“Chapter 97”

"Chapter 97"

The zombies rose in unison, their frail bodies shakily approaching them. In the dimly lit underground parking lot, a horde of ferocious zombies advanced like vengeful spirits.

Shen Xiuzhe's eyes narrowed slightly; logically, these zombies were controlled to work and shouldn't attack humans even if Granny Wu’s powers were ineffective.

Yet now, their movements were too synchronized, not like they were drawn to human flesh but rather as if being controlled to attack them.

He looked up, his gaze suddenly stopping on something—a camera, underneath which a faint red light was blinking.

They had been discovered long ago.

Ran Qing tensed up. There were too many zombies here. Even with their powerful abilities, they couldn’t withstand an assault by so many zombies. He was about to shout for everyone to run when he realized no one was moving.

After destroying the camera, Shen Xiuzhe looked towards Lin An.

Though no words were exchanged, Lin An immediately understood his intention.

It was his moment to shine, a time when he no longer needed to hold back.

Ran Qing watched in awe as water surged from all directions, engulfing all the zombies, yet their area remained untouched, as if protected by an invisible wall.

The turbulent water washed everything away, soon forming a small vortex in the center that gradually grew, swirling the water and zombies around, starting to spin.

The vortex spun faster, turning the zombies inside into dark, blurred shadows as the massive water current crazily spiraled within the parking lot, sweeping along countless unfinished helmets.

Ran Qing's hair was blown about; normally, subduing so many zombies would require many psychics, often accompanied by heavy casualties. But now, Lin An stood there unmoved, his expression relaxed, effortlessly controlling all the zombies.

His psychic power had reached a terrifying level.

She had thought him impressive for being able to instantly kill a single zombie, but now realized she had underestimated him.

This was a complete domination.

Suddenly, she felt reassured about marrying her son to him.

Lin An glanced at Shen's mother, noticing her astonished gaze, quickly lowered his head, but soon couldn't resist peeking at her again, then looked down, and peeked once more.

Shen Xiuzhe: "..."

He blocked the line of sight between the two.

Shen's mother clucked in amazement, watching her son stand like a large obstacle between them, lamenting that a grown child leaves his mother's side, not even allowing a glance, how stingy.

Knowing Lin An's capabilities were far greater, Shen's mother relaxed, suddenly feeling today's mission wouldn't be too difficult.

After the zombies were completely cleansed, Lin An neatly stacked them in a corner and then froze them all, instantly transforming the once dirty and disordered underground black market into a tidy and clean space.

It finally felt much more comfortable.

Compared to his time in Chuxi City, Lin An's obsession with cleanliness had improved a lot, but he still felt uncomfortable in such filthy and chaotic places. Having water-based psychic powers was indeed convenient, at least in these moments, he could clean up quickly.

Afterwards, they left the underground parking lot. The zombies they encountered in the stairwell, attacking like geckos, were specifically targeting them, but none could stop them. Shen Xiuzhe and the others didn't pause in their steps; the zombies either turned into blocks of ice, were instantly burned to ash by flames, or were torn apart by Wudo using her spatial powers.

Shen's mother transitioned from initial shock to leisurely ease, even finding time to have Wudo collect various medical experts' photos, honor certificates, and medals from the corridor. Though mere pieces of paper, each represented a person who had made outstanding contributions to medicine, displayed here posthumously as an inspiration, making these items sacred and significant to her and every medical student.

Since Wudo possessed spatial abilities, she decided to take everything.

Every floor's corridor was filled with bizarre zombies - hybrids of humans and various other creatures with scales, fur, tails, and horns, creating a deadly and eerie sight. To anyone else, each floor would be a death trap.

"Now, Ran Qing seemed to be on a casual tour, taking away everything important on each floor without any worry of encountering zombies."

Shen Xiuzhe and Lin An felt an unprecedented sense of security here.

Even more secure than when she was with her husband.

Shen Xiuzhe noticed that although the elevators and lights were powered down, the cameras were all operational. As they passed each floor, he systematically destroyed all the cameras.

The higher they went, the more numerous and powerful the zombies became, each one stronger than the last.

These zombies had surpassed even special-type zombies in combat strength; facing them alone, Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong would struggle for a long time to defeat each one.

The thought of these uncontrolled zombies escaping was a potential catastrophe for the survivors in Baize City.

