The iron gate, ringed with high-voltage electricity, pulled open to both sides. The blue and white riot control vehicle slowly drove in under the distrustful gazes of the guards.

Ahead of the vehicle, a large military base was hidden among the hillsides, its tempered steel roofs faintly reflecting a white light under the sky.

In the spacious meeting room, a slender figure sat at the head of a long table. A glass door slid open silently, and a guard strode in, leaning down to whisper in the figure's ear, "They're here."

The figure swiveled the armchair around. "Let them in."

—It was a surprisingly young woman.

She was thin, dressed in casual clothes, with mid-length hair tied in a ponytail. If not for the four hideous, red scratch marks on her left cheek, her face could even be described as beautiful.

The guard bowed his head and retreated.

A moment later, the glass door opened again. The guard gestured. "Please."

The three uninvited guests from the riot control vehicle stepped into the meeting room and stopped behind the long table—two men and one woman, all of them Caucasian.

All of them Alphas.

"Yo," the blonde, blue-eyed woman with an extremely curvaceous figure sized up the person opposite her with a frivolous gaze and laughed. "It really is an Omega... That's a rare sight."

The man next to her, who was a full two meters tall and stood like a pile of rocks, didn't speak. The leading Caucasian man in sunglasses also ignored her. At the other end of the long table, the woman sized them up expressionlessly. The room was silent for several seconds before she slowly spoke, "...Colonel Rommel."

The man in the lead took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of grayish-blue eyes. He spoke in excessively standard Mandarin: "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Chen Yajing. Thank you very much for taking the time to meet with me out of your busy schedule."

As he spoke, he gave a polite bow, though his upper body inclined no more than twenty degrees.

"No need for pleasantries." Chen Yajing raised a hand to stop the false courtesies and asked directly, "Who is the person you're looking for?"

Rommel held out his hand. His rock-like subordinate handed him a manila envelope, which he then walked forward and placed in front of Chen Yajing.

"..." The envelope was sealed with a string. After a moment of contemplation, Chen Yajing finally reached out and opened it.

Inside the envelope were just two thin sheets of paper, recording the target's simple life history and behavioral characteristics, as well as a clear frontal photograph. The young man in the photo had sharp eyebrows and deep-set features. His face was like a sculpture of white marble, possessing a handsome, hard quality with a certain luster. His eyes stared straight into the camera.

Although it was a passport-style photo with a blank expression, his gaze, which seemed both vacant and chillingly focused, sent a shiver down the spine of anyone who looked at it.

Chen Yajing put down the envelope.

"Your country's military has come all this way to this place at a time of global disaster, just to find this one person?"

Rommel said, "You're mistaken, Miss Chen. My country no longer has a government or military. All state institutions have fallen apart. All actions now are carried out in a personal capacity."

"Then what is your purpose in coming here at the risk of your own life?" Chen Yajing tapped the envelope. "What's so special about this person, and what is his relationship to you?"

An indescribable, eerily bright glint appeared in the depths of Rommel's grayish-blue eyes.

"He's my younger brother," he said.

Chen Yajing raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Pardon my bluntness, Colonel Rommel. You don't look like someone who would have an Asian younger brother, nor do you seem like the type to cross half a zombie-infested planet for brotherly affection... If there's some secret about this person, you'd best tell me now, or our cooperation will become very difficult."

Rommel smiled slightly. "Are you threatening me, Miss Chen?"

A miniature gun suddenly slid from his sleeve. He caught it deftly and, in a flash, pressed it against Chen Yajing's temple!

"What are you doing?!" the guard at the door roared. Before he could make a move, the blonde woman had already drawn her gun and pointed it at him from a distance!

The situation escalated abruptly, becoming tense and hostile.

Yet Chen Yajing showed no fear. She even gave a nearly imperceptible smile and gestured with her chin toward Rommel's chest. "Colonel, please look down."

Rommel looked down and saw a single red dot on his chest, stuck firmly over his heart, moving with him. Realizing what it was, he looked up and out the window. In a window of the building opposite, a sniper scope reflected an almost undetectable glint of sunlight.

Sniper.

"You can choose not to cooperate, but if you kill me," Chen Yajing said, "you and your two subordinates will not walk out of this survivor base."

Rommel thought for a few seconds, then was the first to lower his miniature pistol. He nodded sincerely and politely. "My apologies, Miss Chen. My hand slipped. Please forgive me. What exactly did you want to ask?"

The blonde woman snorted softly and put away her gun. The red dot on Rommel's chest also disappeared.

