(This is the first chapter today; there will be more tonight.)

"Liangzi, are you alright?" Fei Lichao asked.

"It's nothing, I just feel so tired..."

Liangzi spoke weakly, but before he could finish, his head lolled to the side and he leaned against the car window, the submachine gun falling from his hand.

"Liangzi!" Fei Lichao exclaimed in surprise and slammed on the brakes.

laugh--

The car stopped in the middle of the road. Fei Lichao pulled Liangzi over, patted his face, and said anxiously, "Liangzi! Liangzi! Liangzi, don't scare me! Wake up, you fucking wake up!"

"His neck!" Wu Shuang exclaimed.

As soon as she said that, Fei Lichao and Pu Weichao both noticed the black veins spreading on Liangzi's neck.

They weren't fools; having been through so much, they naturally knew what those black veins spreading across his neck were.

"He...he's infected!" Pu Weichao exclaimed, instinctively shrinking back.

"Liangzi! Liangzi, wake up!" Fei Lichao kept slapping Liangzi's cheeks.

"Captain..." Liangzi opened his eyes weakly, a forced smile appearing on his lips, and a hoarse voice came from his throat, "Captain, I'm so tired... I, do I... have a cold?"

Fei Lichao cupped Liangzi's cheeks, his hands trembling with anxiety, and hurriedly nodded, saying, "Yes, yes, you have a cold, you must have a cold."

I sat in the back watching Liangzi; his condition was now completely beyond saving.

Fei Lichao turned around, grabbed my clothes, and said with bloodshot eyes, "Save him!"

"Don't do this." Wu Shuang was terrified when she saw Fei Lichao's anger and tried to dissuade him, but Fei Lichao completely ignored her.

Fei Lichao pulled me over, angrily saying, "Save him! Aren't you a doctor?! You definitely know what's going on, right?! You can definitely save him, right?!"

I stared at Fei Lichao's bloodshot eyes and suddenly thought of Zhou Yang.

I think I looked like this when Zhou Yang died.

Panic and confusion, I wish I could turn back time!

"Save him!" Fei Lichao roared.

I avoided his gaze. The setting sun outside the car window was dazzlingly red, turning the world outside into a golden hue.

"I'm sorry." That's all I could say.

I can't save anyone, whether it's Zhou Yang three days ago or Liangzi now, I can't save either of them.

Fei Lichao's lips twitched, his hands clenched tighter and tighter, and his angry eyes looked like he wanted to kill me.

The car was silent, except for the unsettling sound of Liangzi's labored breathing.

“Captain…” Liangzi’s weak voice came, reaching everyone’s ears, “Captain, please don’t do this, he is… he is a doctor, he needs to go back to save the battalion commander…”

Fei Lichao loosened my collar and threw me onto the back seat, making my whole back hurt.

He turned to look at Liangzi, his eyes brimming with tears, and said painfully, "Shh—Liangzi, Liangzi, you fucking listen to me, you'll be alright, I fucking promise you, you'll definitely be alright. Just hang in there, everything will be alright..."

"Captain, let me get out of the vehicle... The battalion commander is still waiting." Liangzi was already having trouble breathing.

It probably won't be long before he turns into one of those man-eating monsters.

This is something that cannot be avoided; no matter how unwilling you are, you cannot stop it from happening.

"I won't allow it! This is my order, I won't allow you to die! Do you hear me!" Fei Lichao said, grabbing Liangzi's clothes.

Liangzi forced an ugly smile, reached out and grasped Fei Lichao's hand, saying, "Captain, promise me, after I die... don't always use 'f***ing f***ing' when you talk, it really sounds awful."

Upon hearing this, Fei Lichao could no longer hold back and burst into tears. He lowered his head and sobbed very quietly.

“Captain, besides me, there’s also Leopard. Didn’t Leopard say… he has to be back before dark? If he doesn’t see you when he gets back, he’ll be unhappy.”

"Captain, let's go. I have no regrets. As long as you all live, that's enough. Live my part too. Please, please don't die!"

Liangzi swallowed hard, his speech becoming increasingly difficult.

"If, if I saw you all come from another world, I would be very unhappy! You know that!"

"Captain, this is Liangzi, this is... the last time I'm reporting to you today..."

As soon as Liangzi finished speaking, his body began to convulse in his seat, foaming at the mouth, his body arched backward, and he looked extremely terrifying.

"He...he's starting to change!" Pu Weichao was startled and wanted to get out of the car, but he was afraid of danger outside, so he could only curl up in the back seat.

Fei Lichao raised his head, his eyes red and his face covered in tears.

Clang!

He pulled a dagger from his waist and stared at Liangzi, who was trembling.

About half a minute later, Liangzi stopped trembling and collapsed onto the passenger seat.

Aww!

When Ryoko opened his eyes again, the roar coming from his throat was terrifying.

The moment Fei Lichao heard the roar, he plunged the dagger into Liangzi's temple. The roar ceased, and Liangzi died instantly.

Silence fell over the car once again; no one dared to speak.

Fei Lichao leaned back in the driver's seat, and I saw his pained face in the rearview mirror. The pain of losing a comrade was truly unbearable.

About ten minutes later, the sun sank a little lower, and the darkness behind us drew much closer.

Fei Lichao took a deep breath, wiped away the tears on his face, stared at the rearview mirror and said to me, "Check Liangzi, I fucking... I want to know how he got infected."

"Okay," I agreed.

Immediately, Fei Lichao got out of the car and beckoned me to get out with him.

The road outside the car was empty, with no monsters around, so it was safe.

Fei Lichao dragged Liangzi out of the passenger seat and put him on the ground. He took off all of Liangzi's equipment and then asked me to inspect it.

Finally, it took me a minute to find a bite mark on the back of his neck, a very small one, just a tiny scratch.

"Is this it?" Fei Lichao asked.

“Hmm, I remember that after Liangzi saved Wu Shuang, he was pounced on by a monster. That must have been when he was bitten,” I said.

Fei Lichao nodded, tears welling up in his eyes, but he didn't let them fall.

He stood aside, gave Liangzi a military salute, and said, "Liangzi, I'm sorry, I can't take you back. You'll have to make do here."

I saluted along with him.

Aww!

Just then, a roar came from the road behind me, which startled me.

"Let's go, get in the car."

Back in the car, Fei Lichao didn't waste any time. He threw Liangzi's equipment on the passenger seat and set off for the air-raid shelter.

(End of this chapter)