Beyond the construction site, across a small path, a corner of the green “People's Grand Pharmacy” sign was visible behind the bare winter branches.

Guo Weixiang mentally estimated the distance, decided it was feasible, and let out a heavy breath. “I'll go check it out.”

Si Nan glanced at him.

“What?” Guo Weixiang was very sensitive.

“...” Si Nan said slowly, “I thought you quite liked him...”

“Sigh, not really.” Guo Weixiang paused, then said self-deprecatingly, “There's a physical attraction, for sure, but it's more that I just want to not be single. As for really liking him... not so much... you know? Sigh, if he doesn't like me, then forget it. It's not like I absolutely have to find a partner.”

Si Nan said politely, “Happy heartbreak. You're a good person.”

Guo Weixiang: “Why are you the one giving me the 'good person' card!!”

Guo Weixiang rubbed his nose, pulled Zhou Rong's piece of Unit 118 black tech—the grappling hook gun—from his tactical backpack, and instructed, “I'll be right back, five minutes at most. Give me your spare ammo, you stay here and keep watch.”

Si Nan was indifferent. He watched as Guo Weixiang fired the grappling hook into the ground, then slid down the rope to the sidewalk, sprinted across the construction site with an agile and nimble figure, and vanished into the pharmacy like a flash of lightning.

5:30 in the afternoon. The sky was gloomy, and the cold wind howled.

Dark clouds gathered and churned at the edge of the sky, seeming to vaguely portend something ominous.

Si Nan frowned. For some reason, his eyelid suddenly twitched twice. Right after, he saw two barely perceptible black dots appear high in the distant sky.

—It was the helicopter!

Si Nan immediately pressed the locator again. Behind him, the crowd began to stir and get up, letting out relieved and joyful cries.

Just then.

Gunshots erupted in the distance. Si Nan snapped his head down just in time to see the pharmacy's display window explode. Guo Weixiang, covered in shards of glass, charged out frantically.

Two seconds later, a horde of Zombies followed him out, surging onto the street!

‘How could there be so many hidden in the pharmacy?’ Si Nan's heart sank. He grabbed the climbing rope, but only heard Guo Weixiang shout without looking up, “I can handle it! Don't come down! Stay up there!”

Guo Weixiang's sprinting speed was something the Zombies couldn't hope to match. He crossed the road like a phantom, rushed into the construction site, leaped over a pile of sand and gravel, leaving the Zombies far behind, and then ran toward the sidewalk by the hospital's back door where the grappling rope was anchored.

However, he made a mistake at this moment.

Between the construction site and the hospital's back door, there was a brick wall with a gate in the corner for people to pass through.

Guo Weixiang had gone through the gate on his way there. But now, perhaps to save a little time, or perhaps because he was too confident in his skills, when he reached the wall, he didn't even think. He leaped directly onto the top of the wall and pushed off hard—

Eighty kilograms of body weight plus forty kilograms of gear, added to that stone-shattering impact.

The temporarily erected brick wall of the construction site was not the same as the obstacle walls they used in special forces training. It couldn't withstand the force and collapsed with a boom.

Guo Weixiang was caught off guard, buried under the bricks, gear and all!

Si Nan was completely caught by surprise, not even reacting for the first two seconds. Then he heard Doctor Zheng cry out, “Oh no!”

Attracted by fresh flesh and blood, the Zombies shuffled into the construction site, moving step by step toward the brick wall. Guo Weixiang struggled to climb out, his bloody head emerging from the pile of rubble, just as the Zombies were about to catch up.

Si Nan pulled the pistol from his thigh holster, tossed it to Doctor Zheng, grabbed the climbing rope, and said succinctly, “Protect the civilians.”

Doctor Zheng hastily caught the gun. In a blur, Si Nan had vanished from sight. Looking down again, he saw Si Nan had appeared out of thin air on the sidewalk below, charging straight for the construction site.

“What are you doing here!” Guo Weixiang gasped, as Si Nan, without a word, grabbed his hand and started pulling.

