Su Ya actually felt some guilt towards Chen Zhong in her heart.
Some people, when feeling guilty, will try to compensate the person they've wronged by treating them even better.
However, others will try to avoid the person they owe, wishing that the person would disappear from their life entirely so that they wouldn't have to deal with the torment of their own conscience.
Su Ya was the latter.
She wanted Chen Zhong dead!!!
If Chen Zhong died, there would be no one left for her to feel guilty towards...
Actually, it wasn't just Chen Zhong—Qin Jun was also somewhat surprised.
This woman, whom he had long grown tired of, was showing a side of herself that made him view her in a new light...
Looking at Su Ya, Qin Jun couldn't help but sigh at the venomous heart of a woman.
Who could have imagined that such a delicate and beautiful university flower could harbor such a ruthless heart?
This kind of woman could certainly achieve something in the apocalypse...
However, Qin Jun didn't agree with Su Ya's suggestion. Chen Zhong couldn't die yet—not until he obtained that SSS-level potential reward.
Qin Jun smiled faintly and said, "Forget it. Since Chen Zhong has already knelt, we should show mercy where we can."
His words sounded magnanimous, but given his actions, they were laced with irony...
An Mian immediately helped Chen Zhong up, her face full of concern.
She thought to herself that once she saw her father, she would definitely report this to him—how dare Qin Jun have someone point a gun at her!
Qin Jun smiled at Li Weiguo, "Captain Li, shall we depart?"
Li Weiguo nodded. He hadn't spoken a single word from beginning to end.
He was a pure soldier, only knowing how to follow orders. Since he had been instructed to listen to Qin Jun, he would obey every command from Qin Jun.
Qin Jun, Xie Han, and Su Ya got into the convoy under the protection of the soldiers and drove off.
An Xinling also took An Mian and Chen Zhong into a police car, following behind the military convoy.
The quarantine zone had become very dangerous, like a powder keg that could explode at any moment. No one knew what might happen.
Following behind the military convoy was the safest option...
After Qin Jun and his group left, the students who had been watching the drama quickly dispersed, discussing what had just happened. It felt like they had just watched a blockbuster movie!
Suddenly, one of the boys shouted, "Whoa, Zhou, what's wrong with your eyes?"
A chubby boy beside him asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
His pupils had turned cloudy, milky white, with even bloodshot veins appearing at the corners of his eyes, giving off an eerie feeling.
"What the heck is this? Cataracts? Eye infection?"
The other boys quickly rushed him to the campus clinic, causing quite a stir...
Meanwhile, Jiang Dahai ordered his men, "Seal the school gates. No one is allowed to leave. If something like this happens again, I'll be in trouble!"
....
Inside the police car, An Xinling drove while glancing at Chen Zhong and An Mian in the rearview mirror.
Ever since Chen Zhong got into the car, he had been silent. Clearly, the humiliation he just suffered had hit him hard.
Although An Xinling wasn't willing to directly confront Qin Jun for Chen Zhong, she didn't want to see this promising young man fall into despair either.
After thinking for a moment, she gently comforted him, "Being born poor is not a shame. A real man can bend and stretch."
Chen Zhong nodded at her words.
An Xinling then turned on the police radio, wanting to find out what was happening.
As soon as she did, chaotic sounds filled the air, a mix of shouting and gunfire.
"This is the Third Unit of the Riot Squad! We're under attack on Xinyang Street in the South District! Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"
"Goddamn it, what the hell are these things? They won't die even after being shot!"
"Requesting backup! One of our brothers has been bitten! Shit! Lao Xu, what are you doing? Why are you biting feng?!"
Listening to the chaos over the police radio, An Xinling's pretty face darkened to the point where it seemed she might cry. What on earth was happening?
A riot?
Or was it a terrorist attack?
An Mian also recognized the seriousness of the situation. She clung tightly to Chen Zhong, her chubby face full of worry.
Chen Zhong turned to look out the window. The night seemed particularly gloomy, the sky was misty, and the sparse moonlight cast an eerie glow over the city.
There wasn't a single person on the streets; it was like a dead city. Faint sounds of gunfire and screams could be heard in the distance...
He knew in his heart that from this moment on, humanity's fate would change.
The days of peace and prosperity were gone, never to return. In the future, humanity would be accompanied only by slaughter and blood.
The apocalypse had arrived!
---
Jiangjing, Jiangbei Bridge.
