“Oh my God! My heavens! Li Sen, I just went to the lab’s warehouse, and all the reagents and consumables have been cleared out.”

“And I found the office supplies are all gone too.”

While Li Sen was explaining the situation to Su You, his female colleague had gone to check the storeroom.

She discovered that the once fully stocked supply warehouse had been emptied, leaving only some banners left over from their last gathering and a pile of discarded junk awaiting disposal. Everything else had been spirited away by some unseen hand.

“What?” Li Sen’s eyes widened in shock, then noticed his colleague nodding.

“It’s true.”

“Could it be an inside job?” Li Sen frowned, but clearly had no intention of digging into it further.

In front of zombies, such matters were hardly worth mentioning. Even if the thief stood right before him, he wouldn’t care — in fact, he’d genuinely hope that person could carry those precious supplies away and escape.

Su You’s expression didn’t change. She pulled out a walkie-talkie from her backpack and tried to contact the squad of soldiers, but no reply came.

At that moment, she had a bad feeling.

Could it be… the entire squad had been wiped out?

That would make things very tricky.

She noticed the three researchers stealing anxious glances at the warehouse door, their eyes full of worry and impatience.

They were starving and freezing, yet still clung to their work.

For Su You to just walk away, leaving them to wait for a rescue team that might never arrive, would feel cruel.

But helping the three of them break out of the building and force their way through hordes of zombies? She wasn’t a god. She couldn’t pull off something that impossible.

After all, she was just a young woman trying to survive in the apocalypse.

In the end, Su You came up with a “perfect compromise.”

She took out three bottles of mineral water and three instant self-heating hotpots from her backpack, handing them over kindly.

“Don’t panic. Maybe it’s just a temporary loss of contact. Eat something first,” she advised.

“At night, the streets are swarming with zombies. Going out now would only make things worse. It’s better to rest up and regain your strength. By tomorrow morning, you might receive word from them.”

“If not, you still have all of tomorrow to try leaving the city for help.”

As she spoke, she swiftly prepared her own portion.

The spicy aroma of the hotpot soon filled the air along with the steam.

The three researchers, including Li Sen, were immediately tempted.

They hadn’t eaten in over a day.

Better to fill their stomachs first.

They quickly copied Su You’s motions — unpacking the flavor packets, adding vegetables and meat, pouring water into the heating pack — until steam bubbled up, warming the food above.

The three ate until both hunger and thirst were satisfied.

Soon after, they toppled to the ground together, snoring heavily.

Su You: Perfect. The sleeping pill dosage was just a little stronger this time.

She hefted the three of them and stored them into her base’s space.

As for the experimental vaccine and research materials they had mentioned —

She retrieved a liquid nitrogen tank from her space, put on protective gear, and sealed away everything strange (except the data and records) inside the cryogenic storage system controlled by her smart program.

Flawless.

---

Meanwhile, on the rooftop—

Members of the Eagle Squad braced the rooftop iron door with a baseball bat, holding back the monsters ramming it from the stairwell.

Earlier, in order to rescue “Li Sen,” they had fought tooth and nail against the zombies, finally dragging the man out of the lab surrounded by the undead.

They had even rescued several of “Li Sen’s” colleagues.

But disaster struck — one of those colleagues had carelessly opened a locked iron door, unleashing hordes of infected patients from the wards. The rescue operation collapsed into chaos. Three squad members were killed, and even the team’s doctor was bitten.

Now, the culprit of that disaster — “Li Sen’s” colleague and girlfriend — was shivering in the cold wind on the rooftop, complaining she didn’t have enough clothes.

She hugged her arms, staring up at the night sky, still finding no glimmer of hope.

“Is this even reliable? Where’s the helicopter that was supposed to save us?”

“At this rate, we won’t be bitten by zombies — we’ll freeze to death in the rooftop wind first.”

The other researchers chimed in with complaints.

“Li Sen” himself sat quietly, clutching a large container in his backpack, gazing off into the distance with an unreadable expression.

One of Edmond’s team members snapped, unable to hold back:

“Shut up! If not for saving you, our three teammates wouldn’t have been bitten. You’re still alive, and yet all you do is whine.”

“Turn around and look — our teammates are down there in the zombie horde, reduced to mindless beasts, slamming the door and roaring. They’ve lost every shred of their humanity. And you’re complaining about being cold? My teammates have lost their lives.”

The woman sneered. “And what’s that got to do with me? Let me tell you, we are researchers on the T-virus project. Protecting us and our work is your duty.”

“Li Sen is the head of the vaccine project, and my boyfriend. If you want a cure to be developed and mass-produced to suppress the T-virus, then get us out of here. Once we’re in a safe, uninterrupted environment, we’ll naturally make progress.”

“That means our lives are more valuable than yours. Even if one or two of you die, it doesn’t matter. But if something happens to us, the whole project stalls, and the crisis of T-virus infection only grows worse. Can you afford that responsibility?”

Her words were sharp, domineering, and laced with logic, leaving the Eagle Squad members tongue-tied. They could only glare at her in rage.

Confident and arrogant, the woman moved closer to “Li Sen,” continuing to complain about the slow rescue.

Just then, the distant thump of helicopter blades echoed through the night.

The heavy sound cut across the sky, sending the zombie horde surging beneath, chasing it like a black tide.

At the same time, the baseball bat barring the rooftop door began to shake under the pounding from within.

The woman shrieked with delight, “Oh my God, it’s the helicopter! They’re finally here! We’re saved!”

At that moment, Raleigh, under the pretense of patrolling, slipped behind a cover and rolled up his trouser leg.

On his calf was a deep, bloody bite mark.

He had already been infected.

Raleigh seethed with fury. Why did Hal get to walk away unscathed, while he ended up bitten?

His eyes burned with such venomous hatred as he looked at Hal that it felt almost tangible.