Chapter 04

Si Nan was not actually asleep.

He tried to force his spirit into a state of utter nothingness. Lke a fish in the deep-sea, he swam slowly into meditation, capturing the fragments of broken memory from the depths of his consciousness.

"…… born weak, must be monitored…"

“Run, Run!”

“The humiliation I bear today will be repaid in the future!……"

“Call your governor out,” a silhouette standing in front of a high iron bar said indifferently: “I have something to talk to him about.”

The next moment, a man whose face couldn't be seen came to the front. However, before he had the chance to speak, he was suddenly punched heavily on his mouth. His nose started bleeding, and he fell backwards!

Running; cursing; many sounds and voices surrounded the area, some soldiers tried to stop him, but they weren't able to.

The image then transformed- dim light leaked in from the narrow window of the confinement, outlining a bleak shadow on the cemented stone table. He was sitting on the bed along with his discarded jacket with his fingertips resting against his eyebrows, when he suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps outside the door, followed by a snap sound from a turning key.

He stood up and the door opened.

“They have broken out inside, the lab can’t shut down… The cordon has been defeated, the car is waiting for you outside, come with me …"

He took a t.i.tanium alloy freezer with him, then hurried out of the confinement room. Looking at the end of the corridor felt like looking at the stars- they looked so close, yet so far; walking by foot in this long distance gave off a foreboding feeling, as if they would never arrive at their destination.

Never reaching the end of the journey…

A sudden braking from the armored car awoken Si Nan.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was intantly greeted by the sight of the dense zombies tide from the car's window.  He heard the driver shouted: “We have arrived at the destination! Come on, sweep the tide and breakout! The people inside get ready–!"

On the car's roof,  the sound of firing machine gun was booming loudly. Zhou Rong took off his coat, showing the black vest he wore underneath, and used his heat-proof gloves covered hands to steady the burning barrel of the gun, aiming to shoot at the zombies surrounding them.

However, there were simply too many zombies crowding the city center 's street. Even after sweeping wave after wave of zombies, they were still almost drowned inside the sea of those rotten living corpses. All the team members climbed to the roof to provide support, but were only able to clear out a few meters of vacant ground. The armored car was moving really slowly in this zombies' tide.

This situation was as dangerous as speeding in a morning rush. Their bodies were almost overthrown by the endless zombies several times, and a few team members had screamed during this short period as their feet were almost grabbed by the zombies, before they managed to kick those living-deads off.

Zhou Rong roared into his headset intercom: “Yingjie, go up and provide fire support! I’ll drive!"

The driver answered by opening the roof's window and climbed up. Zhou Rong took this opportunity to slide down the driving seat, and trampled on the accelerator!

The armored car shot dozens of meters forward, bringing countless living-dead to the ground. During this time, he suddenly heard the sound of the driver seat's window being smashed!

“Aw–” a couple of withered hands reached into the window and grabbed at Zhou Rong.

Zhou Rong moved his body sideways to avoid it, while beside him, Si Nan shots several of those repulsive corpses in a timely manner: “Where is the refuge?”

"Below!"

“Where?! "

Zhou Rong did not answer and only t.i.tled his chin forward.

Hundreds of meters away, a mall building stood at the end of the city center's street, displaying multiple large bargain signs flowing in the air.

Si Nan shot a zombie's head, causing crushed pieces of smelly greyish brain to splash on Zhou Rong's body. He cursed: “f.u.c.k!”

Si Nan: “f.u.c.k who?” "

Zhou Rong's left hand was fighting the zombies who were scrambling to climb the window, while his right hand was perched on the wheel while holding onto a ammunition case for Si Nan. He thought for a moment, before saying with a scowl: “… The refuge is actually under a broken mall with dozen of bargains, no wonder there were so many people outside! f.u.c.k his ancestors! "

At this time, the overhead radio on the car issued a sound, and a sharp female voice could be heard clearly amidst the chaos: “0011 Headquarters Call! Headquarters Call! Do you need backup? Repeat, do you need backup? "

“Need it!” Zhou Rong pressed close to Si Nan’s side and stepped on the brake. He switched on the roof's intercom and issued a deafening shout out of his almost exhausted body: "All go down–! Lock the roof, immediately–!"

He had barely finished talking when a sudden flash of light emerged from the top of the shopping mall's building ahead.

At the next moment, the white light rushed to mid-air, going up, before suddenly heading  straight towards the ground!

The area close to the armored car exploded like a broken kite, and the car was thrown for more than 10 meters. The windows were cracked, and everyone in it was screaming as they were flipped around.

