48 Hours a Day

The elevator kept climbing upward, getting further and further away from the ground. Zhang Heng heard the sound of a female voice, explaining the elevator’s set up. It was probably a recording that played automatically whenever it sensed passengers. Amid the message, the woman’s voice suddenly disappeared, and on came a male voice.

“Such a pity that all of you made the wrong decision.”

“Oh, Evil Scientist. You’ve finally shown up! Now, why is that? Are you worried that we’ll come up there and kick your butt? Don’t fret. We’ll be there very soon,” said the bald man.

“Do you think you can stop me as you did three years ago? For the past three years, I’ve been searching for ways to become bigger and stronger ever since that failure. Today, I’m a completely changed man! You people, on the other hand… I saw your little performance outside…”

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“Hahaha! How was it? Did you wet your pants?” “Hmm, how should I put it? It was utterly disappointing. You seem to have gone stagnant over the years, and might I dare to say that you have regressed compared to three years ago. Without my leadership, you seem to have completely lost your way.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. If I were you, I wouldn’t be so smug. Think too highly of yourself, don’t you? The past three years have been great without you. I feel refreshed every day, even my frequent urgency to pee got cured without any treatment.”

“Ahem… erm…” The waiter spoke up. “If you want to speak to him, you have to press the call button on the elevator.”

“……”

“Since we’re old friends, I’ll give you one last warning. Turn around and go back now. If you still insist on doing this, then I won’t go easy on you. I know you all too well; you’re no match for me,” Evil Scientist growled, emphasizing a hint of terror in his final sentence.

“Heh, it’s easy to talk. This elevator goes up to the Star and Cloud observation deck, and even if we start regretting, there’s no way for us to go back down, alright?” This time, the bald man made sure to push the call button, but it appeared that the person on the other end had already hung up.

“… the thing I hate most is when someone hangs up on me before I can finish my sentence!” The bald man complained.

“Forget about it. We’re almost there. Let’s get ready for battle.” Mei Nan glanced at the LCD screen of the elevator. They were less than sixty meters away from level 107, which also meant that they would arrive at the deck in approximately 10 seconds.

Everyone immediately became focussed. Zhang Heng had a lightsaber in each hand, Mei Nan activated the missile launcher on the shoulder of her suit, the bald man raised his AK machine gun, and the waiter fashioned a bulletproof vest for Messenger and himself. When the elevator doors opened, the team was shocked by the scene before them.

There wasn’t a single person in sight.

“What is this? It’s dinnertime, and everyone has gone back?” the bald guy asked, scratching his head.

The six of them exited the lift. Not far from where terrible were standing, on the empty bar, sat an unfinished bottle of coke.

“Something’s wrong. Even if there is no ambush by the Evil Scientist, where did all those tourists go? The tower is supposed to be open to the public until the quantum collider is activated.”

“Is that why Evil Scientist took all the tourists hostage? Why? Why would he do that?” The waiter asked. “Is he planning to use them to threaten us?”

“I don’t think so.” Mei Nan pointed the miniature missile on her shoulder at a stumbling figure not far away. From the way he dressed-suit and leather shoes, as well as an expensive Rolex, and mobile phone-he was probably one of the tourists.

But he walked with a peculiar stride, where his feet were spread open at 90 degrees. One of his elbow joints was twisted in an unnatural angle, and his head was lowered, so he was looking down to the floor.

“Err, I don’t know why I keep having this awful feeling in my stomach,” said the waiter.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

As soon as Mei Nan said that, the Rolex guy raised his head slowly. Parts of his face were missing; all that was left were a pair of bloodshot eyes, half a nose, and two whole rows of exposed gums and teeth where his face had been ripped out. “Alright, so after the Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it seems that we are about to usher in Resident Evil. Evil Scientist has now created the T-virus, huh?”

The Rolex man caught a whiff of fresh meat and blood, and his movements hastened. At first, he still stuttered in that strange, petrified way, but soon, those staggering footsteps became faster and faster.

“This is not Resident Evil; it’s more like the zombies in World War Z!” The bald man pulled the trigger on his AK and shot at the Rolex zombie multiple times. The creature’s body absorbed the shock of the large rounds from the assault rifle, and with each shot, it jerked and jolted. However, it didn’t fall over, advancing on, as if immune to the lead.

It wasn’t until Fan Meinan shot its head with the missile from her battle suit that the Rolex zombie’s life ended for good. “The good news is that the head is still their weakness, and the bad news is that their bodies are more resistant to taking a beating than ordinary zombies.”

The waiter wiped the perspiration off his forehead and heaved a long sigh. “Thank goodness there’s only one. It would have been hell if there were a dozen of them.”

Mei Nan and Zhang Heng looked at each other and sighed. “Please let us know in advance when you’re going to jinx us again.” Just as the waiter said that, as if cruel confirmation to Murphy’s theory, more zombies came charging in, and this time, they came in an astonishing number, the horde running and tripping over each other toward the six of them.

There was no time to breathe. The battle was to commence!

Zhang Heng sliced off the heads of two zombies in front of him with his lightsabers, but more were running toward him. He jumped backward and rolled under the bar, but the mindless, incessant beasts weren’t about to give up their prey even though they lost sight of it. Like sharks catching the whiff of blood, they instinctively stormed forward. A schoolgirl zombie jumped onto the bar but, what awaited her was a chainsaw spinning at full revs.

Zhang Heng had combined the lightsaber with beer bottles to create a new weapon to deal with the current situation. He waved the chainsaw in his hand and dove into the zombie horde. After a Thomas flair*, at least four out of all the zombies lost their heads.

Footnote:

Thomas flair: an acrobatic move performed on the floor, in which the performer alternates, balancing the torso between either arm while swinging the legs beneath in continuous circles.