Driving that beat-up car, Quan Xiaoyu once again arrived at the main gate. It was obvious that someone had cleaned up the area, and the security guard zombie’s corpse was nowhere to be seen.
The barrier gate had also been repaired and was currently raised. The main gate was not closed either, so Quan Xiaoyu smoothly drove out. However, he felt rather uncomfortable inside. He always felt that something about this place was abnormal.
Still, his own villa had strong defenses, so he was not overly worried. He drove away at full speed.
About five kilometers from here was a bustling commercial center, with shopping malls, schools, and hospitals nearby. Quan Xiaoyu’s main destination was the hospital.
After Quan Xiaoyu’s car left, a head poked out from inside the security booth. Looking in the direction Quan Xiaoyu had driven away, the person beside him said, “Brother Tao, that looked like some kid who just went out. Why didn’t we stop him?”
That “Brother Tao” was none other than A-Tao, who was carrying a micro-submachine gun on his back. He reached out and smacked the speaker hard on the back of the head.
“Why would you stop him? With a crappy car like that, does he have money or supplies? Is he a woman? Are you stupid?”
“But… but we’re just letting him go out like that?” the man stammered.
A-Tao angrily smacked him on the head again.
“I say you’re stupid, and you really are stupid! What did Brother Zheng say yesterday? Don’t act rashly! What good would it do to make a move? And what if you ruin Brother Zheng’s plans? Are you going to pay for it with your head?”
Still not satisfied, he knocked the man’s head several more times.
“Yes, yes. Brother Tao, you’re still the wise one. No wonder Brother Zheng relies on you the most.” The man who had been beaten shamelessly flattered him.
“Did you see which house that kid came from?” Brother Tao asked, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
“All I could tell was that he came from the area around Buildings 20 to 30.”
“Let’s go. We’ll take a look around that area.”
There was no need to mention the difficulties along the way. By the time Quan Xiaoyu’s beat-up car reached the vicinity of the hospital, it was completely finished.
He abandoned the car and continued forward on foot.
Today’s weather was different from the scorching heat of the previous two days. It was warm like spring. Such weather felt comfortable, and the zombies felt the same way.
Without the sun’s scorching heat, almost all the zombies had come out to move around.
Several days had passed, and humans had learned to hide from the zombies instead of running wildly through the streets as they had at the beginning. They had been hungry for several days, and the only desire in their minds was food. They made “heh-heh” sounds as they occupied the streets that originally belonged to humans, searching everywhere for edible targets. Once they found one, they would rush over and tear it apart.
Quan Xiaoyu moved forward while hiding among the chaotic vehicles, the [sword] in his hand already drawn.
The zombies were clearly more agile than they had been a few days ago. As time progressed, humans had gradually begun to develop superhumans who experienced a second awakening, and the zombies were likewise evolving.
The closer he got to the hospital, the more chaotic it became, and the more zombies there were. They moved back and forth among the abandoned vehicles.
When there was truly no way to avoid them anymore, Quan Xiaoyu finally began slaughtering them.
His speed and strength, combined with this special [sword], strangely complemented each other perfectly. Dealing with these initial-stage zombies was incredibly easy. One slash could cut down two or three of them, as casually as slicing fruit.
However, the appearance of a living human still stirred the zombies into a frenzy. They charged toward the place where Quan Xiaoyu was without regard for anything else.
Quan Xiaoyu had no intention of getting entangled in battle. His objective was to open a passage to the hospital. He fought while retreating, maintaining his own method and rhythm. The mental fortitude he had developed through three years in the apocalypse allowed him to remain expressionless even when faced with zombies surging toward him like mad.
When he reached the hospital’s main entrance, he discovered that the doors had been locked from the inside.
That meant there were living people inside!
Breaking through this door would be nothing more than a single punch for Quan Xiaoyu. But at that moment, he hesitated.
Destroying the door meant letting the zombies inside. If a large number of zombies poured in, the people inside would…
Just as he hesitated, another group of zombies pounced toward him, forcing him to swing his sword again to block them.
He had fought his way here from three hundred meters away, killing his way through zombies that were as numerous as ants. By this point, his speed was clearly no longer as fast as before.
If he continued killing endlessly like this, he would eventually be torn apart by the zombies after exhausting all his strength.
“Hey! Hey! Over here!”
At that moment, Quan Xiaoyu felt someone knocking on the glass behind him. He cut down the nearest zombie and quickly turned around.
A teenage boy wearing a hoodie and a baseball cap stood on the other side of the glass. He pointed toward the left, signaling Quan Xiaoyu to go in the direction he was pointing.
Quan Xiaoyu immediately fought his way to the left. After advancing about twenty meters, he saw a window.
As Quan Xiaoyu approached, the window quickly opened. A handsome, refined face appeared inside, calling out to him, “Quick, get in! Hurry!”
When he saw that man’s features, Quan Xiaoyu froze for several seconds.
It was as if he had seen his father’s gentle gaze again—that gaze filled with tolerance and affection whenever his father looked at him…
Seeing him standing there in a daze, the man became anxious. He reached out, grabbed Quan Xiaoyu by the collar, and forcefully dragged him inside.
Quan Xiaoyu came back to his senses as well. He braced one hand against the window and, with a burst of strength, jumped inside. He then quickly closed and locked the window.
Behind Quan Xiaoyu came the sound of someone letting out a sigh of relief.
It was the baseball-cap-wearing boy who had shown him the way.
“Why were you spacing out just now? You look pretty good at fighting. How could you space out at such a crucial moment?” The baseball-cap boy stared at him with round eyes.
