Chapter 57

Human testing ground.

—The moment these words were spoken, the vast, empty laboratory fell into a dead silence.

The man struggling two or three meters away, the rustling sounds of his movements suddenly became exceptionally clear and jarring.

Ning Yu was expressionless, while Doctor Zheng panted rapidly, his hands hanging by his sides, unconsciously clenched into fists.

"Then what are you going to do now," Si Nan watched Ning Yu and asked slowly, "turn me into a Zombie too?"

Ning Yu seemed a little surprised by Si Nan's composure and answered casually, "No, I'd have to be crazy to do that." But after a pause, he added, "But if it's necessary, I will."

"...What exactly are you trying to do?" Si Nan asked with a frown.

Ning Yu smiled. "You're missing the point. The question isn't what I'm trying to do, but what I've already done."

He stood up and walked toward the laboratory bench. Si Nan's gaze followed him. He saw Ning Yu open a device on the table that looked a bit like a rice cooker and use tweezers to pull out a blood collection tube—Si Nan recognized that "rice cooker." It was a blood centrifuge.

He abruptly looked down and, just as he expected, found a blood-stained cotton ball on the vein of his right arm, held in place by medical tape.

"This is your serum." Ning Yu placed the blood collection tube into the device to uncap it, speaking with focus, "I should have drawn blood from your left arm, but I heard from Rommel that you're an outstanding solo combat expert... so I decided to draw from your right arm, just as an extra precaution."

Si Nan clenched his right fist. Sure enough, there were aftereffects from the large, single-dose blood draw; his fingers were cold, weak, and slightly limp.

"Rommel? Did he also tell you that I'm equally skilled with both my left and right hands?" Si Nan said mockingly. "If you really wanted to be cautious, you should have drawn 400cc from all four of my limbs in turn."

Ning Yu replied, "If it's necessary, I will. No need to provoke me."

Si Nan struggled against the handcuffs, which rattled, but the metal didn't budge.

Without looking up, Ning Yu said, "Don't waste your energy. It's refined steel."

"..." Feeling the utter absurdity of the situation, Si Nan finally gave up struggling. "Why did you draw my serum?"

Ning Yu was performing manual calculations and uncapping procedures using an outdated method, jotting something down on paper. Unexpectedly, he didn't ignore the question but answered it methodically. "A few months ago, Rommel came here. Using the semi-finished antibody he had as bait, he asked us to keep an eye out for you along the coast. His inexplicable persistence piqued my curiosity, until your people brought a group of survivors here..."

Ning Yu's calculation speed was lightning fast, not slowing in the slightest for his narration. "I asked Doctor Zheng and learned that when you first joined the survivors, you claimed to have been bitten by a Zombie, and that you developed a high fever that very night."

"It was later proven not to be a Zombie, because I wasn't infected!"

"No," Ning Yu said. "I suspect you really were infected that time."

Si Nan asked doubtfully, "...What do you mean?"

Ning Yu finally stopped his calculations, picked up a pendant from the lab bench, and dangled it in front of Si Nan. "Are these your parents?"

—It was, shockingly, the brass pendant Si Nan never took off.

"I'll give it back," Ning Yu said, looking at Si Nan's expression. "It's just that after seeing this photo, I realized that you might be the one I've been looking for... excuse me, the test subject whose existence I've always suspected."

Si Nan thought, 'Whose existence he suspected?'

"I've met your parents." Ning Yu seemed to see through his question but didn't explain, instead changing the subject. "When I went to Country A to study for my doctorate at sixteen, Professor Zhong Wan and his wife, Dr. Alyssa Fairman, were my senior classmates. At that time, we were under the same mentor, researching a topic related to viral genetics. The goal was to use viruses to invade the gene chain, promoting modification and perfection to enhance human genetic quality and extend average lifespan."

Learning his parents' real names so unexpectedly, Si Nan was momentarily stunned.

"Out of consideration for our shared Chinese heritage, Professor Zhong Wan gave me a lot of professional help, but the good times didn't last. A few months later, Professor Zhong Wan was infected with a virus in a lab accident and unfortunately passed away. Dr. Alyssa Fairman disappeared from the research base, taking his body and you with her."

"...You..." Si Nan's voice started to tremble. "I don't remember any of this. Tell me more, back then my parents..."

