Yun Qingyue had no idea that her new colleague, who seemed to go along with everything she said, was already plotting his departure the next day.
In his mind, he was already picturing finding a place to bury himself.
Once fully recovered, he would go kill his enemies. Everyone who had come into contact with him over the years, one by one, they would all have to die.
With absolute serenity, he thought, they all have to die.
Yun Qingyue was oblivious to the thoughts churning in her beautiful colleague’s head.
She simply looked at the new colleague before her, recalling that he seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the two kids on the other side. So she explained to her team’s first member: “These two kids were the ones I ran into while fleeing the Zombie Dogs.”
“Because their presence helped me escape the dogs, in a way, they’re my benefactors.”
As Yun Qingyue spoke, she kept her eyes on him, making sure he was absorbing what she said, and used her gaze to signal that he needed to respond.
This was her work habit.
It stemmed from past experiences where she’d clearly told someone something multiple times, but they hadn’t listened. Later, when things went wrong, they’d come and claim she’d never said it.
So, from then on, she had formed this habit: when telling a colleague something important, she had to watch their eyes, gauge whether they were absorbing the information, and use her eyes to prompt a response.
Experiment Subject No. 59 was thus stared at by her, profoundly uncomfortable.
In the past, his interactions with people hadn’t required him to give responses, nor to speak.
But Yun Qingyue just stared into his eyes, insisting he acknowledge.
So he nodded, indicating he understood.
The Zombie Dogs were still going berserk in the background. Typical zombified creatures—even with their bodies crushed flat by the car, it didn’t hinder their snarling.
Yun Qingyue was genuinely curious. How was that possible?
Their barking did indeed have the ability to suppress Zombie Humans. On the way back, with the Zombie Dog noises coming from the car, every Zombie Human along the route had steered clear.
Experiment Subject No. 59 had assumed she’d have him handle the Zombie Dogs, since she knew about his extreme self-healing ability. He hadn’t expected her to say, “Go find some iron wire, as much as possible. I need it.”
And then, Experiment Subject No. 59 watched as she dragged the bag containing the Zombie Dogs out herself. Clearly, she intended to investigate the Zombie Dogs personally.
Of course, Yun Qingyue had never planned on relying on this rich second-generation kid for this task.
Although the Zombie Dogs had been rendered immobile by the collision, danger still existed.
She was the Captain. She made the decisions, she bore the responsibility, she shouldered the risk.
The notion of letting her team member handle the Zombie Dogs after she’d decided to utilize them simply didn’t exist.
Experiment Subject No. 59 looked at her. Seeing she wasn’t going to have him deal with the dogs, he remained rooted to the spot.
“Time to work. Don’t slack off. Go find wire. I need it.”
Experiment Subject No. 59 thus walked off to the other side and began scouring for wire.
But his perception remained fixed on her. He could sense her exploring those Zombie Dogs; a cluster of white emotion was swirling around her.
Why did she have so many emotions? Emotions even for a few zombie dogs?
Before opening the bag, Yun Qingyue gave herself a mental pep talk. She decided to try communicating, regardless of whether it would work.
The Zombie Dogs weren’t in good shape. For one, after infection, the dogs were somewhat akin to rabid dogs. For another, the ones she’d brought back had also been run over, making their state even more miserable.
When Yun Qingyue dragged the bag out, the dogs’ bodies were paralyzed, but their jaws still worked, still fiercely trying to bite her.
“You guys really remind me of a company I used to work with.”
“Their own company was on the verge of collapse, yet they still wouldn’t behave, still stretching their necks out to bite someone else.”
On the other side, Experiment Subject No. 59 had started searching for wire everywhere.
Inexplicably, he was doing chores again.
Just like with the peanuts earlier, he discovered that while searching for wire, this single thought occupied his entire mind. He no longer needed to dwell on the past.
This task seemed to instantly drive all other matters from his brain.
His world suddenly became incredibly simple.
Want wire… want wire…
See wire!
Get wire!
For this experiment subject, the thoughts in his mind were rarely satisfied so simply—wanting something one moment, obtaining it the next.
And so, Experiment Subject No. 59 worked with increasing fervor, eventually returning with a massive bundle of wire in his hands.
When he came back, his Captain was on the other side, lecturing the dogs.
“You lot need to remember this: right now, you’re in an apocalypse world. You’re part of the Zombie Dog Department. No rights whatsoever. In my world, hitting dogs is illegal. In your world, hitting zombie dogs is not illegal…”
The Zombie Dogs on the ground were still howling furiously.
Experiment Subject No. 59 quickly noticed that, at this moment, the Captain could actually radiate an emotional halo that enveloped the Zombie Dogs.
Experiment Subject No. 59: “…”
Hearing the sound, Yun Qingyue turned her head and saw her new colleague, along with the massive coil of wire he was carrying.
Was there this much wire around here?
Yun Qingyue was astonished. She realized that even though her colleague buddy was a man of few words, every task she gave him, he performed diligently. For instance, the peanuts she’d asked him to shell this morning were all done.
