The beam of a tactical flashlight hit the cracked wall. Zhou Rong observed for a moment, then gestured to the right. "This way."

The three of them moved quickly along the corner of the wall. Zhang Yingjie's steps were a bit unsteady. Chuncao turned back to support him, but he avoided her.

"I can walk on my own." Zhang Yingjie said, panting, laughing self-deprecatingly. "In a little while... I won't recognize you anymore. Don't want to get my teammate killed. Stay away from me."

Chuncao's palm-sized face was covered in tears, and she didn't say a word.

At the very front, Zhou Rong's eyes were red-rimmed, but he didn't look back. His voice was very steady. "Yingjie, hang in there. If we get out within two hours, you'll still make it... at least back to the surface."

They passed through the corridor and went down the stairs that had been completely destroyed by the Zombie Gorilla. Zhang Yingjie laughed, "Will we make it in time? Actually, I don't care. Once you're dead, you're dead. What difference does it make where it happens? It's just that I really want to know if my wife and child are still alive. If only I could see them one more time..."

As they were passing through a long corridor connecting one lab after another, Chuncao suddenly stopped and shone her light on the emergency sign above their heads, saying in disbelief, "Look, Area E."

The three of them looked up at the same time.

The words "North E Zone" in white on a green background hung crookedly in the darkness.

Was Si Nan chased by the Zombie Gorilla and accidentally stumbled into Area E?

Zhou Rong made a grim joke. "Great, at least we've saved some travel time. This way."

Zhang Yingjie paused briefly to catch his breath. Ignoring his attempt to dodge, Zhou Rong reached out to support him and said in a low voice, "Area E has the latest antibody research data, and maybe even some remaining finished products of the Original Antibody. Judging by the time the base fell, the antibody might not have expired yet. If it's still effective..."

Zhang Yingjie immediately said, "I won't take it, Rong-ge. Don't even joke about it. Trading the hope of the entire world for my single life? I'd go to the eighteenth level of hell after I die."

"...If there are two doses." Zhou Rong said hoarsely. "If there are, I'll definitely give you one."

Zhang Yingjie wanted to say more, but Zhou Rong pulled him along. "Let's go."

The flashlight beam illuminated a fork in the path ahead. From the six-meter-high ceiling, a broken ventilation duct hung down, suspended in mid-air like a giant python twisted into a knot. Zhou Rong glanced at the map on the tablet in his hand.

To the left was the Testing Ground, but it didn't specify what kind of testing ground. To the right was the Classified Biochemical Data Room, with a red S-level importance rating.

Zhou Rong couldn't decide which way to go for a moment when Chuncao's ears twitched. "There's a sound."

In the darkness, Zhang Yingjie's heavy panting paused for a moment.

A commotion gradually started from upstairs. From the sound of it, a group of people was rumbling closer, interspersed with the pops of silenced gunshots, a sound very familiar to special forces soldiers.

The three of them looked up. Within seconds, the commotion had rolled right above their heads, shaking countless fine dust particles from the ceiling.

"..." Zhou Rong suddenly realized something, his expression changing drastically. "Fuck! Don't!"

But his furious roar was useless.

Gunfire erupted overhead, the force of it almost like a missile exploding at ground level. The reinforced concrete ceiling collapsed with a boom. Zhou Rong, Chuncao, and Zhang Yingjie scrambled and rolled to get away as three other special forces soldiers, wrapped in rubble, fell from the sky!

Yan Hao hit the ground, rolled, and got up, roaring himself hoarse, "Don't let them come down! Open fire! Open fire!! Captain?!"

Zhou Rong wanted to kick him on the spot, but it was too late. A ceaseless stream of zombies followed them, falling through the large hole blasted in the ceiling to this level and beginning to spread out rapidly!

Zhou Rong yelled while firing his weapon, "What are you guys doing here?!"

Guo Weixiang: "Reinforcing you!"

Zhou Rong: "Get lost!"

Ding Shi: "...We were chased by zombies!"

Yan Hao, carrying a heavy assault rifle, tossed out an ammo bag half his height and shouted back during a lull in the firefight, "Nowhere else to go! We had to shoot through the floor! Don't ask, it was an accident!"

Zhou Rong hugged the ammo bag with both arms, grabbed a grenade in the chaos, and tossed it up at the ceiling where zombies were pouring down like dumplings, roaring, "Everyone, get down—!"

With a huge, thunderous roar, half the corridor above them collapsed.

The six of them, having just managed to reunite, had no time to catch up before they were thrown in different directions by the shockwave of the explosion. Immediately after, rebar and bricks rained down, completely blocking the fork in the path.