He was desperate to know what his parents, whom he couldn't even remember, were like. He wanted to know more, more specific details, even if it was just a few trivial childhood anecdotes.

But Ning Yu remained expressionless and answered him with just six words: "No time, not interested."

"After the lab accident," Ning Yu switched out a blood collection tube and continued, "the project was deemed highly dangerous and classified, so the military funded a takeover of the entire research institute and began searching everywhere for Dr. Fairman. The body of Professor Zhong Wan that she carried, and the series of mutated behaviors the body exhibited, became a target of great interest to the military."

Si Nan noted his choice of words: mutated behaviors the body exhibited.

A body can exhibit behavior?

"Although you were very young then, you should be able to remember always having a bloodthirsty, wailing father at home who constantly tried to violently attack you, leaving all sorts of wounds on you. This behavior from Professor Zhong Wan... sorry, I don't want to call that thing 'Professor Zhong Wan' anymore... after its behavior was monitored by military personnel, it was considered a great validation for the virus research, a milestone. It was from that year on that the research base, under military orders, began human experiments."

Doctor Zheng, listening from the side, was utterly stunned.

Si Nan closed his eyes. Countless jumbled memories flashed through his mind like a carousel. He opened his eyes and said with a tremor in his voice, "...White Eagle Base?"

"I don't know what it was renamed to later," Ning Yu said, "because that year, I withdrew from the research group and fled back to the country."

Ning Yu used tweezers to take out a test tube. Inside was the separated, pale yellow serum.

Si Nan glanced at the man beside him, whose groans were growing coarser, gradually turning into muffled wails, then looked back at Ning Yu. "You continued human experiments after returning to the country, and that's what caused the virus outbreak?"

"Am I sick in the head?" Ning Yu said impatiently.

Si Nan: "..."

"To tell you the truth, all capable countries in the world were conducting research in this area at the time. Humanity's pursuit of a 'better self' and a 'longer life' is endless... The only difference lies in whether to insert a virus as a gene modification method and whether to use live humans as test subjects. By the way, I am quite certain our country used chimpanzees, and I have no doubt this would be a significant piece of foreshadowing before the disaster struck."

Ning Yu walked to the side of the man who was turning into a zombie, pushed the air out of the syringe, and injected the biochemically synthesized serum into his blood vessel.

"As for me," he said, "I only started using live humans as test subjects after the virus had broken out completely... for instance, this man in front of you."

The man's chest heaved violently as he let out an inhuman scream. Doctor Zheng squeezed his eyes shut.

Si Nan asked hoarsely, "Is this why Chen Yajing takes in survivors?"

"Of course not. But I do use dissenters and straggling survivors as test subjects; it's harder to get caught." Ning Yu finished injecting the entire tube of serum and pulled out the needle. "For example, this person had a mental breakdown due to excessive stress a while ago and was running around like a madman. Even if he went missing, it would be easy to explain away."

There wasn't the slightest hint of malice in his tone. On the contrary, it was no different from saying "I'll have an extra egg in my lunch box" or "It's a bit overcast today"—it was so calm, so natural, that it sent an icy shiver up one's spine.

"...You inject him with the virus, let him get infected, and then test the serum?" Si Nan questioned in disbelief. "Why not use animals, or just use a simulated immune system?!"

Ning Yu didn't answer him right away. Instead, he picked up a camera and took a few pictures of the man on the operating table, then opened a notebook and began to record rapidly.

The man had been thoroughly infected but hadn't completely turned into a Zombie. The serum was rapidly breaking down and being absorbed in his body, locking onto the antigen, and beginning a smokeless, yet grand and tumultuous war invisible to the naked eye.

"The Zombie virus doesn't infect animals; I'm sure you've already discovered that." Ning Yu said without looking up. "No matter how much the dosage is reduced or the toxicity lowered, the only result of the Zombie virus entering an animal's body is immediate death. Only by injecting the virus into humans and chimpanzees can a mutation effect be produced. And I don't run a zoo, so where am I supposed to catch so many chimpanzees?"

"As for a simulated immune system, that's even more ridiculous. I need infected individuals under very specific conditions, during the transformation process. The requirements are extremely high in all aspects. Do you know how long it took me to build this laboratory? Do you think I can build a supercomputer with my bare hands to run an artificial simulation system?"

The man's scream suddenly intensified. His pupils abruptly dilated, then rapidly constricted!

