Su Nian gritted her teeth and ran upward, taking three steps at a time. Her knee slammed against the stairs, and the pain made her let out a muffled groan, but she did not dare stop.
Second floor, third floor, fourth floor.
The zombies’ low growls in the stairwell were getting closer and closer.
Su Nian tightened her grip on the machete. As she turned the corner of the staircase, she saw a zombie lying on the steps, chewing on something. Hearing the noise, it lifted its head.
Black and red chunks of flesh were smeared around its mouth.
It lunged at her.
Su Nian swung her machete and struck its head. The blade became lodged in its skull. She gritted her teeth and pulled it out with force, causing black blood to spray all over her hand.
Another zombie rushed down from above. She twisted her body to dodge it, then swung the machete sideways. The blade struck its neck, leaving its head hanging at an angle. The zombie collapsed onto the ground, still twitching.
She continued running upward.
Seventh floor, eighth floor.
There were more and more zombies in the stairwell.
Su Nian no longer had the time to avoid them. The machete’s blade had already become damaged, so she took another one from her storage space and continued fighting.
Her arms were so sore that she could barely lift them. The wound on the base of her thumb had split open again, and blood flowed down the handle of the machete. She switched hands and kept going.
Ninth floor.
The last zombie was kicked down the stairs by her. It tumbled downward, slammed into the wall, and finally stopped moving.
Su Nian leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
Black blood covered her entire body, even her face. It was sticky and mixed with sweat as it slowly dripped down.
She had reached the tenth floor.
Su Nian rushed toward the iron door and froze.
The door was open. The chain had been broken into two pieces and lay on the ground, while the lock had disappeared.
There were several deep slash marks on the door, with the metal bent and peeled upward.
Su Nian pushed the door open and entered.
The bedsheet had been pulled onto the floor, and the blanket was gone. There were dragging marks across the ground. The mattress was tilted to one side, the bedside cabinet had fallen over, and the contents of the drawers were scattered everywhere.
Xingxing was gone.
Su Nian stood in the room and looked around once. She even opened the wardrobe.
No one was there.
She crouched down and saw the little bear lying underneath the bed.
The teddy bear was covered in dust. One of its ears had been torn open at the seam, and there were traces of blood on it.
She picked up the little bear and gripped it tightly in her hand.
Her legs suddenly lost all strength. Su Nian could no longer remain crouched and slid down onto the floor, leaning against the side of the bed.
She stared at the little bear, and tears began falling.
Su Nian could not make a sound as she cried. She wanted to call out Xingxing’s name, but her throat felt so tight that no voice could come out.
She could not cry. She had to find Xingxing.
Just as Su Nian was about to stand up, footsteps suddenly came from upstairs.
Thud, thud, thud!
The sound came from directly above her.
Su Nian immediately raised her head, wiped away her tears, tightened her grip on the machete, and stood up.
She walked to the doorway and listened carefully. The footsteps stopped. Someone was talking, but the sound was too faint to hear clearly through the door.
Su Nian moved toward the stairwell.
Eleventh floor.
The lights in the corridor were completely off. The beam of her flashlight swept across the ground, revealing footprints covered in mud and blood that led upward.
She slowed her breathing and walked up carefully with the machete in hand.
At the entrance of the eleventh floor stairwell stood two men.
One was tall, while the other was slightly shorter. Both wore camouflage pants and dark tactical jackets, with machetes and steel pipes hanging from their bodies.
Their backs were facing Su Nian as they searched through a fallen cabinet.
Hearing footsteps, the two men turned around at the same time.
Su Nian took a step back and held the machete horizontally in front of her. The two men also retreated slightly, their hands moving toward their weapons.
“Who are you?” the tall man asked first, his voice low.
Su Nian did not answer. Her back pressed against the wall.
“Did you see a child? A five-year-old boy.”
The two men exchanged glances. The tall man frowned, and the shorter man’s expression also darkened as he looked Su Nian up and down.
“Your child?” the tall man asked.
Su Nian nodded.
The shorter man let out a cold laugh. “You left a child alone here?”
Su Nian said nothing, but the hand holding the machete lowered slightly.
The tall man glanced downstairs, then turned back to look at her.
“We saw someone being chased by zombies downstairs and followed after them. After killing the zombies, we heard a child crying. We searched around and found a child in the room on the tenth floor. He had a high fever, and there wasn’t anyone else around.”
