A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse

While everyone outside was desperately searching for him, he was hidden away in this comfortable place, leisurely reading and drinking tea.

Du Ruo had said this man possessed a special drug. After injecting it, one could become invisible to zombies.

Like Du Ruo, he treated zombies as if they were nothing, able to freely move through hordes of them. Places inaccessible to others posed no problem for him.

The zombies swarming inside and outside this manor, dangerous to ordinary people, were his best protection.

It was as if he had hired hundreds of bodyguards.

If it weren't for Lu Xingchi today, probably no one else could have fought their way here and dug him out from the zombie horde.

Judging from the route Huo Ren had taken while tracking him, his direction of travel had been almost the same as Bei Nuan and the others.

He must have also traveled west from S City, searching for a safe zone, and was now resting here.

The man emerged from the secret room, looked around, and confirmed that no one was outside. He then walked towards the door, seemingly intending to check the situation outside.

Lu Xingchi exchanged a glance with Bei Nuan and pushed the door open.

The man was thoroughly startled.

He hadn't expected Lu Xingchi and Bei Nuan to return, as if he had been caught red-handed doing something wrong.

However, he reacted quickly, regaining his composure in an instant, and immediately pulled a gun from his person.

The gun was pure gold, with diamonds inlaid in the handle, clearly belonging to the wealthy owner of the manor, now being used by him.

He held the gun, his expression calm, not at all afraid that the sound of gunfire would attract zombies.

After all, he was invisible to zombies. Even if a large number were attracted, they wouldn't bite him.

However, the person he was facing was Lu Xingchi.

Guns posed no threat to Lu Xingchi now.

With Lu Xingchi's current abilities, a gun in anyone's hand was like it being directly in his own.

But Lu Xingchi didn't make a move.

Instead, he slowly placed the crossbow in his hand on the ground and raised his hands, trying to minimize the man's hostility towards them.

With the big boss disarmed, Bei Nuan quickly followed suit, placing the practically useless crowbar beside his black crossbow as a sign of goodwill.

The man spoke, "What are you doing in my house? Trying to steal something?"

He played the victim, shifting the blame, his tone and expression calm and composed, his demeanor relaxed. He looked quite like the true owner of the study.

If Bei Nuan hadn't known that the manor belonged to the wealthy businessman surnamed Yin, she would have believed him.

The man continued, "Times are tough for everyone. I won't hold it against you. Take your things and leave quickly."

Bei Nuan immediately felt that this man wasn't bad at heart.

He held the secret of the viral suppressant, and so many people outside were looking for him, especially the murderer Huo Ren. It was obvious that they weren't looking for him for anything good.

He had a gun in his hand, while Bei Nuan and Lu Xingchi were empty-handed. His best option should have been to kill them and silence them.

After all, he wasn't afraid of the gunshots attracting zombies.

But he didn't seem to have any such intention, only wanting to scare them away.

Bei Nuan turned to look at Lu Xingchi. Lu Xingchi clearly thought the same, his sharp gaze softening considerably.

Lu Xingchi replied calmly, "This is not your house. We know who you are."

Lu Xingchi got straight to the point.

"Do you remember injecting someone with a viral suppressant at Shui University? We are that person's friends."

A look of surprise finally appeared on the man's face, as if he hadn't expected Lu Xingchi to directly mention the viral suppressant.

The corners of his lips twitched almost imperceptibly. Bei Nuan thought it might be a smile.

He asked, "He told me that with the suppressant, he could freely eat hot pot with people. So you are the people he wants to eat hot pot with?"

That did sound like something Du Ruo would say.

Bei Nuan smiled. "Exactly."

The atmosphere eased a little.

Lu Xingchi immediately said, "We mean you no harm. We just want to ask for our friend, do you have any more of the suppressant? Also, our friend is infected. Is there a way to completely solve the problem?"

The man didn't speak, holding the gun and assessing Lu Xingchi with his dark eyes.

Bei Nuan wished she could raise her hand and volunteer: No need to bother, leave this to me!

With the "Obedience" ability, making someone tell the truth was a piece of cake.

Waiting for Lu Xingchi to engage in a psychological battle with him would take who knows how long. It was better to just use her ability.

Bei Nuan silently recited "Good boy, be obedient" in her mind.

Then, looking into the man's eyes, she asked, "We really mean no harm and just want to hear you tell the truth. Will you answer my questions honestly? Shall we sit down first?"

As expected, the man lowered his gun and obediently walked to the sofa and sat down.

Lu Xingchi silently glanced at Bei Nuan and, without saying anything, followed and sat down.

Bei Nuan asked, "So who are you? Why are so many people looking for you? And what is your relationship with LBD?"

The man calmly answered directly, "I am with LBD."

Bei Nuan was startled. "You're with LBD, and you have the viral suppressant. Did you leak the virus?"

But that didn't make sense.

