The scene was too bizarre for anyone to know how to describe it.
Zhou Qiming and Shang Ci looked at each other in dismay. Lou Jiu had her gun pointed at Jiang Yao, while Wen Qianshu held a knife to her neck.
Shang Ci: “Qin Shu, let go of the knife first.”
Wen Qianshu didn’t listen to him at all, instead pressing the knife even tighter.
Lou Jiu: “Xiao Shu.”
Wen Qianshu pouted and moved the knife away. However, Lou Jiu didn’t lower her gun, still pointing it at Jiang Yao. “Get up.”
Jiang Yao pursed her lips. The moment she tried to exert force, a pain shot through her shoulder and back. Shang Ci sighed, walked over, bent down to right the shoe cabinet, and then reached out to pull Jiang Yao up.
Next, he tried to help Qin Shu, who was at the bottom, but she pushed herself up with one hand.
The little lunatic grimaced in pain but wore a wide grin, her eyes fixed on them.
Shang Ci suddenly realized she was on guard against the two of them.
Shang Ci: “…”
Having been a search team captain for so many years, this was the first time Shang Ci had been sized up with such a look. His feelings were complicated.
And yet, they were the ones in the wrong.
The commotion from Wen Qianshu throwing Jiang Yao was so loud that a neighbor soon came over to ask what had happened. Lou Jiu politely answered with a few words, indicating that everything was fine, and then closed the door.
Two people sat on each side of the dining table.
On one side sat a grim-faced Jiang Yao and a nonplussed Shang Ci. On the other sat a smiling Wen Qianshu and a completely bewildered Zhou Qiming.
Lou Jiu raised a hand, pushed the shoe cabinet aside, and set it upright. “What’s going on?”
Everyone was looking at each other, but no one spoke.
Lou Jiu walked over but didn’t sit down. She just leaned forward, propping her arms on the table, and said in a very calm tone, “Speak.”
Shang Ci: “…”
Zhou Qiming: “…”
These two men, having spent years with Lou Jiu, immediately realized she was genuinely angry.
Zhou Qiming decisively distanced himself, all but raising his hands in surrender and waving a white flag. “I don’t know anything. I don’t even know these two people.”
Seeing that Jiang Yao was about to speak, Shang Ci pressed her down and said, “I’ll explain.”
As he thought about how to phrase it, he looked at Wen Qianshu. Wen Qianshu raised an eyebrow, understood his meaning, and stood up with a smile. “Then I’ll go to the bedroom and won’t listen to you—”
Before she could finish, her wrist was pulled.
Lou Jiu held her wrist, not letting go, her gaze still fixed on Jiang Yao. “Speak.”
Shang Ci had no choice but to bite the bullet and recount Jiang Yao’s suspicions. However, the more he spoke, the paler Zhou Qiming’s face became. By the time he finished, Zhou Qiming’s face looked as if it had been covered in snow, on the verge of an avalanche.
Shang Ci also noticed something was wrong, but because of Lou Jiu, he didn’t press further.
Lou Jiu averted her eyes and said to Zhou Qiming, “Explain to them why you left the research institute.”
Zhou Qiming opened his mouth. “I, I—”
He “I-ed” for a long time without getting anything out.
Lou Jiu’s anger was very quiet. She didn’t slam the table or shout, but you could just tell she was angry.
Seeing that Zhou Qiming was struggling to speak, Lou Jiu spoke for him. “Because he used his daughter to test the anti-zombie agent. The research institute considered it a scandal, so they suppressed the matter and didn’t release the details.”
Jiang Yao: “Test?”
Zhou Qiming swallowed and said, “At that time, the anti-zombie agent had already been developed, but there hadn’t been any successful cases.”
“Back then, solo operations were rare. Once bitten by a zombie, the search team’s doctor would immediately perform an amputation. Wherever you were bitten, that part was cut off. At least you could save your life. So most lightly injured team members would choose amputation. Only a few hopeless cases would opt for an injection of the anti-zombie agent.”
After all, losing an arm or a leg meant you could retire from the front lines and live out your days in the base. But if you were injected with the anti-zombie agent, no one knew what the consequences would be.
Jiang Yao: “Zhou Nianyue wasn’t the first to receive the injection?”
“No.” Zhou Qiming was stunned for a moment upon hearing the name, then said, “There were people before her who received the injection, but their injuries were too severe, and it was hard to save them.”
