577: 9.47 I'm Sorry

9.47 I'm Sorry

The soldier and Li Zhu separated midway. The former rushed to the bathroom to lead Lu Yizhou away while Li Zhu made a beeline to Zhao Bolin's office. Because Lu Yizhou had just come out, the door was not locked, much to Li Zhu's relief.  2

As Professor Zhao's direct student, Li Zhu had actually entered this office countless times. But every single time, he could only stare at the side door leading to the laboratory in curiosity. However, it would be different today!

It seemed like the Goddess of Luck was siding with him because as soon as Li Zhu entered, he saw a familiar brass key on the table right in front of him! Heart leaping to his throat, Li Zhu snatched the key and held it with sweaty hands as though it was a life-saving item. The smoke bomb stung his eyes and his heart was beating so fast that he felt faintly nauseous. His hands shook so badly that he could not insert the key properly into the hole despite trying a few times.

Calm down, Li Zhu! He closed his eyes and slapped himself a few times. It was not like he was doing something wrong! This was the precious time everyone bought for him. He had to make use of the fifteen minutes' time as best as he could! Steeling himself, Li Zhu finally pushed the key in and turned.

The door issued a click and swung open. 

The sharp smell of disinfectant rushed to his nose. However, due to the tension and the fact that his nose was covered by a thick cloth, Li Zhu neglected it. He bypassed the corner of the room where a few guinea pigs were held and sprinted toward the computer which was on standby. He hastily grabbed the mouse and— password! Of course, a person like Zhao Bolin would definitely put a password on his private computer!

Sweat rolled down Li Zhu's forehead as he stared at the screen blankly.

W–What was Zhao Bolin's password?!

Li Zhu was indeed Zhao Bolin's closest student. He tried to enter Zhao Bolin's birthday, the anniversary in which he received his private laboratory… but it was futile! The words 'password incorrect' and 'one more attempt remaining' were reflected on his reddened eyes. Every second Li Zhu wasted was twisting on his gut and he almost collapsed due to the tension. Despair leaked into his eyes. Was he destined to fail here? But… But he had not even managed to enter Zhao Bolin's computer yet!

When he thought of the solemn promise he had made to Yang Tengfei, assuring that he would definitely do his mission well, Li Zhu was so anxious that he almost burst out in tears! He did not want to disappoint Commander Yang! Definitely not!

Perhaps, the power of love was truly potent because amid the perilous situation, Li Zhu suddenly recalled that Zhao Bolin had always recorded his experiments in a notebook! Just now, before he entered the laboratory, he had seen a few notebooks on top of the table. Hope reignited in Li Zhu's heart and he sprinted outside. 

There were five notebooks stacked neatly on the large mahogany desk. Li Zhu grabbed the topmost one and flipped through the pages quickly. Li Zhu had no guarantee that he could find the password there but usually, Professor Zhao would jot down his ideas in his notebook. His messy writing was scattered over the pages, some were sparse and some were so dense that it filled the entire page. 

Li Zhu had been so lucky along the way, perhaps… he would hit the jackpot again this time! Please… please let the password be here!

Li Zhu's frantic eyes suddenly locked down on a string of garbled codes. In his impression, it looked like the genetic sequence of someone's DNA, but most importantly, Professor Zhao had gone out of his way to highlight the last ten digits of the characters. Li Zhu's heart skipped a beat. Grabbing the notebook, he ran back to the computer and typed the characters with shaky fingers.

Please… Please let it work!

He pressed enter and…

…the default blue wallpaper appeared in front of him. 

Li Zhu sucked in a sharp breath and almost screamed out loud. Fortunately, he held himself back in time. However, his eyes could not help but curve into crescents. He did it! He finally got into Zhao Bolin's computer!

Li Zhu fumbled into his pocket, found the special flashdisk given by the soldiers and connected it to the computer. It was one of the advanced technologies often used by Special Forces' soldiers in their missions. Just by connecting it, the flash disk could automatically copy all of the files inside the computer. Not only that, it would also release a virus after it had finished copying. 

Or in other words, Li Zhu did not only steal Zhao Bolin's research data, but he also destroyed Zhao Bolin's computer along the way! Unless Zhao Bolin had stored some backups in another device, then all of his experiment data would be obliterated without a trace with no way to recover it!

