At this moment, in F City.
Professor Niu was being escorted by his students as they transferred from the hospital to the research laboratory at the energy station.
The old professor was covered in dirt and dust. His silver hair, usually groomed with meticulous care, was a complete mess. The white lab coat he wore was stained black with grime and even torn in several places. Clutched tightly in his arms was a canvas bag stuffed with several thick stacks of A4 papers.
Professor Niu was getting on in years, and the prolonged exertion had left his face pale.
The young man closest to him supported his arm, concern evident in his eyes.
“Professor, the zombies are less active during the day. Please hold on a little longer. There’s a small convenience store about two hundred meters ahead that’s relatively safe. We can rest there.”
The young man was named Tao Zhaochuan, Professor Niu’s final disciple.
He was in no better condition himself. Even the gold-rimmed glasses he used to show off with had lost one of their temple arms.
There were more than ten students in total. They had voluntarily formed a protective circle around Professor Niu. The professor stood in the center, while the students without abilities remained in the inner ring. Those with abilities or stronger physical fitness guarded the outer ring.
Professor Niu nodded slightly as he caught his breath.
He could not afford to drag his students down.
Fortunately, the zombies around them were mostly F-rank and D-rank, still manageable for the group.
The problem was their sheer numbers.
More and more zombies were attracted by the commotion and continuously converged on them. With the group at the center, zombies crawled toward them from every direction as though drawn to food.
Even though they fought while moving, their progress remained painfully slow.
One of the students on the outer perimeter gagged from the nauseating stench of the zombies.
A distance of merely two hundred meters felt like an uncrossable chasm.
The group struggled forward inch by inch.
“Can we break through from the front?”
someone at the rear shouted.
“There are too many ahead! Try the left side!”
“There’s no time! Fast zombies are catching up from behind!”
The people in front looked visibly grim.
They desperately attacked the zombies blocking their path, trying to carve out an escape route.
The zombies chasing from behind moved astonishingly fast. Within seconds they had caught up, their sharp claws slashing viciously at the nearest people.
“AHHHHHHH!”
Amid the screams, the protective formation at the rear was torn open.
“Protect Professor Niu! Protect Professor Niu!”
Surrounded by his students, Professor Niu was pushed forward.
Unable to stop himself, he turned around.
He saw the children who remained behind, drenched in blood as they fought to hold the line.
His lips trembled, and tears welled in his aged eyes.
They were all young people.
How could his heart not ache for them?
“Professor, go!”
Tao Zhaochuan shielded Professor Niu as they retreated toward a direction with relatively fewer zombies.
Yet no matter which way they looked, the zombies were packed so densely that despair inevitably crept into their hearts.
As the ability users on the outer ring exhausted their powers, some of the girls in the inner circle began to cry.
One young woman with twin ponytails cried the hardest. She muttered prayers for divine protection while swinging her blade, tears streaming down her face as she hacked down a zombie.
But it was useless.
The zombies behind them moved far too quickly. They could not understand prayers. They only knew how to bite.
The nearest zombie was already within arm’s reach of Professor Niu.
Roaring, it raised its claws and slashed toward him.
Tao Zhaochuan threw himself in front of Professor Niu, squeezing his eyes shut and preparing for death.
Whoosh!
A flaming spear tore through the air from afar.
It pierced straight through the zombie in front of Tao Zhaochuan, then continued onward, skewering an entire line of zombies behind it before pinning them brutally to a wall.
The string of zombies did not even have time to make a sound before turning to ashes.
Tao Zhaochuan whipped around.
Two purple lightning blades crackling with electricity came slashing toward them.
In an instant, more than half the zombies surrounding Professor Niu and the students were wiped out.
Tao Zhaochuan’s pupils contracted sharply as he looked toward the newcomers.
In the distance, two men stood at the front, their trench coats billowing dramatically. The weapons formed from their abilities returned to their hands, and the energy swirling around them gave off an imposing aura.
Three others stood side by side behind them.
The woman on the left held a pitch-black dagger.
The man on the right carried a heavy sniper rifle over his shoulder.
The young woman in the center appeared delicate and slender, yet a faint glow surrounded her, combining softness with quiet strength.
Behind them stretched a field of zombie corpses extending far into the distance.
The air fell silent for a moment.
Then the girl with twin ponytails burst into loud sobs.
“We’re saved! We’re saved! Waaaaah!”
The others finally snapped out of their daze and could not stop tears from falling.
They had survived.
Supporting Professor Niu, Tao Zhaochuan took a few steps forward to thank their rescuers.
Professor Niu also stepped forward, squinting as he stared intently at the delicate young woman standing in the middle.
At the same time, Ye Xihe was studying them as well.
The group looked like university students, while the elderly man at the center was wearing a lab coat.
A name immediately surfaced in her mind: Professor Niu.
“Are you… Professor Niu?” Ye Xihe asked.
The others stood around her protectively.
The old man’s eyesight seemed poor. Squinting, he stepped closer.
The moment he clearly saw Ye Xihe’s face, his hands began trembling.
Startled, Tao Zhaochuan hurriedly reached out to support him.
But Professor Niu brushed his hand aside and took several more excited steps forward.
His eyes locked firmly onto Ye Xihe.
“Your mother… was her surname Su?”
Ye Huizhou lowered his brows and stepped in front of Ye Xihe, avoiding the old man’s question.
“Are you Professor Niu?”
he asked again.
Tall and broad-shouldered, with sharp features and an intimidating presence, Ye Huizhou caused Professor Niu to rein in some of his excitement.
“I am.”
In the distance, unsettling zombie howls rang out once more.
Ye Huizhou continued, “This isn’t a place for conversation. Let’s move to the convenience store behind us first.”
Yet Professor Niu stubbornly repeated his question.
“Was your mother’s surname Su?”
The old man’s gaze was far too eager.
Awkwardly, Ye Xihe curled her toes.
It was not that she did not want to answer.
The problem was that she had absolutely no idea what the original owner’s mother was called.
“You have a healing ability.”
It was not a question. It was a statement.
Professor Niu’s words landed like a bomb among the group.
Almost instantly, a highly condensed sphere of lightning ability formed in Ye Huizhou’s hand behind his back.
“Don’t you want to know how I recognized your ability? Don’t you want to know why it’s you?”
Professor Niu gradually calmed down.
Then he turned to look at his students.
The first person who had been caught had already stopped breathing, but several of the others who were injured could still be saved.
“Please help those children first. After that, I’ll answer your questions.”
It sounded almost like a threat.
But Ye Xihe saw the plea hidden in Professor Niu’s eyes.
Gu Zhuoye clicked his tongue.
The old man’s method of bargaining was truly irritating.
Seeing the expressions on the group’s faces, Tao Zhaochuan quietly stepped forward, ready to shield his teacher at any moment.
The atmosphere immediately became tense.
Ye Huizhou turned to his sister.
“Do you want to help them?”
A trace of confusion appeared on Ye Xihe’s delicate face.
She did not know.
In truth, ever since arriving in this world, she had never felt much sense of belonging.
She remained detached from many things.
For example, Professor Niu’s two questions.
Whether she learned the answers or not made little difference to her.
Ye Xihe had a feeling that once they became entangled with Professor Niu’s group, endless trouble would follow.
But…
Her gaze shifted to the injured young people behind him.
They carried the scholarly air of ordinary university students, just like countless young people across China.
As someone who had grown up receiving a good education, it was difficult to simply stand by and watch her fellow people die.