Chapter 40: The Rescue Plan
When Song Chengshu saw Zhao Bing collapse, he immediately went over to check on him and found that his temperature was alarmingly high—he was burning with fever.
“What’s going on? Does Platoon Leader Zhao have injuries elsewhere?” The gunshot wound on Zhao Bing’s arm had already been bandaged, and there were no bloodstains on any other part of his body. It seemed he shouldn’t have any other wounds.
The young soldiers exchanged uncertain looks. They couldn’t recall their platoon leader having any other injuries either.
Seeing that he wasn’t getting a clear answer, Song Chengshu simply removed Zhao Bing’s clothing. Only then did he discover a faint scratch on the back of his neck. It was likely caused by a zombie’s fingernails. Because the wound was shallow and hadn’t bled much, it hadn’t drawn anyone’s attention.
He lifted Zhao Bing’s eyelids to take a look. His pupils were still fairly normal. Although his eyes were somewhat bloodshot, it was probably just from staying up all night and sheer exhaustion. It wasn’t anywhere near as severe as the blood-red eyes of someone who had been infected and mutated. As long as he could withstand the virus’s assault, he should be able to pull through.
“Doctor, how is our platoon leader?” Several of the young soldiers asked anxiously, terrified that Zhao Bing would end up like the comrade just now.
“For the moment, he’s okay. He should be fighting the virus right now. There’s nothing we can do—he’ll have to rely on himself.”
One of the soldiers slumped to the ground. Looking at Zhao Bing’s pained expression, his teeth clenched tight, a tear slipped from his eye.
“It’s all my fault. If the platoon leader hadn’t pulled me back, the one lying here would be me…”
“Saying that now won’t help,” Song Chengshu said. “You should go find some ice packs. At least they can help lower his temperature.”
After hearing this, the soldiers immediately went to the pharmacy, leaving only three of them behind to look after the wounded.
Song Chengshu sighed heavily as he looked at Zhao Bing. What Zhao Bing needed most right now was a glass of vegetable juice—but that was also the least likely thing to be found here…
They had come in too hastily earlier, and the vehicles were all parked outside. There was no way to even pretend it had been taken from the car.
Just then, the sudden sound of shattering glass drew everyone’s attention.
“You stay here and watch over them. We’ll go take a look,” Zhan Yun said decisively to the three young soldiers.
“Well… alright. If there’s danger, shout for us immediately!” The soldiers felt that as military personnel, they should be the ones rushing to the front in dangerous situations. But with several unconscious comrades lying here, there was no way they could leave. They had no choice but to let Zhan Yun and the others go check things out.
“Okay.”
As soon as Zhan Yun and the others reached the corridor, they saw several zombies that had actually smashed through a glass window and were trying to climb inside. Hospital windows were made of tempered glass—breaking them wasn’t easy. It seemed the zombies’ strength really had increased.
“Let me! Let me!” Zheng Jiahe shouted as he rushed forward. The golf club in his hands whistled through the air as it smashed down on the zombies’ skulls, bursting their heads open.
However, zombies that used to be killed with a single blow now needed two or three strikes before they were completely dead. Their skulls seemed several times harder, forcing Zheng Jiahe to use much more strength.
Once Zheng Jiahe finished dealing with the zombies, Zhang Shuoliang stepped forward, planning to seal the window with his earth-type ability, but Song Chengshu stopped him.
Song Chengshu took out his dagger and rummaged around in the zombies’ shattered heads, pulling out several crystal cores.
After washing the cores clean with his water ability and putting them away, he finally let Zhang Shuoliang seal the window.
To prevent any more zombies from breaking in, Zhang Shuoliang simply sealed off all the windows and doors on the first floor. This way, there was no chance for them to get inside again.
Sealing the windows and doors consumed a fair amount of his abilities, but fortunately, crystal cores could be used to replenish them.
When they returned to the examination room, the soldiers had already come back from the pharmacy with ice packs and were using them to physically cool Zhao Bing down.
“Everything okay?” the soldiers asked as soon as they saw Zhan Yun and the others return.
“No big deal. A few zombies broke a window, but it’s all sealed up now.”
“That’s good.” The soldiers finally relaxed. They took out a few packs of crushed biscuits and some bags of saline solution, handing half of them to Zhan Yun and the others. “We didn’t bring much food with us—this is all that’s left. Take it and give some to the lady and the child. The saline solution was taken from the pharmacy. Drinking a little is fine.”
Saline solution was basically salt water. It was harmless to the human body, and in the absence of drinking water, it could be used to replenish fluids and salt—just not in large quantities.
