Chapter 5: The Three of Them
felt life couldn't possibly get worse than this.
In his third year of military service, he had imagined countless endings.
Either he trained uneventfully until discharge, went back to his hometown, and opened a small shop; or he gritted his teeth and tried out for special forces, gambling on a glorious military career; or, with luck, he'd catch a criminal one day, get wounded, and pick up a merit.
The one thing he'd never imagined was that the number one enemy of his military career would be a biohazard.
There was no warning at all. That morning he was still brushing his teeth when the next door suddenly pounced on the communications soldier and bit off half his ear in one bite.
Almost in the same second, the whole barracks erupted.
It wasn't a slow point-to-point spread. It erupted all at once—every person in sight fell one after another, convulsed, and when they stood back up, their eyes were already clouded.
If it hadn't been for the reflexes built up by years of training and a bit of luck, he would have died right there.
In desperation, he hacked out a bloody path with his knife and was still shaking by the time he reached the garage.
On the way, he only met two living people: one was a recruit named hiding behind the electrical room, and the other was a researcher named clutching a medical kit in the infirmary.
“We can't stay in the city.” had made that judgment in just three seconds.
The streets were full of crazies, the density terrifying. There wasn't even a chance to stock up at a supermarket.
He could only keep driving this military transport vehicle, carrying the two of them, and charge toward the outskirts.
The tentative destination was an abandoned resort on the map—high terrain, mountains on three sides, easy to defend.
More importantly, it was the off-season. No matter what, it was safer than the city.
But this road was far harder than he had imagined.
Detours, traffic jams, a flat tire—the fuel gauge dropped notch by notch, and strenuous movement demanded food.
But their compressed dry rations were only enough for the three of them to eat one meal.
“ , we don't have enough food. What do we do?” in the passenger seat had a weak voice, his face as pale as paper.
didn't look back. His eyes were fixed on the huge gray shape beside the road ahead— .
“That place up ahead,” he gritted out. “No choice. We're going in to find something to eat.”
“Nuclear power station?” in the back seat suddenly sat upright. “Are you crazy? It's definitely not being maintained by anyone now. What if the radiation exceeds the limit—”
“If we don't eat, we'll die right now,” cut her off. “Besides, the vehicle can't hold out much longer either. We also need to switch to another car.”
opened her mouth, then swallowed her words.
She knew exactly what a nuclear facility spiraling out of control meant, but was right.
Death had many ways of lining up, and hunger was usually first in line.
—
hugged the medical kit a little tighter.
She was a research technician in a special department. When she chose biology, she had imagined she would encounter many interesting experimental phenomena.
Discovering or personally cultivating a brand-new organism, finding a new law of biology, and making a name for herself from then on.
Or maybe she'd just remain an ordinary researcher, busy designing experiments and writing papers, finally retiring quietly.
But there was absolutely no place in her life plan for this kind of situation.
What the hell was a crisis!
Because of her specialty, she had always scoffed at the whole biohazard genre.
She knew no virus could possibly do this. A transmission speed like this defied all epidemiological common sense.
And it struck so quickly—saying it was an alien invasion was far more believable than a viral infection.
“Nearly zero incubation period, zero contact transmission,” she repeated in her mind for the umpteenth time. “This simply isn't scientific.”
But everything before her eyes had happened all the same, completely shattering every belief she'd held since she started working.
In stark contrast to 's despondency over her shattered worldview, 's entire mind at that moment was on the chasing behind the vehicle.
The kid had just turned nineteen, a green recruit, only half a year in the army. If there was one thing young people weren't afraid of, it was a thrill.