Chapter 140
Chapter 140
The main hall was a wreck.
Just a few hours ago, this had been where the survivors ate, chatted, and assigned tasks. Now, the floor was covered with corpses.
Fewer than ten people were still alive.
They stood at the edge of the pool of blood like fish washed ashore by the tide, mouths open as they gasped for air, nearly driven mad all over again.
Some leaned against the walls, while others crouched on the floor. The once orderly group had been reduced to a scene of people barely clinging to life.
At the sound of approaching footsteps, everyone looked up at once.
The Director emerged.
She looked down at the carnage strewn across the floor, then at the survivors. Their eyes were full of hope.
There was hope that they might live, but also confusion. They wanted her to tell them what to do. They wanted her to give them the “right answer,” just as she always had.
The Director slowly said, “Drag these bodies… down to the basement.”
Everyone immediately sprang into action. They put on gloves and masks, then stepped into the pool of blood. Soon, they were all cleaning up the carnage.
Rotting corpses would stink, and the smell would draw more Madmen. Even digging a huge pit to bury them would take time. Until then, they needed to dispose of the remains.
Someone dragged away a headless corpse. Someone else picked up the scattered chunks of flesh. Another wiped the blood from the floor.
Qi Zhi walked over to the Director and leaned close to whisper in her ear, “Wen Lianfeng and the others…”
“Wait for now.” The corners of the Director’s mouth curved upward. “I’ll have a little ‘chat’ with them first. If that doesn’t work, someone will naturally… ‘take care’ of them.”
She paused. “But keep an eye on… Wen Lianfeng.”
Qi Zhi nodded.
The Director turned and made her way upstairs at an unhurried pace, disappearing around the bend in the staircase.
Qi Zhi stood there, staring at her retreating figure. Without turning his head, he called out,
“Ye Que.”
One of the figures moving the bodies froze.
Ye Que straightened and turned around. Her face was covered in blood, making her expression impossible to read. Her eyes alone looked unusually dark and gloomy.
Qi Zhi looked at her. “Go to the roof. Keep watch.”
Ye Que fell silent for a few seconds, then lowered her gaze. “Okay.”
She tossed the severed limb in her hands into a bag, pulled off her blood-soaked gloves, and walked away in another direction.
Qi Zhi joined the other survivors in disposing of the bodies.
Chunks of flesh from their own kind and the Madmen were mixed together, making it impossible to tell which belonged to whom.
He reached down and picked up a severed leg. The ragged stump exposed splinters of stark white bone.
The instant his fingertips touched it, a faint, tearful voice sounded against his palm.
“Big Brother… save me…”
It was a young boy. Again… This voice had been haunting him for a long time.
Qi Zhi did not even pause. He continued without expression, not so much as a tremor in his eyelashes, as though he had heard nothing at all.
All around him, wails and pleas rose and fell, carried on the stench of blood. The severed limbs on the floor and the bodies that had been torn apart were all “crying.”
“Big Brother, it hurts so much…”
“Big Brother, save me… I don’t want to die…”
“Why… Why did this happen…”
The voices burrowed relentlessly into his ears and mind, but Qi Zhi silently gathered the mangled remains that were still “wailing” and tossed them into the bag.
Amid the heartrending cries, he calmly lifted the bag and headed for the basement.
Upstairs.
The Director passed through room after room, floor after floor.
She had long since committed every inch of this place to memory. She knew where every door led, how many turns there were in every corridor, and which corners were best concealed. She could have found her way around with her eyes closed.
When she reached the upper floors again, her steps suddenly faltered.
For a moment, she was lost in a daze.
She thought she saw a woman again, sitting curled up in the corner, looking up at the window high above. It was so high and so small, and the sliver of light that filtered through was pitifully faint. Yet the woman still stared at it desperately, as though it were something precious.
The woman’s voice still echoed in her ears.
“Ah Yun. I’m scared.”
The Director stood at the top of the stairs, staring into the empty room for a long time before continuing on.
At last, she stopped in front of a door tucked away in a corner.
She had finally found them… found all of them.
Inside the room, several people huddled motionless in separate corners. Wu Wujie crouched in front of them, gripping a gun aimed directly at the door.
The moment he saw who it was, his entire body relaxed with relief.
“Director.” He asked, “How is… everyone?”
The Director looked at him.
Behind him, the patients remained curled up where they sat, staring blankly ahead. They were utterly oblivious to everything that had just happened. The gunshots, the screams, the crazed laughter-it was as though none of it had anything to do with them.
The Director said, “Take them… downstairs.”
Wu Wujie froze for a moment.
He glanced back at the patients. Though he did not understand, he nodded anyway.
Rising to his feet, he helped the patients up one by one and led them out of the room.
Downstairs, the survivors were still cleaning up. Most of the bodies had already been dragged away, but the bloodstains remained, and the thick, nauseating stench of blood refused to dissipate.
They looked up and saw the Director descending the stairs, followed by Wu Wujie and the patients.
The survivors frowned.
They could not understand why the Director had brought these people down. The patients were normally confined upstairs and never took part in anything. Bringing them down at a time like this would only create more trouble, wouldn’t it?
But a few people seemed to have already guessed the reason. Their faces began to pale.
The Director stopped in the middle of the crowd.
Her gaze swept over every person there before finally settling on the patients.
“In this world,” the Director began, “filthy people like us only become Madmen after we’re infected. We slaughter one another.”
“But they won’t.”
The Director raised a hand and pointed at the patients. “They are quiet by nature. They are the purest among us.”
“Once they are infected… girls can lead them, and they can become our Protectors.”
Protectors.
Everyone’s eyes began to light up.
Wu Wujie’s heart lurched, and he whipped his head around to stare at the patients. They still looked the same, their gazes vacant, showing no reaction whatsoever to the Director’s words.
His face began to pale. He did not know how things had come to this, but… he understood that before any of them could become a “Protector,” they would first have to survive bloodshed and infection.
The Director’s voice softened. “They won’t go mad and kill. They will only obey.”
“From this day forward, they will be our shields.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a voice called out in agreement.
“I support this.”
Qi Zhi’s gaze passed over the crowd and settled on the patients. His eyes were as calm as if he were looking at a pile of supplies.
Silence.
Then someone else spoke. “I support this.”
“I support this.”
Another voice joined in.
More and more people voiced their support.
When it was Wu Wujie’s turn, he still looked lost. He remembered what he had said before.
“I like children.”
“I want to stay here and take care of them.”
He opened his mouth. His instincts urged him to say something, but all those declarations of support had been so resolute. He did not know what to say.
In the end, he merely echoed the others without thinking. “I… support this.”
The Director looked at him and finally smiled.
“Good.”
Meanwhile, in the dim basement…
The ventilation duct was pitch-black. Nothing could be seen inside.
But within that darkness…
A pair of scarlet eyes slowly… lit up.