In the hospital department, Lin An wiped away the sticky substance from his hands with a white cloth, his face expressionless.
A filthy mixture of red and white stained the white ceramic, vaguely revealing the crushed head of the zombie doctor.
"Captain Lin!"
Zhang Tie was a bit angry, with a hint of compassion flashing in his eyes.
Without the zombie doctor's command, the force of the zombies hitting the door outside weakened considerably. For the moment, there was no need to worry about them breaking in.
"Didn't he say he had a child somewhere?"
"I think he was willing to hand over the glove, just wanted us to help find his child."
"Why kill him?"
"He didn't actually want to become a zombie either."
"I think..."
Lin An threw down the white cloth in his hand and looked at Zhang Tie.
He wasn't surprised that Zhang Tie was angry about him directly crushing the zombie doctor's head.
Zhang Tie was inherently kind, as evidenced by the fact that his team was made up of the old, weak, sick, and disabled.
"Do you think I was too cruel? Inhumane?"
"Obviously, we were already planning to go to the building next door. If we found his child, he would have willingly handed over the glove."
"He might have even told us the location of another component."
"So, I shouldn't have killed him?"
Zhang Tie met Lin An's gaze, convinced his thoughts were right.
"Yes!"
"I think he was still human! He just wanted to find his child!"
"Human?"
Lin An chuckled softly and walked to a metal cabinet in the corner of the room.
"A zombie is always a zombie."
"The moment he turned into a zombie, he lost his humanity!"
"You underestimate the horror of the zombie virus!"
Lin An walked towards the black mist in his line of sight.
"Whoosh!"
He pulled open the cabinet, and a pile of white bones fell out, rolling to Zhang Tie's feet.
Three rows of children's skulls were neatly arranged on the top shelf, their innocent faces full of bite marks.
Every pair of eyes showed the terror before death, an eerie silence.
On the tiles, the bones were licked clean, with even the marrow pried open without a trace of waste.
This is...?!
Zhang Tie's breathing quickened as he stared in disbelief at the white bones at his feet.
His trembling hands picked up a piece that seemed to be an arm bone.
The bone was small, with underdeveloped, slender bones.
"Clack-clack-clack"
Zhang Tie's teeth chattered, and the broken bone in his hand fell to the ground.
He recognized that all these bones belonged to children.
Lin An wasn't surprised by Zhang Tie's reaction.
Though Zhang Tie looked burly and had a strong mind, the apocalypse had just begun. Few people could withstand such a shocking scene without the harsh baptism of its cruelties.
Lin An sighed softly and patted Zhang Tie's shoulder.
"The second floor was partly designated for pediatrics."
"Since we arrived, have you seen a single zombie child?"
"It told you that it retained its sanity and humanity because of the glove's power."
Zhang Tie took a deep breath, struggling to squeeze out a few words from his throat and shaking his head.
"Captain Lin, isn't it because of the glove?"
Lin An touched the glove on his right hand, his gaze cold.
If he weren't a reborn individual, he would likely have been deceived by the zombie doctor's words too.
Sanity? Wanting to save its child?
Zombies can never possess such things!
They become complete monsters the moment they turn into zombies!
At most, they might retain some intelligence.
Even that, however, comes at the cost of consuming humans.
Just like the "Stitcher."
It evolved into a third-tier mutant, the "Abomination," after devouring all the survivors in the Wanshang Mall!
Becoming the ultimate nightmare for the survivors of Linjiang City!
"Have you figured it out yet?"
"He lost the glove but still retained intelligence and knew fear. This indicates that his intelligence wasn't granted by the glove but came from himself."
"Players can level up by killing mutants, and zombies can 'level up' by eating humans as well."
"The more powerful the mutant, the more people it has killed."
"That zombie just now might seem weak to me, but its true strength is much greater than other zombies."
"Moreover, it seems to be a special type, capable of commanding other zombies through mental power."
"Otherwise, without its command, we wouldn't have had such a hard time before."
"Most likely, it devoured all the children here by itself, which caused its mutation."
Zhang Tie fell silent, unable to resist moving towards the pile of 'filth' on the floor.
Gritting his teeth, he stomped it to pieces.
"Damn bastard!"
"Beep, Zhang Tie's loyalty to you has increased by 10 points. Current loyalty: 70!"
With 70 points of loyalty, Zhang Tie was unlikely to betray him now.
Having a system to monitor loyalty in real-time was indeed useful.
Not bad.
It seemed this experience had shaken Zhang Tie's worldview significantly.
In the future, Zhang Tie would likely not question Lin An's decisions anymore.
"Captain Lin, I'm sorry."
Zhang Tie bowed his head, giving a self-deprecating smile.
"It's nothing. These are things you would have faced sooner or later."
"Don't trust any zombies or mutants. From the moment they turn into zombies, they are no longer human."
Lin An stood by the window, his gaze fixed on the inpatient building in the distance.
Room 303, Wen Ya's mother.
The zombie doctor's child, the key missing part of the equipment.
It seemed necessary to go there, whether to gain Wen Ya's loyalty or to complete the equipment.
"Rest for ten minutes, then we head out!"
Ten minutes was enough time for Zhang Tie to recover his strength.
The higher one's physique, the faster the recovery.
Time was tight; ever since the apocalypse game descended, the global weather had become extremely unstable.
Though they had set out early in the morning, it was now only midday.
But it got dark quickly now, around five in the afternoon.
If they delayed,
zombies would grow significantly stronger at night.
Quantity leads to qualitative change.
No matter how strong a single zombie is, it's still limited. But a horde is different.
Any bit of enhancement becomes extremely troublesome.
Lin An stood by the window, carefully observing the layout of the entire hospital.
The upcoming action in ten minutes might not go smoothly.
Why did the zombie doctor want him to go to the inpatient department?
What was there?
He couldn't believe the zombie doctor simply wanted him to find his child.
Child?
Whether there was one or not was questionable.
Most likely, there was some danger there.
The zombie doctor wanted him to go there to either keep him there or at least trap him for a while to buy time to escape.
Lin An muttered to himself.
Mutants?
The hospital had already produced mutants that hadn't appeared in his previous life.
So it wouldn't be surprising if another one appeared.
But what had caused the deviation?
The knocking sound in the underground parking lot, the unexpected corpse snake, the shriek last night, the missing 'Bloody Witch,' and the corpse mountain on the city entrance road likely caused by a third-tier mutant!
Lin An questioned himself, believing he hadn't done anything to broadly affect 'history.'
If he had,
it could only be because he had taken the Doomsday Ring ahead of time!
Lin An recalled the oddity when he took the ring, something had clearly burst out from that mysterious black hole.
Then he had been unconscious for three days, wasting precious time to gather supplies.
Lin An's thoughts were a whirl, and a sudden idea crossed his mind.
Perhaps there was an opportunity to check Fengming Road No. 97.
If something had indeed burst out, it must have caused damage to the surrounding environment.
A thorough investigation might reveal some clues left behind.