The city of Jiangjing was split into two areas by the Huang River. The quarantined districts—Xinan District, Minxu District, Baohai District, and South District—were all in the southern part.
The only passage between these quarantined zones and the outside world was the Jiangbei Bridge.
After the lockdown began, the authorities stationed a large number of military and police forces at the bridge, establishing a checkpoint. Without a pass, no one was allowed to enter or exit.
The soldiers, fully armed and wearing masks, stood on guard by the roadside with their guns loaded, even setting up machine guns!
Armed helicopters hovered around the bridge, patrolling back and forth, with high-powered searchlights scanning the river to prevent anyone from trying to escape by water.
The bridge was already packed with vehicles, and a dense crowd of people swarmed towards the checkpoint, trying to leave the area and reach the safety of the outside.
There were at least ten thousand people.
Their faces were filled with fear and anxiety, the noise of their voices, police sirens, shouts, and babies crying, all blending together into a chaotic din.
It only added to the already tense atmosphere.
Although they didn't fully understand what was happening, the severity of the situation drove them to instinctively want to flee the quarantine zones.
The police officers stood on higher ground, shouting through megaphones, "Without a pass, you cannot pass the checkpoint! Please return home and wait!"
In truth, most of the people didn't have the so-called passes, but not a single one of them went home—they all kept pushing forward.
They all held onto a sliver of hope: what if they could somehow get out?
At the very front of the crowd, people were already blocked by the metal barriers of the checkpoint. The soldiers were not allowing anyone without a pass to go through.
"Let me through! Let me through! I'm not infected, I'm healthy!"
People were screaming desperately, trying to prove that they were healthy.
But the soldiers were unmoved, mechanically repeating, "Only those with a pass may pass the checkpoint. Without a pass, please return home and wait."
A woman, holding a little girl, pleaded with an officer, "I won't go through, just take my daughter out, please?
I'm begging you!"
The officer's eyes showed a bit of pity, but he could only shake his head.
The higher-ups had given strict orders—without a pass, no one could cross the checkpoint. If anyone tried to force their way through, they were to be shot on sight, no exceptions!
Someone in the crowd shouted, "I'm the vice president of Changnan Industries! I'll pay 300,000! Can I get a pass?"
Immediately, the crowd started to stir.
"I'm the director of Xinghai Group! I'll pay 400,000!"
"I'll pay 500,000!"
In the crowd, a well-dressed, official-looking middle-aged man stepped forward, pulling out a work ID. He spoke quietly to an officer:
"Lieutenant, I'm Gong Shulin, head of the Tax Bureau in Baohai District, Jiangjing City. Can you make an exception and let me through?, I've had dinner with Wang Zhe, your military district's staff officer. We're quite close!"
The lieutenant carefully inspected Gong Shulin's work ID, then handed it back to him, shaking his head, "Sorry, Director Gong. Without a pass, you can't go through."
Hearing this, Gong Shulin's smile froze, his face turning somewhat ugly.
As the head of the Tax Bureau, Gong Shulin was a big shot in Jiangjing City. On a regular day, countless people would try to curry favor with him, and even CEOs worth billions had to be polite in front of him.
Yet a mere lieutenant was refusing to give him face?
But faced with these heavily armed soldiers, Gong Shulin could only suppress his anger and retreat back into the crowd to start making calls, hoping to use his connections to get a pass.
In the crowd, a fashionable, arrogant-looking young man was holding up his phone, recording a video. He had a heavily make-up woman in his arms.
After finishing the recording, the young man uploaded the video to an online platform, giving it a highly provocative title.
"Jiangjing on Lockdown, Military Suppresses Civilians?"
In no time, the video garnered thousands of likes.
The young man's face lit up with a satisfied smile as he bragged to the woman beside him, "Check out my influence!"
His name was Li Han. With just a technical school education, he had once worked in a factory, tightening screws. However, during the rise of short videos, he unexpectedly became famous.
With over two million followers on Kuaisheng, the largest short video platform in the country, he was a major online influencer, known as "Little Li." In just a few short years, he had amassed tens of millions in wealth.
Li Han's female companion asked coquettishly, "Li han, can we still go out?"
Li Han bragged, "What's there to worry about? I have two million followers. The Jiangjing Bureau of Culture and Tourism even approached me to shoot a promotional video."
As he spoke, he showed her a photo of himself with several officials from the Jiangjing Bureau of Culture and Tourism.
"Wow," the woman exclaimed in admiration, making Li Han even more pleased with himself...