He didn't know how long he fainted, it felt like a century had pa.s.sed before Si Nan regained his consciousness. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, and struggled to hold up his upper body as he opened his eyes…

…only to find out that his nose was facing against Zhou Ron's pants covered… crotch。

Zhou Rong was sitting down while supporting his forehead on one of his hand. His mouth twitched, and his voice trembled in pain as he said: “If I died, you must not give up…”

All the other team members groaned and looked out the car's window. The single rocket had swept away half of the zombies blocking the street, and left billowing smoke which now enveloped the once bustling commercial street.

"Ehem"….  A coughing female voice sounded: “h.e.l.lo everyone, still alive? I repeat, is there anyone alive?"

Zhou Rong answered: “Chun Cao, next time you have a plan, let’s talk about it first, okay? Do you know that I almost have my baby maker broken? "

Chun Cao said: “You don't have any use for it anyway, simply cut it ah.”

Si Nan glanced unbelievably at Zhou Rong.

“You want to say something?” Zhou Rong was now extremely sensitive to any kind of provocation.

"……It’s nothing."

I don't think Yan Hao would appreciate that, thought Si Nan, judging silently.

Thanks to the rocket, the armored vehicle was finally able to get through the blockade, and arrived at its final destination- the refuge.

It was located at the mall’s underground warehouse which was functioned as a bomb shelter in the middle of the last century.  It had a good military construction base, and had resisted several rounds of attacks from the living-deads army during the virus breakout.

At this moment, thousands of people were hiding in the underground refuge, most of whom were the shopping mall's customers and employees. There were women and men there, and the room was filled with the sound of their repressed cries.

Zhou Rong, who finally met the rest of his teammates, said enthusiasticly: “Cao!”

Chun Cao: “Captain!”

In a flash, Chun Cao had bolted close to the man’s side. The two of them started hugging and spinning at the same time with Zhou Rong lifting the girl, whose height only reached his shoulder, effortlessly. If  this was a comic, there would be noodle tears scattered in all 360° directions around them.

“No bullets,” Chun Cao's eyes were full of longing tears: “Last night I swept the corridor with Dading and Xiangzi, all the bullets were all fired, and that rocket just now was our last one as well…  Also, we don't have enough food.  I have blocked the warehouse's doors and windows with some furniture. I was afraid that the zombies would rush in and we'd have no way to win with only hand-to-hand combats."

Zhou Rong touched her head, and said lovingly: “Call me Dad.”

Chun Cao obeyed immediately: “Dad.”

Zhou Rong then took out the two bullets inside his gun's barrel and opened his daughter’s palm. At first he put both bullets down, but then he thought about it and took one back .

“The last two bullets in the team." Zhou Rong smiled and said,” Keep yourself safe."

Chun Cao immediately cut off any indication of their father-daughter relations.h.i.+p, and walked away indifferently.

At the beginning of the chaos, a total of two or three thousand people fled to the refuge, but some of them had been infected with the virus. After entering the confined s.p.a.ce, they turned to zombies and rapidly infected most of the other surviving people.

Fortunately, thanks to several of Zhou Rong's team members, they were able to contact the local government and Medical Group was soon arrived there in time. After several times of inspection and cleaning, there were only about 1000 survivor left, all of whom then given a preliminary test to determine that they had not been infected.

Chun Cao was among those few team members. They later cut off the throats of the infected corpses and burned them. Chun Cao was also busy sweeping the wandering zombies inside the mall. Their foods and ammunition were soon depleted, and she could only anxiously wait for Zhou Rong to come and rescue them.

“Ehem,” Zhou Rong stepped on a milk tank and hurriedly protected his head as he almost hit the ceiling's lamp.

The crowd of people stared blankly at him, even the sobbing sound coming from a few women and children were soon subsided.

“Are you here to save us?” Some of them ventured to ask.

“I am the sixth Squadron Leader of the 118 units serving under the B Military area." Zhou Rong once again took out his now wrinkled official letter and calmly showed it to the crowd in a circle. Under the lamplight of the underground warehouse, the red seal looked especially conspicuous.

As if they had gained some confidence from the red seal, the crowd suddenly felt slightly excited.

“My superiors sent me to carry the positioning device here, to confirm the safety of the people, to protect them from the virus outbreak, and also to launch the positioning signal of this place to the higher units. Soon, the government will organize some forces to rescue everyone.”

“Please keep calm during this period, do not panic, and do not trust in any rumor. Set a schedule and regularly measure your body's temperature…”

“What’s going on out there, are those monsters zombies?” A man in the front row asked.

Zhou Rong answered: “That is just some kind of mutated rabies virus, please do not believe in rumors. Next.”

“We, our,” A girl cried while asking, “what about our family?”

“Yes, my child is still at school…”

“My wife, she…”

“My mother is over 80!……"

Under the light, Zhou Rong's cheek lines tightened slightly, giving out some kind of as cold as steel grim impression.

But then he laughed, and albeit only briefly, it was very calming and convincing. He adjusted his intonation into something more soothing: “The Army will not give up on any citizens, please rest a.s.sured.”

