Chapter 139: Defection

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Two minutes later, a helicopter touched down on the rooftop of the building opposite the Old Foundry.

Ouyang Hong walked toward it calmly, bracing himself against the downdraft.

He had guessed correctly. That old fox, Mu Zongxing, had clearly made preparations in advance. Otherwise, how could he have fulfilled Ouyang Hong’s demands so quickly?

There was only one pilot aboard the helicopter.

Ouyang Hong took the copilot’s seat, suddenly drew out a syringe, and plunged it into the pilot’s arm.

The unlucky man let out a scream and slumped unconscious.

Ouyang Hong stripped off his gear and helmet, quickly put them on himself, then kicked the pilot out of the helicopter.

The man had been sent by Mu Zongxing. Ouyang Hong did not trust him. From this point on, he would handle everything personally.

He was not completely unprepared. After the Future Group’s campaign against the Crawlers, he had spent several days learning the basics of helicopter operation.

Ouyang Hong was a genius. In the past, he had devoted himself entirely to his field of expertise and had shown no interest in anything else. But things were different now.

That night, he had witnessed the terrifying power of Yi Chen’s complete corpse transformation. It had suddenly struck him that with more preparation and more skills, he would have a better chance of surviving than others.

In the apocalypse, one had to create one’s own chances of survival.

Flying a helicopter within the inner city was somewhat more difficult. After all, the city was covered by a glass dome. One could not fly carelessly here as one might in the outer districts.

He had to keep the helicopter at the proper altitude—high enough not to hit the ceiling, yet low enough to weave between the buildings.

Once safely airborne, he confirmed that everything was operating normally before contacting Mu Zongxing again.

“...You can tell me where my daughter is now, can’t you?” Mu Zongxing asked, barely restraining his temper.

A young doctor who looked utterly guileless had actually toyed with this old veteran of the world. The humiliation had sent his fury soaring.

Ouyang Hong had known from the beginning where the infiltrator had hidden Mu Qing, but he had lied. Whether he had been too afraid to reveal the truth because the infiltrator was nearby, or had deliberately held back the information for his own purposes, it had driven Mu Zongxing nearly mad.

“President Mu truly is a man of his word. I’ll tell you where she is now,” Ouyang Hong finally said, unhurriedly.

“...The International Trade Center?” Mu Zongxing gripped his phone, his heart sinking. That place was several streets away from the Old Foundry!

“You’d better hurry. The entire city is crawling with zombies now. Any delay will only put her in greater danger,” Ouyang Hong reminded him, with apparent kindness.

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“Don’t think you’ll be the one laughing in the end!” Mu Zongxing ended the call and slammed his phone onto the table. His face was dark with murderous intent.

Li, standing nearby, noticed his expression and hurriedly asked, “President Mu, what’s the situation with Miss?”

Mu Zongxing let out a long sigh without answering. He felt utterly drained.

The inner city was in chaos, with zombies running rampant. He had made no arrangements for a situation like this, and it would be difficult to gather enough people to rescue his daughter at such short notice.

At this point, perhaps he had no choice but to confess everything to the other senior executives and seek assistance from the Future Group. He could not continue making one mistake after another.

He dialed Zhou Shiwen’s number, only to hear a cold automated message informing him that the call could not be connected.

Sweating with anxiety, he frantically called the other senior executives one after another.

At last, the only female executive, Yuan Liping, answered. The signal on her end was poor, crackling as though the connection might break at any moment.

In her sharp voice, Yuan Liping asked, “President Mu, have you finished handling things over there?”

Her question made the speech Mu Zongxing had prepared catch in his throat. What did she mean? Could it be... that they knew what he had been doing?

“We’re already aboard the private jet from Nanchuan to Xijing, and we’re about to take off. Chairman Zhou said you would take care of things there. There shouldn’t be any problem, right?”

“Zhou Shiwen... What did he say?” Mu Zongxing asked, stunned.

“He said that if you can successfully eliminate those monsters this time, you’ll have rendered a great service,” Yuan Liping replied sarcastically.

Those monsters... Did she mean the infiltrator and Yi Chen?

It was as if Mu Zongxing had been struck by lightning. In an instant, he understood everything.

Yi Chen was nothing more than one of Zhou Shiwen’s pawns, kept specifically to deal with the infiltrator.

Perhaps Zhou Shiwen and most of the senior executives had once wanted to recruit him, hoping to make greater use of him in the future. But the successive incidents of late had gradually made them realize that Ouyang Hong’s earlier proposal had not been mere alarmism.

If everything succeeded this time, Zhou Shiwen might not intend to let Yi Chen live. Perhaps he had not yet decided how to dispose of his pawn, and Mu Zongxing had simply stepped forward to do the work for him.

That was why Zhou Shiwen had said Mu Zongxing had rendered a great service.

That old fox Zhou Shiwen had known about the things Mu Zongxing had been doing behind the scenes all along. He had merely remained silent, allowing events to unfold while exploiting them for his own ends. He was the most sinister of them all!

Now black rain had begun to fall from the sky, and a zombie tide had erupted without warning. They had realized that the inner city could not hold out and were preparing to abandon the base and leave.

Mu Zongxing was shocked and furious, but he still had to deal with the immediate situation. Since everyone already knew what he had been plotting, at least he could spare himself the trouble of explaining.

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“My daughter is trapped in the International Trade Center. Please help allocate some personnel and send them over as quickly as possible...”

“Oh? I never expected you to drag your precious daughter into this as well, President Mu. You were willing to use her as bait?”

“You...” Mu Zongxing was so enraged that he could not speak.

“Ah, President Mu, it’s not that we don’t want to help. You know what the city is like right now—it’s completely out of control! If you move quickly, perhaps we’ll be seeing each other again in Xijing very soon... That’s all for now. The private jet is taking off.”

Yuan Liping had always spoken quickly and aggressively. She had fired off that entire string of remarks without giving Mu Zongxing the slightest chance to interrupt.

Mu Zongxing stared blankly at the words Call Ended on his phone screen. He understood that he could only rely on himself.

“Li, go start the helicopter on the rooftop of the Old Foundry. We’re going to the International Trade Center.” Mu Zongxing looked as though he had aged ten years, his voice listless.

Fortunately, he had prepared two helicopters. Ouyang Hong had taken one, but Li knew how to fly the other. There was still a sliver of hope.

“President Mu, there are so many zombies outside. How can the two of us possibly deal with them? We should leave while we still can...”

“What nonsense are you talking about? I’m not abandoning my daughter! Even if it kills me, I’m going to save her!” Mu Zongxing slammed his hands against the table.

Li remained silent.

“Why are you still standing there? Go! We’re running out of time!” Mu Zongxing shouted as he raised his head—only to find himself staring down the black muzzle of a gun.

His eyes widened. Li was pointing a pistol at him!

“What does this mean...? How did you get that thing?”

Bang!

The gunshot answered for Li.

Clutching his chest, Mu Zongxing slowly collapsed. His face still wore an expression of utter disbelief.

“President Mu, I didn’t want to do this... But look at the situation we’re in. Since you’ve decided to go to your death, I won’t be accompanying you,” Li said before turning and hurrying away.

Mu Zongxing was utterly despondent. The bullet was not enough to kill him immediately, but it shattered the last fragment of hope within him.

No... There had to be another way!

Mu Zongxing’s eyes turned toward the surveillance footage.

Central Park... Perhaps there was still hope there!