Although the crisis was averted, the guard still looked indignant. Chen Yajing, however, didn't fuss over the other party's hypocritical and outrageous "slip of the hand." She stretched her stiff neck from sitting for so long, pointed at the envelope, and asked, "May I ask, what is your relationship with this person you're looking for?"

"He really is my younger brother."

"Oh?"

"Though not by blood, we were, at least in a legal sense, at one time."

"Then why did he come here? And is he dangerous in any way?"

Rommel pulled out a swivel chair and sat down in front of Chen Yajing. He tapped the thin manila envelope with his index and middle fingers. "I'm not sure where he is exactly. I tried to contact your country's military, but I never received a response. I assume it's because your government has also collapsed."

"Along the way, I've contacted several survivor bases. Unfortunately, some were too rudimentary and were quickly overrun by zombie hordes; others fell to infighting over power, turning into fortresses that crumbled from within."

"I will continue heading north, but so far, your base, Miss Chen, is the most stable and orderly chaotic-era kingdom I have ever seen."

Chen Yajing said politely, "Although things are not as they seem, thank you."

"No need to thank me; I trust my own eyes. However," Rommel's tone shifted, "if you do find my brother, please remember one thing: he will become the most serious threat your fortress has faced since its establishment."

Chen Yajing's brows furrowed. "Oh, he's dangerous?"

"...Very dangerous," Rommel repeated the words, his tone a bit strange, and then he smiled.

"He is an out-and-out homicidal maniac, or rather, a born sociopath. He has a talent for making deadly weapons out of any everyday object—chopsticks, spoons, pieces of plastic, rocks, even a glass of ordinary tap water... Mangled bodies and blood excite him, especially the dying screams of an Alpha. He was only six years old when he first killed someone."

"Yes, an Alpha." Rommel paused under Chen Yajing's stunned gaze. "He didn't have much contact with Betas or Omegas growing up, yet he despises Alphas, just like how serial killers often focus on a specific type of prey."

Chen Yajing frowned. "Why?"

Rommel shook his head, not answering her question directly. "I can tell you about his most famous incident."

"One afternoon a few years ago, he left the cafeteria to go to the restroom. When he came back, a few Alphas were sitting at his table. He didn't show any displeasure at first, but after he sat down, he took a bite of his hamburger and suddenly ordered everyone to leave his table, or he would kill them."

"Two of them left out of fear, but the others thought nothing of it. He counted to three, and the next ten minutes were a nightmare those few men wouldn't want to recall even in their next lives. He stabbed them through the throat with a spoon—"

"—and the cause was simply that someone had sat next to him while he was eating."

"..." Chen Yajing was silent for a moment, then said coolly, "You're making me hesitant to cooperate with you, Colonel Rommel. Maintaining the personnel balance in this apocalyptic base is a very delicate matter. This dangerous element..."

But Rommel just smiled nonchalantly and motioned for the blonde woman to bring a briefcase forward.

The small metal briefcase was secured with a combination lock. When opened, a burst of cold air billowed out. Chen Yajing glanced inside and saw a finger-length, three-part syringe in a suspended test tube rack, filled with a light red solution in a sealed barrel.

"This," Rommel said under Chen Yajing's disbelieving gaze, "is the Antiviral Vaccine."

Chen Yajing couldn't stop herself from reaching for it, but Rommel immediately blocked her hand, then gave a strange smile. "—although it's only a partial vaccine."

Ten minutes later, downstairs.

Rommel walked out of the building carrying the cryo-box, followed by his two subordinates. Chen Yajing, in a wheelchair, was pushed out by a guard and stopped at the top of the steps.

"One last question, Colonel Rommel."

Rommel's hand, which was pulling open the car door, paused. He heard Chen Yajing's voice from behind him, seemingly tinged with a faint trace of mockery. "You don't seem like someone who particularly yearns for our country's culture, yet you speak such good Mandarin. Did you learn it specifically for that so-called brother of yours?"

Rommel didn't move for a long time. After a while, he turned back, his gaze almost sinister. "I already told you, miss," he said slowly. "In the legal sense, we were brothers."

·

"Haha—"

"Hahaha—"

"Hahahahahaha—"

Si Nan sat cross-legged in the back seat, draped in a hooded jacket so large it nearly swallowed him whole, the oversized hood covering his entire head. But it still couldn't block out the maniacal laughter from the front row. "Yan Hao can top me? Hahahaha, that weakling Yan Hao can top me? I could fuck over ten Yan Haos at once, hahahaha—"

"Captain, that's enough! You wanna fight?!"

