A little chocolate stain still lingered on the corner of her lips.
Chu Liuyue noticed it in the glass mirror behind her.
She then naturally licked the corner of her mouth, her watery eyes rippling with light, completely unaware of how seductive this action was.
Zhou Yu'an's gaze swept over her briefly and quickly withdrew, his body stiffening slightly.
Almost subconsciously, he mechanically chewed the remaining chocolate in his mouth.
By the time he realized it, it was too late!
Oh no!
Did he... just share the same chocolate stick with Chu Liuyue?
He was a germaphobe.
"I..."
Zhou Yu'an's lips parted slightly.
Just as he was about to say something, he saw that Chu Liuyue had already walked away.
"I'm so sleepy, I'm going to take a nap on the sofa over there," she said.
Leaving Zhou Yu'an standing there alone.
He only felt the pounding in his chest growing stronger and stronger.
How strange.
He touched his face.
He found it unnaturally warm.
And the chocolate he chewed and swallowed was also very sweet.
...
3:30 PM.
The roaring sound of helicopter rotors echoed.
Accompanied by fierce, sweeping winds.
Gu Man had sharp ears; the moment she heard the noise, she rushed over to Yan Qingdu like she was presenting a treasure.
"Senior Yan, this is great! The helicopter is here to pick us up."
Yan Qingdu gave a faint hum of acknowledgment.
His gaze swept around.
Noticing that Chu Liuyue and Zhou Yu'an were absent, he was about to go call them when he heard Gu Man say:
"Let's go up to the rooftop first. They should be here in a while."
Yan Qingdu didn't move.
"We wait for them."
Gu Man looked resentful and cast a glance at him.
"Fine, then I'll go up and take a look first."
After saying that, she left in a great hurry.
Less than five minutes later.
A sharp female scream suddenly pierced through the top floor.
At the same time, Chu Liuyue and Zhou Yu'an had also gathered.
"What was that sound?" Zhou Yu'an asked.
This was immediately followed by hurried footsteps descending from above. By the time they walked toward the source of the noise, they saw Gu Man scrambling down the stairs, practically crawling and rolling.
"What happened?" Yan Qingdu couldn't help but ask.
"There are... bats, so many, so many bats..." Gu Man panted, her face full of panic and helplessness.
She stammered, "A huge swarm of them surrounded the helicopter, it's terrifying."
Zhou Yu'an caught the most crucial issue.
"Where is the helicopter?"
"I-I don't know." Gu Man's face was deathly pale. No matter what, she refused to go back up.
Zhou Yu'an and Yan Qingdu exchanged a glance, preparing to go up to the rooftop to check.
Chu Liuyue didn't stop either, following right behind them.
Zhou Yu'an turned to look at her.
"The rooftop might be dangerous, stay down here."
Chu Liuyue shook her head.
Glancing at Gu Man from the corner of her eye, she deliberately provoked her right to her face, "An'an, even if the rooftop is dangerous, I have you to protect me."
"But if I stay here with Miss Gu, I'm afraid she'll feed me to the zombies."
This really wasn't a joke.
Given Gu Man's style of doing things, it was genuinely possible.
Zhou Yu'an hesitated.
Yan Qingdu suddenly spoke up, "Let her come along. I can protect her too."
In reality, he thought to himself: Let's just hope it won't be Chu Liuyue protecting them instead of the other way around!
Zhou Yu'an shot Yan Qingdu a complicated look.
"Let's go."
As soon as the three of them reached the rooftop, they were shocked by the sight before them.
The sky was not light blue, but filled with heavy, leaden gray-black clouds.
Upon closer inspection, they could see that it was actually countless bats flapping their wings, recklessly diving toward the helicopter.
Zhou Yu'an was puzzled.
He turned to look at Yan Qingdu.
"Aren't bats nocturnal animals? It's broad daylight right now, why are they here?"
Yan Qingdu's expression also turned solemn.
Gone was his previous lazy and careless demeanor; he pursed his lips, his posture tense.
Just as a black bat swooped down to attack them.
Bang—
A gunshot rang out.
Normally, a shot bat would fall out of the sky.
But the injured bat not only didn't fall, it even launched a second attack in an enraged frenzy, its red eyes glowing.
Yan Qingdu frowned.
"This is bad. They've mutated too."
As soon as his voice fell, Zhou Yu'an had already impaled and killed the bat with a steel pipe.
The bat flapped for a moment before falling to the ground, revealing sharp teeth. Dark black liquid oozed from its entire body, exactly like the fluid on the zombies.
A putrid smell filled the air.
In everyone's line of sight.
The helicopter, which was supposed to land on the rooftop, was surrounded by a massive swarm of bats. It tried to force them back with bullets, but it was useless.
These zombie bats were several times larger than normal bats. When their wings spread, they looked like huge black curtains, blotting out the sky and the sun.
Their eyes flashed with an eerie red light.
More and more of them advanced wave upon wave, blocking the windshield and the wings, like a dense black shroud completely wrapping around the helicopter.
After the aircraft struggled for half a minute.
It eventually veered off its original destination and crashed into a nearby skyscraper.
Boom—
Trailing a long tail of fire, the helicopter ultimately exploded into a massive fireball.
Chu Liuyue's voice was very soft.
"The helicopter... crashed."
Zhou Yu'an and Yan Qingdu's hearts ran completely cold. While fending off the attacks from the zombie bats, they protected Chu Liuyue and retreated back to the top floor below.
Gu Man heard the footsteps.
She hurried up to them.
"You... you all saw it, right?" she said, still trembling with lingering fear. "Those aren't normal bats."
Yan Qingdu ignored her, pacing back and forth alone, muttering something under his breath.
Zhou Yu'an's face was dark.
The helicopter that was supposed to pick them up was their only way out of Jiang City. Now that it was destroyed, how were they supposed to escape?
Seeing that neither of them was speaking.
Gu Man could only look at Chu Liuyue.
"Hey, you saw them, right? Bats that bite people."
Chu Liuyue shot her a sideways glance, then immediately looked away, treating her as if she were invisible.
"What's with your attitude? Believe it or not, I'll..." Gu Man subconsciously raised her hand to strike, but she was met directly with the warning glares of the two men opposite her.
She awkwardly lowered her hand again.
She explained, "I'm just anxious. With so many zombie bats gathered on the rooftop, how are we supposed to get on the helicopter and leave?"
"There is no helicopter anymore," Zhou Yu'an shook his head.
"Ah, what?" Gu Man froze.
Yan Qingdu took a deep breath and added, "Under the attack of the zombie bats, the helicopter has already crashed."
This was the worst possible outcome.
When the laboratory was researching the serum back then, the unanimous conclusion was that it would only alter human genetics.
But it would not have any effect on plants and animals.
Only then did they boldly and confidently begin their trials.
But now.
The virus had mutated.
Gu Man's face turned ashen.
The next moment, she looked at Zhou Yu'an, held out her hand, and said, "Give me your phone. Call Uncle Zhou right now, he will definitely have a way!"
Zhou Yu'an shook his head.
"My phone is dead."