Ning Yu raised his eyes and met Si Nan's gaze mockingly. A full ten seconds passed before Si Nan squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth, "How many people have you killed?"

Ning Yu said, "Who keeps track of that."

"...If you're so dedicated to scientific research, why don't you experiment on yourself first? Why not give yourself a shot of the virus?!"

"If it's necessary, I will." Ning Yu repeated this for the third time. His tone and pitch were no different from the previous two times, a stark contrast to Si Nan's fury. "Now, please lie back down. The experiment has reached a critical stage."

Si Nan's eyes were red. He gritted his teeth and leaned back into the recliner, almost by sheer force of will.

"Ah... ha... ah—!"

The man suddenly struggled with all his might, his bones and tendons nearly snapped by the restraints!

The explosive force of that moment was terrifying. Doctor Zheng instinctively took two steps back, but Ning Yu strode forward and snapped on a flashlight.

He carefully observed the contorted features and wide-open mouth before him, completely unconcerned that the man's teeth had almost touched his hand several times. Every second stretched on like a century. After a full few minutes, the man's pupils changed noticeably, his eyeballs rapidly became bloodshot, and the veins on his neck bulged!

Doctor Zheng stammered out a few words, "—Heart-heartbeat!"

Ning Yu and Si Nan turned their heads at the same time.

On the monitor, the flat line suddenly bent, then began to jump up and down, starting to beat.

Ning Yu's hand went slack. The flashlight clattered to the floor and rolled under the operating table.

"Ahhhhhh—" The man let out a heart-wrenching, beast-like roar!

But everyone present could hear the difference. That roar wasn't the deep wail of a Zombie, but the unconscious outburst of a human in a state of delirium. Ning Yu rushed to the lab bench and grabbed a syringe. Before he could run back, he heard the man stammering, "Help... help me... help..."

"—He's talking," Doctor Zheng said, coughing and panting, unable to tell if it was from extreme excitement, agitation, or fear. "He's talking!!"

It all happened in just a few short seconds.

The man gripped the bedsheet, his whole body arching backward like a balloon inflated to its limit, bursting in the next moment.

He fell heavily back onto the operating table. Blood quickly overflowed from his mouth, nose, and ears, and in an instant, he was silent.

The line on the monitor flattened again, emitting a monotonous beeping that filled the dead-silent hall.

Ning Yu panted, his whole body suddenly relaxing as he staggered back several steps in dejection.

"He-he's dead," Doctor Zheng's hands were trembling uncontrollably. He finished the examination, stammering, "The zombification... the signs of zombification are gone. That serum, the serum, the serum vaccine actually worked..."

Although it was only for a brief moment, the serum did have an effect—

The combined effects of the virus and the serum had snuffed out this life, but the serum had successfully stopped the virus from turning the body into a Zombie!

Ning Yu raised his hand and covered his face tightly.

"...Impossible," Si Nan murmured blankly. "Impossible, how could I..."

Ning Yu wiped his face hard and said, "Just as I predicted."

Si Nan and Doctor Zheng both stared at him, but Ning Yu said no more. He turned back to the lab bench and quickly started the centrifuge—only then did Si Nan notice a whole rack of blood collection tubes.

Ning Yu had been ruthless. It seemed he had drawn at least 800cc of whole blood while he was unconscious.

Si Nan was light, and his total blood volume wasn't high. No wonder Doctor Zheng, watching from the side, had thought Ning Yu was going to kill him directly.

"I need someone," Ning Yu suddenly said in a low voice.

At first, Si Nan didn't realize what he was saying. But in an instant, he understood.

"I'm going to re-compound the virus." Ning Yu repeated in a low voice, his gaze falling on Si Nan, who was cuffed to the recliner. "I need a living person."

The two locked eyes for a moment. The gold-rimmed lenses blocked Ning Yu's gaze, and an unprecedented chill slowly rose in Si Nan's heart.

Suddenly, a trembling voice broke the silence. "...Here... there's..."

Both men looked over to see Doctor Zheng staggering forward, shielding Si Nan with his body. He then pulled out a pistol he had kept hidden for a long time, the muzzle pointed squarely at Ning Yu. "There's... a living person here," he choked out, the gun trembling uncontrollably, while his other hand pointed steadily at himself. "You can experiment on me."