Chapter 194

Chapter 194

After sitting silently for a while, Feng Chen finally asked, "General Lin, what about the viral strain now?"

Lin Fen turned his head away in silence. Feng Chen added, "I don't know if extracting the virus will harm Colonel Yu, only Kong Siyun would know. But he will find a way to extract the virus without hurting Colonel Yu, so you don’t need to worry too much."

Lin Fen spoke in a low voice, "I understand the priorities. As long as I can take Yu Yuan down the mountain and leave this place, I will leave immediately."

"But can we really get Colonel Yu out through the zombie horde?" Yan Bubu scratched his face, "...It seems hard enough just to get down the mountain. Colonel Yu is calm for half an hour each day, but what if we can't break out in that half-hour?"

If they couldn't break out of the zombie horde within half an hour, they would have an additional zombie to deal with.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Fen said, "Let's do this: Yu Yuan and I will continue to stay here, and tomorrow we’ll find a way for you two to break out. Go to the camp and find Ran Zhengshou, tell him about this situation and my message."

Feng Chen felt this was the best plan for now and responded, "Alright, let’s do that."

"As long as this matter is reported to Ran Zhengshou, he can send the Western Union Army here. Then the zombies at the foot of the mountain won’t be a problem, and Lin Fen and Yu Yuan can be evacuated."

"It’s getting late, you should rest early—" Lin Fen's words were cut off abruptly as his expression changed, turning to look at the sky. Then, the vulture swooped down from the darkness above, landing on his shoulder.

Lin Fen's gaze darkened, "The situation has changed, you can't leave now."

"What happened?"

"Many more zombies have been deployed below, twice the number as before. There are also people stationed around, sealing off all the hilltops."

Late at night.

The building had many complete dormitories, and Yan Bubu and Feng Chen randomly chose one on the third floor to stay. The researchers here had decent accommodations, with unopened new clothes, underwear, socks, and nightgowns neatly placed in the wardrobe.

Yan Bubu stood under the shower, letting the hot water cascade from his head down his body. Relaxing with his eyes closed, he suddenly jerked in shock at a long howl coming from outside the open window.

Turning off the shower, he wiped the water from his face, staring at the window, pondering how Lin Fen endured days and years amidst such howling.

After showering, he threw his tattered clothes into the trash and changed into new pajamas. As he stepped out of the bathroom, a large towel was thrown over his head, and Feng Chen began to dry his hair.

Yan Bubu swayed left and right following Feng Chen's movements, softly calling him 'Brother'.

"Hmm," Feng Chen responded.

After calling him, Yan Bubu stayed silent, just leaning in and wrapping his arms around Feng Chen’s waist.

"How can I dry your hair like this?" Feng Chen asked.

Yan Bubu didn't respond, instead holding him even tighter.

Feng Chen looked down at him, slowly loosening the towel, and embraced him, resting his chin on top of Yan Bubu's head.

Yan Bubu, with his eyes covered by the drooping towel, just pressed his ear against Feng Chen's chest, listening to the deep and steady heartbeat within.

The two embraced quietly until Feng Chen gently pushed him away, "You go to sleep first, I need to talk to General Lin about something."

"Okay."

The bed was large, with Sasaka lying at the foot and Bi Nunu beside Yan Bubu, holding a mutated bird in its paws, occasionally fiddling with its wings.

The mutated bird had bright feathers and a small size but fierce eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth, which made Yan Bubu a bit uneasy.

"Let it go, what if it bites me and leaves a bunch of blood holes?" Yan Bubu said.

Bi Nunu glanced at Yan Bubu and, though it didn't let go of the bird, pinched its sharp beak with its claws.

Yan Bubu watched Bi Nunu holding the bird, his gaze seemingly drifting far away as he murmured softly.

"...I keep thinking, what was Uncle Colonel Yu thinking when he injected himself with the virus. If it were me, I’d be very scared... He's so brave. I wish he could return to normal. And if he can't, General Lin won’t last long before he succumbs to eternal sleep. I don’t want them both to end like that... Bi Nunu, not everyone is as lucky as I am..."

