The moment Yan Bin stepped through the door of the venue, Glasses hurried over to greet him, he had already been waiting a long time. He guided Yan Bin to stand before Liu Yue and introduced the two: “Brother Bin, this is the representative sent by M Base, Miss Liu Yue.” Then he turned to Liu Yue and introduced the man beside him: “This is our president, Yan Bin.”
Liu Yue slightly tilted her head up, revealing her white neck. Her watery eyes looked at him as she gave a shy smile without showing her teeth, saying, “President Yan truly lives up to the title of a dragon among men. Your reputation does not compare to meeting you in person. I will be counting on your guidance from now on.”
Yan Bin swept his eyes up and down Liu Yue. She did look quite good. His expression remained unchanged as he spoke, “You flatter me. Miss Liu is even more beautiful than the rumors say. Please forgive us for any lack of hospitality.”
Liu Yue was 168 cm tall and wearing high heels. Standing before Yan Bin, she appeared small and delicate. With a shy smile and softened tone, she praised lightly, “I’ve long heard that L Base has developed well. Only after coming here did I learn it truly is prosperous.”
“It’s just a place to stay alive, barely enough to survive.” Yan Bin followed her topic as he replied, “If we’re talking about development, we’re truly not comparable. Miss Liu is practically a lucky star for M Base.”
With shy eyes drifting toward Yan Bin, Liu Yue said, “It’s all thanks to everyone’s hard work. As long as I’m not causing trouble, that already counts as me doing something good. Older Brother Yan, please don’t tease me.” Her voice was soft and delicate. Her eyelashes blinked with a hint of expectation as she looked at Yan Bin and said, “May I call you Older Brother Yan? Ever since I…”
From the smell spreading from the corpse tide, waves of putrid stench soared to the sky. The zombies’ clothing was even more tattered than five years ago, their bodies even more ruined and decayed.
A slightly petite figure appeared on the steps of the plaza. The petite figure lifted their head, looking at the night sky above. With the faint moonlight, the face of this figure could be seen clearly.
It was a woman, more accurately, a young female zombie. Her body and face were still very intact, and one could tell she had delicate features before turning. Her eyes were bright red. A zombie’s level could be judged by the color of its pupils; the redder the pupil, the higher the level.
The female zombie let out a long, wailing roar. She stretched out her arm and pointed directly toward one side. The other zombies responded to her call with low growls, the earth-shaking sound echoing through the silent night and making one’s skin crawl. The entire zombie horde began a large-scale migration. It was clear that this female zombie was a high-level zombie, able to control so many low-level zombies and the entire corpse horde.
The female zombie stared forward with blood-red eyes toward the distant end of the horizon: Are you ready? I’m coming.
Inside the Kujara Grassland settlement, at Da Zhuang’s residence, Qi Yue, Oak, and Da Zhuang were making their final preparations to head to the Hailar Research Institute and discussing the optimal route.
A map was spread across the table. The information on it was something Qi Yue had exchanged for by giving a mutant pig leg. An old man in the settlement had once worked in logistics at the Hailar Research Institute; Qi Yue drew the map based on his description. Qi Yue had once worked in an acrobatics troupe and was very skilled at art. Although he hadn’t touched such things in years, the map still came out vivid and realistic. Even the old man nodded repeatedly, saying the drawing was exactly as he remembered.
Qi Yue had already drawn three copies of the map, one for each of them, and he explained the internal structure of the research institute as the two listened.
“Hailar Research Institute has six floors in total. The first through fourth floors are for pharmaceutical research. The fifth and sixth floors are for researching and developing treatment equipment.” Qi Yue paused here, then continued, “But I feel this is only what’s on the surface. As a world-renowned research facility, there’s no way it’s really this simple.”
“You mean underground buildings?” Da Zhuang couldn’t help chiming in.