His tone became colder.
“We thought he had been abandoned, so my teammate carried him away first.”
Su Nian’s tears surged again, but she bit her lip and refused to let them fall.
“He was hidden there by me. I went out to find medicine.”
The shorter man scoffed. “Find medicine? You actually dared to leave a child alone in a nest of zombies.”
The tall man stopped him and looked at Su Nian.
“The child was taken to Building 10 in the east. If you want to get your child back, follow us.”
He paused before adding, “Don’t leave your child behind again.”
Su Nian did not argue. She tightened her grip on the machete.
“Let’s go.”
The tall man nodded and turned to walk downstairs. The shorter man followed behind him. After taking two steps, he looked back at Su Nian.
Su Nian walked to the back. She did not put away her machete and kept it firmly in her hand as she followed the two men.
Building 10, fourth floor.
Inside the room, Uncle Zhao soaked a towel in cold water, wrung it out, and placed it on the child’s forehead. Xingxing’s face was flushed from the fever, his brows furrowed as he slept restlessly.
“Brother Lu, what should we do with this child? Are we going to keep taking him with us?” Gao Jie pointed toward the child in the room.
Lu Chen thought about what had happened earlier.
After opening the door, they saw a child curled up in the corner of the bed, wrapped in a blanket. His face was burning red from the fever, and his lips were cracked dry. When he saw someone entering, he shrank backward, his mouth trembling as if he was about to cry.
Lu Chen crouched down and placed the steel pipe on the ground.
He reached out his hand, but the child only shrank back even more. His entire body curled into a small ball, with only his two tear-filled eyes visible.
“Don’t be afraid.” Lu Chen’s voice was low. “Where is your mother?”
The child said nothing. Tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes.
﹉
“The child still has a fever. Let’s wait until it goes down before deciding.”
Lu Chen looked at the groups of zombies downstairs and felt troubled.
The child was still burning with fever. They needed to find medicine as soon as possible.
“His parents are too cruel, leaving behind a sick child.”
“Brother Lu, do you think his parents will come back for him?”
Lu Chen did not answer.
He stared at the child’s face, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease.
Gao Jie glanced at the door.
“Brother Lu, Da Zhuang and Ah Hu still haven’t returned. Should I go check?”
“No need. You and Uncle Zhao stay here with the child. I’ll go help Lin Hai and the others, and find some fever medicine while I’m at it.”
“Brother Lu, wait a little longer. Let Da Zhuang and Ah Hu go with you when they return,” Gao Jie said.
Lu Chen lowered his head and looked at the child on the bed. Uncle Zhao kept wiping him down with a cold towel, but the child’s breathing was becoming faster and heavier.
“We can’t wait any longer. This child needs his fever reduced quickly. When they come back, they can come find us.”
Lu Chen turned around and left the room, heading downstairs.
Su Nian followed the two men for more than ten minutes before they finally arrived downstairs.
“Big brothers, can you walk faster?”
Thinking about Xingxing’s fever, Su Nian felt both anxious and worried.
“Now you’re in a hurry? After leaving your child—”
Before the shorter man could finish speaking, the tall man nudged him.
The shorter man curled his lips but quickened his pace.
Fourth floor!
The two men knocked on the door.
When the door opened, Su Nian immediately saw the small figure curled up on the bed.
“Xingxing!”
Su Nian rushed over and knelt beside the bed, pulling Xingxing into her arms together with the blanket.
Xingxing was awakened by her movement. He slowly opened his eyes.
Su Nian stroked his hair again and again, tears continuously falling from her eyes.
“Mommy…”
“Mommy is here. Mommy is here.”
Su Nian’s voice trembled badly. “Mommy came to take you home.”
Su Nian had found medicine at the clinic, but she could not take it out here because it would expose her secret. Instead, she took out some supplies she had prepared beforehand and thanked them again.
She carried Xingxing onto her back and wrapped him tightly in the blanket.
“Thank you! Please accept these things.”
When she reached the doorway, she turned back and glanced inside.
“Please thank the friend who went to look for medicine for me.”
Uncle Zhao waved his hand and said nothing.
Su Nian carried Xingxing down the stairs at the end of the corridor.
Two minutes later, the door sounded again.
“How… huh? Why are you back already?”