This, is a Zombie! [Seeking Collection, Seeking Follow-up Reading]

Ren Ze gently patted Alice's back and comforted her. "I'm here. Don't be afraid!"

There was no helping it. Without her memories restored, Alice was merely a relatively fragile woman, not the queen who would slaughter her way through everything and later be able to kill someone with a glare at a surveillance screen.

Under Ren Ze's soft reassurance, Alice's delicate body, which had been trembling from fright, gradually calmed down.

Seeming to realize she had lost her composure, Alice quickly pulled herself out of Ren Ze's arms and said awkwardly, "Sorry, I..."

"That's perfectly normal. You haven't recovered your memories yet, so being afraid is only natural. Besides, it's your first time seeing something this terrifying!"

Hearing Ren Ze's comfort, Alice let out a breath of relief. However, the female corpse before them, struggling endlessly in the water with bloodthirsty eyes as though it wanted to devour everything in front of it alive, was simply too terrifying.

Looking at the ferocious-looking woman in the laboratory, Alice instinctively clung to Ren Ze's arm, as though only that could give her a little sense of security.

"Sir, is this the Zombie you mentioned? If you remember any important information, please tell us immediately!"

Still shaken, the captain walked over. The female corpse suddenly opening her eyes had given him quite a fright as well.

"Yes! This is a Zombie!"

Ren Ze nodded, then looked seriously at the others in the squad, who were similarly unsettled. "Let me stress this again: aside from us, there should be no living people left in the entire Hive. So when you encounter these Zombies, shoot them in the head immediately!"

"For everyone's safety, do not hesitate!"

Hearing the severity in Ren Ze's voice, everyone from the captain to the assault team members nodded.

"I found the way!"

Rain, the brown-haired woman whom the captain had just sent ahead to scout, jogged over to the group. "I found two paths leading down. One... What's wrong with you all? Why do you all look so pale?"

Seeing Rain's puzzled expression, Kaplan pointed at the Zombie still clawing about inside the laboratory.

"Oh my God!"

At the sight of the female Zombie, Rain's scalp went numb. She raised her gun, about to fire, but Ren Ze stopped her. "There are more of those things below. Save your bullets!"

"Uh... all right!"

Hearing Ren Ze's words, Rain swallowed reflexively and forced herself not to look at the Zombie trapped in the laboratory anymore.

"Sir, it looks like you don't have a weapon. Take this for protection."

After witnessing the Zombie, the captain handed his pistol to Ren Ze without hesitation.

"No need."

Ren Ze shook his head and drew the Blood Shadow War Blade from his back. "I prefer using this."

The captain was just about to put the pistol away when Ren Ze took it from him anyway.

Under the captain's puzzled gaze, Ren Ze handed the pistol to Alice.

"Take it. Protect yourself."

Alice reached out and accepted the pistol Ren Ze offered. The instant her right hand touched it, memories of using weapons surfaced in her mind. Though they were still vague fragments, they at least gave her a little more sense of security.

After passing through level after level of underground stairs, the group followed the map to B Dining Hall.

However, when they opened the doors, they discovered that this was not a dining hall at all, but a series of cryogenic incubation tanks whose contents were unknown.

Looking at the enormous warehouse, the black pipes winding across it like something sinister, and the dry-ice-like gas drifting across the floor, Ren Ze narrowed his eyes. If his memory was correct, this should be the first scene of the Zombie encounter, and those incubation tanks were all filled with savage Lickers!

With that thought, Ren Ze gave Alice a warning look.

After receiving Ren Ze's signal, Alice tightened her grip on the pistol in her hand, her expression turning grave.

"Kaplan, didn't you say this was B Dining Hall?"

The Black captain warily scanned the surroundings and asked Kaplan behind him.

"I don't know either!"

Kaplan shook his head, then looked at the miniature computer on his arm. "According to the map, this should be the dining hall!"

"Could you have read it wrong?"

Hearing Kaplan's words, Rain asked curiously.

"Maybe this company is hiding some secret it doesn't want outsiders to know?"

Matt, the fake police officer with his hands cuffed, interjected from the side.