Yan Bubu's eyes grew warm, and he turned his head to rub it against the pillow. Bi Nunu, still playing with the mutated bird, paused its movements upon hearing this, just pinching its sharp beak.

After a quiet moment, Yan Bubu softly said, "Actually, when I was going up the mountain, I entered a zombie's spirit realm..."

As he recounted the experience, Bi Nunu listened attentively, its eyes fixed steadily ahead.

"...The zombie virus can transfer to my spirit tendrils, and I can clear them. But the zombies, although returned to their original form after being cleared of the virus, seemed dead for a long time. And the virus in Colonel Yu’s body is the original strain; if cleared, it's gone," Yan Bubu sighed in distress.

Yan Bubu stopped speaking. Suddenly, Bi Nunu got off the bed, went to the window, and threw the mutated bird outside.

The mutated bird flew away in a mix of anger and panic. Bi Nunu returned to the bed but didn't climb up, just stood there, gazing intently at Yan Bubu.

"What's wrong?"

Just as Yan Bubu asked this question, his facial expression froze. His porcelain-white skin visibly turned a bluish color, with spiderweb-like patterns rapidly rising beneath the skin. His eyes, fixedly staring ahead, lost their luster, turning an extreme black and quickly spreading across the entire eyeball.

Bi Nunu remained motionless by the bed, the blue-black color on its skin quickly fading to reveal its natural color.

Yan Bubu and Bi Nunu stayed in this state for about a minute, then suddenly snapped back to reality, their skin and eyes quickly returning to normal.

Sasaka, which had been lying on the bed with its eyes closed, seemed to sense something amiss and opened its eyes, looking puzzledly first at Yan Bubu, then at Bi Nunu.

After a moment of eye contact, Yan Bubu swallowed nervously and hugged Bi Nunu's head, whispering, "There's a spy here, let’s go outside to talk in detail."

"Sasaka, Bi Nunu and I are going for a walk. You stay here and wait for brother, we'll be back soon."

Yan Bubu headed for the door, with Bi Nunu quickly following. Sasaka, propping its head up, watched them go, jumping down from the bed wanting to follow.

"Don’t come with us. Stay here, I’m worried brother won’t find anyone when he comes back," Yan Bubu immediately stopped it.

Sasaka was left in the room, watching with wide eyes as Bi Nunu and Yan Bubu walked out the door, heartlessly not looking back even once.

Yan Bubu didn’t go far after leaving the room; instead, he led Bi Nunu to the stairs and climbed up to the fourth floor.

The fourth floor was deserted, all doors were closed, and only the corridor lights emitted a pale glow.

"Are you sure this method will work?" Yan Bubu asked, sitting slowly on the stairs, his voice trembling with excitement or nerves.

Bi Nunu nodded without hesitation.

Yan Bubu hesitantly said, "But I’m still worried, I’m afraid something might happen to you."

Bi Nunu placed its paw on his hand, shaking its head.

"Are you really sure there won’t be any problems?" Yan Bubu asked again for confirmation.

Bi Nunu nodded firmly.

Yan Bubu remained silent, just staring intently at Bi Nunu. The lighting system didn't detect any movement, and the corridor lights automatically turned off, plunging the staircase into darkness.

After a moment, Yan Bubu’s voice softly rose in the dark, "You just mentally connected with me and said that Yu Yuan is like you, so you want to help him. You also don’t want me and Feng Chen to be sad, nor do you want General Lin to die. But Bi Nunu,

Bi Nunu pinched his hand gently with its paw. Yan Bubu then overlapped his hand, holding Bi Nunu's paw in his palm.

"Let’s go back first. Brother will be back soon; we’ll act after he falls asleep. Remember, we must not let him find out, or he will definitely not allow us to do this."

When Feng Chen returned to the room, Yan Bubu and Bi Nunu immediately pretended to be asleep, lying motionless side by side on the bed.

Yan Bubu felt him come to the bedside and look at him and Bi Nunu, then heard a soft chuckle, followed by Feng Chen turning towards the bathroom.

Moments later, the sound of showering came from the bathroom.

Bi Nunu sat up while Feng Chen was showering, but Yan Bubu quickly pulled it back down, whispering very softly, "There’s a spy at the foot of the bed... We can’t relax for a moment."

