☆ Antibodies, solving the problem
Ye Xi had never considered herself someone who could save the world, so when Alice explained the situation, Ye Xi didn't take the strange expressions on those people's faces to heart. She could make antibodies, but she felt there was no need to explain to these people why she hadn't made antibodies to save LJ in the first place; in Ye Xi's eyes, his life was not even as valuable as Carlos's.
"Damn woman..." LJ stared venomously at the ambulance carrying Ye Xi. His eyes were bloodshot, his face ashen, and his fingernails turning purple. Soon, perhaps even in the next second, he would become a mindless zombie. LJ knew this; he could feel his throbbing head struggling to maintain a clear mind. No one wants to die, and LJ was no exception. This helplessness in the face of death was driving him to the brink of collapse. Now, hearing that Ye Xi could create antibodies, he finally snapped, though he didn't show his hatred for the time being.
Alice's handwritten notes were distributed, and everyone quickly grabbed flashlights and headed to the small pharmacy next to the motel to look for medicine. Ye Xi had written down many names of medicines, almost everything she could think of, so finding the medicine didn't take much time. "They're all here." Alice carried a bag into the ambulance and handed it to Ye Xi, who was resting with her eyes closed. "We turned the pharmacy upside down, but we only found four boxes, two of which contained the same medicine." Alice frowned; compared to the nearly 50 medicines Ye Xi had written down, these four boxes seemed far too few.
"More than I expected," Ye Xi comforted her, then glanced at the name of the medicine, her slightly furrowed brows relaxing. "Fortunately, these medicines contain the two missing ingredients. However, this dosage can only produce one antibody at most, and that's assuming no losses."
"Do you need any help?" Alice quickly asked. Judging from Ye Xi's tone, it was clear that successfully creating the antibody was very difficult, so Alice would accept the offer without hesitation if there was anything she could do to help.
“No need, I just need a quiet environment.” Ye Xi shook her head. “Tell them to rest where they are. Carlos, Nicola, you two go and rest too. Just hand over the ambulance to me.”
Seeing Ye Xi's slightly tired face, Nikolai frowned. As the person involved, Nikolai knew better than anyone how exhausted Ye Xi was. After all, Ye Xi had been doing almost all the work in the zombie horde. "This won't do. Isn't it obvious you'll fail in your current state? Why don't you get some sleep and try again tomorrow morning?"
“No, making the antibody takes at least three hours, and this is my first time, so if I do it now, it'll be a failure. There's still time to go to the next inn tomorrow morning to find the medicine and try again, but it'll be too late by tomorrow morning. Carlos's latest time is noon.” Ye Xi said, taking the capsules out of the medicine box, sorting them and putting them into a container, then pointing to the door, “You can leave now, don't get in my way, and close the door so I can't hear you breathing.”
Alice, Nicola, and Carlos exchanged a glance, shrugged helplessly, and got out of the car without hesitation. The car fell silent instantly, with only the clattering of instruments remaining...
Extracting a drug from a capsule is a difficult task, especially when the test subject is exhausted. Ye Xi rubbed her temples. Ideally, she would succeed on the first try, but that requires concentration, which is no easy feat for Ye Xi in her current state. "Ah Quan, do you have any way to keep me awake?" Ye Xi murmured. Coffee is a rare commodity in this post-apocalyptic world.
"No, I have difficulty controlling your behavior right now," the O virus replied calmly, its voice still utterly ordinary. "You need rest. Perhaps I'll give you some advice tomorrow morning. However, I'd prefer you don't create this antibody. After all, doing so will only make you more dependent on humans, which isn't good for my growth."
Ye Xi's eyes darkened, deliberately ignoring the latter part of the O virus's statement. "A suggestion? Do you also know how to make antibodies?"
"I understand the structure of the T-virus, otherwise I wouldn't be able to engulf it. So, of course I know the structure of the antibody," the O-virus said calmly in response to Ye Xi's questioning.
Ye Xi closed her eyes, concealing the light in them, and shook her head: "Forget it, I know what to do anyway, I don't need your reminder. Talking to you always helps me stay clear-headed. By the way, A-Quan, do you have caffeine or something in your system?"
'...' O-virus wisely chose to ignore Ye Xi's teasing and irreverent tone and remain silent. Seeing that O-virus didn't speak, Ye Xi didn't continue teasing it, but simply returned to her antibody research with a faint smile. Three hours of production time was just the minimum; for a novice like Ye Xi, it could take much longer.
As dawn broke, Claire's team got out of their vehicles, all glancing at the white ambulance before heading to wash up. If she wasn't mistaken, Ye Xi had been in that ambulance for over four hours... Alice checked her watch and frowned.
"How did it go?" Claire walked over to Alice with her arms crossed. When she saw Ye Xi and the other three driving back in this car early this morning, Claire knew that Lyon's side had definitely failed. Feeling a bit guilty towards them, Claire hadn't spoken to them, especially Ye Xi; this girl seemed more unapproachable than anyone else.
