"Alright, I know."
"Does the patrol team know about the current situation? How long will it take to get things under control?"
Zhou Yu'an's amber eyes flashed with an unreadable light as he asked the question, hitting the nail on the head.
On the other end of the phone, Father Zhou fell silent for a moment.
It seemed the question was too difficult to answer.
After a while, he changed the subject:
"A group of guards has already arrived at the research institute. They will escort me out first."
"Remember, find a way to escape to the hospital's roof. There... you know. After you get it, I've applied with them—a helicopter will come to pick you up in a day."
Zhou Yu'an took a deep breath and pressed, "What's the exact time?"
In the background of Father Zhou's end, the sound of hurried footsteps and the scraping of instruments and chairs could be heard.
They were likely in the middle of an emergency evacuation.
"I can't be sure, probably after dark. What we know for now is that the mutated zombies have limited mobility at night."
"Alright, I understand."
"Yu'an, you must survive!" Father Zhou said earnestly.
"Mm."
Zhou Yu'an hung up the phone with a flat tone, showing no signs of panic.
Chu Liuyue stood to the side.
She knew exactly what was going on.
Father Zhou was the director of the research institute; naturally, he would know more insider information than ordinary people like them.
Zhou Yu'an turned his head slightly and looked at her.
"We'll go to the sixteenth floor first to find Gu Man, and then I'll take you to the top floor. A helicopter will come to pick us up in a day."
"Of course, if the patrol team controls the situation before then, that would be the best outcome."
Actually, Zhou Yu'an knew very well in his heart.
If this incident was minor and could be contained, Father Zhou wouldn't have gone out of his way to arrange a helicopter for him.
That required a lot of influence and owing a massive favor.
Chu Liuyue obediently nodded her head, cooperating perfectly:
"Okay, I won't hold you back."
Zhou Yu'an glanced at her, his eyes falling on her light gray tight-fitting long skirt.
Without a word, he opened the closet, took out a pair of loose white sweatpants, and handed them over.
"Change into these."
"Huh?"
"You can't run fast in a skirt. I won't leave you to die, but I won't sacrifice myself to save you either." Zhou Yu'an's expression was indifferent as he said this.
They were strangers, after all.
They had only met once.
The only tiny bit of responsibility he had toward her was that he was a doctor, and she was a patient.
"Okay!"
Chu Liuyue didn't hesitate. She immediately took the sweatpants, turned around, and went into the cubicle.
Zhou Yu'an let out a long sigh of relief.
Fortunately, she wasn't the indecisive type, otherwise, if she became a burden, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't abandon her.
After all, Gu Man was already a huge trouble.
Carrying two burdens would be exhausting.
His gaze inadvertently swept past the blue curtain. The fabric wasn't thick, and light shone through it.
Inside, the silhouette slowly slipped off the long dress.
The shadow of the tightly wrapped mermaid skirt shifted into the silhouette of slender, long legs.
Slightly uncomfortable, Zhou Yu'an turned his head away.
Yet, from the corner of his eye, he still peeked.
The examination bed had just been dismantled, so Chu Liuyue had nowhere to sit while changing her pants.
She could only stand on one leg, lifting the other to slip it into the pants, barely maintaining her balance.
Then she lifted the other leg, and just as she was about to put it in...
Her foot stepped on the pant leg.
"Hiss, ah—"
With a slight rustle, her center of gravity shifted, and she was about to fall.
A figure flashed by swiftly. A large hand gripped her slender waist and pulled her toward him.
Zhou Yu'an stared at the white ceiling above, his voice calm.
"Hurry up and put them on."
Because Chu Liuyue had nearly fallen, she had only managed to get one leg into the white sweatpants, leaving her other long, fair leg exposed to the air.
Her skin was smooth and glowing.
Her voice carried a hint of panic and helplessness: "My... my hands are shaking a bit. I have no strength."
"Why?" Zhou Yu'an's voice remained cold, devoid of any emotion.
"It's an old habit of mine. Whenever I get too nervous, my hands lose their strength." She spouted nonsense with a straight face, her long, curled eyelashes drooping.
Her wet, almond-shaped eyes stared at him, her face pure and beautiful.
"Dr. Zhou, could you... could you help me?"
Her voice was very soft.
The breath she exhaled brushed against his jaw, carrying a faint, fresh scent of orchids.
It was Zhou Yu'an's favorite scent.
His amber eyes shifted.
His scrutinizing gaze fell on her face, and he coldly rejected her:
"Sorry! That's inappropriate."
"Yes, but Dr. Zhou, you're holding me right now. That doesn't seem very appropriate either, does it?"
Chu Liuyue's cheeks flushed a light pink, her finger vaguely pointing at the hand he had clamped around her waist.
Zhou Yu'an immediately pulled away.
Losing her support, Chu Liuyue was like a helpless blade of grass. She instinctively reached out and grabbed his arm, steadying her swaying body once again.
"Didn't you just say you had no strength?" Zhou Yu'an's gaze slanted downward.
It landed on the arm Chu Liuyue was gripping.
"I'm feeling much better now." She didn't blush or skip a beat, squeezing out a faint smile at him.
Zhou Yu'an stepped back, standing outside the curtain.
"I don't have patience."
"Done."
With a 'swish', the curtain was pulled open. The white sweatpants looked like wide-leg pants on Chu Liuyue, loose and baggy.
The pant legs were a bit long, so she rolled them up.
Revealing a section of her fair, smooth ankles.
Zhou Yu'an's gaze paused for a second before quickly moving away.
He motioned for her to pick up the steel pipe.
"I'm going to open the door now. Be ready."
He paused, then added.
"Don't have shaky hands or lack of strength again."
"Okay, Dr. Zhou." Chu Liuyue obediently nodded, holding a steel pipe in each hand, and quickly followed behind him.
The wooden door in front of them was fragile. Ever since the window was broken, the hands reaching in from the outside hadn't stopped scratching at the doorframe.
"Thump, thump, thump—"
One crash after another.
Like a human pyramid, they launched an attack on the wooden door.
Zhou Yu'an's eyes were calm, as if calculating the time. Just as the noise outside the door slightly lessened.
He violently pulled the door open.
"Hoarse, hoarse—"
Five or six zombies had been gathering strength to ram the door. When the door suddenly opened, they couldn't stop their momentum and foolishly rushed in.
After the first one fell.
The second, the third.
They hit the ground one by one.
Zhou Yu'an didn't stay idle. He narrowed his eyes, and with swift movements, thrust the steel pipe in his hand toward the necks of the other two zombies that were still moving freely.
Chu Liuyue noticed that he aimed for the neck.
A dark, sour-smelling liquid slowly oozed from the zombies' necks.
Their pure white pupils rotated slowly for a moment.
Then they tilted their heads and suddenly collapsed.
"Keep up."
Zhou Yu'an cleared the way in front. There weren't many zombies wandering in the corridor, only two or three.
"Okay, Dr. Zhou."
Chu Liuyue followed at a steady pace, her small face full of panic, but her footsteps were actually calm and composed.