Bi Nunu glanced at Sasaka, who was staring at it, then lay back down, crossing its little paws over its chest.

The sound of water stopped, and Feng Chen came out of the bathroom. He stood by the bed, drying his hair with a towel, watching the person and quantum beast on the bed.

Yan Bubu made light snoring sounds, occasionally smacking his lips.

Bi Nunu also made light purring sounds, occasionally smacking its lips.

Sasaka shook its head in confusion, indicating it didn’t understand what was going on. Feng Chen silently finished drying his hair, placed the towel back in the bathroom, turned off the light, and went to bed.

Half an hour later, Yan Bubu, lying on his side facing Bi Nunu, opened his eyes and lightly scratched its paw. Bi Nunu quickly rolled over, and Yan Bubu gestured for silence, then raised his head to look over Bi Nunu at Feng Chen sleeping on the other side.

Feng Chen's breathing was steady, as if he had fallen asleep. Yan Bubu propped himself up to observe for a while, making sure he was sleeping soundly before quietly slipping out of bed.

Bi Nunu followed, stepping lightly.

The door was silently opened, and two figures, one large and one small, slipped out.

Yan Bubu and Bi Nunu quickly descended to the second floor, moving along the corridor until they stopped outside a particular room.

"Luckily, I was watching the keypad when General Lin opened the door today, and I remembered the code," Yan Bubu pressed several numbers on the keypad, and after a click, a small window above the door slowly opened.

Light from the room shone out of the window, but Yu Yuan was not sitting on the bed, and there was no sign of him within sight.

Yan Bubu and Bi Nunu exchanged glances, then cautiously approached the window, tiptoeing and rolling their eyes, trying to see more.

"I can’t see anyone, maybe General Lin took him away—"

Yan Bubu’s words were cut off as the small window was suddenly blocked, and he found himself face to face with a pair of dark, murky eyes surrounded by ink-colored web-like patterns.

Yan Bubu was extremely close to these eyes, frightening him nearly out of his wits, his mind blank for two seconds. Fortunately, he quickly realized it was Yu Yuan and suppressed the scream that was about to escape his lips.

"Uncle Colonel Yu…" Yan Bubu stepped back half a step, stuttering under the gaze of those lifeless, icy eyes.

Although he had seen many zombies and wasn’t usually afraid to fight them, this sudden scare made him break out into a cold sweat.

"Uncle Colonel Yu, please don't hit me. I want to treat your illness—"

"Roar!"

Yu Yuan roared at the window.

Fearing his roar might attract Feng Chen and Lin Fen, Yan Bubu whispered to Bi Nunu, "I’m going to push the door open and knock him over, then rush in and close the door quickly. Make sure to follow me closely."

Bi Nunu didn’t respond. Yan Bubu placed his hand on the doorknob, reiterating, "You have to follow me closely, so you don't get left outside."

Bi Nunu still didn’t make a sound. Yan Bubu looked down to see that it wasn't in its original position, then turned around to search for it.

After staring behind for two seconds, he calmly turned back and pressed the keys on the keypad.

Watching the small window slowly close, sealing Yu Yuan and his roaring behind the door, Yan Bubu then turned back again.

Feng Chen stood in the corridor wearing pajamas, with Sasaka on his left and Bi Nunu, whose neck he was holding, suspended in the air on his right.

Bi Nunu looked dejectedly at Yan Bubu, hanging limply in Feng Chen’s grasp, its body obediently elongated, with both paws properly placed along its sides.

"What were you two planning to do in there?" Feng Chen asked.

Yan Bubu glanced at Bi Nunu, quickly searching his mind for a plausible excuse.

Feng Chen said indifferently, "Even if you can come up with a seemingly perfect lie full of flaws, you can’t deceive me. And it's late now; don’t waste time. Tell me the real reason."

Yan Bubu wanted to argue with Feng Chen but felt that he was telling the truth. Under Feng Chen’s penetrating gaze, Yan Bubu’s internal struggle lasted less than half a minute before he revealed everything.

"When we were escaping up the mountain, I actually entered a zombie’s spirit realm. There was this black substance in its realm that clung to my spirit threads, and as it transferred onto mine, the zombie slowly returned to its original form. By 'original form,' I mean it looked like a dead person, someone who had been dead for many years..."