Zhou Qiming frowned. “I explained to the institute, hoping to use it for treating minor injuries, but they were worried. They felt that forcing the use of an agent with a zero percent cure rate would cause a panic.”
He secretly glanced at Lou Jiu and stammered, “So I, I—”
Lou Jiu: “He dragged his daughter in front of a zombie, let it bite her, and then treated her.”
“The treatment was very successful. The base then announced the invention of a new drug, repackaged it, and put it back into use on the front lines.”
Shang Ci was a bit stunned, but Jiang Yao wasn’t satisfied and continued to ask, “So why did you leave the research institute?”
Wen Qianshu glanced at Jiang Yao.
Zhou Qiming: “Because this agent couldn’t save my wife.”
“The anti-zombie agent, even now, still has a certain failure rate, let alone the first generation back then.” Zhou Qiming gave a bitter smile. “At the time, I was too arrogant. I thought the people who couldn’t be saved were just too heavily injured, beyond the point of no return. And that my drug was flawless, so—”
That’s why he dared to use his daughter’s life to prove it.
He guaranteed he could save his daughter, that he was just using her for a test.
That’s what he explained to Lou Yue as well.
But Lou Yue wouldn’t listen. She just held their daughter tightly, grabbed anything she could reach to throw at him, and screamed hysterically, “Zhou Qiming, you’re a madman! You cold-blooded, unreasonable madman!”
“A divorce! We’re getting a divorce!”
Their little daughter still had a vicious bite mark on her shoulder. The high fever had subsided, leaving only a pale face. She huddled in her mother’s arms, revealing a pair of light-colored eyes.
Zhou Qiming: “A’Yue, listen to me, this drug will definitely succeed. It will save so many people—A’Yue, you’re in a search team, don’t you want a base where no one turns into a zombie anymore—”
“Definitely succeed?” Lou Yue spat at him, her eyes red and glaring fiercely. “Then why don’t you try it yourself!”
“Why don’t you go die yourself!”
Zhou Qiming stood frozen.
A ceramic cup hit his forehead and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. Lou Yue was panting, glaring at him viciously. She scooped up her daughter, lifting her completely off the ground and cradling her protectively. “Niannian, Niannian, don’t be afraid.”
“Mommy will take you away.”
Lou Yue divorced him. She would rather place their daughter in the base’s nursery than let Zhou Qiming even look at her. She also filed an application to change Niannian’s name. “Zhou Qiming, if you’re still a father, then seal all of Niannian’s information. Don’t come looking for her, and don’t even think about doing any follow-up research on her!”
Zhou Qiming: “I won’t do any more follow-up research on her, A’Yue, A’Yue, don’t go—”
A’Yue, don’t go—
Don’t go—
She left. She left on a mission that came later.
It was strange. She clearly hated him so much, yet she still trusted his drug and chose to receive the injection.
Perhaps she didn’t trust him; it was just that she had to raise a child alone now, and an amputation would be very inconvenient.
He was drinking when he heard the news of her death.
He thought over and over, A’Yue was right. No matter how certain or confident he was, this thing didn’t have a 100% success rate.
Otherwise, why didn’t he try it himself?
That one sentence precisely punctured his excuses and his arrogance, causing him to cool down from his fanatical research state, perhaps even becoming too cold.
He started drinking after the divorce. He soon discovered that alcohol was a good thing; drinking it saved him a lot of trouble. He completed all the procedures for Niannian, transferred all his money to the mother and daughter, and also applied to the base to have all their information sealed.
He even erased their marriage record, hoping Lou Yue wouldn’t be troubled by being his ex-wife.
So when they brought Niannian to his door, he was a bit stunned, thinking he was dreaming.
Niannian didn’t talk much as a child, but she was very well-behaved and pretty. All her teachers at school liked her.
Those people said he was the child’s only family. And that this little girl had previously applied for a name change and now had the surname Lou. They asked what her name was so they could register it.
He really thought he was dreaming. He turned a deaf ear and brought a wine bottle to his lips again.
Not a single drop of liquid was left inside.
He mumbled as he fumbled for a new one, “Jiu, jiu—”
The staff members frowned and looked at each other, but then they heard someone say, “Lou Jiu.”
The little girl raised her face and said calmly, “The name is ‘Jiu.’ Lou Jiu.”
“If you’ve finished registering,” she said, “please leave.”
