Seeing that Wu Bin was about to turn back to rescue Zhao Tianlei, Ye Sitong gritted her teeth and grabbed him. "Wu Bin, I feel even worse than you do about Tianlei. I don't know when it happened, but I've already started to like him. But he's been scratched by those zombies. When I came down, he locked the window shut and then charged into the zombies. He traded his life for our chance to escape. If we don't cherish that chance and run back now, we'll be no different from throwing our lives away. Do you really want him to die in peace?"
After saying this, Ye Sitong bit her lip and looked at Shen Xinyu beside her. "And you, Shen Xinyu. Perhaps in your eyes, Zhao Tianlei is nothing but a useless poor boy, but he's always had a secret crush on you. I know you'll never like him, but I just feel sorry for him. All this time at school, he was always bullied, yet he never gave up on life. Now that the apocalypse has begun, he was the first person brave enough to risk his life to rescue us. I'm not asking you to like him or even be moved by him. I only want you to remember him. That way, at least his sacrifice for us won't have been in vain."
Ye Sitong's words were filled with emotion. Although Shen Xinyu had seen all kinds of people and encountered countless stories of people sacrificing themselves for love in movies, she could honestly say that, if not for their relationship as classmates, she would never have bothered remembering an obscure little fan like Zhao Tianlei. But after everything Zhao Tianlei had done this time, Shen Xinyu was genuinely moved. Thinking of her classmates and teachers who had one after another fallen to the zombies, her eyes reddened, and she silently looked at Ye Sitong.
Seeing Shen Xinyu's reddened eyes and her expression as if she were about to cry, Ye Sitong could not continue. Instead, she said to Wu Bin, "Wu Bin, you're the only man among us. From now on, you're our leader. You have to shoulder the responsibility of protecting us. Of course, none of us will hold you back. We'll work together to survive—for ourselves, and for Tianlei's sacrifice."
Hearing Ye Sitong's words, Wu Bin gritted his teeth. "I understand. I'll do my best."
With that, Wu Bin suddenly felt the burden on his shoulders grow heavier. Holding a club he had found somewhere, he cautiously watched the situation below. There were no zombies nearby. Clearly, they had all rushed into the library and begun their feast.
Wu Bin immediately lowered himself carefully. After confirming that there was no danger, he waved to the others. The three women took turns stepping on his shoulders and climbing down, then ran along the wall toward other places that appeared safe.
Meanwhile, in order to ensure Wu Bin and the others' safety, Zhao Tianlei had used himself as bait, luring the zombies upstairs. The reason he had originally refused to go upstairs was that all the students had fled to the third floor via the stairs, bringing all the zombies behind them. The third floor was a spacious reading area with nowhere to hide.
Although Zhao Tianlei had already resolved himself to die, he did not want to be bitten to death by the zombies like this. More accurately, he could not accept dying here. But with the zombies constantly closing in and many more surging up the staircase on the other side, all his routes were blocked. Zhao Tianlei had no choice but to move toward the edge of the window. After hacking down several zombies closest to him, he opened the window, climbed out, and began scaling the pipe toward the roof.
However, as he climbed, the many scratches and the bite wound on his body kept pulling open. If he had not forced himself to hold on with his last breath, he would probably have fallen long ago. Seeing this, some of the other students imitated him and tried to run over and climb out through the window.
But by then, the entire reading room was packed with zombies. Even if someone opened a window, it was already too late. Before they could stick their heads out, the zombies behind them grabbed them by the legs.
Once the zombies occupied the windows, no one dared approach them. The only one or two windows left became the targets of a frantic scramble among the students, and none of them was willing to give way. One student finally fought his way into position and squeezed out, but before he could grab the pipe, another student shoved him from behind. With a scream, he fell directly from the third floor.
After Zhao Tianlei climbed onto the roof, he immediately crawled away and collapsed in a spot. At that moment, he did not want to move at all. He was even too lazy to blink, as though he were truly waiting for death to arrive.
In a secret underground base somewhere, another report came in.
"Report, Dr. Zhao. We just received an urgent message. Lifeform 0 has suddenly developed abnormalities. Multiple areas of its body have been infected by the Biochemical Virus, and its vitality is rapidly weakening. It could die and turn into a zombie at any moment."
Upon hearing the report, the woman known as Dr. Zhao slammed the table and rose to her feet. "What? How could this happen? It hasn't even been a day since the outbreak, and 0 is already about to undergo zombification. Is all hope going to be destroyed? Wait—didn't 0 inject the Virus Evolution Fluid?"
"According to the detection scan, Lifeform 0 clearly has not been injected with the Virus Evolution Fluid. Judging by his current physical condition, he probably won't last more than three minutes. Once that time passes, he'll enter a state of death. By then, even injecting the Virus Evolution Fluid won't help."
"It's over. Everything is over... Humanity has no hope left."
"Haah, I never thought I'd die in this apocalyptic age. Forget it. Wu Bin must have already escaped safely with Ye Sitong and Shen Xinyu. Cough, cough... It seems this body won't last much longer. I should eat my fill before I go."
As he spoke, Zhao Tianlei activated the Storage Ring on his hand. In an instant, the Storage Space appeared before him. Looking at the food inside, Zhao Tianlei let out a soft sigh. "Haah, what use is having so much food? I never thought that, despite being a nobody before the apocalypse and having something this amazing after it began, I still wouldn't survive even one day."
After speaking, Zhao Tianlei laboriously picked up a steamed bun and a bottle of water, preparing to eat. Suddenly, a transparent bottle filled with blue liquid caught his eye, and Zhao Tianlei froze. He even forgot to bite into the steamed bun held at his lips.
At that instant, Zhao Tianlei was struck by a thought. If he remembered correctly, the voice in his mind had told him that this was called the Virus Evolution Fluid. If he injected it directly without having the virus in his body, he would turn into a terrifying zombie. But if he was infected by the virus first and then injected with this fluid, he would undergo evolution.
Before you continue