Chapter 43 Part 2

"I don't remember," Si Nan said with a smile, "but I'm not the type of person to do something like that, especially to you. So either you're lying..."

"I'm not!"

"Is that so?" Si Nan said languidly. "Then it must have been me trying to strangle you with the scarf when you were alone, and you just misunderstood."

Rommel shot to his feet, his face a mixture of blue and red. But before he could say anything, Si Nan's final words successfully lit the fuse of his anger. "You're too sentimental, 'brother'," Si Nan said sympathetically. "Just like your father was with my mother... she never even gave him a proper look until the day she died."

A sharp, distorted roar suddenly came from the room. "Jane!"

The Female Alpha quickly pushed the door open, only to see her superior standing by the bed. He turned around, his pupils having turned a completely ominous, terrifying dark gray.

"Truth Serum," he said through gritted teeth, his anger making every word chilling. "...Bring in all the Truth Serum!"

·

Abbas casually shot a few half-rotten Zombies in the alley, then stepped into the small courtyard holding a cardboard box. He saw his female teammate standing under the locust tree with her arms crossed. From behind the closed door came the heavy thud of something hitting the floor and the clattering sound of things being overturned.

"You're back?" Jane took the cigarette from her mouth. "Find anything?"

Abbas silently put down the box and took out its contents one by one.

Batteries, knives, hardware parts, half a can of motor oil, and a small half-bottle of liquor.

Jane picked up the liquor bottle, took a swig, and tutted. "This place is no good. The southern coastal areas are much richer in supplies. See any survivors?"

Abbas shook his head.

Suddenly, Jane glanced behind him and shouted sharply, "Who's there?"

Abbas whipped his head around, and both of them looked towards the courtyard wall, which was covered by the tree canopy.

For a few seconds, there was no movement. Then, the bushes rustled, and a black shadow let out a shrill cry as it swept over the wall like the wind—it was a scrawny gray cat.

"Little thing," Jane sneered. It was unclear if she was talking about the cat or the person in the house.

Abbas replied sullenly, "That's not what you said back when you first joined White Eagle and he was drilling you in the unit."

Jane laughed. "So don't you think it's satisfying to see someone like that get tortured?"

"..."

"Especially a ruthless and arrogant instructor like him, the kind who never deigns to look at people properly... torturing someone like that must feel pretty good, right?"

Abbas thought about it, but before he could say anything, the door opened.

Rommel strode out, cloaked in a violent aura, not even glancing at his two subordinates who had snapped to attention. "North."

Jane didn't react in time. "What?"

"The plane crashed to the north," Rommel said coldly. "He must have dropped the thing there. Abbas, get him in the car. Prepare to leave."

The subordinate, built like he was cast from steel, acknowledged the order, ducked into the house, and emerged a moment later with an unconscious, motionless figure slung over his shoulder.

In the corner of the courtyard, hidden behind the bushes, Zhou Rong's pupils silently constricted.

—Although he had vaguely anticipated it along the way, seeing it with his own eyes felt like a steel needle instantly piercing his heart and lungs, causing his internal organs to spasm bloodily.

That was Si Nan.

Si Nan wouldn't approach a strange Alpha, let alone be caught so easily. Zhou Rong could almost imagine the scene: thirsty and hungry, Si Nan heard the sound of a vehicle in the distance and, thinking Squad 118 had come back to save him, ran out from his hiding place, overjoyed, shouting at the car; however, by the time he realized their ill intentions, it was too late. Not only were there three well-trained Alphas, but they were also armed...

Zhou Rong forcibly suppressed his scalding breath and gripped the top of the wall tightly.

His fingernails dug deep into the wall, leaving four clear white marks on the old brickwork. A trickle of blood seeped from under his nails.

What now?

Zhou Rong landed silently and quickly moved to the corner of the courtyard gate, his entire body hidden behind the wall. He scanned the three Alphas back and forth through his scope.

Two men and one woman. The man giving the orders seemed vaguely familiar for some reason, but there was no time to dwell on it now.

Under the current shooting conditions, Zhou Rong was confident his marksmanship could kill the man with one shot, or at least incapacitate him. But the other side still had two mobile members. What if they used Si Nan as a shield?

They had a car. Once they drove off, it would be difficult to catch them. What would they do to Si Nan then?!

