Hearing what Ji Qiuyue had to say.
Professor Xia displayed profound silence.
"Qiuyue, it’s my fault," he said.
"No, Grandpa Xia, you don’t need to blame yourself, I willingly chose to do this. The Lucky Cell can’t be injected into humans. If someone with malice learns about this, I fear they may create monsters even more terrifying than zombies."
She had returned to the base in a lucid state, wanting to inform Professor Xia of this news.
"Qiuyue, stay right there and don’t move. I’ll send someone to pick you up," he replied.
"No, don’t come. My condition is not good. I’m a ticking time bomb, and no one knows when I’ll explode. I know my state; I’m no longer suitable to live among human communities. Right now, I’m an aberration."
"Grandpa, my goal in my youth was to serve my country with my knowledge. But with the apocalypse here, I realized my learning didn’t meet my expectations. Though Lucky Cell has made me this way, it has also given me a power I never dared imagine. With this power, I can fight against the zombies, and it has given me a direction to pursue my goals."
Professor Xia heaved a long sigh, knowing Qiuyue’s character. There really was no need for all this, he thought, but now it was too late for regrets.
Atop a building somewhere in Huang City.
Xu Ying crouched in a corner of the building’s roof, with the groaning of zombies from below reaching her ears. She couldn’t sleep at all. Even now, after more than an hour’s travel, she hadn’t reached the Sunshine Shelter.
The number of zombies on the road was simply too overwhelming.
It was difficult for vehicles to advance.
Meeting danger and being surrounded by zombies, it was impossible to break through with the car. Perhaps watched over by fate, she ran into a building on the street and managed to make it to the rooftop safely.
But... the relentlessness of the zombies in their pursuit of prey was beyond her worst fears.
They loitered below her.
In the night, they were like devils crawling out from the abyss, searching for the delicious human flesh scattered across the world. And Xu Ying, cowering behind the rooftop wall, appeared so insignificantly pitiful.
"They must still be waiting for me," she thought.
"Without me by Rourou’s side, I hope Rourou can sleep soundly."
She feared death, not because she considered her life extraordinarily precious, but because she couldn’t bear to leave Rourou alone. She had her own aspirations, her own treasures deep in her heart.
The wind on the rooftop was cool, but her heart burned with passion. Only with such fervor could she possess the will to chase after the hope of life, to reach the Sunshine Shelter no matter what.
She closed her eyes for a brief rest, but when she opened them again, the sky had brightened slightly. The chill morning air woke her with a start.
"No, I must hurry to the shelter," she muttered to herself.
She looked down from the roof to the street below; the same zombies staggered around.
Despite her fear of heights, she swung herself over the rooftop’s wall, gripping the edge tightly, her feet finding the burglar-proof window frame, descending carefully and silently.
Once, she nearly missed catching the window frame’s bars, but luckily, it was without mishap.
Eventually, she reached the rooftop of a two-story shop.
Crouching low, she crawled along the shop rooftops, heading forward. It didn’t matter how long it would take to get there at this pace; to Xu Ying, each step brought her a bit closer to her goal.
She reached the end of the shop’s rooftop. Ahead was a wide crossroad filled with overturned cars and staggering zombies.
Her path was blocked.
There was no way to continue forward.
But she still clung to hope; the road was still there, it had not come to an end yet. She believed she could make it across, she had to.
Quietly, she lay in wait for an opportunity. Time ticked on, the situation on the street remained unchanged. Xu Ying grabbed a brick from beside her and, without a second thought, threw it at a car down the road.
The car alarm went off.
The shambling zombies, hearing the disturbance, howled and ran towards the source of the noise.
As the zombies converged there, Xu Ying quickly scaled down the drainpipe and, like a madwoman, dashed across the road to the other side. In passing, she noticed a car with its keys inside. Without hesitation, she opened the door, started the car, and drove away from that place.
The zombies, attracted by the sound of the moving car, chased after her.
The sheer number of them was dizzyingly intense.
Xu Ying gripped the steering wheel, focused only on reaching the Sunshine Shelter, discarding any thought of going elsewhere. No matter the difficulties before her eyes, she was determined to overcome them.
One after another, zombies were sent flying by the car. Such horrific scenes couldn’t shake Xu Ying’s resolve.
Having lived through the apocalypse this long, she was afraid of nothing.
The only fear she harbored was for something to happen to Rourou.
"Lin, you haven’t been out for a morning run lately," said Yan Nini, dressed in sportswear and looking young and vibrant, having met Lin Fan earlier than usual.
Lin Fan replied with a smile, "I’m going to clean up zombies in Huang City, so I didn’t think about going for a run."
Yan Nini had noticed that many in the shelter had started families. She harbored certain intentions, but it seemed Lin was not inclined in that direction, always busy slaying zombies.
She estimated roughly.
The world’s zombie population was, conservatively, in the billions. Putting aside everything else, just to kill all the zombies in the whole country was a terrifying number indeed.