Hearing Matt say that, the captain glanced at him before turning to Ren Ze. "Sir, what do you think? Have you remembered anything?"

"My name is Ren Ze. This should be a Licker storage facility. The incubation tanks contain Umbrella Corporation's bioweapons—the Lickers."

Ren Ze gave a brief explanation. He did not know the monsters' specific parameters either.

Hearing Ren Ze's words, the captain nodded. He turned to look at his team members, then said, "J.D., you and Rain keep watch over the prisoner and guard the exit. Everyone else, search for any possible survivors!"

"There are no survivors here. The only things here are Zombies!"

Ren Ze looked at everyone and said, "Do not cling to any wishful thinking!"

"But Mr. Ren, our mission is to shut down the Red Queen and retrieve its mainboard, as well as search for survivors. That is our assignment!"

The captain looked at Ren Ze somewhat helplessly as he spoke.

Seeing the captain's serious expression, Ren Ze thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I've already told you about the Zombies' weaknesses. How you choose to act is your freedom. I won't stop you, but be careful no matter what!"

He had done all he could to persuade them. In any case, his only mission was to keep Alice alive.

"Thank you for understanding, Mr. Ren."

The captain nodded at Ren Ze, then turned and said, "Everyone except Rain and J.D., search the area with me first. But don't stray too far apart. This place is full of danger!"

Upon hearing the captain's order, all the team members slowly advanced down the passageway between the huge culture tanks in the warehouse. Alice stood beside Ren Ze with a pistol in hand, remaining equally vigilant.

When they reached a sealed gate displaying green numbers, Alice curiously peered inside through its thick glass.

Inside was a monster covered head to toe in crimson coagulated masses, with plastic tubes pumping dark red substances embedded all over its body. Alice immediately took a step back.

"Ren..."

Seeing the creature sealed inside, Alice instinctively called out to Ren Ze.

Hearing Alice call him, Ren Ze walked over and saw the Licker, still being sustained by machinery and not yet activated.

"Seeing this thing, I'm glad I lost my memory."

Alice spoke with a complicated expression.

"Maybe."

Ren Ze neither agreed nor disagreed, merely shaking his head.

The group continued onward through the Licker storage area and soon arrived outside the main computer room where the Red Queen was located. Facing three computers, Kaplan began operating them with practiced ease.

After a burst of rapid keyboard clattering, the door to the main control room opened, revealing a dim passageway. Looking at the corridor made of transparent glass, Ren Ze knew this was the laser corridor that not even he could survive if he entered it!

Seeing that there was still a closed iron door at the end of the passageway, the captain could not help asking Kaplan, "Why hasn't that door inside been cracked yet?"

Kaplan handed the captain a data decoder. "As long as the data decoder is placed on the door at the end of the passageway, I'll be able to decrypt it."

"Leave it to me!"

The captain nodded and prepared to enter with the data decoder.

"This is the Red Queen's trap. The moment you go in, the door behind you will close. Then the fifth-level defense system will activate, and lasers will appear in the passageway and slice you into pieces!"

Ren Ze grabbed the captain and warned him.

"Mr. Ren, you should trust me!"

Before the captain could speak, Kaplan, who was operating the computer nearby, said with a trace of pride, "I'm an expert in computers, so I can break through the Red Queen's defenses. And as long as the data decoder is placed on the door at the end of the passageway, I'll be able to break through the final barrier!"

Looking at the somewhat smug Kaplan, Ren Ze reminded him, "Do you think the Red Queen hasn't considered what you can think of? You're underestimating her too much!"

"She's only an artificial intelligence. Mr. Ren, perhaps you had high clearance within the company and remembered many secrets, but when it comes to computers, I'm the expert!"

Kaplan frowned as he refuted Ren Ze.

"You all think so too?"

Ren Ze turned to the captain and asked.

"Mr. Ren, Kaplan and I have worked together for five years, so I trust him!"

"So do we!"

The other two team members nodded together after hearing the captain's words.

After thinking for a moment, the captain continued, "Besides, if we don't place the data decoder on the door at the end of the passageway, we have no way of entering the main control room!"

"If that's the case, then be careful."

Ren Ze shrugged and stopped wasting his breath.