Lin Chen followed closely behind. Just a second before the broken-legged zombie’s withered claws could grab his back, he suddenly twisted his body and squeezed through the doorway, then used all his strength to yank the heavy iron door shut behind him.
“Bang!!!”
A heavy impact rang out almost at the exact moment the door closed.
It was the broken-legged zombie slamming into the door!
Immediately after came more dull impacts and scalp-numbing scratching sounds, mixed with furious roars from outside.
The iron door groaned under the strain, dust sifting down in fine streams.
Inside the warehouse, it was pitch black—so dark that nothing could be seen.
Only a faint sliver of light seeped through the gap beneath the door, barely outlining the stacked cardboard boxes near the entrance.
The dense darkness, combined with the frenzied pounding and scratching outside, created a suffocating sense of pressure.
“Ha… ha… ha…”
Heavy, labored breathing echoed in the darkness—it was Lin Chen.
His breathing was so strained it sounded like a broken bellows, laced with unmistakable pain and weakness.
“Lin Chen! How are you?!”
Her fingertips quickly found his cold, damp sleeve. What she touched was warm and sticky—blood, all of it!
“Don’t… touch…”
Lin Chen’s voice came in fragments, each word forced out through clenched teeth, suppressing pain.
“Find… light…”
Su Qianqian’s heart sank to the bottom.
She forced herself to stay calm and began groping along the wall in the darkness.
Her fingers soon touched a cold plastic switch. She pressed it firmly.
Click.
A dusty incandescent bulb hanging in the center of the warehouse flickered a few times, then emitted a dim, yellowish light that barely pushed back the heavy darkness.
The moment the light came on, Su Qianqian saw Lin Chen clearly—and sucked in a sharp breath.
He had slid down against the cold iron door and was sitting on the ground. His face was as pale as paper, his lips completely devoid of color, even tinged faintly blue-gray.
Cold sweat covered his forehead, his hair damp and clinging to his temples.
Most alarming of all was his right arm—the thick white bandage had been almost completely soaked through with dark red blood, turning into a shocking deep brown.
Blood was still seeping out from the edges of the bandage, running down his limp arm and dripping steadily onto his dark gray work pants, spreading into a large, dark wet stain.
His left hand pressed tightly above the wound, but it was clearly doing little to help.
Lin Chen’s chest heaved violently. Every breath seemed extraordinarily difficult. Though he tried to keep his gaze sharp, his focus was beginning to scatter, revealing a weakness on the verge of collapse.
“The bleeding… won’t stop…”
Good heavens, why had she come out to meet someone in person instead of staying safely at home… this was terrifying…
She threw herself beside Lin Chen, fumbling as she tried to help press the wound, yet afraid of hurting him.
“What do we do? The bandages… we don’t have enough! The medicine… it’s all outside!”
She thought of the scattered medical supplies in the Pharmacy Section—but outside was full of zombies now.
Lin Chen struggled to lift his eyelids. Under the dim yellow light, his gaze weakly focused on Su Qianqian’s face, smeared with filthy blood.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end only shook his head faintly, his breathing growing heavier.
“No… no! You can’t fall asleep! Lin Chen! Look at me!”
Su Qianqian shook his shoulder forcefully. “The map! Right! The map!”
As if clutching at a final lifeline, she frantically pulled out the spare phone from her pocket—the screen covered in spiderweb cracks.
The screen lit up, and the cold city map appeared once again.
Her trembling fingers swiped and zoomed rapidly, locating the “Huijiale” supermarket warehouse where they were.
On the map, their position was marked by a faint blue shield icon (she guessed the shield might represent “Defense” or “Tank”?).
Beside it was a line of small text:
【Su Qianqian (Support) – Online – Status: Low Risk?】
And representing Lin Chen was a similarly faint but darker, flickering red flame icon:
【Long Night (Jungler) – Online – Status: Severely Injured (Blood Loss)】
Severely Injured (Blood Loss).
Those words burned into Su Qianqian’s vision like red-hot iron.
She frantically searched across the map, her eyes scanning nearby flickering markers.
Most of them were crimson skull icons representing zombies, or yellow exclamation marks indicating unknown threats.
Suddenly, her gaze locked onto a point inside the supermarket, separated from their warehouse by a row of shelves and a corridor.
A green cross icon representing a “Healer” was faintly blinking.
Beside it was the label:
【Huijiale Supermarket – Pharmacy Section – First Aid Kit (Inactive)】
Inactive?
What did that mean?
But Su Qianqian had no time to think. There was a first aid kit there—there might be a tourniquet, more professional medical supplies!
That was their only hope!
“A first aid kit! There’s one in the Pharmacy Section! The map shows it!”
Su Qianqian grabbed Lin Chen’s cold hand, shouting incoherently with excitement, “It’s just outside! Not far! Past a row of shelves! I’ll go get it! Hold on!”
A faint glimmer of focus seemed to gather in Lin Chen’s scattered gaze.
With great effort, he lifted his heavy eyelids, looking from the map marker on the screen in her hand to her eyes.
His colorless lips moved slightly, his voice so weak it was almost inaudible:
“…Danger…”
“I know it’s dangerous,” Su Qianqian cut him off, her voice hoarse with a do-or-die resolve. “But if I don’t go, you’ll die!”
She looked at the ever-expanding dark brown bloodstain on his arm, felt his weakening breaths and cold hand.
A surge of courage mixed with desperate madness exploded in her chest.
“In the Rift, how many times did you pull me out when I was one hit from death, surrounded by enemies?”
She stared into Lin Chen’s fading eyes, speaking each word clearly. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was steady with a strange calm.
“This time… it’s my turn to save you, Top Jungler.”