Liu Yun trembled as she looked at the guns pointed at her. She wanted to beg for mercy, but she was too scared to speak.
’Oh, my God! Why are these people always pointing guns at me?! What did I do wrong?! Wu~ wu~ wu~!’
While Liu Yun was scolding Gu Lingjian and the others in her heart, Gu Lingjian and Chen Chuan were stunned at her reaction.
This scene... felt strangely familiar.
Recalling the first time they had spoken to this young lady, they remembered that she had also raised her hands in surrender and shouted the exact same words.
After a long moment of tense silence, Chen Chuan took a step closer to Gu Lingjian, leaned in, and whispered, "Captain, don’t you think this young lady is afraid of us?"
When asked, Gu Lingjian scanned Liu Yun’s dirty face and noticed the fear in her eyes.
After thinking for a few seconds, he asked, "What did you do to our friend?"
Seeing an opportunity to explain, Liu Yun hurriedly replied, "I just gave him some medicine."
Hearing this, Gu Lingjian asked again, "If you only gave him medicine, then why is he lying motionless on the ground?"
Liu Yun rolled her eyes at him before asking in return, "He was infected by the virus. Don’t you know that the virus mutates a person’s cells, nerves, and organs?"
It had been three months since the Central Military Base released information about the X Virus to the entire Hua Xia Nation.
Everyone knew that the most terrifying thing about the X Virus was not the outcome, but the transformation process itself.
Seeing that Gu Lingjian and the others showed no reaction, Liu Yun continued, "To save your friend from the zombification process, the medicine first destroys all the cells, nerves, and organs that have already been infected, then recreates new ones."
She paused for a second before asking, "Can you imagine how painful the reconstruction process would be? It’s normal for your friend to faint from the pain."
After listening to her explanation, Fu Shuo lowered his gun and said, "Captain, let me check on Mu Nan."
"Go." Gu Lingjian replied, but didn’t take his eyes off Liu Yun.
Receiving his permission, Fu Shuo put away his gun and walked toward the unconscious Mu Nan.
As he passed Liu Yun, he noticed her grinning at him.
Fu Shuo paused in his tracks for a second before focusing his attention on Mu Nan. Squatting beside him, Fu Shuo opened his backpack and took out a small flashlight and a stethoscope.
After hanging the stethoscope around his neck, he opened Mu Nan’s eyes, switched on the flashlight, and checked his pupils.
The moment he saw Mu Nan’s eyes, his own widened in shock. The blood-red color in Mu Nan’s eyes was slowly fading.
"This...!"
Noticing the change in his expression, Gu Lingjian asked, a hint of anxiety creeping into his voice, "Fu Shuo, what’s wrong?"
Fu Shuo didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled open Mu Nan’s clothes, put on the stethoscope, placed it against his chest, and then checked his heartbeat and internal organs.
When he finished, he examined Mu Nan’s skin. Noticing that the black lines were slowly disappearing, his eyes trembled with disbelief.
After several minutes of examination, he turned toward Gu Lingjian and the others. He opened his mouth but couldn’t speak for a long time.
Losing his patience, Lu Shen urged, "Brother Fu, speak up! How is Mu Nan’s condition now?!"
Fu Shuo swallowed hard and took several deep breaths before finally finding his voice. "Cap-Captain... Mu Nan... He is recovering... The black lines and the red color in his eyes slowly disappeared together with the X Virus."
The moment those words fell, Gu Lingjian and the others were stunned.
Coming back to his senses, Gu Lingjian rushed over to Fu Shuo, grabbed his collar, and asked urgently, "What did you just say?! Is Mu Nan really recovering?!"
Being grabbed by the collar, Fu Shuo struggled to breathe. He hurriedly slapped Gu Lingjian’s hands and spoke with difficulty, "Cap-Captain... Let go!"
Realizing he was choking Fu Shuo, Gu Lingjian immediately released him. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I got too excited."
He apologized while patting Fu Shuo’s back.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!" Fu Shuo coughed for a while before recovering.
Looking at his anxious brothers, he hoarsely answered, "Mu Nan is fine. As this young lady said, he is simply unconscious from the pain of the treatment process."
The moment his words fell, the soldiers cheered and hugged one another.
Some of them laughed.
Some cried.
One simply sat down and covered his face.
"Thank God! Mu Nan is safe!"
While they celebrated the good news, a notification sounded in Liu Yun’s mind.
Ding!
[The player has successfully completed the Side Mission. Rewards have been issued.]
Liu Yun’s eyes lit up when she heard the notification. However, with this group of men surrounding her, she didn’t dare summon the System panel.
What if they could see it?
What if they discovered she could buy supplies from the System Mall?
Wouldn’t they imprison her and squeeze her dry until she died?
Shuddering at the horrifying thought, Liu Yun decided to slip away while nobody was paying attention. Making up her mind, she quietly moved closer to the nearest broken window.
When she saw that nobody had noticed her, she took another step.
Seeing that nobody realized what she was doing, she rushed out of the store and ran as fast as she could.
’Keep running! Liu Yun, don’t look back!’
Liu Yun continued encouraging herself while fleeing from the store, completely unaware that a giant red moon had already risen into the night sky.
As the crimson moon bathed the ruined city in an eerie red glow, Liu Yun disappeared into the darkness.