"Thinking this, Shen Xiuzhe's attacks grew even more ruthless, while Lin An efficiently drained all the moisture from the zombies, turning them into dried corpses."

They paused only upon reaching the top three floors.

The topmost three levels housed the potions and various records, also the most heavily defended area, filled with traps. Professor Zhang might be here.

"The heavy metal door required a password that changed every three minutes, indicating that the building's power was mainly allocated to surveillance cameras and the top three floors."

As Ran Qing prepared to hack the password, Shen Xiuzhe had already opened the metal door; to him, any metal-made door or mechanism was futile.

Looking at the small computer she had pulled out, Ran Qing fell silent and discreetly put it away.

Suddenly, I felt like I was clinging to a golden leg.

I swaggered in alongside Shen Xiuzhe and Lin An, unconcerned by bullets firing from both sides, various scythes, lasers, or the sudden drop of metal doors, as Shen Xiuzhe and Lin An could handle it all.

Wuduo, holding her grandmother's hand, packed everything she wanted to bring back into a space.

"Ran Qing only needed to stroll around, deciding what to take."

This feeling was truly exhilarating.

Starting from this floor, they finally encountered humans, all subordinates of Professor Zhang. As they saw the intruders, they were about to shoot but were instantly frozen into ice blocks.

"No time to waste talking with these people, let's find the medicine and data first, then rescue Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong."

Shen Xiuzhe had no intention of talking; he walked past the ice blocks and deeper inside.

They quickly reached the area where the medicine was stored, with countless specially sealed containers holding vials of medicine, a dazzling array.

Almost filling the entire floor of the building.

Ran Qing quickly located the vials containing the treatment for Alzheimer's disease. After entering the appropriate code, the vial opened.

Inside the cold vial were rows of white pills, and Ran Qing immediately handed one to Wuduo.

"Take one a week, and you'll be fine once all of these are consumed."

Wuduo calculated that with four pills a month, her grandmother would likely recover in three months.

Her hands trembled slightly as she took the small white pill, a journey far and wide for just this one pill.

"But as long as grandma could be helped, no distance was too far."

"Feeding the pill to Grandma Wu, who was highly wary, she initially refused to take it, and it took a mix of coaxing and deception to get her to swallow the medicine."

"Just after taking the pill, there was no immediate visible effect."

"Afterward, Wu Duo packed all the medicine and potions on that floor into her space and took them away."

"She immediately rushed to the data storage area, where all the information was stored in the medical building's computer system. The data needed to be downloaded, and Ran Qing promptly set up her compact computer to start the process."

"She had prepared in advance and successfully accessed the system to begin downloading the data. However, the amount of data stored there was much more than she anticipated, and the outdated equipment of the medical building slowed the download considerably."

"Watching the progress slowly reach just one percent after a long time, Wu Duo bit her lip anxiously. Would they have enough time to wait for the complete download of the data for Xu Ge and Ouyang Dong?"

"Shen Xiuzhe also noticed the slow download speed."

"Having not found Professor Zhang on the top three floors of the building, they concluded that he either escaped or was elsewhere."

"After pondering for a moment, Shen Xiuzhe decided to send Lin An to find Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong, as they couldn't predict what moves Professor Zhang might have up his sleeve. It would be problematic if their companions got injured. Meanwhile, he and Wu Duo would wait for the data download to complete."

"Lin An nodded in agreement, accepting the task."

"He suddenly realized that he felt no fear internally. Normally, if asked to undertake a task alone, he would need to rehearse several times in advance, fearing unexpected incidents and feeling insecure without company."

"But now, looking at his own hands, he realized his powers were the source of his security."

"Shen Xiuzhe's gaze was calm and restrained, showing no worry for him, not out of indifference, but from confidence in his abilities."

"I'll definitely bring them both back," Lin An declared with determination."

"As he turned to leave, his clothing was tugged at."

Granny Wu looked at Lin An with some trepidation, "Huihui, where are you going?"

Wuduo replied, "...Grandma, that's Lin An, not my mom."

The medicine was taking effect so quickly; Granny Wu mistook Lin An for her daughter-in-law, adamantly believing it and insisting on following her, disregarding Wuduo's attempts to persuade her otherwise.

In the end, Lin An couldn't leave alone and, with no other choice, took Granny Wu with her.

Although Wuduo felt helpless about her grandmother mistaking Lin An for her own mother, she was reassured knowing it was Lin An, the gentlest yet strongest zombie.

