To celebrate Bingbing’s wedding today, I hope everyone can offer a congratulatory word for our comrade from the darkness. Old Gu will lead the way: Congratulations on your marriage, and may you soon have a little one… Jie jie (a sinister chuckle).

...

Ye Zhu gasped, and the faces of Bai Long and the others changed drastically. At this moment, Bauer urged from the side, "Let's go! Out here on the main road, what if there are zombies..."

"Scram!" Bai Long roared, his face twisted into a ferocious snarl as he stared at Bauer, who paused, momentarily stunned. Yue Heng and the others shot him icy glances. Mo Feng took the handgun from Ye Zhu’s hand and said, "I'm going down to save him."

Bai Long said in a deep voice, "Be careful!"

Although he would have preferred to go himself, in this critical moment, he calmed down, knowing that in his current physical condition, he would likely just be a burden. The only ones relatively uninjured in the group were Mo Feng and Ye Zhu, so naturally, they wouldn't let Ye Zhu take the risk.

Mo Feng nodded slightly and was about to turn to climb down when Bauer and the muscular man exclaimed in shock, "Are you insane?"

Mo Feng ignored them. Just then, his body suddenly froze, and he stopped. The usually indifferent light in his eyes brightened with a hint of pleasant surprise. Bai Long and the others froze, then quickly looked over, spotting Ye Chen climbing the iron ladder, dripping wet and exhausted, emerging from below.

"You're alright?" Bai Long examined Ye Chen from head to toe, clearly shocked. Bauer and the others nearby looked on in disbelief; they hadn't expected Ye Chen to escape unharmed from such a terrifying monster!

"Hurry, move!" Ye Chen didn't have time to explain. He had been dragged into the water by the monster, shooting his gun and stabbing with his knife, surviving only by sheer luck to kill it. Another, slightly smaller monster was already closing in.

Bai Long and the others asked no further questions. Casting a glance around, Mo Feng quickly selected a direction based on the map memorized in his mind, taking the lead and charging out.

Soon, the group arrived at a tall building bearing a string of Russian characters. Bai Long translated, "This is that research institute."

Their eyes lit up, and they rushed inside.

"Hm?" Mo Feng tapped the institute's glass twice, only to find it locked from the inside. He slowly stepped back, then delivered a violent kick. With a peng, the glass vibrated with a loud sound but didn't shatter.

"Why won't it open?" Bauer frowned, then gripped his handgun, preparing to shoot. Seeing this, Bai Long’s anger flared, and he cursed, "I'll be damned, are you an idiot? If kicking didn't break it, it must be bulletproof glass! If you shoot, aren't you just wasting ammo? What if the bullets ricochet back and hit us?"

Bauer paused, then somewhat awkwardly lowered his handgun.

Mo Feng pondered for a moment, then turned and said, "Let's go. Research institutes usually have basements. We'll enter from the back!"

The group followed Mo Feng, circling the perimeter, killing a few zombies along the way. In a patch of grass by the wall, they spotted a small window, which they quickly kicked open, climbing in through it.

The basement of this institute resembled a factory floor, filled with numerous crated goods. After jumping down, they looked out at the vast space, sensing a distinctly eerie atmosphere. Mo Feng seemed unfazed, taking the lead as the others followed closely, scanning their surroundings warily.

Not long after, near a stack of crates, they saw a man in a white coat lying still, appearing to be a research intern. Given their previous experiences, a sense of alarm rippled through the group.

Ye Zhu, gripping the long spear Bai Long had sharpened for him, cautiously approached. As they drew nearer, the man in white seemed to stir, then slowly stood up and turned around...

A zombie!

The man wore glasses, his skin was pallid, and his face was covered in sores, some weeping with tiny maggots crawling upon them. His eyes were an unsettling shade of green, making him look utterly horrifying.

Ye Zhu’s arm trembled slightly, and the spear shot out with lightning speed, piercing straight through the zombie’s forehead. In terms of combat skill, Ye Zhu, a warrior at the Crimson Level, could defeat Bai Long and Mo Feng—arguably the strongest person here besides Ye Chen!

After killing the man with one strike, Mo Feng led the group toward the stairwell, murmuring, "Large institutes usually conduct viral research deep underground, so the foundation must be very deep. There are likely several more levels below." He took the lead descending, avoiding the elevator lest the power suddenly cut out.

In the dimly lit corridor, several bodies lay sprawled on the ground. Upon seeing the group, these motionless figures suddenly opened their eyes, staggering to their feet and shrieking as they charged toward Ye Chen and the others.

Bauer, the muscular man, and Mo Feng forged ahead, wielding weapons like fire axes. Ye Zhu stayed near Ye Chen and the others, responsible for looking after Bai Long and Yue Heng, who had a broken leg.

After killing many zombies along the way, the group reached approximately the fifth basement level. Ye Chen activated his system panel, checking the configuration pattern of the viral disintegrant. Using this pattern, he began searching the laboratory rooms.

