Chapter 257 Nine Pounds and Fifteen Pence

Lu Wei stopped pulling her along and ran, instead standing still, quietly watching Lin Xi despite the gunfire and the sounds of battle.

The sound in the earpiece had clearly stopped; the girl's screams or cries for help could no longer be heard.

But Lin Xi never lowered her hands that were holding her ears.

Lin Xi conveyed despair with her eyes:

I can't go on.

Lu Wei didn't reply or urge her; he just waited quietly for her, his eyes filled with emotions that Lin Xi couldn't decipher.

Amidst the chaos, explosions and gunfire continued, and ferocious zombies were about to engulf the area.

But Lin Xi couldn't go on, or rather, she didn't want to go anymore.

Perhaps what she longed for was not rebirth, but rather the end of this endless night and a peaceful sleep.

A figure darted past them, shouting, "Quick, get back to your car!"

Neither Lin Xi nor Lu Wei moved.

The figure retreated; it was Yang Yicheng, holding a weapon in one hand and dragging someone with the other—Li Shuyi, who was powerless to defend herself.

"Let's go!" he urged again.

Yang Yicheng didn't have time to argue with them, so he handed the gun to Li Shuyi: "Take it!"

He used his free hand to strike Lin Xi.

Lin Xi's eyes were blurry when suddenly the world spun around her, and all she could see was the shaking ground.

She was carried on someone's shoulder, her upper body felt dizzy and lightheaded, but she was too weak to struggle and didn't even want to see her situation clearly.

She was thrown to the ground by Yang Yicheng when her body jolted.

"start up!"

The familiar scene and equipment—this was Lin Xi's own car.

However, there were already several soldiers she didn't recognize there.

The vehicle started up quickly, and Lin Xi, who was lying on the ground like limp mud, suddenly slid a little due to inertia and rolled over.

She saw Yang Yicheng slam the truck door shut after Lu Wei got in, then grabbed Lu Wei by the collar and said sternly, "If there's a next time, no one will wait for you!"

Lu Wei didn't want to pay attention to him, but no one wants to be grabbed by the collar and lectured, so he forcefully shook off Yang Yicheng's hand.

But Yang Yicheng wouldn't let it go: "What were you doing just now?! What's going on now? You two are just standing in front of the car, spacing out!"

The zombie horde was everywhere; Lin Xi was almost pounced on by a zombie again just now.

Li Shuyi happened to be next to Yang Yicheng. She had just narrowly escaped several life-threatening moments and was running back to the truck with Yang Yicheng.

She wasn't good at sports and ran very slowly. Seeing that she was about to fall behind, fear drove her to cry for help: "Hey! Didn't you say you'd protect me?!"

Yang Yicheng glanced back at her, then dragged her along to the truck. There, he saw Lin Xi and Lu Wei staring at each other in a daze, completely oblivious to the zombie horde that was about to engulf them.

"So many people just died!" Yang Yicheng couldn't hide his emotions and grabbed Lu Wei by the collar, throwing a punch at him.

Wasn't the plan to escort Lin Xi and the vaccine to the relevant department headquarters? How could these two mess things up at such a crucial moment!

As he watched the fist swing towards him, Lu Wei recalled meeting Yang Yicheng on New Year's Eve a few years ago. At that time, the four of them got drunk in order to comfort Lin Xi, and he appeared in front of Yang Yicheng reeking of alcohol.

Yang Yicheng impatiently came up and punched him twice.

At the time, Lu Wei was still under the influence of alcohol and reacted slowly, taking two solid punches before he started fighting. Now, however, he was sober.

His body instinctively went into a state of alert, and he raised his right hand to catch Yang Yicheng's fist.

Both men were defiant and angry, neither willing to back down. The other passengers in the carriage moved aside to make room for them.

The carriage wasn't particularly crowded, but if two men who were both over 1.8 meters tall were to fight, it would be difficult to avoid injuring innocent bystanders.

Yang Yicheng stood up first, glared at him, and said, "Using hardened bones to hit people means you have no martial ethics."

Hardened zombies and hardened semi-infected individuals are different. Hardened zombies have stiff limbs and mostly lack intelligence; they are merely moving iron stakes that bite.

However, Lu Wei was conscious, skillful, and had the added advantage of hardened bones. Yang Yicheng knew his opponent's strength after just two punches.

Now is not the time for fighting.

Lin Xi, who was covered in mud on the ground, didn't even bother to look at him. He stepped over the obstacle on the ground and went to the driver's cab to exchange a few words with the new soldier who had come up to take charge of driving.

Lin Xi was in a daze.

Li Shuyi came over and poked her, but gave up when she didn't react.

After an unknown amount of time, a cold hand pulled her up and led her to sit in the driver's seat.

There were still many zombies outside the car window; they did not attempt to break through.

