Chapter 39

Chapter 39 – Human Hearts are Unpredictable

Translator: Jostena

Editor: Callis & Dragon

S City was only a prefecture level city, so there were no large military commands nearby. There was only one brigade, stationed in the barracks outside the northern district. On the night of the Bloody Moon, there was a terrible riot in the barracks that caused heavy casualties.

At that time, the Bloody Moon happened at night. How could the soldiers know that their companions would die quietly in their sleep, and then resurrect to become these man-eating monsters?

Fortunately, the soldiers were well trained, and soon found that their mutated companions were no longer human. After the initial chaos, they wiped out all the zombies.

But nobody expected that in less than four hours after the barracks had restored order, another instance of the mutation would occur.

At first, many people didn't understand what had happened. When they could not bear to shoot their comrades-in-arms, they tried to subdue them, but were accidentally injured.

Caught off guard, there were soldiers that had suddenly mutated after being injured by their former comrades. In a whole brigade of more than 7,000 people, in the end, fewer than two regiments remained. Even the brigade commander had fallen victim to the virus, and the command was temporarily taken over by the head of the 8th regiment.

The head of the 8th regiment temporarily cleaned up the general camp, and wanted to contact the higher ups to report the situation and ask for further instructions. However, dispatch did not know why the communication channels were all unresponsive.

Understanding that such a breakdown wouldn't be restricted to the barracks, he sent scouts to survey outside. Sure enough, he found that the whole city had already descended into chaos, and the zombies could be seen everywhere, eating people.

It was the duty of soldiers to protect the people. The head of the regiment took initiative and issued an order to rescue people.

But the extreme heat of the day was really not conducive to action. Even if they were strong enough to withstand the scorching heat and rushed to rescue people under the blistering sun, the ones they wanted to rescue could not bear it. So, the time of the rescue operations could only be changed to night. They had fewer soldiers, and there were more zombies. It was not easy to clean the zombies up. In a few days, only one to two thousand people had been saved.

The barracks had plenty of food and water stocked up, but they couldn’t support the long-term needs of thousands of people. While searching and rescuing, they still had to find ways to collect supplies.

With no way to replenish ammunition, soldiers could only regulate the number of shots fired, which made their missions more dangerous. But for the sake of the country and the people, the soldiers bravely rushed to their deaths again and again.

More and more people had been rescued, and more and more soldiers were killed. Later, water and electricity were cut off, and the head of the regiment decided to organize the rescued people to go out together to help rescue others and collect materials.

Unexpectedly, it caused a great backlash from the rescued people. They refused to participate in the rescue operations and bring back more survivors. From their perspective, the barracks was very safe, with high walls, sentinel towers, and solid iron gates. If they stayed inside, they didn’t need to worry about the zombies at all, and they wouldn’t need to go out and take risks either.

Under the instigation of some scheming people, the conflict between the two sides continued to escalate. Later, two ability users came to the barracks, one with the ability to control fire and the other with super speed.

The emergence of the two ability users caused the situation of the two sides, who were at an impasse, to sharply deteriorate. It seemed that the rescued people did not need the protection of these soldiers, and their attitudes worsened.

The arrival of the red rain made the barracks chaotic once again. Some people who had been caught in the rain were turned into zombies. In order to prevent the red rain from bringing even more serious consequences, the soldiers stayed up all day and night, waiting for the rain to stop; they were relieved when it finally did.

But what they didn’t expect was that the others took advantage of when they, the soldiers, were tired. They robbed barracks' arsenal and imprisoned all the soldiers who had rescued them.

Zhao Bing and his men forced their way out, but they were already injured. They ran all the way here, and when they saw the hospital, they rushed over.

“Those kinds of people! Those kinds of people! They didn’t even think about who had saved them! They actually robbed our arsenal and shot at us!” The more the little soldier talked, the angrier he became.

“Yes! These people didn't dare to go out to fight the dead, but dared to fight us!” Another soldier could not hold back.

“All right!” Zhao Bing frowned and prevented them from saying anything else, “Look for medicine and find ways to cure the others first!”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

Zhao Bing spoke, and his subordinates naturally had to listen. Although they still had more to say, they immediately dispersed. Those who carried the wounded kicked open the doors of the two clinics and placed the wounded on stretchers.

Everybody heard the soldiers’ words. They looked at each other and thought, sure enough, the hearts of people in the apocalypse were unpredictable.

Zhao Bing leaned restlessly against the wall, took out a flattened box of cigarettes from his pocket, lit the last cigarette in the pack, and took a heavy drag.

“Is there no one in your barracks who has awakened an ability?” Zhan Yun went to Zhao Bing and asked.

