Chapter 25: Can It Be Sold for a Lot of Money?
Chapter 25: Can It Be Sold for a Lot of Money?
Anran's hands tremble as her whole body shakes uncontrollably. She struggles to support herself as she turns over, placing one foot on the floor, then the other, before sliding off the bed and landing on the ground.
She is terrified!
But what good is fear?
Taking advantage of the fact that the zombies have gathered on the other side of the room, Anran crawls on all fours toward the door. Suddenly, her knee hits something hard, a shiny object that causes sharp pain, and she has the urge to curse.
She quickly picks up the small, pomegranate-seed-sized, diamond-like object and, after a quick glance, stuffs it into her pocket. She continues crawling toward the door. Just as she is about to stand up outside the room, a foot steps on the back of her hand.
The pain is excruciating, but Anran doesn’t dare scream. She looks up and sees a newly evolved zombie walking past her. Anran sits up, looks at her now skin-broken fingers, shakes her hand a few times, and slowly stands up, pressing her back against the wall.
This third floor is the obstetrics department, filled with pregnant women and their families. There are far more people here than on the fourth and fifth floors. However, since the hospital is relatively spacious, it doesn’t feel too crowded. As Anran moves along the wall, she notices that the veins on many people's faces are bulging, as if they are about to fully pop out.
Does that mean they have fully evolved and can now start eating people? And for those whose veins aren’t fully exposed, are they still in the process of evolving?
She moves carefully, inching along for over twenty minutes until she reaches the emergency stairwell. Pushing the door open quickly, she slips inside.
With a loud "bang," the door slams shut, and just as Anran breathes a sigh of relief, before she can even feel safe, she turns her head and sees a fully evolved zombie standing on the stairs above her. The veins on its forehead are fully exposed, and it is baring its fangs at her.
"What the hell?"
Anran glances at the male zombie up and down and notices the ground littered with cigarette butts. This is definitely some guy who came to the hospital with his wife for a checkup, got a craving for a cigarette, and sneaked off to the emergency stairwell to smoke!
The smoker zombie lunges at her, pinning Anran against the door, its mouth wide open, ready to bite. In a panic, Anran repeats her earlier tactic, pulling out her fruit knife. She draws the blade from its sheath and stabs it straight into the zombie's eye, giving it a quick twist. The sickening sound is like stirring jam, and with one swift motion, the smoker zombie goes limp, collapsing lifelessly against her.
From behind the emergency door, Anran hears the scratching of more zombies. She doesn’t have time to think. She shoves the dead zombie off her and hurries up the stairs.
After only a few steps, the motion-activated lights in the stairwell flicker and go out. Anran looks back at the zombie’s head and sees a blob of mushy brain matter oozing out of its stabbed eye socket. The zombie's brain matter seems thinner than a human's, more like soft tofu. Along with the brain matter, a small, shiny diamond-like object rolls out.
What is it?
Could it be sold for a lot of money?
Anran doesn’t know why, but her thoughts drift. She turns back, goes down the stairs again, and squats next to the dead zombie. Using her fruit knife, she pokes at the diamond in the brain matter. It looks exactly like the one she picked up earlier, the size of a pomegranate seed, with irregular facets that sparkle beautifully.