No, that wasn’t right!
Zhou Qing shook his head hard. He’d been the one in charge of registration at the base gate that day, and Bai Zhuo had clearly shown no trace of any ability.
Xue Yanhen shot him a look, the blade in her hand never lowered.
The moment he showed the slightest sign of anything off, she would bring it straight down.
Bai Zhuo kept pulling things out like a little hamster, until the sight left Zhou Qing numb.
Gu Zhun’s condition was terrible, ability overdrawn, wounds all over, hypothermic. Any one of those, combined, could take his life.
But Bai Zhuo wasn’t trained in medicine after all. She looked up at Zhou Qing.
Easing out of his shock and numbness, Zhou Qing drew a deep breath, strode over, and took the syringe from Bai Zhuo’s hand.
“He was clawed by a zombie. There’s a good chance he’ll turn,” Xue Yanhen warned.
Bai Zhuo rummaged through her system inventory again and finally drew out a tiny medicine vial, which she handed to Zhou Qing.
“Inject this into him too.”
“What is it?”
Bai Zhuo let out a soft sigh. “The thing that saves his life.”
It was the reward for completing this emergency mission, the system had just stuffed it into her inventory, and it was clearly meant for Gu Zhun.
With both shots administered, Bai Zhuo stood up. “From here, it comes down to his luck.”
Zhou Qing gripped the emptied syringe, the veins on the back of his hand standing out.
“He’ll live.”
Gu Zhun did live. After ten straight hours of raging fever, he slowly opened his eyes.
He… hadn’t died?
Right, he hadn’t died. Bai Zhuo had saved him again.
Tears slid from the corners of Gu Zhun’s eyes.
“Captain Gu! You’re finally awake!”
At the sound of Zhou Qing’s delighted voice, Bai Zhuo and Xue Yanhen quickly rose and gathered around.
Gu Zhun’s gaze moved to Bai Zhuo. He opened his mouth and spoke, trembling.
“They’re… all dead.”
“Clang—”
The thing in Bai Zhuo’s hand dropped to the floor. Her lips moved, but no sound came out.
Bao Xiong, Xiao Wu, all of them, dead?
The room fell into a dead silence, broken only by Gu Zhun’s slightly ragged breathing.
After a long while, Gu Zhun told them why he’d turned up here on a rainy night.
The day after they got back to the Jing City base, he’d led his team out on another mission. His plan had been a good one: once the mission was done, he’d go find Bai Zhuo and Xue Yanhen and bring them back to the Jing City base, maybe they could even become comrades-in-arms.
Their mission concerned the investigation of zombie mutation and evolution, and at the same time the rescue of several experts trapped in other fallen cities.
But they never imagined it was a trap laid specifically for them.
Bao Xiong was the first to fall, the big, hulking man who was always grinning that dopey grin. After holding off a wave of zombies for them, he detonated the explosives strapped to his body, leaving not even a bone behind.
Next was Xiao Wu. She used the last of her ability to spark a fire, drenched in blood, wrapped in flame, buying them time.
Then the young man who had once fallen ill. He was terribly afraid of pain, but even after a zombie ran him through the chest, he clung to the door with all his might and never let them get past.
The quietest young man on the team died to save Gu Zhun, after coughing up a mouthful of shattered organ, he told Gu Zhun that he had to live.
The last was the man who’d delivered supplies to Bai Zhuo at the gas station that day. He was shot through the heart by the very “expert” he’d been protecting all along, and fell right in front of Gu Zhun.
Their faces flashed through Bai Zhuo’s mind, and her trembling hand couldn’t even close into a fist.
Gu Zhun shut his eyes, tears streaming ceaselessly down his face.
He was the only one left.
Zhou Qing wanted to say something, but the moment he opened his mouth, he realized his own face was wet with tears too.
Bai Zhuo bent down and gripped Gu Zhun’s icy hand. “Live. Avenge them.”
Gu Zhun’s body suddenly began to convulse. With no room left for grief, the three of them hurried to hold him down.
“Gu Zhun! Listen to me! You have to live!” Bai Zhuo shouted sharply, and once more drew out a syringe, slowly pushing it into his body.
Whether it was the drug taking effect, or that he’d heard her words clearly, Gu Zhun’s convulsions gradually eased and he settled into calm.
Outside, the downpour went on.
Confirming that Gu Zhun was out of danger, Bai Zhuo finally looked up at Zhou Qing. “Anything you want to ask?”
Zhou Qing didn’t expect her to lay it out at a moment like this. He was taken aback for a beat, then shook his head. “No.”
“You’re not curious?”
“I am. But you saved him.”
Bai Zhuo’s gaze fell once more on the unconscious Gu Zhun’s face, and she let out a soft sigh.
Gu Zhun’s physical state was dreadful. Even awake, he couldn’t move on his own, his overdrawn ability had left him more fragile than an ordinary person.
On the third day of their stay there, the rain lessened.
Bai Zhuo felt they couldn’t keep waiting there. If the ones who’d set the trap tracked them down, things could go very badly.
This time it was Gu Zhun who sat in the passenger seat. He had no strength in his body, but giving directions was no trouble.
Not long after the car pulled away, a group of people appeared at the spot where Bai Zhuo and the others had stayed for three days.
“They just left. Do we chase?”
“No need. Even if the Great Immortal himself came down, [1]an all-powerful deity, i.e., nobody could jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936509_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936509_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); he couldn’t save that Gu Zhun.”
Bai Zhuo sneezed, rubbed her nose, and gave a soft snort.
Gu Zhun raised his eyes and met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “What is it?”
“Those people probably tracked us there. Lucky we made the call and got out fast.”
Gu Zhun pressed his lips tight, endless killing intent in his eyes.
“There will be a day of vengeance.”
“Mm.”
Under Gu Zhun’s direction, they made it successfully to the Jing City base.
Gu Zhun was rushed to the hospital at once. Zhou Qing drew back his worried gaze and turned to look at Bai Zhuo.
“We need to go report on the Linzhou base.”
Bai Zhuo nodded in agreement.
Before entering the two-story white building, Bai Zhuo and Xue Yanhen passed through three inspection procedures, Xue Yanhen’s blade was left outside.
Zhou Qing drew a deep breath and knocked. “Reporting in!”
“Enter.”
Bai Zhuo followed Zhou Qing into the meeting room and met the gray-haired old man there.
When the old man turned to look at them, both Bai Zhuo and Xue Yanhen were a little startled.
For no other reason than this: the old man looked far too much like Gu Zhun.
Zhou Qing gravely reported all the intelligence he’d gathered at the Linzhou base, then looked to Bai Zhuo.
Reining in her emotions, calm-faced, Bai Zhuo told him truthfully what she’d seen inside the secret laboratory beneath that gray building at the Linzhou base.
The old man’s brow furrowed. Even though he’d long suspected it, the moment of confirmation still brought disappointment and disgust.
The old man had Zhou Qing write all the intelligence into a document and submit it, then turned to Bai Zhuo.
In that moment, he set aside all his authority and bowed to her, deeply.
“Thank you, both of you, for saving Gu Zhun.”
Bai Zhuo started and shifted slightly to the side, avoiding the bow. “You don’t need to do this…”
“I do,” the old man sighed softly, his eyes full of grief.
References[+]