Ling Qingyun stepped back to let the others open fire, the zombies weren’t close enough for him to act just yet. Once more than half of them were down and the rest were too injured to move properly, he stepped forward with his spiked mace and began smashing their heads.
Whether it was a zombie in a hospital gown or one in a white coat, whether it was a child or an elderly zombie, he treated them all the same, one swing to the head. Even those that appeared motionless received a finishing blow. Just two days ago, a team had let their guard down during a mission, thinking the zombies were all dead. In the end, their captain was scratched by one lying on the ground and had to shoot himself.
After clearing the horde, they held their position in the corridor. Any approaching zombies were shot on sight. Then they turned their attention to the door that had originally been surrounded. It was now covered in claw marks and looked like it could collapse at any moment.
“There should be survivors inside,” Zhang Yi said with certainty, based on his experience. Judging from the situation, the room was likely a duty office, and the doctor on shift might still be alive.
“Is anyone in there?” Ling Qingyun knocked on the door with his spiked club.
“There’s someone! We’re in here. Are you here to save us?” a weak voice responded from inside.
“We’re military. We’re here to retrieve supplies. Are you planning to wait here until we come back, or do you want to come with us to gather supplies?” Zhang Yi asked. Most survivors were timid, and having them stay behind might actually be less of a burden.
“We’ll go with you. I’m a doctor here. With me along, it’ll be easier for you to find what you need,” said another calm, composed voice. It sounded like at least two people were inside.
“No problem!” Zhang Yi readily agreed. They were here to retrieve medical equipment, and someone familiar with the hospital would definitely help. The pharmacy had already been raided, what they needed now was equipment, and it wasn’t always easy to locate.
There was a shuffling sound from inside as something was moved away from the door. Then, a man in civilian clothes, about 1.75 meters tall, stepped out. Behind him came a taller and sturdier man.
“Jiabao?” Ling Qingyun frowned, surprised to run into someone he knew.
“Brother Ling?” the tall, strong man looked overjoyed, nearly jumping in excitement. He spread his arms to hug Ling Qingyun, but was quickly yanked back by the man who had exited first. “Don’t just go leaping around, look at his clothes!”
Ling Qingyun’s clothing was standard issue, it didn’t have many advantages except that it covered him completely. If there had been enough motorcycle helmets available, he would have been even more bundled up. Right now, his clothes were stained with blood.
Gu Jiabao didn’t step forward again, and Ling Qingyun wasn’t in the mood for small talk either. “We’ll catch up later. Right now, the most important thing is getting enough medical equipment.”
“Jin Xiang knows where the equipment is, have him lead you. But we haven’t eaten in a long time!” Gu Jiabao said quickly as he followed the others who had already started moving.
Zhang Yi had already noticed the iron rods in their hands, probably dismantled from hospital beds or chairs. Judging from their builds, they clearly had the strength to defend themselves, so he nodded his approval.
Ling Qingyun glanced at Zhang Yi, who then motioned to a soldier carrying a backpack to take out two rice balls and hand them over. When he offered water as well, they refused.
“There are several barrels of purified water inside. I’ve drunk so much the past two days I’m about ready to puke!” Gu Jiabao growled as he tore into the rice ball, not even caring that it had no filling. Between bites, he ranted, “I can’t stand those dieting women. Damn it, all the snacks they hoarded were seaweed and fiber biscuits! And the worst part is, those fiber biscuits are for losing weight! They cost over a hundred yuan and you only get a few pieces! Why not stock up on chicken legs and chocolate instead?!”
“Shut it,” the bespectacled young man beside him said. Gu Jiabao immediately clammed up. Ling Qingyun glanced back at them. He knew how talkative Gu Jiabao could be, he didn’t expect him to actually listen to someone else.
Most likely, Gu Jiabao had been starving the past few days, which was why he held such a grudge against dieting women. But honestly, the way things were going, maybe everyone who survived would end up dieting together.