From their words, those two ability users came from the outside. There seemed to be no ability users inside their camp.

Zhao Bing frowned and shook his head. They still did not know how these so-called abilities were awakened.

Zhan Yun mumbled to himself before asking, “How do you deal with those who have been scratched or bitten by zombies?”

Zhao Bing’s face flashed with a touch of pain. He closed his eyes and shook his head again. Obviously, the injured people either committed suicide or were killed.

Su Ruizhe sighed again. In the early days of his previous life, because of the high infection rate of the zombie virus, almost everyone thought that as long as they were scratched or bitten by a zombie, they would surely die. He didn’t know how many abilities might have otherwise awakened.

Zheng Jiahe and Wu Jing looked at each other, their hearts were full of sorrow. If they had not met Su Ruizhe, they would have died long ago.

Zhao Bing saw their listless faces, and his heart sank sharply. “Could it be that those people could have been saved?”

“Not all people infected with the virus will become zombies, they might also gain abilities, but it isn't likely.” Zhan Yun considered it carefully before answering truthfully. Even if he didn't say anything, they would find out later.

Like a thunderbolt from the clear sky, Zhao Bing immediately fell into a deep sense of self-reproach and grief. He didn’t know how many soldiers had chosen to commit suicide after being bitten by a zombie… Each one was a vivid life!

“Lieutenant! Lieutenant!” A soldier’s anxious call suddenly came from the clinic.

Zhao Bing tossed aside his half-finished cigarette and rushed forward, three steps becoming two. “What’s wrong?”

“Lao San, he… he’s been scratched by a zombie!” Lying on the stretcher bed, the wounded man's complexion was turning red, his forehead covered in fine sweat, and his clothes had been undone. Other than the wound that pierced through his shoulder, there was also a hideous one on his thigh. The wound was slightly infected and curved; its edges were sharp, and it was difficult to say whether he was scratched or bitten.

Zhao Bing hurried back to see Zhan Yun. “He, he…”

Zhan Yun wasn't sure whether the wound had been caused by a zombie or not, so he looked at Song Chengshu and said, “Let Lao Song take a look, he’s a doctor.”

Song Chengshu nodded and went forward to carefully examine the soldier’s condition.

However, when he pushed back the soldier’s eyelids, Song Chengshu was stunned. When Zhan Yun saw this look, he also hastily stepped closer. When he saw the soldier’s completely red eyes, he was also shocked.

“Doctor, what’s wrong with him? Speak!” The soldier by his side asked anxiously.

Song Chengshu sighed and solemnly shook his head. “He’s infected and should be about to mutate.”

“But didn’t you just say that he wouldn't necessarily turn into a zombie?!” Zhao Bing asked sharply.

“There’s a certain chance that he’ll become an ability user, but he’s completely infected.” Song Chengshu pointed to his eyes and said, “His pupils are enlarged, the Hyperemia in his eyes is very serious, and his heartbeat is getting slower and slower. He wouldn't hold out for much longer.”

Zhao Bing did not speak any more, but looked silently at his comrade-in-arms lying on the stretcher bed. His struggle could be seen in his eyes, and the room fell into a strange silence.

After a while, as Song Chengshu said, the wounded man’s breath became weaker and weaker, and finally ceased to breathe. His skin became dry in a matter of minutes, an extremely obvious symptom of dehydration that occurred every time a mutated person died.

The next moment, the wounded man suddenly opened his eyes. The blood-red eyes and the gray and dry face looked terrible.

“Howl…” When the corpse roared and was ready to stand up, Zhao Bing pulled out his dagger and stabbed the zombie's temple, killing it.

Zhao Bing’s voice was dry as he said to Song Chengshu, “Please help me check on the other people as well.”

“All right.”

Song Chengshu went to inspect several other injured soldiers. Practically all of the wounds on their bodies were from gunshots. He dug out the bullets, and after he applied some medicine, there weren’t any big concerns. Two of them had a fever, but from his judgment, it should just be inflammation. After infusion, the fever should be reduced.

The soldiers who went to look for medicine came back with all kinds of medical supplies in their arms, which they found in the emergency pharmacy.

Song Chengshu helped everyone deal with their wounds carefully, and gave the two feverish soldiers an infusion.

“Rest well, there shouldn't be any problems.”

“Thank you, doctor.” The soldiers all sighed and looked relieved.

“Not at all…” Song Chengshu was only halfway done speaking when he heard a muffled sound. He turned around to find that Zhao Bing had fainted on the ground. His face was flushed, and he clearly had a fever.

Here’s the first chapter for this week! The second one will also be posted soon. This coming week is finally the last week of my classes so I’ll finally have time!