*

Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong were captured, and, as if they were deliberately caught, they were blindfolded and carried away like pigs by a group of people.

Ouyang Dong had an excellent sense of direction; after Shen's mother gave him a map, he memorized most of it, and even blindfolded, he had a rough idea of the direction they were going.

Initially thinking they would be taken to a floor in the medical building, they instead entered through its main entrance, exited from somewhere else, circled around, and finally entered what seemed to be a residential building and descended for a long time before arriving at a dimly lit place.

When the cloth was removed from his eyes, Ouyang Dong guessed they were in the sewer.

The space here was vast and twisted, so much so that even he lost track of where they were above ground.

They were tied to two metal chairs, their wrists and ankles shackled with iron, making escape extremely difficult.

Surrounding them were continuous screams and moans, from both zombies and humans, leading Ouyang Dong to fear they were directly taken to the site of human experimentation, as Shen's mother had mentioned about Professor Zhang. And if this place wasn't in the medical building, it meant that their leader and Lin An, trying to rescue them, might not even know their location.

Xu Fang also sensed the danger and, upon removing the cloth from his eyes, didn't immediately curse but observed their surroundings.

"Damn! How are we in the sewer?" Xu Fang panicked, thinking they were doomed. Weren't the experiments supposed to be in the building? Why here, of all places?

The faces of a few people nearby were bruised, all beaten by these two. Seeing their "terrified" expressions, they sneered viciously, "Scared now, are you? Wait until the professor arrives, you'll be wailing just like them."

This group had sleazy appearances, unkempt and scruffy with tangled beards and dusty, yellowish-black faces. Compared to them, Xu Fang looked like a fresh-faced youth.

Influenced by Lin An’s obsession with cleanliness, Xu Fang had also grown to value cleanliness. He turned his head away in disgust at the sight of this ragged group.

Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed from not far away. The sound abruptly rose and then ceased, creating chilling echoes in the sewer pipes.

Even the few men standing there with sleazy smiles couldn’t keep laughing.

Soon, footsteps followed the scream, growing louder as they approached their location.

Ouyang Dong and Xu Fang looked towards the newcomer, instantly recognizing the person’s identity.

Xu Fang exclaimed, "Look at that shiny bald spot, it must be Professor Zhang!"

Ouyang Dong lamented, "We're doomed, why is the ace here with them?"

The newcomer was dressed in a white lab coat, splattered with bloodstains and various other marks of white and green, looking as if he had just come from a crime scene.

The man was not tall and even in the dimly lit sewer, his bald head shone brightly, surrounded by a fringe of hair, making him look significantly older. His pale face, adorned with glasses, appeared altogether strange.

Xu Fang immediately disliked the man from the first glance, certain of his identity.

His intuition was usually accurate, and he felt sure this man was no good.

Professor Zhang adjusted his glasses, looking emotionlessly at the two men tied to chairs. The leader who had brought Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong cautiously approached, smiling obsequiously, "Professor, these are two powerful ability users we caught causing trouble in our territory today. We captured them with great effort and brought them straight to you."

"Hmm, bring them in. We have too few subjects; the experiment lacks bodies," Professor Zhang said, not sparing a glance at his subordinate, his dead gaze on Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong sending chills down their spines.

"Of course, of course, we'll capture more tomorrow. You should take care of your health for the sake of Baize City, Professor. The hope of humanity rests on you; don't overwork yourself." The man eagerly flattered, hoping that the professor would spare some lives. The number of people at the base was limited, and too many disappearances would raise suspicions.

"Professor Zhang finally graced him with a glance, acknowledging his words with a hum. Then, he seemed to remember something, 'I haven't eaten yet.'"

The other person immediately called someone over to take Professor Zhang for a meal, while they took care of securing the captives.

"After Professor Zhang left, the leader let out a sigh of relief, showing he too was quite intimidated by the professor."

Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong remained tied to their chairs, now being led away by the remaining people. This time, their eyes weren't covered, allowing them to clearly observe the sewer's eerie surroundings.

The area seemed divided into various cages and laboratories, imprisoning an array of animals and zombies.

Gathering so many animals in such times was indeed no small feat.

Apart from the one human they had heard earlier, no other humans were in sight.

The empty cages, stained with blood and unidentifiable filth, and filled with the low growls and screams of zombies, created a scene reminiscent of a horror movie, causing Xu Fang to feel a chill down his spine and a tinge of fear.

