"Okay..." Lucius put on his gas mask and disguised himself once again as a Black Watch soldier.
Su Lei also got up from his bed without saying a word and walked out of the room.
The civilians were gathered at the base entrance. The way those humans cheered and admired him after he saved them made Su Lei felt like everything he did was worth it.
"Is Major Su Lei alright?"
"But, we're really thankful for saving us!"
There was a quarantine pod at the entrance of the base. It seemed like he could leave the base wherever he stepped in. Just as Su Lei was about to leave, a sense of danger appeared in Su Lei's mind!
"Watch out!" At his side, however, Lucius suddenly pushed Su Lei's body away.
Bang!
Gunshot rang out.
"Cough..." a huge bloody hole appeared in Lucius's abdomen, who was wearing the Black Watch uniform.
Why? Su Lei looked over his shoulder at the large number of Black Watch soldiers that had rushed inside the base, and then at Lucius, who had fallen to the ground.
"I can't believe a rat got in here, Major Su Lei. No, I should say Su Lei."
Hakein stepped out from among the Black Watch troops and narrowed his eyes at him.
"What are you trying to do?" Su Lei looked at the Black Watch soldiers, whose guns were pointed at him.
"You're infected, right? Major Su Lei... "Hakein looked at Su Lei with a look that was called fanaticism.
He found out? But how?
Su Lei took a step back, only to find that the civilians were walking away from him. A look called fear appeared in the eyes of those civilians, stimulating Su Lei's heart.
"Humans are afraid of us..." the words of Lucius somehow came to Su Lei's mind.
"Infected by the virus? We should run away. If he turns into a zombie, we'll be eaten..." the civilians who had been clinging on to Su Lei in order to survive, now cowered backward.
"Capture him! Su Lei has contacted with the virus and will no longer hold the rank of Major of the New Federation of China! He's just a monster!" Hakein's round-rimmed glasses reflected a strange light, "It's really a shame, Major. I've enjoyed working with you for so many years."
The Black Watch raised their guns and started shooting at Su Lei.
"Humans hunt us…"
A shield made of flames appeared in front of Su Lei's outstretched hand, and all the bullets that flew towards him melted into liquid metal drops.
"Hold on to me!" Su Lei hugged Lucius's body, who had been shot in the abdomen, and ran towards the back of the base.
He was...going to save me? Lucius was a little surprised, but...
"Maybe..." replied Lucius with some difficulty. "We should run… and hide…"
After running, Su Lei leaned Lucius's body against the wall of a vehicle warehouse on the base's outskirts.
"How is your wound?" Su Lei checked the gunshot wound on Lucius's abdomen.
"Why did you save me?"
"Because you saved me..." Su Lei tapped on the wall behind Lucius as if he was thinking about something, but there was no time for that.
"Target found!!!"
A large number of Black Watch soldiers stormed into the warehouse. Guns were once again pointed at Su Lei and Lucius in the corner.
"Once they are discovered, there will only be death."
"There's no time to lose." Su Lei's hands burned with scorching flames, and the temperature in the entire room began to rise, but instead of attacking the Black Watch, he melted the wall behind Lucius.
The metal wall melted down, and the wind from outside blew in. The outside world was only beyond this wall! We could escape through it!
"Run!" Su Lei shouted at Lucius, who now stood up.
The moment the Black Watch soldiers began to open fire, Su Lei planned to use his flame shield again to melt the bullets coming their way. But why didn't it appear? Why? The power he was always proud of, the power to manipulate fire to scorch everything within sight now didn't work?
The bullets ran through Su Lei's body, making him half-kneeled on the ground.
Consciousness…
His consciousness began to drift away again…
"Ohhh… too bad you can't control what you've created." Hakein's voice rang in Su Lei's ear.
Something he created? What's going on? Su Lei's brain was in chaos.
"You're not a human anymore, Su Lei. You're just a monster."
What would happen to the infected?
Standing against humans...
Not worthy of being human anymore...
Everything I once had disappeared...
No one will save me...
"Su Lei!!!"
At the last moment before his consciousness drifted away, Lucius' voice rang in Su Lei's ears.
In order to survive, we must join forces.
In order to survive....
"!"
Su Lei struggled with the last of his body's strength to push Lucius's body outside...
You saved my life twice, and now I'm paying it back! Vampires have tough lives, right?
Finally, Su Lei's body collapsed to the ground, his consciousness eventually faded into darkness.
"I... didn't save you, Su Lei."
Lucius discovered that this base turned out to be a building.
"But then, it's up to you, Professor Hakein." Lucius's body that was falling mid-air turned into blood and dissipated. It was nothing more than a blood clone.
"The plan... has just begun."
...…
At the top of the tall building.
"He ran away."
Hakein stood in front of the fallen Su Lei, looking down through Su Lei's melted wall and finding nothing.
There was a note and a photo of Hakein's hand, "I was going to have afternoon tea, but I was told about such an important piece of information. I should really thank him for it."
What was written on top of the note held in Hakein's hand...
'An interesting test subject.'
The photo above was Su Lei's distorted arm after being infected. There was some blood-stained on the corner of the note. Which was not human blood, but a vampire's blood.
"In any case, I can't let go of such a good test subject."
Hakein looked at unconscious Su Lei, lying on the floor, and felt that it was time to get to work.
............
I'll come to rescue you.
Lucius looked at the gray sky above. Now, a light rain had begun to patter down. A few minutes ago, Lucius had reached the outside world through the Blood Body and hid in a small dark alley.
'I will definitely come to save you, after all, we're both monsters. In this world, only I will come to save you, Su Lei.'
'But only after you understand the horrors of humanity.'
Lucius looked at the building from the corner.
The only way to make a monster hate a human was to send them to human beings' hands.
Lucius wanted Su Lei to experience it, to feel it.
The pain the monster suffered after being captured by humans...