Li Zhu stared at the progressing bar on the screen and could not help but the guilt seeping into his heart. No matter what, Zhao Bolin was his teacher who had helped him a lot during his thesis, and he had also given Li Zhu a lot of crucial pointers when he was stuck on the bottleneck. To do something like this was… Li Zhu choked on his breath and forcefully shut his eyes as though he could ignore the guilt this way. This was for the sake of humanity, he told himself again. He was doing it for everyone's sake!

"I'm sorry, Professor…" he murmured in remorse.

The process was really fast, as expected of the Special Forces. In eight minutes, the bar had already reached 95%. Li Zhu had already wasted around four minutes searching for the password and thus, he started to feel nervous again. He bit his nails and stared at the clock. 

Two more minutes… He only had two minutes left!

He was staring so hard at the screen, utterly aware that there was a small cage adjacent to him which was separated from other cages. Inside was a similar guinea pig. But different from the others, this guinea pig's eyes were turbid white and it stayed inside the cage motionlessly, staring at Li Zhu like he was a dead man.

Just as the progress reached 99%, a series of gunshot suddenly rang through the air!

Li Zhu almost jumped out of his skin in shock. He clutched at his chest and looked around in fright. W–Where did it come from?! 

In order to make the lie more believable, the soldiers had indeed bait a few zombies upstairs. However, according to the plan they had discussed, there was no need for guns unless the situation was extremely crucial! They would put on a desperate act to fool Lu Yizhou, but in truth, everything would be firmly kept under control!

Had–Had something happened…?

It seemed like he heard the faint sound of someone screaming, but… it could also be the zombie's growl. Inside the enclosed space, Li Zhu could not confirm anything. He could only grit his teeth and finish the mission within the allocated time.

Uneasiness once again spread in his chest. He was unwilling to waste anymore time in the laboratory. As soon as the progress bar reached 100%, Li Zhu immediately pulled out the flashdisk, pocketed it carefully and turned away!

For some reason, the smoke in the air was getting thicker and thicker, almost to the point of suffocation. Li Zhu pressed the cloth closer to his mouth and nose, trying to suppress the cough emerging from his throat. His eyes watered and the vision in front of him blurred. 

Could smoke bomb really create something so realistic like this…? Li Zhu had no idea. Up until the disaster struck, he was only an ordinary student whose life revolved around his score, thesis and what food to eat for dinner later. If someone were to tell him a few months ago that he would be sneaking into Zhao Bolin's laboratory and stealing his data, he would definitely punch the other party for speaking nonsense! Alas… fate really liked to play a joke on them. 

He had 'betrayed' Zhao Bolin. From now on, the teacher-student relationship between them was no more…

Li Zhu quietly slid the door open and thick flumes of black smoke immediately rushed in. He almost could not breathe. Hot! The air was so hot it was as if the building was really on fire! Li Zhu shut his eyes to fight against the stinging pain, covered his nose and mouth tightly and rushed along the corridor.

According to the plan, one soldier would be waiting for him on the stairs and after Li Zhu returned, they would climb up to the rooftop through the window, then wait for Yang Tengfei to fetch them with a helicopter. 

By the time Zhao Bolin realized something was wrong, everything would be too late. Li Zhu would already be under the army's protection and Zhao Bolin would not have the right to demand justice. What was justice when lives of millions were on the line? He could only blame himself for being deceitful!

Because the smoke truly deterred his vision, Li Zhu could only shut his eyes and blindly ran along the familiar corridor. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel relieved. Just a bit more… Just a bit more and everything would be over. He would be able to leave this place! He whispered-shouted, "Brother soldier, I am here!"

However, he waited and waited, yet no response came.

Li Zhu's heart jumped to his throat. Faintly sensing that something was off, he carefully peeled an eye open. Through the hazy black smoke, he found himself standing in an empty corridor. 

There were no signs of anyone around — not the three soldiers, not even Lu Yizhou.

On the other hand, his peripheral vision caught a sea of black downstairs. No, it was not a sea of black, but the hair of many people who stood closely together. The fourth floor was cramped with zombies, pressing together like sardines, unaffected by the fuming smoke around. 

And right now, all of them were staring straight at Li Zhu with their turbid white eyes!

"AAAH—!"

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Mini theater

LYZ: If I turn them into a zombie, it doesn't count as killing, right? Technically, they are still alive.

666: Be careful, Host. Judging from your luck, the protagonist may become another mutated zombie. Who knows, perhaps they will even fight you for the throne!

LYZ: Oh.

LYZ: Then I will just scare them to death. It's their fault for having such a weak heart.

666: ...You're the boss

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