A full few dozen seconds later, the vibrations stopped, and dust filled the air, spreading through the darkness.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Zhou Rong forcefully pushed away the rubble pinning him down and got up in a sorry state. "Anyone still alive?"

After a long moment, a groan came from not far ahead. It was the unkillable Chuncao. "Alive..."

Zhou Rong raised his voice. "Yingjie! Yan Hao! Xiangzi! Ding Shi! Are you alive?!"

"Ugh..." From his right front came Guo Weixiang's voice. "My arm's dislocated..."

Ding Shi: "...Hiss, hiss, hiss..."

Zhou Rong: "Fix your own dislocation!" As he spoke, he casually picked off a few half-dead zombies nearby and switched on his flashlight.

The explosion had thrown them to the right side of the fork, toward the Classified Data Room—if Yan Hao and Zhang Yingjie weren't crushed to death, they must have been thrown in the opposite direction, toward the Testing Ground.

Zhou Rong called out a few times, but there was no response.

In front of him, the passage was completely blocked by collapsed concrete blocks, with an unknown amount of zombie flesh and blood crushed in the rubble. Behind him, the alloy corridor stretched out endlessly. They had already entered the central area of Area E, and next up was the sealed-off core area—the Classified Biochemical Data Room.

Zhou Rong's flashlight drooped by his side.

Although the alloy corridor was a mess, the walls and ceiling were not damaged, showing no signs of violent destruction—which meant that when Si Nan was chased by the Zombie Gorilla to the fork, he had chosen the other path, the one now blocked by rubble.

He went to the Testing Ground.

Zhou Rong lifted a large piece of broken beam and threw it aside, then shouldered a steel bar and moved it to the side.

He was like a trapped beast trying to smash a way out of its cage, his breathing hoarse, his eyes bloodshot. After a long time, he staggered to his feet, staring intently at the insurmountable pile of rubble before him, and then suddenly came to his senses.

Smack!

He swung his hand and slapped himself hard across the face.

Chuncao was just walking up behind him when her steps faltered. "Rong... Rong-ge..."

With his back to her, Zhou Rong slowly turned around after a long moment. His face had already regained its calm, only the end of his words carried a hoarseness that couldn't hide his intense pain. "All personnel, prepare to move. We're going to the Classified Data Room."

"After we blast the gate, collect all virus research data and the Original Antibody. Move out."

·

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fork, Yan Hao clutched his bleeding shoulder and gritted his teeth as he got up. "Yingjie?"

Zhang Yingjie had already climbed out from the rubble of bricks and tiles. He was leaning against the base of the wall, coughing up blood continuously. Yan Hao thought his internal organs had been crushed and staggered over to squat down, but before he could speak, Zhang Yingjie suddenly pushed him away.

"You..."

With a retch, Zhang Yingjie vomited a mouthful of black blood!

Yan Hao was stunned.

Zhang Yingjie managed to lift his head, a coarse panting like a broken bellows coming from his chest. His complexion was already ashen, his eyes were bloodshot, the circles under them were dark purple, and his lips were chapped from dryness.

"I... if I don't recognize you later..." Zhang Yingjie pointed to his own temple and gave a wretched smile. "Give me a knife right here. Make it clean..."

Yan Hao's expression was blank, and he shook his head, his lips trembling.

"We didn't have time to chat just now, but at least I got to see everyone again. It's good that you're all..."

Before Zhang Yingjie could finish, Yan Hao dropped to his knees with a thud and hugged him tightly.

Yan Hao couldn't make a sound. His shoulders and even his arms were trembling violently as hot tears streamed from his eyes.

In truth, Zhang Yingjie's consciousness was already fading. He wanted to push Yan Hao away, but dozens of meters deep in this dark underground, in this living hell still smelling of smoke, his comrade's burning embrace and hot tears made it difficult for him to raise his hands.

After a long moment, he finally began to tremble and patted Yan Hao's back.

"Don't be like this. At least everyone is okay... At least everyone is still here, Unit 118 is still here, right?"

"You have to complete the mission," Zhang Yingjie choked up a little, then said, "You must get the data and the antibody out of here, understand? You must reach the South Sea. Once headquarters develops a vaccine, the entire country, the entire planet..."

Yan Hao burst into tears.

"Listen to me, Yan Hao!" Zhang Yingjie pushed him back an inch, staring into his eyes and enunciating each word. "You can't be like this. Do you know why the higher-ups parachuted Rong-ge in to be captain back then? Because you're meticulous, you can't bear to make sacrifices, you're always thinking about everyone... What would Rong-ge do right now? He would never waste time crying!"

"Get up, and move forward!" Zhang Yingjie supported himself against the wall and struggled to his feet. His gaze fixed ahead as he gritted his teeth. "My mission as a soldier isn't over yet. How can I die in this place!"