Gu Jiabao had once been one of the younger guys Ling Qingyun took under his wing at the vocational school across from Zhuang Cheng’s high school. Gu Jiabao came from a wealthy family, but he’d watched too many Hong Kong gangster movies and became obsessed with the idea of joining the underworld. He even spent money at school trying to recruit his own little gang…
Although he hadn’t done anything seriously bad himself, the kids he gathered caused trouble everywhere. Thinking himself loyal, he often stuck up for them, until Ling Qingyun beat him up a few times to teach him a lesson. After that, he insisted on becoming Ling Qingyun’s underling…
Back then, Ling Qingyun didn’t have much money, and he didn’t want to tell Zhuang Cheng, so he often let Gu Jiabao “treat” him to food. But he didn’t want to take advantage, so he’d help Gu Jiabao out with various problems. After moving to S City with Zhuang Cheng, he changed his number to cut ties with his old life and never heard from Gu Jiabao again, until now, in the middle of the apocalypse.
Ling Qingyun was curious about what had happened to Gu Jiabao, but even though he wanted to know, their mission came first.
There were a lot of people involved in this hospital operation, so not all the zombies had been drawn to their location, making things a bit easier for them.
With Jin Xiang’s help, they quickly arrived at the blood testing lab. There was plenty of equipment there, and without hesitation, Zhang Yi started directing everyone to move it out.
Jin Xiang wasn’t a lab technician, but he knew the basics and could help disassemble the machines. He also took a walk to the room next door and came back carrying a large bag filled with disposable syringes and disinfectant supplies.
“I know there’s a supply room in the hospital that has even more of this stuff. The key should be with Dr. Wang—I called him before… he’s probably turned into a zombie by now.”
Zhang Yi perked up. “Let’s move everything out first, then we’ll sweep through the entire hospital!”
Ling Qingyun killed a few more stray zombies. Fortunately, since the outbreak had happened at night, there weren’t too many zombies inside the hospital.
Zhang Yi was directing others to carry the equipment out while he and Ling Qingyun stood guard and took out any zombies that were drawn over.
“Ka ba, ka ba…” A zombie was shambling toward them, it was heavily pregnant, likely a woman who had come in to give birth. Zhang Yi hesitated for a moment when he saw it, then aimed and shot it straight in the head.
At the same time, Ling Qingyun finished off an elderly zombie that had tumbled down the stairs. Noticing Zhang Yi’s expression, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“My wife’s due in ten days. I had taken leave to go home,” Zhang Yi said, his face growing darker.
“Have you been able to reach her?”
“No. The phone line at home still works, but no one answers.” Zhang Yi replied, then turned and shot a small zombie crawling toward them. It looked only about two or three years old, inching forward with its mouth open, trying to bite. A drip line was still attached to its hand.
Ling Qingyun didn’t press the issue. In times like these, being able to keep one’s family together was already the greatest blessing.
While the soldiers were carrying equipment out, Jin Xiang helped disassemble machines, and Gu Jiabao pitched in to haul things. Once the area was cleared, Jin Xiang led a few others upstairs.
Above the blood testing lab were rooms for ultrasounds, endoscopies, and EKGs—all of which might still contain useful equipment. Deeper inside the hospital was a supply room stocked with many disposable items and spare instruments, including a newly acquired ultrasound machine the hospital had just planned to install.
The area around the ultrasound room was completely empty—not a single zombie in sight—but no one dared to let their guard down. Sure enough, as soon as they opened the door to the EKG room, a zombie in a white lab coat lunged out at them.
Ling Qingyun was the one who opened the door. As soon as he saw it, he immediately pressed his spiked mace against the zombie’s stomach to keep it from getting closer. A gunshot rang out behind him, and the zombie’s head exploded.
“That was Dr. Wang… he had injuries on his body! There must be more zombies here!” Jin Xiang said urgently. Just then, a young soldier at the back of the team let out a scream. Two gunshots followed—bang bang!—and a female zombie wearing nothing but a nurse’s gown collapsed onto the floor.
Because the shots weren’t precise, the zombie was still crawling slowly toward them. Zhang Yi quickly put another bullet in her head. “This doctor sure died under a peony flower,” he muttered grimly.
“That was Dr. Wang’s girlfriend. They always scheduled their shifts together,” Jin Xiang explained as he put on disposable gloves and searched the male corpse, only to discover he wasn’t wearing much clothing either. “The key is probably in the on-call room. He must’ve tried to escape and hid in here.”
The rest of their mission went smoothly, but other teams weren’t so lucky. One team had gone near the obstetrics and gynecology ward, there were hundreds of people there: women waiting to give birth, in labor, recovering postpartum, their companions, plus nurses. All those people had turned and were now surrounding the team. The squad leader had no choice but to call for help.
