"In other words, after they ran out of all the food, they started..."
Shen Yiyue stood at the back of the pickup truck, observing the surroundings as she casually asked.
Ning Yu was driving in the front seat, while an unconscious woman in very poor physical condition sat in the passenger seat.
The people in the back were those who could still move; they sat quietly in the pickup bed, perhaps not yet fully processing the fact that they had been rescued.
Or perhaps they were simply too hungry to speak.
"Yes, and some of the heavier ones had their entire bodies..."
"They saw too many zombies outside and couldn't leave, so they turned their attention to people," replied the man in the police uniform, his right sleeve hanging empty.
He spoke with a gloomy expression, as if consumed by some kind of self-reproach.
Shen Yiyue didn't know how to respond to such an answer.
Just then, a careless zombie tried to jump onto the truck from a nearby streetlight, but she kicked it away, sending it rolling several times across the road.
The people in the back were startled and huddled even closer together in the already cramped pickup bed space.
Ning Yu had already counted - including the unconscious woman in the passenger seat, there were 12 people in total, which meant they could exchange them for 36 vouchers.
They had also taken photos with their charged phone as evidence of clearing the food street, which would earn them quite a few vouchers when submitted.
However, based on their search, there weren't many supplies left - most of the fresh food had spoiled after all this time.
This area mostly served made-to-order dishes using raw ingredients.
"Ugh... ugh..."
The middle-aged woman with both arms missing suddenly started breathing heavily, her frail body swaying back and forth.
Even breathing seemed to require great effort.
"Mom... Mom, what's wrong?!"
The little boy next to her was her son, the only one fortunate enough to be uninjured among the group. Seeing his mother's condition, he felt a sense of foreboding.
Shen Yiyue quickly noticed the woman's distress, let out a slight sigh, and loaded her handgun.
The armless woman raised her head, her eyes already being invaded by something, the blacks of her eyes gradually disappearing.
Her body began turning grayish-white, with dark blue veins becoming prominently visible.
The group that had been huddled together quickly understood what was happening and moved away from her.
The woman was turning into a zombie.
Shen Yiyue then noticed the fresh bite marks on her foot through her torn sock.
She must have been bitten when they were leaving earlier.
The little boy seemed to understand what was happening and became anxious, but no one could stop the transformation process.
Seeing Shen Yiyue approach with her gun, his face filled with panic and terror as he stretched out his small hands between his mother and Shen Yiyue.
"Please... don't kill my mom... we just finally..."
He made his futile plea, trying to prevent what was about to happen.
"Ugh... ah..."
The woman was increasingly losing control of herself. Looking at her only remaining son, her eyes flashed with bloodlust while simultaneously struggling to maintain clarity.
"Get away quickly, it's dangerous here."
Shen Yiyue reached out, planning to forcibly separate the mother and son - if this continued, even the little boy would be in danger.
At that moment, the armless woman seemed to gain incredible strength, her legs tensing as if ready to explode into action.
Shen Yiyue thought "This is bad" and raised her gun.
However, to everyone's shock, the woman on the verge of transformation didn't attack the little boy.
She suddenly turned around and, with all her strength, jumped over the pickup truck's rear railing, throwing herself off the vehicle.
In mid-air, she turned back to look at her physically intact son, her eyes showing a peaceful and content expression.
"Mom!!"
The little boy finally turned around, realizing his mother had jumped, and helplessly reached out trying to grab her.
But the woman had already cleared the back of the truck and crashed heavily onto the ground, rolling rapidly and leaving a long trail of blood.
As the truck drove away, the woman became a blur in the distance before disappearing from view.
Ning Yu heard the commotion and glanced back once before continuing to drive, trusting Shen Yiyue to handle the situation.
The little boy fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands, making indescribable whimpering sounds of anguish.
Shen Yiyue pressed her lips together, her mood seemingly heavy, and silently put her gun away without saying anything.
No one spoke for the rest of the journey.
...
When they arrived at the Ark base's entrance, Ning Yu noticed two large trucks ahead of them, loaded with caged zombies.
The people they had just rescued, also riding in the back of their vehicle, looked at the caged zombies with curiosity, fear, and confusion.
Although they were overjoyed to finally reach a human settlement, they couldn't imagine what the people here would do with these zombies.
Ning Yu looked at the two trucks ahead and thought to herself that new energy sources had arrived.
It seemed Wan Heng wasn't the only one bringing back zombies.
For every Wan Heng that died, countless others would continue to maintain the base's operations.
Here, everyone was struggling to survive - hopefully struggling, but nevertheless, everyone was replaceable.
No one was special.
However, Ning Yu wasn't sure how these physically impaired people would survive in the Ark.
Truthfully, the Ark's willingness to accept them was already quite merciful.
After everyone completed their medical examinations according to procedure, Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue went to submit their mission.
During the examinations, the staff in the tents seemed unsurprised by the condition of these people missing arms and legs.
They must have seen similar cases before.
As for what would happen to these people afterward, it wasn't Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue's responsibility - there were staff members to guide them.
Their job was done once they brought the people back.
Shen Yiyue took the car keys to return them to Ji Mengyao, heading to her apartment.
When Ning Yu arrived home, she unexpectedly found a note left by Lin Hao.
"Contact me when you return, there are new discoveries."
Ning Yu picked up the note and burned it with a lighter.
She used the old method to contact Lin Hao, and instead of taking a rest, she immediately turned and walked out of her apartment.