537: 9.7 Where Am I?

9.7 Where Am I?

Half a year was simply not enough for Zhao Bolin to create an antidote. Not only did he have to take samples from the zombie itself, but he also had to do clinical trials to ensure that the antidote was ready to be injected into a human's body. The whole process was full of risk and unknown triggers.0

It took more than five months for the first formulation to be produced, just a few days short of the deadline given by the government. To test its effectiveness, they caught a few zombies and used them as the experiment objects and to their utter surprise, the antidote worked! The zombie's features gradually disappeared and the person's consciousness slowly surfaced!

The whole team — no, the whole world — cheered, except Zhao Bolin.

Nobody knew how complicated human's genetics was more than him. What were the odds that their first experiment was a huge success? Even if one were to beat him to death, Zhao Bolin still would not believe it. 

So when everyone finally let down their guards after months of arduous survival, only Zhao Bolin locked himself in his laboratory and performed the experiment all over again, guarding his files like a dragon hoarding treasures, daring everyone to take it away from him.

This was where the irony lay.

From the start, Zhao Bolin's attitude toward them had been too antagonistic that people simply regarded him unwilling to hand over the results of the experiment. And hence, the government ordered the army to retrieve the antidote forcefully for the sake of humanity. 

As luck would have it, the responsibility finally landed on Commander Yang's head. 

Commander Yang disliked Zhao Bolin's snarky and holier-than-thou demeanor. Not only that, Zhao Bolin was also hot-tempered and often berated his lover in public for measly mistakes. In the commander's eyes, Zhao Bolin was no different than a selfish bastard. He pulled his lover, Li Zhu, into the plan and entrusted him to be the insider spy who would report Zhao Bolin's movements for the army.

At first, Li Zhu was actually reluctant to go through with the sneaky acts. Alas, this naïve researcher had been brainwashed by his lover and the entire army until his head turned muddled. Commander Yang reassured him again and again that what he did was for the sake of many, that Professor Zhao was the kind of man who had to be taught a lesson for his selfishness. The more Li Zhu heard about it, the more logical he thought it was.

Everyone's fate lay in their hands, so what was wrong with handing over the formula? The effectiveness of the antidote had been proven and there were also successful cases already. It was Professor Zhao who was too stingy and narrow-minded! 

Once a person had been branded black, it was so difficult to wash them clean again. If only they were to trust their head researcher a bit more… If only they were to disregard their prejudice, then the subsequent tragedy would not have happened.

In the middle of the night, the diligent Professor Zhao was ambushed by the people who had been working alongside him for months. They robbed his research files, took him down and even cursed him for being shameless! As if it was not enough, a few hot-blooded soldiers even wanted to stain his honor and defile him…

How could the proud Professor Zhao be reconciled to be treated like this? He had never claimed to be a good person, but he was also unwilling to see the world perished. However… if the people who were left in this world were these kind of stupid, prejudiced and greedy people, then everyone was better off dead!

Before those filthy people could touch him, Professor Zhao burst out in mad laughter. "Hahahaha, go to hell! You will all go to hell!" Then in front of everyone's eyes, he bit off his tongue and committed suicide!

Everyone thought that the professor had gone insane due to being driven to a corner, except Li Zhu. 

He had been Zhao Bolin's direct student for years and he knew Zhao Bolin's temperament more or less. His teacher was not the kind of person who would be consumed by his own emotions and it was not until Zhao Bolin died that he began to question everything. He originally thought that what he did was for the sake of humanity but… what if Professor Zhao was right? What if there was indeed something wrong with the antidote? Faint unease and doubt crept into his heart but he vehemently suppressed it. No! It couldn't be! There was no way that the antidote was faulty. They had been working on it for half a year, the fate of humanity lay in their hands! 

Hence, Li Zhu hardened his heart and left the university behind with the leftover researchers and a group of soldiers.

A few days later, the government soon announced the emergence of antidote and it was quickly mass produced for people freely. 

Li Zhu, who was named the leading researcher after Zhao Bolin's death, was hailed as a savior of humankind whereas Zhao Bolin, whose corpse was left behind in the university, was forgotten even before his body could decompose into soil.

