might shed light on the situation. One piece of news caught my attention: recently, multiple places have seen incidents of people biting each other, suspected to be rabies cases, and there is an appeal for all regions to pay attention to the management of stray dogs. Is it really just rabies? How could so many cases suddenly appear? Suddenly, I flipped through a photo taken by a netizen showing a hospital where people were biting each other. The netizen confidently stated that it was definitely not rabies, urging everyone to stock up on supplies. I immediately wanted to click into it for a closer look, but the news had already been deleted. The hospital where the netizen took the photo is a well-known tertiary hospital nationwide, and my cousin was an intern there. I immediately called my cousin, but she was off. At that moment, the manager called me to ask when I would be back at the company, and I bluntly said I wouldn't be going back. The manager exploded, saying, "Sun Zuyao, are you kidding me? Clients are about to arrive, and you say you can't come!" "Sorry, I really have something at home, I'll send the proposal to Xiao Qin." Ignoring the manager's rage, I hung up. Damn, working 996 every day without overtime pay, and design fees keep dropping, I really don't want to do this anymore. I opened my laptop and sent the design proposal to the design assistant, Xiao Qin. The company should arrange for a new designer to handle client communication. My heart was bleeding, and after working hard on the project for several months, it was all over! With no money and likely losing my job, I made up my mind: if I lost my job, I would go to Fan Zhipeng and demand that he support me