The scream outside the fence hit again.
It was thinner than a normal zombie scream. Higher. Like a person trying to scream through a broken throat. It moved fast, sliding along the fence line instead of pushing straight in.
The soldiers at east started shooting wild again.
"Hold your fire!" the soaked officer shouted. "You're wasting ammo!"
Nobody listened.
Lan Huan's eyes tracked the sound, sharp. "He Li," he said.
He Li moved, light bending low around him, just enough to let him slip closer to the fence without drawing every eye.
He Li pressed his face near the mesh and looked out.
His voice came back tight. "It's fast," he said. "Not sprinting like a human. Worse. It crawls and runs at the same time."
Luo Yan's stomach turned.
A shape slammed into the fence three meters to their right.
Not a slow shove.
A hit like a body thrown hard.
The fence rattled. Wire screamed.
Then the shape jumped back out of sight.
Civilians screamed and surged again.
Qin Yi flinched and pressed fingers to his temple. "I can't keep doing crowd stuff," he muttered.
Lan Huan didn't look at him. "Don't," he said. "Save it."
The soaked officer shouted at Lan Huan, "Sir, what is that thing?"
Lan Huan answered without looking away from the fence. "An early evolver," he said.
The officer blinked. "A what?"
Lan Huan didn't explain.
He didn't have time.
Luo Yan swallowed hard. Early evolver. So it could happen this early. Day one. Hour one.
He felt his pocket. The last core was still there, warm.
Inside his head, a crisp chime sounded. Only him.
Ding.
NIGHT ONE MISSION: DO NOT GET BITTEN
Time Limit: Until Dawn
Objective: Survive the fast infected encounter
Bonus Objective: Observe its movement pattern for 60 seconds
Reward: Void Screen Stability +1
Reward: "Core Sense" (short range)
Penalty: Infection Risk (unknown)
Luo Yan's mouth went dry.
Observe for 60 seconds.
He didn't want to observe. He wanted to hide under the tarp and wake up in a different world.
The fast scream hit again, closer.
Then the thing appeared.
It climbed the fence like it didn't care about wire cutting its hands. Limbs thin and wet. Movements jerky but fast. Its head snapped toward the floodlight like it hated the brightness.
Its eyes weren't fully dead.
They were pale. Hungry. A little aware.
It opened its mouth and screamed right into the mesh.
The sound made people freeze.
Then it dropped.
Not down. Sideways.
It kicked off the fence and landed on a container edge outside, then sprang again, moving along the outside line like it was looking for the soft spot.
He Li breathed, "It's hunting the weak patch."
Lan Huan's jaw tightened. "It's smart enough."
The soaked officer shouted, "Shoot it!"
Soldiers fired.
The fast infected didn't run like a person.
It moved like a spider that learned anger.
It jerked left, then right, then flat to the ground, and bullets hit only fence and rain.
Then it rushed the weak patch.
The patched hole.
The place Luo Yan had just covered with Void.
It hit the patch with both hands and tore at the wire like it knew what to do.
Metal squealed.
The patch started to peel.
Luo Yan's heart jumped into his throat.
Lan Huan's voice cut low. "Luo Yan. Screen. Small."
Luo Yan raised his hands.
Void Screen flickered into place over the patch.
The infected slammed into it.
The impact erased, but the screen cracked hard right away.
Luo Yan's arms shook. His vision blurred at the edges.
He couldn't hold it long.
Lan Huan stepped in close, lightning snapping from his fingers into the fence frame, making the metal vibrate. The infected flinched back for half a second.
He Li shouted, "Now!"
Two soldiers shoved more scrap into the gap and twisted wire fast.
The infected screamed and lunged again.
Luo Yan's screen cracked again.
Qin Yi's hand lifted, shaky. Not a big illusion. Just a flash of sound in the infected's ears.
A sharp whistle, like prey.
The infected's head snapped toward it.
That half-second was enough.
Lan Huan moved.
He didn't summon Longyang. He didn't throw lightning wide.
He grabbed a steel rod from the ground and drove lightning through it like a live wire.
Then he jammed it through the fence mesh at the infected's shoulder.
The infected shrieked and jerked back.
Its skin smoked.
But it didn't fall.
It stared through the mesh at Lan Huan for one long second.
Then its head turned.
And its eyes locked on Luo Yan behind Lan Huan.
Luo Yan's blood went cold.
It smiled.
Not a human smile.
Just a split of lips like it understood: you're the weak one.
Then it dropped and disappeared into the rain.
He Li swore quietly. "It marked you," he said.
Luo Yan's stomach turned. "Marked?"
He Li didn't look at him. "Not with ink," he said. "With attention."
Lan Huan's voice was calm, but tight. "It'll come back," he said.
The soaked officer looked like he wanted to argue, then swallowed it. "Sir," he said, "what do we do?"
Lan Huan looked down the fence line. "We hold," he said. "Until dawn."
Luo Yan's system prompt stayed in his head.
Observe 60 seconds.
He had observed.
He hated that it mattered.
Then, as if the world wanted to prove Lan Huan right, the fast scream sounded again.
Not outside.
Inside the base.
Somewhere down the east lane.
A civilian shrieked, "It got in!"
And the crowd surged toward them like a wave.