In one office, seven or eight staff members in white shirts—both male and female—were slumped over. When Ye Chen and the others arrived, they all snarled and lunged.

Bauer, Mo Feng, and the others grabbed nearby chairs and fire axes, smashing them down indiscriminately. They quickly dispatched these clumsy zombies. The group split up, searching every corner of the office.

Unseen by the group, a security camera silently swiveled...

"Nothing here!"

"Not here either!"

The search yielded nothing. Bai Long booted up a computer and searched within it, then frowned. "The storage location isn't recorded on the computer either."

Suddenly, his eye caught a video file in the lower left corner, and he clicked on it, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes. Mo Feng was drawn over, watched for a moment, his expression shifting slightly, and he shouted to Ye Chen, "Come look at this!"

Ye Chen paused, then walked over. The video showed a room filled with spectacled scholars, PhDs, and professors. They were handling a blue test tube, adjusting it, exchanging brief words, and finally placing the blue test tube into a room-temperature storage unit.

"The viral disintegrant!" Ye Chen’s eyes shone. He stared intently, but suddenly the image shifted: all the wise-looking professors and doctors cried out, collapsing to their knees, writhing on the floor in agony. Then, they looked up, their faces clawed open by their own nails, bloody, terrifying, and grotesque.

The group felt a wave of dread watching this bizarre scene. Suddenly, a man in black appeared in the frame, moving like a phantom, his feet hovering slightly above the floor. He drifted toward the storage unit, extended his hand, and passed it directly through the storage room’s structure. When his hand emerged, he held the viral disintegrant.

Bang!

The viral disintegrant was crushed in the black-clad man’s grip.

Ye Chen and Mo Feng exchanged stunned glances, recognizing the shock in the other's eyes. Earlier, Mo Feng had given Ye Chen a treatise on apocalypse guidance, sent by an old doctor researching the virus. It recorded that when the outbreak occurred, the heavily secured storage room containing the virus was infiltrated by a man in black, leading to its sudden rupture—otherwise, given the strict protocols, the reserve would never have exploded unexpectedly...

"The disintegrant is gone?" Bai Long exclaimed in astonishment.

The man in black in the video remained indistinct. After crushing the virus, his figure blurred, and he vanished.

"Huh?" Zhuge Fan suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Look quickly."

The viral disintegrant slowly flowed together, congealing into a small blue mass. A look of shrewd insight flashed in Mo Feng's eyes. "This viral disintegrant solidifies automatically when removed from the test tube and exposed to air! There is still hope! If we can find this blue lump and then use the formulation ratios of the viral disintegrant, we can restore it."

"That’s good news," Bai Long sighed in relief.

Ye Chen glanced around the room and spotted a marker near the edge. "It's on the twelfth basement level—seven more floors down."

"Let's go!"

The group immediately gathered their things and continued downward.

As they descended further, they encountered seven or eight zombies on every floor, all of whom eventually succumbed to the group’s might, until they reached Level 12.

Puchi!

A zombie’s skull burst open from a blow.

After clearing the zombies outside, the group entered the storage room housing the virus and quickly located the small blue mass on the floor.

Ye Chen urged, "Quickly check how to change it from a solid back into a liquid state."

Mo Feng nodded and began searching alongside Bai Long. After a short time, they found a document covered entirely in Russian text. Bai Long translated, revealing only scientific names and technical terms. Mo Feng listened quietly, and after hearing the entire translation, he walked over to a computer, turned it on, and began searching rapidly.

"Hm?" Ye Zhu suddenly frowned. "It feels like something is coming."

Da, da...

Ye Chen’s expression changed slightly. He urged Mo Feng, "Hurry up, monsters are approaching."

Mo Feng's expression grew grim, his fingers flying across the keyboard, occasionally asking Bai Long a question. Not long after, a window popped up. He clicked 'Confirm,' then stood up, retrieved the small blue mass, carried it to a nearby research bench, and placed it in a small petri dish under a beam of yellow light.

Da, da, da...

The stairway entrance to that level was pushed open. A dense mass of zombies, dozens strong, shambled in with bared teeth and grasping limbs. Heads bobbed everywhere.

Yue Heng’s face changed drastically. "Why are there so many zombies?"

Ye Chen roared, "Prepare to attack!"

Everyone snatched up their firearms and opened the bulletproof glass window of the storage room, aiming at the horde. Bauer’s hands trembled with fear, frequently missing his shots. Yue Heng slapped him hard, roaring in fury, "Damn it, how many bullets do you need to waste before you’re satisfied!" He then forcefully snatched Bauer's gun, barking, "Empty all your ammo!"

...

There’s been an unexpected development; I just learned I have to return to my hometown tomorrow. Ugh, I’ll pull an all-nighter to write 10 chapters tonight. I guess I’ll catch up on sleep on the train tomorrow. Wuuu.