Jia Liuli, standing nearby, also showed fear when she heard Fatty mention ghosts, and she unconsciously moved closer to Su Muying.
Su Muying saw Liuli leaning toward her and pulled Liuli closer, smiling, "There, there, don't be afraid. There are no ghosts in this World. Even if there were, could they be scarier than Zombies?"
"Ah? Sorry about that! Sister Liuli, I didn't realize you were afraid of ghosts. Just kidding, hehe," Fatty said, scratching his head.
"Xiao Ming, are you afraid?"
Zhang Ming:....
.....
Night fell. The silent city held no lights; only the faint moonlight reflected off the snow surface. The Zombies seemed to have become the rulers of this city, wandering aimlessly on the streets and in the alleys under the weak moonlight, as if proclaiming that they were the true masters here!
For nearly three months, the Earth had seen no production, transport, combustion, or pollution. Carbon dioxide emissions had plummeted, causing the global temperature to drop by 5 degrees compared to previous years.
The six of them huddled tightly together in a corner of the subway to keep warm.
Finally, sunlight pierced the tunnel on the second morning. The six people got up and stretched their stiff limbs. No one had slept all night in this environment—not even Fatty, who usually fell asleep faster than anyone else.
"Let's grab the medicine and get out today. I've had enough of this hellhole!" Fatty mumbled, clearly worn down by the harsh conditions.
"Everyone must stay vigilant once we reach Z Hospital! Do not split up under any circumstances!" Wang Zhi warned, still unsettled by the drone losing contact the night before.
After confirming they were ready, the six left the subway entrance. Following their route, they walked fifty meters south until they reached the corner behind Z Hospital.
Wang Zhi took out the grappling hook. They took turns scaling the four-meter wall to enter the hospital's rear grounds. Wang Zhi already knew from last night's drone feed that the main entrance was swarming with zombies; getting through there would mean killing every single infected person in the entire building.
Wang Zhi and the others crept through the rear grounds to the service door. The iron door was barred shut. Wang Zhi turned back and said, "Sister Ying, it's up to you."
Su Muying stepped forward to examine it. "It's an electronic keypad lock. The power is out, so it won't open."
Wang Zhi searched again for another entrance. He looked around, finally fixing his gaze on the ventilation window leading to the second-floor corridor above. He then hooked his Grappling Hook onto the eaves overhead, climbing up the rope. The window wasn't locked, and Wang Zhi easily pushed it open. Those below followed him up the rope.
As Wang Zhi stepped across the threshold of the window, his heart suddenly tightened. He recognized this feeling too well—it was the same feeling he had when the Giant Python appeared that day!
Wang Zhi immediately flipped back out of the window. The others following him, who were about to climb in after him, saw him pull himself back out instead.
Everyone looked at Wang Zhi in confusion, not understanding what he meant.
"Listen, I have a bad feeling, the same kind of premonition I had when we encountered the Giant Python that day. I suggest we stop this mission right here," Wang Zhi whispered, leaning against the window frame, his voice trembling slightly.
"Captain Wang, what are you saying? We killed so many Zombies, and we're already at the hospital entrance! The medicine is right before our eyes. If we find the medicine, that's tens of thousands of Survival Points! How can you just call it off now?" Fatty said urgently.
"My intuition tells me this place is extremely dangerous. I don't want us to take such a huge risk."
Wang Zhi looked at Fatty, who had stopped thinking clearly. The others remained silent, showing no definite stance.
"Intuition? What if that intuition is wrong? What if your drone just happened to malfunction? The key is, we haven't seen any danger you mentioned at all!" Fatty continued excitedly.
"Listen, Fatty, I know our journey here hasn't been easy! But are you truly not afraid of dying?!" Wang Zhi ground his teeth and spoke softly to Fatty.
"Then you have to ask their opinion too, right? If it comes down to it, the minority obeys the majority. If three people agree to retreat, we retreat, how about that?" Fatty looked at the others and said.
Wang Zhi agreed to Fatty's proposal. The six voted, with the minority yielding to the majority.
In the end, only Wang Zhi voted to withdraw; the rest chose to try it out. Even Jia Liuli, who usually listened obediently, stood on the other side with Su Muying this time.
Seeing that everyone chose to give it a try, Wang Zhi began to reflect whether he was overly anxious and making a fuss over nothing.
"Wang Zhi, Fatty has a point. Since we haven't seen any danger, making us return empty-handed like this, no one would be convinced." Su Muying said, looking at the bewildered Wang Zhi.
"Fine, proceed with the original plan. Find the medicine and retreat immediately!" Wang Zhi said, snapping back to attention.
After the decision, the six climbed into the second-floor corridor. This time, Wang Zhi didn't have that feeling. The six planned to clear the first floor first, then search layer by layer starting from the second floor, as there were no clinical laboratories on the first floor.
Wang Zhi slowly pushed open the corridor door. Several zombies wearing nurse uniforms and white coats were roaming the hallway. The white walls were splattered everywhere with bloodstains, and claw marks covered the walls, creating a shocking sight.
Old He raised his sniper rifle and silently took down those few zombies. Wang Zhi ignored the patient rooms and snuck directly into the pharmacy within the nurse station.
The six searched the pharmacy for their mission objective: Neomycin.
After searching for a moment, the drug storage room contained nothing but some injectable and oral medications; there was absolutely no Neomycin they were looking for.
Wang Zhi also realized that such a drug would not be found in ordinary places.
"Stop searching! Let's move somewhere else," Wang Zhi whispered.
Wang Zhi already had the target location in mind. Since it was an ingredient for the Viral Antibody Vaccine, this substance must be in the biological virus laboratory. Now they only needed to find that laboratory to obtain the Neomycin they were seeking!
With a clear objective, the search operation of Wang Zhi and the other five became much faster.
Upon reaching the sixth floor, Wang Zhi observed that most of the rooms were patient wards, and a laboratory shouldn't be located between wards; it should be in a separate, less populated area.
"Since it's a separate, less populated area, the laboratory we are looking for can only possibly be on the twelfth or eleventh floor," Old He analyzed, following Wang Zhi's line of thought.
"That's right, we'll head straight to the eleventh floor first. If it's not there, then we'll check the twelfth!" Wang Zhi said, already walking towards the stairwell.
What Wang Zhi and his team failed to notice at that moment was that they hadn't encountered any Zombies since they left the fourth floor!