Sixteen Years

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Occasionally, heavy footsteps echoed in the corridor. Fang Sining leaned against the wall, nervously staring at the room’s door, which was blocked by a sofa, his heart pounding.

He dared not peek outside, and he couldn’t be sure what those figures roaming the halls actually were.

When Fu Yan had contacted him earlier, the situation in Peng City had not yet worsened. Fang Sining had initially been skeptical of Fu Yan’s words, until he witnessed a delivery guy in the lobby suddenly go berserk and attack the front desk receptionist. It was then that he vaguely understood the seriousness of the situation.

Fang Sining couldn’t fight, and he couldn’t run, so he had no choice but to follow Fu Yan’s advice and hide in the room.

Over the past few hours, he had heard occasional sounds of biting and cursing, along with cries of panic from outside. He had no idea who occupied the rooms upstairs. The toilet had been continuously leaking water, and pinkish, unidentified liquid had seeped through the ceiling, dripping onto the floor of Fang Sining’s suite.

The dripping sound had continued for a day and a night, forming a small puddle on the floor.

Fang Sining clenched his teeth, forcing himself not to think about what that liquid might be. He had stayed awake for a full day and night, wishing he could memorize the biochemical bonding formula a thousand times over in his mind.

He had no choice but to put his hope in the stranger known as “Blackbird” who had traveled a long distance to meet him. He hoped that Blackbird could truly help him find Shao Qiu.

At the very least, he needed to inform Blackbird about the incident involving his teacher, Fang Sining thought.

During his negotiations with Fu Yan, Fang Sining had spoken confidently, as if he were very familiar with Shao Qiu. But now, being alone, he couldn’t help but feel uncertain about how Shao Qiu would react after all these years. Their last encounter had ended on bad terms, and Fang Sining couldn’t imagine what Shao Qiu’s attitude would be now.

Oh well, Fang Sinin thought, he would take it one step at a time.

He pondered aimlessly for a moment, then suddenly remembered something. He slowly got up from the floor, his body feeling weak and shaky after sitting in the corner for a day and a night. He took two unsteady steps and leaned against the wall as he made his way toward the bedroom.

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With the time for his meet up with Fu Yan approaching, he needed to plan his escape.

Having spent a day and a night in the corner, Fang Sining’s muscles had turned weak from inactivity. He stumbled a couple of steps and then, clutching the wall, entered the bedroom. From his suitcase, he retrieved a backpack and carefully placed his laptop from under the pillow into it.

Then, after a moment of hesitation, he also packed the research documents he had brought for the conference.

Fang Sining had a rough idea of why “Blackbird” had traveled such a long distance to pick him up. Originally, they had hoped to rely on Shao Xuefan, but unfortunately, his teacher had passed away. So, they were placing their hopes on Fang Sining to see if they could obtain any assistance related to Shao Xuefan.

Fang Sining finished packing and hesitated for a moment before reaching up to touch his neck. He had a leather cord around his neck with a stainless steel USB drive attached to it—the backup key that Shao Xuefan had given him.

With the outside world in its current state, Fang Sining couldn’t be sure of the situation. Therefore, he hadn’t told Fu Yan the whole truth.

One of the things Shao Xuefan had mentioned when he handed him the key was significant.

“If someday you need this thing, hand it over to Shao Qiu,” Shao Xuefan had told him in his office, holding the USB drive seriously. “It has two layers of password locks, and he knows what the passwords are.”

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“Is that so, Professor?” Fang Sining had sounded hesitant. “But Shao Qiu…”

Fang Sining was clearly aware of the strained relationship between Shao Qiu and his father. He spoke delicately, but it was enough for Shao Xuefan to understand.

Regardless of what important task was being entrusted to him, Fang Sining knew that there was absolutely no understanding or cooperation between the father and son.

“As long as you tell him this, he will know,” Shao Xuefan said. “No matter how he sees me, I am still his father.”

“Alright,” Fang Sining had sighed and hesitated before accepting the item. “What does this contain, Professor? Can you tell me?”

At that time, Shao Xuefan had remained silent for a long time. He sat by the window, the autumn sunlight casting a shadow over his hunched figure, making him look like a mayfly in the twilight.

“In my lifetime, I have conducted many research projects, some good and some bad,” Shao Xuefan didn’t answer his question directly but said, “The academic community has had mixed opinions about me, and I am aware of that.”

“But I have no regrets,” Shao Xuefan continued. “Everything I did was for the greater good.”

“Professor, academic research is inherently subject to differing views,” Fang Sining consoled. “Your academic achievements speak for themselves, and you shouldn’t worry too much about what others think.”

“You’re right,” Shao Xuefan looked up at Fang Sining, and for a moment, his gaze wandered before refocusing. He spoke with a deep and solemn tone, “Sining, remember one thing—science is forever innocent, and we can only move forward.”

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“…If we have taken the wrong path, we must do whatever it takes to correct it,” Fang Sining repeated quietly to himself.

Shao Xuefan had been his mentor, often imparting wisdom to him. Fang Sining had absorbed many of Shao Xuefan’s thought patterns.

They had had many conversations of this nature, and now, Fang Sining felt as if this backup key contained an outcome that Shao Xuefan had long foreseen.

Fang Sining was startled by his own speculation and shivered. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

He glanced at his wristwatch; there were only twenty minutes left until the appointed time. The footsteps outside had quieted down somewhat, but he had no idea about the current situation outside.