When Bei Nuan first arrived in this world, she had personally witnessed the virus-carrying meteorites falling from the sky. The book also described it that way—the virus came from a meteorite.

The man smiled. "Of course we didn't leak it. But we do understand this virus very well." He then corrected himself, "No, I understand this virus very well."

Under the influence of her ability, he answered every question.

Bei Nuan asked, and he answered seriously, striving for accurate wording, making an effort to "answer the questions honestly" as Bei Nuan had requested.

He said his name was Song Ce and that he worked in a laboratory at a research institution under LBD.

For several years, Song Ce had been studying a strange virus discovered in a remote island nation in the Southern Hemisphere. This virus was brought by a meteorite and was highly contagious.

The country was made up of a group of islands. The island where the zombie virus outbreak occurred was easily blockaded, and the virus was contained by the government's drastic measure of bombing the entire island.

Because the methods were ruthless and inhumane, the incident was covered up.

However, LBD got wind of it and obtained virus samples through local high-level connections.

Song Ce, who specialized in this field of research, secretly took over the research project and had devoted a great deal of effort to it over the years.

However, the research on this virus hadn't yielded any benefits, and LBD's leadership gradually lost interest in his project, reducing Song Ce's research funding year after year.

Song Ce said, "No one expected that the virus in this zombie outbreak would be the same as the one I've been studying all these years."

Bei Nuan didn't understand. "Then why are you hiding everywhere? Wouldn't it be better to bring out your research results and benefit everyone?"

Song Ce chuckled. "You're too naive. You think they're looking for me to get the vaccine in my hands to benefit humanity? They want to kill me. I need to go to the safe zone, find someone I can trust, and hand over my research results."

Did he just say "vaccine"?

Vaccine?

Lu Xingchi couldn't help but interrupt, "You have not only the viral suppressant but also a vaccine?"

Song Ce only answered Bei Nuan's questions and ignored him.

Bei Nuan helped ask again, "So you have a vaccine?"

Song Ce nodded seriously. "Of course, I've developed a vaccine, and it's very effective. As long as it's mass-produced, zombies will no longer be a threat."

The viral suppressant could only prevent infected people from turning, but the vaccine could make everyone immune to the zombie virus.

This person had a drug that made him invisible to zombies, a viral suppressant, and a vaccine.

What a godsend.

With these things, the raging zombie virus would be instantly defeated.

Suddenly, there was a noise at the door. Someone was turning the doorknob.

Bei Nuan immediately jumped up and rushed to the door, holding it shut.

It must have been that too much time had passed, and Captain Zheng and the others were getting impatient downstairs and had come up to urge them.

Bei Nuan only opened the door a crack.

Da Hei was indeed standing outside.

Da Hei bared his teeth at Bei Nuan. "What book are you two looking for? You've been searching for so long. Captain Zheng asked me to come up and hurry you down."

Bei Nuan quickly recited "Good boy, be obedient" in her mind and said to him, "Wait for us at the door for five minutes."

Da Hei looked at Bei Nuan blankly, then obediently turned right, took two steps forward, squatted down, and waited at the door without moving or speaking.

Bei Nuan paused. She only told him to wait at the door, not to squat there and pretend to be a stone lion.

He was a bit too obedient.

On Song Ce's side, he looked confused when he saw Bei Nuan leave.

The five-minute duration of her ability had ended.

Lu Xingchi asked him, "Why does LBD want to kill you? Why don't they want the vaccine?"

Song Ce didn't answer.

He looked around, seemingly puzzled as to why he was sitting on the sofa.

Just as Bei Nuan closed the door and was about to walk back, Song Ce moved.

He quickly got up and rushed towards the secret room behind the bookshelf.

He had been cooperating obediently and answering questions. Lu Xingchi hadn't expected him to suddenly run and was momentarily stunned.

In that instant, Song Ce had already reached the door of the secret room and pulled on a thick dictionary on the bookshelf.

The secret room door slid open silently.

Lu Xingchi reacted extremely quickly. With a flick of his wrist, the crossbow's magazine sprang open, and a large cluster of long nails shot out, stopping in mid-air behind Song Ce.

"Don't move," Lu Xingchi said. "Move again, and I'll nail you to the wall. It won't be good if you get hurt."

Song Ce turned around and saw the gleaming cluster of long nails magically suspended in mid-air. A look of surprise flickered in his eyes as he narrowed them at Lu Xingchi.

Bei Nuan quickly took control of the chaotic situation, preparing to launch a new round of control.

She silently recited in her mind: "Good boy…"

Before she could finish, the person standing where Song Ce had been changed.

It was her dad.

Her dad, whom she hadn't seen for many years, was standing there, a familiar smile on his face, looking at her gently.

He was even wearing the dark jacket he often wore.

On the morning he left, the last time Bei Nuan saw him before going to school, he was wearing this jacket.

Bei Nuan froze, unable to move, even forgetting to breathe.

Subconsciously, it seemed, she softly called out, "Dad?"

