A few minutes later, Xia Ao returned to the car with the filled test tubes and immediately noticed the atmosphere inside had taken a ninety-degree turn.
Especially the person next to him, the change was closer to a full 180 degrees!
“Xia Ge, you’ve worked hard. Please, have a seat.” Shi Zuo An wore a perfectly “sweet smile,” his mouth curling so high it almost pressed against his cheekbones, giving Xia Ao a creepy shiver.
“Since you’re so accomplished in the field of biological research, now that you’ve brought back zombie blood and brain matter, can you immediately figure out how this disaster happened? Then develop a serum, mass-produce it, and save all of humanity?”
“……”
He instantly knew who had the audacity to blurt that out… although he hadn’t planned to hide it anyway.
“Song Zi Qiao, can you at least keep your mouth shut!”
“What for?” Song Zi Qiao pouted. “I’m just building up your image. With credentials this impressive, why hide it?”
Xia Ao met Shi Zuo An’s eyes again, and the gleam in them made him uneasy.
He had just listed such a ridiculous string of achievements… she couldn’t possibly really expect that, could she?
“Uh… you really think that?”
“Of course not.” Shi Zuo An dragged out the words lazily, as if mocking the arrogance of taking a casual joke about flattery seriously.
Ever since his first “big gift” after graduation was a foolish boss, he had never dared to have expectations of anyone again.
You can’t assume everyone is normal, and naturally, you can’t assume Xia Ao’s ungraduated University A degree has enough weight to save the world.
Xia Ao: …Alright, he’s just overestimating himself.
“By the way, won’t this stuff go inactive before you even bring it back?”
Before Shi Zuo An finished, Song Zi Qiao, the “mediocre student,” stared at him in disbelief, as if asking how he knew such things.
Shi Zuo An was a little speechless. “Don’t look at me. I’m not in this field, my biology grades weren’t great, but my expression is like a fool suddenly realizing that their partner just betrayed them and jumped into the top ten of the grade.”
“Hahaha, you’re not wrong, he really is a dumb, mediocre student!” Jiang Si joined in, taking a jab at Song Zi Qiao as well.
“Enough, enough! Do you still want to listen to Xia Ge’s little science lecture or not!”
Song Zi Qiao looked at Xia Ao with hopeful eyes.
Hurry and save him from this mess!
Xia Ao: …
Class with Little Flower Mom is starting~
“No science lecture. I just have some doubts.”
He ran through all the characteristics they had previously observed in the zombies’ behavior.
“Don’t you find it strange? Before turning into zombies, they were humans just like us. So why do they suddenly become ‘blind’ after mutation?”
Right.
It seemed that all the zombies they had encountered were relying solely on hearing, smell, and touch to move.
“So I suspect that the zombie virus might be a transmissible neurotoxin targeting the human brain.”
“This kind of toxin would cause the brain to fail. The immune system detects the eyeballs’ presence and keeps making white blood cells attack them, eventually resulting in blindness.”
Hearing this, Song Zi Qiao suddenly became excited. “I saw something like this online before! So it’s real! Can you study this toxin and make an antidote to save all humanity?”
“…You’re thinking too far ahead.” Xia Ao sighed. “The government still hasn’t issued any concrete measures, which means countless experts at home and abroad currently have no solution for this virus. There’s no way I, a nobody, could figure it out.”
“But what if you did!”
“That’s not possible.”
“Aww, don’t be so discouraged.” Shi Zuo An wrapped one arm around his head. “Maybe, just like Song Zi Qiao said, one day you’ll suddenly have a breakthrough, develop a cure for the zombie virus, and instantly become a big shot in the field of biology!”
“Yeah, Xia Ge.” Jiang Si also spoke up. “I may not believe the cure can be developed that easily, but you have to believe in yourself!”
Thanks, guys… really comforting.
After the empty flattery, dawn was breaking.
Soft morning light streamed through the car windows. The four quietly enjoyed a sunrise in the middle of the deserted city.
With daylight, their original plan to go to the construction site didn’t seem very appropriate.
After discussing, they decided to postpone that mission and act at night instead. During the day, they would first head to the high-speed rail station and make do with the vending machines for the day.
As usual, the first step was to lure the zombies out of the high-speed rail station.
By now, they weren’t exactly powerless, all they needed was for one person to stay in the car honking the horn while the others sneaked in to deal with the remaining zombies.
So who would stay in the car?
Xia Ao had originally thought of suggesting Jiang Si, who was most familiar with the car’s interior, but she was far too eager to jump in and fight zombies head-on.
In the end, they decided to settle it with rock-paper-scissors.
The loser would stay in the car, enduring the “greeting” of zombies pressing their bloody mouths against the glass.
“Ready, rock-paper-scissors—”
Song Zi Qiao, OUT.
Shi Zuo An laughed mercilessly, not expecting a four-person game to decide a loser so quickly.
“Please don’t laugh so loudly!” Song Zi Qiao protested.
Shi Zuo An patted his shoulder. “This is your job now, little bait. Don’t get so scared you pee yourself, there’s no nice shower waiting for you.”
“Shut up!” Song Zi Qiao waved them off. “Just remember to pick me up later.”
“OK.”
With the exception of Song Zi Qiao, the other three quietly got out of the car.
Half a bottle of floral water had already been sprayed, and the nearby zombies hadn’t noticed the three sneaking around.
They crouched in a hidden corner, waiting for Song Zi Qiao to start.
