Chapter 6: Joining Up
flicked his knife; the blade traced a cold arc in the gray-white light.
Only then did he turn back and say to , "Save your bullets. A lone one isn't hard to deal with. Firing recklessly will just alert zombies in other places."
swallowed, nodded, and lowered his muzzle a little.
entered the room behind the two of them, walked to the nearest corpse, crouched, took a small sample of flesh and tissue with tweezers, and sealed it in a test tube.
The other two weren't surprised. After all, she had been a key protected figure in the military, said to be a real expert involved in state-level classified research.
Along the way, every time she got the chance, she collected samples.
"The body is decaying at an abnormally fast rate," she said quietly, as if talking to herself or analyzing. "The brain tissue is still being destroyed by unknown causes..."
"Even though the head was cut off, there wasn't the expected heavy bleeding or tissue fluid seepage. The circulatory system seems to have problems too..."
"Professor Su," interrupted, his tone serious. "We should still focus on scouting for now. As for analysis, once we find a proper shelter, you can study it then."
"Mm, you're right. Sorry, occupational habit."
stood up, patted her pant legs, and nodded.
Inside, the corridor was dim, with only a little daylight coming through a few dusty windows high up.
The air smelled of machine oil, rust, and a faint, unidentifiable rot.
Huge turbine units crouched silently in the shadows, like the skeleton of some giant beast.
moved along the shadows by the wall, his muzzle carefully sweeping every corner where a threat might hide: under control consoles, behind pipes, and in the gaps between equipment.
His footsteps were well controlled, almost inaudible.
copied him, but his movements were clearly clumsy. Several times he bumped scattered parts and sent faint clinks into the air, making him flinch and duck his head.
walked last, her gaze constantly sweeping over the machinery.
She saw an indicator light on a control cabinet still glowing faintly red, with several thick cables running up from underground into the main distribution panel.
"There still seems to be partial power here," she said quietly. "Could it be that during the emergency evacuation, they didn't shut down the reactor according to the protocol?"
There was a hint of tension in her voice, even though she could imagine how critical and chaotic the situation must have been then.
Even if they hadn't followed the safety plan and performed an emergency shutdown, it was understandable.
But for them now, this was an absolutely terrible piece of news!
At that thought, couldn't help breaking out in goosebumps. She felt as if she had already been condemned to death by radiation.
"Even turning into the Hulk would be fine!" she muttered.
"What?" hadn't heard clearly and turned around to ask.
"Nothing. Never mind." quickly waved her hand.
"Oh."
They quickly searched the warehouse-like area and found no zombies, but they did find some useful things:
A few spare wrenches and screwdrivers, a roll of intact insulating tape, and two dusty but well-sealed plastic boxes in the corner.
pried one open. Inside were several unopened sets of work gloves and protective goggles.
In the other box were several packs of energy bars and a few unopened bottles of purified water.
"Lucky." picked up an energy bar, squeezed it, looking a little excited.
"Don't let your guard down." finished checking the last corner and reminded the rookie.
With the food they had found, they rested briefly.
After resting, they continued searching.
They left the small storage room and turned their attention to the dormitory building, also in .
The dormitory building was far filthier than the storage area.
The corridor floor was covered in a layer of dark stains, the paint was peeling off the walls, and several doors hung crookedly from their hinges.
The smell of blood in the air was thicker now—so thick that instinctively covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve.
raised a hand, and the three of them stopped.
He pressed himself against the wall, listened for two seconds, then held up three fingers and pointed at the open door at the end of the corridor.
There was movement inside.
's grip on his gun tightened, but shook his head and made a gesture to put the gun away.
It was another "save your bullets" signal.
watched intently through the surveillance cameras.
He brought up all seven surviving cameras in the dormitory building, their images filling the center of his consciousness.
To be honest, he had lived a peaceful life and had never seen such pleasingly smooth tactics.
moved close to the doorframe, his knife already in a reverse grip. Inside the room, three zombies were gnawing on something he didn't want to look at closely.
He didn't charge in right away. First he kicked an empty metal bucket by the door with his toe.
Clang!
The nearest turned toward the sound. Its neck had just emerged from the door when the knife arrived.
One stab into the temple—clean and efficient.
The moment the body went limp, kicked it back into the room, knocking over the second .
The third lunged at them, and caught it from the side.
This kid's movements were raw, but he had guts. He pressed the stock of his rifle against the 's throat and shoved it against the wall.
Then darted in and finished it off.
From kicking the bucket to sheathing the knife, less than twenty seconds had passed.
Watching from behind the screen, nodded repeatedly—silently tagging as a "high-combat-value premium resource" in his mind.
If he could keep these people, clearing those three hundred-plus zombies would make the progress bar fly.
The more he watched, the more he felt this group in the car really was quite useful.
A veteran, a rookie, and a research expert—and the team was harmonious. Just now, the tone in 's voice when he called "Professor" had been clearly respectful, and his protection of came from the heart. This wasn't a desperate, temporary alliance between cold-blooded creatures.
The three searched two more floors of the dormitory building.
The haul was good: a lot of instant food, instant noodles, self-heating hot pot, and they even found car keys on a .
Afterward, they could go find where the car was parked and switch to a new one.
found a flashlight, pressed the button, and it still turned on. He looked as happy as if he'd found treasure.
" , this place really has a lot of supplies."