Scratched by a Zombie

"What are you all standing around for? Do you want to feed yourselves to the zombies? Wu Bin, open the window and go! This door won't hold for long!" Seeing them frozen in terror, Zhao Tianlei couldn't help shouting.

Even the library's main entrance and the fire exit at the back had been breached by those zombies. There was no way the restroom door could hold for long. After only a few strikes, it began to shake. Fortunately, Zhao Tianlei's roar jolted them back to their senses. Wu Bin hurriedly opened the window and poked his head out, immediately seeing the platform Zhao Tianlei had mentioned.

Zhao Tianlei suddenly said again, "Wu Bin, you go first. Stand on the platform and help them down. Remember, don't shout, or the zombies might notice you."

Wu Bin didn't dare delay. He quickly climbed down the pipe. After he had gone down, Ye Sitong suddenly said to Shen Xinyu, "You two go first. I'll be the last one."

At Ye Sitong's gesture of selflessness, Shen Xinyu gave her a complicated look before climbing out of the window and starting down. Since she had acted in martial arts scenes and been suspended on wires before, climbing down from the second floor along the drainpipe wasn't difficult for Shen Xinyu. She completed it with ease. The female assistant had a harder time climbing down, especially because of her weight. Twice, she nearly fell.

"Bang!"

After the other three had gone down, only Zhao Tianlei and Ye Sitong remained. Suddenly, the sound of the door being breached rang out. The door Zhao Tianlei had been desperately holding back was torn open by the zombies, leaving a huge hole. A zombie's hand immediately reached through and grabbed Zhao Tianlei by the arm. Seeing this, Ye Sitong rushed over to help.

When Zhao Tianlei saw Ye Sitong coming, he angrily shouted, "Stop! What are you doing? Get out of here! If you don't leave, I won't be able to hold them back!"

Ye Sitong hurriedly replied, "I'm here to help you. There are too many zombies. You can't handle them alone. Two people are stronger than one."

Zhao Tianlei grew frantic. "Go! You'll only get in my way if you stay. Go with Wu Bin and the others. Hurry! Don't let my efforts go to waste!"

"No. If you're not leaving, then I'm not leaving either. I'll stay here with you." Unexpectedly, Ye Sitong suddenly became stubborn, insisting on arguing with Zhao Tianlei even at a time like this.

"Women are such a nuisance."

Looking at Ye Sitong like this, Zhao Tianlei almost wanted to kick her out of the window. However, Wu Bin's earlier words suddenly echoed in his ears: "Tianlei, our beautiful class monitor might have a thing for you."

"Sitong, thank you. I never thought that, with the apocalypse upon us, you would actually like me. But I can't get away anymore. You should hurry and leave. Don't do something foolish and stay here with me. Don't let me die for nothing."

As he spoke, Zhao Tianlei extended one hand under Ye Sitong's puzzled gaze and tore the sleeve from his arm. Several horrifying scratches appeared on his arm. Zhao Tianlei continued, "Anyone who gets scratched or bitten by these zombies will turn into one of them. That's why I can't leave anymore."

The moment Ye Sitong saw the scratches on Zhao Tianlei's arm, she immediately covered her mouth in fright. They had clearly been left by the zombie when it tore through the door. Ye Sitong spoke through near tears, "No, Tianlei. You'll be fine. We'll escape together and find a doctor at the hospital. They'll definitely be able to cure you. You won't die, and you won't turn into one of those zombies."

"Ye Sitong, calm down! How can you still be acting childish at a time like this? Do you want me to have saved you for nothing? Don't let my death be wasted, all right? Thank you for always looking after me. I like you too. Go!"

By the end, Zhao Tianlei was practically shouting. Faced with this, Ye Sitong didn't know what to say. She could only sob as she moved toward the window, climbed out, and prepared to descend.

Perhaps afraid that Ye Sitong would turn around and come back, Zhao Tianlei suddenly strode over. He cupped Ye Sitong's tear-streaked face as she clung to the drainpipe, then kissed her on the lips. After that, he called down to Wu Bin, "Wu Bin, my good brother, take good care of them for me. In our next life, we'll be brothers again."

Without giving anyone a chance to respond, Zhao Tianlei slammed the window shut from inside and locked it. By then, Ye Sitong's face was already covered in tears. The door, which had already been torn open, rocked under the zombies' pounding like a small boat tossed about in a flood. With the slightest mishap, the entire boat would capsize.

After locking the window, Zhao Tianlei walked straight toward the door. He took a deep breath, gripped the fire axe tightly, and shouted as he threw the door open before darting aside. The zombies that had been pounding on the door and crowding inside immediately tumbled to the floor. Zhao Tianlei stepped on their bodies and charged back toward the library. By then, the entire library was already in chaos, a living hell. The stairs from the first floor to the second were especially covered in severed limbs and fragments, with blood flowing everywhere.

Zhao Tianlei was clearly trying to lure the zombies away and give Wu Bin and the others a safer chance to escape, which was why he ran out of the secluded restroom. The moment he stepped out, a seemingly weak zombie pounced straight at him. Since he had already been scratched by that zombie, Zhao Tianlei would soon turn into one of them. His heart turned to ashes, and he no longer cared about life or death. He only hoped to use his own death to buy his companions a little more time to escape.

Zhao Tianlei twisted aside and dodged the attack, causing the zombie to lunge at empty air. Before it could turn around, Zhao Tianlei swung his axe and knocked it to the ground. The zombies around him began closing in one after another, and Zhao Tianlei started running toward the third floor along the emergency exit.

The entire first floor had already been occupied by zombies, while Wu Bin and the others had followed the pipe to the passage leading to the rear entrance on the first floor. If Zhao Tianlei escaped outside from the first floor, he would be luring the zombies down there. Since the fire exit was very close, if those zombies didn't leave, Wu Bin and the others would never be able to get away from the platform. That was why he ran toward the third floor: to draw more zombies upward and create better conditions for Wu Bin and the others.

When Zhao Tianlei ran from the fire exit toward the third floor, the zombies behind him pursued relentlessly. Though they moved slowly, they continued following him step by step. If Zhao Tianlei stopped, they would catch up sooner or later.

"Sitong, come down. Why can't I see Tianlei? Where is he?" When Wu Bin saw Ye Sitong come down safely, he couldn't help asking her. Zhao Tianlei's words when he had leaned out of the window and shouted down had made Wu Bin sense that something was wrong. Zhao Tianlei's closing the window afterward had made him even more uneasy.

"Wu Bin, Tianlei held the door back with his body to buy us time. Then the zombies outside tore through it and happened to scratch his arm. There are several bloody marks on it. Tianlei said that he'll turn into one of those monsters because of this, so he won't be coming with us. He told us to leave on our own. Wuwu..."

"What? I don't believe you! Tianlei will never turn into one of those zombies. I'm going back to save him. He's the one who saved my life—I can't just abandon him!"