“I’m not quite sure either. Ye Xi said she needs a quiet environment,” Alice shrugged. She didn’t understand Ye Xi, or rather, Ye Xi was a difficult person to understand. She was so cold that she could disregard anyone’s life or death, but now she was risking her life to save Carlos. Anyone who didn’t know better would think she had fallen for Carlos. But that wasn’t quite right either. Nikolai and Carlos might not be able to tell, but the perceptive Alice could. Although Ye Xi treated them very well, it was more like “having a lot of fun together but not missing each other afterward.” This was not what it looked like to be in love—a girl in love wouldn’t hide coldness in her eyes forever.
Claire fell silent. Just then, the door of the ambulance she was watching suddenly opened, and Ye Xi, looking exhausted, yawned as she stepped out, holding a syringe filled with blue liquid in her hand. "Luckily, it worked on the first try," Ye Xi said with a smile, showing the reagent to Carlos.
"Tsk, thank goodness we didn't hinder your intelligence," Carlos teased, bringing up Ye Xi's words from over four hours ago. "Didn't you hear what we said either..."
"Hand over the antibodies!!" The angry roar suddenly interrupted Carlos's taunts, and the atmosphere instantly froze. Everyone stared in disbelief at the man threatening them with a gun. His eyes were wide open, almost popping out of their sockets, and a layer of cold sweat slid down his pale cheeks. His chapped lips trembled, and his rapid breathing caused his body to rise and fall.
Ye Xi seemed to have anticipated this scene. She looked at the black gun barrel pointing at her and suddenly sneered: "Heh, LJ, do you think this little gun is something I'm afraid of? If you want to threaten someone, you should at least find something reliable."
"Stop talking nonsense!" LJ pointed the gun at the antibody in Ye Xi's hand, then aimed it at her head again. His voice was shrill with anxiety. "Antibody, give it to me! I need it more than Carlos! Otherwise, I'll blow your head off! This distance is enough! No matter what kind of monster you are, this shotgun is enough to instantly blast your wicked brain into juice!"
"LJ, don't be impulsive!" Carlos instantly went on alert. He crouched slightly, extended his palm to LJ to stop, and then slowly moved towards Ye Xi. "I'll take this antibody from Ye Xi and give it to you right away. I don't have the antibody right now, so I'm not in danger. We can go to the next motel to find medicine."
Indeed, the missing medication could be found at the next motel, but who knew how far away that motel was? Even if they found one, they didn't know if it would have the necessary medication. So, for Carlos, it was a gamble; Ye Xi's life, and his own, were both at stake.
Seeing that Carlos had attracted LJ's attention, Nikola immediately approached LJ from behind. Unfortunately, LJ seemed to know what Carlos and Nikola were up to. He turned around almost nervously and glared at Nikola fiercely: "Get the hell out of my way! That antibody belongs to me!!" Nikola had a bad feeling and immediately stopped, looking at Carlos, who was also winking at him.
“LJ, you know, this antibody is very important to you right now…” Unable to persuade him by force, Carlos tried to convince LJ, but he didn’t seem to realize how afraid LJ was of death, nor did he understand his madness. So, he was interrupted by LJ’s shrill voice before he could finish his sentence: “Don’t try to fool me! Don’t think I don’t know, you’re just afraid I’ll steal your antibody and turn you into a fucking zombie!”
Carlos frowned. LJ was like a mad dog, biting anyone he could get his hands on... He turned to look at Ye Xi, but found that Ye Xi's expression was not very panicked. He couldn't help but calm down and think to himself, "Could she have some kind of plan?"
"You slut, hand over your life-saving medicine right now!" LJ pointed the gun at Ye Xi, then turned to Carlos and yelled, "Get out of here before I beat you to a pulp!"
“OK OK OK, calm down…” Carlos raised his hands, then immediately stopped in his tracks. “Ye Xi, leave it to him.”
Ye Xi glanced at Carlos, snorted coldly, and slowly approached LJ, then handed him the antibody. Seeing a glimmer of hope, the crazed and irrational LJ almost rudely snatched the syringe and plunged it into his arm, as if afraid Ye Xi would suddenly take it away. Ye Xi watched as he injected all the blue liquid into his body, then suddenly smiled eerily, coldly watching LJ convulse on the ground in agony.
"You...you..." LJ managed to utter a few words in agony, then could say nothing more. His face turned from ashen to bright red, and large beads of sweat instantly soaked his clothes. The excruciating pain nearly made him faint, but he still gritted his teeth, his nails digging tightly into the sand, trying to pick up the gun not far away.
"When did I tell you that this syringe contains antibodies?" Ye Xi said slowly with a strange smile. Seeing that he was about to resist, Ye Xi leisurely moved her leg and stepped on LJ's palm, then picked up the gun and fired it at his head without hesitation, giving no one a chance to stop her.
With a loud bang, LJ's head exploded just as he had described. Blood mixed with white brain matter splattered onto Ye Xi's face, clothes, and shoes, making her cold smile even more eerie. "I hate it when people threaten me with my life, so if there's a next time, I'll blow his head to smithereens—whether he's human or some other creature."
Ye Xi tossed the shotgun aside, ignoring the completely stunned crowd, took out another blue syringe from her cloak, strode up to Carlos, rolled up his sleeve, and inserted it into his vein.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