As Yan Bubu began speaking, Feng Chen’s throat moved, his pupils constricting in that instant. As Yan Bubu explained further, Feng Chen unconsciously tightened his grip on Bi Nunu’s neck, causing Bi Nunu to look up at him several times.

Yan Bubu didn’t notice this and continued to recall and explain earnestly.

"...I suspect that black substance is the zombie virus, and I can clear it. Since it transfers to my spirit threads, I can enter Uncle Colonel Yu’s spirit realm, not to clear the virus but to transfer it over—"

"Do you realize what nonsense you’re talking about?" Feng Chen’s face turned ashen, his words squeezed out between clenched teeth.

Yan Bubu, sensing the anger in his words, quickly explained, "No, I definitely can't handle that virus. I'm just being a... bridge, or a conduit? I let the virus transfer to me, and then Bi Nunu, through mental connection with me, transfers the virus out of my body and into its own."

"What?" Feng Chen asked, astonished.

Yan Bubu pointed at Bi Nunu in Feng Chen’s hand, "Bi Nunu told me it can store the virus in its body without any impact on itself."

Yan Bubu hesitated, then added uncertainly, "Maybe its appearance will continue to change? But that’s not important, it definitely won’t turn into a zombie."

Feng Chen looked down at Bi Nunu, who quickly nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Sasaka walked up to Bi Nunu, gently biting it, but its eyes were fixed on Feng Chen.

Feng Chen then released his grip, allowing Sasaka to put Bi Nunu down.

"What do you think, brother? I think this method is good. It can save Uncle Colonel Yu and transfer the virus out," Yan Bubu asked, holding his breath.

Feng Chen turned his head towards the wall. The light was blocked by his high nose bridge, casting half of his face in shadow. After a moment, he slowly said, "It’s still too risky."

Bi Nunu, silent until now, tugged at Feng Chen’s trouser leg upon hearing this.

Feng Chen, without looking at it, said, "You don’t have the right to express an opinion right now, be quiet."

Bi Nunu stretched out its paw, seemingly wanting to hit his leg, but refrained and withdrew it.

Yan Bubu walked up to Feng Chen, reaching to hug his waist, "I didn’t tell you about entering the zombie's spirit realm earlier, not because I wanted to hide it, just didn’t have the chance. But when I noticed the virus transferring to me, I immediately withdrew. See, I’m standing here perfectly fine, not infected by the virus."

Feng Chen pried Yan Bubu’s hands off and tossed them aside. Yan Bubu tried to hug him again, only to be pushed away. They silently continued this embrace and rejection until Feng Chen stopped resisting and allowed Yan Bubu to hold him.

Yan Bubu pleaded, "I can protect myself. As soon as something feels wrong, I’ll stop. And Bi Nunu agreed too, it will withdraw immediately if it senses something wrong."

Feng Chen asked gravely, "You said the zombie you cleared of the virus turned into a long-dead corpse. If you and Bi Nunu transfer the virus from Colonel Yu, can he still live?"

Yan Bubu looked up at him, "Those zombies and Colonel Yu are different. Haven’t you forgotten? General Lin feeds him daily and takes good care of his body. I believe if the virus is cleared from his body, he will live. And I’ll monitor his condition closely, stopping immediately if anything seems wrong."

Feng Chen remained silent. Yan Bubu rested his chin on Feng Chen’s shoulder and whispered softly, "I know you're just too worried about me. If you were in my place, you would have already started transferring the virus. Even if it might not succeed this time, as long as there's a glimmer of hope, we should try, right? If we don't try, how can we be content?"

"Doing this can not only save Uncle Colonel Yu but also successfully remove the viral strain," Yan Bubu scratched Feng Chen's waist, "I remember what you said to General Lin. You asked him if he could hear the cries of the children from the orphanage, the gunfire and screams from the settlement."

Feng Chen held his breath for a moment, looking at the person in his arms.

Yan Bubu tilted his head up, his voice soft but clear, "Brother, General Lin and Colonel Yu can hear them, you can hear them, and I... I can hear them too."