The muzzle shifted slightly, and the scope now centered on the burly man holding Si Nan. Zhou Rong narrowed his eyes.

If he sniped this man, Si Nan would have a chance to break free and escape quickly. But from this angle, Si Nan was motionless, possibly already unconscious...

'Calm down,' Zhou Rong told himself, 'calm down.'

He had worked in places with the country's strictest political vetting and highest security levels, had served as a close-protection officer for the top leader, and had been responsible for the security of more than a dozen foreign heads of state.

He had experienced many dangerous situations and earned many merits. On professional matters, Zhou Rong's official record showed a zero error rate.

'He had never felt like this before, a trace of uncontrollable anxiety and anger crawling up his spine and spreading through all his nerves.'

Zhou Rong shifted his muzzle to the left, aiming the crosshairs at Rommel's leg, and placed his index finger on the trigger.

—But just at that moment, the Female Alpha screamed, "What's going on!"

Zhou Rong snapped his head to the side.

While unconscious, Si Nan suddenly convulsed, letting out a terrifying, beast-like whimper, and violently tumbled to the ground!

He had been on a hunger strike for nearly forty-eight hours, and his bodily functions were extremely weak, but the force of this struggle was so great that even Abbas couldn't hold him. Caught off guard, he let him fall to the ground and hurriedly shouted, "Quick, help!"

Rommel and Jane rushed forward. Abbas grabbed Si Nan's arm and twisted it. The sound of his elbow dislocating was clearly audible.

However, Si Nan seemed to have suddenly lost his sense of pain. Even this heart-wrenching agony didn't slow him down one bit. In a flash, using the momentum of his twisted elbow, he leaped onto Abbas's back and viciously drove his other elbow into his opponent's cervical spine!

Abbas roared in pain and dodged, sending Si Nan flying—

In that instant, Zhou Rong pulled the trigger three times.

The first bullet hit Abbas squarely in the calf, and the burly man collapsed to his knees.

The second bullet hit the Female Alpha's shoulder, and the gun in her hand flew far away before she could fire. The third bullet was still in mid-air when Rommel spun around like lightning and fired a burst of bullets at Zhou Rong's hiding place!

Zhou Rong quickly dodged, and the brick wall was peppered with bullets, sending plaster flying!

"Over there!" Rommel roared, suppressing Zhou Rong with heavy fire, preventing him from retaliating as he strode towards the brick wall!

"Sir!" Jane's deafening scream erupted. "Come back! He's out of control!"

Si Nan staggered to his feet. His pupils were extremely dilated, and his eyes were bloodshot, contrasting with his deathly pale face, making him look just like a rabid Zombie. He moved his strangely twisted elbow and, with a crack, popped it back into place, then stared intently at Abbas.

A low roar rumbled from his chest—it sounded like the deranged, frenzied wail of a trapped beast on the verge of death.

'Kill them,' a voice repeated over and over in his mind.

Everyone had turned into blurry-faced Zombies. Hallucinations caused by the overdose of Truth Serum flashed before his eyes, and he couldn't see their faces clearly at all.

Kill them.

Everything that moves is a Zombie, kill them.

For a moment, Abbas actually felt a chill and dragged his foot back two steps. But then, Si Nan charged forward with such force that he had no time to dodge, and a single punch sent him reeling backward!

The Female Alpha cursed loudly and charged at Si Nan, clutching her injured shoulder.

Zhou Rong leaped onto the wall, descended through the hail of bullets, and tackled Rommel to the ground. In that instant, all the bullets grazed past his carotid artery. Both men knocked the guns from each other's hands. The AK47, spewing bullets, flew into the air, and in the blink of an eye, peppered the ground and the brick wall with a semi-circle of craters!

Zhou Rong pressed his elbow against Rommel's throat and roared, "Si Nan!"

Si Nan raised his head.

In that critical moment, Zhou Rong saw his eyes, and his heart sank.

Si Nan's gaze was unfocused, his veins bulged, and he was so thin he was unrecognizable. He looked even more terrifying than he had at the construction site that day, even having a bloodthirsty feel to him, like the Living Dead.

—Si Nan couldn't recognize him.

The way he looked at Zhou Rong was no different from how he looked at the other three Alphas, or even how he looked at the Zombies.