"Senior President Yan, the entire downstairs of the hospital is full of zombies. It's dangerous for you to go out now!" A young doctor in a white lab coat in a staff room discouraged an old man.
"Don't stop me! That's my only son, and if you try to stop me again, I'll fire you!" The old man was holding a cane where he roared and tried to push open the door that was blocked by several tables stacked together.
"Uwaaa…"
Under all the ruckus, a baby's cry suddenly heard. There were several other people in the room, including a woman with a newborn baby.
"Alright! Stop it!" Heart-shaking growls echoed in the room. The man who was sitting with the woman stood up. With his towering tall body nearly 1.9 meters, he looked particularly oppressive, mainly because he held a brown SVD sniper rifle in his hands.
"There are monsters out there now, Senior President Yan. you'll get yourself killed if you want to go out now."
"Sheriff Qi Tiexin…is there really nothing we can do?" The old dean's body froze in place.
"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do about it."
The man known as Qi Tiexin shook his head to show that he was powerless. He was the sheriff of this city, he went out on a business trip for a few months. Once he heard his wife was giving birth to his child, he immediately rushed to go back. But this tragedy happened. Everyone had heard about a crisis from biological weapons. But experiencing it personally was a different thing.
"Ugh…" The old president slumped weakly to the ground. He looked through the window at the horde of zombies that were swarming towards the hospital. "This city is doomed, and so are we."
"It's all this kid's fault!"
The young doctor glared at Sun Qi, who had just arrived and was huddling in the corner of the room in fear.
"It's my fault to save his life and ended up attracting that monster." Qi Tiexin loaded his sniper rifle with a flick of his hand. Lucius' glowing red eyes in the darkness still haunted his mind. Qi Tiexin was sure that guy wasn't a human!
"What's that?" The old president lifted his head through the window and suddenly noticed a glow in the sky.
"Hm? A helicopter? It's a…rescue team!"
Feeling dumbfounded, Qi Tiexin saw nearly an entire formation of helicopter units in the dark night sky hovering over the city.
"It's the government! The army of the New Federation of China has sent a team to rescue us!"
"We're saved!" Almost everyone present was relieved, including that old dean, who even stood up in excitement.
"There is…help…"
But the words weren't finished.
"Grrrr…!!" The door that was blocked with several tables suddenly knocked open. The old president's body was grabbed by bloody arms, choking him.
"Shit!" Qi Tiexin immediately reacted and shot at the door. Gunshot sound and screams were heard as blood splattered out, and the zombie was dead. But the old president's neck was also snapped by the zombie's incredible strength.
Faced with the unexpected death of the old president, everyone who just felt relieved tensed up again. It's still dangerous!
"We can't be saved until we get to the roof!" After moving the table, Qi Tiexin carefully opened the door, kicked the dead zombie. Raised his gun and poked his head out left and right to observe the hallway. No one's here, no zombies were seen.
"Quick! The stairs are right next to this room. Run to the roof, and we'll be saved!" Under Qi Tiexin's instruction, the young doctor ran as fast as he could, rushing straight up the staircase next to the room and abandoning others.
The woman with a baby on her arms and Sun Qi ran towards Qi Tiexin.
"Quick, and go! Our child is still too young, we can't let him die here like this." Qi Tiexin instructed his wife, the woman nodded and ran upstairs with the infant in her arms. Sun Qi didn't say a word and just silently kept up with the woman.
But just as Qi Tiexin was planning to follow behind Sun Qi, a figure appeared in the corridor…
Qi Tiexin's eyes widened, looking at the presence that stepped out from around the corner of the corridor. With scarlet eyes and pale white skin, the suspicious smile looked like he was excited about something. He's that…monster?
It was as if time were paused at this very moment.
Lucius looked at the fleeing prey and raised his hand, followed by the zombies running after them. At the moment Lucius swung down his arm, Qi Tiexin opened his mouth and screamed on top of his lung.
"Run!!! Run with all your life!!"
"Grrrr!!!"
Hundreds of zombies emerged from behind Lucius, shrieking as they rushed towards the living humans who were trying to survive. Everyone forced their body to exert their physical strength as they ran towards the stair. Qi Tiexin threw a tiny oval-shaped object at the corner of the stairs and then quickly ran upstairs.
