“Professor?!”
Only then did Zhong Wen notice that the esteemed professor he had always respected was currently being stepped on by a man. Instinctively, he moved to help the professor, but Lin Jianbai grabbed his arm from behind.
“He’s very strong,” Lin Jianbai said in a low voice. However, since everyone in the room except for the professor was an ability user, his deliberately hushed tone was still easily overheard.
“Who are you?!” Zhong Wen stood in front of his father, glaring at Wei Xicheng and Yu Beiyan with hostility.
Lin Jianbai moved his lips, as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, he suppressed his words.
Wei Xicheng remained silent, his gaze fixed on Yu Beiyan, who was acting completely out of character. He felt a deep sense of confusion. This man, who always remained indifferent to everything, was displaying an unprecedented level of killing intent toward someone.
“Attack, Xiaowen,” the professor on the ground coughed twice, prompting Yu Beiyan to press his foot harder.
Zhong Wen’s eyes turned red, but this time he didn’t follow the professor’s orders. He stood in place, and the room fell into silence.
“They’re the ones I told you about,” Lin Jianbai finally leaned in and whispered into Zhong Wen’s ear, explaining Wei Xicheng and Yu Beiyan’s identities.
Tentatively, Zhong Wen took a step forward and said, “Let the professor go. He is humanity’s hope.”
“Heh.”
None of the others spoke, but the usually silent Yu Beiyan let out a derisive chuckle. “Do you know where the zombie virus came from?”
Zhong Wen’s expression changed as he looked at the professor on the ground.
Wei Xicheng’s face also changed, but his gaze was directed at Yu Beiyan, whose lowered head made his expression unreadable. Thoughts swirled in Wei Xicheng’s mind: the “laboratory” and “nutrient solution” Yu Beiyan had previously mentioned, the wounds on his body, his abnormal behaviors, and that strange name—“No. 1.”
“No. 1, you really… cough, you really surprised me,” the professor lying on the ground said, his tightly clenched limbs gradually relaxing, as though he had abandoned all hope of escape.
Looking at Yu Beiyan, the professor let out a muffled laugh. “You are my perfect experiment. It’s just a pity that…”
Before he could finish, Yu Beiyan increased the pressure on his foot, cutting off the professor’s words entirely.
The intense pressure on his chest made it almost impossible for the professor to breathe. His eyes bulged grotesquely, the whites of his eyes expanding in a terrifying manner.
Yu Beiyan raised his head to look at Wei Xicheng, who was standing to the side, his gaze dark and inscrutable. “You guessed, didn’t you?”
Wei Xicheng nodded.
“I didn’t mean to hide it from you.”
Wei Xicheng nodded again. He walked to Yu Beiyan’s side and held his hand. His heart ached too much for him to even consider blaming him.
This small action seemed to reignite a spark in Yu Beiyan’s eyes, as though a glimmer of light had passed through them. The strong grip on Wei Xicheng’s hand was a reminder of the intense emotions surging in the man’s heart.
Gradually, Yu Beiyan eased the pressure under his foot. The professor, who was on the verge of suffocation, finally took a deep breath, gasping desperately like a fish thrown onto land.
“No. 1… tell me… what is your ability?”
The professor was a mad scientist to the core. Even now, he was focused on extracting feedback from his experimental subject to further his next phase of research.
“If you tell me… if you tell me, I can create a serum to purify the virus. You wouldn’t want to see humanity go extinct, would you?” The professor’s voice was filled with fervor as he tried to persuade Yu Beiyan.
“What does that have to do with me?” Yu Beiyan lowered his gaze and tightened his hold on Wei Xicheng’s hand. His hatred for the professor was unshakable, but he wasn’t sure if the person he held would accept him killing the man.
Wei Xicheng patted Yu Beiyan’s large hand. “Do what you want to do.”
“You’re committing a crime against humanity!”
Lin Jianbai, who had been quietly observing, finally couldn’t hold back. Ignoring the danger to himself, he shouted at Wei Xicheng and Yu Beiyan in fury.
Lin Jianbai wasn’t as noble as he appeared to be. He had never considered Yu Beiyan’s true identity, but his mind wandered back to the scene in the clothing store. Perhaps he had been wrong from the start—the one controlling the zombies wasn’t Wei Xicheng but Yu Beiyan, who had once been a test subject.
Then, where did Yu Beiyan’s abilities come from? Lin Jianbai’s gaze shifted to the professor lying on the ground.
If the professor could stimulate genetic mutations in someone and turn an ordinary person into an ability user, then there was hope that Lin Jianbai could become superior, no longer a mere ordinary human fawning over ability users.
He exchanged a glance with the professor, then scanned the surroundings, searching for the serum.
The professor on the ground caught his look and suddenly shouted, “Second shelf, third level!”
Lin Jianbai froze for a moment, realizing the shelf was right next to him! Without thinking, he grabbed a test tube and shoved its contents into Zhong Lei’s mouth.
Zhong Wen hadn’t expected Lin Jianbai to pull such a selfish stunt at a time like this. He kicked Lin Jianbai aside and carefully checked on his father.
Zhong Lei’s once vacant eyes now seemed focused. He moved his arms and legs experimentally, then slowly stood up on his own.
“Dad, do you feel unwell anywhere?”
