The year was 2027, and the world had been drowning in decay for half a decade. Five years ago, the zombie virus tore through humanity like wildfire, leaving cities as skeletal husks and survivors clinging to fortified refuges. Dawn City, one of the last bastions, stood defiant behind its towering concrete walls, a flickering ember of hope in a sea of rot. But even here, the air stank of death, and the distant groans of the undead were a constant reminder that safety was an illusion.

In the depths of Dawn City's underground laboratory, Dr. Lin Zechuan hunched over a microscope, his gloved hands trembling slightly from exhaustion. His hazmat suit clung to his sweat-soaked skin, the plastic visor fogging with every ragged breath. At 35, he was humanity's last virologist—or at least the only one still alive in Dawn City. For years, he'd chased a cure, a vaccine, anything to halt the virus's relentless spread. But every experiment ended the same way: failure. The virus mutated faster than he could map it, as if it were mocking him.