From then on, the relationship between father and daughter never improved. He had once wanted to take good care of Lou Jiu, but she was far more independent than he had imagined. She went to school, came home, filled out applications, took college entrance exams, cooked, and did laundry all by herself. It seemed as if having a father or not made no difference to her.
Later on, Zhou Qiming even became a little afraid of her.
He was afraid of her orderliness, her seriousness, her cold, light-colored eyes, and the metallic, icy scrutiny in her gaze when she looked at people.
It was as if she only saw patients, or as if everyone in the world was a patient.
Zhou Qiming closed his eyes, stopped his train of thought, and continued from where he left off, “So I couldn’t take the blow and left the research institute.”
He was even more afraid that if he stayed at the institute, he would truly become the person Lou Yue described, the one who would “conduct follow-up research on his daughter.”
This truth was so far from their suspicions that both Shang Ci and Jiang Yao were silent. Jiang Yao propped her forehead on her hand, resting her elbow on the table.
But Wen Qianshu suddenly spoke up, asking, “Captain Jiang’s sister has a bad leg. May I ask what happened?”
Jiang Yao was taken aback and turned to look at her. “There was an accident.”
Wen Qianshu didn’t back down. Instead, she became somewhat aggressive and smiled, “What kind of accident?”
2333: “…”
2333 finally knew where its feeling of unease came from. The way Wen Qianshu was smiling now was clearly learned from that horror movie she found “unsettling.”
2333: “?”
What on earth are you studying every day?
I’m begging you, please stop smiling like that. Even I’m getting scared.
Jiang Yao pursed her lips, looking at her.
But Wen Qianshu just smiled. “Hm? You can’t say?”
“Alright, alright.” Shang Ci played peacemaker, saying to Wen Qianshu, “Today was really our fault, we’re very sorry. Let’s not talk about this for now. Big brother will help you ask later…”
After finally pulling the two apart, Shang Ci gently soothed Qin Shu for a while. When he looked up, he met the gaze of their team doctor and immediately felt like his lifespan had shortened.
He was like an apple stuck on a hedgehog, trying to keep a group of prickly people in check.
When he was little, his mother told him that girls were all gentle and lovely. Only after growing up did he realize his mother had been lying.
Otherwise, why didn’t his dad say so?
Then, Shang Ci saw Lou Jiu let go of Qin Shu’s hand. The little lunatic was no longer acting crazy and gave a very well-behaved smile.
Shang Ci: “…”
Was all of this group’s gentleness and loveliness reserved for the same sex?
Shang Ci felt it was best not to dwell on it, so he turned to Zhou Qiming to discuss business. “Mr. Zhou, there’s something we’d like to ask you, if we may?”
Zhou Qiming looked at Lou Jiu. Lou Jiu said, “Go ahead and ask.”
So they began to discuss Gao Bai’s situation and what happened on the road. Although Zhou Qiming had been away from the research institute for a long time, he was, after all, the genius who had invented the anti-zombie agent, so he understood many of the principles.
Wen Qianshu, meanwhile, sat down and leaned back, gasping as the wooden backrest dug into her.
She explained her actions to 2333—which truly surprised 2333, though it still felt that Wen Qianshu being so nice now meant she was planning something big. “I was wrong before.”
2333: “What?”
Although it couldn’t handle Wen Qianshu, it now had a blind trust in her. Of course, it unilaterally decided to call this “having a keen eye for talent.”
The “hero” was currently suffering from a sore back and shifted on the stool.
2333 couldn’t help but ask, “Is your back okay?”
“It’s fine, I just can’t sit still,” Wen Qianshu fibbed, then continued her analysis of Jiang Yao. “I previously thought the problem was that Team 5 didn’t believe Jiang Yao.”
“Later, I realized that wasn’t right.” Wen Qianshu sat up straight to make herself more comfortable. “Jiang Yao herself doesn’t want Team 5 to believe her.”
Wen Qianshu: “That makes things difficult. I don’t know what she’s still on guard against, but I hope that with me as a contrast, she and Shang Ci can get closer. After all, Shang Ci has the connections and background, hiss—”
She suddenly felt a hand reach over and rub her back.
Lou Jiu turned her head to the side. “Still hurts?”
Wen Qianshu: “Yeah.”
You look so good when you’re not holding back—
Not holding back—
Wen Qianshu was silent for a moment, then said softly, “It hurts a lot.”
2333: “…”
2333: “Huh?”
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