At this moment, Quan Xiaoyu had almost completely lost the ability to resist. He could sense danger approaching, yet the intense pain in his head left him powerless to do anything.
Just then, the coiling-dragon tattoo on Quan Xiaoyu’s neck emitted a faint golden light. The pain in his head instantly disappeared, and the passage of time seemed to slow down as well. In Quan Xiaoyu’s eyes, the infant corpse’s movements became like a slow-motion replay.
He raised the katana in his hand once again. The infant corpse pounced at him, and the tip of the blade pierced straight through its forehead. It kicked its legs twice before becoming completely still.
At the very instant the pain in his head disappeared, Quan Xiaoyu had felt a burning sensation coming from his neck. It seemed that mysterious space had saved him.
He reached out and touched the tattoo. There was a faint trace of blood on his fingertip. It turned out that when he had fought the infant corpse earlier, his face and neck had been cut by flying shards of glass, and the blood had trickled down his neck onto the tattoo.
Quan Xiaoyu recalled what had happened in the park. Could it be that this mysterious space needed his own blood to sustain itself?
This question did not remain in his mind for long. When he pulled the katana out of the infant corpse’s head, his attention was immediately drawn to the colorful crystal that had been brought out by the blade.
The crystal was a diamond-shaped core, with many facets like a diamond. The one before him shimmered with colorful light, displaying a different color when viewed from different angles, like an exquisitely cut gemstone.
He had never expected that zombies were already capable of forming crystal cores.
He had thought that zombies possessing crystal cores would not appear until at least half a year later.
Perhaps it was because his abilities in his previous life had been insufficient. He had discovered zombies with crystal cores only after half a year, while he did not formally figure out the purpose of crystal cores until a year after the apocalypse began.
By the time most ordinary people and ordinary ability users had figured out their purpose and wanted to collect them in large quantities, the crystal-core resources had long since fallen into the hands of the major factions and powerful ability users. Those ordinary ability users could only occasionally get a few scraps, while ordinary people found it even more difficult to obtain them.
So the crystal core of a psychic-type zombie was actually multicolored!
He had never seen one before. Psychic-type zombies were much rarer than psychic-type human ability users. They usually leveled up faster than other zombies, and once they matured, they were extremely difficult to eliminate. There were not many people who had encountered this kind of zombie, and even those who had encountered one might not have survived to return.
This was also the first time Quan Xiaoyu had seen one. Besides finding it novel, he also felt a trace of relief.
He was relieved that he possessed that mysterious space, which had saved him at the most critical moment. Otherwise, he probably would have died here today.
He was also relieved that he had encountered this infant corpse before it had fully matured and had managed to eliminate it without any real danger. Otherwise, given enough time, this infant corpse would certainly have become a great threat to humanity.
He kicked the infant corpse, sending it into the corner of the wall. There was even a faint hint of childish revenge in the gesture.
Then he looked at the medicine scattered all over the floor after the last medicine rack had been knocked down and shook his head regretfully.
A whole rack of antibiotics, ruined just like that.
He searched around and picked out several boxes of medicine that were still intact, putting them into the backpack on his back. He would take them downstairs later for the injured man.
He decided to make another trip to the third floor’s warehouse. That was his main destination. The second floor had merely been something he had planned to take care of along the way, yet he had nearly lost his life there.
Judging from the tone of that Chu Tian earlier, there seemed to be other people on the third floor, and quite a few of them at that.
The fact that there were people there at least proved one thing: there was no monster on the third floor at the level of the infant corpse.
If they were merely ordinary low-level zombies, Quan Xiaoyu did not consider them much of a threat.
When he arrived on the third floor, Quan Xiaoyu casually chopped down several zombies and successfully found the warehouse and blood bank.
Perhaps because there were people at the other end of the corridor, the zombies had all been drawn over there. There were also several zombie corpses lying on the ground. Quan Xiaoyu guessed that Chu Tian had been responsible for them.
With no monster at the infant-corpse level present, Quan Xiaoyu’s trip for supplies went extremely smoothly.
He swept through the blood bank and warehouse without any obstruction, accomplishing everything with ease.
Taking advantage of the zombies gathering at the other end, he also took some of the hospital’s equipment.
He did not recognize those pieces of equipment either. He simply took whatever “looked pretty useful,” or whatever “looked new.” It was better than nothing.
Having successfully completed his objective, Quan Xiaoyu looked toward the end where the people had gathered and hesitated.
Should he go save them?
When Chu Tian had explained the situation to him, there had been an ulterior meaning behind his words—part probing, part warning.
Quan Xiaoyu thought for a while before turning around and returning to the first floor.
Chu Tian was trying to find a way to stop his own bleeding. Bai Mingxi, who had been completely useless throughout the entire process, was idly playing with his fingers nearby, occasionally wondering whether the stoic young man who had just gone out would come back.
This boredom lasted for roughly forty minutes before light footsteps and a soft knock came from outside the door.
Chu Tian glanced somewhat surprised at the watch on his left wrist.
Forty-three minutes.
Much earlier than he had expected.
Had he actually not gone to save those people?
Chu Tian’s expression became rather amused.
Hearing the knock, Bai Mingxi stood up and nervously stared at the door, then looked at Chu Tian. His face practically screamed, “The zombie is knocking on the door, boss, what do we do?”