And now, asked to find wire everywhere, he had swiftly returned with it.
Yun Qingyue resolved to view him in a new light. She couldn’t keep clinging to the stereotype of him as a mere pretty face.
Having this thought naturally generated a warm emotion within her.
And this time, Experiment Subject No. 59 dodged it exceptionally fast. He retracted his emotion perception ability almost instantly, allowing her emotion to merely brush past his own.
“I’ll go check on the RV,” he said.
“Alright, go ahead. I’ll call you if I need anything later.”
On the other side, the System had already confirmed one thing.
The male lead was definitely alive. If the male lead had died, the entire world would surely be in chaos.
Besides, the male lead’s fundamental setting was that he couldn’t die. He’d been studied in that lab for so many years. In the early stages, understanding his abilities, they hadn’t gone for lethal measures.
But in the later stages, they’d essentially stopped holding back: physical trauma, chemical damage, psychological torment—methods that could have killed a normal person eight hundred times over were all used.
Yet the male lead had never died. In fact, his self-healing ability had reached its peak, without leaving even a single scar.
After the apocalypse arrived, even the most powerful Espers, those with physiques enhanced to the extreme, couldn’t compare to the male lead’s self-healing ability before the apocalypse began.
Even though they’d already learned from the apocalypse world that the male lead had been injected with a large dose of a serum when he escaped, he definitely wouldn’t die.
At most, the plot point about him being devoured by zombies had simply been moved forward.
In the original storyline belonging to the male lead, the male lead hadn’t escaped the lab.
When the zombie outbreak happened, a minor management issue occurred at the lab. One of the researchers’ wives showed symptoms of coma and fever, but he still insisted that the blood of Experiment Subject No. 59 might cure this condition.
At the time, the lab supervisor had already stated that Subject No. 59’s blood had some effect on the zombie virus, but the effect was very limited.
Subject No. 59’s blood could provide prevention before the zombie virus took hold, but it had no ability to heal after infection.
But that researcher wasn’t willing to give up. He thought the amount of blood was insufficient. He had a bold theory: if enough blood was used, it could surely counter the zombie virus.
Under these circumstances, that researcher secretly brought his wife to the lab. Predictably, the blood was useless, and the entire lab was zombified.
Before the lab fell, the supervisor had released the serum within the male lead’s body.
Experiment Subject No. 59 was thus forced to become a normal human trapped within the experiment center, constantly being gnawed on.
His self-healing ability was slowly recovering, so his flesh kept regenerating. The entire process was excruciatingly painful.
During this ordeal, he developed extremely severe psychological illness. After the serum fully metabolized and he regained his physique, he slaughtered every zombie in the lab.
The System mused: now that the male lead had escaped early, his superpower was suppressed again, and his mental state was extremely unstable. It should be roughly similar to the original plot.
He was probably trapped somewhere by zombies.
At this moment, inside the small gravel yard surrounded by zombies.
Experiment Subject No. 59 looked up at the sky. He felt very uncomfortable.
It was a different kind of discomfort than in the lab. This was a mental unease. He’d never experienced this kind of discomfort before, so he couldn’t describe it. He only instinctively wanted to escape.
He turned back, heading towards the RV.
Inside the RV, the siblings had already woken up.
Earlier, the siblings had fallen asleep after eating.
The two children hadn’t slept from yesterday until today. Once they reached a relatively safe place, they simply couldn’t fight off their drowsiness anymore and succumbed to sleep.
But their sleep didn’t last long, just an hour or two before they woke up again.
When the brother awoke, he thought about many things. Before, he hadn’t dared to tell his sister that their parents had become monsters outside, that they ate people. Because he was terrified his sister would cry, terrified they’d be discovered by the zombies.
But now, he felt he had to tell his sister. If he didn’t say it now, what if she secretly ran out to find Mom and Dad? What if she still thought their parents were out there, refused to listen to the older brother and sister who had taken them in, and offended them?
So, when his sister woke up, her brother told her about what had happened to their parents.
His sister believed her brother wouldn’t lie to her. The two children hugged each other in the RV and wept bitterly.
Experiment Subject No. 59 returned to find the brother and sister clinging to each other, crying.
He watched for a moment, then turned his head and started walking the other way.
He had only taken two steps.
“No. 59, come here. Let’s build a cage for these zombie dogs.”
Yun Qingyue called out once. No response.
“No. 59, come lend a hand. Help me hold this plank steady.”
Her voice fell on his ears, seeming to hold some strange allure. He walked toward her unconsciously, and a plank was placed into his hands.
He started holding the plank steady, helping her build a cage for the Zombie Dogs.
That night, Experiment Subject No. 59 had a dream. He dreamed he was back in his childhood.
He was looking through the protective glass at the outside. Two researchers were huddled together, chatting and laughing. They were studying the blood drawn from him.
He watched for a while, and then someone behind him called out—
“No. 59, come here. Let’s build a little house for the dog together.”
He walked over.