Knife Wounds

Zhou Zhi felt a faint sense of familiarity with the building before him.

To some extent, it resembled a hospital from his Past Life.

The outside was already grim, but now it seemed even more so.

On one side came the strange sounds from the Communicator; on the other lay the Gray Decay world behind the door.

Yu Jinhai and the others weren't fools.

"You... go in and take a look!"

Yu Jinhai ordered coldly. "Hurry!"

The person he was ordering was Zhou Zhi.

So this guy was already making him work before he'd even taken a couple bites of the pie he'd promised him?

Zhou Zhi felt a little helpless. He had no room to refuse.

If he didn't move, Yu Jinhai would probably cut him down without hesitation.

Holding the Ash Box, Zhou Zhi climbed the steps one by one.

Then he turned sideways and slipped through the hospital's narrow entrance.

There wasn't much difference between the outside and the inside.

Zhou Zhi narrowed his eyes, taking in the gloom.

And there was a particularly strong smell of disinfectant, like formalin...

"It even has a stinging smell."

Clearly, that wasn't normal, but Zhou Zhi kept his gaze fixed straight ahead.

Broken tables and chairs lay scattered across the floor.

They showed that this place had once been the hospital's reception hall.

Yu Jinhai stood outside the door, watching Zhou Zhi.

Zhou Zhi's gaze shifted slightly.

There were no bodies on the floor.

It was even rather clean. The peeling wall plaster also seemed to have been deliberately swept into a corner.

"Doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

Zhou Zhi took a couple of steps forward. Ahead stood a circular staircase leading to the second floor.

Farther away was an oddly shaped elevator.

As expected, at least the technology in this world wasn't that backward.

After seeing that Zhou Zhi was fine, Yu Jinhai stepped inside too.

Lin Rui's Communicator crackled with static, then fell silent again.

"Yu Jinhai, be careful. Something seems off."

Lin Rui lowered her voice. "The captain..."

Yu Jinhai nodded.

In a world of Pestilence, anything could happen.

The hospital interior was utterly silent.

"This place should be under the [Plague Exterminator]'s jurisdiction. Why is it like this now? There are no bodies, but no Pathogenized Objects either."

Zhou Zhi examined the corner.

There were a few possibilities. The likeliest was that the Plague Exterminator had perished along with the monster.

But Yu Jinhai seemed completely confident in that Plague Exterminator.

Zhou Zhi's gaze swept over the corner.

[Simple Bandage].

[It has basic effects: stopping bleeding, reducing infection, and protecting wounds].

[It can lower the Pathogenization Index to some extent].

This thing isn't that effective, but at least it's a little useful.

Wrapped in haphazard strips of cloth, it lay among a large heap of used, discarded bandages, looking like a sacred lotus.

This thing could come in handy.

Thinking this, Zhou Zhi picked it up.

Lei Heng and the others weren't stupid either.

The hospital was a mysterious place to them, and it might contain more useful supplies.

Seeing Zhou Zhi's actions, Lei Heng followed his example.

But Zhou Zhi glanced at what Lei Heng had picked up.

"[Useless Bandage]."

"[Worn-out Syringe]."

"..."

Lei Heng had even somehow found a metal crutch and was gripping it in his hand.

Under normal circumstances, Yu Jinhai would have laughed, but now he didn't.

He took a couple of steps up the stairs.

A strange feeling welled up inside him.

"Wait."

Yu Jinhai's expression changed.

Thud.

Something fell from the ceiling above, on the first floor.

It came down fast.

Bang!

A dead person, bound with a metal chain, dropped from above.

It slammed Xiao Nan to the ground.

The corpse hung upside down in the air, suspended from the chain.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

"What is that?!"

Xiao Nan hadn't recovered from the shock. His eyes met those of the corpse in front of him.

An upside-down face.

So white it defied description.

Its eyes were wide open, staring at the world.

Yu Jinhai and Lin Rui both felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. They exchanged a glance, sure that the feeling was real.

The corpse hanging in the air hadn't become Pathogenized and showed no reaction.

Yu Jinhai walked over and took a look. His expression changed completely.

"It's... it's..."

"It's Zhu Xie!"

"Ah Xie... that's Ah Xie's Epidemic Prevention Suit."

Lin Rui's pupils widened. She couldn't believe it.

"It really is Ah Xie... Wasn't he with the captain?"

"How could this..."

His heart had stopped.

There was no response to light.

His pupils were dilated.

There was no pulse.

Zhou Zhi was certain the man had been dead for some time.

A faint stench of decay already clung to him, making Zhou Zhi want to open the Ash Box and take a sniff of the fragrant Wood Taisui to clear his head.

Xia Yu and Lei Heng barely dared to breathe.

The two Plague Exterminators' words had already revealed a great deal.

The emaciated young man hanging above them was one of the five Medical Students who had come here as apprentices alongside Yu Jinhai!

And he'd been following the [captain] they'd mentioned.

For Lei Heng, Xia Yu, and the others, who had always looked up to the two Plague Exterminators, their sense of security plummeted in an instant.

Yu Jinhai had displayed truly convincing strength in his earlier fight.

But the appearance of this corpse proved that Plague Exterminators could also die in this plague disaster!

And die in such a gruesome way.

Zhou Zhi had no illusions about them.

Compared with his Past Life, they were students after all. They were never as reliable as he'd imagined.

The first piece of information had been [Corpse].

Once Yu Jinhai said the man's name, the information in Zhou Zhi's mind quickly updated.

[Someone's Corpse]

[Died from an epidemic viral Pathogen].

[In life, he was an Apprentice Plague Exterminator who had mastered spiritual power; his body possessed a certain degree of spirituality].

[Before he was infected, his body seemed to have suffered an even stranger injury].

[As a talented individual, he was killed out of jealousy].

An even stranger injury?

Zhou Zhi's expression shifted.

Clearly, the danger had already exceeded what Yu Jinhai and the others could handle.

Zhou Zhi stepped forward and examined Zhu Xie's corpse.

There seemed to be a streak of blood on the inside of his outerwear.

"Get away from him! Don't touch him!"

Yu Jinhai barked.

How could a lowlife like this be allowed to touch his classmate?

Zhou Zhi didn't care. "There seems to be a strange wound on him."

Lin Rui's eyes shifted.

She slowly moved closer.

Her expression of grief hadn't yet faded.

Her pupils contracted.

"What's wrong?"

Yu Jinhai noticed that Lin Rui's expression was off.

Lin Rui turned back.

"Something isn't right."

"Yu Jinhai."

"You... should take a look."

Yu Jinhai turned toward the corpse and gently lifted its clothes.

"This is!"

A small incision, but no blood had come out.

This wasn't an injury caused by Pestilence.

It was a knife wound.

A wound made by a Plague-Slaying Blade.

Zhou Zhi idly toyed with the scalpel in his pocket.

Now this was getting interesting.

It seemed this journey wasn't just a matter of seeking help from Plague Exterminators, then leveling up and fighting monsters.