Lucius' eyes widened after realizing what it was and leaped back smoothly.
Boom!
Flames swept through the corridor. Hot winds whipped up Lucius's hair, flames, and shards of glass splattered everywhere, along with bits of flesh from the zombies blown at the center of the explosion.
Lucius's ears were still ringing from the explosion. How does the New Federation of China's weapon management system work? How did this guy even get access to a grenade, and also an SVD?!
Lucius looked at the corridor, most of the zombies were nearly blown up to bits. Fortunately, there were enough zombies unaffected by the explosion. As long as their heads weren't destroyed, they would still survive. In a few moments, another horde of zombies swarmed into the stairs.
"Struggle." Lucius stood in the center of the swarming zombies. As if there was an invisible wall surrounding him, the zombies didn't rush around him as if they were making way for Lucius. "Keep struggling." Lucius followed the zombies up the stairs. He slowly ascended the stairs.
"That way, things get interesting."
On the other side. Qi Tiexin felt he was having the worst day of his life. Because of his job as the city sheriff, he couldn't be at his wife's side when she gave birth. Now, he returned home to see the child. He hadn't even given him a name yet. But then they encountered such a terrible fate! The world has gone mad! Qi Tiexin listened to the roar of the zombies downstairs. Were they still human? He couldn't answer his own question.
The hospital was an eight-story building. Running to the rooftop required time. Especially for his wife, that was holding a baby in her arms. Also, she just gave birth a few days ago, she wasn't strong enough to endure such an intensity. Gradually, her movement slowed down to the point where she couldn't run at all. Qi Tiexin stayed at his wife's side.
"Rui Er… I have an idea."
"But… I don't have the strength to continue. Take our child with you. Don't mind me, he's our priority…"
The woman showed extraordinary courage even when faced with those monsters. She was weak, she understood she would only become a burden for her husband. Such a burden must be eliminated as soon as possible.
"No, I mean, I'll distract those zombies. You go first." Judging by the noises, Qi Tiexin predicted the zombies were slow. They had reached the sixth floor, but the zombies were still around the fourth floor.
"What do you mean? Tiexin… no! This child has to be with his father…"
"Who said I'm going to die?" The man gestured to his wife, smiling. "Don't worry, I'm just going to distract them. I'll see you on top later."
"But…"
"We haven't named our child yet, right?"
"Yes. I was going to wait for you to come back and then decide a name together."
"So, I'll be back." Qi Tiexin's big hand pressed on his wife's shoulder, "Let's decide his name, together. I won't die until then. That's a promise as a father."
Qi Tiexin looked at his wife. She was a virtuous wife who understood the heavy burden on her husband's shoulders. In the end, she didn't hesitate and nodded with a heavy heart. But when his wife was about to turn around and leave, Qi Tiexin pulled on her arm.
"Can… can I have another look at our child?"
"Tiexin…"
This man looked at the infant child in his swaddling clothes. His steady hands that never waver as a sniper suddenly shivered as he gently stroked his son's forehead.
"Believe in daddy…daddy will definitely come back."
Bidding his final farewell, Qi Tiexin watched her back as she walked up the stairs.
He stood in the middle of the stairs alone. Reloading the SVD on his arms. He pulled out two grenades from his pocket and held them tightly in his hands. After a brief contemplation, Qi Tiexin returned one grenade to his pocket and pulled the other's safety pin.
"Uhhhhhh!!" The zombies rushed up with a snarl.
"Come on, monsters!" Qi Tiexin didn't hesitate to throw the grenade directly at the zombies. The explosion blew the zombies into pieces. After that, two more shots were fired at the roof. The SVD's loud gunfire sound attracted the zombies' attention, whose vision was terrible, but they had an incredible hearing ability, which helped them find their prey.
The remaining zombies weren't that many. Maybe around a dozen or so. For an ordinary person, they might be deadly. But Qi Tiexin wasn't an ordinary person!
"Maybe this is the last time I'll be a sheriff." Qi Tiexin tossed his police badge with the New Federation of China's emblem to the ground. D-Rank Esper was written on it.
"Fight!" Being this close, Qi Tiexin used the sniper rifle in his hand and fired a few shots to draw the zombies' attention. His speed was a level faster than the zombies!