In this life-or-death escape, Si Nan showed no mercy. Even if Guo Weixiang were a sumo wrestler pinned by a truck, Si Nan could have ripped him free right then. But unexpectedly, the moment he exerted force, Guo Weixiang cried out in pain, “—Ah!”

“What's wrong?”

Guo Weixiang's face was pale, with beads of cold sweat like pearls rolling down. He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “Don't worry about it, hurry!”

Si Nan took down the Zombies within twenty meters with a few shots, then ferociously yanked Guo Weixiang out of the rubble. He saw that Guo Weixiang's calf was bleeding profusely, and his ankle was bent at a strange angle—it was dislocated.

The two coordinated perfectly. Si Nan stood up and sprayed the Zombies with gunfire while Guo Weixiang sat his butt on the ground, grabbed his own ankle, and with a grit of his teeth, popped it back into place with a crack!

“Are you okay?”

“I'm fine! Run!”

From the distant rooftop came the anxious shouts of the crowd: “Hurry!” “Quick!” “Over here, over here!”

With one hand supporting the cold-sweat-covered Guo Weixiang and the other picking off the approaching horde of Zombies, Si Nan moved toward the hospital's back door. However, it was hard to put weight on a newly dislocated ankle. No matter how hard Guo Weixiang tried to hop forward, his progress was limited. Not only were the Zombies from the pharmacy in hot pursuit, but even Zombies from nearby streets had caught the scent of Alpha Pheromones in the fresh blood and were now flocking toward them.

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang bang!

Guo Weixiang gritted his teeth and shot down a few Zombies rushing from the right, roaring, “Forget about me, I can't climb the rope!”

Amidst the gunfire, Si Nan shouted, “Hold on, Zhou Rong is back!”

“I can't hold on—!” Guo Weixiang roared into his ear, “Don't let me drag you down, run! Take the Inhibitor!”

Zombies closed in from all directions. Guo Weixiang steeled himself, forcibly broke free from Si Nan's grasp, and shoved him forward hard. “Go!”

Si Nan staggered a step, shot down the first few rows of Zombies, and then turned back to carry Guo Weixiang. But it was impossible for him to carry someone of Guo Weixiang's weight, especially when the latter was uncooperative, struggling and cursing, “Get lost! Go on, get lost! Laozi doesn't know you, so get the hell out of here—!!”

Bang bang bang bang!

A hail of bullets sprayed madly. Guo Weixiang blasted an opening in the gradually closing zombie horde in front of them and then forcefully shoved Si Nan in that direction. “Get lost! Quick!”

Si Nan ran a few steps but then stopped, turning back to stare at Guo Weixiang's blood-soaked leg, his amber pupils trembling violently.

Guo Weixiang struggled forward while cursing him furiously, but amidst the flying bullet casings, his roars were actually indistinct.

Zhou Rong, Yan Hao, Chuncao, Ding Shi, and the already deceased Zhang Yingjie... Amidst the flying bullets, the images of them laughing, joking, and fighting side by side flashed through the depths of his mind like a fleeting slideshow, gradually overlapping with Guo Weixiang's furiously shouting back.

Si Nan's lips trembled slightly, his chest heaving violently, as he pulled the military dagger from the small of his back.

Guo Weixiang suddenly smelled a hint of sweetness.

The scent was soft and ethereal, yet extremely piercing, momentarily pushing back the thick smell of gunpowder from the fired bullets.

In this life-or-death moment, he didn't immediately recognize what the scent was, but then, he subconsciously turned his head—

Si Nan strode closer, his face as white as snow, his steps slightly unsteady.

On his bare left arm, the military dagger had cut seven or eight long, crisscrossing gashes, dripping with fresh blood.

“Si...”

Guo Weixiang, in disbelief, murmured as if in a dream, “...Si Nan...?”

Si Nan's steps faltered for a moment, then he leaped forward!

The Zombies discovered a fresher, sweeter, more enticing target and roared in unison—among their outstretched, withered hands, Si Nan was like a fierce bird of prey, unafraid of death, charging straight toward the densest cluster of Zombies in front of Guo Weixiang.

The next second, he leaped up from the ground and landed on the Zombies' heads!