“Beep beep—”
The sharp horn pierced the silence. The surrounding zombies froze, confirmed the source of the sound, and immediately started moving toward the car.
Song Zi Qiao worried it wasn’t enough, so she honked three or four more times.
Perfect. The zombies were now agitated and would eagerly press against the car windows, seeking interaction with her.
Once the zombie tide surged toward the car, the three others cautiously set off again.
Jiang Si carried the menu Shi Zuo An had taken from Xia Ao’s house, while he and Xia Ao each grabbed a steel pipe left behind at the neighboring construction site.
Just in case, they didn’t drive to the second-floor station entrance, but stopped at the first-floor ride-hailing pickup point instead.
But this also meant they had to cross a hundred-meter-long corridor to reach the station entrance.
The zombies they encountered today seemed “smarter” than the ones from a few days ago.
Although most still chose to drop straight down from the second floor in a single motion, some had already learned the correct route, walking toward them from the far end of the corridor.
This confirmed their earlier guess: most of these were high-speed rail staff who were already familiar with the layout.
The optimal solution was definitely not to engage in combat with the zombie group.
The three tried to minimize their presence, tiptoeing along the corridor railing.
The hundred-meter journey took almost twenty minutes.
Fortunately, nothing happened along the way, but as they rounded a corner and stepped onto the escalator, they were very “surprised” to lock eyes with six zombies.
!!!
The atmosphere became eerily silent.
Even knowing the zombies’ eyes were useless, the moment their gazes met still triggered an explosion of nerves in their brains.
New zombies kept appearing behind the glass walls, forcing the three to retreat to the corners. But aside from a small convenience store nearby, the only cover behind them was the green construction fencing.
Seeing that the zombies’ bodies were about to collide with them, Jiang Si panicked and mouthed to Shi Zuo An: What do we do?
Don’t ask him, he had no idea either. A cornered dog will jump over a wall… he was desperate… Wait, that’s it!
Shi Zuo An reached out and touched the nearby fence. Solid, hard, and sturdy enough.
He quickly signaled to the other two, then stepped on a stool beside the convenience store, gripped the roof firmly with both hands, and kicked off the wall with his right leg to get onto the roof.
?
The two below stared with mouths wide open, goose-egg sized.
But there was no time to hesitate, staying on the ground meant certain death. Xia Ao patted Jiang Si’s arm, signaling her to go first.
Jiang Si mimicked Shi Zuo An’s movements, kicking off, but lacking upper-body strength, she had to rely on Shi Zuo An grabbing her jacket hood to pull her up.
“Lie down on the fence,” Shi Zuo An instructed her in a nearly breathless whisper.
The roof of the little convenience store was made of corrugated steel sheets, roughly put together. It could barely support the weight of two people for a short time, if three climbed on at once, they’d probably feed the zombies below together.
After getting Jiang Si onto the fence, Shi Zuo An signaled for Xia Ao to go up as well.
Xia Ao clearly had the “good student” type of cautiousness and probably had never climbed walls before. Shi Zuo An tried to lift her up as he had done before, grabbing her collar, but an unexpected problem arose.
The weight of two adult men slightly exceeded the roof’s limit.
As Xia Ao placed one foot on the wall and shifted her weight onto the corrugated steel, the iron sheet bent and let out a deafening noise that pierced their eardrums!
The zombies were immediately attracted by the sound, moving directly beneath her and reaching out to grab the other foot that hadn’t yet been pulled in.
!
Shi Zuo An’s heart tightened. He changed his hand position to grab her under the armpits, trying to pull her up, but she slipped away instead.
In the blink of an eye, Xia Ao actually stepped backward!
“What are you doing!” he shouted anxiously, losing control, while the zombies below leapt even more excitedly.
Xia Ao’s foot had already found its target and kicked the small stool they had been using to prop themselves up.
The stool flew across the floor. A few less-intelligent zombies chased the noise, but most stayed, unwilling to give up the easy meal within reach.
Seeing a zombie’s massive mouth clamp down on Xia Ao’s sneaker, Shi Zuo An’s heart nearly stopped.
Hurry, hurry, hurry!!!
Beads of sweat slid down his temple. His eyes had to stay glued to Xia Ao, if he looked away for even a second, he feared she’d slip and meet her end.
Fortunately, Xia Ao finally cooperated, lifting her hips so Shi Zuo An could pull her onto the roof.
Neither of them wasted a second, without even taking a breath, they, like Jiang Si before them, clamped hands and feet onto the green fence, pressing their bodies against the narrow top surface and moving forward to lie flat.
They didn’t stop until they were directly across from the high-speed rail station’s main entrance.
“Huff huff—” Shi Zuo An, still out of breath, started complaining. “Damn this shoddy construction! Can it just fall apart somewhere else!”
“Enough. Without it, the three of us would be done for today.”
“And you! Don’t think you can just reply casually and get away with it! Your lower-body muscles are useless!!! You were so close to getting up, why did you have to put your foot down!”
He knew Xia Ao had put her leg down to kick the stool, preventing the zombies from imitating them to climb up, but thinking back to the heart-stopping scene just now, he couldn’t control his anger.
Xia Ao snapped back, “You think if I hadn’t kicked the stool just now, the zombies would still be patiently waiting below?”
!
Brazen!
If Shi Zuo An weren’t pinned in place, he would have rolled up his sleeves and given Xia Ao a very standard international “friendly” gesture.