Yang Yicheng continuously issued instructions to the communication equipment and the driver. His voice gradually became clearer to Lin Xi's ears as it drew closer.

She could even hear the echo from the other end of the communication device.

"There is a breakthrough point on the right-hand auxiliary road."

That was Feng Xue's voice. She was probably in a very dangerous situation, and the roar seemed to be right next to her ear.

"Vehicle No. 2 has been overturned by zombies and cannot be evacuated."

Some zombies are half-infected individuals who retain some consciousness and thinking ability. After mutating into zombies, they do not wander around like other zombies, but know clearly where there might be people and wait patiently nearby.

Even if there were survivors in that overturned car, they couldn't get out.

Yang Yicheng replied calmly, "I understand."

After a while, he asked, "How about you, car number 1?"

After a moment of silence, Feng Xue spoke again, but the seriousness she had shown when replying to the mission was gone. She spoke with some emotion: "Not good. We're trapped in a gas station, and the intelligent zombies have already found us here."

She complained, "These half-infected zombies can not only think, but they're also zombies with evolved eyes! They have no weaknesses at all! How am I supposed to kill them?!"

Yang Yicheng didn't say anything, but his chest heaved a couple of times before he said, "It's so noisy."

Feng Xue: "What's wrong with arguing! It's already this late! You can't come to save me anyway."

Yang Yicheng: "Mm."

Those trapped in a circle of hardened zombies cannot be saved.

Feng Xue sighed: "Chengcheng—"

"Don't call me that."

Feng Xue ignored him and sighed to herself, saying lazily, "I just saw a girl leading a horde of zombies, and then she got caught and eaten alive."

Lin Xi felt a tingling sensation on her scalp, as if she had finally recovered from the numbness.

Feng Xue's tone didn't seem afraid; she still spoke in her usual joking manner, "Sigh, I wonder if the one looking for me later will be a zombie or a whole bunch of zombies."

Yang Yicheng remained silent.

Feng Xue lowered her voice: "Hehe, I'm about to die, please say a few nice things."

Yang Yicheng's Adam's apple bobbed, and he said coldly, "Go ahead and kill yourself."

"Hmph!" A cold snort came from the other end, and then the call was abruptly ended without any hesitation.

The emotionally charged female voice disappeared along with the other noises.

With a blank expression, Yang Yicheng decisively hung up the call, opened the map, and continued to direct the driver to break through the encirclement.

The method of using a truck to break through the zombie horde was similar to Lin Xi's method of crushing zombies. However, this time Lin Xi was not driving; she sat in the back and felt the vehicle shaking violently.

"boom--"

The explosion resounded through the sky, and suddenly a burst of firelight blinded Lin Xi, who could even feel the intense heat emanating from the flames.

The truck sped away from the raging flames once again.

Some people bring fire and high temperatures through their heroic deaths.

Everyone who came here, except for the survivors in this vehicle, was annihilated by the flames along with the zombie horde.

Lin Xi looked at the Q-version little girl behind Xiang Xin's usual seat. She was a little girl wearing an exaggerated combat uniform with her right fist clenched and placed on her heart. To her right was an even newer version of a female officer in uniform, saluting earnestly.

Lin Xi braced herself against the back of the seat with both hands, burying her face in her arms.

She cried for a very long time.

The sobbing became very noticeable once the vehicle had left the danger zone and the atmosphere had quieted down.

The driver kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead, while Yang Yicheng's expression gradually changed from numbness to impatience.

He took two deep breaths, but after what seemed like an eternity, the sound still hadn't stopped.

Yang Yicheng, unable to bear it any longer, said: "Are you done yet? If you keep crying, get out of here."

Lin Xi looked up with red eyes and suddenly stood up. Lu Wei stood up with her and placed his hand on her head to prevent her from hitting the car roof.

She cried out in furious despair, "This is my car! Get out if you want!!"

Once the floodgates of emotion are opened, there's no turning back. The tears she had been holding back burst forth at this moment. Although she didn't howl, she was so choked up that she could barely breathe.

Xiang Xin, her beloved younger sister in her past life and her beloved older sister in this life, who had lived with her for so long and always stood by her side, has disappeared from this world.

The people and things on this car have long since changed.

Lu Wei supported her by the shoulder and led her to the back carriage.

She tried to control her emotions, but when she touched Lu Wei's cold hand, that feeling of helplessness and despair welled up again.

Besides Lin Xi and Lu Wei, the only other people in the car were Yang Yicheng and Li Shuyi.

Yang Yicheng's men were all well-trained. Whether in combat or rest, they ignored Lin Xi and the others, simply taking turns to rest, drive, and stand guard in an official capacity.

Lin Xi let her emotions run wild, collapsing incoherently.

Lu hadn't called her, but she didn't respond.

The immense emotional blow caused her to fall into a high fever again. The coma allowed her to briefly clear her mind and forget her troubles, which was quite nice.

