Chapter 148: Survival

Several zombies lifted Ouyang Hong along with the helicopter wreckage, sprinting wildly in the direction of Future Pharmaceuticals.

Though the journey was bumpy, most of Ouyang Hong’s body had already lost sensation, so he felt no pain.

With his mind still clear, he felt as though everything was an absurd dream, full of unpredictable reversals. Just minutes ago, those very same zombies had intended to drag him out and devour him; now, they had become loyal "sedan-chair bearers," carrying him off for medical treatment.

Naturally, this was all thanks to Lu Yu. Right now, only Lu Yu could make the zombies so submissive and obedient.

Ouyang Hong had agreed to Lu Yu’s conditions because he wanted to live.

He held a vast amount of research materials on zombies and infected subjects, and Lu Yu was deeply interested in this; therein lay his value. Furthermore, Lu Yu had a hazy understanding of his own condition and hoped that a professional doctor familiar with his origins could help analyze it, allowing him to adapt to this body more quickly, integrate his memories, and unleash his latent potential.

Yet, even if Ouyang Hong managed to salvage his life, he would likely spend the remainder of his days confined to a wheelchair.

Enduring miserably amidst all sorts of adversities might make an ordinary person despair and give up, but Ouyang Hong was not such a man.

Ever since the apocalypse descended, he had begun researching this virus, understanding its pros and cons. This virus of unknown origin could cause death and mutation, but it also carried a certain probability of granting unpredictable special abilities!

If he were given just a little more time, perhaps he could crack its secrets and extract that crucial component capable of physically strengthening the human body!

By then, even if he were paralyzed, he would be able to stand up again. It was merely a matter of time.

What worried him, however, was that Yichen was still alive.

Yichen kept evolving and possessed the ability to shift forms between human and zombie, blurring the boundaries. "His existence threatens the survival and development of humankind," Ouyang Hong thought, clinging to this paranoid conviction which had never changed.

Ever since the Infiltrator sought him out, he had strayed onto a devious path. Since the Future Corporation chose to do nothing and let things drift, he would handle matters in his own way.

His working for the Infiltrator had an element of compulsion to it, but to a large extent, he was simply going with the flow.

Yet, after all his hard efforts, reality diverged wildly from his plans—Yichen was not dead, the Infiltrator had successors, and everything had returned to square one.

Ouyang Hong secretly resolved that if he survived this ordeal, he would still look for an opportunity to instigate these two forces into mutually checking and wearing each other down, ultimately eliminating them both at once!

Of course, the precondition for all of this was simply staying alive.

The area surrounding the Future Pharmaceuticals headquarters was completely deserted; everyone had evacuated. Fortunately, the electricity was still running.

The zombies carried Ouyang Hong into the building, with Lu Yu following close behind.

Ouyang Hong was intimately familiar with the place. He could have navigated it with his eyes closed, knowing the exact locations of various medical instruments and drugs as if he were walking through his own backyard.

The zombies "carefully" dismantled the metal shell of the aircraft wreckage and placed Ouyang Hong onto the disinfection and isolation unit.

Lu Yu had instructed them not to touch Ouyang Hong’s body. He had numerous wounds with his flesh torn open, making him highly susceptible to viral infection.

Lu Yu made this arrangement because he wanted Ouyang Hong to stay alive as a human.

He needed the man's knowledge and memories. If Ouyang Hong were accidentally infected and turned into a zombie, he would lose all utility.

Ouyang Hong endured five agonizing minutes inside the disinfection and isolation chamber, nearly fainting from the pain, until his filthy clothes, fused with his wounds, were completely stripped away.

Guided by Lu Yu’s telepathic commands, the zombies split up to fetch all the necessary medicines Ouyang Hong required, placing them nearby.

A group of zombies busily working to save a person—had this bizarre scene been witnessed by other living humans, it would undoubtedly have been recorded among the world's inexplicable mysteries.

Gritting his teeth through the ordeal, Ouyang Hong used his still-functioning hands to treat his injuries as best as he could before exhaustion finally overtook him, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Lu Yu watched the entire process with cold detachment. Leaving these zombies behind to "guard" the patient, he left the Future Pharmaceuticals headquarters alone. He still had matters to attend to.

On him were a cell phone and an exquisite flute; he had examined both objects earlier.

The phone would probably be useless from now on, but the retractable flute had piqued his interest.

Lu Yu had already recalled the events that transpired in the Ivory Tower and knew the flute was a previous trophy belonging to this body.

Back then, he had punched the hypnotist down and seized his weapon, never expecting that he would keep it with him ever since.

A faint aura of its owner still lingered on the flute, prompting Lu Yu to ponder a question.

How had Yichen ultimately dealt with the two infected individuals—the puppeteer and the hypnotist—who had harassed the teachers and students inside the Ivory Tower? Were they silenced?

Later on, Yichen had not uttered a single word about it, and Lu Yu had tacitly refrained from asking. However, deep in his subconscious, he felt that Yichen was not the type to personally execute them.

Possessing the memories of the Infiltrator, he knew that the Future Corporation had custom-developed corresponding equipment and weapons for those few infected individuals.

Once put into use, a weapon formed a certain degree of resonance with its owner. Holding this flute now, he felt that its owner was very likely still alive.

If that person was still alive and somewhere in this city, could they be of use to him?

When the Infiltrator previously liberated those infected individuals controlled by the Future Corporation, it was merely treating them as expendable pawns to disrupt Yichen's mind and resolve.

Lu Yu’s philosophy was different; he had no desire to continue clashing head-on with Yichen right now. For the sake of the long term, he needed helpers.

Though the zombie minions in the inner city were numerous and answered every call, they completely lacked intelligence.

A herd of walking corpses was fine for charging into battle, but practically useless in any other scenario.

The twin brothers—the puppeteer and the hypnotist—hariled deep resentment toward the Future Corporation that persecuted them and the humans who ostracized them. In the past, they had willingly aligned with the Infiltrator. If he could find them, absorbing them into his ranks should go smoothly.

Just as Lu Yu headed toward the Ivory Tower, Yichen and Liang Bing had already charged into the World Trade Center.

The World Trade Center was a Class-A comprehensive commercial building integrating offices, apartments, exhibition spaces, and conference facilities. The entire structure featured a steel frame with mirror-reflective glass curtain walls, presenting an extremely oppressive visual impact.

There had been many business professionals and corporate employees here, and Yichen and Liang Bing quickly encountered several groups of them. Naturally, they had already become zombies.

When the black rain fell again and the zombies breached the quarantine zone between the outer perimeter and the inner city, they continuously hunted and bit the living, rapidly expanding their ranks. This was their strategic guideline for conquering Nanchuan.

Currently, a small fraction of living humans remained inside the World Trade Center—some had fled in from outside to hide, while others were members of the building's original staff.

Weaving through the cries of the survivors and clearing away the zombies along their path, Yichen and Liang Bing swept through the building floor by floor, anxiously searching for Mu Qing's whereabouts.

As for those survivors whom Yichen had inadvertently rescued and temporarily freed from danger, whether they could survive depended entirely on themselves. In the apocalypse, the strong grew stronger, while the weak had to accept the cruel trials of survival.