“No.” Not only that, but Zhong Lei also felt a surge of power coursing through his entire body, making him want to shout and release the energy. However, seeing the people around him, he kept those thoughts to himself.
Lin Jianbai, still sprawled on the ground, chuckled. He pulled out another test tube and downed its contents in one gulp.
The professor’s eyes lit up when he saw Lin Jianbai’s actions.
“Ahh!”
But in the next moment, a piercing scream tore through everyone’s eardrums.
Lin Jianbai, who had just drunk the serum, curled up on the ground like a boiled shrimp, his body trembling uncontrollably. His exposed skin gradually turned a grayish-green hue.
After the initial scream, he seemed to lose his voice, his mouth agape but unable to produce any sound. His lips turned purple, his eyes clouded with an unnatural blue-gray hue, and his pupils slowly faded.
The professor’s previously delighted expression dimmed. Another failure.
“He’s not right,” Zhong Lei said, pulling Zhong Wen a bit farther away from Lin Jianbai.
Of course he wasn’t right. This was clearly the beginning stages of zombification. Wei Xicheng cursed under his breath, released Yu Beiyan’s hand, and moved to finish off Lin Jianbai.
Unexpectedly, just as he struck, Lin Jianbai leapt up and evaded his attack, moving with a speed that almost rivaled Yu Beiyan at his peak.
The professor didn’t miss this spectacular turn of events. He burst into laughter. “This is evolution in another sense!”
Madman!
Wei Xicheng dodged Lin Jianbai’s attacks. This thing, devoid of reason and humanity, could no longer be called human.
Lin Jianbai was incredibly fast. Just as Wei Xicheng began to feel the strain, the pressure suddenly eased—Yu Beiyan had joined the fight.
Wei Xicheng glanced toward the professor. Though the professor still wore a faint smile, his eyes had lost their light—he was already dead.
Wei Xicheng dismissed the thought and focused entirely on fighting Lin Jianbai alongside Yu Beiyan.
Zhong Wen watched the three of them battling and couldn’t help but worry about his father, who had also consumed the serum. When he turned to Zhong Lei, he caught his father’s meaningful gaze.
The two quietly retreated to the basement exit and locked it behind them.
“Dad?” Zhong Wen finally couldn’t hold back his concern.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Zhong Lei patted his son’s shoulder.
“The basement probably won’t hold them. We should just blow it up,” Zhong Wen said softly, so softly that Zhong Lei thought he had misheard.
They didn’t have time to decide how to handle the basement because loud noises erupted outside the apartment. Women’s screams, children’s cries, men’s curses, the clatter of objects, and gunfire all blended into a chaotic cacophony.
Zhong Lei frowned. What was going on? How had the base fallen into such disarray in such a short time?
When they stepped outside, they found the scene in complete chaos. Even more terrifyingly, the base’s protective net had been breached by zombies.
Lin Lei stood on the roof of a tall building not far from the protective net, staring at the endless horde of zombies outside. A wave of exhaustion washed over him. He had thought entering the base would provide safety, but it had only brought a swifter death. He wasn’t afraid for himself but couldn’t bear the thought of his younger sister… she was still so young.
Faced with the threat of death, humanity revealed its ugliest side. The imagined unity against the zombie horde didn’t happen. Instead, there was looting, bullying, and desperate escapes.
If Wei Xicheng opened his system now, he would see that the entire area around them was surrounded by zombies, with even more rapidly approaching from afar.
Lin Jianbai’s relentless attacks left Wei Xicheng no time to think. This was the first time in his parallel world travels that he encountered an enemy who couldn’t be immediately dealt with, even with his lover’s help.
However, Lin Jianbai had been an ordinary person before, with little combat experience. His disadvantage soon became apparent.
Once Lin Jianbai finally collapsed, Wei Xicheng noticed the once-open door had been shut and locked.
He wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He sat down on the ground, wanting nothing more than to talk to Yu Beiyan about the past.
“I grew up in a laboratory. Not long before the virus outbreak, I managed to escape from there,” Yu Beiyan leaned against the shelf, his long legs casually bent, his posture relaxed.
“I used to think the outside world wasn’t much different from the lab. But now…” He smiled faintly and continued, “I should’ve left earlier.”
Perhaps because his identity had been revealed, Yu Beiyan abandoned his previous reticence and began recounting his past in detail.
Wei Xicheng hadn’t expected that even his assumptions were off the mark. He had thought Yu Beiyan was merely a victim of the professor’s experiments. But in truth, Yu Beiyan was the ultimate product—the pinnacle of evolution—a rational zombie with enhanced genes, evolved senses, superhuman physical strength, and special abilities.
All the other test subjects had failed to survive the professor’s experiments. Only Yu Beiyan had succeeded. After Yu Beiyan’s escape, the professor descended into true madness, convinced of his methods. His frantic experiments eventually led to the outbreak of the zombie virus.
Wei Xicheng kept his emotions in check, careful not to show any reaction that might hurt his lover. He held Yu Beiyan’s hand tightly. “It’s okay. I’m not afraid of the virus.”
“Mm, I know,” Yu Beiyan replied.
so our ML is a zombie with human intelligence?! I once again dislike Lin Jianbai’s hypocrisy but people like these professors are truly scary!
This arc had shorter but more number of chapters, for people who read this novel, thank you for the support!
