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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Fifty-Nine: Untitled 4
The day before Kenny and the others left, two girls in the County Government began to pack their bags.
The government building was quiet; the Zombies that had gathered outside had dispersed, leaving a few wandering in the empty little town.
The sky was overcast, and the interior of the building was dim.
Su Lan and Zeng Yadong sat on either side of a large bed, where a man lay unconscious, his face pale.
“Aso, he’s been in a coma for four days. What’s going on?” Zeng Yadong took a thermometer from under the man's arm, and the high temperature of forty degrees Celsius sent her into a panic. “If this continues, he’ll burn himself out!”
“I never said he would get better; I only managed to suppress the spread. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lasted this long,” Su Lan said as she replaced the wet towel on the man’s forehead. A thin rope was tied around her right shoulder, and her entire arm had turned a grayish hue. Three deep claw marks visible to the bone crisscrossed her elbow, and the flesh beneath had turned black and necrotic, no longer bleeding.
Zeng Yadong was at a loss for words. He hadn’t died yet, but what was the difference between this and being dead?
“I can only do so much. We’ve searched the county town thoroughly and found no usable medicines or equipment. If we amputate, he will definitely bleed to death,” Su Lan said, her hair slightly disheveled as if she had just woken up. She lifted the man’s eyelid; the blood vessels in his eyes had already congealed into clots.
Su Lan stepped out of the bedroom and retrieved a small handgun from her coat. She loaded it with the last two bullets and placed it in front of Zeng Yadong.
“What do you mean by this?” Zeng Yadong took a few steps back, her eyes wide with panic.
“You know what you need to do; he can’t hold on much longer,” Su Lan said as she settled onto a nearby sofa, curling her long legs beneath her while resting her chin on her hand as she gazed at the frail man. “I don’t know what you’re worried about; he wrote a will. Your people will understand.”
“No! I have to take him back!” Zeng Yadong firmly pushed the gun away and used a straw to drip some clean water into his mouth.
“Do you have any medical resources?” Su Lan sighed helplessly. “Even if you did, the chances of saving him are almost nonexistent. The reason I gave him medication to suppress the spread was just so he could finish writing his will. Have you forgotten?”
Zeng Yadong understood in her heart but couldn’t bring herself to take action. Throughout their journey, this man had protected her; now that he was sick, did she really have to kill him?
“Aso, do you remember the night we met?” Zeng Yadong suddenly blurted out.
Su Lan nodded. “I remember. I should thank you for bringing me along.”
“You should thank him. Honestly, I just wanted to get back quickly; it was his idea to bring you.”
“Yeah, he’s a good person.”
“That’s why I can’t bring myself to do it.”
“What do you want to do then?”
“I don’t know.”
……
The room fell silent for a long time until the man on the bed suddenly began to gasp for air, his body shaking violently as if in a fit.
The two women rushed forward, trying to hold him down.
“Get a spoon!” Su Lan shouted.
Zeng Yadong anxiously ran into the living room, searching frantically on the large desk until she finally grabbed a pen and rushed back.
Su Lan didn’t have time to think about it; she forced the man’s mouth open and inserted the pen inside.
The man was burning hot, and with each convulsion, he vomited pools of white foam mixed with blood. Blood began to seep from the corners of his eyes, ears, and nose.
"Do it." Su Lan felt that she could no longer suppress the man's body. The virus had ultimately spread, and despite a large amount of antibiotics and blood vessel blockage, it had only kept him in a coma for four more days.
Zeng Yadong stood helplessly to the side, trembling as he raised his handgun, but he couldn't aim properly due to his shaking hands.
"Use the knife, hurry!"
The man's previously closed eyes had opened, the blood clots in the whites of his eyes connecting into a mass. Su Lan blew away a lot of the blood foam from his mouth, but he continued to vomit uncontrollably.
Those injured by a Zombie carried deadly pathogens in their blood and bodily fluids, so even Su Lan couldn't help him expel the blood foam choking in his throat.
Su Lan saw the man's necrotic right arm move slightly; his stiff fingers bent at an angle. She knew he couldn't hold on any longer—he was about to turn into a corpse.
But Zeng Yadong still stood by, the Miao Knife in hand but not drawn, his eyes red as he stared at the man, biting his lip and shedding tears.
Su Lan felt helpless and leaned forward to try to snatch the short knife away. At that moment, the man on the bed suddenly sat up. His strong arms grasped Su Lan's shoulders and flipped her down onto the bed, opening his mouth to bite!
Su Lan used all her strength to grip the neck of the transforming man, trying to prevent his blood-foaming teeth from reaching her. However, the strength of the corpse increased dramatically; her arms trembled as they bent under pressure while the Zombie's mouth continued to snap at its food before it.
Zeng Yadong suddenly came to his senses and grabbed the handgun, pulling the trigger repeatedly, but only a few clicks echoed back.
The revolver with five chambers contained only two bullets. Zeng Yadong pulled the trigger three times without firing a shot; it was unclear whether it was luck for the man or misfortune for Su Lan.
"Knife!!" The face of the transforming man was already pressed against Su Lan's; she could feel his still-warm skin.
With a 'thud,' the short knife plunged into the man's temple, piercing through his skull with force. The tip of the blade grazed Su Lan's neck before stabbing into the blanket beneath her.
Zeng Yadong suppressed a sob in his throat and forcefully pushed the man's corpse off Su Lan, frantically checking on her.
Su Lan collapsed onto the bed, gasping for air, her full chest rising and falling with each breath.
"Are you okay... I'm sorry..." Zeng Yadong said, helping Su Lan up, her words tumbling out in a rush.
Su Lan raised her hand to stop her questioning. Once she regained some strength, she turned to sit up. "I'm fine. How about you?"
Zeng Yadong took off her glasses and wiped her tears, nodding weakly.
"Your knife... such good technique," Su Lan said, touching her neck with lingering fear.
Zeng Yadong buried her head in her knees, mumbling something that Su Lan couldn't quite hear.
Su Lan straightened her disheveled clothes and rushed outside to wash the blood that had dripped onto her face with clean water. Hearing movement inside, she hurried back.
Zeng Yadong had pulled out a short knife and covered the body with a blanket.
"Can we bury him?" Zeng Yadong asked, tears brimming in her eyes.
Su Lan shook her head apologetically. "There are many Zombies in the back mountain. We can't get through the county town with the body... Let's burn it."
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