The signs of panic subside a little, these people had no choice but to believe in his words. However, more questions soon came out: “When will the rescue come?”

“Where will we be sent?”

“When the plague is over, will the government send us back?” "

Si Nan leaned on the shelves, staring at Zhou Rong who was patiently answering question after question, his eyebrows creased.

Not far behind him, Chun Cao hooked her hand around Yan Hao's shoulder, leaned closer, then whispered: “Why do you always look over there? The man is dirty and a beta. "

“I didn’t."

“Eee–you just have.”

Yan Hao smiled and said: “Tomorrow the helicopters will come to pick up the citizens, and we will …”

He stopped talking when he saw Si Nan turned and walked pa.s.s them, heading towards the warehouse's back door.

“Si Nan!" Yan Hao took a few steps to follow him before asking: “It's not safe outside, where are you going?”

Si Nan politely replied, “To take a shower.”

The warehouse staff's rest room has a shabby bathroom with a still functioning hot water. White steam quickly transpirated and filled the room, blurring the dirty window's surface.

Si Nan closed his eyes while standing under the shower. He felt the water was.h.i.+ng away the dust, sand, and blood all over his body until he gradually recovered his original smooth appearance. The water turned red, flowing down his naked body to his toe, before disappearing into the sewer with a gurgling sound.

He himself did not know how long he had not taken a shower, but at that moment it only felt like each of his pore was being stretched out, with his muscles and bones altogether releasing the last hint of soreness; if his skin could sing, it would surely be singing words of praises right now.

After a while, he finally turned off the shower and wiped his body hastily.  He wiped the water vapor on the mirror's surface, revealing the reflection of his dust-free face.

In most Asian-European hybrids, Asian would come out as the dominant gene, as was the case with Si Nan. However, if you look closely, you could still see signs of his mother's age-defying, soul-stirring beauty from his brow, and the contour of his cheeks and eyes.

However the woman’s touch of tenderness had vanished from him, replaced by some kind of hard and decisive nature. So firm as if they had been polished through many years of harsh reality.

Si Nan bent down to put on his trousers and picked up his s.h.i.+rt. Just as he was about to put it on, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something in the mirror which stopped all his actions immediately.

"……"

He turned his body to the side, staring at the back of his right shoulder. He suddenly understood why he was unconscious before.

There was an impressively big bite mark above his smooth scapula. The flesh was open, and while the wound had dried up, it was still suffused with a shocking purple-black color.

It was mark from a zombie’s tooth.

“Rong Ge, I've sent the positioning signal, tomorrow afternoon the airs.h.i.+p will arrive to pick up the survivors to B military area…” The voice of Chun Cao who was still hanging onto Yan Hao's shoulder suddenly stopped. She stared at something right behind Yan Hao.

Yan Hao casually asked: “What’s wrong with you?” He also looked back and froze.

The young man pushed through the bathroom's door. His hair was wet, which made it looked especially black; and his sideway profile only revealed one side of his face due to water vapor, which appeared cold white without the slightest color.

He turned and saw Yan Hao. For a few seconds none of them spoke, the young man also did not move, his bright eyes looked as if they were a pair of hidden amber treasures. After a while, he finally smiled briefly, unloaded the carbine from his shoulder, and threw it over.

Yan Hao catched it unconsciously, and heard the young man said: “I'm returning this to you.”

“Si Nan…” Yan Hao subconsciously moved to block his way, but saw that Si Nan had turned to go to the warehouse.

His figure was very good-looking, with s.h.i.+rt hem casually stuffed into his waist line and trousers hanging low on his hips- one could feel his agile aura just by looking at the way he walk.

Chun Cao poked at Yan Hao's arm, covered her mouth, and whispered: “… Do you still have face to say that you are not looking?"

Zhou Rong was finally able to get out of the crowd, all the while dealing with his snot-stained hand which he received from the crying mall's manager. He looked up and saw Si Nan standing in the shadow of the door. The young man had one hand inserted into his trouser pocket and was staring silently at him.

Zhou Rong looked at him for a moment before rubbing at his chin uncomfortably: “What, do you need me for something?”

"……"

“It's working time now, let's talk again after going back to the base… What are you doing?"

Si Nan opened the third b.u.t.ton of his s.h.i.+rt, pulled off the collar slightly, and motioned to Zhou Rong to see the back of his shoulder- the bite mark of the zombie’s teeth could be seen clearly even under the shadow.

"……I may be infected,” he said hoa.r.s.ely.

Zhou Rong complexion turned pale, and he stood frozen for a long time.

T/N:

I was going to upload a second chapter, but this feels like a nice place to end it. XD Yay cliffy!

-Unedited-

Still looking for editor/proofreader for this story! 0/

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