Quan Xiaoyu glanced at him but did not answer. He merely began examining his surroundings.
This should be one of the doctors’ offices on the first floor of the hospital. It was not very large, and the three of them were crammed inside. The office door was locked from the inside.
The man who had pulled him in looked to be in his twenties. He wore ordinary casual clothes and had handsome, refined features and gentle eyes.
It was precisely those gentle and elegant features that reminded Quan Xiaoyu of his refined father.
The man’s clothes had originally been white, but now, besides dust and stains, there were also spots of blood on them. Only then did Quan Xiaoyu notice that the man’s foot seemed to be injured.
After pulling Quan Xiaoyu inside, he had remained sitting in a chair. His right lower leg was simply wrapped in a bandage, which had already been soaked through with blood. It looked like a fresh wound.
Seeing that Quan Xiaoyu had been staring at his injury ever since entering, the man smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I was injured by a piece of glass. It wasn’t one of those monsters outside. It won’t become infected.”
The implication was that he would not mutate into one of the monsters outside and suddenly attack them.
That was not what Quan Xiaoyu meant at all. He felt that he had been misunderstood, but he did not know how to explain himself. Thus, he pursed his lips tightly and frowned.
“Hey, who are you? Why did you come to the hospital? You’re really good at fighting. I watched you kill your way here. And besides, we saved you. Don’t you want to say thank you?”
It was still the baseball-cap boy, speaking in a rapid-fire stream as though he felt ignored.
Quan Xiaoyu felt a little headache coming on. He was the worst at dealing with people like this.
Most of them talked frighteningly much and had countless questions. They were passionate about conversation. If you answered them, they could drive you crazy; if you did not answer, they considered you cold and aloof.
Quan Xiaoyu had always avoided people like this whenever possible.
“Bai Mingxi, shut up! Go stand in the corner and face the wall!”
The handsome, refined man seemed to have noticed the awkwardness hidden beneath Quan Xiaoyu’s cold exterior and opened his mouth to scold his companion.
However, there was no anger in his tone. It sounded more like an older brother disciplining his mischievous younger brother.
Bai Mingxi really was very obedient. He immediately shut his mouth and obediently went to the corner to face the wall.
“You don’t need to pay attention to him. He just talks too much. My name is Chu Tian, and he’s Bai Mingxi. We’re roommates. Now we’re trapped in the hospital.”
Chu Tian spoke gently to Quan Xiaoyu.
“I saw you come in from outside. Is there something urgent you need to do?”
Quan Xiaoyu had not been this close to an outsider in a long time. At that moment, his social anxiety completely erupted.
He did not know why. Perhaps he was afraid of being reminded of his father again. Quan Xiaoyu did not dare look at Chu Tian’s face.
He stiffly nodded, which counted as an answer.
Chu Tian’s gaze was very gentle, yet it seemed to possess a profound quality capable of seeing through everything. From beneath Quan Xiaoyu’s cold exterior, he sensed his low and complicated emotions.
Therefore, Chu Tian continued, “Once you leave here, the elevators are on the left and the stairs are on the right. No matter where you’re going, I suggest taking the stairs. We cleared out the monsters nearby, but there are still quite a few in this building. Some are even hiding in places you can’t see, so be careful.”
He looked at Quan Xiaoyu, but Quan Xiaoyu avoided his gaze.
Chu Tian was not angry. Instead, he smiled, seemingly unconcerned about whether Quan Xiaoyu answered him, and continued, “Besides the monsters, there are also some people on the third floor. They’re hiding in a room at the end of the corridor. If you want, you can save them, but you should also be careful of them.”
There was a meaning in his words that suggested he had said all that needed to be said.
Actually, Quan Xiaoyu quite liked these two people.
In the apocalypse, people who were willing to save others despite being in such a difficult situation were not common.
Moreover, he could tell that this man was very calm. He was not a blindly self-righteous saint. His actions were carried out with a plan and confidence.
As for the chatterbox named Bai Mingxi, although he talked a lot, there was no negativity in his tone. His reaction to Quan Xiaoyu’s coldness was one of curiosity.
Quan Xiaoyu nodded, then shook his head.
The nod meant that he had taken Chu Tian’s words to heart. The shake of his head meant that he was not in such a hurry to leave.
He knew in his heart that his father had also told him several times that if you had something on your mind, you had to say it out loud. Otherwise, other people could not understand what you meant and would misunderstand you.
These past few days, he had been with Li Nan, a child who had grown up alongside him like family, so he naturally had fewer difficulties communicating.
Today, after encountering strangers, his old problem had returned.
After holding it in for quite some time, Quan Xiaoyu finally forced himself to say, “I’m not in a hurry. Your wound… there’s a lot of blood.”
Was that considered expressing what he meant clearly?
A trace of surprise flashed through Chu Tian’s eyes.
Was this cold and aloof young man worried about his injury?
“Yes. A piece of glass went into it. I simply bandaged it. If you can, could you help me find some antibiotics? I’m like this now, while that guy…”
Chu Tian pointed toward Bai Mingxi in the corner with his chin.
“That guy is completely useless.”
“Tian-Tian, how can you say that about me? You really don’t love me anymore! It must be like that!”
Bai Mingxi spoke mournfully.
“Shut up.”
Bai Mingxi went silent again.
Quan Xiaoyu nodded solemnly. If he agreed to something, he would do it.
“Okay. I’ll find the medicine. Wait for me.”
Author’s Note: I accidentally used the same name as another character, so I changed it.