Gu Qingqiu and Luo Ze'en were locked in the room for five days. On the fourth day, Gu Qingqiu had used up all the paper items in the room. After that, she could only sit on the bed, muttering to herself as she calculated something, and occasionally get up to look at the calculation process she had written before.

The worry in Luo Ze'en's eyes grew stronger day by day. It was because of his close observation that he understood how crazy Gu Qingqiu was when she was working. Several times, when Luo Ze'en tried to talk to her and tell her to rest, she acted as if she hadn't heard him.

She seemed to never need to sleep, closing her eyes for no more than two hours a day. Even Luo Ze'en himself couldn't stand this kind of high-intensity, mentally demanding work, but Gu Qingqiu completely ignored his advice.

Gu Qingqiu's once clear black and white eyes are now bloodshot, and the dark circles under her eyes seem to bear the weight of immense fatigue. Seeing this terrifying appearance, others might suspect that Gu Qingqiu is a zombie or a mutated species. However, if Luo Ze'en tries to forcibly carry her to bed to rest or talks too much and annoys Gu Qingqiu, Gu Qingqiu will use electric shocks or a mask to force her to shut up.

After going through this a few times, Luo Ze'en could only shut up and pretend he didn't see it. But when his eyes occasionally fell on Gu Qingqiu, who looked obviously tired, his heart ached as if it were being squeezed.

On the afternoon of the fifth day, Gu Qingqiu suddenly opened her eyes and stared intently at Luo Ze'en.

Lozen felt a chill run down his spine under her gaze. "...Dr. Gu?"

Could it be that the workload is too heavy and he's gone insane?

Gu Qingqiu suddenly stood up and stroked Luo Ze'en's arm with what appeared to be a very gentle gesture, "You absolutely cannot be hurt, you are humanity's tomorrow..."

It's kind of creepy to suddenly be so gentle, like I'm about to dissect him...

Lozen chuckled twice. "Dr. Gu, don't worry too much. There have been daily broadcasts reporting on the progress these past few days. I estimate that the South Base will soon be back to normal operation, and you won't have to be locked up in the room with me anymore."

Gu Qingqiu said this because she came to a startling conclusion—a mutated gene can be extracted from the body of a superhuman. This gene, when combined with a zombie crystal core, can create a zombie vaccine and also create zombie "bait".

This "bait" is somewhat like an insecticide, except it can be used to clear out zombies. When a zombie is fed the "bait," if it returns to the zombie horde, the "bait" will spread among the zombies, thus achieving the purpose of clearing out the zombies.

However, this "bait" still has certain limitations. For example, the "bait" made from level 4 crystal cores can only clear out zombies with crystal core levels no higher than level 4.

While the mutated gene extracted from the superhuman can be replicated, the stronger the superhuman's abilities, the more active and destructive the extracted mutated gene becomes. Currently, the most powerful mutated gene that Gu Qingqiu has encountered in her research is that of Lozen.

She was also very anxious. If the South Base returned to normal sooner, she could return to the lab sooner to complete the final tests. After all, they had only reached a theoretical conclusion, and experiments were still needed to ensure the correctness of the conclusion.

Unexpectedly, the South Base did not see the dawn, but was further captured.

On the sixth day, the loudspeaker in the room no longer played at its usual time.

Gu Qingqiu and Luo Ze'en exchanged a glance, both seeing a heavy emotion in each other's eyes.

Something's not right.

Gu Qingqiu tried to contact several colleagues using communication devices, but received no response.

Thump—

A loud bang rang out in the South Base, a sound that was definitely not ordinary. Then, the alarms of the South Base sounded throughout the base—a sign that it had fallen.

Lozen immediately got up and tried to open the door again, but the restriction on the door was still in place. He pounded on the door with all his might, but the door remained unmoved.

Gu Qingqiu stood up, supporting her belly. "Stop smashing it, it's useless. I know how to get there."

Luo Ze'en withdrew his hand and turned to look at Gu Qingqiu.

Gu Qingqiu went into the bathroom, opened the cabinet under the sink, moved the toilet paper and cleaning solution on the surface aside, pressed an inconspicuous button, revealing a pipe-like passage, just big enough for an adult to pass through.

"You can go now." Gu Qingqiu made way for Luo Ze'en. "The end of the tunnel is safe. It's a small outdoor settlement built by the South Base. The tunnel is very long; you may have to climb for almost two hours."

"And what about you?" Luo Ze'en glanced at the dark, seemingly endless passage, then at Gu Qingqiu, who stood to the side like a withered tree.

Gu Qingqiu touched her already protruding belly and said calmly, "I can't leave. My experimental data and experimental subjects are still in the laboratory. I need to find a chance to go back."

"Are you crazy? Is the experiment more important than your life?" Lozen roared.

“I can’t leave even if I want to.” Gu Qingqiu glanced at the narrow passage, then at her own belly. “You should leave. You’re so young and capable. If you survive, you’ll make a greater contribution to humanity.”

Lozen realized this too, and his eyes gradually reddened. He gritted his teeth and said, "I will find a way to come back and save you."

"Mm," Gu Qingqiu replied casually.

Seeing that she didn't seem to care, Lozen repeated the sentence loudly again, "I'm serious!"

"Hurry up," Gu Qingqiu urged him. "If you climb too slowly, you might encounter something strange in the passage, or the people who left earlier might block the passage."

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