Fang Sining slung the backpack over his shoulders, cautiously moved out of the bedroom, and stood near the door. He didn’t dare to move the sofa blocking the door, so he sat on it, carefully peeking through the peephole to see what was outside.

In the next moment, a face suddenly lunged at him through the peephole. The person’s eyes were cloudy, their eyes dark, and their mouth and nose were covered in black blood. Their face was rotting, with decaying flesh hanging from it.

That face suddenly enlarged in front of Fang Sining. He screamed and instinctively leaned back. However, his limbs were uncoordinated, and he tumbled off the sofa, almost falling to the floor.

It seemed like the zombies outside were banging on the door. The room’s door was being pounded with heavy, terrifying thuds. Fang Sining’s heart was pounding, and his limbs had gone weak.

He didn’t dare to look outside again and could only clutch his backpack against the sofa while trying to calm his breathing.

After a short while, another round of footsteps seemed to be approaching from outside. These footsteps sounded more regular and powerful, unlike the stumbling steps of the earlier zombies.

Within just two minutes, the relentless pounding on his door suddenly stopped. Fang Sining hesitated, wanting to check, but he was afraid of encountering another zombie.

He was wavering when he heard a knocking on the door from outside.

In a reflex, Fang Sining shivered upon hearing the knocking. Before he could hide, he heard a man’s voice from outside.

“Fang Sining?”

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Fang Sining recognized the voice. In the past day and night, they had spoken on the phone three times in total. Although the other person didn’t speak much each time, Fang Sining could easily identify his voice and tone.

Fang Sining glanced at his wristwatch and realized that it was exactly five minutes before the agreed time with Fu Yan.

He didn’t immediately open the door but carefully moved the sofa aside first. Then, he peeked through the peephole.

The man outside the door was approximately 6’3″ tall, with neat short hair and a handsome appearance. However, his face had no expression and seemed somewhat aloof.

He was wearing a dark-colored windbreaker and held a folding knife in his right hand, with the blade stained with blood.

The zombie that had been on Fang Sining’s door earlier was now lying motionless at the man’s feet as if it had been switched off.

Fang Sining examined him from head to toe, making sure he wouldn’t suddenly turn into one of those biting creatures. Only then did he cautiously open the door and step out.

Fu Yan looked him over, ensuring he had no injuries, and then they headed towards the corridor.

Fang Sining clutched his backpack, looking around. He was surprised to see that there were still quite a few zombies on this floor, maybe four or five of them. However, they were all lying on the ground, facing downward, with a large gash on the back of their necks.

“Did you kill all of these?” Fang Sining asked hesitantly.

Fu Yan made a sound of agreement but didn’t say much.

His left arm was still not fully healed. Although he had regained sensation, it occasionally went numb. There were too many people in the building who hadn’t managed to escape, so Fu Yan had no choice but to take the most circuitous route to get here. To avoid the concentrated area of zombies, he had even climbed the building’s exterior by a couple of floors.

But Fu Yan could navigate rooftops and walls with only one functioning arm, while Fang Sining, who had spent most of his time in the laboratory, couldn’t.

Even though Fu Yan had already secured a rope when he arrived, Fang Sining had faced some difficulties in descending, and he had even scraped his palms during the descent.

Fu Yan didn’t pay much attention to him. Instead, he simply handed Fang Sining a bottle of water.

“Where are Shao Xuefan’s documents?” Fu Yan asked.

“They are in his other laboratory, to the southwest,” Fang Sining replied. “The climate there is suitable for moss cultivation, so my teacher had a research base there.”

Fu Yan nodded and pulled Fang Sining around a corner, then pondered for a while before picking up a car from the street.

This car was more difficult to find than the previous ones for some reason. The car’s doors and windows were tightly closed, and there was a zombie sitting in the driver’s seat. When Fu Yan saw it, the zombie was restlessly banging on the glass in the confined space.

Unfortunately, that creature no longer possessed rationality or intelligence and was very clumsy. It was firmly secured by a seatbelt and couldn’t move. It looked much worse than the other zombies with seven or eight bloody holes in its body, intestines and blood scattered around, and its internal organs strewn in front of it, all thoroughly rotten.

Fu Yan opened the car door, put an end to its suffering, and then unceremoniously dragged the zombie out and threw it on the ground. He then splashed some water on the driver’s seat.

“What exactly are these things…” Fang Sining finally dared to come out from his hiding place. He looked at the body on the ground, still in disbelief, and said, “How can they still move in such a state of decay?”

“Even if they are in pieces, they can still crawl and move if their brains aren’t destroyed,” Fu Yan said. “We have to smash their brains to make them lose their vitality. Now, get in the car.”

Fang Sining got in the car with his backpack. He furrowed his brows, looking serious, and kept turning back to look at the corpse on the ground until Fu Yan started the car.

Fu Yan glanced at him through the rearview mirror but remained silent.

Perhaps it was because Fang Sining was younger, but after hesitating for a while, he couldn’t help but speak up.

“Have you conducted any experiments on them?” Fang Sining asked.

“Not yet,” Fu Yan replied. “There hasn’t been enough time. Do you have any ideas?”

“I’m not sure but….,” Fang Sining said. “I just suddenly remembered a plant virus that has a similar effect on the nervous system.”