Chapter 55

There was only one person named Zeng in the entire camp – Wen Yi’s boyfriend, Zeng Yitong.

Xue Ling had overheard a lot of gossip yesterday while hanging out in the activity area. Life at the camp was dull, so people talked about the same topics, one of which was Wen Yi and her boyfriend.

It was said that Mr. Zeng was also a rational zombie, just like them.

Having him around was the reason the people at the camp understood that rational zombies existed.

But in reality, not many had actually seen Zeng Yitong.

He mostly stayed inside the medical vehicle, and only Wen Yi occasionally visited him. Usually, her schoolmate Xu Zhihua was the one watching over him.

It was Xu Zhihua who informed Wen Yi that Zeng Yitong had woken up.

Xue Ling had been curious about Zeng Yitong ever since she first learned of him, and hearing from Xu Zhihua that he had woken up made her even more curious.

Zombies didn’t sleep, so how could he “wake up”?

Seeing Wen Yi heading toward the medical vehicle, Xue Ling pulled Wen Jiuze along to follow and watch.

Xu Zhihua had intended to stop them from entering the medical vehicle, as it was a classified lab, but when they followed and Wen Yi didn’t object, she didn’t say anything.

Wen Yi led the way and arrived at a large, modified RV, then opened the door.

Once the door opened, the sound from inside immediately grew louder. It was the growling of a zombie.

Xue Ling was very familiar with the sound of zombies growling like this. They would growl either when they were attacking humans or when they were being attacked.

But if this was Zeng Yitong, he had rational thoughts, so he shouldn’t be growling like this.

There must be other zombies inside the vehicle.

Xue Ling let go of Wen Jiuze and walked behind Wen Yi, curious as she peeked inside the vehicle.

The vehicle was arranged like a laboratory with various equipment. In the center, a restraint bed held a zombie.

The zombie was severely emaciated, with its face shriveled and dark, and it was struggling wildly, shaking the restraint bed.

When it saw Wen Yi, it became even more agitated. Its growls sounded almost as if it wanted to rip its throat out in an effort to shout, and it was extremely aggressive.

Xue Ling didn’t see any other zombies in the vehicle, so this must be Zeng Yitong.

“How long did the brain stimulation last before he woke up?” Wen Yi walked over and checked an instrument beside the restraint bed.

Her tone was calm, and she only glanced at Zeng Yitong when she entered.

Xu Zhihua came forward to answer, “We applied electrical stimulation for fifteen minutes each time. It lasted three rounds. Before that…”

As Xue Ling listened to their conversation and observed the restrained Zeng Yitong, she began to feel that things weren’t as she had thought.

After hearing Xu Zhihua’s explanation, Wen Yi put on isolation gloves and began to check Zeng Yitong’s condition. When the growling subsided a bit, she calmly asked, “Are you awake now? How do you feel?”

Zeng Yitong glared at her, then opened his mouth wide and let out a ferocious roar.

Wen Yi withdrew her examination tools and said, “It seems you don’t want to communicate. I’ll check on you again in a few days when you’re in better condition.”

Zeng Yitong’s movements became quieter, and he gradually calmed down.

Wen Yi then signaled Xu Zhihua to bring over a tablet, similar to the one Xue Ling had received earlier.

Zeng Yitong’s hands remained bound, and he used his darkened fingers to poke at the screen, struggling with difficulty.

Xue Ling didn’t get close enough to see what he was writing, but the tablet had not been turned off and started reading out loud. A female voice soon began, “Kill me, kill me, kill me, please kill me.”

Xue Ling: “?”

Behind her, Wen Jiuze rested his hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her back.

This wasn’t the first time Zeng Yitong had made such a request. Wen Yi had long been accustomed to it, showing no reaction. She simply flipped through the data on his physical condition and said, “I still have a lot of important experiments to finish. You’d better hold on a little longer.”

As soon as Zeng Yitong heard this, he became more frantic, starting to scream and struggle.

Wen Yi furrowed her brows. “He’s more irritable than a month ago. After this, let’s take an image of his brain and see if the recent experiments have caused any brain damage.”

After speaking, she looked up and saw Xue Ling standing near the car door, doing her best to hide her nervousness and fear.

Wen Yi suddenly smiled.

She was a beautiful woman, and with her usual cold and distant expression, the sudden smile seemed to bring a spring-like warmth.

Xue Ling immediately thought that there must be a reason for Wen Yi’s behavior—perhaps Zeng Yitong had done something wrong to her.

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t do this to you,” Wen Yi said, ignoring Zeng Yitong’s pain and anger beside her. “I’ve already used him for some dangerous experiments. Now, I have experience, and it’ll be much safer.”

Zeng Yitong indeed looked severely tortured.

Xue Ling witnessed this scene firsthand and no longer saw Zeng Yitong as Wen Yi’s boyfriend. He clearly looked more like her enemy.

Wen Yi quickly finished her examination, instructed Xu Zhihua to continue monitoring, and then got back into her vehicle to return to her RV.

The sound of zombies roaring was shut out by the soundproofed car door behind them.

Xue Ling followed her and got into her car.

Wen Yi waved to her and Wen Jiuze, saying, “You two go enjoy yourselves. Don’t come to my car to disturb me.”

Xue Ling turned to Wen Jiuze, “Wait outside for a bit.”

Wen Jiuze: “?”

He had wanted to take the tablet from Xue Ling, but she forcefully pushed him out of the car.

Wen Yi didn’t mind that Xue Ling had closed the door on Wen Jiuze. She continued on her way, washing her hands.

Xue Ling walked over and quietly asked her, “Last time you said there was an experiment subject who had taken a quarter of Tai Sui. Can you extract the medicine  from him? Was that the one just now?”

