"You should quickly think of something!" A middle-aged man urged.
The captain took a look at the man because he had already made that such suggestion several times now. The man's fat body was sweating, and he was very anxious to walk around. The captain explained to him again patiently, "We have tried our best to deal with the situation, but first, we should protect you, especially the current security of-"
"Stop repeating your nonsense! We are in danger! Didn't you see what just happened?" The middle-aged man interrupted the captain fiercely. The fear of death had clouded the middle-aged man's judgment and rationality.
Su Guangqi frowned and said, "Section Chief Li, you can't act like that. If not for the soldiers, we would already be dead! Can you fight with any of those monsters?"
"Sh*t up!" One word -death- had touched the sensitive nerve of this middle-aged man. He stared at Su Guangqi angrily and said, "Su Guangqi, don't take advantage of your seniority! In the Research Institute, I never once restricted your freedom! Do you think I'm afraid of you? That's because I respected you! However, at this moment, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit."
And then the middle-aged man shouted to that captain, "Your boss, Zhang Gaohe, is my brother-in-law, didn't you know? I want him to meet me as soon as possible!" Mr. Li was really agitated. His brother-in-law was in charge of Area A, but Mr. Li had not been escorted to safety. Instead, he was trapped in this building, and he had yet to see a rescue team.
Professor Su was filled with indignation because of Mr. Li's words and attitude; however, he didn't know how to strike back, so he just stared at Mr. Li angrily.
However, Mr. Li didn't care about Su Guangqi or any other professors' feeling at all. As long as he could survive, everything would be okay for him. It was the first time for him to experience that kind of fear, so for him, nothing was more important than his life. He had been living in the safe area, and he did not want to die now.
"Dad, don't be angry," Su Tong said to her father. In this terrible post-apocalyptic world, a part of human nature would be exposed. Su Guangqi sighed and turned around. Although this period of time was difficult, Professor Su had enough confidence.
'I hope the rescue team can come here soon…' All the things, coupled with Mr. Li 's signs of madness, were destroying everyone's rationality.
Fortunately, with the help of Ran Xiyu, Shi Ying Squad had found a possible place to from which they could sneak in.
Areas A and B, which were located on the mountainside, were actually prototypes of a large group of villas, as well as scenic areas. After doomsday, many buildings were built on that basis, especially fortifications. Moreover, the two areas were separated by barbed wires and walls, and firepower points could be seen everywhere. There was a large canteen behind the barbed wire. No infected people could be found in that area, so only a small team was stationed there.
Jiang Liushi ordered Ying to wait for a while in an alley, and then suddenly accelerated, breaking the barbed wire with instantaneous speed, and disappeared in the back of the canteen.
The soldiers were thunderstruck by that scene, but they were too late when they finally reacted as the minibus' speed was simply too fast. At the same time, they felt confused as to why the people in that minibus wanted to enter Area A under such a perilous situation. In the end, they decided to ignore the minibus…
"We are successful!" Jiang Liushi shouted. However, Li Yuxin's did not reveal an expression of happiness. On the contrary, the anxiety in her eyes became stronger.
Currently, Area A was covered by a kind of dignified atmosphere. Traces of blood, as well as traces of battle, could be seen clearly.
As two important experts of the Research Institute, Li Yuxin's grandfather and mother had been assigned to a yard in the resort to take residence. Jiang Liushi had visited it once. But at the present circumstances, Jiang Liushi felt it was meaningless and a waste of time for them to go there.
"Infected people should be found in the military and hospital areas, but the military area is split into the left and right districts," Li Yuxin tried to calm down and said. She had stayed here for a small period of time, so she had learned a thing or two about the overall situation.
Area A was originally surrounded by heavy-armed troops to protect important facilities and personnel. However, the source of the virus this time was exactly brought back by the soldiers who had returned from the beast nest. As a result, Li Yuxin guessed those infected soldiers were in the hospital.
"They should be around this area. I think it isn't difficult for us to find them," Jiang Liushi said.
As long as they stayed in his minibus, Jiang Liushi didn't feel worried about the infected people attacking them.
After a corner, Jiang Liushi asked Ying to stop, and then he jumped out of his minibus and approached a corpse by the side of the road. The corpse's eyes were still wide open, as well as full of blood. On the corpse's face and body, bulging blue veins were visible to the extent that the skin around them seemed bluish.
Jiang Liushi had already seen such corpses, so he decided to stop and examine them up close as Starseed had been notifying him about unknown energy coming from them. After observing it for a while, Jiang Liushi seemed to have noticed something.
"Brother Jiang, what's wrong with you?" Zhang Hai also jumped down and stood guard beside him.
"Nothing. I am just observing," Jiang Liushi said while staring at the corpse. And then, he pulled out his dagger and forced it on the corpse's arm.
"What are you doing? Brother Jiang!" shouted Zhang Hai. He thought that man was dead, but he couldn't have a mutant nucleus. However, before his voice had died away, Zhang Hai was shocked. He saw a worm creeping on Jiang Liushi's dagger!
The worm was drenched in blood, about ten centimeters long and very thin. Jiang Liushi had noticed it while it was moving through the blood vessels. The worm was struggling and trying to drill into Jiang Liushi's hand, but to no avail, as he suddenly struck it to the ground.
