Shao Ming walked back down the road, turning left to find the teaching building he had passed when entering the laboratory complex. The double-decker bus was still parked there, but the mutated creatures appeared to have been drawn into the teaching building.
If there was one thing Shao Ming could say, it was that this felt like the tutorial level.
He quickly crossed the road. There were very few mutated creatures in the school, so Shao Ming jogged toward the apartment where Gary and the others were staying.
As he approached, the roar of mutated creatures echoed from the direction of the apartment building.
Shao Ming ducked behind a dormitory building and peered out cautiously.
Now he understood why he had earlier felt like he was still in the "newbie village."
The mutated creatures gathered at the base of the apartment building had more than doubled compared to before. It seemed that the mutated creatures from the surrounding dorms had all converged at Gary's building.
Shao Ming quickly pulled back his head. There were far too many mutated creatures—at least six or seven hundred surrounding the base of the building.
He retreated along the back of the dormitory and ended up back by the double-decker bus. Compared to the throngs of mutated creatures below the dorm, this area was eerily quiet.
He crouched behind the bus and quickly made a decision: he couldn't afford to risk going back to Gary and the others. His only option now was to find his own way out.
Sure, going alone might lead him to more danger, but handing the microscope over to Gary would mean heading straight into the heart of the horde. Besides, no one even knew if Gary's words had any truth to them.
Shao Ming felt a pang of guilt. Gary and the others had saved him earlier, and most of the mutated creatures outside were likely drawn there by his own presence. But in the end, it was clear: if he returned now, it would be suicide.
With a resigned grunt, he stepped onto the main road. The mutated creatures at the hospital gate had vanished.
Shao Ming quickly realized a key fact: the more mutated creatures gathered in one area, the louder their roars. The louder the roars, the more creatures came. It was a vicious cycle.
He passed by abandoned vehicles and arrived at the hospital entrance. Taking advantage of the momentary lull, he planned to check the police and ambulance vehicles for anything useful.
On the sidewalk, there was an armored vehicle, and some shredded bodies, still dressed in police uniforms, lay scattered nearby, emitting a dreadful stench.
Shao Ming held his breath and stepped carefully over the body parts, approaching the open rear door of the armored vehicle.
Inside, a long trail of blood stained the floor. It looked like the victim had crawled into the vehicle, only to be dragged back out afterward, leaving a gruesome trail.
The remains of the unfortunate soul were likely now in the stomachs of the mutated creatures.
Shao Ming climbed into the armored vehicle. Near a row of seats, he spotted a drawer that had been pulled open.
He moved over to it, rummaging through it and pulling out a flashlight and two tourniquets.
Pressing himself against the door that connected the vehicle's cabin to the front, he peered in. To his surprise, he saw a dead SWAT officer sitting in the driver's seat—it seemed like he had taken his own life.
Shao Ming fought back the nausea and tried to open the small connecting door.
The stench of decay hit him immediately, and he pushed the door open, only to immediately vomit again.
With no more contents to expel, Shao Ming grabbed the SWAT officer's body, dragged it from the driver's seat, and dumped it onto the floor of the cabin.
The bloated, rotting corpse was a gruesome sight, with a bullet hole in the officer's head. Shao Ming quickly stripped the tactical vest off the corpse and donned it himself.
The vest was heavy, and inside it, there were bulletproof plates. A magazine containing standard 5.56 NATO rounds rested in a pouch on the chest.
"Where's your rifle...?" Shao Ming muttered, searching through the vehicle.
The cabin was empty—seemingly, the SWAT team hadn't kept their arsenal inside.
Shao Ming crawled into the driver's seat. There, he found a G36 assault rifle lying quietly on the floor.
His heart leaped in joy. This was a great find.
He grabbed the G36, removed the magazine, and checked—there were still bullets.
He slung the rifle over his back, then jumped out of the armored vehicle through the side door.
Luckily, the area outside was still clear, and the mutated creatures hadn't yet returned to the hospital.
Unfortunately, the armored vehicle didn't have keys.
Just as he was about to check out the nearby ambulance, he heard a tapping sound coming from inside.
Shao Ming raised his baseball bat cautiously and approached the rear of the ambulance.
He peered through the window but saw nothing inside.
With caution, he slowly pulled open the door.
Suddenly, a mutated creature lunged out, aiming straight for Shao Ming's thigh.
Though he had mentally prepared himself for something like this, it still startled him enough that he stumbled backward. This, however, allowed him to narrowly avoid the creature's bite.
This mutated creature had no lower half—its spine and intestines hung out, dragging on the ground as it tried to claw its way toward its prey.
"Can't even eat shit hot," Shao Ming cursed, bringing his bat down on the creature's head.
After dealing with the creature, he climbed into the ambulance's rear compartment.
He searched through the vehicle, but aside from a pile of bandages and a defibrillator, there didn't seem to be anything useful. Or at least, nothing he could immediately identify as useful.
Shao Ming didn't dare venture deeper into the hospital. The rain still hadn't stopped, and the vast hospital interior, filled with potential mutated creatures, was too dangerous to explore further.
Taking a moment of respite in the ambulance, he pulled out his phone and checked his messages.
It was already past midnight, and Li Long still hadn't responded. His parents, however, had called him repeatedly.
Shao Ming quickly sent a message to his parents, assuring them that he was safe. Then, he called Li Long.
He couldn't afford to let anything happen to his family.
The call connected, but Li Long's voice didn't come through.
"Li Long? Hello?" Shao Ming asked.
After a few seconds of silence, a faint sob came from the other end.
"What's going on?" Shao Ming asked, his tone sharp. "What happened?"
"I'm... showing symptoms," Li Long whispered through the phone.