19 Infected

*Clang*

Luckily, Xixi had activated her ability just in time, and blocked the attack.

However, Long Yu had no time to rejoice. He could see that the barrier was getting weaker with each hit from the zombie.

He quickly got to his feet and rushed at the occupied zombie.

Xixi could also feel that her barrier would not hold any longer. She could only slowly inch backwards to the driver's seat.

*Peng*

The sound of glass shattering could be heard, when the barrier was finally broken by the zombie.

Seeing the sharp claws heading towards her face, Xixi could only close her eyes in fear.

One second…two seconds. The attack never came. She gingerly opened her eyes and was shocked to see that the zombie, was now held in a chokehold by Long Yu.

Long Yu was trying his best to hold the zombie back. Both his feet were now stamping at the side of the car, stopping the zombie from going forwards. He looked as if he was koala hugging the zombie, except in a violent manner.

Long Yu increased the pressure of his right arm as he slowly freed his left. With a flick, a knife appeared in his left hand. He held the knife in a reverse grip and raised it.

The zombie felt the incoming danger and trashed about wildly, trying to throw him off.

When it saw no results, the zombie pulled back its hands, which were outstretched towards Xixi.

'F*ck, I won't be able to dodge it!' Long Yu cursed when he noticed its actions.

The zombie swung its left arm back, its sharp claws stabbing towards Long Yu who was behind it.

Long Yu could only grit his teeth, as he brought down the knife on the zombie's skull.

*Putchi*

The sound of a sharp object stabbing into something could be heard.

Long Yu coughed, as he twisted the knife that was embedded in the zombie's skull.

After making sure that there were no more movements from it, he slowly released the zombie that was in his hold.

As soon as it lost its support, the zombie's corpse fell onto the ground. Long Yu dropped onto his knees as well, breathing heavily.

"Big brother, big brother! Are you alright?" Xixi who was full of tears, had gotten off the car, and ran towards him as fast as her little feet could bring her.

Long Yu showed her a smile as got up to his feet. He twisted his body a little to the right before receiving her hug.

"Mm.. Big brother is fine," he said softly as he patted her head.

Tears were still streaming down Xixi's face, when she accidentally touched a warm wet patch on his clothes. She was shocked when she saw that her hand was stained with blood.

"Wuuu.. big brother, you are hurt after all. We need to hurry and go see a doctor!" she said worriedly.

Long Yu's expression stiffened, but he still appeased her with a gentle tone. "It's alright. That… was probably the zombie's blood. No need to worry."

Removing himself from Xixi's embrace, he carried her and put her on the front passenger seat.

"Listen, big brother still has some things to settle outside. You should wait in the car. You'll be safe inside." he closed the door as soon as he finished speaking.

"Engage doors lockdown mode for 1 hour," he said to the car.

*Clack*

All the doors locked at his command. Now, neither the person inside nor outside, would be able to enter or exit the vehicle through the doors.

"Big brother! Big brother!"

Long Yu could hear Xixi banging on the car window from the inside, while calling him.

He leaned his back against the car as he slowly slid down into a seating position.

'System, exchange for a full diagnosis of my current condition.'

——————————

[Patient name: Long Yu]

[Right elbow: Bruised(minor injury)

Right knee: Bruised(minor injury)

Lower left rib: Fractured

Stomach: Punctured, Bleeding heavily(attention required)

[Warning!

Patient infected: Gene corrosion level- 34% and increasing]

___________________

"Ughh…my head is starting to hurt real bad," he groaned as he massaged his forehead with his palm.

"I assume my diagnosis isn't looking so good either?"

[Recommended course of action:

-Attend to patient's infection immediately

-Stop the bleeding from patient's stomach wound]

The system responded with a voice in his head.

'You know system, sometimes you say some pretty obvious stuff,' Long Yu laughed weakly.

'Anyway, how long do I have left?' He asked.

[3 minute 23 seconds until infection spreads to host's brain. Side effects are starting to manifest]

'Any possibilities of a cure?'

————————————

[Gene Restoration Vaccine] (Consumable)

[Stops the infected genes from deteriorating. Injected vaccine then merges with damaged genes to restore the lost parts. Completely cures infection]

[Exchange Price: 10x stage 1 mutant gene cores]

____________________

A screen popped up in front of Long Yu's vision.

"Mutant gene cores? What's that?" he asked with a puzzled expression.

[Stage 1 mutant gene cores can generally be found in the brains of stage 1 homo sapien mutant creatures]

"Oh... so, what stage is this fella? He was pretty strong. I bet it's a stage 2 or something," Long Yu nudged the corpse of the zombie with his foot.

[System has determined that it is a normal zombie that is in the process of evolving to stage 1]

The system's reply crushed the little hope he had left.

[Host ca- ]

"It's over… it's over…" Long Yu repeated in despair before the system managed to continue.

He thought that if the zombie he killed had a stage 2 mutant gene core or something, he could perhaps exchange it for several stage 1 cores. Then, he would be able to exchange for the vaccine from the system.

'How laughable…' he thought to himself.