"What on earth is that!?"Zhang Hai's eyes widened because that worm was looked horrifying.
"You should stand far away," said Jiang Liushi.
"Brother Jiang, I am unapt to do so," Zhang Hai answered.
"I mean you should stand far away from this body instead of the worm. If I'm not mistaken, there should be many worms such as that one in the corpse," Jiang Liushi explained.
Although he had dug that worm out, Starseed could still sense that special energy. Jiang Liushi believed this worm could drill in skin easily. As long as it drilled in, the person would be infected immediately. After knowing that, Zhang Hai was scared and jumped suddenly a few meters away.
"This may be a kind of parasite," Li Yuxin said from the window. "Many parasites can control the behavior of their host. I guess this kind of parasite could make the infected person stronger, faster, and aggressive."
"But it isn't like the virus that mutates the cells; it just over-drafts the life and physical fitness of the infected person. Therefore, Xiyu was right when she said that if Commander Wang weren't killed, he would soon die," Li Yuxin added.
"It isn't a virus." Jiang Liushi nodded. He also understood the parasite's behavior in manipulating the host.
For example, the Toxoplasma gondii could change the dopamine secreted by the host so the host would not feel fear. Such was the case of mice not being afraid of a cat, which would lead them to be caught by their predator much easier. And then, the Toxoplasma gondii could be spread again.
Another kind of worm could be found in the stomach of many mantises. It could make the mantis jump into a river to commit suicide, and then by breaking out of the body, it could lay eggs in the water.
At this point, some fungal spores could also infect ants, and turn them into zombie-ants, whose behavioral pattern was just like those zombies in some apocalyptic films and games.
Looking at the worm on the ground, Jiang Liushi actually was filled with a thousand regrets. He thought that if the virus outbreak was instead a parasite outbreak, humanity would have no chance to stand back at its feet. Fortunately, the super virus had also mutated some humans' genes, and thus, paranormals had appeared. There was still a gleam of hope!
Of course, that kind of parasite was also due to the biological evolution after doomsday as its source was the beast nest.
Didn't that mean that there was an oversized parasite or a group of densely-packed parasites in that beast nest!?
Moreover, it was obvious that the parasites could communicate with each other. They could control different hosts, but they could also infect other humans too.
"Give that worm to me," Li Yuxin said.
"Okay," said Jiang Liushi. He told Zhang Hai to bring a glass bottle and put that worm inside. Although it was almost cut into two sections, it still had good vitality.
"Yuxin, here you are," said Jiang Liushi. "Be careful! If it drills into your skin, it will be terrible!"
"Yes, I will be very careful with it." Li Yuxin nodded.
As a girl, she instinctively disliked worms, but she started examining it carefully the moment she took the bottle…
'Bang! Bang!'
After shooting and killing two infected people, the soldiers that were protecting Su Guangqi and the others looked even more dignified as they believed that more and more infected people would keep coming. However, their ammunition would be used up soon.
For them, the best method was to make a run for it, but they should first make sure of the experts, such as Su Guangqi that was old, safety. The scientists were all cropped up in their labs all the time, so how could they fend off an infected person's attack when they couldn't even truss a chicken?
The risk was too great. It would be a huge loss if any expert died in the process.
At that moment, Su Tong took a bottle of water and came to her father's side: "Dad, drink some water." Su Guangqi looked at it, but he did not take it. He was very calm before, but when he saw the other people around him, Su Guangqi also started to feel anxious. He was worried about his granddaughter, Li Yuxin.
Many infected people had come straight up from the battlefield, so how could he not feel worried about his granddaughter, who was near the battlefield?
"Dad, don't worry too much. Yuxin is in Shi Ying Squad. They will be safe,"Su Tong comforted her father.
Su Guangqi nodded. "Yes, the Shi Ying Squad is powerful, so it shouldn't be difficult for them to escape from that beast nest's area. However, the whole Xiayuan Security Zone is in a state of alert…"
"Professors, we don't see any rescue teams, so we decided to send two soldiers to look for help." At that time, the captain came and said.
"Look for help?" Su Guangqi and Su Tong were all surprised. The rest of the experts were also stunned.
"Well, go and find as soon as possible."
"What? Have you turned into an idiot after studying and researching? Your brain must be damaged!" Mr. Li shouted and turned to ask that captain, "You just have a total of six people. If you send two soldiers to ask for help, who will protect us? And I guess that they'll have to take away some ammunition, right? I saw that you're almost out of ammunition!" Although Mr. Li was mad, he still paid much attention to these soldiers. After all, he was still safe because of them.
"In my opinion, you should send one person to ask for help with little ammunition. He just needs to ask for help, so as long as he is careful, nothing will happen," Mr. Li said.
"That's impossible!" The captain refused directly, "What you said is far too simplistic! In fact, nobody knows about the real situation. If one soldier meets two infected people, he will die easily. What we can do is to stay here without making much noise and be careful of our movements." During his explanation, two soldiers left the building.
"Okay, you should bring Zhang Gaohe back." Mr. Li said urgently. He just wanted to be under the protection of Zhang Gaohe's team. In his mind, staying with the old and sick could only slow him down; something that he couldn't let happen!