“We’re going to rescue them now! Everyone, stay sharp! We’re living people, we can’t let the dead feed on us!” Zhang Yi barked. The mission commander had already ordered them to rush to the rescue. Ten special forces soldiers were being sent along as well.
Hearing this, Ling Qingyun couldn’t help but frown. He wanted to kill zombies, but going against a horde of pregnant women and children…
Two of the youngest soldiers in the team were assigned to escort Jin Xiang and Gu Jiabao back outside, while Zhang Yi led the other ten men deeper into the hospital.
The OB-GYN department took up a large area. Nowadays, many people chose big hospitals for childbirth, which had led to overcrowded maternity wards. Just as Ling Qingyun and the others reached the staircase, the stench nearly made them vomit.
At that moment, a horde of zombies swarmed down the stairs.
In such a narrow hallway, with zombies this close, Ling Qingyun’s mace was the most effective weapon. He smashed several strong male zombies, but then froze at what he saw next.
A female zombie with her abdomen torn open was clutching her belly to keep the fetus from falling out, while still pushing forward, trying to bite someone. Others had babies in their arms, or were missing limbs, torn apart…
A small zombie, with a head only the size of Ling Qingyun’s fist, rolled out from between the gaps of the horde. Its lower body was already gone, yet it propped itself up on its arms and bit down on Ling Qingyun’s foot.
But Ling Qingyun was wearing rain boots, and the little zombie hadn’t even grown teeth, how could it possibly bite through?
Ling Qingyun sighed, smashed it with his spiked mace, and then charged forward, weapon in hand.
He used to hate zombies with a passion, but now he understood, they were just a group of unfortunate people.
Still, rather than let them continue to harm others, it was better to kill them and give them peace.
As long as he was alive, he would kill zombies every day! That belief made Ling Qingyun’s attacks even fiercer.
He wasn’t some kind of noble hero, he wasn’t someone who could sacrifice himself for others. But Zhuang Cheng had saved him, so at the very least, he would kill more zombies to avenge him!
By the time they reached the upper floor, only three people from the trapped team were left, hiding in a patient room. They had barricaded the door with cabinets and chairs, firing at the zombies outside. On the ground around them lay three corpses with bullet holes in their heads. The zombies outside were still clutching bits of flesh and internal organs…
“There are survivors in here!” one of them cried out at the sight of Zhang Yi’s team, his voice choked with tears.
Zhang Yi immediately began clearing out the surrounding zombies. At that moment, the team of special forces soldiers arrived via another staircase.
These soldiers had superior weapons and equipment. Against slow-moving zombies, they moved with ease, like slicing through vegetables. Zhang Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Judging by the current situation, they would definitely be able to clear out all the zombies in this area.
Ling Qingyun was satisfied with his mace, but even he had to admit that in a situation like this, firearms were far more effective.
The ten special forces soldiers had excellent aim, every shot hit a zombie in the head, sending them crashing to the ground. Finally, all the teams gathered in front of the barricaded hospital room.
“The zombies have all been killed. You go upstairs, find enough supplies, and then leave,” said one of the special forces soldiers standing at the front, helmeted, who pulled back his visor and spoke to Zhang Yi. There were also many medical devices to retrieve on the maternity ward and the floor above.
Zhang Yi immediately led his team upstairs. The team that had called for backup and the special forces were tasked with searching for usable machines on this floor and rescuing survivors.
This was the top floor of the building, divided into several rooms. When they opened one door, they found many diapers stored inside, some for children and some for adults.
There were many children in the safe zone. While it was okay for children not to need diapers, the hospital’s lack of medical supplies was a real problem.
Strangely, although the floor below was swarming with zombies, this floor showed no abnormalities… Both Ling Qingyun and the others doubled their vigilance.
They checked each room one by one, all back-to-back in a tight formation. Suddenly, Zhang Yi shouted, “Watch out!”
Ling Qingyun quickly turned his head and saw a male zombie suddenly lunging out from a bathroom deep inside this floor!
Zombies were usually slow and clumsy, but this male zombie was surprisingly fast!
Zhang Yi fired quickly but missed the zombie’s head because of its speed. Then the zombie tackled the soldier at the front!
Gunshots erupted immediately, but the zombie bit the face of the soldier it had tackled, the only unprotected area!