Escaping the Fiery Commercial Zone

Major mainstream media outlets immediately reported the news.
Top trending on Weibo: {Multiple locations nationwide experience sudden vicious attacks, suspected to be a mutated flu.}
{Zombie movie has become reality.}
Beneath the explosive news were countless comments from netizens.
"I saw with my own eyes someone bitten to death at the entrance of our residential area, and they still got up. The police who arrived were also bitten and torn apart, turning into soulless corpses just like them. We're trapped, who will save us?"
"I'm hiding in a hospital bathroom. Just now, an old man who couldn't be saved in the emergency room suddenly came back to life, biting to death both the nurse and doctor who were helping him. They 'came back to life,' eating and biting people everywhere. What should I do, can I still escape?"
"These aren't people, these are zombies!"
"My downstairs neighbors bit their wife and child to death, their eyes turned red. I advise everyone absolutely not to go outside!"
Countless anxious comments were posted; this day had erupted into an unprecedented crisis.
Jiang Chu put away her phone. Everything had been fine when she arrived, but now the entire plaza was filled with screams and zombie growls. It was clear that the number of zombies in this area would quickly reach triple digits.
She no longer allowed herself to be distracted, pulling her protective mask tight to prevent blood from splattering on her face.
It wasn't time for a complete collapse yet, and she didn't want to use the firearms granted by the system. The blade in her hand was still stained with the blood of a zombie.
A grotesque game of 'people' chasing people was unfolding here.
"Help—"
She didn't move, but her fresh scent made her a target for the zombies. About seven or eight zombies rushed towards her.
A flicker of disgust flashed in Jiang Chu's eyes as she tightened her grip on the hilt of her blade.
After seven years of tempering in the apocalypse, even though her physical condition wasn't yet robust, dealing with these soulless, unintelligent corpses was as easy as turning her hand.
Her movements were swift, her blade art decisive, flexibly dodging a zombie's attack. At that moment, the blade in her hand pierced the zombie's head with unerring accuracy.
But it wasn't deep enough. She gritted her teeth, forcefully twisted the blade, and kicked away a female zombie that lunged at her, confirming that the previous zombie was 'dead.' She hastily dug out its Core Crystal.
A person's strength was limited. After dealing with these eight zombies, Jiang Chu quickly got into her car.
At this moment, the shopping mall was filled with continuous mournful screams and the chasing growls of zombies. In a flash, the mall had become a zombie dominion.
Even if she wanted to hunt zombies for Core Crystals, she couldn't stay here.
Her decisive actions in dealing with the zombies had caught the eyes of a few survivors. In their eyes, she was a delicious piece of cake.
"Give me a ride, I have a lot of money. Take me away and I'll give you a hundred thousand." A beautiful woman with curly brown hair clung to the car door, trying to squeeze in, but couldn't.
Jiang Chu said coldly, "Let go."
The woman was anxious. She swung her branded handbag to ward off the zombies, but it was like throwing an egg at a rock. She tried to morally blackmail Jiang Chu: "Do you believe me, if you don't let me in, I'll record a video right now and post it online, showing the entire nation your cruel face!"
After scolding, she desperately pleaded: "Please let me in, my husband just died."
Jiang Chu pushed her hand away, closed the car door, leaving a small gap in the window, and sneered, "I just saw you push him to the zombies to escape. If you don't hurry, you'll be reunited with your family."
With that, she stepped on the accelerator and sped away.
This wasn't even a full-blown outbreak yet, and she was already pushing her husband to zombies. If anyone dared to give her a ride, they would be courting death.
Kindness, enthusiasm?
Having stockpiled for seven years in the apocalypse, she certainly didn't possess such fine qualities.
People with those qualities had long since gone to heaven; only there could such things exist.
The woman was thrown back, kneeling on the ground, staring hatefully at the retreating SUV, cursing viciously.
"Not letting me in, and pushing me away, this is wanting me dead! A crazy, heartless pervert, may you die a terrible death!"
She was about to get up when she saw her husband, whom she had caused to die, with blood-red eyes, lunging towards her.
His limbs were twisted in an inhuman way, his emaciated face devoid of blood, his mouth full of fresh, crimson blood.
She gasped, frantically picked up her bag, and ran towards the other survivors.
Jiang Chu opened the map in the car. The commercial zone she was in was light red, indicating a moderate outbreak. The darkest red areas were around several hospitals.
Thinking of this, she felt a little annoyed, wondering if Ji Chen had left yet.
The roads were filled with burning cars and tearing zombies. Ordinary people had no advantage against zombies.
There were also good-hearted people who tried to save others, but often, it ended in a 'farmer and the snake' scenario.
For example, the car in front of her.
The man in the driver's seat was suddenly thrown out, shouting, "This is my car, if you want to get out, then you get out."
The family who had hijacked the car said through the window, "Everyone's about to die, who cares whose car it is. If you were so capable, you wouldn't have taken us in earlier. Humph, couldn't you also steal someone else's car?"
The man was desperate.
Jiang Chu avoided them, directly ramming into the zombies blocking the road ahead.
She drove through the chaos, heading towards the road to the school.
"Bang bang bang."
Driving at maximum speed, Jiang Chu found the road ahead getting worse and worse.
Traffic slowly began to break down, with large crowds and vehicles fleeing in the opposite direction on the road.
Several cars were overturned by the roadside, blocking half the road. Jiang Chu drove past these cars, seeing large numbers of zombies crawling into them and opening doors.
On another bus, passengers mutated into zombies, tearing at the driver. The terrified driver slammed the accelerator, crashing through the overpass railing, and the entire bus plunged straight into the sea, with no one lucky enough to escape.
Screams followed one after another, the smell of fresh blood continuously spreading.
Jiang Chu calmly dodged; in such a situation, the more panicked one was, the easier it was to make mistakes.
The zombies sensed the fresh breath of living humans, as if they had found a target, chasing after her car.
All living creatures were their targets.
Either be eaten clean, or turn into one of them.
The entire road was chaotic, with no semblance of order left.
She gritted her teeth, shook off the zombies behind her, and sped towards the school regardless of everything.
The zombies ahead saw the car rushing towards them, and many, many of them lunged at her car.
The system-locked SUV was sturdy enough, and she had pressed the attack protection button. The spikes on the car continuously stabbed into the zombies' bodies, then retracted, slowing down the zombies and buying her a certain amount of time.
After avoiding the relentless zombie pursuit, she finally returned to the school.
It wasn't quiet here either, but the number of zombies was much smaller than in the commercial zone. A blood-covered zombie security guard at the gate lunged at her car.
A bloody handprint was left on the windshield.
The zombie security guard opened its blood-soaked mouth, sharp fangs scratching at the glass. The distance was extremely close, and it also affected her vision. Jiang Chu could clearly see its rotting, skeletal face.
Half of its nose was bitten off by zombies, only one eyeball remained, the other dangled from its eye socket, ready to fall at any moment, its chin devoid of flesh, revealing bone. Its right sleeve was empty, and a nearby female zombie was gnawing on its lost arm.