Su Ruizhe and the others were deeply moved. These soldiers hadn’t rested for a full day and night, had been injured after being ambushed by survivors, and were already exhausted and hungry. Yet they were still thinking of women and children, sharing what little food they had left.
No wonder people always said that soldiers were the most admirable people in the world.
“No need—we have food in our car. We’ve already eaten,” Wu Jing hurriedly declined, returning the items. Even Dongdong shook his little hand.
Seeing that they truly didn’t need it, the soldiers took the food back and shared it among themselves.
“What are your plans next?” Song Chengshu couldn’t help asking.
“We don’t really know,” the soldiers said with a bitter smile. “We’ll wait until the platoon leader wakes up. We’ll probably find a way to go back and rescue the others.”
“But there are so few of you…?”
“Even so, we can’t just abandon them,” one of the young soldiers replied with a wry smile.
The examination room was quite small. To give the soldiers better rest, Zhan Yun and the others went to find another room to stay in.
“Brother Zhan, what should we do next?” Zheng Jiahe asked quietly.
They had gotten the information they wanted, but it was completely different from what they had imagined. The garrison in S City was actually being controlled by a group of civilians. No one knew when the rescue they were waiting for would arrive. Although with Su Ruizhe around they didn’t have to worry about food and drink, the zombies were growing stronger. In the end, it still wasn’t as safe as sticking with a larger group.
“Rescue will definitely come—it’s only a matter of time,” Zhan Yun replied firmly. “But before that, we can help them rescue the soldiers who’ve been imprisoned in the camp.”
“Just us?” Song Chengshu asked in disbelief.
“What, scared?” Zhan Yun raised an eyebrow. “They only have two ability users. We have six.”
“But… they have guns…” They had seized the armory. They must be fully armed by now.
“What? Is our firepower weaker than theirs?”
Only then did Song Chengshu remember—they also had Su Ruizhe, a walking arsenal.
Su Ruizhe curved his lips slightly. “Actually, I’ve thought of a way that doesn’t require a direct assault. We might be able to rescue them quietly.”
“What way?” Song Chengshu’s eyes lit up.
Su Ruizhe raised his hand, and a thick green vine appeared in his grasp.
“What is that?”
Using his ability, Su Ruizhe guided the vine up the wall. Then everyone heard a faint chewing sound. Wherever the vine passed, it left behind a groove, as if something had gnawed through the surface.
“Grave-Devouring Vine!” Zheng Jiahe, the hardcore gamer, was the first to react and shout out its name.
In games, it was a plant that could be planted on tombstones to devour them. Using it now to silently gnaw through walls worked in much the same way.
Before long, the vine had quietly chewed a large hole through the wall.
“That’s great! This way, we can enter the camp without making a sound!”
“And with Zhao Bing and the others, who know the terrain well, our chances will be even better.”
“But after we rescue them, where do we settle them?”
“Let’s take them back to the villa area first. There are plenty of empty houses there—they’ll have somewhere to stay.”
Amid everyone talking at once, the next plan was quickly decided. Now all they had to do was wait for Zhao Bing and the others to wake up.
However, in the latter half of the night, Zhao Bing’s fever worsened. His body kept trembling, and the soldiers came to ask Song Chengshu to check on him twice. But awakening was something Song Chengshu truly couldn’t help with; all he could do was offer a few words of comfort.
In the end, still worried, Song Chengshu persuaded Su Ruizhe to take out a bottle of mixed fruit juice from his space. He poured out half for Yu Dongdong to drink, mixed a bit of vegetable juice into the remainder, and gave it to the young soldiers, saying it was what they had left over. He claimed it would help Zhao Bing replenish vitamins and boost his resistance.
The young soldiers didn’t know much about such things. They thought that drinking some juice to fill his stomach was a good thing, so they thanked Song Chengshu and fed it to Zhao Bing.
Whether it was Zhao Bing’s good luck or the effect of the juice mixed with vegetable juice, when the sun rose the next morning, Zhao Bing finally regained consciousness.
When they saw their platoon leader open his eyes, the young soldiers—who had worried all night without a wink of sleep—couldn’t help but burst into tears.
Hearing the commotion, Zhan Yun and the others rushed over. “How did it go? What kind of special ability did you awaken?”
“Superpowers?” Zhao Bing had just woken up and was still a little dazed.
“Yes, you were scratched by a zombie, but luckily you survived and weren’t infected. Now that you’re awake, you must have awakened some superpowers. You should try them out!”
Zhao Bing was still a little confused, but after Song Chengshu explained to him the general method of using his superpower, he followed his instructions, sensed the power within his body, and then tried to control that power.
The next moment, a blazing flame appeared in Zhao Bing’s palm.
“Ha, it’s a fire-based ability!”
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