Qi Yue glanced at the two and nodded, continuing to analyze. “Uncle Changgen said he went in and out of the building many times, but here, here, and here, someone was always guarding them. Ordinary people were never allowed inside. This is the elevator, and it’s also off limits to ordinary people. Only those whose fingerprints are verified can use it.” As he spoke, he pointed to the three suspicious locations on the map, two suspicious rooms and the elevator.
Oak agreed with Qi Yue. Though Qi Yue was usually careless, the moment a life-threatening situation arose, he became exceptionally attentive. He used to be a killer, and he had taken note of many such deliberately arranged layouts before.
“So we absolutely must not go to these three places. They’re dangerous.” Oak understood Qi Yue’s meaning. They didn’t need to go underground. They only needed the equipment on the fifth and sixth floors.
“Right. The shaded areas have unknown conditions, don’t step inside them unless necessary.” After speaking, Qi Yue took a pen and shaded the three suspicious points on the map. Then he shifted the topic and asked Oak, “Did you get the blood sample?”
Oak took out a small glass tube containing a few drops of blood, shook it, and said, “I took it earlier when Yang was asleep.”
The institute had backup solar-powered generators. With Sun Yang’s blood sample, they could run a test first. If it was leukemia, they would bring out the chemotherapy machine. If not, they wouldn’t need to risk anything, they just needed to withdraw safely. Kujara was too far from major bases. For now, they could only hope to stop the condition from worsening; the rest would require long-term solutions.
“Here.” Da Zhuang handed each of the two a power gun, already loaded with crystal-core energy.
Da Zhuang was a wood-type ability user. He usually accompanied Qi Yue and Oak in hunting mutant beasts, but most of the time he stayed in the settlement researching guns. The weapons Qi Yue and the others used were all provided by him.
Qi Yue accepted the gun and inspected it while asking Oak, “How is Sun Yang?” Qi Yue had arrived earlier than Oak.
Oak’s blue eyes looked a bit gloomy as he lowered his voice. “Not good. He had a fever again tonight.”
Qi Yue’s hand paused before continuing to load bullets into the magazine. Sun Yang’s body had worsened in the past two days; he could barely walk a few steps before becoming weak and sweaty. He basically stayed in the ** resting. Qi Yue’s eyes stung a little. Sun Ling was a good person, and Sun Yang too. If Sun Yang really had that kind of illness, he would do everything in his power to treat him.
Da Zhuang also looked downcast. Other than sleeping, the group spent most of their time together. “Maybe we’re overthinking it. How could someone suddenly get sick out of nowhere? Maybe he’s just tired recently.”
After speaking, he couldn’t continue. Another silence fell. Only the soft sounds of bullets being pressed into magazines filled the room. How could he be tired? Sun Yang had stayed inside the settlement for many days and hadn’t gone out at all.
Once everything was prepared, Qi Yue said, “Alright. Go sleep. We’re leaving early tomorrow. Don’t stay up late or you’ll be exhausted.”
He reminded Oak again, “Remember the agreed story, we’re going to Hailar tomorrow to exchange supplies.”
Oak nodded. In the five years since the apocalypse, his formerly terrible Chinese had become exceptionally fluent.
Qi Yue then turned to look at Da Zhuang, only relaxing once the other nodded. A sick person’s mindset was the most important; if their spirit collapsed before their body, that would be the worst.
Medical conditions in the apocalypse were terrible. Only large bases had complete equipment, plus ability users who assisted with treatment. Hiring an ability user for treatment came at a great price. Medium and small bases lacked medicine. Even if they had some, it was stockpiled before the apocalypse or exchanged from large bases, very expensive, practically sky-high for ordinary people.
Qi Yue’s ability was level five, already considered high. Most ability users were still hovering around level three or lower. After all, improving one’s ability depended on absorbing crystal cores. Only higher-level cores brought noticeable growth; same-level provided small increases, and lower-level cores worked even less.
Everything arranged, all that remained was to wait for the next day. The three talked a bit more, then each returned to their rooms to rest.
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