"Doctor Lu, Qiu Ying, she, she should be able to live, right?"
"You're a man of your word, aren't you?"
The strong man squatting on the ground hugged Lu Yuan's legs, with tears streaming down his face as he asked.
Lu Yuan looked back. Tap, tap, tap - the hurried footsteps in the corridor grew fainter and were about to disappear.
Clearly, the infected woman named Qiu Ying had run off in quite a hurry.
"Roar!" Suddenly, a beastly roar came from behind. It was Xiao Yi's voice.
The footsteps also stopped abruptly.
Liu Yuan lightly knocked on the wall and said softly: "Xiao Yi, don't block the way."
The roaring ceased, and the footsteps started again, gradually fading away at the end of the corridor.
When Qiu Ying's footsteps could no longer be heard, Lu Yuan clearly felt the strong man's grip on his leg loosen slightly.
Beside them, Liu Yuan rolled her eyes contemptuously. "Let go. If Doctor Lu really wanted to chase her, do you think grabbing just one of his legs could stop him?"
As she spoke, Liu Yuan glanced at Lu Yuan's leg.
I haven't even gotten to hold these legs yet...
"Sorry, sorry!"
"Sorry Doctor Lu, I didn't mean it!"
The large man quickly released his arms and apologized profusely to Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan helped pull the large man up from the ground and patted him on the shoulder. "She'll definitely survive, don't worry about that."
"But whether she comes back or not, that's up to her."
...
Bang!
Qiu Ying pushed open the door at the end of the first floor corridor with almost all her might.
"Phew - "
Having just run out from the underground passageway, she took big gulps of the fresh air outside.
Yet strangely, despite the night air being much crisper than the underground air, breathing it in gave Qiu Ying an urge to vomit.
After sprinting at full speed from the third basement level up here, her heart was pounding rapidly, as if it would leap out of her chest.
Although infected people had greater physical abilities, that trip, coupled with Qiu Ying's tremendous psychological fear, had drained her enormously.
Staggering forward into the clinic's first floor corridor, Qiu Ying caught a whiff of food.
In the pitch-black hallway, only one room still had its warm yellow light on.
Qiu Ying's instincts told her not to go over.
She had finally gotten this chance to escape, she should leave quickly!
But...
Qiu Ying's feet seemed to have a mind of their own.
"It's been such a long time since I've had meat..."
Just as she had calmed down a little, she was thrown into turmoil again.
Eventually, Qiu Ying still stood outside that lit room's door.
And pushed it open.
At that moment, it seemed Qiu Ying could hear her own heartbeat.
As the room door creaked open inch by inch, the yellow light gradually illuminated her whole body...
Right then, Qiu Ying felt like she had opened more than just a door.
"Phew - "
A few seconds later, Qiu Ying let out a long breath, because there was no one in the room.
She no longer hesitated and turned to run out of the clinic.
Qiu Ying didn't remember when she had been caught and brought back. But that didn't stop her from recalling the way out of this clinic.
Because that route appeared in her mind every night.
Qiu Ying ran all the way to the medical school's front gate in one breath. Standing on the road outside, without even checking which direction, she just took off randomly down one side.
To her, as long as she left this place, anywhere was fine.
She had barely gone a few steps when Qiu Ying suddenly stopped.
On this deserted street, she saw a little girl standing in front of her.
At that instant, Qiu Ying felt an unprecedented hunger.
"It's so dark here. The nurse left the baby all alone..."
"Baby is scared!"
"Huh? There's a lady over there, but she's not as pretty as my two nurses..."
...
"Doctor Lu, just do it..."
In the third basement corridor of the clinic, the strong man closed his eyes with tears and choked out.
Lu Yuan patted him on the shoulder. "Go get some rest, sleep well. After I finish the rounds, I'll come get you."
"Th-thank you, Doctor Lu."
"Mm."
The strong man returned to his room, and the door closed.
Room No. 48.
Stopping outside this room's door, Lu Yuan paused to stretch his neck a little.
Holding a lantern with one hand, Liu Yuan immediately offered a neatly arranged case of surgical knives.
Lu Yuan slowly picked out a scalpel and wiped its sharp blade with his fingers.
Liu Yuan muttered: "It's coated with snake venom, be careful..."
A peculiar smile, Lu Yuan's trademark sickly smile, crept onto his face.
Turning and walking into Room No. 48, Lu Yuan's icy voice carried an evil air. "I almost forgot, her ability is concealing her presence."
"You two thought you could scheme against me?!"
"You actually started plotting against me..."
"What are you saying, Doctor Lu?! I don't understand, I don't know anything!"
"I know nothing, Doctor Lu - "
Squelch!
Splash -
The sounds of blade piercing flesh and gushing blood as it was pulled out rang out in succession.
Echoing down the quiet corridor.
Bang!
A bloody, decapitated man's head came flying out of Room No. 48!
It slammed against the opposite wall and rolled to Lu Yuan's feet as he walked out of the room.
Liu Yuan put away the case and handed Lu Yuan a towel.
As he wiped the blood off his hands, Lu Yuan said lightly: "It hasn't even been a month, and there are already people who think I'm easy to fool?"
"Every round, some arrogant fool tries to disgust me like this."
"Looks like I'm still too kind, so you all think you can take advantage of me..."
Hearing Lu Yuan's words, Liu Yuan silently eyed the still bleeding severed head on the floor but said nothing.
The rounds continued.
Room No. 71, Lu Yuan casually peered inside and nodded.
"Very good, you're in the best condition I've seen today. I'll transfer you to the upstairs ward in three days."
There was no response from the room, only faint sounds of paper folding.
Rooms 80, 90, 100...
Stopping outside Room No. 100, Lu Yuan said to Liu Yuan: "That's it for today, we'll continue tomorrow."
Liu Yuan asked in surprise: "That's only 100 rooms! There are still 300 to go to Room No. 399..."
Lu Yuan casually pointed upward. "Something to deal with. Go bring poor No. 47 up."
"Ok."
An hour later, in the clinic ward...
The pale-faced Qiu Ying lay unconscious on the bed.
The strong man looked at Qiu Ying on the bed, his eyes gentle yet full of endless worry.
"Doctor Lu, what's wrong with her?"
"Could it be...she didn't pass your test?"
Lu Yuan shook his head lightly. "I did test her, but she passed."
"She met a little girl. Though she showed some attacking tendencies, in the end she resisted."
The strong man was baffled. "Then what is this?"
"Later she collapsed on the roadside. That's what I wanted to tell you," said Lu Yuan as he turned to the strong man.
"I have good news and bad news."
"The good news is, she's pregnant."
"The bad news is, it's not yours."
In an instant, Lu Yuan watched the affection drain from the strong man's eyes.
...