In the first three months after the mass injection, the world slowly recovered to how it was prior to the disaster. The antidote worked wonders on the zombies and gradually, people started to live their normal life.

Until one day, another bizarre phenomenon struck.

Zhao Bolin was right when he suspected that something was wrong with the antidote. What they created was not remedy, but a ticking time bomb which was buried within human's complicated gene segments, waiting for the right time to explode.

One after another, the people who had been injected with the antidote showed strange reactions. Not only did they return to being a zombie, but it was like they had been upgraded! The genes in their bodies became a chaotic mess and their skin started to melt like corrosive liquid was smeared all over it. Flesh turned rotten, showing hideous white bones. People lost their mind and actively attacked each other.

Last time, it took two days for the world to enter the emergency state alert. 

This time, though, only thirty seconds…

Thirty seconds were all it took for purgatory to descend into Earth. Normal people started to turn into zombie version 2, and the worst was… they could not die! No matter how many bones they broke, no matter how many pieces they were cut into, their bodies would start to regenerate and heal by themselves.

In a way, humans had regained immortality. However, the price they had to pay was the humanity itself…

In a suburban villa far from the city, Li Zhu was terrified out of his wits. He had always been skeptical toward the antidote no matter how hard he tried to tamper it down. And thus, when it came to the administration, he lied to the government and even his lover, saying that he had injected it into himself firsthand. And in the end, he had to pay the price for his stupidity. 

On the same night, he was taken down by his zombified lover, who had shared his bed for the past few months, and devoured until only a few chunks of flesh were left. No matter how hard he cried and begged for mercy, everything was too late…

Just like Zhao Bolin had said during his last moments, let everyone be gone to hell. But at least, he was granted death while those people… they would be tormented by their own greed and suffer for eternity.

It was unknown what kind of fate the human race would lead after that. Perhaps, a real antidote would be formed in the far future or perhaps, it was really the end of the world.

Lu Yizhou sneered when he read the original plot. Seriously, the world would always refresh his views on how stupid some people would be. Based on how they treated Zhao Bolin, Lu Yizhou had no plans to give them amnesty. Everyone could go to hell just like Zhao Bolin said, especially… those soldiers who attempted to rape him and also Li Zhu.

Zhao Bolin had trusted Li Zhu to be the member of the team, had trusted him to deliver the report to the army, had trusted him to be level-headed regarding the test results. However, Li Zhu ended up betraying all of his trust when he chose to act on his prejudice and let himself be led around the nose by the opinion of people around him. Compared to those beastly soldiers, Lu Yizhou was more disgusted by stupid people like Li Zhu.

Coldness permeated Lu Yizhou's eyes, making the surrounding zombies tremble in fear. He already had a plan on how he should deal with this idiot man.

However…

[Where am I?] Lu Yizhou scrolled the page up and down, scrutinized each line but never found any mention regarding himself. 

The zombies seemed to fear him and not only that, he also retained his consciousness… Just based on this characteristic, he would be the perfect zombie to be experimented on. Such an important character like this, there was no way he would not be mentioned in the original plot, right?

[666: Eh? That's right. Where are you, Host? This is so weird. Let 666 scan your character first.]

Lu Yizhou hummed. He stood up and started to walk around while glaring at the zombies who stood on his way. Funnily, those zombies started to quake in fear, their legs trembling so hard that they could not even run away.

From the sign along the corridor, Lu Yizhou found out that he was currently in F University where Zhao Bolin was. He was actually in the corridor leading to the rooftop, it seemed like the original character had been desperate enough to want to climb up and hide himself there. Alas, he was ambushed by a few zombies and ended up being bitten black and blue.

Lu Yizhou stopped at the base of the stairs, closely scrutinizing the terrified zombies and wondering about his own situation. This had never happened before. No matter how inconsequential his character was, he would always be included in the original plot, even if it was only one or two sentences. But this time… it was like he had mutated… just like a bug…

After turning into a zombie, Lu Yizhou's sight and hearing had improved significantly and thus, he perked up when his ears caught the loud whirl of motor blades far in the distance. He rushed to the window, shooing away the zombies idling there, and narrowed his eyes as he stared at the clear blue sky faraway.

That was… a military helicopter!

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