Having once again been rendered speechless by Bai Mingxi’s stupidity, Chu Tian helplessly said, “Open the door. It’s the same person from before. Have you ever seen a monster walk over quietly and knock on a door?”
“Oh.”
Bai Mingxi suddenly understood and hurried forward to open the door.
Quan Xiaoyu slipped into the office. There were tiny traces of blood on his face.
When Chu Tian saw what Quan Xiaoyu looked like, he froze for a moment.
“You’re injured?”
Quan Xiaoyu glanced at him, then stared at the wound on his foot and said, “Yeah. The glass shattered and flew up, cutting me.”
As he spoke, he squatted down in front of Chu Tian and pressed down on his injured right foot.
From the backpack behind him, he took out alcohol and gauze. He then carefully tore away the haphazard bandage Chu Tian had wrapped around himself and began treating the wound.
In his previous life, he had gained plenty of experience treating minor injuries—his own, his teammates’, and occasionally those of survivors they had rescued.
He handled it quite skillfully.
The wound had been pierced rather deeply by a shard of glass. Chu Tian had forcibly pulled out the glass because he wanted to move more easily, causing the wound to bleed heavily.
The one fortunate thing was that no bones or tendons had been damaged.
At this moment, Quan Xiaoyu looked up at Chu Tian.
Chu Tian’s face was slightly pale, and his lips were dry. When he saw Quan Xiaoyu looking at him, he gave a faint smile.
Quan Xiaoyu tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, “If it hurts, say so. If you feel dizzy, just say it. You don’t have to force such a strained smile.”
He had lost quite a lot of blood. The slight trembling of his fingertips showed that he had been enduring it the entire time.
He clearly had a lively companion right beside him, yet he insisted on pretending that nothing was wrong.
Chu Tian’s smile became awkward.
“Actually, it’s okay. It doesn’t hurt that much. I am a little dizzy, though.”
Bai Mingxi had already been surprised that Quan Xiaoyu had suddenly become so talkative. But only after hearing Chu Tian say that he was dizzy did he truly become nervous.
“Tiantian, what’s wrong? It’s just a cut from some glass, isn’t it? Before, we…”
His voice abruptly stopped.
That was because Quan Xiaoyu and Chu Tian had simultaneously turned to look at him.
Chu Tian’s eyes carried a warning, signaling him not to say anything reckless.
Quan Xiaoyu’s eyes carried reproach.
A wound this deep, and you’re calling it a cut?
Under the two men’s stares, Bai Mingxi was on the verge of tears.
Very soon, Quan Xiaoyu’s attention returned to the wound. After skillfully disinfecting it, he bandaged it.
Only then did he stand up. He rummaged through his bag, took out several boxes of antibiotics, and handed them to Chu Tian.
“Antibiotics. To prevent infection. A wound this deep should normally be stitched, but I couldn’t find the tools. We can only leave it like this for now.”
Chu Tian smiled, took the medicine, and asked curiously, “Are you a medical student?”
Considering his age, there was no way he could be a doctor.
Quan Xiaoyu shook his head and kept his mouth shut.
Although they had not known each other for long, Chu Tian felt that he seemed to understand this guy a little now. If there was something he did not want to talk about, other people probably would not be able to get anything out of him.
“By the way, we still don’t know your name.”
“Quan Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu as in the ‘Xiao’ of dawn.”
Chu Tian burst out laughing.
It seemed that this guy was rather particular about people thinking his name was “Xiaoyu.”
“Did you finish what you came to the hospital to do?” Chu Tian asked.
Quan Xiaoyu nodded.
“Then, are you planning to leave now?” Chu Tian asked again.
Quan Xiaoyu blinked twice, seemingly organizing his thoughts.
Only then did he say, “What about the people on the third floor?”
Chu Tian froze for a moment.
So, the ball he had tossed out had been kicked right back in front of him.
He once again carefully sized Quan Xiaoyu up several times.
He had thought that the person who had been so afraid of breaking down the hospital’s entrance and attracting zombies that he had nearly put himself in danger might rush to rescue the living people upstairs without a second thought.
After all, someone who had agreed to help him find medicine despite having known him for such a short time—how cold-hearted could he really be?
But things seemed to have turned out differently from what he had expected.
Quan Xiaoyu had not gone righteously rushing off to save them. Instead, he had kicked the ball right back to him.
This was a little awkward.
Chu Tian rubbed his chin.
“Why bother with them? They’re ungrateful, heartless, and two-faced. If we go save them, they might stab us in the back again.”
The people upstairs were practically Bai Mingxi’s trigger point now. Mentioning them was enough to set him off.
So that was it.
Recalling Chu Tian’s vague words earlier, Quan Xiaoyu looked at Chu Tian meaningfully.
Uh-oh.
It seemed that the little trick he had casually played just now had been seen through.
That was truly awkward.
Facing Quan Xiaoyu, Chu Tian began to put away his previous contempt. With a slightly embarrassed smile, he said, “I just thought you would think that you absolutely had to go save them.”
What a polite way of putting it.
What he really meant was that he had thought Quan Xiaoyu was some kind of saintly, pure-hearted person who would insist on saving everyone.
Quan Xiaoyu inwardly laughed in exasperation.
Being treated as a good person for the first time actually felt unexpectedly unpleasant.
He had been solitary and quiet since childhood and had some degree of difficulty socializing. He had never made many friends.
Although he had never been a bad person, being regarded as a truly good person for the first time beneath his cold exterior was quite an unusual experience.