Her dad glanced at Bei Nuan, didn't reply, and turned to enter the open secret room.

By the time Bei Nuan rushed forward, the door to the secret room had already closed, and the wall had transformed back into a seamless row of bookshelves.

Lu Xingchi followed and also pulled on the dictionary Song Ce had just touched.

Nothing happened.

Lu Xingchi placed his hand on the secret room door disguised as a bookshelf. After a moment, he said in a low voice, "Even the hinges aren't metal."

Bei Nuan pitifully clung to the door, looking up at Lu Xingchi. "I saw my dad."

"That wasn't your dad," Lu Xingchi said. "It was an illusion, because I didn't see your dad."

As he spoke, he raised his hand, and the long nails in the air converged into a thick, sharp cluster, which he then slammed against the secret room door.

Again and again, he quickly chiseled a large hole.

Lu Xingchi reached in, fumbled for a while, and finally opened the door.

Inside was a fully equipped suite, clearly prepared by the manor's owner for emergencies.

It was comfortably furnished, but lacked natural light and was very dark.

A candlestick with burnt-out candles sat on the table, suggesting Song Ce had been living here.

But he was gone.

Bei Nuan took out a powerful flashlight. Lu Xingchi searched around and finally found a hidden door in the wall. It seemed the secret room connected to other places.

The two quickly followed the passage, passed through another similar secret room, and arrived at a door.

Opening the door, they found themselves outside the manor's walls.

Outside, the sky was blue, the grass was green, and there wasn't a soul in sight.

Song Ce was gone.

Lu Xingchi searched around, but found nothing.

Bei Nuan calmed down and asked Lu Xingchi, "You said you didn't see my dad just now. Who did you see?"

Lu Xingchi paused before answering, "You. I saw you standing where he was."

Lu Xingchi said, "I guess that's his ability. In times of crisis, he can transform into someone familiar to the other person, making it difficult for them to attack him."

The two walked back along the secret passage, returning to the secret room, to find Da Hei, Captain Zheng, and Xiao Shouzi peering into the secret room but not entering.

It seemed they had grown impatient and had all come upstairs.

Da Hei's ability had worn off, and he was no longer squatting like a stone lion. His eyes lit up when he saw them emerge.

"You're back? How did you find this secret passage? Captain Zheng said it was too dark inside and wouldn't let us in, afraid of danger."

Lu Xingchi said, "We found it while getting a book. There's nothing inside, just an ordinary passage leading outside the manor."

Bei Nuan saw him glance around as he spoke.

Bei Nuan also looked around. Du Ruo had mentioned that Song Ce was carrying a bunch of bags. They weren't in the secret room, so he must have taken them all with him.

Lu Xingchi walked to the bedside and picked something up from the nightstand, putting it in his pocket.

Lu Xingchi casually said to Captain Zheng and the others, "You can come in. We'll go out this way. We just walked through it, and there are no zombies in the passage."

Captain Zheng and the others cautiously entered the secret room and, following Bei Nuan's flashlight, walked through the passage and out of the manor.

Xiao Shouzi let out a long sigh of relief. "This route is much better, safer."

Everyone returned to where they had parked, got in the car, and settled in. Only then did Bei Nuan quietly ask Lu Xingchi, "What did you take just now?"

Lu Xingchi took a small piece of paper and a small glass bottle out of his pants pocket.

Scrawled on the paper were a few words: For Curly. For his hot pot.

It seemed that Song Ce, as he was escaping, had deliberately left the zombie virus suppressant for Du Ruo and had hurriedly written a note.

He was in a hurry to escape, yet he still remembered this.

Bei Nuan studied the small glass bottle for a long time, feeling a little uneasy. She quietly said, "Is this real? He wouldn't harm Du Ruo, would he?"

Lu Xingchi said confidently, "I don't think so."

He was so good at judging people that Bei Nuan felt much more at ease.

The return trip was smooth, and even Xiao Shouzi, who was afraid of zombies, was dozing.

When the SUV drove through the base gates, the sun was still high in the sky, just a little past noon.

After getting out of the car, Captain Zheng asked Lu Xingchi and the others, "Do you want a month's worth of meal tickets or to go to Taiping Gate?"

Xiao Shouzi quickly said, "Meal tickets, of course, meal tickets."

Lu Xingchi, Bei Nuan, and Da Hei said in unison, "Taiping Gate!"

Captain Zheng glanced at them, didn't say much, and simply said, "Alright, I'll make arrangements and take you there together."

Bei Nuan nodded in agreement and walked away with Lu Xingchi.

After a few steps, Bei Nuan suddenly stopped and turned to ask Captain Zheng, "Captain Zheng, what about you? Do you want a month's worth of meal tickets or to go to Taiping Gate?"

Captain Zheng avoided Bei Nuan's gaze, walked to the back of the car, opened the trunk, and took out a backpack full of things. Only then did he quietly utter three words: "Taiping Gate."

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