Late at night.
Gu Man glanced at the fast-asleep Yan Qingdu and Chu Liuyue, then peeked toward Zhou Yu'an, who had gone to keep watch not far away.
Ensuring that no one would disturb her now.
Only then did she tiptoe over to Chu Liuyue's side.
She pulled out the metal box and opened the lid.
Seeing the vial of strange, glowing red liquid inside, a hint of struggle flashed through her eyes.
This struggle wasn't about whether or not to harm someone.
Rather, she was torn between drinking it herself to gain superpowers, or giving it to Chu Liuyue to turn her into a hideous zombie.
It was a fifty-fifty chance.
Forget it, she didn't want to become a zombie.
As for Chu Liuyue, looking as weak as a chicken, even if she got superpowers, she would probably still be pathetic.
Besides, as long as she remained in Zhou Yu'an's team, she would still have to protect Gu Man.
And if she mutated into a zombie, that would be even better; they would have a legitimate reason to get rid of this eyesore of a woman!
At this thought, Gu Man unhesitatingly popped the cork off the vial.
Pinching Chu Liuyue's chin with one hand, she roughly poured all the red liquid into her mouth with the other.
After finishing all this, she dusted off her hands in satisfaction.
She placed the empty vial on the sofa next to Chu Liuyue.
Turning around, she quickly ran toward Zhou Yu'an, who was guarding the iron gate.
"Gu Man, what are you doing here?" Zhou Yu'an frowned slightly.
It wasn't time for the shift change yet.
For this night, Gu Man had volunteered for the very last watch shift.
Gu Man put on a panicked face and said agitatedly, "This is bad! This is terrible! Yu'an, your patient Chu Liuyue secretly drank that potion, and I caught her red-handed."
"What?" Zhou Yu'an's expression changed drastically. He grabbed Gu Man by the collar and demanded, "What did you do to her?"
"Zhou Yu'an, are you deaf? I said she secretly drank the potion, can't you understand?" Gu Man squawked loudly.
Zhou Yu'an seemed completely oblivious to her complaining.
He let go of her collar and, ignoring his post at the iron gate, quickly strode forward.
A minute later.
Seeing Chu Liuyue still fast asleep on the sofa and the empty vial beside her, he fell into deep, silent thought.
"Yan Qingdu."
Zhou Yu'an patted the man sleeping on the other sofa.
Yan Qingdu slowly opened his eyes.
In truth, he had guessed what Zhou Yu'an was going to say; he hadn't been asleep at all.
However, her ladyship had said to ignore whatever Gu Man did, so he had indeed just watched as the potion went into Chu Liuyue's mouth.
What a ruthless woman!!!
"What's wrong?" Yan Qingdu stretched lazily and got up from the sofa.
"Gu Man poured the potion into Liuyue's mouth." Zhou Yu'an's face was grim.
At the same time, Gu Man hurried in after him.
Upon seeing Yan Qingdu, she immediately started complaining:
"Senior Yan, you're finally awake!"
"You have no idea, Chu Liuyue just took advantage of you guys not paying attention and secretly drank that potion. Look, the empty bottle is right there on the sofa."
Gu Man's unprompted denial was far too obvious.
Stupid, so stupid!
But she had actually managed to pull off this outrageous stunt.
Zhou Yu'an no longer cared about the status and position backing Gu Man.
He rebuked her coldly:
"Shut up!"
"No one will think you're mute if you stop talking."
Gu Man looked incredulous. Blinking, she said:
"Are you scolding me?"
"Zhou Yu'an, you actually dare to scold me? Do you know what kind of status and position our Gu family holds here?"
"Uncle Zhou's research institute funding is all approved by my uncle! You dare threaten me? Believe it or not, I'll..."
Zhou Yu'an quickly interrupted, "Shut up! It's the apocalypse now, Gu Man. Are you sure your uncle is even safe and sound right now?"
"What do you mean?" A trace of panic flashed in Gu Man's tone.
Zhou Yu'an said with a dark expression:
"Zombie bats have already appeared, which means there will only be more mutated animals. What about plants? Are you certain Governor Gu is completely fine?"
Gu Man was frightened by these words.
She didn't dare speak for a long while.
This was the worst-case scenario, and the one she was least willing to face.
If the Gu family was gone, and something happened to her father and uncle.
She would be completely without any backing. The only thing she could rely on would be Zhou Yu'an's sympathy.
Zhou Yu'an spoke again, his tone freezing cold.
"Are you truly an idiot? We already have so few normal companions who can fight side by side with us, yet you want to turn Liuyue into a zombie."
"The fewer humans there are, the slimmer our chances of survival become."
Gu Man stammered an explanation, "No, it's not like that."
"I just had good intentions."
"Don't you guys all have superpowers? I felt that Chu Liuyue can't do anything and would drag everyone down."
"So I thought if I gave her the potion, she would awaken an ability, and that would strengthen our team's power."
Yan Qingdu listened silently from the side.
Suddenly, he let out a scoff.
"Didn't you say she drank the potion herself?"
"How did it suddenly turn into you feeding it to her?"
In the heat of the moment, Gu Man hadn't realized that, frightened by Zhou Yu'an, she had accidentally blurted out the truth.
Her face quickly flushed red.
She immediately feigned composure, forcing herself to hold her ground.
She stubbornly insisted, "Yes! I fed it to her, but I had good intentions."
"Uncle Zhou's phone isn't connecting right now; who knows, maybe something happened to them too."
"With the journey being so long, it's not even certain we can bring the potion back safely. It's better to just drink it and boost our strength first."
Yan Qingdu snorted softly.
He walked up to her, step by step.
His tone was indifferent:
"Since you think this potion is so great, why didn't you drink it yourself?"
"That's not like your style."
Gu Man didn't dare meet his eyes. Her gaze flickered as she said, "Senior Yan, you've misunderstood me. I really did it for everyone's sake."
The previously silent Zhou Yu'an also sneered.
"Was it for everyone's sake, or for your own sake?"
"You fed the potion to Liuyue not to help her awaken an ability at all, but with the goal of turning her into a zombie, right? Gu. Man!"
He heavily emphasized her name at the end.
Zhou Yu'an usually looked mild and gentle.
But as these words fell, they carried absolute fury and murderous intent.
Gu Man shrank back in fear.
She forced herself to say:
"Zhou Yu'an, I am your arranged marriage partner. How can you think so badly of me?"
"I really had good intentions. I just did the wrong thing out of goodwill, which is understandable."
"Whether Chu Liuyue can survive this is up to her. If she's truly unlucky and becomes a zombie, then it's her own bad fate!"
"If anyone is to blame, blame herself!"
Zhou Yu'an's eyes gradually grew cold.
He also walked up to Gu Man, step by step.
His slender fingers tightened around the steel pipe in his hand.
Gu Man started to panic.
She took a step back.
Standing on her left, Zhou Yu'an radiated a sky-high murderous aura.
And behind her, Yan Qingdu appeared lazy, but displeasure was actually flickering in his eyes.
Crazy.
They were truly crazy.
All she did was kill an insignificant vixen.
Why was Zhou Yu'an reacting so intensely? And as if that wasn't enough, even the Senior Yan she longed for cared so much about this Chu Liuyue!
They must all be crazy!
What was so good about that woman anyway?
She took a deep breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the woman sleeping on the sofa suddenly begin to breathe heavily, letting out guttural, rasping sounds from her throat.
Unable to contain herself, she jumped up in agitation.
She pointed a finger at the woman and cried out,
"Quick, hold her down!"
"She's turning into a zombie!"