In her hazy state, she seemed to lean against Lu Wei again to cool off; the cool touch soothed the heat and made her more alert.

Lu did not allow Li Shuyi to give Lin Xi medicine or water, as he was a virus carrier and he was afraid that giving Lin Xi oral medication would also infect her with the virus.

Li Shuyi took great care of Lin Xi, even offering her comforting platitudes that were of no practical use to Lin Xi.

Lin Xi, however, did not want to wake up.

It felt like falling into endless darkness, and all I wanted was to leave forever.

Already exhausted and struggling to breathe in the darkness, a chill ran down her neck and she couldn't catch her breath.

It was as if a cold collar was confining her breath, making it feel like she was suffocating.

She struggled a few times instinctively, then stopped moving.

Suddenly, the restraints loosened, a muffled thud echoed on the ground, followed by the sound of a trigger being pulled, instantly snapping Lin Xi back to reality. She stared blankly at the scene before her—

Yang Yicheng pressed Lu Wei against the car wall with one hand and pointed a gun at Lu Wei's eyes with the other. Lu Wei's body trembled, and his face showed helplessness and panic.

She was helped up by Li Shuyi, who gently patted her back to help her catch her breath.

Lin Xi fully regained consciousness and said to Yang Yicheng and Lu Wei, "Don't move!"

She stood up and felt dizzy, but she didn't care. She rushed to a corner of the car that served as a toilet, fiddled with it for a while, removed the black water tank, and without caring about the smell, quickly took out a bagged refrigerator from it.

Take the medicine and needle, then press down on Lu Wei's trembling arm to inject the medicine.

Yang Yicheng held Lu Weisheng firmly in place, fearing that he might suddenly erupt.

About five minutes later, Lu Wei's trembling gradually subsided, and his eyes became clearer.

Lin Xi leaned closer to listen to his breathing and heartbeat. The frequency had not changed significantly compared to the previous few days, but Lu Wei's condition was clearly on the verge of getting out of control.

Even with increased dosage to suppress the virus, the medicine in the first-aid kit won't last more than a few days.

If this condition is reversed and the medication is stopped, and Lu Wei also dies...

The future remains bleak, and hope is slim.

Lin Xi couldn't hide her sorrow: "We may really not be able to go on like this."

Her voice was very soft, but Yang Yicheng and Li Shuyi, who were nearby, both heard it.

Yang Yicheng looked at her incredulously: "We went through so much trouble to escort you and the vaccine, and you're saying you can't walk anymore?!"

Li Shuyi then took her hand and whispered, "Didn't you say you were going to bring a vaccine to save us from the apocalypse? Didn't you say you were going to save us all...?"

The powerful Yang Yicheng is dedicated to eliminating zombies and ending the apocalypse, while the timid Li Shuyi, like Lin Xi before her, lives on, hoping that one day someone will save the apocalypse and liberate her.

At this moment, they all knew that the zombies had evolved to the point where they had no weaknesses, and there was no other way out except to pin their hopes on developing vaccines and antiviral agents.

They either protected or followed Lin Xi, but then they heard Lin Xi say something like this.

Yang Yicheng did not blame or scold, but said coldly, "Your friend died unjustly. She traded her life for a good-for-nothing who wanted to die."

Lin Xi sat on the ground, stunned.

She remembered Xiang Xin saying, "This is a real world," a world for her, for Liang Hui, for Yang Yicheng and Li Shuyi, and for everyone here.

They truly live in this world, without the ability to be reborn. Therefore, Xiang Xin's sacrifice of himself and Yang Yicheng's sacrifice of his teammates to leave their base were all for the sake of giving hope to this world.

Death is the most profound mark left by life.

"Are you alright?" Lu Wei finally recovered and asked softly.

However, everyone could hear that his voice was slightly hoarse.

Although it was early spring in March, the temperature was still not high, far from the time when one could wear a shirt alone. Lu Wei had been wearing it like this because the body of a semi-infected person was not afraid of the cold. Now that his voice had changed, it was definitely not because of a cold.

Yang Yicheng raised his gun hand again.

Li Shuyi: "Did you smoke too much?"

She didn't know what the outside world had become; she only saw a trembling person regain consciousness after receiving a few injections, which led to this misunderstanding.

Lin Xi nudged Yang Yicheng's hand, glanced at Lu Wei's clothes, and blurted out, "How much is the shirt?"

Everyone in the car was stunned.

Lu Wei: "...Nine pounds and fifteen pence?"

"Yes, this is our password."

Seeing that Yang Yicheng did not release the gun, Lin Xi added, "Without secondary infection, it takes time for the brain of a semi-infected person to mutate."

"Next, I will ask you this command, and you must answer me immediately and fluently. If you answer incorrectly or fluently..."

This means the infection has spread to the brain.