"Hahaha, how could Rong-ge and Yan Hao, two Alphas with repulsive pheromones, even date? Is it a purely spiritual, platonic love? Such a moving romance, hahahahaha—"

"Dad, so Yan Hao is the birth mother I never knew I had all these years! Why did you never tell me the truth? This is too much, hahahahahaha—!"

'I knew I shouldn't have asked,' Si Nan thought, expressionless. 'Just kill this group of Alphas.'

Zhou Rong turned back from the passenger seat, patting Si Nan's head through the hood, his voice brimming with glee. "Let me see. Yo, still angry?"

'Just kill this group of Alphas,' Si Nan thought, turning his head to dodge but failing.

Zhou Rong held the top of his head, forcing him closer into his embrace while pinching his cheek and roaring with laughter. "You kids who grew up in Country A really know how to have fun. How would two Alphas even do it in bed? Come on, tell me, have you ever seen people go to bed? Do you even know what that means?"

Si Nan ducked his head and dodged.

"...You, why didn't you ask sooner..." Yan Hao leaned forward from the back seat, a look of tearless despair on his face. "And what about after you left the military region? Once you knew we were all Alphas, why didn't you ask Chuncao, Xiangzi, or Da Ding?"

Si Nan: "..."

"How could the Captain and I have made you misunderstand?" Yan Hao asked, pouring his heart out. "In all this time, haven't you ever been suspicious, even once?"

'Of course I have, often.' Si Nan thought.

'But who knew why you people from Unit 118 would design the locator to be so flamboyant. The idiot designer must have been an Alpha.'

Si Nan sighed, resting his forehead on his hand as he gazed out the window. The ruby earring stud, held in place by an ear cuff on his left ear, glittered brightly.

'I really should just slaughter this whole group of Alphas.'

"There's a private airline company near the local airport. Chuncao and I scouted the surrounding area yesterday. There are two large helicopters on the tarmac that might just be enough to transfer all our personnel in one go."

The vehicle bumped slightly as it moved forward. Zhou Rong, holding a short pencil stub, drew an X over the airport's location on the city map.

"Here's the initial plan. The four of us—me, Yan Hao, Chuncao, and Ding Shi—will form one group. We'll use heavy firepower as cover to breach the tarmac's protective fence, force our way onto the runway, and take off in the two large helicopters. Si Nan and Xiangzi will take everyone else and find a suitable landing platform for the helicopters nearby, and while they're at it, find a pharmacy for our little Omega friend... If you can't find one, forget it. Don't take any risks; your lives are more important."

"Once you've found a platform and arrived safely, Si Nan will press the locator again—that gay stud earring—and the other gay stud earring on Yan Hao's ear will receive the signal within a one-kilometer radius. That's how we'll locate each other, and we'll come pick you up in the two helicopters."

Zhou Rong closed the map and scanned the group. "Any questions?"

Yan Hao: "In what way do I look like I'd be into the captain, and be the one on top at that?"

Chuncao: "Dad, Dad, is Yan Hao my real mom? Then is Si Xiaonan my new mom?"

Xiangzi: "'If you can't find one, forget it, don't force it,' does that mean it's okay if we just don't look for one at all... Rong-ge? Rong-ge!"

Zhou Rong punched Yan Hao, gave Chuncao a knock on the head, and kicked Xiangzi in the limited space of the vehicle. Then, amidst the chaos, he saw Si Nan across from him raise his hand, expressionless.

'The only dedicated and professional person on our team now is the non-staff member,' Zhou Rong thought. "Comrade Xiao Si, please speak."

Si Nan asked, "How do we confirm that the signal has been transmitted successfully?"

"Originally, after you transmitted the location, the Big Dipper Satellite System would relay it to Unit 118's dedicated tablets and base terminal, but the Big Dipper also went down a month after the GPS collapse—a moment of silence for some unknown base station worker in some corner of the earth." Zhou Rong said, "So now it only has a physical reaction. Upon successful signal reception within one kilometer, both gay stud earrings will vibrate together."

Si Nan nodded silently, indicating he understood.

"Any other questions?"

The others, some clutching their heads and some their faces, all indicated they had no objections.

"Very good," Zhou Rong said, making a fist and encouraging everyone with confidence. "Let's set our goal to surviving until tonight and advance towards the beautiful Spratly Islands!"

He got up, left the passenger cabin, and slipped back into the front passenger seat, gazing at the wreckage-strewn airport road and the zombies that were periodically sent flying by their vehicle.

"...Vibrate together," he suddenly said, as if he had realized something.

Ding Shi, while driving, turned his head to glance at him with an indescribable look.

Zhou Rong muttered, "...Don't tell me this thing really is a toy for gays."