Wen Yi nodded, “Yes.”

“Although there are still some experiments left to be done on him, if you’re willing to cooperate on some minor experiments that aren’t too harmful, I can dispose of him earlier.”

Xue Ling: “…”

Noticing the shock on her face, Wen Yi understood what she was thinking and said, “Not all boyfriends and girlfriends are like you and Wen Jiuze.”

Although Wen Yi and Zeng Yitong were in a relationship, they didn’t share a deep emotional bond.

Zeng Yitong came from a wealthy family with strong connections, and he was also quite good-looking. He’d always had girlfriends since his teens.

Wen Yi, on the other hand, focused solely on her research during university and was known for being aloof and academically inclined.

Zeng Yitong fell in love with her at first sight, but his usual method of winning women over was unsuccessful with her, which led him to relentlessly pursue her for a year.

His pursuit included, but wasn’t limited to, giving expensive gifts, making grand romantic gestures, appearing unexpectedly to block her, bribing people around her to persuade her to accept his advances, and creating trouble just to “solve” it for her.

This behavior annoyed Wen Yi to no end.

She had planned to transfer to Professor Rong Lanjia’s lab but lacked the connections. When Zeng Yitong found out, he offered to help—on the condition that she date him. Since her grandfather on the Wen side wanted her to marry the child of some influential leader, Wen Yi agreed to date Zeng Yitong and became yet another trophy girlfriend for him.

They had been dating for two years, and it was said that she was his longest-lasting girlfriend, but Wen Yi knew well that while they were together, he had always had other lovers.

He was just as flirtatious and unfaithful as her own father.

But Wen Yi didn’t care. The only time she got angry was because her junior Xu Zhihua in the same lab told her that Zeng Yitong had asked her out. She wanted to refuse, but was afraid of angering the other party and being retaliated against.

Wen Yi warned Zeng Yitong not to bother her lab members and interfere with her work.

Then, when the apocalypse hit, Zeng Yitong was unexpectedly infected with the zombie virus. At the time, Wen Yi was still studying the Tai Sui she had brought back from the Wen family’s lab, discovering that its unique active ingredients could suppress the zombie virus.

Somehow, Zeng Yitong found out about it, broke into her lab, ate the Tai Sui, and ended up becoming a zombie who retained his sanity.

Wen Yi couldn’t tolerate his foolishness.

Since he had eaten her important experimental material, it was only natural for him to become part of her experiment.

At that time, Zeng Yitong thought that eating the Tai Sui would prevent him from turning into a zombie and restore his normal state, but instead, he still became a zombie.

Unable to accept the result, he went mad, scaring away the people who had once protected him. As a result, Wen Yi locked him in her lab under the pretense of treatment.

The fact that they were still in a relationship made it easier for Wen Yi to do anything to him.

He was the only one like this, and Wen Yi, always curious and eager to explore, was initially more aggressive with her experiments, not caring much for his feelings, which seemed to have caused him some mental damage, resulting in his current state.

Strictly speaking, Zeng Yitong’s condition was far worse than Xue Ling’s, who had also ingested a quarter of Tai Sui. He was often uncontrollable.

Wen Yi guessed that the issue was related to the fact that some of the medicinal effects of the Tai Sui had diminished due to previous experiments.

Before meeting Xue Ling and Wen Jiuze, Wen Yi had already asked her teacher to search for Tai Sui, and she had also collected some herself. Unfortunately, none of them had the same effect as the Tai Sui from the Wen family.

Wen Yi believed that the Tai Sui from the Wen family was a rare, mutated individual and that it was impossible to find another one with the same effect. She had almost given up on researching Zeng Yitong and was preparing to shift her focus.

Her teacher, Rong Lanji, had been trying for the past three years to develop a vaccine to suppress the zombie virus by using animals, as the virus didn’t infect them. There was progress, but when the news about the mutation of the virus in Jizhou City reached them, her teacher’s research faced setbacks.

At this critical point, Xue Ling and Wen Jiuze’s arrival gave Wen Yi a new sense of possibility.

Unfortunately, Wen Jiuze was tough to deal with and resistant to anything, but Xue Ling was easier to handle.

Wen Yi thought coldly to herself, but she showed Xue Ling a gentle expression on her face.

“You saw it today, Xue Ling. Don’t you want to try the medicine extracted from Zeng Yitong’s body? I’m confident it will help you feel a little better than you do now.”

Xue Ling looked at her and shook her head.

Wen Yi wasn’t upset by her refusal. Instead, she asked, “Have you bitten anyone?”

Xue Ling hesitated, not daring to nod. She thought to herself that Wen Yi, being part of the official team, might be planning to arrest her for having infected someone.

Wen Yi could tell from her expression that she had bitten someone, and continued, “A normal zombie, once it infects a human, has successfully reproduced. The more times it reproduces, the longer its ‘life’ will be.”

“Recent studies show that zombies can also obtain nutrients from certain substances in the air to sustain their activity.”

“But your situation is different.”

Wen Yi raised Xue Ling’s arm. “The effect of the Tai Sui has helped you retain your sanity, but the zombie virus in your body has never stopped trying to control you. The constant battle between the two will slowly wear down your body. If this continues, you may eventually shrink into a withered form.”

Xue Ling felt that Wen Jiuze understood his sister well, as Wen Yi’s words were very persuasive. After hearing her, Xue Ling began to feel that her body was aching everywhere, and the sense of urgency made her think she might die if she didn’t see a doctor immediately.

However, Xue Ling had long since accepted the idea of death. It was never death that she feared.

Xue Ling held the tablet and typed, then turned it around for Wen Yi to see: “Let’s talk about this later. I came over to ask if you could give us another tablet.”

Wen Yi: “…”