A zombie invasion!?
How could that be possible?!
Professor Yefuni's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. How could these bizarre creatures, which existed only in movies and television shows, possibly appear alive in the real world?
But when he saw the hellish scene outside, a zombie invasion was the only description he could think of. He saw with his own eyes as a soldier who had been speaking with him just moments ago was tackled to the ground by another man in military uniform, only to have his throat bitten open amid screams the very next second.
Blood sprayed out, splattering across the snow and dyeing the white ground crimson. Then the special forces immediately opened fire, riddling both the zombie and the young soldier with the torn throat with bullets.
It was as if the whole world had gone mad. The pungent stench of blood even seeped through the cracks in the window, filling the air around Professor Yefuni. He covered his mouth, trying not to scream.
He bit down hard on his finger. The intense pain calmed Professor Yefuni, and as he stared at the hell outside, his mind raced, seemingly trying to piece together the cause of it all.
"Could it be alien technology? Perhaps the spacecraft carried an alien virus, or maybe that alien mutated after being infected by an Earth virus, creating a new virus that spread rapidly."
The cloudiness in his eyes gradually gave way to brilliance. Professor Yefuni felt that he had found the crux of the matter.
"Everything came from that alien. The virus originally within its body mutated with Earth's viruses, producing microorganisms similar to the Zombie Virus. Those things are highly contagious and have an incubation period, which is why this disaster erupted so suddenly."
"Yes, yes, that's it. That's what happened. I... I need to think of a solution quickly."
Professor Yefuni muttered shakily, licking his dry lips. He quickly thought of a solution. "If it's an alien virus, then that alien must carry the pathogen. As long as we can test a sample, we can develop a specific medicine and resolve this disaster."
Suddenly, a violent explosion erupted not far from the window. It was even closer than the earlier rumbling. The specially reinforced glass finally gave way and shattered into fragments, while the entire research base shook violently.
The enormous blaze lit up half the sky and startled Professor Yefuni. As though he had sensed something, he suddenly turned around. By the firelight streaming through the window, Professor Yefuni was shocked to discover that his most prized student was walking toward him step by step.
No, that was not his student!
The young man's once-handsome face had become deathly pale. Black veins spread across his body like a spiderweb, making him look incomparably grotesque. His mouth hung open, saliva trailing from it and dripping to the floor. His eyes had also been consumed by scarlet, with no trace of humanity left within them.
"No! Don't come any closer!" Professor Yefuni backed away in terror. Nothing was more despairing than watching his finest student turn into a zombie before his eyes.
"Pro... fessor!" The other man opened his mouth wide, blood flowing out in torrents. Even under Professor Yefuni's threats, he did not stop advancing.
Bang! Bang bang!
Professor Yefuni did not hesitate. He pulled out his pistol and fired several times. The crisp gunshots were quickly drowned out by the gunfire and artillery outside, drawing no one's attention.
The professor's student staggered back several steps before finally collapsing onto the stairs.
"I'm sorry. Your teacher has failed you." Seeing him raise his hand again, Professor Yefuni hurriedly fired another shot into his head. Though he could not be sure how this Zombie Virus worked, destroying the brain had to be effective.
No matter what kind of virus it was, it needed the brain to control the body. If the brain had been blown apart, that body could not possibly stand up again.
"I still have something I must do." Shaking his head, Professor Yefuni forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart. He did not dare think too deeply about it now. Just having personally killed his own student was enough to drive him mad.
But he knew he absolutely could not let his thoughts run wild. To resolve this disaster, he had to find that alien as quickly as possible and test its blood to discover a vaccine for the Zombie Virus.
He ran back the way he had come. He was so terrified that the old professor accidentally missed a step and fell. When he returned to the first floor of the research base, he saw the special forces assigned to guard it.
The professional soldiers took cover behind barricades, their guns continuously spitting bullets and knocking down the humanoid monsters lurking amid the wind and snow one after another.
"Don't let any enemy get through! Everyone, hold the line! Kill every target that approaches this place! Even if they're our own people, even if they're normal people, don't let them come within a single step!"
The commander's roar echoed through the trenches. Listening to the thunderous sounds outside, Professor Yefuni could even vaguely hear tank cannons. It was a horrifying scene beyond anything he could have imagined in his life.
The special forces soldiers kept firing, spraying flames at something outside. The intense network of firepower tore apart anything that tried to approach the research base.
"They're everywhere!" a soldier cried out. Terror had filled his eyes. He did not know where these things had come from, nor did he dare imagine what would happen once those monsters broke through the defensive line.
"Enough nonsense! Hold your positions! As long as we hold this place, those monsters can't get through!" The commander roared, steadying the soldiers' restless hearts, but his trembling voice exposed the turmoil within him.
Professor Yefuni withdrew his gaze and rushed straight toward the underground laboratory. He knew he was racing against time. If he could not create a vaccine before the research base was overrun, everyone in the base would die!
But when he returned to the underground laboratory, he was shocked to find that the situation below was even worse.
Fire!
Flames burned everywhere. The heat wave hit him head-on, forcing Professor Yefuni to stop.
He had never experienced anything so despairing. He saw a researcher, his entire body engulfed in flames, running wildly before another professor shot him down. Flames and thick smoke were everywhere. If the outside was hell on earth, then the underground laboratory had become a veritable hell.
No one knew how the fire had started, and no one knew how any of this had happened. Everyone had gone mad. They did not even have time to stop and think, only wanting to flee this research base spiraling toward destruction.
Professor Yefuni forced down the fear gripping his body. He grabbed a gas mask to shield himself from the smoke, then charged toward the deepest level of the laboratory without looking back.
He knew there was a high chance he would not return, but he also understood one thing: if he could not ensure the survival of the pathogen, then the entire world would be destroyed by the Zombie Virus!
Professor Yefuni charged into the sea of flames without hesitation, his mind focused solely on completing his plan as quickly as possible. Just as he was about to reach the sealed chamber holding the alien—
The next moment, Professor Yefuni suddenly stopped.
At the end of the corridor, already filled with raging flames and turned into a sea of fire, a black figure stood abruptly.
It was someone wearing a bizarre helmet, with a beaked mask over his face. Yefuni could clearly recognize it as the specialized mask of a medieval Plague Doctor. The beak was made of silver, and the two black lenses held no emotion whatsoever.
The bizarre sight instantly made Professor Yefuni, standing amid the flames, feel as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. The black figure stood silently within the fire like the god of death.
In his hand, he held an extraordinarily strange umbrella.