Swallowing hard, he turned to the person dragging the chairs, trying to strike up a conversation, "Are we going to be kept here? How long before we can be released?"

The person glanced at him and sneered coldly, "How long? You won't even survive today."

"Come on, man, that's a bit harsh, isn't it? We just taunted a bit, no need to take lives. We both have strong abilities, what about joining you instead?" Xu Fang shouted.

"Stop yelling. The professor hates noisy people. You two are just unlucky to fall into our hands. Better luck in your next life."

Ouyang Dong interjected, "What do you mean? Can't Professor Zhang control zombies? Isn't he researching how to make zombies more powerful? Why kill us?"

"The professor is currently researching how to enhance humans, but it's not successful yet…"

The man's words were cut off mid-sentence by the leader's sharp rebuke.

"However, this information was enough for Ouyang Dong. He was certain that Professor Zhang was conducting human experiments. The crucial question now was how to escape from this place. Who could have thought that the professor, instead of staying in the medical building, was so dedicated to conducting experiments in such a location?"

Did he have to be so diligent?

Their limbs, bound by metal, were impossible to free. The metal's composition was unknown, but it was incredibly sturdy, and without any metal-based abilities, escape was out of the question.

Once Professor Zhang finished his meal, it would be their end.

The two were placed in a room with a bed nearby. On the bed lay a person, unrecognizable and mutilated, with bright red blood dripping down to the floor and splattering the walls.

The person on the bed was unrecognizable, the body appeared as if the skin had burst open entirely, suffering unknown torment.

"Recalling the harrowing screams heard earlier, it was likely they came from this very person."

Ouyang Dong and Xu Fang couldn't bear to look. They had killed many zombies, but rarely humans, and when necessary, only those utterly vile, granting them a swift end. This level of brutal torture was just too sadistic.

Among the other few people, some vomited, but their plight was worse as they had to clean up the corpse on the bed and replace the soiled linens.

It seemed that these people also detested being there, hastily finishing their tasks before making a quick exit.

Xu Fang, already unnerved by such a horror-movie-like setting, started shouting as they began to leave.

"Don't go, there might be ghosts here! The debt of blood must be paid by the wrongdoer, don’t come after me, go for those guys, it’s all their fault."

"Look, everyone, these guys clearly aren’t good people. I, on the other hand, am a law-abiding citizen, never did any harm, always did good deeds, unlike them, with their heinous crimes. If you must take someone, take them instead."

"Be sure to choose the right people. Me and this chubby guy next to me, we’re the good ones. Go after those sleazy-looking fellows, they're the ones you want for revenge."

Xu Fang's solo act felt like an entire play.

The people about to leave through the door were visibly infuriated, veins popping on their foreheads, wishing they could stuff their shoes into Xu Fang's mouth. His shouts made their legs tremble in fear.

"Don't go after them! They didn't kill anyone!"

"Find Professor Zhang!"

Suddenly, the large door beside them creaked, a chill air brushed over their heads, as if something had just passed through.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Knowing they had done wrong, and startled by Xu Fang's shout, the sudden coolness above made them believe a malevolent spirit had appeared, breaking their psychological defense and sending them scrambling out in a panic.

Xu Fang in shock: "...Don't leave, it's livelier with more people, you won't be scared, come back ah~"

Ouyang Dong: "Would you just shut up."

Even he started to feel uneasy.

As soon as the words were spoken, those who had run away returned, but this time their expressions were strangely serene.

Gone were the anger, sleaziness, and fear of before. Now, their faces bore identical smiles, lips slightly curled, eyes gentle, staring intently at Ouyang Dong and Xu Fang.

Was there a kind of, benign feeling to it?

Ouyang Dong wasn't frightened by the corpse, nor by Xu Fang's nonsensical talk, but these people's gaze did terrify him.

Men with previously fierce and sleazy demeanors now looked at them with a 'kind' smile, slowly approaching, even helping to unlock their shackles.

The formerly fierce leader looked at them benignly: "I'll come to rescue you soon, just behave."

Xu Fang and Ouyang Dong simultaneously shivered.

"Help, it's terrifying!"

"Another person even reached out to touch the short, curly hair on top of Xu Fang's head."

"Xu Fang's scalp tingled with fear, feeling as if he was about to lose his head."

"What's wrong with these people? Are they messing around on purpose, or are they possessed? It's truly frightening."